Jump to content

  • IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

    The Demonland Terms of Service, which you have all recently agreed to, strictly prohibit discussions of ongoing legal matters, whether criminal or civil. Please ensure that all discussions on this forum remain focused solely on on-field & football related topics.


Recommended Posts

Posted

The Demons ran out for their Qualifying Final match against the Fremantle Dockers at Casey Fields as the sounds of Midnight Oils’ “Power and the Passion cascaded over the mainly friendly pro-Melbourne crowd. It was a far cry from the season opener at Carrara in late January where few of their fans were in attendance in high 20’s heat and humidity and silence greeted every score from the slow-starting Demons. They ran away from the lowly Suns, won comfortably in the end and followed that with another easy win against the Tigers.

But there were no easy games after that and a mid season two-game slump had coach Mick Stinear and his assistants burning the midnight oil to get the team’s season back on track. They did so to stunning effect bringing a more attacking style to the table and the results have been evident ever since with win after win over highly ranked opponents

The Qualifying Final victory - Melbourne’s second in a fortnight against the early season premiership favourites - was emblematic of the team’s new power and passion. The conditions were just as hot as in their opening game but this time the team was strong out of the blocks even against a stiff breeze. Youngster Alyssa Bannan scored the only goal for the opening quarter and the feat of holding the Dockers to a mere two points during that stanza was to prove decisive. Two quick goals to Shelley Scott in the opening five minutes of the second term saw the visitors gasping for air and in arrears by 19 points at the main break.

But this was a finals game and the Dockers hadn’t travelled across the continent to be brushed aside so easily. They pushed hard for ten minutes to narrow the gap to 11 points before a goal to Melbourne’s Brenna Tarrant steadied the ship. Then followed another surge that netted two more goals and, at the final break, it was game on with the Demons’ lead cut to a mere four points.

Except that the ill winds that often sweep across Casey Fields were in full operation.

For the remainder of the game, the ball was mainly in Melbourne’s forward line but goals were hard to score. Seven consecutive behinds were punctuated by a couple of shots out of bounds. The weight of those points had already made the game safe when Maddy Gay finally goaled from a free kick with a minute left to go.

Gay (19 touches, 9 tackles) had been great in an all round team effort but, as usual, perennial All Australian Karen Paxman (20 possessions and five tackles) challenged her for the best on ground. Lily Mithen was tigerish in her attack on the footy, Scott’s two goals invaluable, Tegan Cunningham at her best for a while and Eden Zanker demonstrated why she’s regarded as one of the best young talents in the game. Lauren Pearce won in the ruck.

The other Pearce — the team’s spiritual leader, Daisy — sat this one out with a knee injury and might not be back out on the field again this season. Whatever the case may be, her Demons proved yesterday that they have the power and the passion to take on Adelaide next week and continue on the path to ultimate success.

MELBOURNE  1.2.8 3.3.21 4.3.27 5.10 (40)

FREMANTLE DOCKERS 0.2.2 0.2.2 3.5.23 3.5 (23)

GOALS

Melbourne: Scott 2, Bannan, Gay, Tarrant

Fremantle Dockers: Duffy, Houghton, Sharp

BEST

Melbourne: Paxman, Gay, Scott, Mithen, Cunningham, Zanker

Fremantle Dockers: Bowers, Miller, Sergeant, Cain, Seth

INJURIES 

Melbourne: Nil

Fremantle Dockers: Nil

REPORTS: Nil

VENUE: Casey Fields

AFLW2021QF.png

  • Like 4

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Demonland Forums  

  • Match Previews, Reports & Articles  

    TRAINING: Wednesday 5th February 2025

    Demonland Trackwatchers were out in force as the Demons returned to Gosch's Paddock for preseason training on Wednesday morning. GHOSTWRITER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Kozzie a no show. Tommy Sparrow was here last week in civvies and wearing sunnies. He didn’t train. Today he’s training but he’s wearing goggles so he’s likely got an eye injury. There’s a drill where Selwyn literally lies on top of Tracc, a trainer dribbles the ball towards them and Tracc has to g

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS: 2024

    Whichever way you look at it, the Melbourne Football Club’s 2024 season can only be characterized as the year of its fall from grace. Whispering Jack looks back at the season from hell that was. After its 2021 benchmark premiership triumph, the men’s team still managed top four finishes in the next two seasons but straight sets finals losses consigned them to sixth place in both years. The big fall came in 2024 with a collapse into the bottom six and a 14th placing. At Casey, the 2022 VFL p

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Special Features

    MATCH SIM: Friday 31st January 2025

    Veteran Demonland Trackwatcher Picket Fence ventured down to Casey Fields to bring you his observations from Friday's Match Simulation. Greetings Demonlanders, beautiful Day at training and the boys were hard at it, here is my report. NO SHOWS: Luker Kentfield (recovering from pneumonia in WA), also not sure I noticed Melky (Hamstring) or Will Verrall?? MODIFIED DUTIES (No Contact): Sparrow, McVee (foot), Tracc (ribs), Chandler, (AC Joint), Fullarton Noticeable events (I’ll s

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports 2

    TRAINING: Wednesday 29th January 2025

    A number of Demonland Trackwatchers swooped on Gosch's Paddock to bring you their observations from this morning's Preseason Training Session. DEMON JACK'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Beautiful morning at Gosch's Paddock. Very healthy crowd so far.  REHAB: Fullerton, Spargo, Tholstrup, McVee Viney running laps. EDIT: JV looks to be back with the main group. Trac, Sparrow, Chandler and Verrell also training away from the main group. Currently kicking to each other ins

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports 1

    TRAINING: Wednesday 22nd January 2025

    Demonland Trackwatchers were out in force for training at Gosch's Paddock on Wednesday morning for the MFC's School Holidays Open Training Session. DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS REHAB: TMac, Chandler, McVee, Tholstrup, Brown, Spargo Brown might have passed his fitness test as he’s back out with the main group.  Sparrow not present. Kozzy not present either.  Mini Rehab group has broken off from the match sim (contact) group: Max, Trac, Lever, Fullarton

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Monday 20th January 2025

    Demonland Trackwatcher Gator attended training out at Casey Fields to bring you the following observations from Preseason Training. GATOR'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS There were 5 in the main rehab group, namely Gawn, Petracca, Fullarton, Woewodin and Lever.  Laurie was running laps by himself, as was Jefferson.  Chandler, as has been reported, had his arm in a sling.  Lindsay did a bit of lap running later on. Some of the ''rehab 5'' participated in non contact drills and b

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Wednesday 15th January 2025

    There were a number of Demonland Trackwatchers at Gosch's Paddock this morning to bring you their observations from Preseason Training. KEV MARTIN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS They were going hard at each other. The sims were in two 15 minute blocks. The second block finished a few minutes early, they gathered and had another 7 minutes at it. I think they were asked to compete, as they would play against an opposition. There was plenty of niggle, between some of them. At the end o

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Monday 13th January 2025

    Better late than never … and quite frankly, there’s very little to report other than that training took place at Casey Fields this morning, that Tracc was there nursing his rib injury and that some photographs are on the club’s social media including this one of Clarrie in Raging Bull stance that gives rise for confidence. The other news is that the club has a new train on player in 185cm Dandenong Stingrays midfielder Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves (love the hyphenated name which is just so fitti

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Thursday 9th January 2025

    Welcome back to Demonland for those like me who have been on vacation. I’m posting this with some trepidation because of a certain amount of uncertainty surrounding the return of preseason training in 2025 after a flurry of weddings including those of our coach, one of our superstar players and a former premiership champion player and bloke, not to mention the recent mysterious incident that occurred on the Mornington Peninsula.  I believe that the team reassembles this morning at Casey Fie

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports
  • Tell a friend

    Love Demonland? Tell a friend!
×
×
  • Create New...