Jump to content

Featured Replies

Posted
The 40,000 seat $319 million redeveloped Kardinia Park Stadium was nowhere near capacity last night but the strong, noisy contingent of Melbourne supporters led by the DeeArmy journeyed to Geelong to witness a high-quality battle between two of the best teams in AFLW.  

The Cats entered the arena to the blasting sounds of Zombie Nation and made a hot start kicking the first 2 goals. They brought tremendous forward half pressure, and our newly renovated defensive unit looked shaky.

The windy weather windy and drizzling rain made conditions tricky for both teams.

Prespakis, Morrison and Amy McDonald were again the stars for the Cats.  It was very physical out there.

Mick Stinear noted that our practice match form was scratchy. So, it was a relief when the Dees were able to match the Cats intensity, amping up their own pressure.

Debutant Grace Beasley was introduced midway through the first quarter and immediately impressed with her deft handballs and physicality. What an encouraging first game!

Loz Pearce was outstanding in the ruck all night and took full advantage of Geelong not playing a recognised ruck. Notwithstanding, Kate Darby and Gabbi Featherston were competitive for the Cats.

Kate Hore again demonstrated why she is considered one of the best players in the competition. Kate was on fire 🔥 with 2 classy goals to get the Dees back on terms by quarter time and finished the game with 23 possessions and 3 goals. You have to admit she’s getting better all the time.

Apart from Grace Beasley, forward Ryleigh Wotherspoon and back Grace Hill also debuted. Both were quieter but did their bit, having some moments from which they can build on.

Tayla Harris hurt her shoulder in the first half and then again in the third and was taken from the ground for the duration. She will have scans next week.

The drizzling stopped as the second half began but it remained very windy.  

The new midfield mix worked well:  with Liv Purcell recovering from injury and Westy at Hawthorn, Goldrick took on the ball chaser and extractor role brilliantly, supporting Hanksy and Lily Mithen (team high 8 tackles). Sarah Lampard did really well matching up on Amy McDonald, who was the Cats leading contested disposal winner. With Hore at times and debutant Beasley in the middle, Mick was happy with the collective performance.  

Eliza McNamara was in everything and demonstrated her courage with 13 contested possessions.  

How Blaithin Mackin transitioned to AFLW with virtually no pre-season, having just finished an injury-interrupted Gaelic Football Season was incredible. Her indefatigable running, reading of the play and passing foot skills under pressure were sublime. She was our leading possession winner plus she kicked a great goal.  B you were awesome.

The refurbished defence: Paxy has taken over Maddi Gay’s half back sweeper role and looked right at home.
 
Maeve Chaplin has stepped into the Birch role. Our number 13 is a good intercept mark, has deep kicking skills and courage. Chappy impressed on the night, maintaining her practice match form.
 
Tahlia Gillard was Tahlia Gillard. Tahls is becoming one of the best key defenders in the comp. Heathy was fantastic on the night applying pressure everywhere, landing 6 tackles. Gaby Colvin will be better for the run as she, Grace Hill and the backs build connections.

Moment of the match: With Dees supporters stressing, wanting the siren to sound in a tensely close match, it was a shock when Geelong won a free kick in the last minute directly in front of goal.
 
Surely it was a charity free!
 
No, Paxy had inadvertently breached a seldom used rule for time-wasting by not handing the ball back directly to the umpire. Ex Dee Jaqui Parry scores and it’s a 2-point game.

Supporters were kept on edge for the 46 seconds until Beasley clears the ball and the siren sounds.

Dees by 2 points 😎🔥🥰

Full time: Dees 6.6.42 defeated Cats 6.4.40
 
The opening weekend of Women’s footy has showcased the improving skill and tackling pressure. It was a really entertaining match to watch, with stats very evenly matched.  

This away win for the Dees was an important one with the tough draw ahead.  

We congratulate Daisy Pearce on her first win in her first game as coach of West Coast Eagles.

Coaches and next week: Melbourne Coach Mick Stinear said it was a tough, physical game and the Cats had his team on the backfoot at the outset.  
 
Really pleased with how his team fought back, they deserved the win. A confidence booster for the playing group. He praised Kate Hore’s game and versatility but ideally, he prefers her to play forward. He highlighted that Sinead Goldrick’s, Grace Beasley and Sarah Lampard’s strong midfield performances allowed Kate to spend more time forward.

Geelong coach Dan Lowther referred to his teams shaky practice match form so was pleased with how his side began and their forward half pressure. A strong first half but his side couldn’t quite sustain it in the second half.  He gave full credit to Melbourne. He said Kate Hore with 3 goals and 20+ disposals was the difference. The Dees are a great team still. We agree Dan 😊.
 
We head to Casey Fields for the next two weeks. 
 
Firstly Brisbane, the reigning premiers, next Saturday morning at 11:05am and then North Melbourne, last year’s runners up.  
 
A big fortnight coming up.

Happy Father’s Day to all Dee Dads. Enjoy your day and go Dees!

MELBOURNE 2.0.12 2.2.14 5.4.34 6.6.42

GEELONG
2.2.14 3.2.20 5.2.32 6.4.40

GOALS

MELBOURNE
Hore 3 Goldrick B Mackin Zanker

GEELONG Parry 2 Bowen Kearns Kenny Morrison

BEST

MELBOURNE
Hore B Mackin Pearce Mithen McNamara Goldrick

GEELONG Prespakis Am McDonald Morrison Bowen Webster Parry

INJURIES

MELBOURNE
Harris (shoulder)

GEELONG Kearns (chest/rib)

CROWD 3,838 at GMHBA Stadium
 
AFLWReportRd012024.png
 

3108E0B7-3960-4C82-8DE5-32C2B504F173.thumb.jpeg.ea6ea7f86e4565dda90999fa724b9c52.jpeg

 
7 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

3108E0B7-3960-4C82-8DE5-32C2B504F173.thumb.jpeg.ea6ea7f86e4565dda90999fa724b9c52.jpeg

...and that gap will only widen!


22 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Attendance figure now available and I’m surprised that the figure was below 4k given the stature of the game. 

The Demons have such a tough fixture this season - it seems almost unconscionable that the AFLW fixes the draw that way.

And an 11am start next week.

No doubt it's something to do with not clashing with the afl finals, but at an 11am start?

Poor.

4 hours ago, binman said:

And an 11am start next week.

No doubt it's something to do with not clashing with the afl finals, but at an 11am start?

Poor.

Not sure how the AFL expect to build a bigger profile for the game with that.

And then north at 5pm the week after yeah?

4 hours ago, binman said:

And an 11am start next week.

No doubt it's something to do with not clashing with the afl finals, but at an 11am start?

Poor.

Ima hafta sleep in the bushes outside Casey on Friday night to see an 11am start 😅

 
38 minutes ago, Brownie said:

Not sure how the AFL expect to build a bigger profile for the game with that.

And then north at 5pm the week after yeah?

North at Casey 1:05pm start.

5CEA43AD-1386-4E46-9D75-1308DB107BEB.thumb.png.1891d2f22254c571afa85ee0aa0fc701.png

Banno’s 50th this week. We have a surprise in store for her but I can’t share since she may read Demonland (despite some posters on here who refuse to believe players read DL). Suffice to say, our banner crew among others will be wearing our love for Banno for all to see 🥰


9 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Ima hafta sleep in the bushes outside Casey on Friday night to see an 11am start 😅

Yep, looked at the public transport, which is always a slog at the best of times, but due to my current location in the northern suburbs, plus the train replacement buses from Dandenong to Cranbourne, I will need to leave home no later than 7:10am. 🙄

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...

Featured Content

  • NON-MFC: Round 13

    Follow all the action from every Round 13 clash excluding the Dees as the 2025 AFL Premiership Season rolls on. With Melbourne playing in the final match of the round on King's Birthday, all eyes turn to the rest of the competition. Who are you tipping to win? And more importantly, which results best serve the Demons’ finals aspirations? Join the discussion and keep track of the matches that could shape the ladder and impact our run to September.

    • 25 replies
  • PREVIEW: Collingwood

    Having convincingly defeated last year’s premier and decisively outplayed the runner-up with 8.2 in the final quarter, nothing epitomized the Melbourne Football Club’s performance more than its 1.12 final half, particularly the eight consecutive behinds in the last term, against a struggling St Kilda team in the midst of a dismal losing streak. Just when stability and consistency were anticipated within the Demon ranks, they delivered a quintessential performance marked by instability and ill-conceived decisions, with the most striking aspect being their inaccuracy in kicking for goal, which suggested a lack of preparation (instead of sleeping in their hotel in Alice, were they having a night on the turps) rather than a well-rested team. Let’s face it - this kicking disease that makes them look like raw amateurs is becoming a millstone around the team’s neck.

    • 1 reply
  • CASEY: Sydney

    The Casey Demons were always expected to emerge victorious in their matchup against the lowly-ranked Sydney Swans at picturesque Tramway Oval, situated in the shadows of the SCG in Moore Park. They dominated the proceedings in the opening two and a half quarters of the game but had little to show for it. This was primarily due to their own sloppy errors in a low-standard game that produced a number of crowded mauls reminiscent of the rugby game popular in old Sydney Town. However, when the Swans tired, as teams often do when they turn games into ugly defensive contests, Casey lifted the standard of its own play and … it was off to the races. Not to nearby Randwick but to a different race with an objective of piling on goal after goal on the way to a mammoth victory. At the 25-minute mark of the third quarter, the Demons held a slender 14-point lead over the Swans, who are ahead on the ladder of only the previous week's opposition, the ailing Bullants. Forty minutes later, they had more than fully compensated for the sloppiness of their earlier play with a decisive 94-point victory, that culminated in a rousing finish which yielded thirteen unanswered goals. Kicks hit their targets, the ball found itself going through the middle and every player made a contribution.

    • 1 reply
  • REPORT: St. Kilda

    Hands up if you thought, like me, at half-time in yesterday’s game at TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs that Melbourne’s disposal around the ground and, in particular, its kicking inaccuracy in front of the goals couldn’t get any worse. Well, it did. And what’s even more damning for the Melbourne Football Club is that the game against St Kilda and its resurgence from the bottomless pit of its miserable start to the season wasn’t just lost through poor conversion for goal but rather in the 15 minutes when the entire team went into a slumber and was mugged by the out-of-form Saints. Their six goals two behinds (one goal less than the Demons managed for the whole game) weaved a path of destruction from which they were unable to recover. Ross Lyon’s astute use of pressure to contain the situation once they had asserted their grip on the game, and Melbourne’s self-destructive wastefulness, assured that outcome. The old adage about the insanity of repeatedly doing something and expecting a different result, was out there. Two years ago, the score line in Melbourne’s loss to the Giants at this same ground was 5 goals 15 behinds - a ratio of one goal per four scoring shots - was perfectly replicated with yesterday’s 7 goals 21 behinds. 
    This has been going on for a while and opens up a number of questions. I’ll put forward a few that come to mind from this performance. The obvious first question is whether the club can find a suitable coach to instruct players on proper kicking techniques or is this a skill that can no longer be developed at this stage of the development of our playing group? Another concern is the team's ability to counter an opponent's dominance during a run on as exemplified by the Saints in the first quarter. Did the Demons underestimate their opponents, considering St Kilda's goals during this period were scored by relatively unknown forwards? Furthermore, given the modest attendance of 6,721 at TIO Traeger Park and the team's poor past performances at this venue, is it prudent to prioritize financial gain over potentially sacrificing valuable premiership points by relinquishing home ground advantage, notwithstanding the cultural significance of the team's connection to the Red Centre? 

    • 4 replies
  • PREGAME: Collingwood

    After a disappointing loss in Alice Springs the Demons return to the MCG to take on the Magpies in the annual King's Birthday Big Freeze for MND game. Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Like
    • 232 replies
  • PODCAST: St. Kilda

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 2nd June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we have a chat with former Demon ruckman Jeff White about his YouTube channel First Use where he dissects ruck setups and contests. We'll then discuss the Dees disappointing loss to the Saints in Alice Springs.
    Your 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.
    Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

    • 47 replies