Round 6 Teams.......

Battlers Round 6 - I'll be surprised if we get within 250 this week.

Def: Tom McDonald, Tom Cutler, Luke McDonald, Curtly Hampton (Jackson Ramsay)
Mid: Adam Treloar, Lachie Hunter, Connor Blakely, Rory Atkins (Jesse Lonergan)
Ruc: Jarrod Witts
Fwd: Mav Weller, Blake Acres, Lewy Taylor, Kayne Turner
Int: Tom Sheridan, Dom Sheed (Nick Robertson)

 

Cradle Mountain Devils Round 6 team

In: S Johnson, L Shiels
Out: S Gilbert (omitted), D Zaharakis (omitted)

Def: M Hurley, Z Jones, L Spurr, J Lever (S Gilbert)
Mid: S Pendlebury, D Zorko, D Heppell, S Grigg (J Redden)
Ruc: T Nankervis
Fwd: T Lynch, J Steele, T Membrey, J Hopper (J Gresham)
Inter: L Shiels, S Johnson (D Zaharakis)

Devils go in as slight favourites against the Misfits, however CMD forwards will need to work hard defensively to limit the amount of drive and rebound provided by Marble Bar defenders, Laird, Lloyd and Williams.

Steve Johnson returns after 2 weeks focusing on his role as assistant coach of the forward line and recovering from his knee injury whilst Liam Shiels becomes the 21st player to make an ORFFA appearance for the Devils in 2017. After being a late inclusion for the concussed Nick Vlastuin, Sam Gilbert has been omitted. After three weeks in which he has scored a total of only 160 points and had two sub 50 scores David Zaharakis has been omitted which is a massive fall from grace from a year ago. After Round 5 of the 2016 season Zaharakis was eighth in the Les W Medal and he went on to finish fifth in the Devils 2016 B & F. Zaharakis will go back to the CMD state league side in the Tasmanian Regional Football League to regain some form and confidence.

We are sure the omission of Zaharakis is going to create considerable discussion amongst Devils supporters and sections of the Tassie media who are convinced in the validity of the mediocrity curses enacted by former Devils ruck coach Grant Thomassi on Dale Thomas/players that finished fifth in the Cradle Mountain best and fairest. After a disagreement early in the 2013 season the Devils ruck coach Grant Thomassi placed a mediocrity curse on the Cradle Mountain Devils Football Club as a whole, the CMD ruck division and singled out one player in particular – the player that finished fifth in CMD’s 2012 best and fairest - Dale Thomas. Thomassi then promptly walked out on the Devils and has never been seen again.

It is very early in the 2017 season, however if the Devils and their number one ruckman Toby Nankervis can continue their current form we are confident that the CMD supporters and the Tassie media will stop believing the mediocrity curse is having any impact on the club as a whole or it’s ruck division. As for the Dale Thomas/fifth place finisher in the CMD b & f curse, we are adamant that the performance drop-offs from Thomas and future fifth placed finishers in the Devils B & F, Jack Redden - 2014, Drew Petrie - 2015 and David Zaharakis - 2016 is purely coincidental, thankfully two players finished equal fourth in 2013 so there was no fifth placed finisher. We are hopeful that improved performances of Zaharakis and Redden for the Devils during the remainder of 2017 as well as Dale Thomas for Nunawading and Drew Petrie in his attempts to make an ORFFA comeback can prove once and for all that the Thomassi mediocrity curses and the downward trajectory in the performances of the individual players that have been subjects of these curses has been nothing more than a coincidence.

 

Cows' "management" had a few pinots and came up with a team for the fixture against the blimps. It seems so strange to have choices to make in most positions - long may it last. A couple of Ins ("N Newman, T Barrass and S Menegola) and a couple of outs (D Howe, D Menzel). That's the new maths for ya - three ins and 2 outs. All tentative until the Sunday teams are finalised.

D - J McGovern, T Barrass, M Hibberd, N Newman (D Howe)
M - N Fyfe, T Mitchell, D Hannebery, A Hall (B Parfitt*)
R - S Jacobs
F - M Wood, T McLean, J Dunkley, R Burton* (T Papley)
I/C - B Crouch, S Menegola (M Robinson)
* denotes RS eligible

 

Hoppers.......No Change outside of giving Zac a look at the bench as Weits is rested this week.

DEF: Adams / Mills / Martin / Hunt (HGrundy)
MID: Curnow / Cripps / Neale / Rocky (McCluggage)
FWD: Billings / Stringer / Cameron / Jong (Langdon)
RCK: Grundy
I/C: Dumont / Cockatoo (Zac Fisher)

 

Gee, that's a shame

 

Packers team for this week......
DEFENDER
Andrew McGrath, Nathan Wilson, Lachie Henderson, Marley Williams - (Jimmy Webster)

MIDFIELDER
Rory Sloane, David Mundy, Tom SCULLY, Alex Neal-Bullen

RUCK
Aaron Sandilands - (Braydon Preuss)

FORWARD
Tom Lynch, Brandon MATERA, Sam Reid, Eric Hipwood

INTERCHANGE
Billy Stretch, George Hewett - (Alexander FASOLO)

 

Nuffers woke up late after celebrating Carl... um, their first win for the season. Unfortunately we missed the last train out of Wine Glass Bay for the week. We managed to hitch a ride on an empty Booths wine transport tanker to Devonport so we can catch the ferry home. As a result training has been cancelled until Thursday. Cheers!

 

During 2017 the Cradle Mountain Devils goal is to average 1,300 points per game, despite just reaching this target with a score of 1,301 in Round 6 the Devils club record winning streak ends at five games, with the rapidly improving Marble Bar Misfits posting a score of 1,327 points to secure a thrilling 26 point victory. Despite the loss Cradle Mountain remain second on the ladder due to ranking second for total points scored behind the dominant undefeated Venus Bay Vultures.

The Devils registered five tons to the Misfits four however a more consistent performance from Marble Bar with only four sub 75 scores compared to seven for the Devils including three players that went into the game averaging in excess of 100 points – Grigg, Nankervis and most notably Zorko who in the first five Rounds had been one of the most consistent players in the ORFFA, playing all five games and having a highest score of 121 which was only 11% more than his lowest score of 109.

Cradle Mountain narrowly won all three of the four player lines, midfield by 19 points, defenders against MBM forwards by 40 points and forwards against MBM defenders by 15 points however Misfit ruckman Ryder defeating Devils counterpart Nankervis by 27 points and the Misfits smashing the Devils bench by 73 points was enough for coach @Len and his Misfits to get the upset victory and retain their position in the eight. Pendles was best afield with 149 points and Devils recruit Tom Lynch received 2 votes with 121 points. The Misfits patience with Will Hoskin-Elliot is being rewarded in 2017 and he led his club with a score of 125 from the bench, Rory Laird continued his impressive form with 122 and fellow defender Zachary Williams received the solitary Les W vote with a score of 120.

Amazingly the Misfits 26 point win over the Devils in Round 6 2017 is the third closest game (from a total of four games) between the two clubs from 2015 onwards with Cradle Mountain having a two point win in Round 13, 2015 - 1,297 points to 1,295 and the Misfits winning their 2016 Zac Dawson Cup semi final against CMD by five points. In this weekend's game Misfit Devon Smith scored 27 points more (one point greater than the winning margin) than the player he was traded for - Shaun Grigg whilst the trade also involved the Devils receiving pick 38 in the 2014 PSD draft which was used on defender Zak Jones who has cemented his position in the CMD line-up during 2017. Whilst the Marble Bar Misfits are the proud owners of the Smith-Grigg cup the mid-term battle between the improving Misfits and Devils is which club can win an ORRFA final first.

 

Most week’s the 1301 points the Devils scored in their Round 6 encounter will be enough for victory, however CMD can’t claim to be unlucky losers. Although they scored one less ton the Misfits provided a more consistent team performance than the Devils and deserved the victory. No Devil emergency scored more than 75 whilst three Marble Bar emergencies scored more than 75, so if both teams had fielded their optimum 15’s the result wouldn’t have changed, Marble Bar Misfits winning margin would have just increased from 26 points.

Thanks for the confidence in the Devils @Len, I think you might be over-rating CMD in saying they are your ‘tip for the flag’ but I will be more than happy to be proven wrong. If you placed a bet on the Devils winning the 2017 ORFFA premiership we hope you gambled responsibly and got some attractive odds at ChiefBet.

Whilst the Cradle Mountain list is as well balanced as it has ever has been both in terms of age-profile and across the four on-field lines, they are behind some teams that have a far better track record and are performing better for positions 14 to 19 on the list, resulting in them having a stronger bench and better cover for injuries. Venus Bay definitely deserve to be premiership favourites given that they are 1) undefeated, 2) ranked a clear-cut first in the ORFFA for total points scored more than 80 points ahead of the second ranked team and 3) have the ability to field a team of 15 that all average at least 80 points per game.

The Cradle Mountain full strength on-field 13 is easier to select than at any time in the club’s existence and we are well placed to prevent those nasty donuts, however deciding which two players to select on the interchange is probably more difficult than ever. Over the first seven rounds of the 2017 ORFFA season CMD are possibly the ORFFA club that has been the closest to fielding their full-strength 15 so being second on the ladder and ranked second for total points scored after Round 6 might flatter the Devils who haven’t had their depth tested like several of their rivals have.

The CMD full-strength on field 13 is:

Def: M Hurley, Z Jones, L Spurr, J Lever
Mid: S Pendlebury, D Zorko, D Heppell, S Grigg
Ruc: T Nankervis
Fwd: T Lynch, J Steele, T Membrey, J Hopper

In order to challenge clubs like the powerful Bays – Venus and Foul for the ORFFA premiership the Devils need to get more from players 14-19 on their list, all of whom are averaging less than 75 points per game. The performance of several players in this category is falling well short of their reputation and amazingly two players that finished in the top five at the CMD 2016 best and fairest – Stevie J (third) and David Zaharakis (fifth) are not in CMD’s current full strength on field 13. Other players in contention for a spot on the bench include two-time runner-up in the Devils best and fairest Jack Redden, three players that were under 23 years of age at the start of the 2017 season - Nick Vlastuin if he can get an injury free run at it, Tom Boyd and Jade Gresham, and two players around 26 years of age – Liam Shiels and Jordan Roughead once he returns from his hamstring injury. I expect the Devils to finish fourth or fifth at the end of the home and away season, however if the club’s great run with injury continues and the form of some players outside the best on-field 13 improves the Devils might be able to challenge for the premiership. We will cross that bridge and the third step of the process if/when we get to it as the first step for the Devils is to make the finals and the second step is for Cradle Mountain to record their first victory in a final.