The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 16th March @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Dees stunning victory over the Saints at the MCG.

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.

PLEASE TRY TO KEEP THE QUESTIONS/COMMENTS TO ONE SPECIFIC TOPIC/PLAYER IN ORDER TO MAKE THE PREPARATION FOR THE PODCAST EASIER.

Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

Great to have you all back. Would love to hear your thoughts on Kolts game? From what I could see he had responsibility for NAS for most the game. Not sure if it was a solid tag or more of a loose run with, but had a quick glance and with the exception of NAS scoring a few goals they had pretty similar stats.

For mine I think he really stepped up a few times. Needs to work on disposals under pressure as a few were a little sloppy. Handballs to the man on the lead were not quite to advantage and a few errant kicks but the intent was there and showed a good bit of mongrel.

Love to hear your thoughts on his game?

Really happy to see the podcast pop up in my feed the other day, and even happier to have you guys back on deck.

I understand that footy has evolved again and that our new game plan and style is built around speed. With that comes the inevitable risk of turnovers, which can put the defence under a lot of pressure. Even so, conceding 15 goals and around 32 scoring shots to St Kilda is a concern. That sort of scoreline will win most games.

While we were able to score heavily ourselves, I still thought we looked shaky defensively, especially against a side not exactly known for high-powered forward play or big scores. We seem particularly vulnerable once the ball hits the ground, which feels like an issue that has lingered for a few years now.

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on the backline and whether you see genuine concerns there, particularly against sides with strong key forwards and dangerous crumbers. A trip to Freo might give us a better indication and could potentially expose those weaknesses.

How bloody good is it to finally have a functioning forward line? No more long bombs to the pockets; just players leading up the guts and getting hit lace-out in front.

Nine goals between our two key forwards says plenty. It can’t be much of a coincidence that Roo produces the best haul of his career when he’s partnered by a strong, competent key forward like Mihocek.

You absolutely love to see it.

Welcome back, fellas. It’s great to have you back on the airwaves.

I’d love to get your impressions of the new recruits from today’s game, because I thought each of them brought something to the table.

The inclusion of Checkers looks like it’s only going to help JVR’s development and breakout. And the fact that Mihocek chipped in with three goals of his own is nothing to sneeze at either.

CJ made some really important spoils, and his disposal honestly wasn’t as bad as I was expecting based on the reports. I still think he can add some genuine dash off half-back as well, although we didn’t really get to see the full extent of that today.

Given the loss of Trac and Clarry, and with Viney sidelined for the early part of the season, it feels like an absolute blessing that the Saints gifted us the man of Steele. I thought he played a really solid game. He didn’t dominate, but like the rest of our mids, he played his role well in what was a pretty heavy rotation through the guts.

And then there’s Trelly. What an excitement machine. So many times on the pod last year you guys said we needed a clone of Kozzy who could impact both through the middle and up forward. Jason Taylor might just have procured for us the next best thing. Dangerous and electric. He will light up the G.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the new boys.

Welcome back, guys. A new era at Demonland is underway, and it started with a very sweet win. It feels especially fitting that it came against the side that all but brought the previous era to a close.

Do you have any stats on the centre bounce attendances? It felt like there was a really heavy midfield rotation throughout the game, and that mix seemed to extend beyond the usual on-ball group to include the wings and even some half-forwards. Kozzy, Steele, Windsor, Culley, Langford, Sparrow and Rivers all looked to spend time in there, and there may have been a few others as well.

None of them ended up with huge possession numbers. Windsor and Steele were the only Demons to get past 20 disposals with 21 each, while Kozzy finished with 19. By contrast, the Saints had six players in the high 20s and two over 30, although not all of those were midfielders.

I’m not suggesting our mids had poor games. I thought we probably lacked a bit of contested bull and grunt at times, but that was always likely given the changes over summer. More than anything, I found the rotations really interesting, and I’m curious whether the centre bounce numbers back up that impression from watching live, particularly before I’ve had the chance to see a replay.

How did you guys assess the midfield overall? What did you make of the rotations, and based on the limited sample size from the opening couple of weeks, how do you think that group stacks up against the rest of the competition?

Wonderful to have you all back and thanks for what you bring to us all

I know it wasn’t only JVR, but how wonderful having a forward leading into space, and for those upfield to honour those leads and kick the ball in front of him instead of on the top of his head.

If this is due to “ the new game style” then exciting days ahead.

PS Latrelle “Cuzzy” Pickett- what an absolute ripper AFL debut for a kid whose last game was Glenelg Reserves, and that goal was pure joy and magic. Did quite a bit of other stuff as well.

Edited yesterday at 10:481 day by monoccular

Hallelujah, the Demonland Podcast has returned.

Petty lining up as the backup ruck was definitely not on my 2026 bingo card.

And how good was it not having to drag JVR out of the forward line a couple of times a quarter to pinch-hit in the ruck, bust a gut, and run up and down the ground for half an hour a game? Funny what happens when you let the kid stay forward; he kicks six.

Anyway, what did you make of the unorthodox move to use Petty in the ruck? I thought he handled himself pretty well and even managed to rove and chase up his own ball on a couple of occasions.

Given that our midfield lacks experience

How can we best take advantage of the players we do have?

Do the new ruck rules give us an increase in hitouts to advantage

questions for the crew...

• is kolt's best position in the afl as a tagger?

• can petty continue to perform as a key defender / ruckman?

• how many bounces will latrelle pickett take across the course of the 2026 season?

Welcome back guys.

What a game. I was not sure what to expect but I’m stoked by the team effort and of course the win!

I didn’t have much of an opinion of Sharp from the few games I saw him play last season but I thought he was excellent today as was Jai Culley.

Thoughts on their game?

Is it just me or were there far fewer "secondary" stoppages at centre "bounces" (ie there is a stacks on the mill and another throw-up rather than one side getting a clearance)? Does this mean we need to get better at defending clearances?

Shout out to the milesone man. Salem had a solid game and is a true legend of the club. Cant say enough good things about the way he goes about it. Hope he plays another 50-100 . Great win boys

Edited yesterday at 12:441 day by DemonWA

Seeing our guys hit the field in Rd 1 with clarity and conviction in our gameplan and the way we want to move the ball has to be a massive tick for Steven King and the way he has instilled this over the summer.

It must be said whether people want to hear it or not that Simon Goodwin and FD were working tirelessly to evolve our gameplan last year and although and although it wasn't always pretty it was happening.

My question to you guys and specifically Binman is what are the key differences between what Goody was trying to achieve last year and what King is this year? One of my observations is that our guys are much less system based and playing a lot more on instinct with the first option being the best one.

Man it was exciting being at the footy again, Go Dees!

JVR has arrived! In fact he never left.

Despite all the people complaining about his performance last year, the fact is he is one of the most accurate kicks in the whole league.

Give him the opportunities and he'll take them.

Really looking forward to this podcast and season. Question for the panel. I love our attacking mindset. But it will open up our defence a lot, and seems to need athletic defenders who can cover the ground. Does Lever fit into our new game style?

13 hours ago, Deeminion said:

Welcome back, guys. A new era at Demonland is underway, and it started with a very sweet win. It feels especially fitting that it came against the side that all but brought the previous era to a close.

Do you have any stats on the centre bounce attendances? It felt like there was a really heavy midfield rotation throughout the game, and that mix seemed to extend beyond the usual on-ball group to include the wings and even some half-forwards. Kozzy, Steele, Windsor, Culley, Langford, Sparrow and Rivers all looked to spend time in there, and there may have been a few others as well.

None of them ended up with huge possession numbers. Windsor and Steele were the only Demons to get past 20 disposals with 21 each, while Kozzy finished with 19. By contrast, the Saints had six players in the high 20s and two over 30, although not all of those were midfielders.

I’m not suggesting our mids had poor games. I thought we probably lacked a bit of contested bull and grunt at times, but that was always likely given the changes over summer. More than anything, I found the rotations really interesting, and I’m curious whether the centre bounce numbers back up that impression from watching live, particularly before I’ve had the chance to see a replay.

How did you guys assess the midfield overall? What did you make of the rotations, and based on the limited sample size from the opening couple of weeks, how do you think that group stacks up against the rest of the competition?

Ditto above. Great questions. I don't think I have ever seen us use so many different CBA combinations (from 11 different players) in a game.

Would love to hear any further thoughts on our CBAs - whether it might have been pre-planned or if it was just circumstance as Saints also used 12 different players in the guts.

https://dfsaustralia.com/afl-cbas/?team=MEL&season=2026

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by dice

I think it might be a good idea before you start tonight's program that you listen to the podcast from after the Round 20 game last year when NWM almost single-handedly demolished us in a quarter of football and tn reflect on what's changed since then 😀.

Spoiler alert: It was the shortest Demonland podcast on record. 🫣

Welcome back Demonland Poddy.

And can we take a moment to give a massive shoutout to our Captain Fantastic, Max Gawn. He was absolutely enormous yesterday. These new ruck rules were supposedly designed to suit someone like Tom De Koning. Max gave the multi-million dollar man TDK a proper lesson ruck craft and endurance.

In fact, after that performance, there’s a fair case that TDK should be handing over a slice of that monster contract as tribute to the undisputed king of the ruckmen.

Better luck next time, sweet prince.

Welcome back.

What a win. I’ll take 4 pts rd 1 over a StKilda’s tin [censored] dead rubber win in rd 20 every day of the week!

Haven’t been this pumped since Hogan & Watts turned it on against GWS in the last quarter of Rd1 2016.

Thoughts on our midfield up against a few bigger seasoned veterans, has the game shifted completely away from having at least one bull (is Steele all we need?) and if so what does this mean for our VC? Will he have to adapt and find a new position?

Obligatory welcome back, boys. You have been missed.

Looking ahead to next week, I reckon we may need to find Gawny a bit of support in the ruck to deal with the combination of Jackson’s athleticism and Darcy’s sheer size and strength. Does the Moose come into calculations for a debut?

And on a somewhat related note, is our backline strong enough to handle Fremantle’s tall timber in Treacy, Amiss and Voss? Does TMac come back into the frame, with either he or Petty spending some time as the backup ruck to give Max a chop-out without leaving us undersized down back?

We’ll leave the questions there for this week. There’s plenty to unpack, and I’m very conscious of the need to trim the runtime of the show while also easing the preparation load at my end.

That said, I really do appreciate all the questions and comments from the audience. They’re a big part of what helps shape the agenda each week and give us a strong sense of what people want discussed. Even when we can’t get to everything, the feedback is always valuable and helps guide the conversation.

We'll be LIVE tonight at 8pm

LISTEN: DEMONLAND.COM

Guys - please give a shout out for the upcoming Devil’s Advocate function as per the thread on Demonland.

The function is on Wednesday 25 March 2026 in the legal precinct and the featured guests are Steven King, Steven Smith and Paul Guerra.

We have a new number that you can call in on tonight or leave us a message to play on the show. I'm still ironing out all the kinks as sometimes the bluetooth just doesn't connect. Or it connects but doesn't actually play through the bluetooth channel. Ah technology.

Call the Demonland Podcast on 0486 387 929