Jump to content

PREGAME: Rd 01 vs GWS

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

 

FB: Howes May Petty
HB: Salem Lever Windsor
C; Lindsay Rivers Billings
HF: Tracc Turner Sharp
FF: Fritsch JVR Chandler
Foll: Gawn Oliver Langdon
Int: Bowey Viney Sparrow Langford
S: Woey

Backline: Where's Petty? Could Rivers take Bowey's spot and add a midfield rethink? Maybe, but I doubt it. Can't imagine Howes is in real jeopardy, he's no good at all on talls but we rested May, Lever and Adams more than 3 talls usually would and otherwise I thought he tracked Walters and Bolton reasonably well, they did their damage on others. 

Midfield: Will the real Riv step up? No one loves Billings but I guess he gets that 2nd wing spot for now?

Forward: Is JVR right to go? I can't see Sparrow, Sharp or Chandler getting dropped even if the results aren't great. Langford....low minutes and low impact today, playing the trickiest role on the field. Back him in or go for a more mature body?

Others:
AJ - clearly can do a job filling in for JVR if needed
T Mc - back up if Petty isn't good to go
Henderson and Culley - who knows how they went in the mystery Casey game but they've got to be around the mark.

My prediction is as above but I think Henderson will be right in the frame given how our half forwards just lacked any polish against Freo.
 

 

Edited by DeeSpencer

    • Thanks 3

    I hope Henderson gets a call up sooner rather than later 

    I know he only joined the list a couple of weeks ago but we’re seriously lacking in small forwards at the moment 

    • Like 1
     

    Yeah I'm all for Henderson for a round 1 sock selection. 

    Certainly couldn't be any worse then what Chandler has dished up the last two weeks.

    Not that I think he will play anytime soon, but I am intrigued to know how Ricky Mentha went on the weekend. 

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
    19 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Yeah I'm all for Henderson for a round 1 sock selection. 

    Certainly couldn't be any worse then what Chandler has dished up the last two weeks.

    Not that I think he will play anytime soon, but I am intrigued to know how Ricky Mentha went on the weekend. 

    Chandler doesn't have a weapon IMV.

    Edited by Adam The God

    • Like 2
    • Shocked 1
    • Sad 1

    God help us

    3 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

    Chandler doesn't have a weapon IMV.

    I've never rated him one bit to be honest.

    I'm pinging my hope on Henderson becoming a handy little player and maybe Spargo gets back to form so that we see less of Chandler.

    • Like 3
    2 hours ago, Demonland said:

    After 6 agonizingly long months the 2025 AFL Premiership Season is almost upon us. The Demons return to the MCG to take on the GWS Giants and will be hoping to get their year off to a flying start.

    PreGameRd012025.png

     

    The AFL and its media tentacles have made it seem like nothing was ever missing...

    Demonland did its bit, too...

    Edited by Timothy Reddan-A'Blew

    • Thanks 1
     

    I think AJ and Sharpie have locked themselves in for R1 after today's performance.

    AJ really suprised up forward and in the ruck, he is a real goer.

    You can throw a blanket over the top of 6 or 7 players who would be sleeping very nervously from tonight up until the 1st team selection.

    Bowey, Howes, Billings, Xavier, Adams, Chandler and Langford.

    Edited by YesitwasaWin4theAges

    • Like 6

    After watching the replay I think we will make little changes. Petty to come back in.

     

    B: Lever, May, Bowey

    HB: Salem, Petty, Rivers

    C: Windsor, Petracca, Langdon

    HF: Sparrow, Turner, Sharp

    F: Fritsch, van Rooyen, Johnson

    FOLL: Gawn, Oliver, Viney

    IC: Howes, Langford, Lindsay, Billings

    SUB: Chandler

     

    • Like 3

    I think we are a decent chance. Without Tom Green they will lack inside ball winners: provided we don’t get absolutely torched on the outside of course.

    • Like 1
    9 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    I've never rated him one bit to be honest.

    On the credit side for Kade the match committee must see something as they voted him 8th in last year’s B&F.

    • Like 2

    Giants midfield is poo. We will win even with our deficiencies.

    • Like 1
    • Shocked 1
    4 minutes ago, Tim said:

    On the credit side for Kade the match committee must see something as they voted him 8th in last year’s B&F.

    In a poor year. 

    The small forwards is a target we have attempted to address through the draft/trade period.

    I know for a fact we were red hot on Joe Berry last year for the Murray bushrangers which to me shows its still a need for us and then there was obvious talk that we were interested in Matt Owies.

    I suppose in a way it's probably a reason why we have signed Henderson as well. 

    I like Chandler as a person, he's a solid citizen, but there is no way he would get a game for Brisbane, Sydney, GWS and the likes. 

    Reeeally keen to see how Mentha goes this year.

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

    I think yesterday was a good hit out for us in general.

    Loads of positives to draw upon from Clarry to Trac to AJ to getting more time into our 1st and 2nd year players.

    I thought our forward pressure was good for 3 quarters.

    Like every club your bottom 6 is where you are going to get exposed to clubs with more depth like yesterday showed.

    From a realistic point of view i thought our effort was generally 8/10 for most of the day, but skills were totally off so more work is required in that department.

    Considering the location of the game and the weather conditions which were all in Freo's favour I thought there were more positives than negatives.

    More times than not there wasn't much signs of our half ground press and they just seemed to transition the ball through when in our front half without any push back from our defensive 8.

    Just rolled through the corridor without and sort of congestion especially during that 2nd quarter.

    If and when I see signs of our half ground press i know we will be in a much better space defensively.

    So many things that usually get used in our games were not in play.

    At the end of the day your not going to be showing your full deck of cards in an AFL community series game half way around Australia in a country town called Mandurah while it's 34 degree heat in a practice game.

    Apart from the 2nd quarter we were more than in the game and had plenty of goal scoring opportunities.

    We showed more than enough to suggest we will be a handful if we have our full compliment of A and B graders out of the deck.

    It's the bottom 6 I'm most concerned about because we drop away badly.

    Getting back to R1 I think we will murder them inside without Tom Green, Clarry, Trac, Langers, Gawny to have a field day just a matter of putting the final product on the scoreboard.

     

    Edited by YesitwasaWin4theAges

    • Like 6
    • Love 1

    Just watched the highlights,

    it was practise match and we need to practise.

    do not think there will be too many new names.  AJ, Sharp, HL, perhaps . 

    did anyone knock down any houses at Casey, who would know!

    any more than that too many. Perhaps as interchanges.

    If Max continues to drop into that hole at CHF or CHB as he did yesterday he’ll cop one knee to many in the back and miss weeks.

    No Max = we lose.

    AJ must play and Max rests deep forward, deep back (as need be) or on the bench.

    JvR does no ruck work in my team.

    • Like 9
    • Clap 2
    10 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

    After watching the replay I think we will make little changes. Petty to come back in.

     

    B: Lever, May, Bowey

    HB: Salem, Petty, Rivers

    C: Windsor, Petracca, Langdon

    HF: Sparrow, Turner, Sharp

    F: Fritsch, van Rooyen, Johnson

    FOLL: Gawn, Oliver, Viney

    IC: Howes, Langford, Lindsay, Billings

    SUB: Chandler

     

    Windsor is playing in the back line, and Langdon is rotating midfielder. 

    • Like 1
    12 hours ago, Adam The God said:

    Chandler doesn't have a weapon IMV.

    I just posted in the postgame thread the question of what would be a pass mark for Kade this season and how would you grade his week by week by week performance this year. Over time I've found him a difficult one to evaluate. 

    If he does have a weapon, it's his offensive and defensive running. The guy works damn hard and for that it is very tough to hate him. I'm wondering if he might just not be good enough. He can have some amazing games as a forward but when the games are tougher for a small 'opportunist' forward, you need to be capitalising on minimal chances and turning half-chances into full ones.

    Apart from the obvious lock the small forward spots are up for grabs as far as I'm concerned. We need to see what we have in Henderson as from all accounts he has the same work rate as Chandler and is natural around goals. 

    • Like 4

    OK I've considered the practise matches and looked very uncertainly at comments and GWS proposed team.

    Havent read this thread yet just ready to put my thoughts here.

    Theres a lot of unfortunate missesbut Im wlling to give a bit of a blend with the tried and true and the new boys.

    Happy to receive condemnation or answer any relevant comments.

    B:           Salem - May - Lever
    HB         Sestan T MAc- Rivers
    C            Langdon Petracca - - Windsor

    HF:        Fritsch - Turner Chandler

    FF:         Johnson van Rooyen - Jefferson

    Foll:       Gawn

    Mids-    Oliver - Viney
     

    Int: -      Langford - Lindsay - Sharp - Sparrow 
    Sub:       Petty

     


    32 minutes ago, Dannyz said:

    Windsor is playing in the back line, and Langdon is rotating midfielder. 

    Hopefully it doesn't continue both are natural wingers and can get forward for a goal . Net negative having them play back and midfield IMHO 

    • Like 3

    A Johnson makes the team for mine.

    Has shown that he can take a contested mark, is a competitor, can hit the scoreboard and most importantly provide the back up ruck duties. He'll be fine in the ruck against Lachie Keefe or whoever's not Kieran Briggs.

    I was concerned that we may have been wasting a spot (if AJ wasn't up to it) for the sole purpose of allowing JVR to pay key forward all day, but I saw enough yesterday to suggest that Johnson will serve a purpose from round 1.

     

    • Like 17
    43 minutes ago, Dannyz said:

    Windsor is playing in the back line, and Langdon is rotating midfielder. 

    Windsor used the ball and his pace quite well yesterday, but we need more than 10 possessions if that's going to be his permanent position.

    The Langdon one doesn't bother me too much. He'd only be getting minimal CBA's, you'd think, and will likely spend his other on field minutes on the wing. Anything to keep Trac and Oliver fresh and firing for the last quarter.

     

    What happened to Petty?

    I'm not saying something did happen but he seems to have disappeared without a trace. 

    Injured? Sore? Personal? Rested?

    Nothing!

    Edited by ManDee
    Typo

    • Thanks 1
    44 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

    A Johnson makes the team for mine.

    Has shown that he can take a contested mark, is a competitor, can hit the scoreboard and most importantly provide the back up ruck duties. He'll be fine in the ruck against Lachie Keefe or whoever's not Kieran Briggs.

    I was concerned that we may have been wasting a spot (if AJ wasn't up to it) for the sole purpose of allowing JVR to pay key forward all day, but I saw enough yesterday to suggest that Johnson will serve a purpose from round 1.

     

    What purpose we he fill up forward alongside Fritsch, Turner and JVR?

    I like him, but the answer is he’ll be a big witches hat.

     

    • Shocked 1

    Guest
    This topic is now closed to further replies.
    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • 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.

        • Like
      • 1 reply
      Demonland

    • 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? 

        • Like
      • 4 replies
      Demonland

    • 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
      • 159 replies
      Demonland

    • 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/

        • Thanks
        • Like
      • 42 replies
      Demonland

    • POSTGAME: St. Kilda

      After kicking the first goal of the match the Demons were always playing catch up against the Saints in Alice Spring and could never make the most of their inside 50 entries to wrestle back the lead.

        • Like
      • 327 replies
      Demonland

    • VOTES: St. Kilda

      Max Gawn still has a massive lead in the Demonland Player of the Year award as Christian Petracca, Jake Bowey, Clayton Oliver & Kozzy Pickett round out the Top 5. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1

        • Sad
        • Like
      • 31 replies
      Demonland
    View All