Demon Dynasty

Was very hard to watch last night. The desire & effort was still there. Has the heart of a great competitor but just couldn't make many of the contests he needed to and was then asked to play time in the middle for Max which is just not his gig. As to why we didn't bring Shack on for T-Mac in the 2nd half to relieve Max in the middle and at least provide a target at FF and ruck duties there (or put Max there while Shack took the CB ruck duties) is mind boggling. The next logical question is, why was he ever sub in the first place? At a number of ball ups inside 50 in the second half we had either no designated ruck or Tracc going up against Pit lol.

I hear you but Grundy rarely marks inside 50. Gawn a slight improvement but not that much better either. I'm not sure why anyone ever thought, or still believes, that Grundy (or even Max) was going to offer up a marking target as a forward or part-time forward. He just wasn't or isn't a forward in any sense of the role and was a fair way off LJ's ability here as well (if that's what Goody & Co. were hoping to replace). In fact all three are not that impressive when played up forward as a part-timer but Jackson def has the edge. Player averages this season... Marks Inside 50 Gawn 0.7 Grundy 0.4 Jackson 1.1 Contested Marks Gawn 2.3 Grundy 0.8 Jackson 1.2 Marks on a lead Gawn 0.3 Grundy 0.2 Jackson 0.6

Yep but we also tried (and failed) to turn him into a HHF / quasi tall mid instead of letting him hone his skills as a KTF. We were also unlucky with him in 2018 as he was injured just before the finals and pretty sure he missed it all. I'm not sure us cursing him for his body language was the reason he left though. It was pretty shizen at times. That's just a fact. The same thing went on with Richo for years and he just stuck it out, kept fronting up and continued to hit the scoreboard (still the most goals in total at the G by any player i think?)

That should've happened last year. Instead we went after a post injury (no longer AA) Grundy Terrible decision and not said in hindsight. Disliked it from day 1 A waste of a list space and ultimately an entire season of experimenting "in the hope that he might solve this or that".... The club also seriously needs a decent sports psychologist. It STILL doesn't get up and win often enough when the expectations are high or in big games facing a pretty hostile crowd. It's either a soft underbelly and/or poor coaching / game style as witnessed by four consecutive losses in finals at the G. Possibly a bit of both! We are STILL also a very ordinary team in wet or greasy conditions. That needs fixing in the off season... not ignoring and continuing on as if all is fine. We also traded out or watched on as most of our speedy players left the club which resulted in a pretty sluggish team (foot speed to get the pill to the outside or get to the loose ball/oppo on the outside) become even more bogged down and sluggish. THIS ONE WAS SUPER COSTLY IMHO and now needs solving as it has impacted any ability we had to transistion the ball with speed into the 50 and give our forwards a fighting chance more often. Hunt was a big part of our 2021 success in this area prior to his unfortunate injury which was covered off by the intercept work & clever ball use of Bowey during finals. Having said that we were certainly cruelled up forward with injuries in the second half and you always need some luck in this regard to get through to a PF let alone a GF. However that does not explain away four losses on the trot.

FCS get a new forward line coach. Been calling this since half way through 2022. Would Gary Ablet Jnr be available? That's if he'd be willing. The lack of method, craft. leading and the number of poor deliveries is laughable. Whatever Choco's doing with his goal kicking academy isn't working. How Kozzy can't split the middle from 30 meters out directly in front is mind boggling. Often struggles to make the distance even from there. His approach / method has not changed one iota this season under Choco. No penetration and rarely converts. Ditto Spargo and Chandler. Our other smalls / small - mediums rarely hit the scoreboard either. Same with our mids. We just aren't getting the return from the above in front of goal.

And his accuracy from set shots.

Imagine having a dopple ganger of May up forward who could kick straight... ughh

Shocking first three quarters. A complete liability. Thought he turned things around a little in the 4th. Can't recall sighting Sparrow much in the first half either. And what's happened to Viney!!?? Three of his last four finals appearances have been ordinary to say the least. And the other was barely 'ok' compared to his usual H&A standards. He had an amazing 2021 finals series and has pretty much turned to crud since.

Forward craft, forward pressure and ground ball gets inside 50 and at CBs. Getting severely beaten at CB clearances much of the time now. All need addressing. The way we bring the ball into the forward line. Continuing to attempt to play smalls & small mediums in Key Positions. Having it fail time and time again. Yet continuing to persist with it as if at some point it's going to pay off. Well guess what Simon, it hasn't worked all season and didn't work AGAIN tonight with Kozzy. Mind you some of the delivery too him was just ridiculously stupid with a few exceptions. Goal kicking and the ability to choose the correct method! Example, some players using their burst speed to escape congestion 40 meters out 'directly in front' (or thereabouts) but instead of continuing on, steadying and kicking it from straight in front with a straight leg kick, we take a few steps and try and hack it around the corner and miss!! (Kozzy & Lingers last week from the advantage, Tracc tonight in the 2nd quarter). Another ordinary game from Chandler for mine. Far too many in the back half to keep holding his place. AMW a chance next season but even then i'm not sure he'll make the grade. Seriously should have kept Bedford. Did we consider matching GWS's offer or were we just happy to let him go without a fight? Gave away any speed we had in Baker (probably the right call), Hunt (fair enough to a degree as he had a shocking 2022) but to also seemingly not fight all that hard for Bedford? Our last really zippy small on the list outside of Kozzy & AMW that had showed he had potential with his few limited entries as sub, then straight back to Casey. Now we need some speed, class and finish in in the middle (outside mid), we probably need a player to fight for Linger's spot. Terrible for most of the night and hasn't been anywhere near his 2021 form (consistently) since. Maybe Howes at some point can take on this role. Or Woe who has played in this posi quite a bit at Casey although i still think he'll be a better outside mid at some point. No neither of them have the tank right now but if we can get them up to speed a little more in the off-season. Their ball skills and strength at the contest will be a big step up on that of Lingers imv. And we simply have to land a Tall Power Forward who can take clutch grabs and kick clutch goals. Very draining and frustrating watching this team blow so many gettable chances for two seasons now. How good was May tonight though? Worried about how long he'll have left as well. Also thought Spargo was very good on his return. Smith did ok up forward in the 2nd & 3rd i thought. McVee VG until his rookie mistake towards the end. There were others who tried their guts out such as Hunter & Max but still didn't impact much. Can't think of too many others who stood up but after such a harrowing exit 2 years running i'm probably not noticing a whole lot either. The decision to sub Schache 👎🏼 The decision to sub Scache then leave him on the bench when Macca had had a mare in the 1st half (after a shocker the week before) 🤷‍♂️👎🏼 The club has also just created a finals flopper rod for its back. There'll be so much pressure now just to win even one final as all eyes will be on us expecting us to fail and all clubs will reckon they're a chance as we have proven it to be fact now. Good luck with that going forward.

To the [censored] Demon supporter behind me (we were just back of the main cheer squad in M4) who complained about me behind my back .... "He's not even part of the cheer squad and he's screaming all night" Firstly i wished i'd heard that directly and not 2nd hand after i'd left the ground. Secondly, i am part of the CS (paid up member more than three years). And maybe you could join in next time instead of whining all night about ppl in front standing up. Other than that, losing another very winnable final, wondering why we picked Schache and then didn't use him, had so many horrid disposals and forward entries, crappy forward craft most of the night and missing too many set shots, i enjoyed the rest of the night.

Just cant win enough centre clearances

Good effort to get in front but so much wastage. Tracc & Viney coming inside bah. They have a spare in defence you cant kick to the top of the square! Find a man or go over to the fat side, Why are we not using the snap on tight angle shots? Our forward craft is just rediculously bad. Not great at ground level inside 50 bar Kozzy on a few occasions and Fritta's crumb further out in that quarter.

Is it time to go Neuclear..... Schache on to take over a fair wack of the CBs? Max to take anything forward of center and also push forward? Scache takes the defensive half contests. Getting smashed at CBs anyway. What's to lose?

If he hadn't checked out ....but also Ruckmen rarely make it as sub. Can't recall one?

Didnt book tickets through the D.A. but sitting right in the throng haha

Love to see Goody start the match in the box tonight. Make sure the boys are playing the game in the shape / style he's expecting first. If all's well then he heads down as per normal after the first 15 mins or so or from 2nd quarter onwards

Good luck to all our boys. Let's go Demons! Bring the heat!!

Make of it what you will.... Ye olde Barassi pub in Richmond, Mt View, usually flies the two club's flags and almost always both flags are on show. The Demons flag is in full flight While the Blues one is tangled around the pole and not on show

Fellow Minions and beloved d'landers attending the game tonight ... yes that's you.... Please ask yourself, are we just supporters or can we add to this match as barrackers, just as we did on QB against the filth! ....I EMPLORE EVERY ONE OF YOU....TO STAND TOGETHER AS ONE MIGHTY DEMON ARMY TONIGHT. I KNOW MANY ON HERE ARE ALREADY GREAT BARRACKERS AND NEED NO ENCOURAGEMENT BUT LET'S LIFT THE ROOF OFF. AS GREAT AS THEY ARE (and i'm sure there are plemty on here...i'm also one of them albeit nothing like the full on serious players that lead them like Ryan, WC etc) DON'T LEAVE TOO MUCH OF THE HEAVY LIFTING TO THE OFFICIAL D.A. BE EXTRA LOUD TONIGHT NO MATTER WHERE YOU'RE SITTING (EVEN THE MCC) RIGHT FROM THE OPENING BOUNCE!!!! LET'S GIVE THE BOYS A HUGE LIFT AS THE 19TH MAN AND BRING EM HOME NO QUARTER TILL THE FINAL SIREN! CARN THE MIGHTY DEMONS!

He should be but his performances in his last three matches or so, including the small entre' he played at senior level were bog ordinary. I'm not sure why he was re-signed and the non-selection of late confirms that the FD have zero confidence in what he might bring on the day. There was even the talk of looking to play Disco forward, that's how bare the cupboard is. Maybe those performances were post the re-sign? Hope he turns it around but not good signs at the end of the Casey season.

Cripps is carrying rib damage. I doubt it. Better to smash into him. Hope that's on the agenda for tonight when the opportunity arises

Also arms wrapped around impeding his run. Plus over the shoulder scragging. The former is an attempt to block his run but it rarely if ever gets called. The oppo rucks also run at him without eyes on the ball and often don't touch the ball at all yet no blocking calls come. Cox the extreme example at last week's opening bounce. You can impede a ruckman's run but only if you end up touching / tapping the ball while doing so. If you miss the ball completely and don't end up contesting it then it's a free to the oppo ruck (according to Razer). We also need to have some group buy in and instructions from the coach so that players are pre-empting the oppo coming off their line to bash into Max and instead are getting to them first (where possible).

Looking at our last three finals losses. One of the common themes here is Viney well off his usually high level H&A performances. Basically when Viney's well off his best we tend to struggle. He's our version of Libba in the sense of giving us a stack of first use clearances when he's on. The majority of our first use pretty much left to him and next in line... Max. The oppo are probably putting significant time into stopping him just as they do with Max. So whatever we do tomorrow we need a strategy to counter this as well as the barrage on Max. Plenty of blocks for both. Use JJ and Sparrow as alternate extractors in place of Viney (albeit inferior ones) for short stints with Viney maybe spending a bit more time on the bench or forward? Goody and the FD have surely seen the light by now and have come up with a cunning plan!?? I'd be interested to hear other suggestions from you guys.

Quite possibly or... he just needs to be managed... or he was left out for match up reasons. Risky to toy with form at this time of the year imv in terms of 'saving' him for that one role. I also feel he's a key spiritual character that the boys love to play alongside so not sure this is the greatest timing from that POV. Especially risky for Hibb as he is reliant on us winning to get on the park again. Not that coaches tend to take these factors into account at the pointy end. Just whatever's best for the team on the night/day as we witnessed with chunk with the GF selection. No matter the reason in a round-about way it does give the players even more incentive to get through.

Seems to be one week on then the following week or two he hits a physical wall or something. Compromised pre-season no doubt impacting. Not sure where Hibb is at here either but if he was right to go i'd probably be putting him in ahead of Salo for this one. Keep in mind about 2/3rds of the team did not show last week. That surely can't happen two weeks running. If it does then some big questions will need to be answered as to the why. Fingers crossed we don't have to go there.