Lucifers Hero

Updated for Harmes signing a 5 year deal. He will be 29 at the end of this contract. Has all the makings of a Demon for life. Lifelong supporter. And hopefully a one-club player! He is right on the cusp of 'peak afl player' with 5 pre-seasons and 91 games. Look forward to a great year from him.

Quite right F5 - an oversight on my part. Not many picks are used after #100. Perhaps if #97 comes in to around #75 and the next one comes in again we may get the 4th pick in there. Perhaps it depends on who is available late in the draft. If no reasonable prospects we keep a spot open for the SSP (Harley Bennell) or a DFA (Harley Bennell) .

Love the James Harmes story. Started as a rookie for the team he loved and grew up barracking for. In his early days he said he knew he was on the fringe of 'best 22'. Well young man, you have come a very long way since. Play any role your team asks: tagger, midfielder, inside/outside, defender. Love the way he plays and absolutely rapt he has re-signed. Not many players get 5 year contracts at the dees - shows how highly the club thinks of him (and that a few clubs came calling at trade time!).

Summary of the interview (paraphrasing): Pick swap with North – looked at next year’s draft which is compromised: 30% of top 30 tied to someone else. Look at the DVI but deal needs to advantage both clubs. We had a bit of interest in pick 3 during the trade period as it effectively becomes the first live pick. Pick 97 is expected to come in significantly. Lots of chats with other list managers re how draft/pick swap scenarios might play out. Had two days with list management and day one they went thru top 20 to 30 players. On second day they looked at the next 25. We are looking to use 3 to 4 picks in the draft (LH note: we only have 3 right now so maybe a split is on the cards). Re picks3: Have 3 players in line for pick 3. Luke Jackson is in that mix. We’ve done a lot of work on him. Don’t see him only as a ruckman and could start his career as a forward. Hayden Young in the mix. Had a bit to improve and has done that. Excellent decision maker and execution. At pick 3, you choose best available. Don’t outsmart yourself! Pick 3 won’t necessarily influence what happens at 8. Tom Green in the mix for pick 3 (LH note: sounds like we rate him highly and would bid for him) Pick 8 -lots of good players around that pick: Taylor mentioned Kemp, Robertson. Interviewer mentioned Ash, Serong. (LH note: my impression was Weightman not in the mix at that stage). Harley Bennell: Shown resilience. Long process to go. (LH note: Taylor didn’t sound excited but then he is quite laid back) On 2018: Some things didn’t go our way. Some mistakes were made. Players are smarting from last year. Proof will be in the pudding. SSP and mid-year draft dilutes the mature age draft pool. Petty is going to be a very good long term AFL player. Taylor excited about what Spargo and Fritsch can do. Players are in the club a fair bit and on their toes, as they should be.Feels eligibility for NGA and other academies could be scrutinised more. E&OE

He isn't going into a draft. He said he wants to nominate the club he goes to. Given he was being asked about meeting with the Dees he had to be positive about what the opportunities might be. Having said that he sounded genuine and focused. Cautiously optimistic!

I wonder if Brad Hill has helped get him to interview with the Saints. Competition for Harley heating up so some way to go yet.

Very honest but naive of Paddy to say on radio that he fudged his concussion tests. AFL to investigate. Paddy and Concussion Big roll of the dice for his well being to fugde them at all. He is a young guy desperate to play football. Its not an excuse for his poor judgement but better advice on the importance of the tests was required.

Thursday night games are almost as good as Friday nights for PR and sponsors as they are stand-alone FTA. Hopefully if we don't get Friday nights we get a few Thursdays.

Anyone else think that is a really boring Round 1 fixture...

^^^ The Sunday 3.20 pm time slots start right up front. Horribly hot at that time in Perth!!! No pre-season game in WA so every chance we play both WCE and Freo in Perth.... The club likes to have the first few games in Melbourne to get memberships rolling. Not a great start. Worse if we lose.

Dees Interest in Harley One step closer: It's believed a fourth Victorian side is bringing him back next week, while the Demons confirmed they plan to invite him to train with them in the pre-season from December 3. Bennell knocked back the chance to train with a team leading up to the national and rookie drafts, because he wants to choose his destination. We seem keen: "As a club, we have to look at every opportunity to make our list better, and Harley Bennell's obviously a very talented player," Demons football boss Josh Mahoney told the club's website."

That is how I read it. As a DFA he can avoid the draft it he trains with just one club from this week. I read it as he goes into the draft only if he trains with multiple clubs. Could be wrong.

A good update Harley Bennell Reading between the lines Sydney are red hot, Geelong lukewarm and Demons don't get much of a mention. Thought this was interesting: As a delisted free agent, Bennell is able to begin training with multiple clubs as of Friday, but if he does so he'll need to nominate for the draft. If not, the 27-year-old can begin paid training with only one club from December 3, where he will join that club on a trial basis and will be eligible for practice and pre-season games. The club will then have the option of picking him up in the supplementary selection period. We may get an early indication from Friday of his intentions.

Would be surprised if Daisy didn't regain the captaincy.

Firstly, correction to the above post. Adelaide were premiers in 2017, not Brisbane. Another Update to the Conferences noted in op: Conference A: Adelaide Crows, Gold Coast, Richmond, Brisbane Lions, Geelong, GWS North Melbourne. Conference B: Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Melbourne, St Kilda, West Coast Eagles, Western Bulldogs. The full fixture: AFLW 2020 Fixture For the Demons: This is a very good fixture for us. Despite my fears yesterday, of playing the top teams in Conference 2, we play a new team (GCS) and North. Very lucky to avoid Adelaide, Richmond and Lions. The only downer is a poor long haul travel schedule with back-to-back games in Round 6 in Alice on a Saturday and then over to Perth for a Sunday day (!!!) game. But they are our only two interstate games so nothing to complain about. Last years problem with the Conference system is amplified this year: There will be 5 teams in the comp that each team does not play. Hardly, a good way of determining the best teams to play finals which will be the top 2 teams in each Conference. We have a very good chance of making finals in that we are in the 'easier' Conference. The two tough teams we play are North and Bulldogs. We must make the most of the opportunities the draw gives us this year. Each year we have kicked ourselves out of the finals with poor goal accuracy. Hopefully we fix that this year.

I have a sense we are late comers to the Harley love-fest. The question is will he choose us over Sydney, who have been courting him for many months or Geelong who have plenty of sal cap left fro Kelly's departure and more likely to play deep into the finals in the near future. He is 27 so that may be important to him. Exciting if it happens but feeling a bit gun-shy after the Jamie Elliot and his Manager's antics.

The fixture drip feed starts: Carton in the FTA Wilderness No Friday nights and few FTA time slots. They "...only featured in seven games telecast on host broadcaster Channel 7...that trend is set to continue into 2020, with a similar number forecast by insiders". Note: that was written by staunch Blues fan, Sam McClure. But it seems they may get some Thurs nights and Saturday time slots. It will be interesting to see how our FTA and prime time spots compare to Saints and Carlton. While we had a poor 2019 we had 3 previous years of consistent performances so we don't deserve to fall behind them in the better FTA time slots.

AFLW News The Conferences are: 1. Collingwood, Carlton, Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, Richmond, Fremantle, West Coast 2. St Kilda, Geelong, North Melbourne, Adelaide, Greater Western Sydney, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Past Premiers: Western Bulldogs, Brisbane Lions. New Teams: Richmond, West Coast, St Kilda, Gold Coast On paper the conferences look reasonably even. However, it is the teams in the other conference that a club doesn't play that will be telling. So there is a fair chance the 'new teams' will not be fixtured to play the strong teams in the opposite Conference which means we are likely to play the top teams of Conf 2: Adelaide, Greater Western Sydney, Brisbane Lions. The Conference system hurt us last year (and we shot ourselves in the foot a few times) but a fixture featuring those teams from Conf 2 will make finals for us a tough ask. The tip is we will play Collingwood in round 1: "Industry sources suggested round one would feature a double-header at Ikon Park featuring Carlton v Richmond and Collingwood v Melbourne, as well as a meeting of the Saints and Bulldogs". Full fixture out Tuesday morning.

That is because our zone defence based game plan doesn't require that type of specialist on big or small players. Not saying I agree with it nor that there won't be times where that is a player's role for a particular game. Just the way it is.

If that is the case and can be medically substantiated, when the dust settles Paddy would have every right to take it to the courts. Clearly, a range of complex issues for Paddy. On the concussion, looking from the outside the Saints seemed to rush Paddy to play during games and after time out. Very different than what we did with Gus. We took him out very early for as long as it took. Very sad for Paddy to have even the everyday things in life taken away, in his youth. Even if he gets to everyday functioning it is several years out of his life he won't get back.

He will be a Delisted Free Agent so can go to the club of his choice. If what Drysdale Demon says is accurate and if he were to come back I hope Paddy goes to Sydney where they seemingly have successfully managed his brother's similar issues.

It was Pete Roberts, Football Technology Manager who was part of Mahoney's Football Department. I think he had been there 7/8 years. It is possible that he didn't keep up with industry changes. Glen Luff and Rob Younger are both ex Champion Data so would be really up to date and know how to use the raw data for decision making. We also have two Football Analysts. iirc there was a time when each line coach had their own Data Analyst but that seems to have gone long ago. I would guess the new Data Analyst role supersedes or changes some of Football Analyst/Technology roles. Hopefully the new role is part of the Coaching Group and not part of the Football Department as the coaches will be his primary 'clients' during the season.

Exactly. That is a typical example. Here is a link to his website with a host of such articles: https://figuringfooty.com/author/ryounger/ Understandly, the website hasn't been updated since he joined Port. I would imagine Rob will proactively create information for our coaches and respond to specific info they want about players and the impact of coaching tactics.

That was at Port. Some clubs use the title Senior Assistant Coach. I think both are the Head Coach's right arm man. So I'm guessing it will be Richardson for Goodwin. I think Goodwin was the SAC under Roos. If your question is who was our 'data analyst' I'm not sure we had one in the contemporary context. We have 'football analysts' but my guess is they use more traditional and less sophisticated techniques and tools than Younger brings.

I think this is a great appointment. There is so much data that it is easy for clubs to drown in it or traditional 'football analysts' to use it simplistically. It takes work and skill converting it to meaningful information that non techies can understand in an instant. That covers both the presentation of data and more importantly providing real insight into a game and extracting the important aspects for decisions and strategy . This is how he described his role at Port, on Linedin: Providing and communicating advanced statistical analysis of game trends, teams, and players to key members within the football department. Presenting team strategy and opposition analysis to the Head Assistant Coach both during the week and on gameday. Maintaining a stable data infrastructure with many different users and active data sources in Adelaide and around the country. Last year the Saints poached the Hawks equivalent to Robert Younger, Darren O'Shaughnessy who had been with Clarkson for 7 years. The is an essential role at a football club and look forward to the impact Rob's work has.