Jump to content

TEAMS: Rd 09 vs West Coast

Demonland
Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

34 minutes ago, Jontee said:

Agree.

Tomlinson a late in for lever, Melks the sub.  Not sure why Mitch Brown is in the squad.

I would assume because if Max doesn’t get up Dogga goes into the ruck with TMac pinch hitting, and Mitch Brown plays as the stay at home forward.

  • Quote
    • Like 4
     

    I hope no thunder storms are predicted  Sunday. l couldn't stand another finish like last year. Eagles 5 goals down then came back after the lightning delay & nearly beat us.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    11 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

    On paper West Coast still have some really good players. I know they are all mostly past it, but gees they shouldn’t be so bad. 

    Agree - quite a few premiership players still there. It's there engine room that really lets them down though. Lots of new guys. 

  • Quote
    • Like 2
     

    Not much has been made about this encounter. Last week we were talking about records being broken etc which would have generated a bit of pride response to limit the damage in addition to the weather.

    Not sure  it’s going to be there this week. I get  we don’t put the foot to the throat but with this squad, we can inflict some serious damage especially out of the middle.

     

  • Quote
    2 hours ago, mo64 said:

    Their spine of Barrass, McGovern, Kelly, Darling, Kennedy is impressive on paper. They're not missing many from their best 22. NicNat, Yeo, Shuey, Rioli, Allen and Cripps are the only ones that come to mind.

    As Goody says, you need to respect the opposition. It wasn't long ago that opposition supporters would have been mocking our line-up.

    Agree, although the key words really are "on paper".

    Barrass, Kelly and Darling have had terrible years by their prior standards.

  • Quote
    • Like 2

    1 hour ago, The heart beats true said:

    I would assume because if Max doesn’t get up Dogga goes into the ruck with TMac pinch hitting, and Mitch Brown plays as the stay at home forward.

    Max is playing. Goodwin said so in his press conference. He also said they are not interested in resting players. What I take from that is that we have a group who do not want to miss games due to niggling type injuries. It has been instilled in him by the fitness staff. It is no wonder we are the best team in the competition.

  • Quote
    2 hours ago, CHF said:

    Something I do not understand with the fixtures AFL/VFL.

    This week we play on Sunday over in the West and Casey plays the same day against North in Melbourne. we will need to take 4 players over as emergency reserves so they will not be able to get a run at Casey.

    Next week we play North in the AFL and both Casey and North VFL teams have a bye... am I missing something?

    The emergencies that travel across to Perth will therefore miss two week of matches.

    Please tell me that somewhere this makes sense. Have I read it wrong?

    You have not misread this mish mash dogs dinner of a competition with an odd number of teams, multiple byes, long interstate trips for part time players who also have real jobs, little regard for integrating VFL and AFL schedules.   In other words a complete mess. 

    1 hour ago, Jontee said:

    Agree.

    Tomlinson a late in for lever, Melks the sub.  Not sure why Mitch Brown is in the squad.

    Mitch Brown presumably is a round about insurance for Max (releases TMCD as ruck back up). 

  • Quote
    •  
    2 hours ago, CHF said:

    Something I do not understand with the fixtures AFL/VFL.

    This week we play on Sunday over in the West and Casey plays the same day against North in Melbourne. we will need to take 4 players over as emergency reserves so they will not be able to get a run at Casey.

    Next week we play North in the AFL and both Casey and North VFL teams have a bye... am I missing something?

    The emergencies that travel across to Perth will therefore miss two week of matches.

    Please tell me that somewhere this makes sense. Have I read it wrong?

    So you are saying why can't North play Casey next week rather than this? Part of the reason might be that there are currently 6 games this weekend and 8 next so that would make it 5 and 9. Not sure really. But the Perth location of the Melbourne game is a bit irrelevant. Last week was the first week when the Casey game was on either before or at the same time as the Melbourne game so Bedford couldn't play for Casey (neither could Laurie from memory. Other Melbourne emergencies?). We've actually been very lucky this year and I suspect other teams have fared worse. 

     

    2 hours ago, mo64 said:

    Their spine of Barrass, McGovern, Kelly, Darling, Kennedy is impressive on paper. They're not missing many from their best 22. NicNat, Yeo, Shuey, Rioli, Allen and Cripps are the only ones that come to mind.

    As Goody says, you need to respect the opposition. It wasn't long ago that opposition supporters would have been mocking our line-up.

    Missing NicNat, Yeo, Shuey, Rioli, Allen and Cripps is like us missing Max, Oliver, Petracca, Pickett, Brown & Nibbler. They might be playing 14 of their best 22 but are probably missing 5 out of their top 10! 

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    2 hours ago, Jontee said:

    Agree.

    Tomlinson a late in for lever, Melks the sub.  Not sure why Mitch Brown is in the squad.

    Mitch has kicked more goals than anyone in our squad

    Also we want Weed to have a 4 quarter hit out I would guess

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    3 hours ago, mo64 said:

    Their spine of Barrass, McGovern, Kelly, Darling, Kennedy is impressive on paper. They're not missing many from their best 22. NicNat, Yeo, Shuey, Rioli, Allen and Cripps are the only ones that come to mind.

    As Goody says, you need to respect the opposition. It wasn't long ago that opposition supporters would have been mocking our line-up.

    Cripps is playing, but those other 5 are offensively massive outs.

  • Quote
    8 minutes ago, A F said:

    Cripps is playing, but those other 5 are offensively massive outs.

    Yep.

    But wet coke's biggest issue is that defensively they won't be missed at all.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    2 hours ago, wizardinoz said:

    I hope no thunder storms are predicted  Sunday. l couldn't stand another finish like last year. Eagles 5 goals down then came back after the lightning delay & nearly beat us.

    But they didn’t. The previous week we beat Gold Coast by 93 points after we flew to Queensland and back - 10 hours on the plane. After the Perth trip that’s when I thought “we can this flag” because of the fortitude shown by the team to win both games. Years gone by there might have been valid excuses for a loss

  • Quote
    1 hour ago, bobby1554 said:

    Max is playing. Goodwin said so in his press conference. He also said they are not interested in resting players. What I take from that is that we have a group who do not want to miss games due to niggling type injuries. It has been instilled in him by the fitness staff. It is no wonder we are the best team in the competition.

    If you listen to the Bruckner/Burgess podcast there was a change of strategy with Darren Burgess as high performance manager, including no more “resting”

  • Quote
    5 hours ago, Jontee said:

    Agree.

    Tomlinson a late in for lever, Melks the sub.  Not sure why Mitch Brown is in the squad.

    Ah, coz he k8cked 6 goals in the Rezzies!!

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    6 hours ago, picket fence said:

    Ah, coz he k8cked 6 goals in the Rezzies!!

    Potentially to give Bailey Fritsch a little reminder that in a side like ours you can't have too many down games. 

    (I'm not saying Bailey Fritsch should or will be dropped anytime soon)

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    Fritsch is still averaging about the same amount of goals as he was last year in the home and away. His marking is significantly down. He is getting more free kicks and is giving away slightly less. Without having noticed it too much, the stats would say that he is getting a bit more attention from the opposition now.

    https://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/B/Bayley_Fritsch.html

  • Quote
    • Like 2
    13 minutes ago, Dwight Schrute said:

    Potentially to give Bailey Fritsch a little reminder that in a side like ours you can't have too many down games. 

    (I'm not saying Bailey Fritsch should or will be dropped anytime soon)

    This intrigued me and thought maybe Bailey has been living off his GF which was outstanding.

    In looking at his numbers he has kicked a goal in every game and is averaging: 2 goals, 0.9 points and 0.9 GA.  The GA's count for a lot given that they are usually close to goal via a player in a better position. 

    For a relatively low scoring club Bailey's numbers look reasonable.  But he does look quite relaxed at times giving me the incorrect impression he may not be working as hard as he could be.

    Had i known we were going to play 'shut the game down' final quarters I wouldn't have tipped him for the Coleman.  Will know better next year!

  • Quote
    • Like 4
    9 hours ago, Hassa Mann said:

    If you listen to the Bruckner/Burgess podcast there was a change of strategy with Darren Burgess as high performance manager, including no more “resting”

    Yep I remember this and front of mind when you see the way Lever has been hobbling round for a month.

    Definitely keeping same strategy.

  • Quote
    16 minutes ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

    Yep I remember this and front of mind when you see the way Lever has been hobbling round for a month.

    Definitely keeping same strategy.

    The Burgess mantra is resilience.

    I prefer to think it is more related to the players all being demons.

    No rest for the wicked.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

    Bailey Fritsch in 2022

    2.2 against Footscray rd 1

    1.0 against  Suns rd 2

    2.2 against Essendon rd 3

    3.0 against Port rd 4

    4.0 against GWS rd 5 

    2.2 against Richmond rd 6

    1.1 against Hawthorn rd 7

    1.0 against St.Kilda rd 8

    He was quiet last week but surely these numbers qualify him for the “playing his role” status which gets handed out to others when justifying a supposed quiet game.

    One of our teams strengths is you can’t stop them all, it was only a couple of weeks ago people were calling for Kozi to do more. The counter argument being his pressure acts, I would think Fritsch’s pressure acts would never rival that of our small fwds but he is a class player that is hard to match up on and can produce when needed. 
     

     

  • Quote
    • Like 5
    • Thanks 2

    With no Weideman or Daw picked in the squad we should safely assume that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Gawn's knee. If there had been any doubt, you would assume one of those two names would have appeared. 

    Assuming no late changes, I suspect Melksham will be the medi-sub to get him one game closer to his 200. (I think it will be his 199th game).  

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    This is a big moving round for the top 8.

    Suns not out of the question to cause upset over Freo and while unlikely to beat Lions, the Crows should put up a better showing at home. One of cats and saints could be 2 games outside the top 4 after the weekend. Blues with no Mackay against a GWS team fare welling the coach will be an interesting watch.

    Big weekend and a potentially convincing win for the Dees will be a great result. Not out of the realms that we are 2 games clear at the top come Sunday night.

     

    Edited by Demon3

  • Quote
    • Like 1
     
    56 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

    With no Weideman or Daw picked in the squad we should safely assume that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Gawn's knee. If there had been any doubt, you would assume one of those two names would have appeared. 

    Assuming no late changes, I suspect Melksham will be the medi-sub to get him one game closer to his 200. (I think it will be his 199th game).  

    Yeah but the way i look at it is that Jackson is more then capable of holding down the main rucking role.

    It doesn't exactly have to be a direct swap for swap for like a Gawn and Majak Daw.

    They would just use Tom McDonald as the 2nd support role in the ruck and maybe bring in a Mitch Brown or a smaller option in Melksham/Chandler.

    Majak Daw is only as an insurance if both Gawn and Jsckson go down.

  • Quote
    • Like 2

    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

    Guest
    Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
    Reply to this topic...
    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • GAMEDAY: Essendon

      It’s Game Day, and the Demons are staring down the barrel of an 0-5 start for the first time since 2012 as they take on Essendon at Adelaide Oval for Gather Round. In that forgettable season, Melbourne finally broke their drought by toppling the Bombers. Can lightning strike twice? Will the Dees turn their nightmare start around and breathe life back into 2025?

        • Like
      • 254 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • PREVIEW: Essendon

      As the focus of the AFL moves exclusively to South Australia for Gather Round, the question is raised as to what are we going to get from the  Melbourne Football Club this weekend? Will it be a repeat of the slop fest of the last three weeks that have seen the team score a measly 174 points and concede 310 or will a return to the City of Churches and the scene where they performed at their best in 2024 act as a wakeup call and bring them out of their early season reverie?  Or will the sleepy Dees treat their fans to a reenactment of their lazy effort from the first Gather Round of two years ago when they allowed the Bombers to trample all over them on a soggy and wet Adelaide Oval? The two examples from above tell us how fickle form can be in football. Last year, a committed group of players turned up in Adelaide with a businesslike mindset. They had a plan, went in confidently and hard for the football and kicked winning scores against both home teams in a difficult environment for visitors. And they repeated that sort of effort later in the season when they played Essendon at the MCG.

      • 0 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • PREGAME: Essendon

      Facing the very real and daunting prospect of starting the season with five straight losses, the Demons head to South Australia for the annual Gather Round, where they’ll take on the Bombers in search of their first win of the year. Who comes in, and who comes out?

        • Angry
        • Like
      • 489 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • NON-MFC: Round 05

      Gather Round is here, kicking off with a Thursday night blockbuster as Adelaide faces Geelong. The Crows will be out for redemption after a controversial loss last week. Saturday starts with the Magpies taking on the Swans. Collingwood will be eager to cement their spot in the top eight, while Sydney is hot on their heels. In the Barossa Valley, two rising sides go head-to-head in a fascinating battle to prove they're the real deal. Later, Carlton and West Coast face off at Adelaide Oval, both desperate to notch their first win of the season. The action then shifts to Norwood, where the undefeated Lions will aim to keep their streak alive against the Bulldogs. Sunday’s games begin in the Barossa with Richmond up against Fremantle. In Norwood, the Saints will be looking to take a scalp when they come up against the Giants. The round concludes with a fiery rematch of last year's semi-final, as the Hawks seek revenge for their narrow loss to Port Adelaide. Who are you tipping this week and what are the best results for the Demons besides us winning?

      • 236 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • CASEY: Geelong

      There was a time in the second quarter of the game at the Cattery on Friday afternoon when the Casey Demons threatened to take the game apart against the Cats. The Demons had been well on top early but were struggling to convert their ascendancy over the ground until Tom Fullarton’s burst of three goals in the space of eight minutes on the way to a five goal haul and his best game for the club since arriving from Brisbane at the end of 2023. He was leading, marking and otherwise giving his opponents a merry dance as Casey grabbed a three goal lead in the blink of an eye. Fullarton has now kicked ten goals in Casey’s three matches and, with Melbourne’s forward conversion woes, he is definitely in with a chance to get his first game with the club in next week’s Gather Round in Adelaide. Despite the tall forward’s efforts - he finished with 19 disposals and eight marks and had four hit outs as back up to Will Verrall in the second half - it wasn’t enough as Geelong reigned in the lead through persistent attacks and eventually clawed their way to the lead early in the last and held it till they achieved the end aim of victory.

      • 0 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • REPORT: Geelong

      I was disappointed to hear Goody say at his post match presser after the team’s 39 point defeat against Geelong that "we're getting high quality entry, just poor execution" because Melbourne’s problems extend far beyond that after its 0 - 4 start to the 2025 football season. There are clearly problems with poor execution, some of which were evident well before the current season and were in play when the Demons met the Cats in early May last year and beat them in a near top-of-the-table clash that saw both sides sitting comfortably in the top four after round eight. Since that game, the Demons’ performances have been positively Third World with only five wins in 19 games with a no longer majestic midfield and a dysfunctional forward line that has become too easy for opposing coaches to counter. This is an area of their game that is currently being played out as if they were all completely panic-stricken.

      • 0 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland
    View All