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GAMEDAY: Practice Match vs Fremantle

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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16 minutes ago, 640MD said:

Any scores or commentary about individuals etc greatly appreciated 

if I had kayo for the football I would be living alone !!

That sounds like a win win to me!

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    1 hour ago, praha said:

    Watching our games we are going to congestion constantly.

    That is how they train, when the ball is in our backline. We hope for ball out the back, as we lead towards our goal. When a stoppage happens on the wing, we leave a tall near goal, one on one, the others a kick away, and with an extra defender.  During centre bounces, we fill close to goal. Interesting forward structures to come. Chaplin is an innovator and a micro-manager.

    I think Deaver is wrong about this season. It is a newish bus with Chaplin and Goody putting their coaching skills into a mid and forward structure that will free up Turner and JVR with space, or if the smalls get to them allow for ground ball.

    We will be swarming again and going fast, and many suggest that that ball movement will help the conversion. 

    Fritsch has attended nearly every preseason session, has a point to prove.

    Turner has been given the licence. 

    Sparrow and Chandler have both taken more leadership roles.

    Billings is looking super fit. 

    I am on the train, Choo Choo.

    Go Dee's. 

    Edited by kev martin

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    1 hour ago, sue said:

    True.  I  thought they were sufficiently close together.  But I see it's quite a bit cooler at Mandurah early on:

    Mandurah Temperatures

    At 2:00 AM 5:00 AM 8:00 AM 11:00 AM 2:00 PM 5:00 PM 8:00 PM 11:00 PM
    Air temperature (°C) – – – 29 29 27 24 22
    Feels like (°C) – – – 28 27 26 24 23
    Dew point temperature (°C) – – – 14 16 17 19

    19

    Perth Temperatures

    At 2:00 AM 5:00 AM 8:00 AM 11:00 AM 2:00 PM 5:00 PM 8:00 PM 11:00 PM
    Air temperature (°C) – – – 32 34 31 25 23
    Feels like (°C) – – – 31 33 29 25 24
    Dew point temperature (°C) – – – 14 16 16 17 18

    I’m from Perth originally so know the difference! Most people wouldn’t. It’s definitely much cooler the further south you go

     
    1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

    Petty? Anyone??

    There are a few here who meet that criteria.

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    Looking forward to watching this game and see if we finally move the ball into the forwards with precise kicking and of course the forwards spreading and leading up to the ball carrier. 

    And as with all of you no injuries.

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    6pm start, so readying myself trying to pretend to be excited for rugbuh league and promised myself I would watch the entire match…. I lasted only 3 minutes. 🤣

    Such a one dimensional, dog [censored] sport. Not even a full house in Vegas.

    Anyway, still over an hour, so I guess I’ll continue to be bored until then. 😂

    Edited by VNightCityLegend

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    6 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

    NRL are expecting 50k at the opening NRL game in Vegas. Amazing if true

    Not if most of the tickets are free it's not

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    1 hour ago, praha said:

    Your forward line is only as good as what's happening up the ground. Watching our games we are going to congestion constantly. We kick and hope. Zero space. Teams play to this knowing the forward entry is what it is. We got away with it in 2021 and most of 22 and 23 but still struggled. We were 5th for Points For in 2021. Sixth in 22. Fourth in 23. 14th last year. I just refuse to admit that what we have in the forward line is the problem. Not a coincidence that when we move Petty forward, lose Petracca, underdone Oliver, and a struggling midfield last year that our scores drop off. If we start winning more up the ground like we did in our top 4 years we'll find a way to score. Fritsch is a 60+ goal forward. JVR needs to hit the scoreboard more but couldn't because he was second hitter in the ruck. Losing Jackson set us back so much because we lost a forward as a backup ruck. This explains the obsessive focus on getting another ruck to compliment Gawn (and why I've been such a huge critic of how we handled the Grundy situation). Hopefully Jefferson and Johnson address that issue.

    Our 21 forward line was a total different kettle of, as they say, the proverbial fish.

    Tmac was there and while he fell away towards the end of the season in 21, he was a gun for at least the first twelve rounds.

    He killed it. Alongside him we saw the last great year of Bbb. While a shadow of his 3 consecutive h and a goal scorer winning self, he was a potent foil alongside Tmac and Fritta who had a great year and pickeed up the slack when Tmac dropped off. Frittata's six goal gf haul was an example of where he was at four years ago.

    Throw in big bad Jackson who while didn't kick a heap, took a good defender and certainly bought the ball to ground and saw the likes of Nibbler, Spargo and Kozzie at their best.

    Cameos by Tracc, Sparrow and Harmes didn't do any harm.

    We got away with it because we had more depth.

    While we lost Jackson through club move and Bbb through injuries we had Grundy that didn't do much but helped a little.

    We also had Smith and Milkshake as pinch hitters there.

    Last year revealed how big a problem our fwd firepower was lacking.

    Petty was all at sea and devoid of any confidence. Kozzie was in the middle and Tracc was out.

    It was really left to Jvr who has shown great promise but kind of went sideways last year and not what I expected. As a side....I'll be watching him close this year as he will be important to our success.

    Fritta went backwards imho.

    Not so much because he kicked less goals but he looked like at not a few times,l  he had lost passion. Too many times I saw him jogging after a few opposing players rather than sprint. His tackle count was too low and he seemed to be doing as little as possible.

    A shame with Fritta because he is a freak of a talent. I get the same feeling about Kozzie at times. I love the bloke but not convinced he's as yet to give 100 % week in week out.

    He's young so there's still time for him to go next level to game changer status.

    Turner will be an interesting one and like Jvr could be the difference.

    I think on the balance of all things is that there is no proven certainty or confidence that this fwd line will kick 100 points on a regular basis like Sydney's.

    I hope I'm wrong.

    Maybe it's the smalls who will surprise us all but Anb is a big loss in this area.

    I would love the luxury of playing Tracc fwd full-time but when we are fielding Sparrow and Billings I'm not sure we can afford this. Plus if we are being honest there are some big ifs hanging over the heads of Tracc and Oliver.

    I know this all sounds very negative and maybe it is but there are a lot of ifs and maybes going into this season. A lot.

    It's like being a Dees supporter of old again.😃l l 

     


    2 hours ago, binman said:

    We have def struggled against freo in the last few seasons, though the timing of the games hasn't helped as most have been just before or just after our mid season bye.

     

    That's an understatement BM.

    They have had our measure totally. Longmuir has totally pantsed Goodwin.

    Freo treat us as a joke.

    Big Time for revenge.

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    25 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

    Our 21 forward line was a total different kettle of, as they say, the proverbial fish.

    Now talking about "21", after the spiel about last year.

    Our first real hit out with a new forward coach.

    Give us a chance before all this, pessimism.

    Wait until mid season, or at least after the first couple of H&A games.

    But, then you won't be able to say "I told you so"!

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    37 minutes ago, VNightCityLegend said:

    6pm start, so readying myself trying to pretend to be excited for rugbuh league and promised myself I would watch the entire match…. I lasted only 3 minutes. 🤣

    Such a one dimensional, dog [censored] sport. Not even a full house in Vegas.

    Anyway, still over an hour, so I guess I’ll continue to be bored until then. 😂

    The year was 2006, after a disappointing three losses to start the season, the Demons had won five in a row to put themselves in the top 4 in a season without a true standout, and with Melbourne now the leading contender of all Victorian clubs. Round 9 the Demons face top-of-the-ladder eventual premiers West Cost, who to that stage had won every game except the derby against Freo.

    I was in Canberra, and convinced a thugby supporting friend to watch my AFL game on condition that I also watched their game, which was immediately afterwards.

    Judd, Kerr, Cousins and Cox are at their absolute peak, with White and the capable but comparatively unsung Demon midfield scrambling to limit the damage. For much of the first half it seems West Coast should be dominating, but sheer refusal to submit by the Demons and wayward kicking for goal keeps the game close.

    The game ramps up a notch in the third quarter. For the first time the Demons look like they could really overcome the Eagle's class. Robertson produces some magic on his way to four goals. Clint Bartram scores a second goal against all rights given his match-ups on the games absolute premier midfielders. Five goals to four in the 3rd puts the margin at just a couple of points at three quarter time.

    In the final quarter, the West coast midfield gradually reasserts itself. Sheer weight of talent and brilliant moments get the better of the Demon's and the game finally breathes out, with a final margin of 22 points.

    Then the Rugby League starts.

    Two rows of chonky thick-necked cattle walk into eachother for an hour. Nobody remembers the score. I vaguely recall the game was close but only because the scoring was minimal. There are few sports more dull than Rugby League when both sides are defensively strong but have no individually gifted playmakers. It is like Gridiron without quarterbacks.

    Recalling that afternoon is how I remind myself that the game itself is often magnificent, and that Australian Football's main problems are to be found in offices.

    Oh, and credit to Dennis Cometti for a fine call.

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    32 minutes ago, Demonland said:

     

    Club can't get anything right. That is clearly Jack's front and Billings' back.

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    48 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

    Fritta went backwards imho.

    Not so much because he kicked less goals but he looked like at not a few times,l  he had lost passion. Too many times I saw him jogging after a few opposing players rather than sprint. His tackle count was too low and he seemed to be doing as little as possible.

    A shame with Fritta because he is a freak of a talent. I get the same feeling about Kozzie at times. I love the bloke but not convinced he's as yet to give 100 % week in week out.

    I’m pretty sure that Fritta was dealing with more than one injury for a large part of the season, and that could have accounted for his appearing disinterested.

    I seriously thought I was done with the footy nerves. Its a praccy match and im hyperventilating. Gonna be a long year.

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    All I want out of this game is zero injuries and some more footy exposure for the new lads.

    The jumper we're wearing today does look OK. 


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