Demon Dynasty

Seems like a 2 steps forward 2 back atm. Positives... Much better organised in the middle and back half. Some decent quick thinking mids by hand and foot (Tyson, Vince and Cross). Sum extra grunt to help the Jones boy out in the clinches (Viney) Some players developing beyond expectations... Pedo & Jetta. The addition of a leader up forward and higher up the ground (Dawesy) who can mark and kick big game/moment goals. A part timer to help him out (Chip). The return and into some form of the big russian has helped us a little with general and center clearance work. The spread and clean ball use/speed at which we work our way out of and away from stoppages at least until the last entry i50 has improved substantially albeit some players still arent able to move the ball on by foot accurately or quickly enough...or they choose poor options who are well covered/or dont kick to their advantage. Problems.... Terlich and Grimes (and less often the likes of Howe/N Jones) hit/miss disposal/decision making is a major concern and impacting the scoreboard against far too often with turnovers off HB resulting in cheap goals to our opponents. Often killing momentum. Our inability to choose the right option/and or hit lead up targets (or those lead ups inability to lose their opponent just prior to the lead... or run back into space after initial lead) when coming i50 is the double edge to our clangers at HB highlighted above. We had the first 4 entries (or attempted entries) i50 in the opening minutes of the 3rd quarter against Port, with a chance to wrestle the game our way with a decent lead going into the last.... but we blew all 4 entries (and a few others later in the same quarter) with terrible choices/attempted passes to players who were well covered. When we find replacements for Terlich/Grimes who are better decision makers by foot (or hopefully see them improve chance to improve this aspect of their game at Casey) and clean up our disposal with the kick/pass/decision making on that last kick i50... then we will finally start winning these winnable games.

Defensive pressure starting to impact!?

Tyson!!??

SALEM!!

Sounds like the frees are going Ports way. Usual story. Plus we just dont have enough dangerous weapons up forward ie, our conversion once going i50...for both marks and goals... must be way below AFL average. Lack of reward for effort. 189 possessions vs about 140 for Port yet so far behind on the board. When we fix this we'll be right in these contests for much longer....even against the top clubs.

Im stuck on the Peninsula working... is this on free to air or just fox?

A few Team rankings at the bye for those interested (based on average per match) Contested Possessions 10th Uncontested 13th Effective Disposals 14th Effective Disposal % 12th Tackles 10th Clangers 10th (lower is better) Contested Marks 10th Inside 50s 17th Marks i50 17th Clearances 18th Rebounds 50s 9th 1 Percenters 7th Bounces 16th Some mad Demon stat trivia. Did you know? Bernie Vince has had the most kicks of any player in a match this year with 28 against the Swans Melbourne has had the most contested marks in any match this year with 17 against the Tigers T Mac has had the equal most 1 percenters in a match this year with 17 against Adelaide (along with Rowe of Carlton and May from GCS)

One of the best "leaders by example" i've seen at the MFC. Nose down bum up sheer guts. If you ever needed someone to go into the trenches with... look no further. To go through the last few seasons in the state we were in and perform at the level he did...legendary stuff.

That's how i remember him as well. Or running back for an overhead in front of a pack As long as they don't put the cap on him

Great news. A fitting tribute to big Jimma.

From what i've observed his kicking over about 40m+ seems to be at least better directed to the player he's attempting to kick to than what i witnessed last year. Not sure about the set shots for goals or short passing over say 30m or less though. Still pretty dodgy on the short stab pass attempts if you ask me and i'd be happy to see him dish off an easy lateral to a Watts or Howe who can then do the work more effectively coming inside 50. Not sure what his set shot on goal percentage is at various ranges. He might well be improving on those. His disposal efficiency has improved from last year. For the first 17 rounds he was ranked 35 out of 37 (of those who had played an AFL game on the list) at 56.8% This year - Ranked 27 out of 32 with an average efficiency of 62.7% Didn't help his cause yesterday though at 53.8% while the team ran at 71.1% for the match

I'm not that fussed with his disposal as such either. What i am a little frustrated with is that he tends to be a 2 or 3 touch "fumble fingers" when the ball is bouncing towards him or as he's running onto a bouncing ball. This puts pressure on his decision making as opponents are often able to get to the contest and pressure him while he's attempting his 2nd or 3rd try at picking it up. I've also noticed he often dishes off in the pockets with a handball and just doesn't run on far enough (forward) for the 1 / 2 give off to work (into space). Hangs too close, allowing the player that pressured the guy he just handed it off to....to then get to him (or other opponent closing in) as he's being given the ball again. I like his run once he does take possession though. Has a nice turn of speed and is able to close down on his opponent in marking contests often killing the ball as well. Some of his decision making is strange though after this many games. Like yesterday i think a long bomb came in to about the 25 meter mark. Instead of attempting to punch the ball from behind (might have been Vickery in front position) he tried to mark it. Pretty sure Vickery marked and goaled here. In short, a great athlete and run with player but in terms of footy smarts when he gets the ball in space (or attempts to), still a fair way to go IMO. If Rivers was still with us i suspect Tommy might be in the magoos honing his craft a bit more. Great efforts this year though and never shirks a contest.

Midfield slowly wore them down and got on top today. 14 less i50s than last week but much better use of ball coming inside 50 helped. 2nd highest conversion of inside 50s to goals and the most marks inside 50 for the year today. Still a few players giving us some "tear your hair out" moments but otherwise great effort all round. 6. The Jones Boy 5. D Tyson 4. D Cross 3. J Viney 2. J Howe 1. C Pedersen Apologies to Vince

Fair point. I agree he sweats on the ball too long at times and just doesn't pick options quickly enough. The time spent in the twos might be giving him the chance to improve this side though. I reckon he looked a little more like "he belonged" at AFL level today than i can recall even though i still saw moments of the above. Lots of faith that he (Roos) will get this side right and looking forward to watching him improve.

I just hope these wins are sending positive vibes through Mitch's grey matter.... and his foot. Who knows we might see a minor miracle yet. Get around to his place boys and share the man love!!

Maybe a JD or two like me TA??

Ox i reckon we stood up last week as well. We just wasted too many of our chances/possessions coming inside 50. IF we were better at the delivery i50 last week we would have won that game by a similar margin to today''s game IMO. Clean that up a little, like we seemed to in that second half today, and we hit the scoreboard a little more for a few more close wins. Give them some credit too, the doggies were also good at capitalising on a few of those poor entries/turnovers coming i50 with some very clean/classy link up plays and goals on the rebound.

I reckon Toump got lucky and made sure he took advantage of the opp today. Was a little stop start at times but generally worked hard and used the ball well which you would expect. One of our most efficient ball users. The only role i could have seen for Jetta in today's match (easy in hindsight) would have been as a small (defensive) forward with the big focus on defense and running with/shutting out the run off half back and through the middle of Houli. Was involved in many chains of running/creative play for them and one of the Tiger's best today IMO. Would he be capable of hitting the scoreboard as well for us? I still see Jetta learning his craft and earning his place (hopefully) in the seniors down back just as Roos seems keen on..... for now anyway.

Put me on that list pls. At this rate he might end up getting coach of the year

Im not sure we need another tall resting at FF with Jamar Chippy. I'd love to see us trying to find a player with genuine pace over the first 20 or so who can mark overhead on a lead. Then we just need to learn to pass it properly to him.. or find players who can We have Dawesy and hopefully Hogan next year. Not sure if Hulk is the answer but i reckon this is a must (quick lead up target) as an alternative to bombing it on top of a bullocking Dawesy and the Russian 80% of the time as we seem to have done for decades now. Plugger hasnt got a son playing by any chance has he?

Biff the scary part is i can't argue against any of that! Hec, i better keep things short n sweet from here and focus on other things eh

Haha... Sorry BZ i had to re-post and delete the first one. Yep it was that bad And thx!

All i know at this point Ron is that he can read the flight of the ball very well, is very good with the use of his body on body work in order to get his opponent off balance or the ball to his favour in a marking contest. When he does get free he's also bloody slippery and is damn sweet either by hand or foot. Very much a one touch player. Albeit he doesn't get it enough to be all that damaging at present. Maybe a fair way off from having a decent AFL tank? Could run a little harder to impact when we don't have the ball too IMO. If anyone's interested check out his nice work with 3:00 minutes to go in the first. Very classy and love the shoulder shrug out of the tackle (which ruined Dixons night i think). If he can fix some of the hard running stuff and get the ball a little more or run off his opponent a little more i reckon we've got a bit of a player here given enough time.

Guys i think like many issues on these matters the answer lies somewhere in between and also depends on the passage of play under scrutiny. If we scrutinised every player's passages of play (which the FD will be doing anyway post match for Monday review) you will find that there's improvement to be had in many passages, then there's some highs and some lows that need working on. In some cases a neutral outcome etc. For a high with both players involved (mostly Watts) please watch the piece of play from the ball up/stoppage with 7:05 left on clock in the first quarter. To summarise: Stoppage play. Watts spots Cooney on his own before ball up and decides to run with him. Wise move. Bail running alongside Cooney also sees this but allows Watts to go to Cooney. Bail Spots Dahlhaus on his right, also on his own, he points this out (not sure to who) and decides not to got to him (maybe under instruction if this is his direct opponent). So in this stoppage the 2 loose players are Bail and DaulHaus. Peddo and Jones compete for the ball up, the ball goes to ground as Viney works his way in front of Libba (who by the way holds/impedes him as he goes for the ball....no free kick) to get to the drop in front position (good work). However, after a brief tussle with Tyson, Boyd goes to ground and manages to get a toe into the ball while on the ground, kicking it just away from Viney allowing Libba to get first touch sliding in from behind. Libba then scoops the ball under him with one hand while being wing tackled by Viney. Trapped with the ball, Libba then throws the ball out towards Cooney (play on called by ump). Cooney grabs it off the ground quickly, feeling heat he shuffles (throws the ball) over to Daul (no free kick given). Daulhaus gathers the ball and attempts to run away from congestion but for Watts. He is right on to it and swoops on Daulhaus and puts on pretty much a perfect tackle bringing Daul to the ground. Daul still manages to get both hands free, but not being able to hand ball correctly from his awkward position (sitting on his butt), he flick passes (technically a throw) the ball out but unfortunately for him, straight into the arms of Tyson. The boys then work the ball away from the congestion nicely. Nev gets a woeful handball from Viney in all that and uses his body to protect the ball, gathers while being tackled but manages to handball off quickly but to the advantage of the oncoming Howe. With some nice "baulking/spinning" out of trouble work, Howe handballs to Tyson, then Watts who kicks a nice little short one to Matt Jones. He goes back to Watts who then spots up Chip on a lead. Frawley then looks to chip (yes that's an intended pun haha) a medium pass to the big Russian (or alternatively Byrnes who leads back and calls for it also). Byrnes, who just isn't aware of the oncoming carnage (or maybe he is and happy to put his life on the line lol), goes back to mark and gets crunched by the oncoming Russian and opponent. And this says so much about our play atm i think. Great work down back, and through the middle/at the stoppages. It's just that last kick i50 that is hurting us the most. Luckily JHK is smart, stays off the contest front and square, picks up, snap shot....however not enough on it and bouncing ball is rushed through. The big issue here is not what is happening so much with Watts not doing this well, or doing that well. It's what we do with the ball and how we set up our last kick from just outside 50. I think we had roughly 8 out of the last 11 i50 entries in that first quarter on Saturday. But we blew pretty much 5 to 6 out of those last 8 entries. Fix the i50 entry side and who leads when/where etc and this should result in us having more shots at goal. One aspect is to play to our strengths or make sure we don't use weaker ball users just outside 50 to try and deliver it with that last kick in a little better than we are at present. Eg., Say Bail or Pedo get it just outside 50..... make sure Watts/Howe/Nev or someone who is a better stab pass or just better using it by foot, are running past/or laterally for the give off so they can send it in with a better chance of hitting a target or putting it to the favoured side of a leading opponent or even the top of the square with accuracy if no other alternative. Byrnes, don't lead back into oncoming 6 foot plus giants (or at least glance up and realise what's coming and sit off the contest...ie., live to see another day and maybe even gather the crumbs and snap truly for goal). For a sample of Bail's short passing/option selection work, see 17:50 to go early in the first quarter. Same sort of clanger that occured when we were on top of Adelaide in the 3rd which lead to the ball being turned over and a goal to the Crows which IMO got them back into that match. This is effectively "a turnover" it just doesn't appear as bad as a turnover in the back half where the damage can often happen more quickly/directly, hence the impression in the observer's mind is magnified. In this example, Bail's short pass is way off the mark which results in a turnover deep in our forward line. The Doggies are clever enough to run it all the way around the southern side. They eventually bomb it long to a contest on their HF line, it spills out to a hard working Cooney who has worked his way (too easily) off Terlich (who had gone to him just before the kick) and he runs around the boundary with little pressure, kicking truly for the Doggies first goal. Potentially a 12 point turnaround or at least 7 (assuming a dodgy/rushed or set shot at goal up our end had Bail/Pedo been able to hit a target or at least not kick it/direct it, so poorly). A very similar result to Bail's short pass attempt to the Jones boy in the 3rd quarter against Adelaide. Not all bad on Bail's part though as he also did some good work around the stoppages (1 or 2 great tackles, working his way free to receive etc), but those bad turnovers (not to our advantage at all on the last kick coming i50) are really hurting our good work further up the ground atm. Edit: First attempt was a rough draft and a bit shoddy...a bit like many of our entries i50 atm

Special Edition of JYB with Tommy on SEN 1116 now!!