The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 8th May @ 8:30pm. Join Binman and I as we analyse the get out of jail victory against the Suns on Saturday afternoon on the Gold Coast.

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.

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With TMac and BBB not to the level required, what's the next best thing we can do with our fwd line?

At some point, maybe in the next 3 or 4 weeks, we need to have a settled fwd line (and a defensive line too for that matter).

I thought our forward line was in a bit of a shambles. Is the Petty experiment officially over? Surely Ben Brown has to come back in the team. 

How awful was the Fox commentary for this game. Outright barracking for the Suns to get over the line not to mention every suspect non-free for the Suns was dissected frame by frame multiple times but any non-free to the Dees was blatantly ignored. 

Should Petty be moved to the backline or remain as a forward?

Related question are teams trying to stretch our backline by playing with extra height up forward?

It seems experimentation is continuing.  Against the suns it appeared as though Max and Grundy spent time helping each other in Marking contests more than usual.  How long do you expect this experimentation phase to continue and when will they will settle the game plan down?

Hypothetical question, if the grand final was played tomorrow would you have BBB or JVR in the team?  
 

Question for Andy, is it possible to see which post on Demonland has received the most thumbs up, love and thanks reactions?  Id be interested to know which post has been the most popular and what the topic was.

Keep up the great work on the podcast Gents!!!

We were beaten in the clearances and smashed in the contested possessions. Yes the Suns are an up and coming team and Rowell and Anderson are high draft picks and are the next generation of elite midfielders. Is it worrying that they put on a clinic in front of our midfield stars?

What did you make of Disco Turners match?

Choco must have had the week off. We could not hit the side of a barn in the last quarter. The usually reliable Bayley Fritsch could have iced the game but bad kicking let us down.

Spargo was among our best for Casey, and I think we missed his delivery inside 50, and probably his forward 50 pressure as well.  Do the panel agree?  If so, and he comes in, who goes out?  IMO both JJ and Chin have earned another week.
 

Question for @binman

In the Discussion about whether Spargo was a certain starter you were adamant that Charlie would be selected. Were you surprised that he wasn’t picked? 

What is your view on Kossie treatment by the umpires - I’ve felt he gets a raw deal for a long time, similar to Max.

Absolutely nailed two holding/dropping the ball tackles in Q1 & Q2 both 20m out from goal, umpire bounces ball.

Then 2nd qtr gets his head ripped off, callers said he ducked and then backed off!

I only got to see the first qtr and half the second, but he should have 2-3 goals from frees at that stage!

He gets harsh treatment from what I notice.

Live your work gentleman.

Edited May 7, 20231 yr by D4Life
Extra point

Is this a poor performance for Melbourne or did we simply run into a good team that put it all together and possibly even outplayed us on the night? 

I thought the Suns did a lot of things right, they have a lot of skill through the middle and when they had possession it was not easy to get it off them, this was the best game I've seen Noah Anderson play. We weren't at our blistering best for 4 quarters and there were some below par performances but I still see this as a good win early in the season away from home I hope I'm not alone here. 

Edited May 7, 20231 yr by layzie

Please discuss the farce that the MRO is.

I think the club should publicly expose the MRO and their biases (Cripps debacle).

There has been a lot of chat on Demonland about where we are at in the scheme of things based upon this game - and some trends.

smashed in clearances and stats that seem to matter to us.

forward line mix still up in the air

backline seems to be struggling.

What do you guys think of where we are at?  What is out biggest area of concern from your perspectives?

I don't have another question for you this week I just wanted to give you a shout out for the wonderful and insightful interview you conducted with Steven May during the week. Steven was very forthcoming and honest in his answers. Kudos to all involved in getting him on the podcast. Love your work.

I know this might be a little difficult to discuss in a podcast format, however, be good to get the team's thoughts on our zone.

IMV, we can no longer go forward with the 2021-2022 zone, as the opposition chip game is the way through it.

I believe we have to do what occurred for at least a little while in the second (?) quarter against Richmond, where we played 1v1 for 20-30m from half forward, defending a stationary ball situation out of Richmond's back half. We then played a zone behind it.

It means we get the game looking like we want it, because the opposition cannot pick off the short kicks and have to go long to our interceptors.

Edited May 8, 20231 yr by A F

51 minutes ago, A F said:

I know this might be a little difficult to discuss in a podcast formarlt, however, be good to get the team's thoughts on our zone.

IMV, we can no longer go forward with the 2021-2022 zone, as the opposition chip game is the way through it.

I believe we have to do what occurred for at least a little while in the second (?) quarter against Richmond, where we played 1v1 for 20-30m from half forward, defending a stationary ball situation out of Richmond's back half. We then played a zone behind it.

It means we get the game looking like we want it, because the opposition cannot pick off the short kicks and have to go long to our interceptors.

Interesting. @binman is the man to take this one. If he thinks he can tackle this in podcast format we'll definitely do it.

It's no secret that we have not had a settled backline this season with injuries to some key members at different times May, Lever, Hibbo and Salo and Petty playing forward. We also seem to struggle once the ball hits he deck. Teams are finding it very easy to score against us in the chaos. Is this a symptom of not getting a good run of the same 6 or 7 players or is the ball coming in too quick? I fear some of the stronger teams will destroy us.

I’ll make a statement about our year so far and the media bias that is working to our favour.

I think we are slipping under the radar again like we did in 2021. Of the 8 rds played so far. We’ve been to QLD twice and Perth once as well the gather round (which was off the back of a trip to Perth as mentioned).

We dismantled Sydney (at full strength) without Ben Brown and Max Gawn by 50pts.

Made a mockery of North (who the Saints struggled against).

Went and beat the Suns who both the Cats & Pies lost to up there.

And after losing Max almost pegged back a 40pt lead against the Lions (say what you will it’s in the book!).

Yet all the hype is about Collingwood’s “high scoring” never say die attitude. The fact that the pies keep sides in the game for too long for me is a weakness and if you take your chances you can snuff them out and keep them down. I think all you need is a strong backline and a wise midfield to stop them in the last qtr.

 

Four of our next 6 are at the MCG with one at Geelong. Port will be tough and Carlton have been figured out and Kings Bday is potentially a GF preview.

 

IMO regardless of whether Van Rooyen gets off or is suspended I think you can expect to see Ben Brown comeback in this week and they’ll persist with Petty up forward for one more week.

If Van Rooyen doesn’t get off my smokey would be Joel Smith & Brown to come back into the side.  
 

Thoughts on our fwd structure for the next month? Can you see a Smokey like Sestan getting a look in? Also Harmes looks like he is next mid into the side!

Sorry I feel like Chris from Camberwell here!! 

Peace (Fogman off the iTunes review)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 20231 yr by Doug Reemer

1 hour ago, Doug Reemer said:

Went and beat the Suns who both the Cats & Pies lost to up there.

 

Pies lost to the Lions in Qld, but i agree with your sentiment that it was a good win against the suns

2 hours ago, BillyBeane said:

Pies lost to the Lions in Qld, but i agree with your sentiment that it was a good win against the suns

Sorry I confused the lions with the suns!

Who should play the inaugural AFL game with the Tassie Devils in 2028 (assuming they get the naming rights)?

I think a Demons v Devils affair sounds quite marketable as the ‘Satanic Derby Down Under’!

I've heard a lot of people comment that Ed Langdon was fairly anonymous last weekend, and to an extent across this season to date.

Overall his attacking stats are definitely down compared to 2021 and 2022:

Disposals 19.3 vs 21.4/21.8

Meters Gained 304 vs 376/417

Marks 3.6 vs 4.1/5.4

Inside 50's 2.4 vs 2.8/2.8

The only stat bucking this trend is goal assists, which have doubled from previous years (0.8 vs 0.4/0.3)

 

BUT his defensive stats are up:

Tackles 2.6 vs 1.3/1.9

1 %'ers 1.4 vs 0.9/0.8

except for turnovers (3.6 vs 3.8/4.2)

 

I haven't been able to make it to games this year, so interested in your thoughts if:

a) Ed is down on form

b) He's carrying a niggle or simply less fit than previous years

c) He's simply changed role to a more defensive one, and is no longer a key lynchpin in our preferrred ball movement in 2023 (more through the corridor compared to past seasons)

 

 

 

Another wing-related question:

One person perhaps not so thrilled about Lachie Hunter's recruitment would be Taj Woewodin. At the end of 2022 he looked almost certain to break into the seniors this year on the wing opposite Ed Langdon.

Given Langdon and Hunter are unlikely to be dropped anytime soon, do you think Taj is now relegated to backup wingman, or can he re-invent himself in another role and break into the seniors that way?

Sorry @A-Mac I didn't see this until after the show. By all means please post again next week.