Demon Dynasty

As I said at the start of the year...there's only about 8 AFL level players I would persevere with from the present list. Roos has also killed off any confidence the group may have had after his "teach them how to play AFL, club is strapped for cash" etc comments a few weeks back. Watching a little of the trianing in the week leading up to the Dockers match, they looked rudderless and that is how theyve played since. Roos is the coach.... he is there to get them up each week but atm failing badly. Not much on the park to work with but hasn't helped his cause of late and is in danger of losing most of the group. Stating the obvious but massive clean out looming at years end

There is actually no holding the ball rule even though the umps sometimes refer to it as that in their call... as far as i understand it is incorrect disposal. Strict adherance to this rule and there will be more throws/incorrect disposals paid. This equals many more frees being paid and congestion being cleared after the free kick instead of "another" maul being potentially formed as more players get around the contest and attempt to close the ball in for another throw up/stoppage.. Throwing has now become an art form amongst most AFL clubs and players. The game is now unrecognisable from the style and intent that AFL was and is meant to be played from roughly 5 to 6 years back and certainly isn't the AFL i grew up watching through the 70s, 80's, 90's and early to mid 2000s. Ditto red eye. I can no longer watch other AFL games of football and am slowly turning my eye to the round ball and also more intensily towards NFL from here. Both sports are rarely tampered with by the rule makers and you know exactly what the rules are most weeks, with some minor tinkering by the NFL once in a blue moon. No need to watch replays. This is part of the game now. Just watch the disposal/throw with one hand by Liberatore when being tackled by Viney as he lay on his back with about 3 minutes to go in the last quarter against the Doggies. 3 umpires and 2 boundaries around the ball and only 2 players involved and "not one" umpire could see a blatent one handed toss lol. Too funny. But unfortunately the game has literally gone to the Dogs! There were 3 critical non-decisions against us in that last 3 minutes against the Doggies.... 1. Vince was clearly held by the guernsey when going for the ball after a ball up 30 meters out directly in front. No penalty. 2. Libba clearly threw/tossed the ball into the air when being tackled by Viney in the Doggy's HFF. 3. Murphy was clearly caught holding the ball running off the defensive square by Barry. Yet the one tiggy touchwood free that was very marginal WAS paid, in the back to a doggies player with the ball in dispute in the middle of the groud just after the last miracle goal by pokeinyourbelly. This is what frustrates fans into turning away from our once great game. I am one of those. After 44 years i'm switching off until i hear they've fixed both the crazy 120 interchange and throwing/tossing/shuffling the ball as well as paying incorrect disposal as it should be paid after any half decent prior opportunity (ie., 2 to 3 steps after taking control of the ball). You can say that again rjay. 120 interchanges (more if you take subs etc into account) and the umps inability/incompetance or unwillingness to pay enough incorrect disposals (frees) for throwing the ball are killing this game, ironically by not paying free kicks as required under the written rules and ensuring further numbers are able to get to the ball and hem the ball in for a further stoppage ie., slowing the game down! This and the fact that we still have all Bomber players (some of whom admitted to taking) who more than likely took banned substances still playing the game 18 months after the drug scandal broke!! They shouldn't even be fielding a team at the moment. The AFL and the game iteslf has now lost all credibility IMO. I will continue to support the club financially but that's it for me. I'm over AFL. I will continue to watch the highlights of our matches and the occasional match but i'm over the rest of the comp. It's just unwatchable now and too frustrating, even when watching two teams i don't follow.

Lol jack....just saw that

I think he does Sylvia, when he can. And that's mostly early into his stint on the ground as i'm not sure his tank is up to AFL level yet. Should improve with 1 or 2 more pre seasons. But he does get into the spaces well early i believe. Just runs out of puff fairly quickly into the 2nd half of matches which impacts his general play. I'm not either BZ but yeh, a slight step up on these 3 IMO. Might not be the answer long term either but i'd rather see him out there developing in the cauldron vs those 3 at present. I still think Terlich is a slim chance of improving his disposal/decision making (preferably at Casey though). At least i hope so. He at least gives us some run off HB at times albeit the disposal decision making often lets him down. I don't hold out much hope for the other 2 though. Seen enough now. And M Jones isn't far behind

Yep...he's Mr 2 Face and has yet to prove he is up to this level once the ball hits the ground or in a one on one aerial dual. Falls over way too easily like a young rooky in his 1st season.. Problem is he aint a young rooky in his 1st season anymore. Personally i would put him out to pasture now....maybe play him 2 out of 3 games, definitely retire him early at season's end as well and tell him to start bulking up and working on his core strength on the off weeks/end of season for the remainder of this season in order to give him a head start into next year. We all know Wattsy doesn't lack or need more 'skill' training. He needs core strength and some brute force/power through the legs in order to win more one on ones/take more contested marks.and work off his opponent when on the lead instead of falling over so often.

I would have a 'developing' Toump in the side anyday over Bail, Nicho or Terlich. He aint gonna learn much at all playing with a very average Casey where the coach is 'rumored' to be at odds with the Roos method. Reads the play well, quite a decent overhead mark, a little on the slow side but is at least a better pass by foot to a lead up player and a much better decision maker/executor than these 3...by a country mile.

Yes mate. Spot on with Bail and Nicho. Neither offer a decent football brain in any situation except if gifted the ball directly in front from 30 meters out. Even then i'd be covering my eyes. The decision making of both players in general play when under little or just perceived pressure is atrocious. Then there's the kicking skills. T MC, Grimes, Bail, Nicho, Terlich and unfortunately a very out of form Garlo's atrocious kicking skills mean we are bound to bleed goals when rebounding out of 50. And we don't win enough center clearances, even against very average opponents, to avoid the ball sailing into our defensive 50 more often than we get it into ours. And dropping JKH after one poor sub result late in the 3rd against the Pies (i think) has to be one of Roosey's worst decisions this year IMO.. Had he been coached better and not been allowed to wander into our backline off the bench and stuff up a few clutch plays he'd probably still be playing instead of Salem/Barry/Kent. And up forward where he's about our only half decent crummer/goal sneak. JKH isn't a great disposal by foot either compared to the ablove and gets very little of the ball but when he does, provided he's played up forward, he sure knows where the goals are.

Guys don't stress too much. Remember the AFL have an agenda and are managing most of these games very carefully along with the rigged fixture. Anyone playing out of shityhad is always going to get a nice ride from the umps vs teams that aren't playing out of there (the start up clubs would be allowed some forgiveness no doubt). We'll never beat many teams based at shityhad unless we get an absolute kick ass team on the field at some point that's at least 4 to 5 goals better than our opponent before the bounce as that's is the advantage they will get (on average) during most matches against non shityhad based teams. Shityhad/AFL need it's 'base' teams to win as much as possible wherever possible.

That's nothing unusual Clint. We've been on the wrong side of the dogies going back to the days big Jimma was rucking. They always get the soft ones when needed at the death nell and anything we deserve is overlooked. Nothing new here

The last time these two teams met the outcome hung in the balance until the last 10 minutes.... Oh Fark.... i just wanna see us win a game at Shitihad once before i die. Just kick this sorry excuse for a club's arse off the park boys would ya! Is that too much for all us long sufferings to ask!!! (How's that grab ya Jack? )

Just printed mine off. Thanks vm auto! nice work

Very interesting argument from Cameron Rose off 'The Roar' on contested possession stats. Very hard to disagree with him here. Highly overrated stat and too much emphasis placed on stats in general within AFL circles at present. Enjoyed his take on David King as well! http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/06/17/contested-possession-stats-bull/

I agree very much on the first part jnr On the second, i think it's a little chicken and egg. Because we don't have enough players with the skill to deliver the ball accurately by foot, they are unwilling to take the opposition on, run forward and try and hit a lead up player (or even just kick it to a forward's advantage) as many just seem too scared of fluffing it and seeing the ball go over their heads for another goal. Hence many of the lessor skilled players tend to instinctively look behind, instead of up the field or inside like the top players in the better sides do, as first priority. Either handballing behind or a short easy chip lateral or behind just to lay off and not have the potential embarresment of a big clanger on their hands. We also lack a turn of pace in order to break free of the man on the mark or the initial attempted tackle after playing on that would allow a player the extra time and space to get that forward hit up pass off successfully in most cases. The above means we are forever sending the ball behind us with successive handballs and/or chipping sideways. We also overuse the handball when doing so as weprobably find it's just easier an easier method of hitting a short target in close. Handballing also puts more pressure on generally as it is a "play on" situation. Hawthorn also look to work the ball across their back half in a similar fashion to us with the switch etc (as do many others), trying to stretch their opponent and find holes as they work the ball forward. But they obviously utilise thier fabulous kicking skills, so much more than we do, to control the flow of the game. Take a mark and you have a choice. You can hold up play if you are covered or move the ball quickly again if the opportunity is there. With a handball there isn't this luxury. You must play on. This allows clubs that are reasonably well drilled and skilled at defence to push up on us and hem our boys into our back half, playing much of the match there, just sweating on us to make our next turnover once we eventually try to make a move forward, which you eventually have to as you run out of defensive space behind. It is no coincidence that we hold the record this year for the most number of yards gained, going backwards. It's somewhere around 1,700 yards lost going backwards with the ball. About 700 to 800 more than the next team if my memory serves me correctly. This is all well and good if you have 2 or more half backs who have a great turn of speed/agility/ability to read the play, are able to break through lines and have decent disposal skills with the next kick towards the 50 meter area to player on the lead or inside 50 if they make it that far. Sydney are also in the top 3 for yardage lost with backwards ball movement. But they have Malceski and Shaw running amok much of the time, able to counter the severe reverse movement (comparatively) and move the ball out and through congestion off HB much quicker than we can at this point. At this stage, we don't have one player i can think of that offers us this luxury and IMO this is why we have such a massive discrepancy in inside 50s differentials almost every week. I see T Mc and Garland trying to a degree, but falling well short on the skills, decision making and disposals much of the time. Although last year Garlo seemed to make some significant progress here. His injury has obviously set him back. An injury free pre season should see him turn this around. In addition our forwards and the forward lineup are still a long way from offering us anything dangerous when we do make it inside 50 and in many cases the players making that last attempted kick have a long way to go with their delivery/decision making if we are ever going to kick winning scores on a regular basis against decent opposition like the Roos yesterday.

6. Vince - highest output by MFC player this year? His stats would suggest so. Just a pitty no one else could go to this level and assist today. What Big Red Said up there re light... ughhh >>>>>>>>>>> 5. Cross 4. N Jones 3. Watts 2. M Jones 1. Pedo

The Bomber supporters around me at work have gone strangely (or not so strangely) quiet. As have Blues and Tiger supporters haha. I still gave it to em at every chance though along with a mechanic in our workshop. Really hoping we hit the Roo boys hard this week. Shocking record against them in recent times and i'm dead sick of losing to em....especially at their specialist ground where they are harder to beat (Shitihad). And the next cab off the rank....Hawks supporters. Probably have the highest percentage of arrogant supporters i've ever encountered. There was one at work, who i suspect isn't even a paid up member, slagging off at me and workshop guy during the week. He was laughing as he said "you must feel as if you've won a premiership?". I Said "Funny mate, but nope. Won the last 5 outta 6 ... got the wood on em....result wasn't even in question" walked away laughing at his ignorance. And this coming from a turncoat who changed from Geelong in the mid 90's lol. I would rank Hawk supporters No.1 on my hit list followed by Bombers, Pies, Roos and last but not least Adelaide (roughly in that order). The other annoying and unjustly noisy fans around the workplace tend to be Blues supporters still seemingly living off their success of the 70's and 80's. I find many of them are big talkers and severley one eyed. However, most aren't even members or, if they are, they only joined in the last 4 to 5 years once they started seeing a bit of a turn around after Juddy joined. That's not to say many of the supporters and members from these same clubs aren't decent either, there are plenty of good people amongst them as well. Just my view of who has the "most" arrogant mix from my own personal experience over many years.

The Roos train is a rollin' on ....

Great feed DD thx mate. Just finished watching the replay. Finally the boys have become the Hunters. Starting from about the 15 to 20 minute mark of the 3rd when Essendon had the foot on our throat and game was almost gone....they decided to go for it and they never stopped from there. Reward for effort. Dunny, TMac, Jetta, Pedo, Cross, Watts, McKenzie, Kent, Viney, Salem in the final term and so many other great passages of play in that second half. Great win by the crew. Hopefully we can do the same this week and hunt down the Roo boys.

Some great scalps there and nice summary Perago. I always thought he looked raw but a great prospect if he worked hard enough and was managed well. He was chopped in and out of the team last year but was also fairly green and possibly lacking an AFL tank although that's complete conjecture on my part. I think Roos has allowed him to settle and feel as if he belongs and has obviously given him a basic but important defensive role each week. So far it's working like a treat. Looks in peak condition and fitness and appears to have stepped up this side significantly from last year, to his credit. Always a good ball user, up to round 17 last year he was ranked 2nd in disposal efficiency...just didn't get enough of it and to enough contests. 8th in the tackle count as well (average per game). Sits on top of the effective disposal percentages this year! Also 6th in the 1 percenters (to be expected of course as he's mostly defending) and 7th in tackles. Still a ways to go but coming along very nicely so far.

I believe that's a 149 point turn around from the last time we played em. Hmmmm.... not too shabby

I feel like celebrating like this guy.....umm....then again

You FAAA$%$%KIN BEAUTY!!!!!!!!!!!

Watts still unable to win a one on one contest Common boys

?? He must be handballing amazingly well then Kent is ranked 4th in the team in disposal efficiency % so far this year

Me too.... embryonic stage but much upside there i reckon. Need to give him continuous game time at this level though if he's to improve his confidence etc and cement his spot

And just as i say that lol