Demon Dynasty

How about the umpire marking the mark ALONGSIDE of H instead of behind him so that when he calls play on he doesn't block H's run at the player playing on lol. H had no chance with the Ump putting such an effective block on the mark!

At this stage im voting Spencil but I reserve the right to change it assuming Gawn is given a good run at it by Roosey over the next 5 to 8 weeks to settle in. From what I've seen so far.... Spencer Positives - Contests well and can win/split "hit outs to adv" against most accept Nic Nat & Sandi but who can? - Can hit a target on the lead and kick occasional goals if given enough time or close enough to split the big ones, tackles & competes well when ball comes to ground and can even rack up his own clearances out of the middle. Some stats to consider.... - No.1 in the tackle averages by a long way! - No.1 in hit outs (averages) just ahead of Jamar. Be nice to have the hit outs to adv here. - No.8 in contested -No.5 in Clearances (Ahead of Crossy & Vanders with Jamar at 8) -No.2 in One percenters only bettered by T-Mac (Jamar at 11) -No.12 in contested marks (Jamar at 6) Stats dont make a player but from what I've seen Spencil might not get as many hit outs to adv as Gawn nor is he likely to be better at marks around the ground but in terms of what he can do when the ball is "live" (eg., extraction from stoppages, hitting up targets by foot, accuracy at goal when within range, tackling when we dont have it) i would back him above Gawn at this point. Happy to give Gawn those 6 to 8 games though (assuming he gives us something reasonable) and review again afterwards. If we are just picking Gawn on his ability to get a few more hit outs to advantage than Spencil...but likely to be just as easily walloped here by the 2 guns in this dept anyway when we come up against them (Nic Nat & Sandi) then I would be pretty worried at this point. And as we've seen, even the best in the business can clock up massive numbers here (Sandi on Friday night had a massive hit out to adv differential against the Toiges) and you can still be soundly beaten.

Its a bit of what BB Stuie and others said. This is not Collingwood circa 2010/2011. Players around H need to recognise when the press hasn't had time to set up properly and run in support. The rebounds at Collingwood must have been super fast back then as there is also a requirement for H to recognise when we need to work our way through a well set up press that's had too much time already and well structured. Hard to play on through that and succeed bery often. But under that scenario we also need to see alot more leads from in front of play both wide and through the middle of the ground. In addition way too many rebounds of ours (from turnovers) start deep in our def 50. Our mids need to pressure more through the middle for more turnovers to start from there. Will score alot more from that position and take the pressure of the backs where there's far too much load for too long during a match. Eventually the numbers will get any defence if you can't force turnovers through the middle or keep it in your halfof the ground for long. Our pressure inside 50 is also not up to most other teams in the AFL bar the bottom 4 to 6 around us.

6. Jones Boy - team record 29 effective disposals. 5. Mr Vince - great job on Pendles, maybe even better than the one he did on Danger. Pendles showed him little respect often choosing to take the fat side inside 50 and paid the price on at least one occasion. 4. Crossy 3. The Toump 2. Brayshaw - impressive game from a 1st year against quality opponent on the big stage! 1. Dunn - Cloke had 4 till quarter time. Take the dodgy free away in the last and the ugly clanger (which happens at this level but always magnified in that part of the ground) and a decent hold IMO. Could have been 10 to Cloke the way he was rolling in the 1st. Apologies to Watts. Apart from the dropped mark in the goal square i thought he played his best game for us in the sense that he finally put his body on the line and head over the ball. Lets hope the monkey's off the back. That tackle on Varco and clutch goal is team lifting stuff and exactly what his critics have been asking to see for years. Was the best off HB at reading and working his way through the press IMO with quality passes by foot. Might be a career defining game for Watts. Fingers crossed.

Hasn't hit some of the heady heights with the Pies but then he is surrounded by players who also dont rank as highly as he had around him there so I dont think you can expect "like for like" form every match playing in this list. I still rate him though. Very highly when played in his traditional position off HB. Not sure he is suited to any mid field focussed role and woildn't rate him as highly when asked to play a role there. The AFL ratings also has him right up there ranked 13 out of approx 120 small/medium defenders (and rising). Approx one quarter of the matches used for that rating have been with the MFC now.]

As much as it pains me to say... mid field depth has been an issue for decades

You must have missed the first round LH

When was the last time we were down and out and got saved by anybody?

Just give me me a moment WYL

thanks fellas

If the entire team lifts on the day then hopefully it wont be down to the usual culprits like Jones to try and get us to a win WYL. Great wins are usually a result of amazing team effort like we saw from the Toiges on Friday night. Premiership football that.

Wise could you hand over your subscription details so I can read this pls... and thx!

Frog Sh $ t as in "Bull" frog I think :-)

Great to see the 3 of them together again. With regard to LJ its only tragic if it ends that way (life or footy wise). I hope he is finally getting his act together. If so I would love the MFC to consider the possibility of a second chance iF he was truly serious about getting back into the big league and he stuck strictly to team rules.

Only just I think Jumbo. Glad you enjoyed although I'm a tad concerned as I'm doing it out of boredom mostly. Hopefully your weekends aren't this boring. In the end they are only stats Jumbo and in some cases not the sort the coaches would bother with too much anyways. Some of them are half decent though like uncontested which might give us keyboard warriors a rough guide as to who is spreading well etc. Tackles not too bad as a rough "pressure act" guide etc. I really wld love to see the juicy stuff from champion though such as "pressure acts", "turnovers inside 50 from pressure acts", "goals from link up play" (I forget what it's called but gives you a guide as to who has the most involvement in passages of play that result in goals eg, Harvey was one of the highest last year being involved in something like a massive 36% of link play that resulted in goals. Coaches love this stuff and is usually highlighted to them by their review crew for up coming match ups etc). Kicking efficiency is another I'd love to see. Anyway we aren't going to get the good stuff so just have to use what we have as a rough guide. RPFC is doing some great work with differentials in uncontested etc at a team level which is a great guide to how we are performing vs the rest of the comp. Not sure if you've taken a look. In the end though you get a much better feel from seeing what's taking place obviously. And as OD would often remind us, at the end of the day the only stat that matters is the scoreboard silly!

Agreed. I have heard some of the past veteran players in the media bandy 60 - 80 games as a rough guide before judging how a new player is rolling. The trouble is though Samael, our list runs very shallow so in many other clubs the depth players or new rookies do their apprenticeship in the VFL for a few years and have to fight like hell before they get a look in at senior level. By then the powers that be have had a fair crack at seeing what type of standard they might be getting as well as years playing the style of game that's needed to break into the seniors under the guide of their VFL affiliate club/coach. I'm not sure we have any such luxuries with our Casey connection or our extremely shallow list. And I suspect it's been this way for as long as the AFL dumped the reserves (for us anyway).

Fair point and he has only played 20 odd matches. They say big fellas take longer to come on as well. We do hav to sort out our big man dept though as we have 4 on the list. 3 if you assume its the Russians swan song. But then 4 again if we include King in the mix.

D'land at its best! Jumbo, Michie may well be VFL standard only as you say but, if he is and i'm not saying he is, there are others around him that might also deserve the badge you have bestowed upon him. CBD that statement isn't quite correct as you can see below. He isn't the highest ranked in either Goal Assists or Goals per game averages so not sure where you're getting your info from. He is up there yes but not leading them as you state. If there's any truth to Jumbo's statement about being VFL standard only, and there may well be, there others that probably also qualify (if you agree with Jumbo) who actually rank worse than Viv in many key areas. Just saying. Take a look gang. I've given you the top 5 plus i've added the regular names that come up quite often amongst D'landers as potential trade bait/VFL standard only type arguments etc as well as a few stand out new (roos drafted) players to see how they're all fairing in a comparative sense. All stats are up to and including Round 9 which is a statistically significant sample in the context of a season (stats courtesy of Footywire). Averages Per Game Tackles 1. Spencer (6.3) 2. Viney (5.3) 3. Vanders (5.1) 4. Brayshaw (4.6) 4. N Jones (4.6) 7. M Jones (4.0) 7. R. Bail (4.0) 14. Salem (3.6 in only his 2nd year!) 21. Grimes (2.5) 22. Howe (2.44) 23. Toumpas (2.4) 24. Michie (2.3) 26. Watts (2.1) Uncontested Possessions 1. Viney (14.0) 2. N Jones (12.4) 3. T-Mac (12.1) 4. Crossy (11.89) 5. Tyson (11.86) 6. Grimes (11.7) 9. Michie (10.0) 11. Toumpas (9.4) 13. Howe (9.1) 15. Salem (8.7) 16. Fitzy (8.5) 19. Bail (8.0) 22. Watts (7.0) Effective Disposals 1. Cross (15.6) 2. Viney (15.0) 3. T-Mac (14.9) 4. N Jones (14.7) 5. Tyson (13.7) 6. Fitzy (13.5) 7. Howe (13.2) 8. Grimes (13.0) 11. Michie (11.3) 16. Spencer (10.2) 20. Toumpas (9.4) 21. M Jones (9.0) 22. Watts (8.5) 23. Bail (8.3) Goal Assists 1. Michie (0.67) 1. M Jones (0.67) 3. Watts (0.63) 4. JKH (0.60) 5. Newton (0.57) Goals 1. Garlett (2.0) 2. Hulk (1.7) 3. Pedo (1.2) 4. Newton (1.0) 4. Fitzy (1.0) 6. Watts (0.63) Contested Possessions 1. Tyson (9.6) 2. N Jones (9.4) 3. Vanders (8.7... DE of 49%! ughh) 4. Crossy (8.4) 5. Vince (7.9) 10. Spencer (6.7) 12. Howe (6.1) 15. M Jones (6.0) 15. Michie (6.0) 18. Grimes (5.2) 20. Fitzy (5.0) 20. Riley (5.0) 26. Watts (4.6) 27. Toump (4.6) I'm going to get served with divorce papers if i keep going so i'll finish up here. Let me know if you want any other particular stat averages or if you would like to know where a particular player sits that isn't listed and i'll post them when the war office is absent!

WYL can i have some of what you're having mate! I've yet to see why he is worth holding on to (until now) other than one half decent game against the doggies

I would be looking at Gawn and Fitz well before Spencil at this point. Not saying Spencil is a match winner or miles ahead either but i think he is a "possible" AFL regular in our best 22 going forward (until we come up with a another soldier (eg., King when ready maybe). The other 2 talls aren't IMO.

Certainly took no prisoners that day. If only the club as a whole showed some of his fight and thuggery over the following decades. We might have won a few more matches and crunch finals. There were individuals like Balls, Keogh, Yeater, Jakovich and a few others but as a whole we just haven't flown the flag enough.

Much rather Jane Bunn O.O

Robbie the only access we have to coaches is after the match and occasionally on the demon website. They are never going to relay their true feelings/thoughts/strategies overall or player specific to their fans or in public..ever. We can only go on what we see on the park each week as apparently, according to the coaches anyway, you play how you train. When you consistently see the same players either unwilling or selectively choosing when to commit to a contest OR incapable of impacting contests then you can only presume that unless they prove otherwise, they are not capable of playing AFL football. As to why they continue to be selected week after week this is mostly a reflection of the quality of our list. But as paid up members of the club we are entitled to be sceptical when the team continues to lose....week after week after week. When they start winning more than 1 game every now and then and can string 3 to 4 wins together against quality opposition then I'll believe we are finally getting somewhere. Until then the coach, the FD and the football club as a whole are no doubt trying their hardest but we are still losing and losing badly just as we've done for the last 8 years. When they prove me wrong and we make finals I will shut up and just watch.

Why is a bun that makes em look girly called a MAN bun? o.O

No its not the only basis titan but in yet another capitulation it's a mighty good start. I'm sure Roos & Co have match ups and "team balance" in mind etc when making their selections but personally I would refuse to play anyone who either refuses or is incapable of laying even 1 tackle in 100 minutes of football. The basis of any solid team starts and ends in "effort". Talent helps but if you go into a match with players who arent going to give it or give it only when they feel they have to then you can forget about ever building a winning culture, let alone making finals. We will just dead cat bounce for decades as we have done for almost a decade now.