The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 25th August @ 8:00pm. Join Binman & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing loss to the Collingwood.

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.

Thank you to every body that has contributed to the Podcast this year in the form of questions, comments and calls.

Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

I'll take the new ball.

What does 'forgetting how to win' even mean? These guys train from Summer untill now but it's all moot? We can talk about how the game style has started to take shape (Which I agree with) but psychologically the problems have been exactly the same all season reverting back to old habits when the pressure gets dialed up.

Perhaps change is going to be a welcome thing.

We definitely need to look at fixing our issues with mental toughness.

We are still "soft as butter" when it comes to our psychological fortitude, at least in my opinion. We basically [censored] the bed when the pressure is on in close games and it is unacceptable.

How do we address this?

As Max Gawn said post game, we need to learn how to win!

The other issue is more related to football skills. We need to improve our kicking skills still. I think Hawthorn is a good blueprint to follow regarding skills.

This is a huge problem we continue to have with our forward line connection. We need MORE players at the Melbourne Football Clubs who are excellent kicks and excellent decision makers.

Our last kick into the forward line continues to let us down and has repeatedly over recent seasons. This has caused a huge amount of frustration amongst us all as Demons members and supporters!

We fix our forward line connection and we will kick alot more goals and win alot my games in AFL seasons to come!

I still think the new Demons coaching role is Nathan Buckley's to lose, however, we shall wait and see?

Nathan Buckley, to me, epitomises the mentality of someone with a huge determination to win. He was a champion player, as we all know, but it's his burning desire to win a Premiership that appeals to me the most. He never achieved this as a player in 2002 and 2003. He also missed out as a senior coach in 2018. I think deep down in his guts he still craves a Flag. I also liked the surprising admission that he barracked for Melbourne as a kid growing up.

Lastly, I think we need more good quality football people at the Club to continue to improve our Culture into the future. I am hopeful that the new Demons CEO Paul Guerra shall lead this as I have been impressed by him so far, but it is still only early days.

Edited August 22Aug 22 by Supreme_Demon

More a question about our whole season than this game specifically, we went 0 and 5 in games decided by a goal or under, if we went 5 and 0 we finish on 12 wins and a positive win loss record. Are we just unlucky or is this just a result of our general lack of skills under pressure when compared to other teams and something that will persist until this can be rectified.

Hmmm, I came here to discuss the same concerns.

I feel almost like something snapped in 2022 and we went from untouchable to never-over-the-line. So many times that year we'd get 4 or 5 goals up and if we didn't then get 6 up AND the opposition was in the best 10-12 teams they'd reel us in! In 2021 we'd tie a knot round teams they couldn't get out of. But almost ever since we can't 'beat' teams - they'd always know that if they kept fighting they're a chance to make us fall apart. Conversely I don't think we have done the opposite often in that same period - there was that Brisbane game at the G where Melksham got us over the line and arguably the Brisbane game this year. But I'm sure there are teams that can steal games they shouldn't and save ones they should. Whether it's tactics, poor coaching or on-field leadership or something like unaddressed player doubts or a useless or non-existent team psychologist we're leaving so many games out there. Even on this alone if the new coaches can solve this we can shoot up the ladder. (And it might even lessen panicked shots at goal and inside 50s and preserve our energy helping us run out games.)

BTW thanks for your efforts this year, guys.

2 hours ago, Supreme_Demon said:

Nathan Buckley, to me, epitomises the mentality of someone with a huge determination to win. He was a champion player, as we all know, but it's his burning desire to win a Premiership ....

Lastly, I think we need more good quality football people at the Club to continue to improve our Culture into the future. I am hopeful that the new Demons CEO Paul Guerra shall lead this as I have been impressed by him so far, but it is still only early days.

I think there was a game where ex-Collingwood star Travis Cloke got his new Bulldogs team over the line and Collingwood fans were ropeable! Just imagine their grief if Buckley gets us a flag, especially if we mow down Collingwood to do it!

Edited August 22Aug 22 by Go Ds

Just a word of thanks for fronting up after another deeply disappointing loss.

Your weekly discussions have been my primary therapy this year. I am going to miss our counselling sessions.

As I noted in the post match thread, that was a game lost not by lack of fitness but by lack of composure. I can't bear to watch the replay and I was at the wrong end of the ground in the last term so please explain what was that kick of Max's that knocked over the pie stand on the second deck about?

And how did Trac miss from close in?

It's all in the heads isn't it? Trying too hard? How do they fix this?

And let's celebrate too how we turned the game in the third.

8 hours ago, Supreme_Demon said:

We definitely need to look at fixing our issues with mental toughness.

We are still "soft as butter" when it comes to our psychological fortitude, at least in my opinion. We basically [censored] the bed when the pressure is on in close games and it is unacceptable.

How do we address this?

As Max Gawn said post game, we need to learn how to win!

The other issue is more related to football skills. We need to improve our kicking skills still. I think Hawthorn is a good blueprint to follow regarding skills.

This is a huge problem we continue to have with our forward line connection. We need MORE players at the Melbourne Football Clubs who are excellent kicks and excellent decision makers.

Our last kick into the forward line continues to let us down and has repeatedly over recent seasons. This has caused a huge amount of frustration amongst us all as Demons members and supporters!

We fix our forward line connection and we will kick alot more goals and win alot my games in AFL seasons to come!

I still think the new Demons coaching role is Nathan Buckley's to lose, however, we shall wait and see?

Nathan Buckley, to me, epitomises the mentality of someone with a huge determination to win. He was a champion player, as we all know, but it's his burning desire to win a Premiership that appeals to me the most. He never achieved this as a player in 2002 and 2003. He also missed out as a senior coach in 2018. I think deep down in his guts he still craves a Flag. I also liked the surprising admission that he barracked for Melbourne as a kid growing up.

Lastly, I think we need more good quality football people at the Club to continue to improve our Culture into the future. I am hopeful that the new Demons CEO Paul Guerra shall lead this as I have been impressed by him so far, but it is still only early days.

To me it comes down to execution.

In the last 2 minutes you could count 2 inside 50 that other teams probably would score from.

Too many players either panic or take the wrong decision.

A younger list that has no scars from 2022 and 2023 should help.

First of all thanks for your efforts over the year, it is much appreciated and loved by many, myself included. Happy holidays for a while at least and I believe it's good luck on the punt to Binman although I'm sure your analytical mind would find lots of winners.

I'd like the panel to discuss the Rising star award. Once again Langford put in a great game for us but remains an outsider to win the award. The main 3 everyone is talking about are Read from Freo, Curtain from Adelaide and Ashcroft from Brisbane. Who do you guys think WILL win the award, who do you guys think SHOULD win the award and long term, say in 3 years, barring injury, who do you think will be viewed as the best of the draft of 25

Thanks

Thanks again for the pod, gents.

3rd quarters have been awesome for the past few weeks, but then we drop right off. Why cant we adjust quicker during the game? Why can’t we keep it up in the last? (Is it is dropping off, the opposition working us out or us not adjusting in game again?) Does this suggest a key fix for 2026?

Oliver had a great game, and I thought apart from contest work (not flying for marks etc) Trac earned a pass mark. Thoughts on where these two are at?

It hurt 💔💔Andy, losses to the Saints, Blues and Pies twice have really hurt 💔💔

Dees have we forgot HOW TO WIN !! I would say so. When the Pies rolled the dice and went through the middle after kick ins, we gave it up. Two rebound goals. When we got behind, we chipped it and went slow. Unbelievable (stupid one could say)

I really wanted this win. The filth. Daicos. Moore. Maynard. Their arrogance. I can’t describe the hate after many years of us being beaten by them with no revenge or ability to fight back. It hurt.

The moments that mattered…

1: the third quarter. Kozzzy magic. Langford goal. Superb. Fritsch kicked two great goals. Melksham goals. Suddenly we were in front. Playing Smart!! Strong tackles. Hitting targets. Clarry in great form. Winning clearances. Pies missing shots. Suddenly hope. 👏👏👏

2. That last quarter. Trac goals and we are 14 points up. 👏👏👏

   Then … the run sheet of horror …

   Trac runs into 45m and skews it ( 🤬kick the goal mate)

   McVee 🤬get it clear.

   Kozzzzy 🤬little funky dinky kick … turnover

   Pies goal… ummm

   Trac miss 🤬

   Salem bomb up and under to fwd50 (does he learn anything) !🤬Gawn was there

   Rivers miss 🤬from 45 metres …kozzzzy was free

   Rebound down the centre and Pies goal🤮

   Sparrow 12 metres out and mark .. no !!! 🤬he nearly had it

   JVR miss 🤬

   May 🤬🤬🤬🤬under zero pressure. Turnover to Sidebottom.

   Pies goal … in front !!!

   Bowey turnover 🤬 straight to Pendlebury !!!

   Pies goal 

   Trac miss 🤬

   Langdon miss 🤬

   Sharp too dumb to tap to Langdon for a certain goal 🤬

Lost. Heartbreak. ANOTHER GAME WE LOST THAT WE LOST IT OURSELVES. That’s what hurts us. That’s My Rant Over Andy @Demonland

Ps. @binman please at least 5 minutes positive talk about Harvey Langford

“Harvey” will be a star ⭐️

Such composure. One grab footy.

That goal. Wow right in 50 and off one step, bang !!! And the kick to Melksham (to Kozzy) for our first goal. Easily kicked it 60 metre dead straight. 👏👏👏

Thanks guys for another year of analysing our heartbreaks (GW$, PIES x2, DOGS etc) and some days of shame (North, StKilda, Essendon, Visybags in particular).

Presuming we will have a season review so here is not the time to discuss delisting and recruiting, so I will stick to this game that we really should have won.

Others have also alluded to our inability to defend a lead let alone go in for the kill as we did so often in 2021 and early 2022. Surely it is more than poor physical fitness. Seems like a now ingrained lack of self belief. I am so grateful that this didn’t pertain when we were 17 points down mid Q3 in the GF 2021 - why has this turned? On field leadership? Lack of fire from the coaching staff? Stale messaging?

Langford has been an amazing pick up - IMO as good as Clarry’s debut season and seems to have superior skills and presence of mind already.

Great to see Clarry getting back towards his best. He seems to be in a good mindset and I hope he can carry this into 2026 FOR MFC!

I can’t bear to lose and particularly to Collingwood but there were definite signs of hope for next year. Tweak a few things like goalkicking and disposal options and who knows?

I can’t wait for your end of season review. So much to talk about especially with fading veterans who were vital in 2021.

Whilst I fully understand it, and not judging at all, our turnout to the game was insipid. I felt like I was very few D’s supporters there.

Fingers crossed with new staff for both coaches and players we can get back to strong crowds and support for our team in 2026.

Thanks for the year Andy, Binman & George the time and effort you put into the podcast is greatly appreciated and commendable!

While reasonable effort a Disappointing finish!

The concerns:

• poor decision making in last qtr, happened too often last two seasons! Skills when it counts, went missing!

• Backline too slow, Salem, May & McDonald! Add Lever! Also think Petty! McVee shocking season! How much of a shake up is required? The need for some speed & skill!

• Forward line Petty not doing enough, Sparrow too many errors, Chandler did he play 2nd half and seems to start season well and gradually go down hill, JVR okay and hopefully better next year! The need for some speed & skill!

• In the guts also need for some speed and skill - might come in future from Windsor, Lindsay, Langdon & Rivers in mix!

Promise:

• Midfield Max still gold! Rivers needs to learn how to settle when he has the ball! Oliver nearly back, Trac further to go, Kossie can’t do it all the time but still kicks 2!

• Fritsch showed his class.

• Langdon looks a ripper!

Question:

Who can we lose and what do we need?

Biggest areas of ground we need to address?

6 hours ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

Whilst I fully understand it, and not judging at all, our turnout to the game was insipid. I felt like I was very few D’s supporters there.

Fingers crossed with new staff for both coaches and players we can get back to strong crowds and support for our team in 2026.

We could all turn out but we would still be outnumbered 4 to 1 by Collingwod supporters.

On 22/08/2025 at 17:55, pitmaster said:

Just a word of thanks for fronting up after another deeply disappointing loss.

Your weekly discussions have been my primary therapy this year. I am going to miss our counselling sessions.

I strongly echo this sentiment.

6 hours ago, D4Life said:

The concerns:

• poor decision making in last qtr, happened too often last two seasons! Skills when it counts, went missing!

• Backline too slow, Salem, May & McDonald! Add Lever! Also think Petty! McVee shocking season! How much of a shake up is required? The need for some speed & skill!

• Forward line Petty not doing enough, Sparrow too many errors, Chandler did he play 2nd half and seems to start season well and gradually go down hill, JVR okay and hopefully better next year! The need for some speed & skill!

• In the guts also need for some speed and skill - might come in future from Windsor, Lindsay, Langdon & Rivers in mix!

So basically we’re F**ked lol

Thanks for the podcast this year Andy, Binman and George.

It feels to me like in a lot of games this year rather than the 'learning how to win' thing, it's a setup problem. When the opposition goes direct (especially from kick-ins) with the game on the line there is always space in the middle of the ground. Friday night seemed to me like another one of these games. In the last quarter there was always space in the centre for the pies to move the ball easily. This strategy has also worked from the get-go which explains our horrible first quarters this year. So my guess is the structure of the all team defence is just leaving too much space in the middle and we're not able to either congest the centre or turn the ball over and score easy goals. Is that how you see these close games too?

The optimistic thing here is that those issues could be fixed with a relatively small structural or personnel change and the impacts would be doubled. We'd concede fewer easy goals through the middle and score more of our own, a potential 12 point turnaround. Yes this year has been disappointing but I don't think we're as far off the top teams as many think.

20 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Ps. @binman please at least 5 minutes positive talk about Harvey Langford

“Harvey” will be a star ⭐️

Such composure. One grab footy.

That goal. Wow right in 50 and off one step, bang !!! And the kick to Melksham (to Kozzy) for our first goal. Easily kicked it 60 metre dead straight. 👏👏👏

And the kick had pace, which is another issue for some of our ball handlers.

I'd be curious if the DL pod crew have watched much of other top 8 teams of late and how they're playing rolling into finals. Are there any teams in particular you think think have maybe similar personel or a game style that Melbourne could aspire to get to in future seasons?

I find it fascinating watching how teams adapt in games especially when the corridor is shut down by the opposition. Which is what happened in the Dogs vs Freo game, the most interesting game I thought on the weekend. Freo broke the game open with their faster ball movement by hand, even though its not always pretty (similar to Melbourne atm). They then started winning centre clearence but it was in tight where their ball winners (Serong/Erasmus/Brayshaw) were able to get it out to their best users in Young and O'meara to open the game up.

Clearly Freo have one of the best forwardline's in the comp (although I would argue our small/mediums are better). But I don't think our midfield group is too dissimilar to theirs. They have just found a better mix/continuity of roles. Watching Freo on the weekend gave me some hope of where Melbourne could go. If we can find a better balance of inside/outside next season I think we could really challenge again.

Langford might just be the game changer in that regard. I feel he could be our Hayden Young with his ability to impact games on the outside. His composure, timing, vision and kicking are already pretty elite.

Besides Harvey are there any other players you could see becoming outside mids? The obvious call is to trade out one of inside mids to get a better balance but other then this To me the other obvious three all have a fair bit to improve on Windsor (timing/positioning), Rivers (composure/decision making), Lindsay (experience/fitness).

It’s been reported that the outcome of the club’s search for a new coach will be announced close to grand final week. If that’s the case, it puzzles me on two levels:-

1. Why did the board not leave the final decision to sack our premiership coach until now when it could have been handled so much better and allowed Goody an exit with better optics and far more dignity than a dumping three weeks before the end of the season? The extra fortnight or so would surely have made no difference in the final analysis?

2. Our list management policy seems to have been placed in disarray at the most important time of the year. How do you deal with the question of which players to move on, who to retain and who to chase for the future if you don’t know who the coach is and what attitude he has to these important issues?

14 hours ago, Doug Reemer said:

So basically we’re F**ked lol

Not necessarily!

Need some new blood and improvement from current players.

When Fly joined Pies they were supposedly cooked, a change in style, attitude and voice, meant they changed! So it can happen!

Yes, before someone states the obvious “Fly took over from Bucks”.

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