Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

[jeemak]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

Tom has many weaknesses, but he isn't completely stupid. He must have a bit of self awareness. How do you get up every morning and look in the mirror when you know you are just fabricating meaningless stories for supposed entertainment? Does that bring any satisifaction. Does he actually think he is contributing in any meanuful way to the game or society in general.

I would be too embrassed to show my face in public putting up the stuff he does, no matter the coin and I'm sure it doesn't even pay that well for a boy who went to Melbourne Grammar.

Honestly, I don't know whether this is satire.

[angelopetraglia]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

Who ran harder? We identified that we lost these stats in almost every game last year.

Total distance covered.

Langdon 16.2km
Bont 14.4km
Fritsch 14.4km
McDonald 14.3km
Rivers 14.1km

So Melbourne have four out of the top five.

Distance at high speed

Langdon 3.5km
Sparrow 2.7km
Gallagher 2.7km
Neal-Bullen 2.5km
Billings 2.4km

So Melbourne had four of the top five.

Total Sprints

Langdon 23
Billigns 23
JJ 22
Sparrow 17
Chandler 16

Melbourne have four of the top five.

Repeat Sprints

Billings 5
Langdon 4
Windsor 3
Pickett 2
Van Rooyen 2

Melbourne had the top five.


Overall distance covered was similar. But in repeat sprints Melbourne had 20 and we had 10. So we specifically priortised players with an athletic profile to cover the ground as we thought that is where we could hurt Melbourne and we were still out worked by the look of it. They do have some good runners by the way. Langdon is a running machine and Billings sister is a world class middle distance runner so assuming he also has some good genes.

(Accidently posted this in the "The Moment" thread, so reposting here where it belongs. Apologies for the double post.)

[Grantysghost]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

Total sprints is their wings who killed us.

We've got a huge issue in that part of the ground.

[Prince Imperial]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

When a 31 year old key position player (McDonald) who hasn't been able to get a game, covers more distance than 20 of our players who weren't the sub or subbed, it says it all about why Melbourne are where they are and why we are where we are.

[angelopetraglia]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

Total sprints is their wings who killed us.

We've got a huge issue in that part of the ground.

It would be great to see the full data set. The only give us the top five. I know it is probably held back due to the inevitable abuse which would come from fans being cricital of players not working harder enough. But it would be nice to see the numbers of VDM and McNeil for instance. If their running ability is the reason they are being selected, how are they performing?

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

When a 31 year old key position player (McDonald) who hasn't been able to get a game, covers more distance than 20 of our players who weren't the sub or subbed, it says it all about why Melbourne are where they are and why we are where we are.

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

[azabob]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

Total sprints is their wings who killed us.

We've got a huge issue in that part of the ground.

Wait till you find out that their wingman Billings took the most marks on the ground - fifteen in total.

[angelopetraglia]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

Wait till you find out that their wingman Billings took the most marks on the ground - fifteen in total.

15 marks. All uncontested. He ran to space and got easy touches all day. 83% of his touches were uncontested. He generated 10 score involvements only behind Petracca.

He has elite running genes, but his running and ability to find space on a hot day was huge for them.

[Sedat]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

He has elite running genes, but his running and ability to find space on a hot day was huge for them.

Wasn't the knock on Billings at the Saints was that he had a small tank and couldn't run out games in midfield, so had to stay in F50?

[angelopetraglia]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

Wasn't the knock on Billings at the Saints was that he had a small tank and couldn't run out games in midfield, so had to stay in F50?

He looked like an elite runner yesterday. His sister is Sarah Billings who is a national competitive runner in the 1500m and 800m.

[lemmon]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

It would be great to see the full data set. The only give us the top five. I know it is probably held back due to the inevitable abuse which would come from fans being cricital of players not working harder enough. But it would be nice to see the numbers of VDM and McNeil for instance. If their running ability is the reason they are being selected, how are they performing?

I don't really buy that Laith and McNeil were in for running capacity when we've left out Poulter and Daniel (ground coverage) as well as Baker (speed and repeat sprints).

I think they went Laith and McNeil for forward pressure, which clearly didn't work, and we picked one forward too many so they both had to spend a good amount of time on the wing or through the middle. That was compounded when starting winger Gallagher could only get through 71% of game time - Langdon played 93%.

[Bornadog]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

I don't really buy that Laith and McNeil were in for running capacity when we've left out Poulter and Daniel (ground coverage) as well as Baker (speed and repeat sprints).

I think they went Laith and McNeil for forward pressure, which clearly didn't work, and we picked one forward too many so they both had to spend a good amount of time on the wing or through the middle. That was compounded when starting winger Gallagher could only get through 71% of game time - Langdon played 93%.

I thought Gallagher showed some real potential even though his numbers were low. He spent a little time in the centre as well to get some experience. Hopefully he gets another go next week.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

I don't really buy that Laith and McNeil were in for running capacity when we've left out Poulter and Daniel (ground coverage) as well as Baker (speed and repeat sprints).

I think they went Laith and McNeil for forward pressure, which clearly didn't work, and we picked one forward too many so they both had to spend a good amount of time on the wing or through the middle. That was compounded when starting winger Gallagher could only get through 71% of game time - Langdon played 93%.

It's laughable that we ever thought VDM or McNeil could impact the game in any respect, let alone forward pressure. They have NFI where to run.

If all we want are good athletes, we should just contact Athletics Victoria and ask for their best 2 runners.

[Sedat]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

It's laughable that we ever thought VDM or McNeil could impact the game in any respect, let alone forward pressure. They have NFI where to run.

The best patch of extended form we've ever had since the premiership was the first 6 rounds of 2021, where we had small pressure forwards selected specifically in that role (McNeil and Scott) and we also had a specialist stoppage ruckman (Martin) providing valuable support to English and keeping hi fresh for longer in games.

I know it's 3 years ago and McNeil has not been great for much of that time since then, but that 6 week stretch was very enjoyable to watch us with an identifiable structure with specialist role players, and not fill-in types from midfield depth to squeeze into those roles.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Demons V Bulldogs - Round 1 17/3/24 MCG 1.00pm

The best patch of extended form we've ever had since the premiership was the first 6 rounds of 2021, where we had small pressure forwards selected specifically in that role (McNeil and Scott) and we also had a specialist stoppage ruckman (Martin) providing valuable support to English and keeping hi fresh for longer in games.

I know it's 3 years ago and McNeil has not been great for much of that time since then, but that 6 week stretch was very enjoyable to watch us with an identifiable structure with specialist role players, and not fill-in types from midfield depth to squeeze into those roles.

I agree but the 2+ years since suggests some of that was coincidental (i.e. McNeil and to a lesser degree Scott). Our midfield was absolutely dominating in the early part of 2021 and Martin gave us incredible presence (which we just don't get from English).

A lot of us have grown tired of seeing mids play as HFFers, but there's a reason why it happens - it's because the likes of McNeil and VDM offer zero.

A better question would be why haven't we loaded up on small forwards? It's been a problem for a while. We have TOO many talls. We keep McNeil (dumb - move on), Clarke is in his second year, and Arty is still raw. That's it. It's not a lot to choose from.

Weightman doesn't count either - he plays nothing like a small forward.