THE PEOPLE SPEAK by The Demonland Crew

Thanks to Demonlanders for their input into this week’s preview.

Ralphius Maximus is short and bittersweet:

We'll crack in at the bounce to create a contest, win our share of the ball, butcher the forward movement and get scored on easily from the intercepts. Not that hard to predict.

Big Demon says:

Unfortunately Collingwood will win because they have a lot more to play for. We will be good in parts but really the season is well over so we will have to put up with those belligerent black and white mongrels all day yet again.  

Soidee’s view:

Sadly it will be another loss for the MFC.  I have watched them closely and a losing culture has set in.  Goodwin refuses to change and he will be better served to just let the team free up and play with freedom over next 3 weeks. 

Collingwood have all to play for, our players are drowning in process and no confidence.  There will be players offloaded in the off season and those who remain will have the hardest pre season in recent history.

Mahoney and Goodwin on their last chance to get it right.  Don’t stuff around, if we have injury prone players then move them on.  We need fit players on our list and need to bring in a power forward and speed in the middle.

Mental Demons:

Collingwood will win. Goodwin's comments about testing players for versatility and to see what they have for the future is an admission that we don't wan't or care to win. We will be better of with the high draft pick. It also hides our future potential for when we can put out a better team next year. The Demons have a bit of a record of not being good two years in a row.

It has given a chance to have a look at some players who would not have got a look in but for injuries. It has separated a few of the men from the boys. Hore, Petty, Dunkley and Lockhart look to have something to offer. It has also weeded out some of our problems. If we were out to win we would be playing guys who are playing for their careers because their contracts are up. Of this Spargo and O Mac have very misty futures.

It has also highlighted our poor drafting and player management. May is an overpriced crock but is the most secure player on our list, more secure than Max, Oliver, Salem, Harmes, Melksham, in fact everybody. May needs to show some value because his return this year has been terrible. May turns up unfit and struggles to stay on the field. Lever is not as much of a problem as he reads play well and has rebounding skills, he just needs a good run at it and his potential will be shown. Our other management problem players are Weideman (is only really a third tall); Vandenberg (has he played a game since we signed him for 3 years so the Swans would not get him?); Kolodjashnij (has not show any value at Casey); Pruess (immobile and overpriced).

Pruess was a liability last week and so has not shown we can play him and Max in the same team.To be competitive against the Pies,  we need our quickest team out there. If May is out again we probably need Oscar Mac in, no other tall options. JHK did not do enough last week to be kept on the list next year so another small can have a go in the big league. If Leaver is out, bring in Hore. If Tim Smith is fit we should bring him in. Would be good to have a look at Jordon, and/or Bedford. What have we got to lose except pick 2? 

robbiefrom13 opines:

Collingwood appear to be physically far stronger than Melbourne, and faster, and unlike us they are playing with confidence - so it's hard to see us getting anywhere near them.

On the other hand, if Goodwin hasn't lost the players, they - all of them, coaching staff and players - must be highly motivated to prove it and silence the growing rumblings about coach/players "connection".  And Collingwood are presumably at real risk of going into this game overly confident.  Like a team running out for the first time under a new coach, we could surprise the world.  Terribly undermanned, we surprised West Coast a few years ago.  Upsets happen - it's not impossible.  But unless the stories about a breakdown between players and their coaches are wrong, it's not going to happen this week.

So there's the interest - to see if the game departs from the obvious script, even a little bit.  The game itself hardly matters for us, as far as this season is concerned - but the bigger narrative of the state of our club - that does.  We must be getting closer to knowing for sure - so Melbourne supporters may go to the footy focused on a completely different drama to the one Collingwood fans will be there drooling for

The Third Eye concludes:

The Demons are struggling. Of this there is no doubt because our expectations were so high as we went into the preseason before things fell away so badly.

But I wonder if we’re really that bad. We know the club is running at about ⅔ rat power due to our disastrous injury and fitness injuries but I was bemused by an article in the Herald Sun which waxed eloquent about Carlton’s future after its 24 point loss against the West Coast Eagles who took their feet off the accelerator from at least as early as the start of the final quarter on Sunday. The critics were nowhere near as friendly to Melbourne which lost by 13 points two weeks earlier in a game that could have gone either way. “Off with Goodwin’s head!” they wail.

As for the Magpies, they’ve been up and down in the past month or so while suffering from an injury list that compares with that of the Demons if you believe their supporters. But according to a stat that came up on my Twitter feed that said, “Collingwood averaging 3.7 first 22 players missing per game, Dees 6.9.” Never let it be said that Collingwood folk understand the word “perspective”.

Their team looked pathetic a fortnight ago against the Tigers and they were gorn by half time before their opponents virtually hung up their boots midway through the final term and allowed them to get to within 32 points of their tormentors. Melbourne, on the other hand, stayed up with Richmond for a half and  fell away with the coming of the rain in third quarter to lose by 33 points.

On that basis, the teams are pretty evenly matched and if the Demons can kick straight for goal, they win. I think they will do it this week - they have absolutely nothing to lose.

* and that’s the retro round preview. Apologies to those who missed out.

THE GAME

Melbourne v Collingwood at the MCG Saturday 10 August, 2019 at 1.45pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 83 wins, Collingwood 149 wins, 5 drawn

At the MCG Melbourne 63 wins, Collingwood 82 wins, 3 drawn

Last Five Meetings Melbourne 2 wins, Collingwood  3 wins

The Coaches Goodwin 1 win, Buckley 3 wins

MEDIA

TV - Fox Footy Live at 1.30pm

Radio -  Triple M 3AW ABC

LAST TIME THEY MET

Collingwood 15.8.98 defeated Melbourne 7.15.57 at the MCG in Round 13, 2019

It was a comprehensive victory to the Magpies who simplify could not miss their shots from any angle or distance after half time while the Demons’ disposal was horrible.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B Christian Salem Steven May Jake Lever
HB Angus Brayshaw Sam Frost James Harmes
C Nathan Jones Michael Hibberd Jordan Lewis
HF Jayden Hunt Bayley Fritsch Kyle Dunkley
F Harrison Petty Jake Melksham Christian Petracca
FOLL Max Gawn Jack Viney Clayton Oliver
I/C Oskar Baker Jay Kennedy Harris Oscar McDonald  Corey Wagner
EMG Marty Hore Alex Neal-Bullen  Braydon Preuss Billy Stretch

IN Steven May

OUT Braydon Preuss (omitted)

COLLINGWOOD

B Brayden Maynard Jordan Roughead Jeremy Howe
HB Jack Crisp Matthew Scharenberg Chris Mayne
C Tom Phillips Scott Pendlebury Josh Daicos
HF Callum Brown Brody Mihocek Travis Varcoe
F Jamie Elliott Will Hoskin-Elliott Steele Sidebottom
FOLL Brodie Grundy Adam Treloar Taylor Adams
I/C Levi Greenwood Jack Madgen Josh Thomas Rupert Wills
EMG Tim Broomhead Tyler Brown Ben Crocker John Noble

IN Jack Madgen

OUT Mason Cox (detached retina)

Injury List: Round 21

Steven May (hamstring) – test
Jake Lever (ankle) – test
Charlie Spargo (calf) –  test
Mitch Hannan (groin) – 1-2 weeks
Tom Sparrow (knee) – 2-3 weeks
Aaron vandenBerg (foot) – season
Neville Jetta (knee) - season
Jeff Garlett (shoulder) – season
Kade Kolodjashnij (head) – season 
Tom McDonald (knee) – season
Aaron Nietschke  (knee) – season
Joel Smith (groin) – season
Sam Weideman (jaw) – season
Guy Walker (shoulder) – indefinite