Jump to content

Posting Unsubstantiated Rumours on this Website is Strictly Forbidden
  • IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

    Demonland has made the difficult decision to not permit this platform to be used to discuss & debate the off-field issues relating to the Melbourne Football Club including matters currently being litigated between the Club & former Board members, board elections, the culture at the club & the personal issues & allegations against some of our players & officials ...

    We do not take these issues & this decision lightly & of course we believe that these serious matters affecting the club we love & are so passionate about are worthy of discussion & debate & I wish we could provide a place where these matters can be discussed in a civil & respectful manner.

    However these discussions unfortunately invariably devolve into areas that may be defamatory, libelous, spread unsubstantiated rumours & can effect the mental health of those involved. Even discussion & debate of known facts or media reports can lead to finger pointing, blame & personal attacks.

    The repercussion is that these discussions can open this website, it’s owners & it’s users to legal action & may result in this website being forced to shutdown.

    Our moderating team are all volunteers & cannot moderate the forum 24/7 & as a consequence problematic content that contravenes our rules & standards may go unnoticed for some time before it can be removed.

    We reserve the right to delete posts that offend against our above policy & indeed, to ban posters who are repeat offenders or who breach our code of conduct.

    WE HAVE BUILT A FANTASTIC ONLINE COMMUNITY AT DEMONLAND OVER THE PAST 23 YEARS & WE WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE TO BE ABLE TO DISCUSS THE CLUB WE LOVE & ARE SO PASSIONATE ABOUT.

    Thank you for your continued support & understanding. Go Dees.


CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS by The Oracle


Demonland

Recommended Posts

This weekend, the Melbourne Football Club was supposed to embark on a tour that started with what looked like an innocent trip to the country’s sunny Gold Coast. However, the Covid19 pandemic intervened to bring them back home for this week at least. Next week, it’s off to the West Coast but conspiracy theorists are already suggesting that this interstate sojourn could take the team all the way across the country over the next month and indeed, there are cynics who even believe that it could become a fully-fledged world tour that will take them far beyond Darwin and our northern borders and all the way to Japan for the 2020 Olympics!

Of course, as much as that suggestion sounds fanciful and far-fetched, it can’t be entirely ruled out in this era of rumour, innuendo and conspiracy theories. With the Demons going through a bit of a slump in recent weeks, nothing could be better than a change of scenery and an alteration to the mix. This is considered necessary because, despite the team's success early in the season, it seems to have dried up in terms of inspiration over the past month or so.

Even if the Demons don’t make it physically to Tokyo, they should at least adopt the Olympic motto of “faster, higher, stronger and kick the bloody thing straight” in the lead up to the finals!

This week, Melbourne has at least done something to adapt to the Olympic spirit engendered by the Aussies by bringing in some new blood at long last. While the Demons have been assisted in their 2021 campaign by the fact that their playing list has remained relatively healthy, there has been a down-side in the sameness and familiarity has led to some of the players starting to look tired and stale. The introduction of Jake Bowey, a live wire small with silky kicking skills, is just the tonic needed by the club. I’m expecting him to make an instant impression in much the same way as the introduction of Ariarne Titmus and Zac Stubblety-Cook have had on the Aussie swimming team. Swimming Australia’s performance consultant Jeremy Hickmans, a former NRL coach, has described Titmus as being as tough as any NRL player and in similar vein, nobody should underestimate Bowey’s approach to the game and what he can bring to the team.

Earlier in the week it was reported that coach Simon Goodwin had “subtly” introduced more goal kicking at training. It didn’t escape my notice that the word “subtly” sounds very much like our new Olympic champion’s surname or at least half of it. And that’s certainly been half of the problem of late since round 12 during which time the Demons have ranked last for goal kicking accuracy at a rate of just 37.5 per cent. Straighten that issue up and you don’t lose or draw games; instead you go directly to the podium to collect gold. I’m therefore suggesting a slight tweaking of names for our forwards this week and predicting that players of the calibre of Ben Stubblety-Brown, Tom Stubblety-McDonald, Bayley Stubblety-Fritsch and of course Alex Stubblety-Neal-Bullen will get their kicking mojos back and put the team back on course in the same way that Jess Fox did in her C-1 event at the Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre.

I’m not ignoring the Gold Coast Suns in all of this but let’s face it, they’re in heaps of trouble after losing Oleg Markov to a hamstring injury this week. The former Tiger and son of Olympian and World Champion pole vaulter Dmitri was an important cog in his team’s campaign for this Olympiad and he will be sorely missed coming off the back of his team’s disappointing 49-point loss to the Lions. The Demons will still have to keep an eye on the dangerous Touk Miller who dominated when the teams met last year but the young Gold Coast combination appears to have hit the wall after a tough season.

I mentioned that half of Melbourne’s recent issues related to poor kicking for goal but most of the other half has to do with the way the Demons are being treated by the men in white or whatever colour they happen to be wearing on a given day. Not that I’m suggesting the free kick numbers should be 50/50 but the last two games have seen them go down in the count by 11-25 (Bulldogs) and 15-22 (Hawks) which, at 35.6%, representing a poorer result than its goal kicking percentage. One of these days, the referees might bless us with a gold standard percentage.

The Dees might have been going through a minor slump but nobody can deny the power of their “Awesome Foursome” in the midfield — the magnificent Max Stubblety-Gawn, Christian Stubblety-Petracca, Clayton Stubblety-Oliver and James Stubblety-Harmes will get them through by the half a body length or, in football terms, 15 points.

THE GAME

Gold Coast Suns v Melbourne at Marvel Stadium Sunday 1 August, 2021 at 12.10pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall - Gold Coast Suns 3 wins Melbourne 11 wins

At Marvel Stadium - Gold Coast Suns 0 wins Melbourne 0 wins

Past five matches - Gold Coast Suns 0 wins Melbourne 5 wins

The Coaches - Dew 0 wins Goodwin 4 wins

MEDIA

TV - live and on demand on Kayo and live on Foxtel. Check your local guides.

Radio - check your local guides.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Melbourne 12.8.80 defeated Gold Coast Suns 9.9.63 at Giants Stadium, Round 6, 2020

The Demons struggled to shake off a dogged Suns outfit inspired by the debut game of Izak Rankine who stole the show with three goals. Max Gawn was steady in the ruck and Christian Petracca was a major influence in the middle, aided by some strong work from Jack Viney.

THE TEAMS

GOLD COAST SUNS


B: W. Powell 27 S. Collins 25 S. Lemmens 23
HB: J. Farrar 50 C. Burgess 29 C. Ballard 10
C: J. Lukosius 13 T.  Miller 11 J. Sharp 37
HF: J. Corbett 19 J. Jeffrey 40 A. Sexton 6
F: D. MacPherson 44 B. King 34 B. Ainsworth 9
Foll: Z. Smith 32 N. Anderson 15 D. Swallow 24
I/C: J. Bowes 3 B. Fiorini 8 S. Flanders 26 M. Rowell 18
Sub: W. Brodie 7 Emerg: R. Atkins 2 A. Davies 30 C. Graham 46

IN: J. Farrar J. Jeffrey D. MacPherson Z. Smith

OUT: R. Atkins (omitted) C. Graham (omitted) O. Markov (hamstring) I. Rankine (omitted)

MELBOURNE

B: T. Rivers 24 S. May 1 H. Petty 35
HB: J. Hunt 29 J. Lever 8 C. Salem 3
C: A. Brayshaw 10 C. Petracca 5 E. Langdon 15
HF: C. Spargo 9 T. McDonald 25 J. Viney 7
F: A. Neal-Bullen 30 B. Brown 50 B. Fritsch 31
Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Oliver 13 J. Harmes 4
I/C: J. Bowey 17 L. Jackson 6 K. Pickett 36 T. Sparrow 32
Sub: J. Jordon 23 Emerg: M. Hibberd 14 J. Melksham 18 S. Weideman 26

IN: J. Bowey

OUT: M. Hibberd (omitted) 

Injury List: Round 20

Bailey Laurie (shoulder) — Test
Mitch Brown (heel) — 1 to 2 Weeks
Marty Hore (knee) — 5 to 6 Weeks
Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season
Adam Tomlinson (knee) — Season

PreviewRd202021.png

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Demonland Forums  

  • Match Previews, Reports & Articles  

    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. KEV MARTIN'S TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Windy, even the Yarra has waves, warm and humid. They are doing plenty of warm ups, then a game of soccer, now run throughs. I think keeping it simple. May, ANB, Hore, Max. TMac, Billings, Sestan, on modified programs.  BBB, Spargs, Turner, McAdam (own program, talking to Whe

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    DEE-RUBBING by George on the Outer

    For the second week in a row, the Demons had to endure some particularly oppressive match conditions — this time, playing in 30 degree temperatures at the MCG, following the humid sticky Sydney atmosphere of last week.   The warmer conditions didn’t seem to worry the Dee’s since the ball was so much easier to handle, and handle it with surety they did in handing out a 45 point drubbing to the much fancied Western Bulldogs.   After a slow start that saw the Dogs out to

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Reports

    PREGAME: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    The Demons will return to the MCG next week to face the Hawks before 2 weeks on the road in Adelaide in the lead up to Gather Round. Who comes in and who goes out?

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 152

    PODCAST: Rd 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 18th March @ 8:30pm. Join George, Binman & I as we analyse the Demons victory at the MCG over the Bulldogs in the Round 01. 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 65

    POSTGAME: Rd 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    The Demons finally open their account in the 2024 Premiership Season with a 45 point win over the Western Bulldogs at the Home of Football the MCG.   

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 444

    VOTES: Rd 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    Last week Jack Viney polled the maximum number of votes to lead the Demonland Player of the Year Award. Steven May and rookie Blake Howes are equal second. Your votes for the win over the Bulldogs. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 75

    GAMEDAY: Rd 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    On the back of a disappointing Opening Round loss to the Swans in Sydney the Demons return to the MCG today to take on the the Western Bulldogs in a bid to even the ledger early in the 2024 season.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 467

    TRAINING: Saturday 16th March 2023

    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. KEV MARTIN'S CAPTAIN'S RUN OBSERVATIONS Rehab  is out early. A beautiful Saturday morning, though plenty of dew on the paddock  Verrall doing hard sprints along the boundary.  McAdam individual program and has started, ball work, change of direction drills,

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    CROSSING THE PICKETT LINE by The Oracle

    Melbourne’s performance in losing its Round Zero contest in Sydney has certainly caused the club, the coach and the players to come firmly under the watchful eye of the football world and exposed all of its aspects to a microscopic lens.   Much of the commentary surrounding them has been less than complimentary and, while some might argue that this is unfair after only one round, leaving aside some of the scuttlebutt that surrounds a lot of the discussion around the game, a fair amoun

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Previews
  • Tell a friend

    Love Demonland? Tell a friend!
  • Podcast 

  • Podcast 

  • Podcast Stream 


    Open Stream in
    New Window
        TuneIn    Opens in New Tab
  • Support Demonland  



  • 2021 Premiership  

  • Social Media 

  • Non MFC Games  

    NON-MFC: Round 02

    Discussion of all the other games that don't involve the Demons in Round 02 ... READ MORE

    Demonland | Round 02

  • 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

  • Latest Podcast      

    PODCAST: Rd 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    The boys analysed the dismantling of the Western Bulldogs praising the masterful performance of Clayton Oliver, the dominance of Max Gawn and the defence and rebound of Steven May ... LISTEN

    Demonland | March 19

  • Match Report      

    DEE-RUBBING by George on the Outer

    For the second week in a row, the Demons had to endure some particularly oppressive match conditions — this time, playing in 30 degree temperatures at the MCG, following the humid sticky Sydney atmosphere of last week ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 17

  • Post Game      

    POSTGAME: Round 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    TThe Demons finally open their account in the 2024 Premiership Season with a 45 point win over the Western Bulldogs at the Home of Football the MCG ...READ MORE

    Demonland | March 17

  • Votes      

    VOTES: Round 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    Last week Jack Viney polled the maximum number of votes to lead the Demonland Player of the Year Award. Steven May and rookie Blake Howes are equal second. Your votes for the win over the Bulldogs. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ...READ MORE

    Demonland | March 17

  • PreGame      

    PREGAME: Rd 02 vs Hawthorn

    The Demons will return to the MCG next week to face the Hawks before 2 weeks on the road in Adelaide in the lead up to Gather Round. Who comes in and who goes out? ...READ MORE

    Demonland | March 19

  • Game Day      

    GAMEDAY: Round 01 vs Western Bulldogs

    On the back of a disappointing Opening Round loss to the Swans in Sydney the Demons return to the MCG today to take on the the Western Bulldogs in a bid to even the ledger early in the 2024 season ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 17

  • 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

  • Match Preview      

    CROSSING THE PICKETT LINE by The Oracle

    Melbourne’s performance in losing its Round Zero contest in Sydney has certainly caused the club, the coach and the players to come firmly under the watchful eye of the football world and exposed all of its aspects to a microscopic lens ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 14

  • Training  

    Monday, 11th March 2024

    Demonland Trackwatcher Kev Martin braved the scorching heat on a public holiday to bring you the following observations from Training ...READ MORE

    Demonland | March 11

  • Preseason Training  

    Saturday, 2nd March 2024

    On the eve of the 2024 Season I ventured down to Gosch's Paddock for one of the final preseason training session before we head up to Sydney to take on the Swans. Here are my observations from the training session ... READ MORE

    Demonland | March 02

  • Special Feature  

    SCRUTINY & RESILIENCE by Whispering Jack

    If the week when preseason training melds into scratch matches with other clubs, is the first marker for the beginning of a new season, then this has certainly been a torrid opener for the Melbourne Football Club in its campaign to remain a leading AFL premiership contender in 2024 ... READ MORE

    Demonland | February 24

  • 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 

    .

    Round 02

       vs   

    Saturday 23rd March 2024
    @ 04:35pm (MCG)

  • MFC Forum  

  • Match Previews & Reports  

  • Training Forum  

  • AFLW Forum  

  • 2024 Player Sponsorship

  • Topics

  • Injury List  


      PLAYER INJURY LENGTH
    Oliver Sestan Concussion 1 Week
    Lachie Hunter Calf 2 Weeks
    Daniel Turner Hip 5-6 Weeks
    Jake Bowey Shoulder 8 Weeks
    Shane McAdam Hamstring TBC
    Jake Melksham ACL TBC
    Charlie Spargo Achilles TBC
    Joel Smith Suspension TBA

  • Player of the Year  


        PLAYER VOTES
    1 Steven May 25
    2 Jack Viney 20
    3 Clayton Oliver 18
    4 Max Gawn 11
    5 Jack Billings 10
    5 Blake Howes 10
    7 Christian Petracca 9
    7 Christian Salem 9
    9 Bayley Fritsch 4
    9 Judd McVee 4

        FULL TABLE
  • Demonland Interviews 



  • Upcoming Events 

×
×
  • Create New...