Demon Dynasty

Yep....that about sums it up for me. Just got home. Difficult to stomach but there's a few issues that were found short in today. Vince amazing first 2 and a half quarters. A little quieter late in the game. Tyson improving by the week. Looking all class and like he has more time than most in our line up. Nice. Cross another workman like performance. Jones boy needs to work on his disposal at times but in and under. Not great but serviceable. Howe was pretty good down back. Terlich too until he got hammered. We are carrying a few players. While Watts improved in patches today he still isn't strong enough (through the legs/core) IMO to enable him to beat or at least match his opponent both in the air and when the ball hits the ground on a one on one contest. He wins some of the time don't get me wrong. But he isn't getting anywhere near a 50/50 split required to break even. He is losing these battles far too often and we are paying a heavy price for it. Yes, he laid a few tackles, ran hard to get to contests, worked his way through traffic tonight and created some good forward momentum passes etc. Good positive signs .But he STILL doesn't appear to have the ability/strength through the core/legs to work himself to the front of a one on one contest, work his opponent off the ball or lead up hard and present. I'm neither a Watts lover or hater and i truly want him to succeeed. But the competitive one on one things in at crucial times in a match are the things you need to be capable of doing if you're going to be successful and REMAIN in a forward role. Byrnes just doesn't work hard enough when he isn't near the ball or in possession or near the drop of the ball. And he's not doing either of those nearly enough to warrant a spot in this team. Bail. Tries hard and generally looks ok in patches.......but he just aint getting enough of it or impacting enough around the ground. Needs to work much harder to earn a permanent place in this team. I would be hoping we can bring in one of the following to replace the last 2 players (Byrnes/Bail) at some point this year IF they earn it at Casey. From either.... Kent, Toumpas, Clisby and or Mitchie. And don't laugh. both Toumpas and Clisby rate much higher possesion/disposal/quality of disposal wise/contested marking etc, based on last years stats at AFL level. And this year Toumpas/Mitchie and to a lessor degree....Kent, also rate higher than Byrnes/Bail. We had a few "under done" players tonight. In particular Garland and Jamer. Both completely understandable given their lack of match time to start the season. I would add Byrnes in there as well.....but ...ummm. This hurt us big time in the last 15 minutes or so. I think the game last week may have taken it's toll a little on some of the blokes. The CramerFree really hurt us at the worst time. There were a number of gettable shots at goal we could have potted throughout the game which would have given us a bit of breathing room. I don't blame our loss on the Matty running miss. Guy ran his guts out all night and spread pretty well to create options, especially in that first half. He also hit up a few good lead up targets earlier in the match for set shots on goal. Played ok and is easily in our top 10 players this year so far IMO. Can someone please explain to me why we started Jones in our forward line in the first 10 minutes or so of that last quarter? We were breaking even/winning the middle contest until then IMO. The doggies got the first 2 or 3 out of the middle while he wasn't there and probably the first goal of the last. Quite possibly the "Match Losing" move of the night?? First time i've seen/heard a really passionate Melbourne crowd all over the ground in a few years. Probably since the last time we beat the Bombers in 2011. I really hate losing and i'm so sick of it. That win would have been a sweet addition to last week's effort. Opportunity lost.

Thats because DL many supporters are getting ahead of themselves. 2 wins and we feel like we've won a few finals or something. There is progress i agree but we're nowhere near a 3rd year in to a Roos tenure in a "like" sense at this early stage. We've beaten an undermanned Blues at one of their lowest ebbs when they had Waite and Garland (one of their few regular goal kickers) ommitted.. Nice win but. And we've had a good solid win and broken a hoodoo in Adelaide against a team which was as young and inexperienced as us on the day. A great win on its own no doubt. Some good solid signs in other matches excluding the Eagles. But lets not do a Richmond and get way ahead of ourselves... not just yet.

This is exactly the sort of talk the club can't afford right now. Just finding our feet after 7 years in the wilderness and the talk is warming up on a Roos successor. The only viable outcome here is for Roos to committ to the extra year, shut the talk up and remove any semblance of chatter from the airwaves (players' minds) for at least another 18 months while he locks in the culture and methods on the field and throughout the entire playing list/Casey etc.

Checker Hughes would be turning in his grave if he heard supporters/media referring to his "Mighty Demons" as anything but the Demons i would reckon. I support Munga all the way and never refer to our team as anything but "the Demons" or "The mighty Demons. Shame on anyone who uses the other limp wristed term... cringeworthy :-P

1. Started paying a few "Incorrect disposal" (holding the ball) decisions tonight which i thought was amazing. Very inconsistent though with some being paid and other obvious ones not being called. Call more of these correctly (eg., assuming there is decent prior opportunity) and what do you have? Less rolling mauls/stoppages. 2. A number of times, mostly Hawks players, the player was dragging the ball underneath and not making "a genuine attempt" to get the ball out. 80% to 90% were overlooked and called as a ball up. In particular the Hawk players seem immune to this and are able to create many stoppages as a result. Call more of the obvious ones here against the top players and teams and what do you have? Less rolling mauls/stoppages. 3. Many throws are being ignored. Nothing's changed here though (growing and more common now but has been prominent for at least the last 5 to 7 years for select players/teams) and the Hawks are the best in the business at the throw/shuffle pass/flick scoop (Lewis/Hodge/Cyril big offenders here). This is an AFL lead "ignore" though with the idea to "keep the game in motion" as much as possible so it appears that you're able to shuffle/throw the ball out if you are tackled without prior opportunity. Even with prior opportunity (where the determination of such varies from umpire to umpire and contest to contest) many incorrect disposals are still allowed. Call more of these around congestion and in favour of the tackler and what do you have? Less rolling mauls/stoppages. 4. On a lower scale, players near the boundary (both teams but mostly the Hawks) when being tackled or gang tackled near the boundary, are running towards the boundary (dragging the tacklers with them) in order to get the ball over the line. In rare cases, but they are there, this needs to be called a s a deliberate out of bounds and a free kick paid where it is obvious that is the only intention of the player in the tackle. But, until or unless the AFL changes direction and holds to the letter of the law via the umpiring fraternity (and i don't believe they ever will), it is imperative that teams lower down the ladder (like us) push the boundaries and learn to "skill up" on all of the above skills/tactics. If we choose not to we will never move the ball away and out of congestion as quickly as those teams (eg., Hawks/Pies/Cats/Coasters), who are well drilled/skilled in these tactics/methods. And in the case of point 2 and 4, we won't create as many stoppages when defending in order to limit quick ball movement of opponents when it is obvious we are outnumbered (or deep in defence) and another stoppage is necessary in order to re-set and get numbers to the drop of the ball.

Great news for the game. Great news for our young gun. Lets hope Lynch heals up real sweet and we see him back on the park in full flight ASAP. The Derminator, Ricciutio, Hawkins, the Ox and many other media scribes (Purple headed donk an exception) need to be thanked for their amazing push on this one. Without these big names weighing in heavily i very much doubt the AFL (Vlad) would have even allowed an appeal by a small player like us. Dermie can now head to his AFL Legends night knowing he contributed to a protecting the integrity of the game on this one.

Big boys have been protected for years Hood. Follow the money and you will witness leniency for some of the big names in the game

I have no idea what Brian's style was like Deeold but can i throw another player into the mix who needs some expert coaching with his kicking (i assume/hope he's getting it) and that T Mc. Ithink his limit is about 35 meters at full tilt or am i seeing things?

Robbie this has some validity i think. While i respect the 3 panel members have played the game at the highest level it's been over 2 decades since they did so. I was worried when i heard these 3 were involved in the hearing for the above reasons in your post.

You were spot on Jazza.What a great leader we have at the helm. Finally some real fight and not just bluster/blunder from Demon HQ. The worm is well and truly turning and not just on the field. This is a great sign for the players, us as members and yes even past disgruntled supporters, not to mention it's a must in order to overturn the injustice done to young Viney.

You might wanna BRACE yourself Undee. This could get a little BUMPy

It's ok to hit someone as hard as you can with an elbow to the head first and knock em out! But whatever you do, don't brace yourself in any pending collisions and bump!.... http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-04-27/gibson-on-report

Support flowing thick and fast.... Ollie Wines ‏@wines16 23m Don't think @jackviney7 would've even been thrown off the echuca primary school oval for that bump. #contestedball #winthefooty

Ok....

Sorry Dumbo, i'll try to get it right next time Actually i think his aggressive spirit will live through the playing group on the field. And his return will be an even bigger lift to them. You might be surprised out how the "us against them" mentality can be worked in our favor. Especially by a wise old owl like Roosy

Haha. Dumbo are you a mind reader or maybe a flat mate of Jack's? If not, then you have no idea what he will do post this verdict. And neither do i. This could change him as you say or, alternatively, it might just as well make him more demonic and just go harder but lower into the contest. Having watched Viney play a few games and having read his tweet this evening, i'd be putting my hard earned on the latter. I don't think he'll change his approach one iota and this result will probably make him more determined than ever to hit in hard.

His shoulder or head didnt connect with opponents head at any point. It was the the ricochet from a fair bump back into Georgeys head. Nothing in it... move on.

A great moment for Roos and his boys. Well said Sylvia. Long way to go but its the little wins along the way (big team efforts) that build the confidence each week.To me that match is the turning point from here. The belief from that one win will do wonders. Not saying we will win everything either but i just think we'll be in many more games and for longer than we might have thought prior to now.

Frawley experiment up forward over IMO. Get him out of there. Done nothing from what ive heard so far

Stats to half time mostly even with a few significant exceptions.... Uncontested Possessions Demons 123 Crows 96 Marks Demons 47 Crows 35 Contested Marks Demons 1 Crows 7 Marks i50 Demons 5 Crows 1 Hit Outs Demons 27 Crows 21 Effective Disposal % Demons 77 Crows 64 League Ave Approx Centre Bounce Clearances 5 a piece...Critical as we've been losing this most weeks so far. Crows slightly ahead around the ground. Spreading better, more marks i50 and using the ball much more effectively when we get it. And thats just on the stats alone.... ive seen nothing of game so far

Cant stop Danger from winning it on the inside even if u have a solid midfield. And comparatively our clearance work is the worst rated in the league at present. And who do we have to stop Danger's work on the outside when he gets loose? Vince/Cross/Viney maybe? (Good learning curve for Jack in short stints). From what ive witnessed we just dont work hard enough (Jones & Cross an exception) to get front possie in the stoppages amd hence get first use more often than our opponents. If this occurs again today and we cant slow Dangerfield up on the outside, then its the Crows by 10 plus me thinks. If we turn it around and limit Dangerfield on outside we might get within 5 or so.

Ok. So, the position on the ground where the shot at target (to player or at goal) takes place accentuates either the negative or positive of the resulting outcome. And those down back are unfairly weighted towards a more than likely negative outcome. Fair argument. Yikes, if correct....the only position i would want to play on the ground would be as a fixed, old fashioned FF, or at least...forward of center

Agreed, after all is said and done the scoreboard is a pretty fair indicator Norm

Those rankings only applied to Rnd 4. But even after Rnd 6 he is still outside the top 5 who have played so far this year, sitting in position 8. Still a good result. Suffered in the match against the Blues with a DE % of around 44. As your probably aware there's a fare bit of junk within that stat and in particular disposals out of the last line of defense so take it with a grain of salt. Just a very rough indicator of how well players "might be" using it. Sitting top of the table out of players who have played all rounds of footy so far is Georgiou with a percentage of 80.5

I would really love to see Kent take the next step Master. I think he'll be a solid contributor if given the right assistance, opportunity and allowed to settle into a specific role/position in the short term. Hmmmm.... words from the wise. BZ i can hear you saying... "Waiting waiting waiting" lol And it would appear, until now, that unfortunately nothing has changed. I'm sure Roos and team will be focussing their efforts here but in the end IMO this is all between Mr Watt's ears. Will Watts go "all in" on his defensive side and effort/attack on the ball and carrier when he/we don't have the ball... or is he just happy to plod along and rely on his talent with the ball and use his occasional evasive skills to hit targets/scoreboard? The ball is in his court. Let's hope he can turn this around.