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Centre Clearances - Considered Analysis Requested.


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1 minute ago, Engorged Onion said:

 

I think it's helpful to recognise that even if a ruckman is so so dominant that he can win most taps (though he has to do so under duress and will still mistime/mis direct) it is far easier to to set up around him as the defensive team, than if each tap was a 50/50 role of the dice.

Max's dominance is not advantageous to the team at centre clearances - it is his aerobic ability and marking around the ground that helps.

Max's dominance certainly has the capacity to be significantly advantageous to us at center bounce, but i don't think we're quite getting it rght, i agree it's not the priority it has been in the past, but we really should be breaking even out of there with the players we have in the middle 

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https://www.statsinsider.com.au/blog/afl/understanding-how-clearances-shape-the-results-of-afl-games

This is an interesting empirical perspective, even though it relates more broadly to all clearance rather than centre clearance specifically.  In summary the very best recent teams are only middling at clearance but elite at defending clearance.  It's not so much what you score from the clearances you get, but what the opposition doesn't score against you from the clearances they get.  The very best teams score far more heavily on the intercept - exactly the way we are playing now.

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2 minutes ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

Max's dominance certainly has the capacity to be significantly advantageous to us at center bounce, but i don't think we're quite getting it rght, i agree it's not the priority it has been in the past, but we really should be breaking even out of there with the players we have in the middle 

You're being very diplomatic ?

If it's not a priority, because of what it takes away from the game plan - then irrespective of the calibre of players that we have -breaking even doesn't matter if it gets in the way of the deliberate, methodical strategy that is in place.

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6 minutes ago, Swooper1987 said:

https://www.statsinsider.com.au/blog/afl/understanding-how-clearances-shape-the-results-of-afl-games

This is an interesting empirical perspective, even though it relates more broadly to all clearance rather than centre clearance specifically.  In summary the very best recent teams are only middling at clearance but elite at defending clearance.  It's not so much what you score from the clearances you get, but what the opposition doesn't score against you from the clearances they get.  The very best teams score far more heavily on the intercept - exactly the way we are playing now.

Absolutely [censored] brilliant @Swooper1987

Can we pin this article to the first page and make it compulsory reading?

Edited by Engorged Onion
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Im really thinking we trial Spargo in the middle.

His tackling is awesome. Hes small and will get under packs as well as frees for high tackles.

He works very hard.

His disposal is quick and accurate by hand and foot .

For his size hes a fast runner.

Hes very fit.

Hes tough and brave. Gives his all.

I think he might be a better option than Kozzie.

Harmes was good last week but hes more a tagger and tackler than a ball getter and mover.

Just wondering.

Certainly missing Jv.

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11 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

You're being very diplomatic ?

If it's not a priority, because of what it takes away from the game plan - then irrespective of the calibre of players that we have -breaking even doesn't matter if it gets in the way of the deliberate, methodical strategy that is in place.

Okay, i should be more clear haha, it's not as much of a priority as it once was imo, we used to bring in extra numbers and really roll the dice, we're not doing that anymore, but all things being equal i'd like to see us reach a point where we're at least breaking even out of there. and when we do that, some of these 4 goal wins like total potentially become 10 goals wins.

In saying that our clearance numbers will simply improve when JV is back in there and in fact we do seem stronger in that area when Luke Jackson is in  there as well. 

No surprise we've had a bad two weeks in that space with Jackson and Viney out of the team

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1 hour ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

I am concerned how this approach will stand up against a team like the Dogs who likely won't rush and waste the midfield dominance they're likely to get against us, ultimately the goal is to win a premiership and they're the blue print of the team we're likely going to have to beat to do that. 

i'm confident our system can stand up against any other side, but that's the one area i could see the Dogs getting us. 

I get that, and totally agree we don't want to give up a clearance differential to the dogs.

But the clearance differential is fluid in its importance. Against some teams it doesn't matter. And against some teams it does. 

And it is worth remembering in this context we have beaten both last years' grand finalists, so the approach stacks up against good teams.  

Again as Goody noted in his presser he was not overly concerned with the blues winning the clearances because they had an extra and they were just giving it straight back to us.

So Goody didn't make a tactical shift. Because their strategy was hurting them and helping us (eg 15 intercept nearly 40 odd points scored from the back half). 

Goody also noted the game today was one where each team had had different strengths (read different game plans) and their strength is their offensive capacity. He noted we worked to take that away from them and worked to get the game on our terms.

Well, them choosing to put an extra at the stoppage helped us get the game on our terms as it is very defensive, as it prioritizes winning the clearance over having an extra player forward of the contest (which we often have). 

Again, they scored basically nothing from clearances and we scored nearly forty points from intercepts in the back half. So why would Goody respond? 

But he will respond against the dogs.

And he will go into the game with some different tactics.

Because like they have every game, they will look to negate the opposition strengths and take advantage of possible weaknesses, just as he did against the tigers with the higher number of handballs we employed.

So, for example it is very likely we will set up much less aggressively against the dogs at stoppages and have focus on halving more clearances. Because this will negate one of their key strengths. 

Edited by binman
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1 minute ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

Okay, i should be more clear haha, it's not as much of a priority as it once was imo, we used to bring in extra numbers and really roll the dice, we're not doing that anymore, but all things being equal i'd like to see us reach a point where we're at least breaking even out of there. and when we do that, some of these 4 goal wins like total potentially become 10 goals wins.

In saying that our clearance numbers will simply improve when JV is back in there and in fact we do seem stronger in that area when Luke Jackson is in  there as well. 

No surprise we've had a bad two weeks in that space with Jackson and Viney out of the team

Ok - so to confirm - if we break even in clearances - you are suggesting (and the evidence is there) that this equates to a 6 goal better side? 

@Swooper1987 just posted a great link from last year which details why this is not the case.

 

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2 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Ok - so to confirm - if we break even in clearances - you are suggesting (and the evidence is there) that this equates to a 6 goal better side? 

@Swooper1987 just posted a great link from last year which details why this is not the case.

 

I think the important thing to note from the article is that the very worst side in terms of losing clearance differential is the 2019 tigers who lost by 4.7 clearances per game. so these teams generally are breaking even or getting close to it, rather than winning that stat. we've lost by quite a lot the last two weeks, and i genuinely believe we'd be a better side and won by more today, and last week if by instead of losing clearance by 10 and 12 or whatever it was, we lost it by 4-5. achieving this doesn't mean we have to compromise our defensive strength, but i think it should be an aim of the coaches to tinker with the set up to try and get that number a little bit closer. 

if we lose clearance to the dogs by 10-12 they're a big chance to score 5-6 goals just from that. 

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We won the centre clearances 12-11 today. A clear bounce back.

Gawn much better. Oliver less flat footed. Harmes not trying as much. Petracca more switched on. And Carlton just aren't Sydney.

Of the ones we lost a lot were free kicks that looked dubious to me. Probably our plan was to lock on. Cripps always gets a free ride and it seems Walsh gets the same whistle.

We lost the around the ground clearances but I think a lot of that was because we dropped a defender off the back all day where as Carlton favour man on man. How many of Carlton's clearance kick landed in the hands of Lever, Petty or Brayshaw?

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1 hour ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

we've lost by quite a lot the last two weeks,

We won total clearances last week, meaning we smashed them at stoppages (as we lost the centre square clearances 17-4). 

This week had one more centre square clearances than them. I don't think they scored a single point from centre square clearance and i think we got two goals. Bick tick

They 'won' around the ground stoppages, but as i have pointed out that actually hurt them and helped us. 

The clearance differential  has become a useless stat in of itself, just as hit outs have. It is really only useful in combination with other stats, for example where both team's scoring chains start from and post clearance numbers.

For example, if you just looked at the blues round the ground clearance numbers you might conclude that was a positive outcome for them.

But if you look at that stat in combination with their scores from clearances (which was bugger all) and our score from defensive intercepts and rebounding you get a completely different picture.

And the outcome is a net negative for them. And conversely a net positive for us.   

Edited by binman
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Last week we got smashed this week they played the extra number up

Viney is a massive loss for us in the middle just look at what libba does for the doggies same beast just different colours

Just get him right and we'll judge it from there I reckon 

Teams are trying everything ATM to see what will work against us 

Extra number around the ball(blues)

Hold it up once your on the outside (cats,hawks)

Let's see what's next 

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13 hours ago, binman said:

A look in? What on earth are you talking about? We were always in control of that game and we won by 4 goals easing up.

They had no chance of winning that game once we came with the right level of pressure. 

A look in? Sheesh

And we won't lose the total clearances to the dogs as they won't put an extra at stoppages to give them half a chance to win one

Yeh. A look in. 

We had control over them in most aspects of the game which is obviously why we won and why we've been travelling so well. 

I'm looking at chinks in our armour and if you think that our start and even first half was strong, you're watching something else. 

Before half time, the centre clearance and clearance count was wildly in their favour again and after Goody's presser last week and the talk of us addressing it and starting well in that area, we failed. 

Something isn't working in there and we gave them a great look in going forward from centre bounce on many many occasions. Thankfully we have the best defensive unit in the game, but against the dogs, at the dome, with their ball users through the middle, we will be chopped up and made to pay for being asleep and out positioned at centre bounce. 

That is my point. 

I don't care that you think we're not worried as much about clearance. The coach said last week against Sydney that the clearance stat was concerning and it was concerning for the first half against the Blues on the weekend again. Gawn has had three shockers in a row and his ruck work is just all over the shop at the moment. 

Get this right and we will almost have the complete game.

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13 hours ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

I'm with you on the club shifting the importance it places on winning clearances in the sense that we've moved to a quality vs quantity approach, and that's fine, but i think we still have room to be better in that space, because regardless we still have one of the most dominant ruckmen that's played the game, and 2-3 of the very best midfielders in the entire competition, so getting smacked in there isn't ideal, i think we can break even without compromising anything else, and if we do that, we become a much better side again. 

I am concerned how this approach will stand up against a team like the Dogs who likely won't rush and waste the midfield dominance they're likely to get against us, ultimately the goal is to win a premiership and they're the blue print of the team we're likely going to have to beat to do that. 

i'm confident our system can stand up against any other side, but that's the one area i could see the Dogs getting us. 

Tom Liberatore is responsible for 40% of their clearances. Put Viney or others on him and reduce his influence

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1 hour ago, JimmyGadson said:

Yeh. A look in. 

We had control over them in most aspects of the game which is obviously why we won and why we've been travelling so well. 

I'm looking at chinks in our armour and if you think that our start and even first half was strong, you're watching something else. 

Before half time, the centre clearance and clearance count was wildly in their favour again and after Goody's presser last week and the talk of us addressing it and starting well in that area, we failed. 

Something isn't working in there and we gave them a great look in going forward from centre bounce on many many occasions. Thankfully we have the best defensive unit in the game, but against the dogs, at the dome, with their ball users through the middle, we will be chopped up and made to pay for being asleep and out positioned at centre bounce. 

That is my point. 

I don't care that you think we're not worried as much about clearance. The coach said last week against Sydney that the clearance stat was concerning and it was concerning for the first half against the Blues on the weekend again. Gawn has had three shockers in a row and his ruck work is just all over the shop at the moment. 

Get this right and we will almost have the complete game.

I reckon we are looking at a different game jimmy. 

There any number of possible examples but here's four quick ones from from this post alone.

One, they never had a look in. There were never in the game. 

Two - and related to the first one, our start and half start were both strong.  In a year where we have won 8 previous games, that was the FIRST TIME this season we were ahead after the first quarter.  For a team that had only lost one last quarter that spelt big trouble for the blues, who are a good team and who brought the heat early. 

And we extended that quarter time lead to be ahead by 13 points at half time.

Perhaps it is a sematic thing, and when you say our start wasn't strong you mean something different to how i would define it.

I would say our starts against the Saints, GWS, Hawks and the Roos were not strong.

By my definition we had a strong start to this game and a strong first half. If anything we didn't have such a strong finish.   

And three, i have no idea what you are referring to when you say:

  • we gave great looks in going forward from centre bounce on many many occasions - total and absolute baloney. As Teague noted in his presser they barely had any good looks going inside 50, at all, because of our pressure and the fact we completely smashed them in post clearance pressure 
  • Being asleep and out positioned at centre bounce - see above
  • Before half time, the centre clearance and clearance count was wildly in their favour? - Really? I actually don't know what the stats were but i assume you do? What were they? We were definitely behind in around the ground stoppages but as Teague noted our pressure meant that were of no value (a point Bartel made in the call during the third quarter and again on RSN this morning). And as Goody noted in his presser it wasn't an issue as they had an extra at the stoppage and they just gave the ball back to us all day.
  • And surely we can't have been too far behind in center clearance differential at half time as we won that stat by one. But i don't know the half time number. I assume you do. What was it?

Four, it is complete rubbish, in my opinion, that Gawn has had three shockers in a row and his ruck work is just all over the shop at the moment. 

And on a final point i know you don't rate Goodwin, but do you really think he is going to go into the game against the dogs without making subtle tactical shifts to negate their strengths and disrupt their preferred game style? For example change his stoppage set ups, tag some key mids  etc etc

Edited by binman
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I have been listening to Daisy P on SEN.

and she has a really good tactical brain.

We would normally associate fast scoring with success but this is a tactic that will not hold up against strong defences.

Controlling the ball when the ball enters your backline and using it well on the rebound with skill and spread. Tempo and calmness is your successful outcome. Playing your role and selflessness is your mission statement.

The Best game I ever saw was between Geelong and Essendon when salmon kicked 10 and Ablett Snr kicked about 14 goals 6!

We will never see scoring like that again!

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1 hour ago, binman said:

I reckon we are looking at a different game jimmy. 

There any number of possible examples but here's four quick ones from from this post alone.

One, they never had a look in. There were never in the game. 

Two - and related to the first one, our start and half start were both strong.  In a year where we have won 8 previous games, that was the FIRST TIME this season we were ahead after the first quarter.  For a team that had only lost one last quarter that spelt big trouble for the blues, who are a good team and who brought the heat early. 

And we extended that quarter time lead to be ahead by 13 points at half time.

Perhaps it is a sematic thing, and when you say our start wasn't strong you mean something different to how i would define it.

I would say our starts against the Saints, GWS, Hawks and the Roos were not strong.

By my definition we had a strong start to this game and a strong first half. If anything we didn't have such a strong finish.   

And three, i have no idea what you are referring to when you say:

  • we gave great looks in going forward from centre bounce on many many occasions - total and absolute baloney. As Teague noted in his presser they barely had any good looks going inside 50, at all, because of our pressure and the fact we completely smashed them in post clearance pressure 
  • Being asleep and out positioned at centre bounce - see above
  • Before half time, the centre clearance and clearance count was wildly in their favour? - Really? I actually don't know what the stats were but i assume you do? What were they? We were definitely behind in around the ground stoppages but as Teague noted our pressure meant that were of no value (a point Bartel made in the call during the third quarter and again on RSN this morning). And as Goody noted in his presser it wasn't an issue as they had an extra at the stoppage and they just gave the ball back to us all day.
  • And surely we can't have been too far behind in center clearance differential at half time as we won that stat by one. But i don't know the half time number. I assume you do. What was it?

Four, it is complete rubbish, in my opinion, that Gawn has had three shockers in a row and his ruck work is just all over the shop at the moment. 

And on a final point i know you don't rate Goodwin, but do you really think he is going to go into the game against the dogs without making subtle tactical shifts to negate their strengths and disrupt their preferred game style? For example change his stoppage set ups, tag some key mids  etc etc

 

Mate, my definition of 'look-in' in this context was their first half centre clearance dominance. First quarter especially. 

Their ability to take the ball away from centre clearance and enter their 50 gave them a 'look-in'. What is so hard to understand about that? 

I've previously said that we had them covered in all other aspects and thankfully Carlton don't use the ball amazingly well and their forwardline aside from Mackay is hardly a top 10 forward line atm. 

I don't understand what you're rebutting. Our first real clearance came 5 minutes into the game. Go back and watch the first quarter and watch every single one. Even without their spare man from stoppages, they still got on top at centre clearance and there were many occasions I watched on reply when they won clearance at stoppage without that extra man. 

Of course it's not the end of the world and we are strong in other facets so it mattered little in the end, BUT, incase you'd forgotten, all the talk was about us rectifying last week's clearance differential from first bounce and even Tom McDonald stated that we were disappointed with our first half. It's three weeks in a row where we've started poorly from the centre bounce. Last week was a smashing, this week Gawn and co were meant to rectify and it took until the second half to get on top.

So that, my friend, is cause for concern in my eyes for when we come up against better midfields, with better users and more dangerous forwardlines. They will score far easier from easy ball like that. 

I doesn't phase me that you don't share that concern. 

We have a disconnect in there atm and Gawn has been pretty poor in all facets for three weeks. I think most would agree on that, even if you don't. 

 

Edited by JimmyGadson
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18 hours ago, Jaded said:

Hibbo is having a great season. Hunt is also playing very well. I’m not that concerned. May can also play small. 

And you haven't mentioned one of our young defenders who's having a great start to his career and is almost as significant a contributor as any of our defenders, Trent Rivers. A star in the making.

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Could there be another dynamic to our clearances? Previously we have barrelled in, won clearances, banged the ball forward, and been picked off across halfback. Now we seem to be sitting back and allowing the opposition to have first use, then picking them off across halfback. I think we would concede that to be a foolish tactic against the best sides - four of whom we will soon play: WB, WC, BL, PAP. Maybe it's something to do with missing Viney. It's also highly unlikely the coaching panel is unaware of the discrepancy. But what if next week we had seemingly swallowed a magic pill and our clearance work was perfect? Would it still be perfect in September? Remember the 2018 Prelim? We went into that game confident our onballers had their onballers covered, but we were ambushed and their onballers creamed us. My point is this: are Goodwin, Yze and Williams keeping our powder dry? Could our footy brains be working towards us ambushing the opposition in finals? (IF you are a footy journo trolling for copy, you never read that.)

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4 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

 

We have a disconnect in there atm and Gawn has been pretty poor in all facets for three weeks. I think most would agree on that, even if you don't. 

 

Yeah, I'm not so sure about this.  When you say all facets, what are you referring too? Tap work, marking, possessions, positioning around the ground, work rate?  He was actually very good in the second half yesterday, in fact from quarter time he very easily outpointed his direct opponent.  Pittonet got 3 possessions after quarter time.  Gawn absolutely dominated him.  The fact that Carlton spent most of the day kicking it away from Max, yet still managed to find him on occasion was of particular note.  He had 8 score involvements and 16 hit outs to advantage from 44 in total.  He is judged very harshly at times.  I'd say he broke even with Goldstein (no shame in that) and was perhaps marginally bested by Hickey despite having identical possession tallies and many more hitouts (44-16).  Hickey had more clearances and marks and kicked a goal, but Max was instrumental in us holding on in the last quarter of that game. Hickey took care of Grundy pretty comfortably on the weekend.  He's a decent player.  Was Max as dominant as between rounds 2 and 6 - absolutely not, but then neither has Petracca been.  I'm sure he'd like to be having things a little more his own way, but that's what happens when you're a champion. Someone is always coming after you.

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37 minutes ago, Tony Tea said:

Could there be another dynamic to our clearances? Previously we have barrelled in, won clearances, banged the ball forward, and been picked off across halfback. Now we seem to be sitting back and allowing the opposition to have first use, then picking them off across halfback. I think we would concede that to be a foolish tactic against the best sides - four of whom we will soon play: WB, WC, BL, PAP. Maybe it's something to do with missing Viney. It's also highly unlikely the coaching panel is unaware of the discrepancy. But what if next week we had seemingly swallowed a magic pill and our clearance work was perfect? Would it still be perfect in September? Remember the 2018 Prelim? We went into that game confident our onballers had their onballers covered, but we were ambushed and their onballers creamed us. My point is this: are Goodwin, Yze and Williams keeping our powder dry? Could our footy brains be working towards us ambushing the opposition in finals? (IF you are a footy journo trolling for copy, you never read that.)

I don’t think we’re playing possum as such TT.

But I definitely think the focus has shifted to stopping the opposition winning the ball cleanly rather than win at all cost ourselves.

Thats a model that’s worked for Richmond for 4 years now. Though they certainly step it up for September.

If there’s one player that’s potentially holding back a little I think it’s Gawn. He’s never jumped much in the ruck and Hickey’s often troubled him with his reach and craft. He has been adapting to Jackson taking time too. I wasn’t surprised he bounced back a bit with the main share of the job again. I’m hoping the big guy has some cards up his sleeve. 

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On 5/16/2021 at 12:22 PM, Swooper1987 said:

https://www.statsinsider.com.au/blog/afl/understanding-how-clearances-shape-the-results-of-afl-games

This is an interesting empirical perspective, even though it relates more broadly to all clearance rather than centre clearance specifically.  In summary the very best recent teams are only middling at clearance but elite at defending clearance.  It's not so much what you score from the clearances you get, but what the opposition doesn't score against you from the clearances they get.  The very best teams score far more heavily on the intercept - exactly the way we are playing now.

You are right, counter punching is a thing, while it is fundamentally different sport, it doesn't escape my attention that the most transformative thing for Liverpool in their drought breaking, title season, was Virgil van Dijk and counterattacking on the turnover. Too many parallels to ignore I reckon, with our defensive game. Hopefully as successful as well. Not lost how fit Liverpool were, as well as buying into the defensive role playing of players, who have/had a history of being prima donnas..

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    HIBERNATING by KC from Casey

    When they locked up the rooms for summer at the end of last year’s football season, the rooms gathered cobwebs, the atmosphere became dense and the place developed a sleepy feel. They opened up the rooms to let Casey out to play on Sunday but the team was still hibernating and they missed the bulk of the opening quarter. By the time they worked out it was game on, their opponents from Box Hill had accumulated five goals and, if the game wasn’t over, it might as well have been. For a se

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Casey Articles

    A FORK IN THE HAWK by George on the Outer

    For too long in the past, Demon fans became habitually sick and tired of watching the Hawks hand out thrashings to their side. But Melbourne’s empahtic 55-point win at the MCG on Saturday has truly put a fork in the Hawk and turned that history well and truly on its head. The Demons have now won nine of their last ten encounters with the other result, a draw.     And like a fork, it was the multi-pronged options that Melbourne had all across the ground.  It certainly helped that Hawthorn

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Reports 8

    PREGAME: Rd 03 vs Port Adelaide

    The Demons head on the road for the next 2 weeks as they travel to Adelaide to play Port on Saturday and then have a 5 Day break before facing the Crows in the Gather Round. With injuries to May and Lever who comes in and who goes out?

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 262

    PODCAST: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 25th March @ 8:30pm. Join George, Binman & I as we analyse the Demons victory at the MCG against the Hawks in the Round 02. You 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. Listen & Chat

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 46

    VOTES: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    Last week Steven May took the lead in the Demonland Player of the Year Award from Jack Viney. Clayton Oliver & Max Gawn round out the Top 4. Your votes for the win/loss against/to the Hawks. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 50

    POSTGAME: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    The Demons cruised to an easy 55 point win over the Hawks at the MCG but but paid a heavy toll on the injury front with Steven May & Jake Lever possibly sidelined for a number of weeks.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 357

    GAMEDAY: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    It's Game Day and after mixed results in the first two weeks of the season the Demons have the opportunity to capitalise on their good form last week when they take on the Hawks at the MCG today.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 437
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    NON-MFC: Round 03

    Discussion of all the other games that don't involve the Demons in Round 03 ... READ MORE

    Demonland | Round 03

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    DEPTH CHARGE by Whispering Jack

    The jubilation on the coach’s face as he danced a celebratory jig by the playing bench after the final siren sounded to record his team’s four-point victory over the Demons when the teams last met, said it all ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 27

  • Latest Podcast      

    PODCAST: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    The boys dissected the clinical thrashing of Hawks praising the immense performance of Christian Petracca whilst lamenting the injury toll to our defensive unit ... LISTEN

    Demonland | March 26

  • Training  

    Monday, 25th March 2024

    Demonland Trackwatchers Demon Dynasty & Kev Martin were trackside at Gosch's Paddock today to bring you their observations from training ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 25

  • Casey Report      

    HIBERNATING by KC from Casey

    When they locked up the rooms for summer at the end of last year’s football season, the rooms gathered cobwebs, the atmosphere became dense and the place developed a sleepy feel. They opened up the rooms to let Casey out to play on Sunday but the team was still hibernating and they missed the bulk of the opening quarter ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 25

  • PreGame      

    PREGAME: Rd 03 vs Port Adelaide

    The Demons head out on the road for the next 2 weeks as they travel to Adelaide to play Port on Saturday and then have a 5 Day break before facing the Crows in Gather Round. With injuries to May and Lever who comes in and who goes out? ...READ MORE

    Demonland | March 28

  • Match Report      

    A FORK IN THE HAWK by George on the Outer

    For too long in the past, Demon fans became habitually sick and tired of watching the Hawks hand out thrashings to their side. But Melbourne’s empahtic 55-point win at the MCG on Saturday has truly put a fork in the Hawk and turned that history well and truly on its head ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 23

  • Post Game      

    POSTGAME: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    The Demons cruised to an easy 55 point win over the Hawks at the MCG but but paid a heavy toll on the injury front with Steven May & Jake Lever possibly sidelined for a number of weeks ...READ MORE

    Demonland | March 23

  • Votes      

    VOTES: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    Last week Steven May took the lead in the Demonland Player of the Year Award from Jack Viney. Clayton Oliver & Max Gawn round out the Top 4. Your votes for the win/loss against/to the Hawks. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ...READ MORE

    Demonland | March 23

  • Game Day      

    GAMEDAY: Round 02 vs Hawthorn

    It's Game Day and after mixed results in the first two weeks of the season the Demons have the opportunity to capitalise on their good form last week when they take on the Hawks at the MCG today ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 23

  • Training  

    Friday, 22nd March 2024

    Demonland Trackwatcher Kev Martin and I attended the Captain's Run at Gosch's Paddock on this lovely sunny morning to bring you the following observations from the training session ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 22

  • Training  

    Tuesday, 19th March 2024

    Demonland Trackwatchers Kev Martin & Walking Civil War attended Tuesday morning's training session at Gosch's Paddock to bring you the following observations ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 19

  • Training  

    Saturday, 16th March 2024

    Demonland Trackwatchers Kev Martin and Dee Zephyr wandered down to Gosch's Paddock on Saturday morning to bring you their observations from the Captain's Run in the lead up to Sunday's Round One match against the Bulldogs ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 16

  • Farewell  

    Angus Brayshaw Retires

    After 167 games including the drought breaking Premiership Angus Brayshaw has made the heart breaking decision to medically retire from football as a result of a series of serious head knocks over his nearly decade of footy. We wish Gus all the best and he'll always be a hero at Demonland ... READ MORE

    Demonland | February 22

  • Latest Podcast  

    PODCAST: Koltyn Tholstrup Interview

    I interview the Melbourne Football Club’s newest recruit Koltyn Tholstrup to have a chat about his journey from the farm to the Demons, his first few weeks of preseason training, which Dees have impressed him on the track and his aspirations of playing Round 1 ... LISTEN

    Demonland | December 14

  • Latest Podcast  

    PODCAST: Jason Taylor Interview

    I interview the Melbourne Football Club's National Recruitment Manager Jason Taylor to have a chat about our Trade and Draft period, our newest recruits, our recent recruits who have yet to debut as well as those father son prospects on the horizon ... LISTEN

    Demonland | November 27

  • Next Match 

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    Round 03

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    Saturday 30th March 2024
    @ 07:30pm (AO)

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  • Injury List  


      PLAYER INJURY LENGTH
    Jake Lever Knee Test
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    Oliver Sestan Concussion Test
    Steven May Ribs 1 Week
    Lachie Hunter Calf 1 Week
    Daniel Turner Hip 2-3 Weeks
    Charlie Spargo Achilles 2-4 Weeks
    Shane McAdam Hamstring 3-5 Weeks
    Jake Bowey Shoulder 7 Weeks
    Jake Melksham ACL 12-14 Weeks
    Joel Smith Suspension TBA

  • Player of the Year  


        PLAYER VOTES
    1 Christian Petracca 27
    2 Steven May 25
    3 Max Gawn 21
    4 Jack Viney 20
    5 Bayley Fritsch 19
    6 Clayton Oliver 18
    7 Christian Salem 12
    8 Blake Howes 11
    9 Jack Billings 10
    9 Alex Neal-Bullen 10

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