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2 minutes ago, A F said:

It's very likely we will not continue experimenting with our mids though and that these numbers that everyone seems so worried about, will continue (ie we'll still be top 4 for scores from stoppages).

I don't mind too much if we're losing the stoppage count, but winning the scores from stoppages. Particularly, as given our strength this year is scores from turnover, if the opposition is winning stoppages and kicking it straight to us and we're scoring on turnover, we have the game looking like we want it.

Surely, you'd agree with this?

And naturally, we're going to be judged by our next month or so of footy.

We haven’t played enough top teams to believe those stats wholeheartedly just yet I think. 

Also, scores from stoppages are tough September and it’s the turnover game - generated through gruelling pressure from front half and back half - that’ll get you the flag. 
 

I don’t have it but thought we were doing ok there. 

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5 hours ago, GCDee said:

I think some supporters don’t really remember what 2021 was like, we didn’t click until round 20…
There was lots of doubt surrounding us up to that point, we had just been beaten by the pies (not the side they are today), drawn to the lowly ranked hawks,lost to the giants at home in a really lack lustre performance and got beaten up by the dogs at the G. There was talk about our forward line connection then and if we had the ability to kick a winning score in a big final. 
 

I for one am enjoying the ride, keeping the faith in the FD that we will go deep into September then anything can happen. 

This. Bravo. 

People like to think we played like the prelim all year long

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1 hour ago, Gawndy the Great said:

We haven’t played enough top teams to believe those stats wholeheartedly just yet I think. 

Also, scores from stoppages are tough September and it’s the turnover game - generated through gruelling pressure from front half and back half - that’ll get you the flag. 
 

I don’t have it but thought we were doing ok there. 

Would you have believed Geelong were a contender this time last year?

As I just posted in the Podcast thread, our 2023 form line is incredibly similar to Geelong's 2022 form line.

Geelong were 2-3 against top 8 sides to Round 10, not drastically different from us this year.

They beat Collingwood by 13 points and Brisbane by 10 points (at Geelong).

They lost to Sydney by 30 points (in Sydney), they lost to Fremantle by 3 points (at Geelong) and they lost to St Kilda (who were in the 8 at the time) by 10 points.

Meantime, they 'beat up' on easy beats Essendon by 66 points, North by 60 points and GWS by 53 points, and lost to lowly Hawthorn by 12 points. I wonder if Geelong supporters were saying the same thing about their team last year at this stage?

Geelong's soft draw in the second half of 2022, is also comparable with our soft draw in the second half of 2023.

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5 minutes ago, A F said:

Would you have believed Geelong were a contender this time last year?

As I just posted in the Podcast thread, our 2023 form line is incredibly similar to Geelong's 2022 form line.

Geelong were 2-3 against top 8 sides to Round 10, not drastically different from us this year.

They beat Collingwood by 13 points and Brisbane by 10 points (at Geelong).

They lost to Sydney by 30 points (in Sydney), they lost to Fremantle by 3 points (at Geelong) and they lost to St Kilda (who were in the 8 at the time) by 10 points.

Meantime, they 'beat up' on easy beats Essendon by 66 points, North by 60 points and GWS by 53 points, and lost to lowly Hawthorn by 12 points. I wonder if Geelong supporters were saying the same thing about their team last year at this stage?

Geelong's soft draw in the second half of 2022, is also comparable with our soft draw in the second half of 2023.

I agree. 

BUT this search for a pattern or a trend line to latch onto is similar to last year where the theory about loading being our silver bullet in 2021 was seen as a reason to accept our deficiencies etc. 

But yes, the takeaway is that the season is long and being the best team in May isn't the goal

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Sure.

So all we've got to go by so far is that we're top 4 for scores from all the major routes (stoppages, turnovers and kick outs), we're the highest scoring team in the comp and the 4th best defensive side.

And we've been throwing the magnets around all over the place to test combinations forward, back and through the midfield. ie experimenting.

This will not happen when we get closer to finals, and I think ideally they'd have wanted to reduce some of the experimentation after Round 10 (with 5 interstate trips in 10 games now expired), but that experimentation, will have to continue (at least into Round 11) due to Oliver, Hunter and Petty being out.

Edited by A F
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12 hours ago, Orion said:

Like I said previously we've got the same forward problems as last year.  We turn up to certain games asleep like last year.   The blueprint to beat us is well known which the coaches could not find a way to counter last year or this year.  For example opposition coaches are telling their players to keep the ball on the ground so May and Lever can't intercept.  Some teams are running at our defence which we don't like.  Opposition players are also told not kick it to Gawn if he's playing down back but to go around him.  When teams pressure us we struggle like last year.  Goodwin also seems to have difficulty making tactical changes during games when things aren't going well just like last year

Skase.

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14 hours ago, GCDee said:

I think some supporters don’t really remember what 2021 was like, we didn’t click until round 20…
There was lots of doubt surrounding us up to that point, we had just been beaten by the pies (not the side they are today), drawn to the lowly ranked hawks,lost to the giants at home in a really lack lustre performance and got beaten up by the dogs at the G. There was talk about our forward line connection then and if we had the ability to kick a winning score in a big final. 
 

I for one am enjoying the ride, keeping the faith in the FD that we will go deep into September then anything can happen. 

This is very true, but everything always looks better when you remember it.

Great post, no matter how annoyed I get with games like last week I try to remember it's still an enjoyable ride.

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The aim is top 4 and hit the finals in form and almost injury free, particularly to your best 6-8 players!

Pies out in front at the moment, lose Moore or Daicos will look very different!

Then Lions, Demons, Port, Dogs all close. Melbourne will account for Port in Melb, all the stars aligned for Port Friday and it took terrible umpiring to get them over the line!

Then Cats and maybe Freo, but both need lots to go right from here!

Realistically we are well placed for top 4 if we win 2or 3 of our next 4, assuming 16 wins gets top 4 position!

While we need improvement from key forwards and centre clearances, the rest is pretty close particularly when you think we have been experimenting and resting our guns to have them fresher for finals!

We might not win the flag but with a little luck  will have the opportunity to have a real crack!

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On 5/24/2023 at 9:32 AM, McQueen said:

And I’ll be smuggling my own booze into the next game I watch. 

$14 plastic beers. Pfft

What a complete rip off it is if you don’t go to the footy with your own graze and drinks. 
A joke. 

I'm genuinely gob smacked by that price.

Since moving to rural Nsw 11 years ago I don't get to Melbourne as much as I would like.

I go and support our great team at the Scg when we play there but about 2 years ago it was 8 dollars for a cup of about 375ml mid strength.

Aldi sells a great 330 ml bottle of knock off stella artists for under 2 $2 a bottle. Maybe they make about a dollar off each sale.

@ 14$ I wonder what their profit margin is. Given serving costs etc they must make around 8 to 9 dollars a sale and I think that's a conservative guestimate. 

Good old footy, the working class game and societal leveller.

Some fair seats for the wife and 2 kids could set you back around 100. Parking 20. Snacks 40.  

Total 160.

Kicking back with the wife and having 3 or 4 beers each would give you little change for the whole day from 300 bucks.

It's astounding crowd numbers have been so good.

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16 hours ago, A F said:

Would you have believed Geelong were a contender this time last year?

As I just posted in the Podcast thread, our 2023 form line is incredibly similar to Geelong's 2022 form line.

Geelong were 2-3 against top 8 sides to Round 10, not drastically different from us this year.

They beat Collingwood by 13 points and Brisbane by 10 points (at Geelong).

They lost to Sydney by 30 points (in Sydney), they lost to Fremantle by 3 points (at Geelong) and they lost to St Kilda (who were in the 8 at the time) by 10 points.

Meantime, they 'beat up' on easy beats Essendon by 66 points, North by 60 points and GWS by 53 points, and lost to lowly Hawthorn by 12 points. I wonder if Geelong supporters were saying the same thing about their team last year at this stage?

Geelong's soft draw in the second half of 2022, is also comparable with our soft draw in the second half of 2023.

I just posted this on the podcast thread:

Thanks AF for that info.

The coverage of football [censored] me to death. Collective memories of particularly slow gold fish.

At this point last year the media were all the cats are dads army, the cliff has come blah blah blah.

Cut to the finals and the media is lauding their fitness, their experience, their slow build and banging on about how well they managed their players (echoed on here too - suddenly the cats were the exemplars in terms of resting players, more players thru the middle etc etc).

And then they trot out the line that clubs always look to the previous flag winner for cues. And that is exactly what the cats did - copied our preparation and essentially game plan too.

Well, it would very much appear that is what we are doing this year - ie copying some of the things the cats did to win the flag last year.

And as we approach finals, after a couple of months of pearl clutching about the dees form around the middle of the season, and the dees start stringing the wins together again and begin to look very ominous, the 360 and first crack peanuts will suddenly have the exact same revelations they have every year - the flag is not won in May and June, there's essentially two seasons - H&A and finals - and it is all about peaking in September blah blah blah.

And then, like this has suddenly dawned on them, despite having put much the same graphic up every year, they will put up a graphic with the sort of info below to support the idea that dees are building very nicely thank you very much:

W-L record of last 10 premiers after round 10

2013 Hawks 9 wins 1 loss
2014 Hawks 7-3 
2015 Hawks 6-4 
2016 Dogs   7-3
2017 Tigers 6-4
2018 Eagles 9-1 (ironically massive flag favs all season, tigers, were also 9-1)
2019 Tigers  7-3 
2020 Tigers  6-3-1  
2021 Dees    9-1  (but in next 7 games went 2 wins, 4 losses and a draw)
2022 Cats    6-4

2023 Dees 7-3

10 seasons is a pretty good sample size. The pattern is pretty damn clear. Seven of the ten winners not better than 70 30 after 10 rounds.

But sure, let’s write off the dees premiership chances at round 10 on the back of a 4 points loss against a team coming off six straight wins. on their home deck, in conditions that suited them better and off a six day break plus travel. 

It’s like some weird footy take on the quote from philosopher George Santayana, ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.

Edited by binman
Good pick up by Neil Crompton
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17 hours ago, A F said:

That wasn't the trend at all last year. The trend was in the second half of the year, we'd run out of steam in second halves.

Whereas, in our premiership year we'd run over teams usually (exception basically being GWS and Collingwood that year). 

That is literally how you beat every team in the competition, because moving the ball quickly off half back is the way to beat the modern zone that we'd perfected in 2021.

I agree that the way to beat the modern zone is to move the ball quickly and use short chips off half back to break the zone and then kick over the top of it. Even better if you can use a chip and then a handball receive to break more lines.

However, when teams have done it to us, our half forwards have been off and when they tried it (say against Sydney), we shut them down by not allowing the handball receive.

I do think the modern zone requires a tweak and I've banged on about this for a few weeks now, because I think we were trialling something in our Richmond game.  That is, go 1v1 from the stationary kick out and then zone behind it. But again, you don't necessarily want to show all your cards at this stage of the season. This is an adjustment we could make in season IMO. 

The system is about trusting your players to play their roles and get the job done. This was Clarkson's philosophy during the threepeat era as 

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2023-melbourne-demons-narrm-football-club-premiership/news-story/aec29731dedb4f21a7c49c46e33d078b

Edited by one_demon
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1 hour ago, binman said:

I just posted this on the podcast thread:

Thanks AF for that info.

The coverage of football [censored] me to death. Collective memories of particularly slow gold fish.

At this point last year the media were all the cats are dads army, the cliff has come blah blah blah.

Cut to the finals and the media is lauding their fitness, their experience, their slow build and banging on about how well they managed their players (echoed on here too - suddenly the cats were the exemplars in terms of resting players, more players thru the middle etc etc).

And then they trot out the line that clubs always look to the previous flag winner for cues. And that is exactly what the cats did - copied our preparation and essentially game plan too.

Well, it would very much appear that is what we are doing this year - ie copying some of the things the cats did to win the flag last year.

And as we approach finals, after a couple of months of pearl clutching about the dees form around the middle of the season, and the dees start stringing the wins together again and begin to look very ominous, the 360 and first crack peanuts will suddenly have the exact same revelations they have every year - the flag is not won in May and June, there's essentially two seasons - H&A and finals - and it is all about peaking in September blah blah blah.

And then, like this has suddenly dawned on them, despite having put much the same graphic up every year, they will put up a graphic with the sort of info below to support the idea that dees are building very nicely thank you very much:

W-L record of last 10 premiers after round 10

2013 Hawks 9 wins 1 loss
2014 Hawks 7-3 
2015 Hawks 6-4 
2016 Dogs   6-4
2017 Tigers 6-4
2018 Eagles 9-1 (ironically massive flag favs all season, tigers, were also 9-1)
2019 Tigers  6-4 
2020 Tigers  5-4-1  
2021 Dees    9-1  (but in next 7 games went 2 wins, 4 losses and a draw)
2022 Cats    6-4

2023 Dees 7-3

10 seasons is a pretty good sample size. The pattern is pretty damn clear. Seven of the ten winners not much better than 50 50 after 10 rounds.

But sure, let’s write off the dees premiership chances at round 10 on the back of a 4 points loss against a team coming off six straight wins. on their home deck, in conditions that suited them better and off a six day break plus travel. 

It’s like some weird footy take on the quote from philosopher George Santayana, ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.

I applaud your positivity Binman, and your condemnation of the collective football media. While there is nothing (thankfully) that you can do about your positivity, if you didn’t watch these afl review programs, the media will not be able to “[censored] you to death” as you state - simples. 
But just a couple of points on your post:

- I think you’ll find that in 2016, the Dogs were 7/3, rather than 6/4; 2019, Tiges were 7/3, not 6/4; and 2020, Tiges were 6/3/1, not 5/4/1. 
- So in fact only 3 teams in 10 years, not 7 as you suggested, won the premiership from a 6/4 or worse position ( which I assume is what you are calling “not much better than 50/50”). So I’d proffer that, statistically, you are in a much better position of winning the premiership if you had only lost a max of 3 games after 10 rounds. And fortunately that’s where we are at the moment.                                                                                                                                         
- if the afl media is questioning the Dees as a contender, so what? They probably have a right to given our record of 4/3 against, as Kingy puts it, the “real teams”. That aside, I would much rather fly under the radar than be a Pies-like headline. In the end, if we are good enough, we are good enough, if we are not, we are not. Not a lot of point getting our nickers in a knot about a [censored] media who are only doing their [censored] job. So chill, and enjoy the season on your terms.

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19 hours ago, GCDee said:

I think some supporters don’t really remember what 2021 was like, we didn’t click until round 20…
There was lots of doubt surrounding us up to that point, we had just been beaten by the pies (not the side they are today), drawn to the lowly ranked hawks,lost to the giants at home in a really lack lustre performance and got beaten up by the dogs at the G. There was talk about our forward line connection then and if we had the ability to kick a winning score in a big final. 
 

I for one am enjoying the ride, keeping the faith in the FD that we will go deep into September then anything can happen. 

I think of all the things I dislike about Demonland, revisionism tops the list. 

We were 17-1-4 with a percentage of 130%. That’s the entire season of course, not just the last month. 

Pre-bye we beat Geelong (prelim finalist), GWS away (they finished 7th and won a final), Sydney (finished 6th), the Dogs at Marvel, Brisbane, plus St Kilda, Richmond, Fremantle and Carlton (10th-13th - so not finalists but also not bottom sides). Post-bye we also beat Port away (prelim finalist).

Saying we didn’t click until round 20 ignores the stunning body of work we put into the first 17 weeks. Saying we got “beaten up” by the Dogs ignores that we’d already beaten them at Marvel, and is inaccurate anyway - that was a 20 point loss where it was single digits midway through the 4th quarter. 

We beat 16 of the 17 other sides that year (only missing out on Collingwood).

Our 2021 season was, from start to finish, supreme.

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1 hour ago, Neil Crompton said:

I applaud your positivity Binman, and your condemnation of the collective football media. While there is nothing (thankfully) that you can do about your positivity, if you didn’t watch these afl review programs, the media will not be able to “[censored] you to death” as you state - simples. 

Sure. And that's essentially what i have done (I have almost completely stopped watching or listening to any footy media – the two ABC radio footy shows on Saturday and the catch up of Sando’s Thursday half hour on SEN are pretty much all I regularly consume).

But my comments about how much the football media frustrates me wasn't limited to the 'review shows' – it is the entire footy media eco system.

And why shouldn’t that frustrate me? 

I love the sport, am passionate about it and am always trying to better understand it.  So to basically have no mainstream media options that help me understand the sport and that I really enjoy engaging with, is super frustrating, and in my opinion a sad reflection on the industry. 

I mean c’mon, the AFL and the media love to look to the States as the template. But apart from stupid loud music at games as some sort of manufactured game day experience, they ignore all the fantastic ways their sports are covered. 

As an example, I haven’t followed the NBA for a few years,  so am out of the loop where things are at. But i watched the Denver v Lakers playff games because I love Nicola Jokic and LeBron James is simply incredible.

I learnt more about basketball, the systems of the Nuggets and Lakers, their relative strengths and weakness etc etc in the first 30 mins of game one than I have about footy from the football media in 3 months of this season. And that’s just the live commentary – their ‘review’ shows are next level and as a rule, incredibly insightful. 

I had much the same experience watching the superbowl this year. I havent followed the NFL for 20 years, so am even more out of the loop than i am with the NBA. But the team covering it did a fanstastic job to help me undertsand what i was watching. Ditto for the coverage of the PGA championship.

I know footy, but watching the TV coverage makes me cringe and does nothing to help my understanding of the game. It's a joke.

And its not as if it is an Australian thing.  I love Test match cricket almost as much as football and have played a lot of cricket. I know the game.

But unlike the coverage of footy, the way test cricket is covered helps me grow my understanding of, and love for, the sport. The coverage is fantastic in terms of explaining the game, it's use of data to help do so and drilling down on tactics, techniques, stenegths and weakneses.

Edited by binman
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1 hour ago, Neil Crompton said:

if the afl media is questioning the Dees as a contender, so what? They probably have a right to given our record of 4/3 against, as Kingy puts it, the “real teams”. 

Very true.  Some people when they don't like a commentator saying negative things about their club not matter how legitimate, they'll go after the commentator. 

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16 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Saying we didn’t click until round 20 ignores the stunning body of work we put into the first 17 weeks. Saying we got “beaten up” by the Dogs ignores that we’d already beaten them at Marvel, and is inaccurate anyway - that was a 20 point loss where it was single digits midway through the 4th quarter. 

We beat 16 of the 17 other sides that year (only missing out on Collingwood).

Our 2021 season was, from start to finish, supreme.

Correct

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17 minutes ago, binman said:

I know AFL, but watching the TV coverage makes me cringe and does nothing to help my understanding of the game. It's a joke.

This is the problem for most AFL supporters I reckon. The AFL views itself as being in direct competition with almost all other sports. As a result they’ve taken a very US centric ‘competition’ mindset - with a focus on growing the game with new audiences, and constantly staying in the headlines in order to block competitors from grabbing any media coverage.

So that results in a media landscape that is overly sensationalistic, and/or overly simplistic.

You mention Test Cricket, which I’d imagine isn’t viewed as a ‘gateway’ to the sport. That’s what T20 is. Sadly for us the AFL wants to be much more T20 in its approach.

Edited by The heart beats true
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17 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

This is the problem for most AFL supporters I reckon. The AFL views itself as being in direct competition with almost all other sports. As a result they’ve taken a very US centric ‘competition’ mindset - with a focus on growing the game with new audiences, and constantly staying in the headlines in order to block competitors from grabbing any media coverage.

So that results in a media landscape that is overly sensationalistic, and/or overly simplistic.

You mention Test Cricket, which I’d imagine isn’t viewed as a ‘gateway’ to the sport. That’s what T20. Sadly for us the AFL wants to be much more T20 in its approach.

Indeed.

Funny you should mention 20 20. I am ambivalent about 20 20, though i prefer it to one day cricket, and never watch it.

The other night i decided to watch some IPL to give it a go. I know almost nothing about the IPL and could only manage about an hour of it before losing interest.

But the coverage was fantastic. The use of stats was illuminating and used to provide context, not just random numbers and factoids. The commentary was clever and the experts really knew their stuff - and what's more could actually articulate their knowlege.  And they avoided pointing out what i could see with my own eyes. And none of the blokey, jokey rubbiush that makes the BBL all but unwatchable. 

In that hour, i learned heaps about the IPL, strategies employed and also got a good sense of how the game has changed tactically. Impressive.

Edited by binman
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14 hours ago, A F said:

Would you have believed Geelong were a contender this time last year?

As I just posted in the Podcast thread, our 2023 form line is incredibly similar to Geelong's 2022 form line.

Geelong were 2-3 against top 8 sides to Round 10, not drastically different from us this year.

They beat Collingwood by 13 points and Brisbane by 10 points (at Geelong).

They lost to Sydney by 30 points (in Sydney), they lost to Fremantle by 3 points (at Geelong) and they lost to St Kilda (who were in the 8 at the time) by 10 points.

Meantime, they 'beat up' on easy beats Essendon by 66 points, North by 60 points and GWS by 53 points, and lost to lowly Hawthorn by 12 points. I wonder if Geelong supporters were saying the same thing about their team last year at this stage?

Geelong's soft draw in the second half of 2022, is also comparable with our soft draw in the second half of 2023.

The counter argument is they then won 13 in a row in large part due to a huge home ground advantage on the way to a flag. Even if we improve in the 2nd half we are not likely to repeat that making top 4 unlikely and top 2 impossible. Making a Flag unlikely.

As greedy as it sounds I think most agree this team needs to win more than one flag to be called a success and top 4 finishes or a grand final appearance won’t cut it and the clock is ticking. How many years at peak do May and Gawn have left.

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3 hours ago, one_demon said:

Did David King compare Melbourne to last year's premiership Geelong at the same stage? Or did he just go with the easy dopey analysis?

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Good original post. You could argue though that it is too optimistic an assessment. As with most things in life, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Couple of things to consider:

It is a very, very tough competition. 

All teams have strengths and flaws. All things being equal, motivation is the element that can elevate one team over another. I'm not sure Melb. have the win at all costs mentality that it seemed to have in 2021. Sure there were doubts, but the steely determination was evident in most games.

Personnel wise, the depth in Collingwood, Brisbane and Port's midfield is scary. On the outside, we cannot consistently match them which puts our numbers bolstered defence, under enormous pressure.

I think we're about the fourth or fifth best team in it with Geelong being the unknown.

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To me it doesn’t look like we have the same manic desire we had in 21.

That doesn’t mean it can’t come back if we start to play with more intensity in the second half, maybe we are pacing ourselves, I don’t know.

Collingwood seem to have that energy we lack at the moment .

The competition has improved significantly over the past two seasons, but have we?

We certainly don’t seem to have as many players in All Australian contention, outside Trac and Clarry and the back line isn’t as dominant in the air as it has been.

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52 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

To me it doesn’t look like we have the same manic desire we had in 21.

That doesn’t mean it can’t come back if we start to play with more intensity in the second half, maybe we are pacing ourselves, I don’t know.

Collingwood seem to have that energy we lack at the moment .

The competition has improved significantly over the past two seasons, but have we?

We certainly don’t seem to have as many players in All Australian contention, outside Trac and Clarry and the back line isn’t as dominant in the air as it has been.

Succinctly... the hunger has gone.

It's such an abstract ...it can't be synthesised. 

The team may well be trying as hard...  but it's different.  

Certainly not as effective.  Game has changed... Box hasnt.

Hunger ... not there.

Its a human condition. 

The coaching had to change , redirect and compensate for that which no longer existed...and replaced with some other motive.

Patently...this hasn't occurred. 

 

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  • Demonland Forums  

  • Match Previews, Reports & Articles  

    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.    On that rainy Friday night at the Adelaide Oval, Ken Hinkley’s young midfield secured much more than four points on offer. The victory over one of the big dogs of the competition after a succession of wins over some of its lesser lights gave his team respect and validation fo

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 5

    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. DEMON DYNASTY'S TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Kade Chandler's left knee heavily strapped. BBB, Spargs & Jake Lever also in rehab group. Jake Bowey solo running separate kicking/sprint/agility drills. Super fine morning / early arvo at Gosch's for the boys to blow out some cobwebs. Choco initially had the light duties / rehab group

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    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 275

    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 359

    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

  • Match Preview      

    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

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    Round 03

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

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      PLAYER INJURY LENGTH
    Jake Lever Knee Test
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    Steven May Ribs 1 Week
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    Daniel Turner Hip 2-3 Weeks
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    Shane McAdam Hamstring 3-5 Weeks
    Jake Bowey Shoulder 7 Weeks
    Jake Melksham ACL 12-14 Weeks
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  • 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
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