MELBOURNE v PORT ADELAIDE - PREGAME

[bjDee 1,249]

Just watched the last quarter of last year's win against the Dons. Pumped!

We will beat Port.

Slightly left field perhaps, but I'm predicting a big game from Sellar tomorrow.

Agree it feels left field and I feel almost awkward to say it, but I think Sellar's game tomorrow is one of the most important for us of the 22 starters. We need to have a second (and effective) target to share the load with Mitch. We can't expect Clark to keep playing like Superman every week without an alternative route to goal. Whether it's Sellar (on pre season form), Pederson or whoever, that 2nd option is vital to our flexibility in attack. The tigers showed that on Thurs night.

Now lets just hope we have a good enough performance in the midfield and backline to get it up forward to our big blokes who are all firing. I want Dawes to have to fight for his place back in the side.

[Macca 16,174]

Looking at our team, it seems we don't have too many in the team that are poor/average kicks. Many of our players don't have great vision but hopefully the coaching staff have been working doubly hard on these 2 crucial areas of the game.(kicking skills and vision) Putting aside all the new players (7 in all), the existing players in this team could be looked at for their actual kicking skills under pressure and their vision.

There are 3 players whose kicking skills and vision are well below par. Another 5 players have kicking skills and vision that could best be described as 'iffy'. Only 7 of our existing players (in this team) have reasonably good or quite good kicking skills (not all of these 7 have good/great vision) The comment is about this particular team, not the overall list.

That's where we sit unfortunately. A lot is going to depend on our current crop of new players as the year progresses. I've underlined and highlighted those who need to improve their disposal skills and vision. New players are in blue.

4 or 5 of the highlighted players have the scope to get much better with their disposal. The jury is out on the other 3 or 4 players.

MELBOURNE

Backs Lynden Dunn Tom Gillies Dan Nicholson

Half backs Jack Watts James Frawley Colin Garland

Centreline Jack Viney Jack Grimes Jimmy Toumpas

Half forwards Jeremy Howe James Sellar Colin Sylvia

Forwards Shannon Byrnes Mitch Clark David Rodan

Followers Mark Jamar Jordie McKenzie Nathan Jones

Interchange Sam Blease Matthew Jones Cameron Pedersen Luke Tapscott

Emergencies Aaron Davey Jake Spencer Dean Terlich

Edited March 30, 2013 by Macca

[rjay 24,185]

Pretty good summation 'Macca', I think Grimes and Howe will improve with better decision making part of the problem, Frawley has an awkward action but can be effective. Haven't taken a lot of notice of Sellar, he seems a decent set shot though.

edit: might want to put a line under big Spencer...

Edited March 30, 2013 by rjay

[MH. 88]

The only one I really struggle with is Nicholson instead of Jetta.

Excluding injuries, Dawes, Trengove and McDonald should come back in next week. Probably means Gillies,Matt Jones and Pedersen/Sellar will make way for them.

I reckon they were mindful of the already high number of debutantes, as well as Nicholson's stellar preseason from a fitness perspective; so they've gone for what you might call the incumbent. In other words, Terlich has to beat the door down, or Nicholson has to cough up his position.

Trengove also needs to beat the door down at Casey. If he can't dominate at that level then he's not ready.

Edited March 30, 2013 by MH.

[Macca 16,174]

Pretty good summation 'Macca', I think Grimes and Howe will improve with better decision making part of the problem, Frawley has an awkward action but can be effective. Haven't taken a lot of notice of Sellar, he seems a decent set shot though.

edit: might want to put a line under big Spencer...

Watched a bit of the Bulldogs game today. Their kicking to position was excellent - all over the ground. The Lions were poor but the Dogs were surprisingly good. And they are not regarded as a finals threat. As we all know, in today's footy you cannot turn the ball over (especially when not under pressure)

I'm judging Sellar mainly on last year but he and Howe looked ok in the pre-season. Frawley is a lot better than what he showed last year (in the disposal stakes)

I reckon it's a much better team in terms of disposal skills than most/all of our selected teams last year. There were times last year where we had 6 or 7 blokes in the team who just kicked it anywhere. Even so, we're still a fair way off. We'll all be watching the new players with great interest. Lets hope they can all hit a target !

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

[dpositive 1,602]

still like to drop Howe back maybe promote Rodan and you have an aware side with vision

the hard working and poor delivery side can work it across there even if it is a poor delivery

[Demon_Tingles 211]

Before anyone shoots me down I am one of the most passionate demons supporters on the planet. I have never lost hope but is anyone else a little more worried about tomorrow's game against Port Adelaide. The suns have won the bulldogs smashed Brisbane and GWS did not disgrace themselves against the premiers from last year. Those are the three teams tipped to finish below us. I only hope that we show something tomorrow against the power otherwise we could find ourselves being beaten quite convincingly by these teams this year.

As I said do not shoot me down as I will be barracking as hard as ever and this thread is not to say we are doomed. I only say I am a little worried that so much may hinge on tomorrow's showing against the power. I also realise it's round one but the suns and giants showed a lot in the pre season and we rarely win round one and are chasing butt all year.

[Chook 14,701]

Before anyone shoots me down I am one of the most passionate demons supporters on the planet. I have never lost hope but is anyone else a little more worried about tomorrow's game against Port Adelaide. The suns have won the bulldogs smashed Brisbane and GWS did not disgrace themselves against the premiers from last year. Those are the three teams tipped to finish below us. I only hope that we show something tomorrow against the power otherwise we could find ourselves being beaten quite convincingly by these teams this year.

As I said do not shoot me down as I will be barracking as hard as ever and this thread is not to say we are doomed. I only say I am a little worried that so much may hinge on tomorrow's showing against the power. I also realise it's round one but the suns and giants showed a lot in the pre season and we rarely win round one and are chasing butt all year.

Today has shown just how irrelevant pre-season form is. We won't know anything until 3 PM tomorrow, and there's an outside chance that we really have improved a lot. We could also have gone backwards, but there's absolutely no way of knowing so don't worry about it.

[hardtack 10,187]

Not shooting you down, but I have to say...spoken like a true Demons supporter! :-)

[DemonDan83 95]

Before anyone shoots me down I am one of the most passionate demons supporters on the planet. I have never lost hope but is anyone else a little more worried about tomorrow's game against Port Adelaide. The suns have won the bulldogs smashed Brisbane and GWS did not disgrace themselves against the premiers from last year. Those are the three teams tipped to finish below us. I only hope that we show something tomorrow against the power otherwise we could find ourselves being beaten quite convincingly by these teams this year.

As I said do not shoot me down as I will be barracking as hard as ever and this thread is not to say we are doomed. I only say I am a little worried that so much may hinge on tomorrow's showing against the power. I also realise it's round one but the suns and giants showed a lot in the pre season and we rarely win round one and are chasing butt all year.

I must admit I am more nervous now, not because of a potential loss but just looking ahead to the future. What if we have not improved and we are the same old demons? Where does that put our club? And the age old question of how can other clubs rebuild or build/develop a list and we cannot. But as Chook said we will only know after 3pm tomorrow! But boy I am really crossing my fingers that our boys have improved too and that we are not going to be the laughing stock once again!! GO DEE'S!!!

[Demon Dynasty 16,349]

The Demons vs The Power Round 1, 2013 – Team Stats

Total games played

Demons - 1,390
Power – 1,922

Games Average

Demons - 63
Power – 87

Age Average

Demons - 24
Power – 23

Height Average

Demons - 187cm
Power – 189cm

Weight Average

Demons - 88kg
Power – 87kg

Number of players by category

0-49 Games

Demons - 10 / 17 (number of players/average games played)
Power - 14 / 15

50-99 Games

Demons - 6 / 89
Power - 3 / 80

100+ Games

Demons – 6 / 130
Power – 5 / 146

Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Edited March 30, 2013 by Rusty Nails

[rjay 24,185]

Before anyone shoots me down I am one of the most passionate demons supporters on the planet. I have never lost hope but is anyone else a little more worried about tomorrow's game against Port Adelaide. The suns have won the bulldogs smashed Brisbane and GWS did not disgrace themselves against the premiers from last year. Those are the three teams tipped to finish below us. I only hope that we show something tomorrow against the power otherwise we could find ourselves being beaten quite convincingly by these teams this year.

As I said do not shoot me down as I will be barracking as hard as ever and this thread is not to say we are doomed. I only say I am a little worried that so much may hinge on tomorrow's showing against the power. I also realise it's round one but the suns and giants showed a lot in the pre season and we rarely win round one and are chasing butt all year.

I'm sure we're all waiting to see what happens, I'm not sure about being a little more worried but concerned or nervous non the less. We haven't been the greatest starters of recent times and none of us has a crystal ball. So many changes, lets hope we get the rebuild right this time and are on track. I think we are but lets see.

[P-man 13,352]

Before anyone shoots me down I am one of the most passionate demons supporters on the planet. I have never lost hope but is anyone else a little more worried about tomorrow's game against Port Adelaide. The suns have won the bulldogs smashed Brisbane and GWS did not disgrace themselves against the premiers from last year. Those are the three teams tipped to finish below us. I only hope that we show something tomorrow against the power otherwise we could find ourselves being beaten quite convincingly by these teams this year.

As I said do not shoot me down as I will be barracking as hard as ever and this thread is not to say we are doomed. I only say I am a little worried that so much may hinge on tomorrow's showing against the power. I also realise it's round one but the suns and giants showed a lot in the pre season and we rarely win round one and are chasing butt all year.

Mate, I think alot of fans are thinking exactly the same thing after watching teams who are supposedly at our level or below have solid wins. Everything is crossed for tomorrow.

[McQueen 17,864]

Not sure re Trengove, was pretty flat at Casey today judging by reports. Could need a few weeks.

The notion that a senior player needs to dominate in the VFL in order to get back into the Firsts is misleading. The game structures and speed of play are completely different and the players in those teams are generally of a lesser skill and fitness base. However, you have guys like Magner, Couch and Terlich today who dominate. They have the superior fitness due to training with an AFL club and are right at home playing VFL skill level footy but struggle to break into the seniors and retain a spot.

I'm sure many of the posters here have found that during their playing careers - I know I have. Playing a faster and cleaner brand of footy when you've got the skills to do so can be considerably easier.

It would be great to see JT get a heap of it at Casey but IMO it's over rated. Luke Hodge and the Hawks would tend to agree based on a similar stats sheet.

[dazzledavey36 49,789]

Game days is finally here!! CARN THE DEES!!

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

When Kane Cornes goes to Nathan Jones, will any Melbourne teammates bother to put a block or two on?

[MH. 88]

Maybe it's coincidence that Viney and Toumpas are making their debut on Easter Sunday, but maybe it's not (dramatic music).

Well the day is finally here. How many years have some of you been waiting for young Jack to play this game ?

[old55 21,864]

The Demons vs The Power Round 1, 2013 – Team Stats

Total games played

Demons - 1,390 Power – 1,922

Games AverageDemons - 63Power – 87

Age AverageDemons - 24Power – 23

Height AverageDemons - 187cmPower – 189cm

Weight AverageDemons - 88kgPower – 87kg

Number of players by category0-49 GamesDemons - 10 / 17 (number of players/average games played)Power - 14 / 1550-99 Games

Demons - 6 / 89

Power - 3 / 80100+ Games

Demons – 6 / 130

Power – 5 / 146

Stats courtesy of footywire.com

There's something wrong with those Port game stats - the total and average (1922 and 87) are way out from the banded averages which give a total of 1170 and an average of 53, which sounds more right to me

[Bitter but optimistic 21,580]

Just heading off to the game. I'm confident - just put $50 on for the half time full time double.

[Benson 254]

I hear the MCG will close the top stands today, as a small crowd is expected.

[MH. 88]

Melbourne should win this game through dominance in the forward-line if they can go close to breaking even in the midfield.

The Power's back-line was monstered by Sellar in the NAB game and while both clubs were under-manned that day the Power's defence will be no different this time around. Jackson Trengove is the most experienced of their back 6 with just 61 games. Players like Pittard (14), Stevenson (10), Jonas (13), O'Shea (22) and Heath (2), all named in their named back 6, have a combined total of 61 games. Sellar was too good for Trengove with 5 goals, so how do they handle Clark, Sellar and Pedersen today? The rain is their friend.

If Melbourne bring their tackling game and get enough inside forward 50 entries they have enough firepower up front to win this game.

Edited March 30, 2013 by MH.

[Irish Demon 33]

All the talk this week was about how the Brisbane Lions would destroy the Bulldogs.The Bulldogs gave the critics their answer.I hope our lad's take a leaf out of the Bulldogs book later on today.No excuses we have to pick up the four points and get the year off to a positive start.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Irish Demon

[S.R.J 418]

Guys i hope we have a great day. Im barracking very loudly from my lounge chair....go you bloody demons

[Benson 254]

Brett Goodes has only played 1 AFL game, he played a pretty good game yesterday.

[ucanchoose 1,807]

I hear the MCG will close the top stands today, as a small crowd is expected.

Grrr where did you hear this? According to the MCG it's open and they expect 23,000