Jump to content

Featured Replies

Posted

THE SPIRIT WAS THERE, BUT ... by The Oracle

For once, things were going well for the Melbourne Football Club. A major announcement was made at the President's luncheon - another sponsorship (German car manufacturer Opel) to help fill the retinue of sponsors after Webjet and Hertz jumped on board to more than fill the void left by the dismissal of a previously disgraced company which apparently still owes the club money. Then, a moving tribute to the legendary Jim Stynes so that when it was over the majority crowd of Demon fans was thirsting for not just a better performance from their team but a win.

Only a victory could do justice for this day.

There was one man who typified Melbourne on the day and fittingly, he wore the number of the crowd's hero for the day. Big, strong and solid at full forward Mitch Clark marked and goaled for the Demons but he was also part of a procession of players whose shots at goal from straight in front missed their mark. You don't expect Clark, Jeremy Howe and Jack Watts to all miss from dead in front.

At the other end, the Western Bulldogs made the most of the opportunities that presented themselves. A couple of snaps from angles, a gimme free and lo and behold, they led at the first break by nine points even though they had one shot less. It's useless to bemoan bad fortune when you fail in the game's most fundamental of skills but, when the final result is a 21-point defeat, then the poor conversion rate really hurts.

The trend really did continue throughout the game although when the team momentarily straightened up for a few third quarter goals, the difference in conversion was no more pronounced. Melbourne had inched its way back to trail by a solitary point and the scoreboard read - Melbourne 7.10.52 to Western Bulldogs 8.5.53. The Dogs steadied at that point - thanks to errors committed by both Demon players, some inexperienced umpiring and some great snap shots at goal.

It all came back to haunt Melbourne late in the third term and it could have been much worse when Mitch Clark crashed to the earth neck first. Fortunately, he must have had Jimmy and those magnificent recuperative powers smiling down on him because, to the relief and amazement of the crowd, he got up, walked off the ground and was later cleared after scans taken in hospital.

This was the epitome of what generations of Demon fans had come to know as the Stynes spirit but the current number 11 was still subbed off and the team's balance was awry for the remainder of the game.

The spirit might have been there but it was not enough. The Dogs managed enough successful snaps at goal to make it their day while misses from Colin Garland and Lynden Dunn in the middle of the final term put paid to any chances of a late game resurgence.

But it wasn't just the poor conversion rate in front of goal that proved damaging for the Demons. They were at times painfully excruciating to watch as they botched up straight forward kicks and handballs, often gifting away possession to the opposition and sometimes when not under the slightest amount of pressure. These gifts were enough to allow the Western Bulldogs their maiden victory.

At least there was a turnaround in effort which was maintained for close on the full four quarters and with a few handy players due to return from injury and suspension, perhaps things might continue to improve for the otherwise hapless Demons.

Melbourne 1.5.11 3.8.26 7.10.52 9.13.67

Western Bulldogs 3.2.20 6.5.41 10.7.67 13.10.88

Goals

Melbourne Bate Davey 2 Bail Clark Moloney Morton Watts

Western Bulldogs Cooney Giansiracusa Grant 2 Dahlhaus Djerrkura Griffen Jones Roughead Sherman Wallis

Best

Melbourne Rivers Bate Moloney Jone Magner Jamar

Western Bulldogs Dahlhaus Murphy Cooney Cross, Wallis Djerrkura

Injuries

Melbourne Mitch Clark (head/neck)

Western Bulldogs Nil

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Western Bulldogs Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Western Bulldogs Nil

Umpires Wenn Bannister and some other joker

Crowd 33,565 at MCG

 
 

Davey showed a little today, and what little support I had for Joel Macdonald is all gone. Terrible skills.

Why can't we just keep the Game Day thread and post on that after the game? It is, after all, still game day.

We just played the supposedly worst team in the AFL and couldn't win a SINGLE quarter - something is seriously wrong here...


Wellllll, at least we're better than... oh, hold up... no, we're actually that bad.

I fkn love this team but bloody hell. Lucky I have such a self-destructive personality. I hate you tonight Cale Morton.

We just played the supposedly worst team in the AFL ...

Bit of hyperbole there. Dogs aren't the worst.

Davey showed a little today, and what little support I had for Joel Macdonald is all gone. Terrible skills.

Why can't we just keep the Game Day thread and post on that after the game? It is, after all, still game day.

Yes he did but he also went soft on two occassions. He is of no value any more.

 

We just played the supposedly worst team in the AFL and couldn't win a SINGLE quarter - something is seriously wrong here...

Did anyone seriously go in to this game thinking they were a worse side than us? I've got to say, you'd have struggled to convince me that there existed a side worse than us prior to this game.

We just played the supposedly worst team in the AFL and couldn't win a SINGLE quarter - something is seriously wrong here...

Nah, we R the worst unfortunately


500 fewer possessions than our opponents over the first four games of the year and people are worried about the 'game plan'.

500!

It's about the cattle, folks. Nothing more, nothing less.

Winless season is on the cards if we keep dishing that up.

Early misses in front of goal really hurt us. Would've given us a decent lead and a bit of confidence would do this team the world of good.

We lack any class anywhere on the ground.

Watts may have a little and Davey used to have it, but that's it. Zippo.

How do we expect to transition the ball out of our backline when we have the Likes of the two Macs, Rivers, Bartram, Garland and Frawley? Where is our Robert Murphy. 5 years of tanking and stinking it up and we can't uncover one player like that when it is clear that all the good teams have probably have at least of those players.

Then if we do get it forward quickly(rare sight), where are pacy forwards running into to space?

Oh, maybe that isn't our gameplan. Instead we will just move it slowly around the boundary line and hope we can scramble a stoppage win and bomb inside 50 and hope for a mark.

Crap footy.

Don't try and polish this turd Neeld.


500 fewer possessions than our opponents over the first four games of the year and people are worried about the 'game plan'.

500!

It's about the cattle, folks. Nothing more, nothing less.

Game plan does come into it becuase if the only option is the bomb the ball down the boundary there will be few opportunities to get the ball, run and handpass.

500 fewer possessions than our opponents over the first four games of the year and people are worried about the 'game plan'.

500!

It's about the cattle, folks. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thats a very sobering number........sobering and disgusting at the same time

but hey...we're a whole 10.5% clear of the Giants .....woooohoooooo !!!!

Some careers should be finished after today the westies are crap. And we had 90 odd less possessions.

in our top 5 ball winners today, 4 were kicking at less than 55%


Wow - Fortunately I was spared the first 3 rounds by being out of the country, nowhere to hide today.

I feel ill after watching that game plan.

Seriously why can't we find the footy?

Eh. You know what. We have a very young inexperienced list. Bulldogs have been shocking but I still rate them. We were all over them but lacked polish. I'm sure we all would have loved a win, but you know what? We had a crack. Finally. We needed Clark in that last quarter. Add Sylvia in the midfield. Jurrah up forward. We WILL look better.

Ive been guilty of being pessimistic this year, but without sounding like bailey, lets get these kids to 100 games before we hang crap on them.

I saw heart today. That's what we want.

Some very ordinary posts on this thread already. Well done folks.

Ron.... the numbers dont really lie.

4 games 4 losses

games stats that should make the team blush

whats really to get excited about

 

Sellar dwellers. 0-8 pending!

Let's not kid ourselves. Yes, we only lost by 21 points, but Bulldogs are crap.

We got demolished through the middle again, we couldn't hit targets, we couldn't kick a goal and we sure as hell didn't have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out when the game was there to be won.

For a team to concede two [censored] easy goals two minutes into the last quarter is inexcusable.

Jordie, Jonesy, Rivers and Bater can stand tall. The rest all had patches of absolute garbage and let us down badly.

And FFS Morton stop being so lazy you can't be arsed hitting a target by hand 3meters away.

ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!


Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Featured Content

  • PREVIEW: Brisbane

    And just like that, we’re Narrm again. Even though the annual AFL Sir Doug Nicholls Round which commemorates the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture to our game has been a welcome addition to our calendar for ten years, more lately it has been a portent of tough times ahead for we beleaguered Narrm supporters. Ever since the club broke through for its historic 2021 premiership, this has become a troubling time of the year for the club. For example, it all began when Melbourne rebranded itself as Narrm across the two rounds of the Sir Doug Nicholls Round to become the first club to adopt an Indigenous club name especially for the occasion. It won its first outing under the brand against lowly North Melbourne to go to 10 wins and no losses but not without a struggle or a major injury to  star winger Ed Langdon who broke his ribs and missed several weeks. In the following week, still as Narrm, the team’s 17 game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Dockers. That came along with more injuries, a plague that remained with them for the remainder of the season until, beset by injuries, the Dees were eliminated from the finals in straight sets. It was even worse last year, when Narrm inexplicably lowered its colours in Perth to the Waalit Marawar Eagles. Oh, the shame of it all! At least this year, if there is a corner to turn around, it has to be in the direction of something better. To that end, I produced a special pre-game chant in the local Narrm language - “nam mi:wi winnamun katjil prolin ambi ngamar thamelin amb” which roughly translated is “every heart beats true for the red and the blue.” >y belief is that if all of the Narrm faithful recite it long enough, then it might prove to be the only way to beat the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Sunday. The Lions are coming off a disappointing draw at Marvel Stadium against a North Melbourne team that lacks the ability and know how to win games (except when playing Melbourne). Brisbane are, however, a different kettle of fish at home and have very few positional weaknesses. They are a midfield powerhouse, strong in defence and have plenty of forward options, particularly their small and medium sized players, to kick a winning score this week after the sting of last week’s below par performance.

    • 4 replies
    Demonland
  • REPORT: Hawthorn

    There was a time during the current Melbourne cycle that goes back to before the premiership when the club was the toughest to beat in the fourth quarter. The Demons were not only hard to beat at any time but it was virtually impossible to get the better them when scores were close at three quarter time. It was only three or four years ago but they were fit, strong and resilient in body and mind. Sadly, those days are over. This has been the case since the club fell off its pedestal about 12 months ago after it beat Geelong and then lost to Carlton. In both instances, Melbourne put together strong, stirring final quarters, one that resulted in victory, the other, in defeat. Since then, the drop off has been dramatic to the point where it can neither pull off victory in close matches, nor can it even go down in defeat  gallantly.

    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • CASEY: Footscray

    At twenty-four minutes into the third term of the game between the Casey Demons and Footscray VFL at Whitten Oval, the visitors were coasting. They were winning all over the ground, had the ascendancy in the ruck battles and held a 26 point lead on a day perfect for football. What could go wrong? Everything. The Bulldogs moved into overdrive in the last five minutes of the term and booted three straight goals to reduce the margin to a highly retrievable eight points at the last break. Bouyed by that effort, their confidence was on a high level during the interval and they ran all over the despondent Demons and kicked another five goals to lead by a comfortable margin of four goals deep into the final term before Paddy Cross kicked a couple of too late goals for a despondent Casey. A testament to their lack of pressure in the latter stages of the game was the fact that Footscray’s last ten scoring shots were nine goals and one rushed behind. Things might have been different for the Demons who went into the game after last week’s bye with 12 AFL listed players. Blake Howes was held over for the AFL game but two others, Jack Billings and Taj Woewodin (not officially listed as injured) were also missing and they could have been handy at the end. Another mystery of the current VFL system.

    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • PREGAME: Brisbane

    The Demons head back out on the road in Round 10 when they travel to Queensland to take on the reigning Premiers and the top of the table Lions who look very formidable. Can the Dees cause a massive upset? Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Shocked
    • 136 replies
    Demonland
  • PODCAST: Hawthorn

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 12th May @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Demons loss to the Hawks. Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human.

    • 52 replies
    Demonland
  • POSTGAME: Hawthorn

    Wayward kicking for goal, dump kicks inside 50 and some baffling umpiring all contributed to the Dees not getting out to an an early lead that may have impacted the result. At the end of the day the Demons were just not good enough and let the Hawks run away with their first win against the Demons in 7 years.

      • Haha
      • Like
    • 376 replies
    Demonland