PREGAME: Rd 22 vs Carlton

[demosaw 1,128]

8 minutes ago, Dwight Schrute said:

I stopped taking you seriously the moment you suggested Viney of 2023 was "no more than an equal of steele" 

Yes, Viney is the man of Steele

[layzie 34,326]

13 minutes ago, demosaw said:

Yes, Viney is the man of Steele

Mic dropped! 

[DubDee 26,294]

Blues are missing Walsh, McKay, Kennedy, Silvani, Cerra and mcGovern. 

They are in form and it’ll be fairly close but we should win. 

play someone in the hole in front of the leading Curnow. 

Cripps dominates clearances but is clearly carrying an injury 

[layzie 34,326]

1 hour ago, Dee Zephyr said:

We need some binoculars behind the Casey Fields fence in a couple of hours.

And closest to pin, how many times will the media mention Grundy's name in Goody's presser this morning?

Still need Binman's fine tooth binos review for this. 

[demosaw 1,128]

3 minutes ago, layzie said:

Mic dropped! 

Yes I might add that we are Jack of the comparisons

[titan_uranus 25,174]

10 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

It's Demonland. 

A land of sweet candy, flowers and where you don't have a bad thing to say about anything MFC. 

Except for when we lose, in which case it’s a land of lava, pain and where you can’t say anything positive lest you be called a “happy clapper”.

[Jaded No More 68,975]

10 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

It's Demonland. 

A land of sweet candy, flowers and where you don't have a bad thing to say about anything MFC. 

How long have you been posting here? I don't think very long, unless you are a banned poster posting under a new name...

Either way, if you really think this about Demonland, you obviously are new. This is where negativity thrives.

But forgive those of us who look at us sitting pretty in second spot with 3 rounds left of the H&A season, after a flag in 2021, and a top 2 finish in 2022, not wanting to take a steaming [censored] on the club right now.

It's always so easy to be negative, and nothing is EVER as good or as bad as it seems in footy. Things changes so quickly, just ask Pies and Blues fans.

But right now, if you can't see any positive things about where the club is at, then I just feel really sad for you.
I for one want to enjoy this rare moment in time where we are an actual serious contender, rather than constantly looking over my shoulder at the black hatted negative nellie behind me.

[DistrACTION Jackson 10,178]

Our defence looked very vulnerable in the first half, which I put down to having Smith come in with not a great deal of training with the defence group. Lever looked all at sea early and was unable to play his natural role.

I would like to see Tommo come back in to focus on a lockdown role to allow Lever to play with more freedom (exact same thing happened early in the year).

As for the replacement for Petty, who knows what we will do.

Grundy will be a massive upgrade in the ruck but downgrade forward.

Smith is a much better sub in my mind than playing a full game.

Schache is the most obvious like for like replacement, but not sure he is up to AFL standard.

[binman 44,512]

11 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I agree with you that Carlton are being seriously underrated on here. 

I might have missed some, but I don't recall reading any posts that underrate the blues.

So them being seriously underrated on here is a stretch.

I'd actually argue that you're on rhe money - if anything they are being overrated by some. At least in terms of their chances of beating us

As I have noted many times, the betting market for a match provides the best objective relative head to head assessments of teams.

The market's assessment is we are the clear favorites for this match @ 1.72.

Which, by the by, is shorter than the pies are against the Cats.

Which of course doesn't mean the blues won't win. But it does mean the more probable outcome is we will win.

I actually would have us a bit shorter, perhaps 1.65.

I think the blues are in fact a touch overrated - at least for this match.

Whilst they have done really well to win without Kennedy, McKay, Walsh and Cerra, they are big outs, particularly against us.

Assuming oliver plays, we have Petty and Fritter our best 22, but i still think we are ahead on the injury front (I'm not sure if durdin and sos are in their best 22? But both have been in their team thru the season).

We are in red hot form too, and with our midfield and maxy in great nick, we are very well placed to exploit the absence of Walsh and Cerra (which would be the equivalent of us not having oliver and tracc).

They have a very similar game plan to ours - forward half, get territory,win contests.

But that works in our favour because over the journey we are the best in those areas (teams with different methods, like the Hawks, crows and lions worry me more because we have to adjust our method  more)

They have massively improved their transition game. Daniel hoyne posits that is why they have improved so much. Again, we have a better transition game over the journey.

The likely wet weather creates a variable. But i don't think it favours one side more than the other.

I'm not sure how the blues have gone in the wet, but we have struggled, in large part because it exacerbates our poor foot skills.

But we did ok when it got wet against the tigers.

Slippery conditions make it harder for curnow, but brings their small forwards into play.

The slippery conditions mitigates the loss of Petty, and our small forwards were brilliant last week.

We have one really big advantage.

The blues have been running out games really well, so are obviously fit. But i dont have a good sense of how fit they are blue relative to us.

But I do know we are close to being in top shape, are super fit, and have been stronger for longer in all our games since the saints win.

The advantage we have in that space is the blues are coming of two hugely taxing games - physically and psychologically.

Their game against the pies was ferocious and intense. And last week, the saints applied incredible pressure and were super hard at it - particularly in the first half.

We have seen recently the impact of back to back tough games on the pies and port. Neither team had won since their epic match at AO. And both have looked flattened.

We had two tough games against the lions and crows, which made our tigers win even more meritorious.

The roos were hard at it last week, but really only for a half. And the game wasn't intense in terms of stakes, build up or a huge crowd going ballistic.

And we had the luxury of basically resting our midfield in the last quarter, with maxy, tracc and viney spending most of it sitting on the pine. 

On top of that, we are likely injecting one of the best 5 players in the competition into our midfield.

Clarry might be a bit ring rusty, but he will be fresh and ready to rumble.

I think we will win. 

The line is currently minus 4.5 (meaning we need to win by 5 or more points to cover the line).

I think that is too skinny, and would set it at 6.5 (but won't be taking the line on, because there's nothing worse than the dees losing AND also losing money).

I have a feeling we could look to make a statement and put the blues back in their box.

Under goody, we have always looked to do so against potential contenders and it makes sense to hit the blues because they are def contenders and there is a good chance we might have to play them in the finals.

Dees by 30 plus.

Edited August 8, 2023 by binman

[Deebauched 1,220]

2 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

Our defence looked very vulnerable in the first half, which I put down to having Smith come in with not a great deal of training with the defence group. Lever looked all at sea early and was unable to play his natural role.

I would like to see Tommo come back in to focus on a lockdown role to allow Lever to play with more freedom (exact same thing happened early in the year).

As for the replacement for Petty, who knows what we will do.

Grundy will be a massive upgrade in the ruck but downgrade forward.

Smith is a much better sub in my mind than playing a full game.

Schache is the most obvious like for like replacement, but not sure he is up to AFL standard.

Ist qtr poor performance against Norff irrelevant. I put it down to MFC constantly play the dumpster fire games that Collingwood never get. We had to travel down to Tassie and play on a substandard ground against a team coached by Clarko who had NOTHING to lose.

It was always going to be a contest.

We overcame the travel jitters early in the 2nd qtr. 41 - 9  became a final score of about 72-104.  Good win by Goodwin. Well coached.

Collingwood never get these dumpster games ie Cattery and Tasmania. AFL is run by amateurs. Dillon will likely be no improvement.

[Deebauched 1,220]

I dont underestimate the handbaggers.

I think theyre very handsome young men. Superstars! 

Forget about the Boys from Brazil. How about the Boys from Parkville !

Dees should win this .

[Adam The God 30,602]

16 minutes ago, binman said:

I might have missed some, but I don't recall reading any posts that underrate the blues.

So them being seriously underrated on here is a stretch.

I'd actually argue that you're on rhe money - if anything they are being overrated by some. At least in terms of their chances of beating us

As I have noted many times, the betting market for a match provides the best objective relative head to head assessments of teams.

The market's assessment is we are the clear favorites for this match @ 1.72.

Which, by the by, is shorter than the pies are against the Cats.

Which of course doesn't mean the blues won't win. But it does mean the more probable outcome is we will win.

I actually would have us a bit shorter, perhaps 1.65. I think the blues are in fact a touch overrated- at least for this match.

Whilst they have done really well to win without Kennedy, McKay and Walsh and Cerra those outs are big outs, particularly against us.

Assuming oliver plays, we have Petty and Fritter our best 22, but i still think we are ahead on the injury front (I'm not sure if durdin and sos are in their best 22? But both have been in their team thru the season).

We are in red hot form too, and with our midfield and maxy in great nick, we are very well placed to exploit the absence of Walsh and Cerra ould be the equivalent of us not having oliver and tracc.

They have a very similar game plan to ours - forward half, get territory,win contests.

But that works in our favour because over the journey we are the best in those areas (teams with different methids, like the Hawks, crows and lions worry me more because we have to adjust our method a bit more)

They have massively improved their transition game. Daniel hoyne posits that is why they have improved so much. Again, we have a better transition game over the journey.

The likely wet weather creates a variable. But i don't think it favours one side more than the other.

Im not sure how the blues have gone in the wet, but we have struggled, in large part because it exacerbates our poor foot skills.

But we did ok when it got wet against the tigers.

Slippery conditions make it harder for curnow, but brings their small forwards into play.

The slippery conditions mitigates the loss of Petty, and our small forwards were brilliant last week.

We have one really big advantage.

The blues have been running out games really well, so are obviously fit,  but i dont have a good sense of how fit they are blue relative to us.

But I do know we are close to being in top shape, are super fit  and have been stronger for longer in all our games since the saints win.

The advantage we have in that space is the blues are coming of two hugely taxing games - physically and psychologically.

Their game against the pies was ferocious and intense. And last week, the saints applied incredible pressure and were super hard at it - particularly in the first half.

We have seen recently the impact of back to back tough games has had on the pies ans port. Neither team had won since their epic match at AO. And both looked flattened.

We had two tough games against the lions and crows, which made our tigers win even more meritorious.

The roos were hard at it last week, but really only for a half. And the game wssnt intense in tersm of stakes, build up or a huge croed gling ballistic.

And we had the luxury of basically resting our midfield in the last quarter, with maxy, tracc and viney spending most of it resting on the pine. 

And on top of that, we are likely injecting one of the best 5 players in the competition into our midfield.

Clarry might be a bit ring rusty, but he will be fresh and ready to rumble.

I think we will win. 

The line is currently minus 4.5 (meaning we need to win by 5 or more points to cover the line).

I think that is too skinny, and would set it at 6.5 (but won't be taking the line on, because there's nothing worse than the dees losing AND also losing money).

I have a feeling we could look to make a statement and put the blues back in their box.

Under goody, we have looked to do so against potential contenders and it makes sense to hit the blues because they are def contenders and there is a good chance we might have to play them in the finals.

Dees by 30 plus.

Far be it for me, a lowly PA, to question the top dog, but I think this point is far too overstated on Demonland.

Name a game where the weather cost us?

When it rained during Geelong, we dominated them - they came back into it when it stopped raining in the last.

When it rained against Richmond, we piled on goals in the last and it was slippery in the third after rain at half time.

When it rained against Port, we kicked 7 goals in a quarter in hostile territory.

I don't think 'Melbourne are a poor wet weather footy team' stacks up to scrutiny. I've felt it was the case in the past too, but really it's down to whether we win ground ball or not, because we obviously intercept mark less.

I think our evolution, I won't say change, in game style, has meant less reliance on May, Lever or the third tall intercept marking, which means we can still win provided we win ground ball and neutralise the opposition in the air.

To me, groundball and intercept are the two best indicators of victory in modern footy.

[binman 44,512]

3 minutes ago, Deebauched said:

I dont underestimate the handbaggers.

I think theyre very handsome young men. Superstars! 

Forget about the Boys from Brazil. How about the Boys from Parkville !

Dees should win this .

Mmm, I didn't factor that in to my analysis. 

You're right they have some good looking roosters (though SOS out hurts on that front)

And we have quite a few that not even their mothers could like. And we traded the Weed. 

Dees by 25 plus.

[binman 44,512]

9 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

Far be it for me, a lowly PA, to question the top dog, but I think this point is far too overstated on Demonland.

Name a game where the weather cost us?

When it rained during Geelong, we dominated them - they came back into it when it stopped raining in the last.

When it rained against Richmond, we piled on goals in the last and it was slippery in the third after rain at half time.

When it rained against Port, we kicked 7 goals in a quarter in hostile territory.

I don't think 'Melbourne are a poor wet weather footy team' stacks up to scrutiny. I've felt it was the case in the past too, but really it's down to whether we win ground ball or not, because we obviously intercept mark less.

I think our evolution, I won't say change, in game style, has meant less reliance on May, Lever or the third tall intercept marking, which means we can still win provided we win ground ball and neutralise the opposition in the air.

To me, groundball and intercept are the two best indicators of victory in modern footy.

You're fired.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,009]

14 hours ago, FearTheBeard said:

My apologies, it was 1980. Don’t know why I remember 1982. But ye 43 years is a long time. Need a good Melbourne away turnout to get it over 60k and I just don’t trust our members to pay for reserved tickets.

Crowd numbers might be down on expectations because of the Matilda's QF being played just before our game. We know frrom the TV ratings for Monday's match that more people tuned in for it than watched the AFL Grand Final.

It might help to attract people to our game if the MCC announced that they would be showing the Matilda's game on the scoreboard before our game. (I don't know if they have the rights to be able to do that, though.)   

[rpfc 28,893]

I think Carlton are a really good team. They remind me of us in the way they build out from the contest.

I just think they are missing too many top line players in the midfield, we have better players around the ground, we are really looking to be daring and exciting from stoppages and if we draw or win scores from stoppages then we should win the game.

Like any week (post Cairns 2020), one is presuming good form and consistent effort.

[Deebauched 1,220]

4 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Crowd numbers might be down on expectations because of the Matilda's QF being played just before our game. We know frrom the TV ratings for Monday's match that more people tuned in for it than watched the AFL Grand Final.

It might help to attract people to our game if the MCC announced that they would be showing the Matilda's game on the scoreboard before our game. (I don't know if they have the rights to be able to do that, though.)   

The only possible reason why a womens soccer game rated so well was because it was on a Monday night as very few people go out on the first working day/ night.  Big night for TV and advertisers.

MFC attendance problem is most supporters have died of old age. It'll take years of success to get the big numbers back consistently.

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

How long have you been posting here? I don't think very long, unless you are a banned poster posting under a new name...

Either way, if you really think this about Demonland, you obviously are new. This is where negativity thrives.

But forgive those of us who look at us sitting pretty in second spot with 3 rounds left of the H&A season, after a flag in 2021, and a top 2 finish in 2022, not wanting to take a steaming [censored] on the club right now.

It's always so easy to be negative, and nothing is EVER as good or as bad as it seems in footy. Things changes so quickly, just ask Pies and Blues fans.

But right now, if you can't see any positive things about where the club is at, then I just feel really sad for you.
I for one want to enjoy this rare moment in time where we are an actual serious contender, rather than constantly looking over my shoulder at the black hatted negative nellie behind me.

2005 OG Demonlander who has been banned once thanks to Saty. 

Don't feel sorry for me. 

I love the club.

And I love coming to Demonland to provide an opposing view. 

[Jaded No More 68,975]

Just now, JimmyGadson said:

2005 OG Demonlander who has been banned once thanks to Saty. 

Don't feel sorry for me. 

I love the club.

And I love coming to Demonland to provide an opposing view. 

And we love having opposing views, there is nothing wrong with that. Having opposing views is what makes this place tick. It would be super boring if everyone thought the same all the time.

I hope you are enjoying the ride. It's never been better (unless you're old enough to have been around in the 50s and 60s).

[rpfc 28,893]

Jimmy D is STMJ or Steven the man Jordan 

everyone is different and brings a different energy to the Demonland Pub so to speak.

Easy enough to avoid those you get nothing from.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,009]

17 minutes ago, Deebauched said:

The only possible reason why a womens soccer game rated so well was because it was on a Monday night as very few people go out on the first working day/ night.  Big night for TV and advertisers.

MFC attendance problem is most supporters have died of old age. It'll take years of success to get the big numbers back consistently.

"The only possible reason". Yeah, right. 

[layzie 34,326]

12 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Jimmy D is STMJ or Steven the man Jordan 

everyone is different and brings a different energy to the Demonland Pub so to speak.

Easy enough to avoid those you get nothing from.

Yep, we need people like @JimmyGadson.

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

3 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Jimmy D is STMJ or Steven the man Jordan 

everyone is different and brings a different energy to the Demonland Pub so to speak.

Easy enough to avoid those you get nothing from.

Davey's sugar daddy in my formative years, don't forget. 

We used to argue. Now we don't. 

Demonland has taught me much. 

[Smokey 4,389]

13 hours ago, fr_ap said:

Yes we will. I hope it's us but get sick of the back slapping in here that discredits their form or posters saying they're not worried. I think it will be a tougher game than KB. 

Perhaps you could write us a guide on how to form our opinions on oppo teams that we can reference so we don't trigger you in the future? 

[Jjrogan 1,448]

It's interesting that after a mid season loss, Voss basically turned into Goody during a press conference.  "We have to change.  I don't care about the forwards anymore don't ask me about that, it's all about defence and contest from here". Since then, their form has been excellent.  If they win and he mentions "it looked like a Carlton game" and "by no means are we the finished product" I think I'll tip my cap off to them. And then spew in it.   

Anyway, they are decent side. Seemingly modelled on us but the difference in this game will be our number 11. They don't have him.