Demon Dynasty

I had a good chat with Melk late last season at a Casey match (he was an observer). While we chatted about many things, i did manage to sneak in a question specifically about "loading". His response... "What's loading?" lol So i tried to explain the theory as exposed on here re ramping up training eg; through extra track work / sprints / gym work outside of the usual training program. His response.... "We just train and hit the gym. Yes there are weeks where we do some extra work ie; on a long break between matches, but it's not something i notice or am aware of. You may be referring to training 'loads' which is just another term for the amount of training we are asked to complete on the track each week. Aside from that there's specific programmes for individuals coming back from injury etc but that's about it"

Gadzooks! Will we ever fix this!?? Simon should allocate at least one entire training session every week to ensure we are NOT doing this. Even if it means moving Stafford aside and taking over the whole session.

This is now plausible with Marty's return. Tomo's a big solid boy, a VG overhead mark and he's a decent kick of the air conveyance. The only trouble is, in general you can't just swing such a dramatic move and expect player X (whoever that is) to suddnenly gel as a forward after having played his entre career as a winger or 3rd stringer tall backman. Would need a decent stint on the training track imho if this were to have any chance of working. You would also get some idea as to its feasibility as a coach by trialling on the track first. I'm not adverse to the idea though, subject to the above. And neither should Simon. He needs to start considering trialling these sort of options assuming we have a back up player sitting in the wings. Which we have with Marty. I reckon you would know within 2 to 3 sessions as to whether Tomo is capable here prior to even attempting it in a live game.

Fullerton pls but still not expecting a massive uplift. How far off, if at all, is BB? Has the surgeon worked a miracle? Yes to the rest. Laurie & Spargo were woeful and SHOULD be having a VERY difficult time getting back into this squad instead of being gifted games. Same with Chandler. Hasn't hit any form to suggest he is worthy since early 23. I would start blooding Moniz & Woe (once fully fit & in form) ahead of Chandler & Laurie. Give them a decent block of games to try and find there feet. I seriously don't see how Spargo gets back into this team IF Billings & / or Woe step up and start showing something.

Disagree we fluked a flag. That was years in the making. All credit to SG, the boys and the club here. They aren't easy to get into let alone win one. But selection integrity severly dented on Thurs night with Spargo getting the nod over Billings. Guy plays and trains his arzz off and plays in both praccys only to be usurped by someone who barely hit the training track the week leading into round zero and coming back from inury. Not the way to build solid player & team morale imv.

As i have said for the last two seasons and early on in Thursday night's match.... "my kingdom for a genuine power CHF". The bolded excerpt below from Dermy tells the tale in terms of not having a genuinely dangerous tall forward. It's also incredible to think that we are still persisting with an ex ruckman (Stafford) as our forward line coach more than two years after attempting to fix our forward line issues and not having any lasting success that consistently stands up (to this point) against the more rated oppo ... “I think Jacob van Rooyen has got some talent and he can mark the ball above his head but the thing about key forward play is that you’ve got to recognise the trigger and it’s less than a second, it’s ‘this ball is coming this way I’ve got to be in the right position’. “Previous to the trigger moment you actually have to start in the right position, and he doesn’t have the right starting position and I don’t know who’s teaching him or not teaching him those little tricks. “They are impotent without ground level players"....

100% on Toby. One of the best on GF day Showed he had something special on occasions at senior level as well. Shouldve been retained ahead of a number of other similar role players

Is Hogan BOG so far??

Giants out of defence.... Use the entire ground✅️ Take space by foot whenever presented✅️ Run and spread quickly linking up with precision kicks much of the time. Contrast this with our 'Run out of the square and bomb it long to Max' about 70%-80% of the time

Hard to watch Jesse when he's playing like this ... grrr

Cadman VG there... lovely assist from Jesse

Jesse again. Always looks better when playing angry

Nice from Jesse

GWS playing the mark as per the Bulldogs ... preferring the 'outside 5' option to cover space behind the ball

Thanks Mr Fence. Fraser was ok on his day. Thought he might've got one more year and was super unlucky to miss the GF & a medal due to concussion. A great club man. He joined in the Casey premiership celebrations after the match and kept his chin up nicely. Pretty sure he went over to Perth and was in the mix for the post 21 flag celebrations with the senior boys as well.

Yes time needed to rectify this as we are too far off our best for a miracle turnaround in one week imho DZ. We are potentially two to three matches with an injection of NOS players coming back in and replacing the NQRs before righting a bit of a wonky ship me thinks. Hopefully proven wrong next week. Kozzy back and maybe even BB but i have no idea where he's at fitness / AFL readiness wise as i write this. Will check on that soonish through the Casey praccy reports and see what's being said.

That would explain the high tackle count. No doubt some great efforts to shut down the ball carrier but as you say, if he was being lead to the ball too often and giving up alot of first use then that would be to the detriment of the team regardless. As per usual, the eyes tell the tale. Best to only use stats/models as a rough indicator of who 'might' have performed on the day and/or form trends over a period of 3 to 5 weeks or more if you desire. Some refuse to look at them at all of course. I prefer to use both eyes & stats, but never stats on their own. Not without major caveats and only if i just cant get the time or wherewithal to watch the game eg; overseas and no time / coverage etc.

Very nice first up game from the youngster. There's always the odd outlier when putting these ratings together Adonski and always room for improvement with the way the ratings are devised. Far from perfect. However he did have the most tackles of any player on the night (9) and the equal lowest turnover count of any of the mids (alongside Max) so that probably bumped him up the table a little. Although the low turnover count could also be a reflection of less time spent through the middle vs others and/or less involvement at contest etc. So who knows. Watching the game i also felt he was pretty ordinary. A number of others that would also usually post higher ratings had a pretty poor night (statistically) also such as Max, ANB, Rivers, Bowey (inj) & Lever. Then there's the outs such as Kozzy & Hunter. A better result from some of them and/or a few of the outs returning and you might see Sparrow getting shunted down the rankings somewhat. Having said that, i don't think his game was worse than say Lever who's sitting at 14 which is a fair chunk away from the 20 you mentioned Have to agree though, his game didn't seem to be good enough to warrant a top 5 finish so might need to make a small adjustment and give it a trial run.

I've said on a few occasions... we should have a serious benchmark where we do not recruit or trade in anyone who isn't an elite kick and a decent overhead mark. These should be non-negotiable skill requirements when looking at any draft / trade options. I'm not saying we don't either but IF we don't then you would have to be pretty worried about what we're doing and where we're heading as a club.

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 0, 2024 vs H&A Season 2023 A sea of red vs season 2023 average ratings bar Viney, May, Sparrow, Mcvee & Tomo. Obviously the new fellas don't have a history & have a get-out-of-jail-free card this season (vs 2023 ratings). Even though Salem posted a negative rating vs 2023, it was only a minor one and seems a fair result given his role change. Take no notice of Bowey's numbers given only 48% game time. Schache & Laurie... umm well let's just say their game wasn't great and the ratings reflect this. And that's being very generous! The team rating down a massive 18% on Season 2023's average team rating (top 22 rated players). Having said that, the 2024 ratings from round 0 are a one off and we need to be patient. At least 5 rounds or so needed before we start to see more meaningful ratings and form indicators/trends taking shape vs 2023 ratings. Player 2024 Rating 2024 Rank 2023 Rating % Change vs 2023 2023 Rank Change in Rank vs 2023 Jack Viney* 4.675 1 3.707 26.11 4 3 Steven May* 4.650 2 3.213 44.72 8 6 C Petracca* 4.250 3 4.707 -9.71 2 -1 C Oliver* 3.800 4 5.002 -24.03 1 -3 T Sparrow* 3.525 5 2.811 25.40 16 11 B Howes* 3.425 6 - - - - Judd McVee* 3.425 6 2.320 47.63 22 16 A Tomlinson* 3.175 8 2.915 8.92 14 6 C Salem* 2.900 9 2.993 -3.11 12 3 Max Gawn* 2.700 10 3.350 -19.40 7 -3 A N-Bullen* 2.325 11 2.532 -8.18 20 9 C Windsor* 2.300 12 - - - - B Fritsch* 2.100 13 2.324 -9.64 21 8 Jake Lever* 2.075 14 3.131 -33.73 9 -5 T Rivers* 1.950 15 3.696 -47.24 5 -10 J Bowey* 1.950 15 2.820 -30.85 15 0 K Chandler* 1.900 17 2.265 -16.11 23 6 Ed Langdon* 1.825 18 3.057 -40.30 10 -8 J V Rooyen* 1.700 19 2.170 -21.66 25 6 C Spargo* 1.200 20 1.886 -36.37 29 9 B Laurie* < 0.775 21 2.235 -65.32 24 3 J Schache* 0.700 22 1.525 -54.10 33 11 J Billings* -0.050 23 - - - - L Hunter - - 2.939 - 13 - H Petty - - 2.718 - 17 - K Pickett - - 2.101 - 26 - T McDonald - - 2.054 - 27 - Ben Brown - - 1.941 - 28 - D Turner - - 1.825 - 31 - J Melksham - - 1.599 - 32 - T Woewodin - - 1.406 - 34 - Team Rating 57.33 69.86 -17.94 Top 6 24.33 24.43 -0.43 Bottom 6 8.10 15.17 -46.61 * 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

Team pressure in the last quarter.... gadzooks!

Round 0, 2023 SCG - Swans vs Demons How do you open a narrative about round zero after that opening performance? By saying SFA and getting on to the numbers that's how! 🤐 Viney just pipping May for the No.1 mantle. Tracc not far behind followed by Clarry. Not a bad effort from Claz given where he was coming from but still a mile off his best. A fair bit of daylight the rest. Great opening salvo from the first gamer Howes! Windsor also taking the winger's club honours by knocking off Langdon! Billings posting a negative rating suggesting a not so good debut unfortunately. Bowey with a low 48% game time due to the shoulder injury. Bring on Round 1 back at the home base where there would have to be a wholesale improvement to have any chance of posting our first W against the Doggies. Player Rating Rank Jack Viney* 4.675 1 S May* 4.650 2 C Petracca* 4.250 3 C Oliver* 3.800 4 T Sparrow* 3.525 5 B Howes* 3.425 6 J McVee* 3.425 6 A Tomlinson* 3.175 8 C Salem* 2.900 9 Max Gawn* 2.700 10 A N-Bullen* 2.325 11 C Windsor* 2.300 12 B Fritsch* 2.100 13 Jake Lever* 2.075 14 J Bowey* 48% 1.950 15 T Rivers* 1.950 15 K Chandler* 1.900 17 Ed Langdon* 1.825 18 J V Rooyen* 1.700 19 C Spargo* 1.200 20 B Laurie*< 42% 0.775 21 J Schache* 0.700 22 J Billings*> 38% -0.050 23 Team Score 57.33 Top 6 24.33 Bottom 6 8.10 * Only played one match, not an average rating < Subbed out TOG > Subbed in TOG Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Thanks Wheelo... i'll start it up tonight

Clarry is also guilty here. They need to cut that [censored] out of their game. The oppo doesn't give a toss and there's no upside from a team perspective. Maybe a hand shake or a brief exchange after the siren has sounded if your opponent hasn't been a pillock.