The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 7th August @ 8:30pm. Join Binman, George & I as we analyse the Demons victory/loss at the MCG over/against the Tigers.

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The conditions of Blundstone Arena were absolutely deplorable with so many players slipping and falling over during the match on a seemingly dry day.

It’s hard not to think the chopped up surface also had a role to play in Petty’s injury when his foot simply collapsed under itself. 

I’m sick and tired of the AFL always scheduling us to play in Tasmania against the Kangaroos.

North have a contract to play 4 games a year in Hobart but why can’t they play interstate teams like, Gold Coast, Giants, Port Adelaide or West Coast ahead of us? 

The Petty injury looked nasty. I imagine he will be out for the rest of the season. Who will fill his spot?

With Petty likely out the F word comes up again at selection this week, Forward setup. 

The early consensus is that Grundy comes in. How much is this going to change the way our forward line looks? We had been getting the best results from having two key forwards who moved, made leads and kept their opponents guessing. I can't see Grundy offering the same kind of crafty forward movement, Brown simply doesn't look right at the moment and who knows what T-mac can offer? 

Selectors have their work cut out for them yet again. 

I was bitterly disappointed with our slow start today. No doubt the Kangaroos came out fired up and then faded as the game went on. However our pressure in that first quarter from us was non-existent and with second place and a home final up for grabs we had everything to play for. Would love to get the panels thoughts on what happened in the first quarter?

If Petty in injured.  Is it worth giving Schache a go?  I think he could be an ok option,  and I'd prefer him as the back up ruck than a 20 year old in JVR (Schache also expendable).  Unfortunately Harmes is no longer an AFL level footballer, but Clarry coming back solves that.

Having been at the game but not looked at any stats, it seemed we had a low pressure first quarter with minimal efforts to corral, shepherd or tackle in our forward half.  Who and what led to the change in the second?  That being said, it felt like a low pressure game generally through the match

Edit:  maybe it was that we then matched pressure through the rest of the match after the first.  Was pretty happy with Kozzie's pressure game all throughout, and Hunter's corralling

Edited August 6, 20231 yr by DeelightfulPlay

We committed some horrendous foot passing errors in Q1. I haven't looked at the replay yet, but does the panel think this was just sloppy work by the Dees or the result of North's Q1 pressure?

Separate to the above, what did you all think of Joel's game?  He had a bad first quarter (like most of our players) but seemed to perk up a bit in the second half 

Edit: in terms of forward options, Fritter is still 3 weeks off.  Joel or Grundy (hah?) might be able to stay forward if we bring Tomlinson back.  And we can have Petracca playing more minutes forward with Clarry back in the side next week.  

Edited August 6, 20231 yr by DeelightfulPlay

With Clarry on the brink of his long awaited return I honestly think that James Harmes has played his last game of footy for the Demons. Is there a role for Harmsey going forward?

Could we play with only JVR as a true tall in finals?

If Fritsch is back for finals we could go with a Fwd line of JVR, Fritta, Trac, ANB, Kozzy, Chandler.

Would that be enough to win the premiership?

kudos to our small forwards this week . they really lifted this week and got us back into the match when needed . 3 goals a piece to kozzy, chin and nibbler was just what the Hobart doctor ordered .

I thought Gus was excellent yesterday. Viney has rightly been praised for stepping up whilst Clarry has been out but Gus too has been huge in filling the void in the midfield. Will Gus remain in the midfield when Oliver returns?

Love the Podcast. Keep up the great work.

Here are my 5 questions for this week's Demonland podcast this evening.

1) With Harry Petty injured, do we bring back in Brodie Grundy? Unless Josh Schache, Ben Brown or Tom McDonald are better options in the forward line?

2) Who makes way for Clayton Oliver if he hopefully returns this week against Carlton?

3) What has happened to James Harmes? He seems to be playing dumb, putrid football. I have been quite frustrated with his performances recently.

4) Praise has to go to our small forwards this week in Kade Chandler, Alex Neal-Bullen and Kozzie Pickett against North Melbourne. They all played very well. Was this one of Alex Neal-Bullen's best ever games for the Demons?

5) Who do we play on Blues star forward Charlie Curnow? Joel Smith? Or do we bring back Adam Tomlinson?

17 hours ago, DeelightfulPlay said:

Separate to the above, what did you all think of Joel's game?  He had a bad first quarter (like most of our players) but seemed to perk up a bit in the second half 

Edit: in terms of forward options, Fritter is still 3 weeks off.  Joel or Grundy (hah?) might be able to stay forward if we bring Tomlinson back.  And we can have Petracca playing more minutes forward with Clarry back in the side next week.  

That seems like the most intelligent solution, I feel. Known performers - each of them - given a freshening and some innovative mobility responsibilities. Clarry and Co. need some targets ... 

This one’s for Andy.  I’m a fellow MFCSS sufferer. So, How the hell do we hold the hope we now have re sitting in 2nd spot and everything to play for, alongside the despondency of losing our big power forward. We’re both doomed and at a high point at the same time. 

two questions, both cos like @binman i'm annoyed with the football media

1. why isn't petracca ever talked about as being one of the very best players in the competition? all this year we've heard naicos this, the bont that, but other than where it counts - i.e. coach's votes - petracca seems to get short shrift by the media for his incredible influence on games...why?
2. when will kozi pickett be recognised for the extraordinary player he is fast becoming? he's heading for his third year of 40+ goals per season out of four seasons in the competition, while his defensive workrate is going to a higher level each season

basically, why do melbourne players get ignored when compared to those from other clubs?

Edited August 7, 20231 yr by whatwhat say what

16 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Could we play with only JVR as a true tall in finals?

If Fritsch is back for finals we could go with a Fwd line of JVR, Fritta, Trac, ANB, Kozzy, Chandler.

Would that be enough to win the premiership?

Not sure if Fritta is going to be ready - it would be great if he is OK to resume - but winning the Premiership is also a matter of conditioned readiness and gameplan(s) - not H & A ideals. We have the talent, that is for sure; do we have the recipe for such success?

Thanks to this podcast I have been able to observe games and players through a different lens and I usually would have watched Melksham's game this week and just dismissed it as being a standard Melksham low possession, no goal game and would probably screaming for his head. You guys have helped me understand specific roles that certain players, let's call them role players, have in the side. Case in point the incredible Melk. You have opened my eyes to seeing that Jake is the perfect player to play a defensive forward role on key defensive players like he did with Andrews a few weeks back.

This week he was playing on Aidan Corr who plays a very similar role to Andrews. In the past 5 weeks Corr has racked up 15, 12, 27, 21 & 18 disposals, had 5, 4, 9, 4 & 8 Intercept Possessions and racked up 344, 373, 369, 446, 535 meters gained. Melky has held Corr accountable this week keeping him to a 6 week low of 10 possessions, 3 intercepts and 239 meters gained. On top of that he had a season high 5 tackles all whilst being mauled at every contest without receiving a free kick and most importantly without getting frustrated about it and having it affect his game.

18 hours ago, pewpewpew said:

With Clarry on the brink of his long awaited return I honestly think that James Harmes has played his last game of footy for the Demons. Is there a role for Harmsey going forward?

Look at the stats. Harmesey was in the Dees' top 10. 

Another cracking poddie last week guys.

Seems we've learned some learnings from 2022 and rested the bulls and Max in the last with them all spending about the last 8 to 10 minutes on the bench.

I was pretty happy with that despite the fact that it could cost Trac a Brownlow vote or two. Thoughts?

Not a question but could we get some love for Nibbler.

So often everyones punching bag for whatever reason but he was excellent and has been for the last few games. 

Also so good to see Kozzy nail some of those trick shots. My kids absolutely love him because of these sorts of things. Our house erupts with a giant yell of "KOZZY" any time he looks like he's about to go for goal. 

62 point turn around was good, but we were shown up badly in the first quarter.

i like that we can wrest momentum and control games.  I see this as being a significant part of our skill set for 23 premiership run.  Do you trust us to do this in big games now?  Can we win from behind in the finals?  Will we ever flip the switch and dominate 4 qtrs (we don’t seem to atm).

 

Edited August 7, 20231 yr by buck_nekkid
Spellink

Going to end the questions there as I have to put all the Show Notes together. Thank you to everyone for their input. You will get your well deserved shoutouts.

Given we have a KPI around forward half time, is it concerning our forward turnovers and overall game pressures are not where they need to be in order to achieve that KPI? More than half our score came from stoppages, which is hard to sustain during finals. Is our average AFL pressure rating (sometimes less) by design in order to stay fresh or a sign of fatigue / complacency?