Demon Dynasty

Nah, game was won and lost in the 3rd by No.15 Would have been 3 to 4 goals up going into the last with a whole lot less pressure and a fairly cruisy finish. Our boys came back and came back hard. Matches are won and lost in tight quarters. The 3rd was a great arm wrestle by us and we would have won this match under "normal" match conditions without the blatant bias of the umpires (in this case mostly one umpire's influence). The MFC needs to ask and demand answers from the AFL on that 3rd quarter. It was an unacceptable game changing/determining performance. Time to earn your $$ PJ!!!

* Umpire & pre-determined result brought to you courtesy of the AFL

Demons have to make a big deal of that 3rd quarter! Is 15 on the take?

Nothing new. First free kick last week at the 12 sec mark to the bombers wasn't there either. Was a ball up every other match (except ours).

I'm thinking which poor option choices are we going to make and how many passes we will miss by foot

any feed from demonology today? appears not

While the article is spot on (in terms of our woeful history since 2006 on consecutive wins) it doesn't really add any light as to the "why". How about interviewing the Captain, the Coach, the club's psychologist!?? (Do any clubs still have one of those!? Regardless, we need one!!). We deserved the spotlight after last week but Lloydy could have done better. Anyone bagging Lloydy as a footballer (other than his staging which I couldn't stand myself) is probably just J that we didn't have him at our club. Guy was a dead eye dick and a super hard worker on all his patterns/leads In order to get the break on his opponent. If the Hulk gets his work rate up anywhere near this his performance/output will go through the roof (if we can get enough ball in effectively!) ...."I was taught very early on in my time at Essendon that respect isn't given, it has to be earned over a sustained period of time and excellence." ....

That will depend on how quickly and effectively we deliver the ball i50 PG. Need quick thinkers/ball movers. Hope we don't start Clarry in middle like last week. Go with your 3 guns to start almost every time (Vince, Jones, Viney) until the heat is off a little. Then switch your 2 gamer in for the rotations. Game will be won and lost predominantly through the middle and whoever does the "all team" defence/attack things better than the other. We will need to set up our defensive zone and press super quick as Nth love to sling shot in the blink of an eye via Harvey whenever possible. I sure hope The teams don't line up as listed. Salem has nice silky skills and moves well but I have no confidence in his defensive side at this point to go with Boomer. Pretty sure that's part of the reason Grimes is back. Our forward line looks too short to trouble anyone at this point. We need Dawes back and fully fit to give Hulk a nice chop out, take the heat off him, provide a desperately needed 2nd tall option and play higher to create more space for Hulk (& Jeffy when back) to do their work in behind. Hulk needs to work higher as a starting position also. Sitting in the square with the way we deliver (or don't) to the hot spot just isn't going to work. Our mids and HBs are almost always coming in under a high degree of pressure also which means many kicks will be hitting the 30 to 50 meter zone rather than 30 & less. This is where Hulk will need to work on his game, regardless of who he is playing for. Also Hulk's kicking accuracy outside 40 meters drops significantly (accuracy is always going to drop the further out you are ...I'm speaking of his drop in accuracy vs the league average drop). This could be related to his kicking method. Working fine (i think it's above league ave) at about 40 or less but no so good outside 40. To have confidence playing higher he may need to rectify this at some stage with the help of a kicking expert (internally if we have one or an outside ex sharp shooter....FEV!!!?) Good luck to the boys. Hope we are competitive and it doesn't blow out but preparing for the worst.

Only on planet D'land Moon

Maybe we should swap teams and give the seniors a break. Might freshen em up ?

Does that count as a stat?

What's happening? Do we have any fit players left?

Norm's tentacles sure have a far reach eh

Haha touché chook

So he shot him? Ambos!

The more things change....the more they stay the same! How is Terl still on our list?

Ah thx only thought Garlo & Brayshaw were the ommisions

Gawn needs to lift for us to have any show of playing a competitive match out. Last week was pretty poor. Allowing opponent front position too often, falling over too often in the contest. 9 effective disposal and 3 clangers. Play Pedo as the 2nd tall forward rotating at CHF with Hoges. Don't have any other options as this point other than a camio from Dunn. Pedo aint a match winner but he at least gives a decent contest, can mark i50 and kick a goal and is competitive on the ground.

Ok mate. Maybe going a poor early crow and nothing in it as you say.

Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. Reckon our handball and pressure in and around congested packs has improved greatly from previous years. Well done to the boys and Roos/FD on this. Much work needed on the outside/run work side though. Still handballing to stationary targets behind at times when the best option is forward and/or the overlap. Lumumba the biggest offender here last week. Running himself into trouble when a 2nd handball (after the old 1 / 2) forward or over the top on the overlap (as first option rather than continuing to run and carry after after the old 1/2 into congestion) is the better option for the team. Love his initial break away run but needs to work on this. Also players need to block for each other at times once he/others take off. Too many running in support for the receive. Can't all run and carry. Everyone needs to play their part. Lumumba is a great potential asset off HB IF we can get the run and carry part fixed both with him and with what others are doing once he takes off.

We will find out tonight Satty Footy clubs have been known to tell a few little white lies from time to time ;-)

Pretty sure he tweaked his knee again at the one minute mark of the 2nd quarter last week Poita. I hope i am incorrect and it's still just a "minor medial" as we were told but if it's worse than that we may not see him for many weeks or the entire season. Was more surprised at his selection last week. Seemed very risky and too early to me.

I think half the battle Praha is that we still have a number of players from the horror years that fall back into the ugly footy ways/decision making/poor execution skills that we displayed pre Roos and and in Roosy's first year or so. Can't teach an old dog syndrome. As much as i appreciate their endeavor and contribution they have given (and are giving) the club, in some cases, they are a chain around the "Roos" picked newcomers necks. We also lack "Vocal" leaders on each line who can show the way to our new blokes and try and lift them, guide them, show them how it should be done when the going gets a little tough which it's going to during most matches. As you say, coming from a long way back. Might be the next generation of players that comes behind Roosy's picks (ie., Goody's) before we finally see something that resembles a competitive AFL season that most clubs put up (during a reasonable year) rather than just the odd game here or there. My other concern is the lack of intensity/effort/2nd efforts/ferocity that other teams seem to bring more often than not, especially at the start of matches (Port last night). This surely has to derive from inner motivation (player character...are we selecting the right character traits for individual leadership when drafting? Maybe we have been latterly) and surely the coach has to take some responsibility here also in terms of motivating the boys and getting them up pre-match. If we brought this to most matches i think we might improve further and snatch a few more games we are expected to win (like last week) and maybe a few we aren't!

Don't stop ranting till we finally start winning and put a decent season in Picket. We need more rockets! How the hell does a club come out on the back foot against a dad's army put together only 6 weeks ago and play such pea hearted footy? My problem with the club is the way we start matches. My concern is not with the less exepreinced guys but more with the way some of our more senior players play such dumb, error ridden football (still), which ends up gifting turnovers, shots on goal and goals to our opposition on a fairly regular basis. Would have to be a little deflating to moral and inflating our opponents confidence giving them incentive to push harder. This was a major factor in the Bombers getting up last week IMO. Last week's opening quarter was riddled with turnovers by our more senior player's skill & decision making errors. This included Jonesy (twice), Garland, Tmac (twice), Lumumba (choosing the wrong handball options during or at the end of a run on 2 occasions) and Matty (hospital handball to Lumumba). All starting with TMacs's insanely idiotic decision to play on from a Matty jones short pass (with the score at 0.2 - 0.0 at about the 3 minute mark of the 1st), deciding for some mad reason to switch to a fat side that wasn't a fat side at all, eventually kicking it straight to an opponent. Then there was Tyson's fumble of a gift handball from Viney at the opening of the 2nd quarter which resulted in a quick tumble kick to Stokes and a goal within a minute or so of the opening bounce (just one example). Timing of his runs at center bounces...way off. Some mistakes by the younger brigade also but expected to a higher degree given their lack of experience. Roos is doing some good work no doubt and we appear to be finally improving our recruiting act but where's the match day performances/intensity/ferocity from the opening bounce? Port brought that tonight and walloped Essendon with Daniher hardly sighted! Sick of playing catch up footy. Wasting energy also with players chasing tail all the time. Hec now i know why we are tired!!

If his game is anything like last weeks, he will need lots of pace to chase his opponent's tail all day who will be racking up the possessions. 4 Uncontested possies, 3 clangers for a net gain of 1 effective disposal last week. Oh, and 1 tackle. One of the worst games i've ever seen by an MFC player in over 40 years of watching. He could just about do anything he likes from here and still get a game. Put your feet up and relax Kenty....you got this!!