Lucifers Hero

For those criticising Oscar this is from the mfc website vs Hawks: "Big O building - In just his sixth AFL match, 20-year-old emerging defender Oscar McDonald had a personal-best 22 disposals – Melbourne’s fourth highest ball-winner for the match". If I recall his DE was 70% - yes I know DE isn't everything but 70% sure ain't bad when your disposal is 4th highest for the team (behind only our 3 best mids) and it is only your 6th game. Add to that his smothers and spoils. All against the reigning Premiers. Not only that he plays to the coaches game plan!! What else do people want? He is more than holding his own. Doubt those in the VFL that are being touted here as replacements can boast that overall performance.

Daniher last year walking to the G, proudly wearing Demons scarf: Heart Beats True! http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-06-05/neale-daniher-reveals-hes-beating-the-odds-in-fight-against-mnd?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS+feed%3A+AFL+Latest+News Saw the program last night. Some emotional moments. He is an incredible realist. Quite poignant when he said: MND always wins. Daniher's MND legacy is far greater than his football achievements. Both testament to an amazing person. Up there with another of our Demon heroes that faced his illness and his fate with generosity, courage and humour, Jim Stynes.

Should be an interesting game! Leaky zone defence vs leaky zone defence? Whoever gets out the back most, wins! Port scored umpteen goals (7 uncontested from the goal square) by getting out the back of the Pies' zone defence when they went too far up the ground. Exactly, what Port did against us! Except this time it was their small forwards rather than Dixon. So Garlett and Kennedy play. Not sure who goes out of Harmes or Kent...lean towards Kent out - a bit too uncommitted for my liking yesterday.

While statistically it could all change, short of some big surprises: Final 8 is set (but not the order): Port will most probably stay on 9th as Crows have a game and good % over them. We will play it out with Carlton for 10th and 11th. Could come down to rnd 22. The rest are a game and big % behind us. Its rather deflating but the only real intrigue for us now is how many wins and who we will beat!

Port 19.11.125 d Pies 7.16.58. Cloke had a shocker 0.1 Bucks will be ropeable!! I guess next week depends on which Pies team turns up and which Demon team turns up. We would have to go in confident given that we beat them in 2015 and 2016

Our fwds consistently fail to 'put body' (legitimately) on the opponent when going for marks or contesting the 50/50 ball. If it happens it is half-hearted. Fix this 'pressure act' and all the other 'pressure acts' like tackling, 2nd efforts, smothering, knocking the ball down etc would be required less often. Fully compete at the first opportunity should be the mantra for our fwds! This would give our other fwds more opportunity/time to get to the contest. Atm the ball comes out too quickly. More effort required close to goals!

Ingles has seen the error of his ways and apologised! A revised article: http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/bernie-vince-fires-back-at-australian-nba-player-joe-ingles-on-twitter/news-story/4a182a0b94ffd66e24e7a543c68a0e2d ✔ @Joeingles7 Apologies @bvince23 - I'm just a passionate Hawker who was fired up over your tangle with Smith. Heat of the moment. All good Must have got a lot of heat for his dumb tweet!

How many? 3 missed from the 3 free kicks for ducking into the tackler all dead in front...got what they deserved and nothing to do with competitiveness. How many others? The original question was about score (behinds) differential and competitiveness. Do you have an answer or just prefer to nit pick that of other posters and offer platitudes like 'we should have done better' or 'to(o) many passengers' instead?

I'll try: 1. Not many of Hawk's behinds were missed set shots so not poor kicking by them. 2. There were a number of rushed behinds by our defenders. 3. Many of the behinds credited to a Hawks player were opportunistic off the ground shots. This was a result of the pressure and competitiveness from our (young troupe of) defenders. We guarded the goal square really well and Hunt fearlessly threw himself at everything. The comparison of inside 50 gives an indication of our competitiveness and how close the game really was: Hawks 58, Demons 50. We just couldn't get close enough to our goal square to capitalise with either goals or behinds. Make no mistake we were quite ferocious yesterday.

Some NBA idiot has a go at our Bernie on twitter saying: 'Bernie is garbage'! Loved that Big Tex Walker weighed in to support his mate! http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/bernie-vince-fires-back-at-australian-nba-player-joe-ingles-on-twitter/news-story/4a182a0b94ffd66e24e7a543c68a0e2d

Sorry, meant to say Kent...still on 1st cup of coffee...will fix post!

Have a look at some of Petracca's tackles yesterday. He ragdolls them! Also the way the whole team hunted Mitchell at every opportunity - Vince had him down a few times. And my favourite when Evans ground Frawley into the dust in the first quarter. Frawley was face down and Kent wouldn't let him up as if to say: "take that you traitor..." Hunt did a bit of damage as well. I'm sure a few Hawks went home feeling battered and bruised.

Yes, Jack looked slow but so did every other player as the ground was heavy and it was scrappy football. The ball wouldn't bounce so no player on either side went for a run, not even Jeff when he had an open paddock in front of him to run into an open goal. But I noticed that Jack has great poise, took his time to dispose rather than just belt it somewhere, and made good decisions. He has a good footy IQ and similar traits to those we admire in Jack W. Its a really good time for Jack to come into the team - a few games before the bye. The young guys will start to tire later in the season and if Jack T stays physically fit and increases match fitness he will fit very nicely into our team, especially as we really need a few mid 20 yo players to carry the load.

Scott and Selwood have been bleeting for weeks about the unfavourable to them, free kick difference...meekly saying they need to get better and not give so many away. Really just a poorly disguised jibe at the umpires and it has finally paid off for them.

Is that good?

Very thoughtful of our Cheer Squad. The non-player side of our banner today.

We didn't get the chocolates but a great team effort today. Our much maligned youngsters in defence were fantastic! Hawks kicked 11.16.82. The 16 behinds were often a result of pressure by our defenders on the ball carrier or rushed behinds. Compare to Hawks' 2015 score: Hawk 24.15.155. For those wanting Dunn and Grimes back, have another look at those scores. Which defence leaked like a sieve? And, have a look at both replays. The kids gave it their all and did a mammoth job on far more experienced opponents. I think Roos was firmly in control of the game plan today!! Old fashioned defence and no Hawks player got out the back today! Can't wait for the return match on Sat Aug 6!

VFL form means zip if it is not playing the way the coaches want!! Dunn has known for at least 6 months what coaches want and for some reason he isn't or can't do it.

If anything it may spur him to greater heights to honour his ancestral namesake...Bernie may need to shut him down early...

I had a look at the Club's Annual 'Heartbeat' booklet and for Dunn, Roos said: "He showed last year - and what we're looking for again - is consistency. He's showed he can play some really good footy as he did against Tom Hawkings. It's really now about him grasping what we want him to do with regards the game plan and making simple decisions. When he does that, he's a very good player. Can Roos be any clearer on what Dunn has to do to get a game!? So while his form may look good in the VFL, the big questions are: - Is he consistent (in the AFL games he has played this year)? - Does he grasp the game plan? - Is he making the simple decsions? - Can he play 'good footy' when there is no 'power forward', like Hawkins, to match up against? Obviously the coaches think 'No' to all or most of those questions. What more do people want to know? Edit: The booklet was issued during the pre season, so Dunn has known for a long time what he needs to do.

I bought a ticket just so I can see Jack run onto the MCG again. Hope I'm not sitting amongst a trillion Hawks supporters!

Your question had me thinking as to which teams the pre finals Bye will help the most. Traditionally a win by the top 4 teams in the first week of finals gives them a week off (a Bye) before the Prelim. But now, for them the sequence to the GF is: pre finals Bye, 1st final Win, Bye, Prelim Win, Grand Final. I wonder how many coaches actually want 2 byes in 3 weeks? Hardly ideal preparation for the GF. The pre finals Bye may actually help other teams more. The extra Bye looked like another knee- jerk reaction by the AFL. The Prelim games will be interesting to see which team is actually 'fresher' with better 'touch'. The one with 2 Byes or the one with one Bye.

Loathe North. Reluctantly, the Tigers.

Did we read the same article, od Like you, I have a strong sense of dejavu to the Bailey years when it was: play the kids and play freewheeling, attacking football and bug.er defence. So a fair amount of trepidation in my support of current coaches but I see the shape of our future defence. Nonetheless, if Salem, H and Matt Jones were fit I doubt we would have so many kids on the ground. Hold my breath and trust!

This year the week after rnd 23 is a bye so the AFL may 'float' round 23 across Fri to Mon, or even later into the week (so the AFL can milk the bye). The higher up the ladder Geelong finish the earlier they will play as the top finishing teams get the longest break. I suspect if the AFL float it over a week rather than just the weekend they will announce it sooner rather than later so people can make travel/annual leave arrangements. Even if not announced you may have a good idea by mid/late July where Geelong will finish...but please allow for the fact we might beat them pushing them further down the finals ladder!