Demon Dynasty

Yes there is that minor problem

This might sound strange but i'll also miss his media interviews. You could feel the pride and joy about representing the club oozing out of him. A stand out fella. While i umderstand nothing stays the same, it's hard to believe we've lost him and Harmes this side of three years post the flag. This one cuts deep and i'm sure a number within the playing group would also be pretty upset over this.

Can't agree more SU. I also felt ill with the lack of public fight on this. The MFC to often takes the softly softly route. Certainly didn't work on this occasion. Need to be more proactive and aggressive where needed. The Pies & the AFL, lead by their outsourced (tied) media circus, were all out to get their mate Bruzz into the prelim and a GF. They got everything they wanted and more! Job done.

If it works L why not! I avoid driving now whenever possible.

We should start a new thread on the pitfalls, potholes and joys of road travelling around Melb. Sounds like you need a heavy duty electric bike L

Is there any chance an in principal deal's already been made in a Houston swap?

Yep a season to forget and just got worse as the weeks rolled on. Back to the old mantra "there's always next year!"

Endurance yes but im just thinking about Nibbler's running speed over distance. As in his ability to quickly get from contest to contest. Charlie seems to lope along a bit but is that just his running gate to the eye? Regardless, finding a replacement equivalent or better than Nibbler wont be easy. He also grew into this role and mastered it over many seasons.

I get your drift Jaded and yes my numbers were based on over night with little traffic so accuracy not best. Traffic can add 10 to 30 minutes etc. Fact is that whenever you need to travel about 10kms or more in Melb these days it becomes a bit of a shiitefest and in many cases a nightmare unless it's between about 11am and 2pm ish. Even then it can still turn sour 😄 Driving in Melb now is mostly annoying and stressful. So many nuffies also

Rnd 5 vs Brisvegas was the canary. Rnd 10 vs the Eagles we just fell apart against a badly out-of-form team who had more intent and wanted it more. Soon as Lever went down we juat seemed to look disinterested with May having a shocker also (probably still carrying rib/back issues at that point?). Teams also know that if they switch and play possession against us for long enough they can pick their way through our leaky grass minding and eventually launch to a dangerous spot or hit up quick / smart leading options inside 50. SG rarely goes man v man very often to arrest momentum for some reason. And not saying many teams do that across the ground but they'll have a core group doing it, usually to make sure key oppo players are covered plus the corridor options. The rest still guarding grass during these attempted 'lock' periods. I also tthink oppos know we don't bat very deep through the middle without Gus and especially after the loss of Tracc and an out-of-form under done Clarry. I'd suggest any team would struggle trying.to cover three similar problems in their midfield though. But what that weakness does is, it encourages them to keep up the tackle / pressure, maybe put a run with on Vines if needed and have some quick zippy HBers running off the square for receives after the 666 bounce and Bob's your uncle. We also try and cover Max with JVR through the middle which has been a fail all seaaon for mine as it robs JVR of the energy and focus that he should be directing into a solely KF role, robs us of the structure he provides as that KF and also doesn't really work as he rarely wins hit outs to advantage. As i harped on about all season, we should've at least trialled Fullo in the JVR chop out role for a short block to see how things went with JVR staying forward. This also could've allowed Petty to go back again and he then covers McVee off who may have been able to be slowly blooded as another rotation through the middle. Petty in the ruck was also mostly a big fat fail. And should've been either dropped to Casey to help find form early in the season or moved back under the above trial scenario imv.

While you're correct in that you can't please everyone, Caulfield RC is roughly 25 minutes from Lysterfield, Casey approx 29. Probably the same once you throw extra burb traffic in to Caulfield during the mad rush hours. I live approx 15 minutes east from the CBD which is a fair way but still dread going out to the boggy marsh of Casey. 35 minutes (or more in traffic) vs approx 15 to Caulfield RC. 40 minutes saved is a fair wack. Even coming from Bayside where many players live, it's still approx 45 minutes to Casey vs approx 12 or so to Caulfield. That's an hour saved each time plus they have some eateries to go to right next door. Whichever way you look at it, Casey vs Caulfield RC most likely involves significant extra travel time for many players, especially once you factor in the return trip. Someone living Bayside close to Frankston / Seaford is about the only time you might save about 10 min going to Casey vs Caulfield.

Thought Simon was also pretty out there expressing his feelings post match etc. To have just crickets after that from our top brass while we were also copping it from all and sundry in the AFL's "Just a Footy Act from poor Bruzz" cheer leading media circus was a poor effort imv. Having met her on a few occasions now i love Kate's passion and personality but her and Perty really went missing on this one for mine. Same with the Caulfield attempt. I think we had a brief update about three months ago or so but nothing since? Maybe there's been little or no progress since but that doesn't mean they couldn't send out a brief update. If i was rating them out of 10 since the GF i reckon Pert's sitting on about 6 and Kate about a 4. For comparison PJ a 9.5! Love to see him back at the club.

Agreed but does he have the flat two way endurance running speed that made Nibbler so effective in this role?

Personally i think Brown is the only likely possibility to play Nibbler's 'pocket' role from those you listed Dr. Even then, realistically he might be two more pre-seasons and experience away that would see him up for the role anywhere akin to the runing levels and defencive cover ability of nibbler. Is McVee a more likely chance if we bring in Houston? The FD switched him into his first serious game time in the middle over the weekend with 22% CBA. His average attendance prior to that this season was 1%. Surely that wasn't by accident, although it also might have been forced on them with the massive form slide of Clarry in the last six weeks or so.

Like a leaky boat. I can't recall many other clubs of late that leak so badly and consistently. Find the rat and exterminate pls MFC!

Big loss in all those aspects if this goes ahead. The experience factor as well. A hard act to replace. 2024... the year that keeps on giving.

Round 22, 2024 MCG - Demons vs Power Our champ having a horror finish to the season. I don't have the desire to troll through the records but i suspect this is Clarry's worst rated game for the year. He also finished in the bottom quartile of all player ratings. Why would you keep pushing a player so out of form to keep on keeping on? Surely manage him through till the end of the season both in this match just gone and from here on. Or... let him choose between that and playing a few chilled games at Casey. If his finger has flared up again and causing more woes then why play him at all? Max having a super game with his number one 5.82 rating reflecting this. However, he did produce a much higher rating and his best for the season in Rnd 11 vs the Saints with a massive 7.20 Pretty ordinary result from JVR and it would appear Melky may have hit the wall with the same poor rating as last week. The team rating was still a fair way off Port's with their top six rated players having a slight edge over ours. Although a -22% result vs 2023's rating is an improvement on -30% the previous week vs the Dogs. Salem, Vines, Pickett, ANB & Petty putting their best foot forward. And finally a substantial contribution from Sparrow. The stint at Casey appears to have helped his game since returning last week! Player Rating Rank 2023 Season Rating % Change vs 2023 M Gawn 5.825 1 3.350 73.9 C Salem 3.900 2 2.993 30.3 T Sparrow 3.850 3 2.811 37.0 Jack Viney 3.525 4 3.707 -4.9 K Pickett 3.450 5 2.101 64.2 A N-Bullen 3.225 6 2.532 27.4 H Petty 3.025 7 2.718 11.3 T McDonald 2.675 8 2.054 30.2 J Billings 2.650 9 - - T Rivers 2.625 10 3.696 -29.0 A Tomlinson 2.500 11 2.915 -14.2 K Chandler 2.100 12 2.265 -7.3 K Tholstrup 1.925 13 - - Ed Langdon 1.925 13 3.057 -37.0 M Hore 1.925 13 - - J Lever 1.825 16 3.131 -41.7 J McVee 1.650 17 2.320 -28.9 B Howes 1.575 18 2.235 -29.5 B Fritsch 1.400 19 2.324 -39.8 C Oliver 1.375 20 5.002 -72.5 D Turner 0.825 21 1.825 -54.8 J V Rooyen < 63% 0.425 22 2.170 -80.4 J Melksham > 19% 0.250 23 1.599 -84.4 Team Score 54.20 69.86 -22.4 Top 6 23.78 24.43 -2.7 Bottom 6 7.25 15.17 -52.2 < Subbed out TOG % > Subbed in TOG % Power Player Rating Rank T Boak 5.750 1 D Houston 4.450 2 C Rozee 4.250 3 J H-Francis 3.975 4 Z Butters 3.925 5 K Farrell 3.575 6 J Burgoyne 3.425 7 A Aliir 3.200 8 B Z-Thatcher 3.075 9 W Drew 3.000 10 O Wines 2.900 11 J Sweet 2.375 12 M Bergman 2.350 13 L Evans 2.300 14 L Jones 2.175 15 C Dixon 1.900 16 D B-Jones 1.875 17 Q Narkle > 47% 1.425 18 J Mead 1.375 19 W Rioli 1.250 20 T Marshall < 30% 1.125 21 E Ratugolea 0.550 22 F Evans 0.350 23 Team Rating 60.23 Top 6 25.93 Bottom 6 7.60 Combined Ratings Player Rating Rank M Gawn 5.825 1 T Boak 5.750 2 D Houston 4.450 3 C Rozee 4.250 4 J H-Francis 3.975 5 Z Butters 3.925 6 C Salem 3.900 7 T Sparrow 3.850 8 K Farrell 3.575 9 Jack Viney 3.525 10 K Pickett 3.450 11 J Burgoyne 3.425 12 A N-Bullen 3.225 13 A Aliir 3.200 14 B Z-Thatcher 3.075 15 H Petty 3.025 16 W Drew 3.000 17 O Wines 2.900 18 T McDonald 2.675 19 J Billings 2.650 20 T Rivers 2.625 21 A Tomlinson 2.500 22 J Sweet 2.375 23 M Bergman 2.350 24 L Evans 2.300 25 L Jones 2.175 26 K Chandler 2.100 27 K Tholstrup 1.925 28 Ed Langdon 1.925 28 M Hore 1.925 28 C Dixon 1.900 31 D B-Jones 1.875 32 J Lever 1.825 33 J McVee 1.650 34 B Howes 1.575 35 Q Narkle > 47% 1.425 36 B Fritsch 1.400 37 J Mead 1.375 38 C Oliver 1.375 38 W Rioli 1.250 40 T Marshall < 30% 1.125 41 D Turner 0.825 42 E Ratugolea 0.550 43 J V Rooyen < 63% 0.425 44 F Evans 0.350 45 J Melksham > 19% 0.250 46 Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Another example of how AFL related media looks to construct a narrative via the use of selective innuendo style reporting to up it's online traffic via click bait. In Tracc's own words he was advised to remain in isolation for a number of weeks following surgery due to the spleen being compromised. While this report got the "No visitors were allowed other than his parents and fiance' " and "frustration" parts correct, they conveniently exclude that he also (reluctantly) accepted the necessity for the isolation in the weeks following the injury & surgery. It is my understanding that the club also remained in regular contact, looking out for his interest at all times, during this period of isolation. This part was also omitted in the above report.

Nornally i'd agree but he had a bit of a mare up till being subbed. Bin sunmed his night up pretty well. Like many he tried super hard but fluffed too many gettable marks, was terribly fumbly at ground level and failed to split the middle. My bugbear in this match was the reasoning behind continuing to play a very out-of-form and unaccountable Clazz. He appears to be checked out from about three weeks ago. Why not being Fullarton in for him. Allows us to move Petty back with May out to assist there. McVee can then be pushed into the middle to take Clarry's role for the rest of the season. Too late for last night of course but a fit, defensively minded and disposal efficient McVee is surely a better option than Clarry right now? Fullarton in also means you can throw him to the wolves to assist Max which would've left JVR to focus all his energy on his forward role & craft. Not saying it would've worked or changed last night's result either but surely worth a try. We had nothing to lose anyway and just might have snapped the losing streak against a very in fomlrm team. Solid effort from most and can't question the committment but oh boy, the selection committee, forward/ mid connection (still), lack of a genuinely dangerous KF, poor ball skills plus the game style remain as the outstanding unresolved issues for mine.

Deck chairs

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 21, 2024 vs H&A Season 2023 Player 2024 Rating 2024 Rank 2023 Rating % Change vs 2023 2023 Rank Change in Rank vs 2023 C Petracca 4.476 1 4.707 -4.9 2 1 Max Gawn < 4.106 2 3.350 22.6 7 5 Steven May 3.741 3 3.213 16.4 8 5 T Rivers 3.484 4 3.696 -5.7 5 1 C Oliver 3.464 5 5.002 -30.7 1 -4 Jake Lever < 3.268 6 3.131 4.4 9 3 C Salem < 3.226 7 2.993 7.8 12 5 Jack Viney 3.088 8 3.707 -16.7 4 -4 Ed Langdon 3.029 9 3.057 -0.9 10 1 Judd McVee 3.006 10 2.320 29.6 22 12 T McDonald 2.933 11 2.054 42.8 27 16 A N-Bullen 2.929 12 2.532 15.7 20 8 A Tomlinson 2.915 13 2.915 0.0 14 1 J Bowey < 2.679 14 2.820 -5.0 15 1 K Pickett 2.461 15 2.101 17.1 26 11 T Sparrow 2.437 16 2.811 -13.3 16 0 B Howes 2.315 17 - - - - J Billings < > 2.309 18 - - - - C Windsor < 2.275 19 - - - - M Hore 2.273 20 - - - - K Chandler 2.181 21 2.265 -3.7 23 2 T Woewodin < > 2.156 22 1.406 53.3 34 12 J V Rooyen 2.121 23 2.170 -2.3 25 2 B Laurie < > 2.111 24 2.235 -5.5 24 0 A M-Wakefield 1.933 25 - - - - L Hunter* < 1.838 26 2.939 -37.5 13 -13 K Tholstrup 1.808 27 - - - - B Fritsch 1.769 28 2.324 -23.9 21 -7 J Melksham 1.580 29 1.599 -1.2 32 3 H Petty < 1.540 30 2.718 -43.3 19 -11 S McAdam* 1.483 31 - - - - Ben Brown < 1.391 32 1.941 -28.3 28 -4 D Turner 1.316 33 1.825 -27.9 31 -2 C Spargo* 1.200 34 1.886 -36.4 29 -5 J Schache* 0.700 35 1.525 -54.1 33 -2 K Brown* > 0.125 36 - - - - Team Rating 64.75 69.86 -7.3 Top 6 22.54 24.43 -7.7 Bottom 6 13.51 15.17 -10.9 * Played less than two full matches (in total) < Subbed out at least once or more (player rating could be somewhat comprised) > Subbed in at least once or more (player rating could be somewhat comprised) Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Champion's no doubt targeted their business at corporates (broadcasters) and clubs L. Obviously the prices they're getting from them are in a diff league to anything you & i could afford. But they could also possibly tier their packages and give a bit to the punters without giving all of the really core / key stuff away that they'd need to reserve for the corporates. Unfortunately the punter is left having to listen / watch the 'experts' picking their way through and choosing from the best available stuff. Some of which involves more $$ being forked out by the punter for shows on fox & Kayo (if they want).

It's one big money making circus now L. This stuff used to annoy me as well but over the years i've slowly learned to switch off. Their decision making is mostly driven by that and has been for many decades now. The same goes for the rule interpretations but that still gets to me as i feel it often changes momentum and the outcome of some games. Probably for the same reasons above 😅

Bar Rivers entre' into the midfield and the progress of Windsor there hasn't been much to get excited about this season DZ. 70.5 is a big team rating for the Dogs and roughly where we were at in some matches in 2021. We averaged 67.2 in the H&A season that year and posted a 69.5 in the GF Daniels, with only 19% game time, pretty much matched the ratings of our two key small forwards in Pickett & Chandler! Obviously they probably didn't get the service with inside 50s but regardless, we are nowhere near the level both in a form and a work rate sense since Round 9 vs the Blues which was three months ago now. Combined Ratings Player Rating Rank M Bontempelli 6.200 1 A Treloar 5.800 2 B Dale 4.850 3 T Rivers 4.625 4 R Lobb 4.300 5 L Bramble 4.300 5 J Bowey 4.275 7 C Poulter 4.125 8 M Gawn 4.100 9 B Williams 4.075 10 T English 4.000 11 T Liberatore < 63% 3.725 12 J U-Hagan 3.500 13 C Weightman 3.125 14 R Garcia 3.050 15 C Oliver 2.975 16 T Sparrow 2.950 17 Sam Darcy 2.750 18 L Jones 2.650 19 Ed Langdon 2.525 20 Ed Richards 2.475 21 J V Rooyen 2.425 22 K Tholstrup 2.300 23 L Vandermeer 2.200 24 J McVee 2.200 24 J Lever 2.150 26 B Howes 1.925 27 A N-Bullen 1.875 28 Jack Viney 1.850 29 R West 1.850 29 S May < 40% 1.800 31 H Petty 1.800 31 B Khamis 1.750 33 A Naughton 1.600 34 T Duryea 1.600 34 T McDonald 1.525 36 T Woewodin 1.500 37 K Chandler 1.475 38 K Pickett 1.475 38 C Daniel > 19% 1.425 40 A M-Wakefield 1.300 41 B Fritsch 1.225 42 N Coffield 1.150 43 L McNeil 1.100 44 D Turner > 51% 0.575 45 J Melksham 0.250 46

Round 21, 2024 Marvel - Bulldogs vs Demons No comment! Scoring Efficiency Bulldogs Demons Disposals Per Goal 24.6 34.9 % In50s Goal 23.1 23.1 Conversion % 42.9 65.0 Average Attributes Western Bulldogs Attribute Melbourne 189.6cm Height 186.9cm 86.9kg Weight 86.6kg 26yr 6mth Age 25yr 7mth 116.9 Games 113.3 Total Players By Games Western Bulldogs Games Melbourne 4 Less than 50 7 7 50 to 99 5 4 100 to 149 2 4 150 to 200 4 4 200 or more 5 Player Rating Rank 2023 Season Rating % Change vs 2023 T Rivers 4.625 1 3.696 25.1 J Bowey 4.275 2 2.820 51.6 M Gawn 4.100 3 3.350 22.4 C Oliver 2.975 4 5.002 -40.5 T Sparrow 2.950 5 2.811 4.9 Ed Langdon 2.525 6 3.057 -17.4 J V Rooyen 2.425 7 2.170 11.8 K Tholstrup 2.300 8 - - J McVee 2.200 9 2.320 -5.2 J Lever 2.150 10 3.131 -31.3 B Howes 1.925 11 2.235 -13.9 A N-Bullen 1.875 12 2.532 -25.9 Jack Viney 1.850 13 3.707 -50.1 S May < 40% 1.800 14 3.213 -44.0 H Petty 1.800 14 2.718 -33.8 T McDonald 1.525 16 2.054 -25.8 T Woewodin 1.500 17 1.406 6.7 K Chandler 1.475 18 2.265 -34.9 K Pickett 1.475 18 2.101 -29.8 A M-Wakefield 1.300 20 - - B Fritsch 1.225 21 2.324 -47.3 D Turner > 51% 0.575 22 1.825 -68.5 J Melksham 0.250 23 1.599 -84.4 Team Score 48.85 69.86 -30.1 Top 6 21.45 24.43 -12.2 Bottom 6 7.55 15.17 -50.2 < Subbed out TOG % > Subbed in TOG % Bulldogs Player Rating Rank M Bontempelli 6.200 1 A Treloar 5.800 2 B Dale 4.850 3 R Lobb 4.300 4 L Bramble 4.300 4 C Poulter 4.125 6 B Williams 4.075 7 T English 4.000 8 T Liberatore < 63% 3.725 9 J U-Hagan 3.500 10 C Weightman 3.125 11 R Garcia 3.050 12 Sam Darcy 2.750 13 L Jones 2.650 14 Ed Richards 2.475 15 L Vandermeer 2.200 16 R West 1.850 17 B Khamis 1.750 18 A Naughton 1.600 19 T Duryea 1.600 19 C Daniel > 19% 1.425 21 N Coffield 1.150 22 L McNeil 1.100 23 Team Rating 70.50 Top 6 29.58 Bottom 6 9.38 Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com