Yarra Valley Demon

Sunday 3.20 - Awful Marvel home game - Joke. We are not MCG tenants, we are the only MCG home team. No Thursday home games - big tick No Thursday away games - understandable No Friday games - understandable

Max has carried this side all season and his miss was far from the worst today. That shot he had was also off the back of 3 contested marks in 90 secs all over the ground to help keep the ball in our forward half.

3 things really stood out to me today watching from the stands. We too often get sucked into the middle of the ground from both ends simultaneously. The oppo forwards get space back and when we have the ball our forwards are too far up the ground and we end up with no one to kick to. Our basic skills are diving off a cliff. Error filled disposal from a team filled with premiership players is bizarre. We clearly don't do enough goal kicking practice. At least 5 set shots were missed within 40m and that's unacceptable. Changes for next week? Out : Fritsch, Jeffo, Tholstrup, McVee In : AJ, Melksham, Viney, Petty Respectfully i think Clarry did enough to keep his spot, fritsch has no pressure factor at all and melksham at least kicks 1 a game and dishes off a few and tackles a bit, Tholstrup of the 4 early picks over the last two years is struggling the most, AJ because I think at least two talls in the fwd line is needed and he is a better chop out in the ruck than roo and he provides pressure as well, Petty has sticky hands, mcvee didn't perform as well as the rest of the back group today I wish we had two discos. One forward and one back, bloke gets to the right spots regardless of what end he plays.

6 - Gawn 5 - Petracca 4 - Melksham 3 - Turner 2 - Viney 1 - Spargo Honourable mentions to chin, sharp, rivers, lindsay, langford

If petty is concussed he'll be out as well as melky. Might be a turner/aj or turner/roo fwd line next week. Fritsch will keep his spot especially if melky gets rubbed out

Tholstrup is having a shocker tonight. Overall skills very disappointing

Agreed, it's disturbing. This will make 4 of the last 5 games we've had him as an umpire.

Could be Tmac, he's performed the role capably in the past. It may be Turner provides forward 50 ruck duties, Tmac provides the d50 ruck duties and max doesnt have to run as hard between the ends 🤷‍♂️

I hope not. He has shown every time he has played seniors he can't quite make the transition to the next stage. I would give Sestan a block of games to show what he's capable of first.

Based on this and watching the game, I think AJ would have been a good selection. Can ruck, can (normally) kick straight, has some defensive drive and lays a solid tackle. Campbell is still to run out a game since his injury return so he'll be a couple more away while they get him to full fitness before he gives Max a spell

I agree Max is being used to carry the team load again (and as we have seen in the past, he can breakdown late in the season without a rest.) Speaking to Tom Campbell at the game last week, he is fully prepared and ready to assist Max (acknowledges that is why he was brought on board to help with Max's fatigue) which suggests the club is aware but are still waiting until he breaks down to put in the assistance he needs to see him at his best through the entire season. I think AJ would be the better fit based on form - I know Roo kicked 5, is younger and seen as the key pillar going into the future, but from what I watched AJ was harder at the ball, rucks moderately well, and provides a solid defensive effort as well - things Roo needs to get better at. Turner in isnt terrible, but without a solid forward line means he will likely go forward (which I dont think is his position at all). I would have preferred Sestan to come in off half back and let Rivers go mid most of the game

I feel like this is a danger game for us. Last year we were 6-3, hanging onto a spot in the 8, West Coast firmly planted in the bottom 3 and we went over there and got comprehensively rolled and the rails fell clean off the season. This year we are struggling badly, coming off two shaky wins and west coast are desperate to put a notch on their wins column.

Had a couple of shots at goal that he should have converted. Lead well all day, put pressure on at times and when he went into the ruck he was effective. I think he should get at least another week, played a role and played it well.

Turner out with concussion, Tholstrup will be watched closely for any late symptoms during the week you would think. Sparrow still needs a run in the twos, barely sighted again. Spargo is too slow for AFL. Out : Turner, Sparrow, Spargo. In : May, McVee, Culley

I reckon a lot of people were realistically more excited about the twos vs the ones until the result.

I'd swap Sparrow and Melksham. Langford and Lindsay both deserve more credit.

6.. Pickett 5.. Gawn 4.. Bowey 3.. Petty 2.. Viney 1.. Tmac

There's plenty of players toiling away in the VFL unrewarded, it's time to get some integrity back at the selection table. In : Fullarton, Jefferson(if fit)/AJ, McVee(if fit)/Adams, Tholstrup Out : Henderson, Sparrow, Petty, Melksham

Kicked a snag though so did at least one useful thing.

He's 25 actually so at least if you are going to have a dip, get it right. Perhaps mature aged recruit would suit better?

And get Fullarton in. I know the word is he can't ruck, but neither can Roo and I'd rather have Roo happy as a leading forward working on his craft then worrying about backing up Max poorly. Fullarton can back up Max poorly, add some height to the forward line and be a foil for Roo and Jeffo when he returns from injury. Then Fritsch can actually be a mobile medium forward, trac and kozz and chin can roam the drop of the ball and the forward line might work. Or get AJ back in as the second ruck/forward, the old bloke can actually ruck a bit.

Unless Jeffo has recovered from his hand injury he won't be in. Fullerton can kick another 10 in the next 3 game and he won't get a game because Goody hates him for some reason, Disco might get a chance.

We played Roo, Jeffo and AJ in week 1. Kicked our highest score for the year and only got rolled by 3 points and unlucky to lose that. Imahine if we had of had Kozzie in we would have won easily. Since then we've continually dropped a tall each week until now we are down to 1 (Jeffo is still injured in believe?), Melksham still getting a game for some unknown reason and the other two talls in Fullarton and AJ can't get a game because.... Goody?

Petty has given Jones two shots at goal playing 10m off him. Shocking

We are in for an awful night tonight, the team selection is so unbalanced. Doesn't matter how bad essendon are on paper, we won't connect forward of centre and fail to score more than 8 goals for the game. Happy to be proven wrong but can't see it happening.