Jump to content

Match Report - Round 11

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

Posted

THE FUGAZI GETS LOUDER by George on The Outer

While Melbourne hardly played its best brand of football against the Western Bulldogs, in the end an eight goal win and another boost to percentage has done nothing to quell the fugazi (noise) around the club.

 
After a fifth successive win at Docklands where not a solitary victory was recorded from 2008 to 2015 and with six consecutive wins under the their belts, it is not surprising that the Demon bandwagon is truly up and running.  And while the coach and players are trying to keep “a Lid” on it, as we have only reached the half way point of a long, long season, these wins are making a finals appearance this year more of a certainty.
 
The toll that the season and competition takes was shown in no uncertain terms today, when Jake Lever went down with what looks like a season ending knee injury. Others, in Jake Melksham and Tim Smith copped a battering during the game, and will be truly grateful for the nine-day break until the next match. And after the injury losses that befell the club last season, we are too familiar with the cost of losing talented players.
 
Perhaps the grinding nature of the season to date was also showing up in the first quarter as Melbourne just looked tired and out of sorts after their complete demolition of Adelaide the previous week. The Dogs led at quarter time, thereby ending Melbourne’s streak of winning quarters, but it is the result at the end of the game that matters, and the Demons regained some of their composure and simply steamrolled the opposition to run out 49 point winners.
 
With the early loss of Lever, the backs had to regroup, and that they certainly did. Neville Jetta in a tribute to the Douglas Nicholls Round, played an absolute blinder across half-back with 24 touches, 9 marks and 11 contested possessions. Time and time again, it was Neville or nothing and each time he beat his and other opponents to repel the Dogs forward thrusts.  
He was ably assisted by Michael Hibberd and Oscar McDonald who are proving to be equally solid “impassables” in defence.  
 
In the middle Max Gawn got on top after a slow start in the ruck and finished with an incredible 57 hitouts. While the Dogs continued to win clearances, they were always under pressure, while the Demons were cleaner and more methodical with their work at the stoppages. The result: after ¼ time, the Demons kicked 13 goals to a mere four from the Bulldogs.  
 
The mids had a field day, but not just in the middle as 14 Melbourne players had 19 or more disposals in the game. They were getting bucketloads of the ball, none more so than Angus Brayshaw and Clarrie Oliver with 39 and 38 touches respectively.  It is a sign of the progression of this side, that we hardly notice the 26 and 22 touches from Jones and Viney, something which would have topped the tally sheet not that long ago.
 
Up forward the tag team of Jesse Hogan and Tom McDonald cut the opposition defence to pieces again, posting nine goals between them - more than the Dogs total score.  
 
Bayley Fritsch, Alex Neal-Bullen and Mitch Hannan continue to be live-wires on the edges and provide those critical links to the forwards.  Fritsch has been a revelation and 14 marks in this game as a first year player has cemented his spot in the short term, and longer probably.  
 
The Fugazi continues, and you expect there to be plenty of it in the lead up to the QB game against the Pies, who make plenty of their own fugazi, even when they are rubbish.  For the Demons, they can do no more than to continue to do what they are doing at the moment, which is to defeat whoever is drawn to play them aeach week.  
 
Melbourne 2.1.13 7.4.46 11.7.73 15.10.100
 
Western Bulldogs 3.3.21 4.6.30 6.8.44 7.9.51
 
Goals
 
Melbourne Hogan 5 T McDonald 4 Brayshaw Fritsch Hannan Jones Neal-Bullen Petracca
 
Western Bulldogs Bontempelli 2 Gowers Honeychurch Roughead Schache Suckling
 
Best
 
Melbourne Brayshaw Jetta Hogan Gawn T McDonald Oliver
 
Western Bulldogs Bontempelli Hunter McLean Suckling Macrae Morris 
 
Injuries              
 
Melbourne Lever (knee) Melksham (ankle) T Smith (neck)
 
Western Bulldogs Dickson (hamstring)
 
Reports Nil
 
Umpires Chamberlain, Hay, Wallace 
 
Official crowd 28,485 at Etihad Stadium
  • Quote
    •  

    Archived

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

    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • PREVIEW: Gold Coast

      The Gold Coast Suns find themselves outside of the top eight for the first time since Round 1 with pressure is mounting on the entire organisation. Their coach Damien Hardwick expressed his frustration at his team’s condition last week by making a middle-finger gesture on television that earned him a fine for his troubles. He showed his desperation by claiming that Fox should pick up the tab.  There’s little doubt the Suns have shown improvement in 2025, and their position on the ladder is influenced to some extent by having played fewer games than their rivals for a playoff role at the end of the season, courtesy of the disruption caused by Cyclone Alfred in March.  However, they are following the same trajectory that hindered the club in past years whenever they appeared to be nearing their potential. As a consequence, that Hardwick gesture should be considered as more than a mere behavioral lapse. It’s a distress signal that does not bode well for the Queenslanders. While the Suns are eager to remain in contention with the top eight, Melbourne faces its own crisis, which is similarly deep-seated but in a much different way. After recovering from a disappointing start to the season and nearing a return to respectability among its peer clubs, the Demons have experienced a decline in status, driven by the fact that while their form has been reasonable (see their performance against the ladder leader in the Kings Birthday match), their conversion in front of goal is poor enough to rank last in the competition. Furthermore, their opponents find them exceptionally easy to score against. As a result, they have effectively eliminated themselves from the finals race and are again positioned to finish in the bottom half of the ladder.

        • Thanks
        • Like
      • 3 replies
      Demonland

    • NON-MFC: Round 15

      As the Demons head into their Bye Round, it's time to turn our attention to the other matches being played. Which teams are you tipping this week? And which results would be most favourable for the Demons if we can manage to turn our season around? Follow all the non-Melbourne games here and join the conversation as the ladder continues to take shape.

        • Like
      • 276 replies
      Demonland

    • REPORT: Port Adelaide

      Of course, it’s not the backline, you might argue and you would probably be right. It’s the boot studder (do they still have them?), the midfield, the recruiting staff, the forward line, the kicking coach, the Board, the interchange bench, the supporters, the folk at Casey, the head coach and the club psychologist  It’s all of them and all of us for having expectations that were sufficiently high to have believed three weeks ago that a restoration of the Melbourne team to a position where we might still be in contention for a finals berth when the time for the midseason bye arrived. Now let’s look at what happened over the period of time since Melbourne overwhelmed the Sydney Swans at the MCG in late May when it kicked 8.2 to 5.3 in the final quarter (and that was after scoring 3.8 to two straight goals in the second term). 

        • Clap
        • Thanks
        • Like
      • 3 replies
      Demonland

    • CASEY: Essendon

      Casey’s unbeaten run was extended for at least another fortnight after the Demons overran a persistent Essendon line up by 29 points at ETU Stadium in Port Melbourne last night. After conceding the first goal of the evening, Casey went on a scoring spree from about ten minutes in, with five unanswered majors with its fleet of midsized runners headed by the much improved Paddy Cross who kicked two in quick succession and livewire Ricky Mentha who also kicked an early goal. Leading the charge was recruit of the year, Riley Bonner while Bailey Laurie continued his impressive vein of form. With Tom Campbell missing from the lineup, Will Verrall stepped up to the plate demonstrating his improvement under the veteran ruckman’s tutelage. The Demons were looking comfortable for much of the second quarter and held a 25-point lead until the Bombers struck back with two goals in the shadows of half time. On the other side of the main break their revival continued with first three goals of the half. Harry Sharp, who had been quiet scrambled in the Demons’ first score of the third term to bring the margin back to a single point at the 17 minute mark and the game became an arm-wrestle for the remainder of the quarter and into the final moments of the last.

        • Clap
      • 0 replies
      Demonland

    • PREGAME: Gold Coast

      The Demons have the Bye next week but then are on the road once again when they come up against the Gold Coast Suns on the Gold Coast in what could be a last ditch effort to salvage their season. Who comes in and who comes out?

        • Thanks
      • 155 replies
      Demonland

    • PODCAST: Port Adelaide

      The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 16th June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing loss to the Power.
      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.
      Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

        • Thanks
      • 33 replies
      Demonland
    View All