AFL Grand Final AFL 2021 GRAND FINAL - Demons v Dogs Sat September 25th 7:15pm EST / 5:15pm WST (Optus) Congratulations Demons! 🍾🏆 Match Highlights in OP

[H2F]

Peter Knights. Vanderhaar.
Chris Grant etc etc etc etc.

Are you a teenager by chance?

I am 11 but that doesn’t mean I can’t have opinions or post on here.

 

[demondavey]

Mate you are one of about three people I respect on here in terms of strategy of the game.

Its going to come down to this as I wrote ij

1) System

Dees better

2) Battle hardened

50/50. Yes Dogs have has a tougher run but Melbourne fought back from 44 points down and make no mistake that’s when they announced themselves as a champion team.

3) Belief.

Im going to give this to the Dogs. Every team has a form slump in a year and the Dogs couldn’t have had there’s at a more perfect time. They are in red hot form and full of belief. No one can underestimate that win in Brisbane who played unbelievably and still lost.

Melbourne are better. Plain and simple.

Game changers, Oliver, Petracca and Gawn

Possible best defence ever in Lever, May and Salem (which wins GF’s btw)

Lastly they have a whole bunch of players who can impact things too and fly under the radar. Fritsch, Langdon, Spargo and Pickett.

But the Dogs have two things.

Massive belief and speed. Speed if they have the guts to use it without fear is capable of stopping your defensive setup, breaking your zone and your midfield isn’t the fastest around.

Genuine 50/50 and haven’t been this excited since 2008 where I concreted in a sign to the side of the Geelong Freeway.

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My strategical take is this;

The WB are one of the best football sides in terms of putting pure footballers on the park. They are so clean by foot and hand that once they fight through a contested situation they release their outside or uncontested game. This is part of footy that every side needs in order to use space and run. The reason the WB were prolific against Port was pressure. There was not enough from Port on the WB at the contest. They actually went in soft.

The key will be deprivation of the ball and zoning. Not just defensively but a high zone to stop or inhibit their midfield getting space. Wings, HF,HB lines. We need to almost squeeze them between HF and HB. If we can do this then we can force lots of contested footy and then Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw will really come into their own. Constantly beating or splitting the contested stuff is key, if they get outside with space then we are going to struggle. So we need their runners to be closely watched.

If we can create contest after contest then we achieve a few things;

1. Allow defence to get set.
2. Stop them moving the ball outside

Gawn and Jackson will be big. First hands on the footy is going to be a bit overrated purely because of how good their midfield are. They’ll rove to Gawn. Gawn will be more impactful getting in the way of Naughton or going forward and exposing their defence. So personally I’d like Jackson to be doing more ruck work.

The WB I thought were really soft in our first encounter. They hated our hard contested game, but since then they have lifted and developed a tougher edge in the contest. That’s why they are so good. Lever will try to be held out by Schache, like they did with Allir. A defensive forward role will be played on him. I guess we combat that by stopping Naughton fly so that really means grubby ball in.

Last night showed that the WB on their terms are lethal, but I feel we will be sharper than Port. We have too many hard nuts. Up forward we need ball in quick. Keath most likely plays but Brown is in good touch so if it gets in fast it’s ok. Daniel will get busy when the ball hits the floor, so defensive mode from our forwards is everything.

We need McDonald to be up. If he is struggling i say get Gawn down and let Jackson ruck.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Same.

And they can thank us for Pickett if they win!

We'll thank you even if we lose.

 

[Dogga6]

Yes I agree that the midfield battle will largely win the game, but that Melbourne defence shouldn’t underestimate Naughton. This guy’s ability to mark the ball in contests floors me at times.

We probably don’t have to tell an elite defence like Melbourne’s one though.

Yeah don't worry I aint underestimating Naughton. Type of guy that can get off the leash and bang on 3 quick goals.

 

[demondavey]

The statistics weren’t anything unusual in the PF between the WB and Port Adelaide last night. Not real outliers, but the following was crucial and where it was won.


Inside fifties - Dogs by 12
Uncontested possessions - Dogs by 30
Marks I50 - Dogs by 5
Contested marks - Dogs by 7

Port actually dominated the hit outs, yet the WB were able to get more clearances.

So essentially this is Melbourne’s key info sheet. We are going to win hit outs but we simply cannot allow the WB to clear the ball. Thats pressure. That’s stoppage intensity.

Going forward also important. The WB were able to get more contested marks and marks I50. That’s Allir getting held out. Whatever we decide, Lever simply has to be protected. So that’s going to mean someone stopping the lockdown on him. How do you free up a defender? No idea. The WB clearly had one option and many others played the defensive role to allow Naughton to Mark ahd fly.

The only way I can think of preventing that is the midfield. Win that or break even and don’t let clean ball in. It all comes back to stopping the WB winning those clearance stats. This needs to be our best tackling and pressuring game yet.

30 more uncontested touches is big. That’s just dominance in the outside due to control. Again, zero pressure from Port.

 

[demondavey]

Yes I agree that the midfield battle will largely win the game, but that Melbourne defence shouldn’t underestimate Naughton. This guy’s ability to mark the ball in contests floors me at times.

We probably don’t have to tell an elite defence like Melbourne’s one though.

Port offered nothing in terms of pressure at the contest last night. They were really soft. We will crack in. This game is made for Viney and Oliver.

 

[wowlace]

I can't believe this.

 

[demondavey]

I can't believe this.

?

 

[stefcep]

We've been threatening to do a number on other teams like we did last night all season but instead of kicking 7-2 in a quarter we' d kick 3-6 to make opposition teams look respectable. Even last night could have been a 100 point drubbing if we kicked some gettable goals.

Felt like injuries would be a cruel end to our season but I knew if we could get through the first two finals Dunkley and Treloar would find their mojo when it mattered. And so it came to pass.

Martin is a massive in for us because Bont, Libba, Macrae, Dunkley, Smith, Treloar match up against any midfield and just need a ruck to contest to get going.

Our defense has conceded 36, 78 and 45 points in the last 3 finals. Keith will be back too.

We will have 9 players that have done it before to pick from.

Its simple: we kick straight, we win.

 

[stefcep]

The statistics weren’t anything unusual in the PF between the WB and Port Adelaide last night. Not real outliers, but the following was crucial and where it was won.


Inside fifties - Dogs by 12
Uncontested possessions - Dogs by 30
Marks I50 - Dogs by 5
Contested marks - Dogs by 7

Port actually dominated the hit outs, yet the WB were able to get more clearances.

So essentially this is Melbourne’s key info sheet. We are going to win hit outs but we simply cannot allow the WB to clear the ball. Thats pressure. That’s stoppage intensity.

Going forward also important. The WB were able to get more contested marks and marks I50. That’s Allir getting held out. Whatever we decide, Lever simply has to be protected. So that’s going to mean someone stopping the lockdown on him. How do you free up a defender? No idea. The WB clearly had one option and many others played the defensive role to allow Naughton to Mark ahd fly.

The only way I can think of preventing that is the midfield. Win that or break even and don’t let clean ball in. It all comes back to stopping the WB winning those clearance stats. This needs to be our best tackling and pressuring game yet.

30 more uncontested touches is big. That’s just dominance in the outside due to control. Again, zero pressure from Port.

Bont, Libba, Macrae, Dunkley, Smith, Treloar is why the hit-outs didn't matter. That's 6 of the best. Good luck stopping them for four quarters.

 

[demondavey]

We've been threatening to do a number on other teams like we did last night all season but instead of kicking 7-2 in a quarter we' d kick 3-6 to make opposition teams look respectable. Even last night could have been a 100 point drubbing if we kicked some gettable goals.

Felt like injuries would be a cruel end to our season but I knew if we could get through the first two finals Dunkley and Treloar would find their mojo when it mattered. And so it came to pass.

Martin is a massive in for us because Bont, Libba, Macrae, Dunkley, Smith, Treloar match up against any midfield and just need a ruck to contest to get going.

Our defense has conceded 36, 78 and 45 points in the last 3 finals. Keith will be back too.

We will have 9 players that have done it before to pick from.

Its simple: we kick straight, we win.

It’s really not that simple

 

[demondavey]

Bont, Libba, Macrae, Dunkley, Smith, Treloar is why the hit-outs didn't matter. That's 6 of the best. Good luck stopping them for four quarters.

You won’t be playing against a midfield that forgets they’re playing in a final

 

[Libbaaaa]

Stevic was down on form for us, if he picks up his game we’ll be hard to beat.

 

[demondavey]

Stevic was down on form for us, if he picks up his game we’ll be hard to beat.

It’s funny because it’s true.

 

[stefcep]

It’s really not that simple

We will get the chances. We just need to take them.

 

[stefcep]

You won’t be playing against a midfield that forgets they’re playing in a final

We know.

 

[demondavey]

We will get the chances. We just need to take them.

You won’t get the chances you think against our backline. You could say that for us, we go in with a better forward line as well.

 

[demondavey]

We know.

Port were abysmal. Essendon would have beaten them last night.

 

[thedank]

Brissy fans must feel even more burnt after how shithouse port were last night, 1 point semi final practically guaranteed a GF berth

Pray for dees by a tiny margin, but all I hope for is a fair contest with injuries and the maggots staying out of the way

 

[Libbaaaa]

It’s funny because it’s true.

Might have even beat Port by 100 if the umps didn’t gift Port 3 of their 6 goals.

One of the keys for us is not letting the lesser known players get a hold of us. At this point Oliver is a lock for 30, Petracca 25 and a goal and Gawn to be Gawn. What can’t happen is Harmes to get 20+ and hit the scoreboard, Neal Bullen get 20 and goal etc...

 

[stefcep]

You won’t get the chances you think against our backline. You could say that for us, we go in with a better forward line as well.

You beat us when we kicked 8.11. And we beat you when we kicked 13.7 Just one scoring short more and we won. We will get the chances.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Lever isn’t the greatest intercept defender of all time, he’s just made more intercepts in a single season than any other player in the history of the comp. There’s a difference.

 

[stefcep]

Port were abysmal. Essendon would have beaten them last night.

Yeah I've heard that before. When we smash teams, they were shit (or the umps won it for us).

It was a blitzkreig by us that destroyed them mentally.

 

[thedank]

Weak as piss by the afl to let Vic based members share their barcodes with WA residents to buy tickets, I've been an interstate member here in WA for years and if I miss out on tix due to some eagles flogs with dees/dogs mates over east sharing barcodes I'll be ropeable

 

[demondavey]

You beat us when we kicked 8.11. And we beat you when we kicked 13.7 Just one scoring short more and we won. We will get the chances.

We’ve improved since then.