Leaderboard

Commemorative posters available now!

Poor OMac; gets bagged even when he’s not playing.

I popped over last night with the boy and we sat near the players Suffice to say, there was a real feeling of camaraderie between them and in my opinion, I feel that most of the players have had a reshaping Jesse is huge, as is CP5 - no way he'll play in the midfield...wrong shape Oliver looked fit and lithe, as did Dom Tyson Maxxy Gawn has also shed some weight, whereas Jets has really put on some muscle I know I'm stating the obvious, but it seems that every player has been sculpted to do a role It was a pretty good night and the chips were okay

@faultydet I asked Craig Jennings the club's approach to AFLX 'to win it', I like a man of his word

Yeah it's still not footy, but it was a world of improvement on last night.Partly the balls changing to yellow... but mostly because the demons actually went and had a crack on some level while everyone else did training drills. Not much to see here. Bugg has started aggressively, but is still blue collar. He'll play plenty of footy this year. Tracca was the most class we saw all night. Just needs more of the pill. He is unbelievable in the contest. Jetta didn't put a foot wrong. When does he. Fritsch was ok, popped up and showed the type of player he is. Will be very much in the running for the Hannan/Harmes roles and is right now a ways off. Very Cale Morton type physically. That will need to be fixed before we see 22 games. I'd have liked to have seen more from Stretch, TBH. Wagner is Wagner. What I like is that the early-mid age guys (21-23) are owning their space now. Regardless of the effort by the opposition, guys like Harmes and ANB create opportunities from nothing when the ball's in their area. Aggressive choices that ask questions of their opponents. That's what you want to see from players who are coming up to 50 games. And I don't reckon the type of game or the lack of fight by opposition dictates their results here. They're just good habits. Skills started poor but really surprised me by the end. Easily the most skilled side of all 6 teams. Easily deserved to win it.

Say what you will, It's nice to win something

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE HAWK IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Whispering Jack In the opening act, the theatre goers witnessed an animal on stage. It was quite dead, having been spiked at close quarters by a garden fork. The animal was a bird, a Hawk to be exact but it could easily have been a Magpie or even a Dog; it’s passing was a metaphor for the end of the Norm Smith Curse that began in the prehistoric prime number year of 1964 when they last held the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo and Dawn Fraser purloined an Olympic Flag in the dead of night from the Imperial Palace. As Dawn explained in her autobiography, Below the Surface, “... finally they pulled the flag loose. ‘Quick,’ said one of them. ‘Cop this.’ I took the flag. ‘Go for your life,’ said the other. ‘The demons are coming.’” The Demons were certainly coming. They won the premiership flag that year but soon after, it all went awry for them, for Dawn and for Norm. Many years later, the Americans came up with a television series called the X-Files in which the star of the show Special Agent Scully predicted that it would take young children of the future blessed with mathematical powers, an understanding of prime numbers and a rectangular field to put an end to the curse and so it turned out last night. They sat there near the forward pocket where monsters once ruled the earth, riveted to their bean bags, faces painted in red and blue colours, never once distracted by the acrobats, neon goalposts or the smoke machines. They were part of a now world record AFLX crowd of 22,585 fans, a small proportion of who even paid to get in to be part of history. Forget the Winter Olympics - we could never emulate the surprise appearance at the opening ceremony of Kim Jong Un’s sister and Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party of Korea. The stars of this show were the kids. They are the consumers, not of the future but of the present and the only way to get their collective attention spans away from their iPads is an action packed game that doesn’t invade their safe spaces and where you need just two kicks from kick-off to Zoop in the time it takes to recognise the opening riff of a Justin Bieber number. The Demons were the big winners. They took home the blue AFLX Night Two Trophy - Australia’s equivalent of the Vince Lombardi Trophy. AFLX Night One doesn’t count after the Court of Arbitration in Sport ruled it ineligible due to the use of the illegal silver ball in Adelaide. Firstly, the Dees knocked off the kids from Carlton, then they destroyed their ancient hoodoo against the Kangaroos who blundered by selecting a ten foot tall slow moving dinosaur to play in a game made for intergalactic space age swiftness (notwithstanding the obviously staged WWE-style rag dolling of TMacX) and finally, they atoned for the ignominious annihilation by the Hawks back in football’s stone age with a Grand Final triumph for the ages. The memory of that 1988 debacle (an event that coincidentally also unfolded in the middle of another Olympic Games - and who could ever forget the jaundice-eyed juiced up Ben Johnson killing it on the screen at the G in the 100 metres final) was still in mind as the club song was sung and tears welled at the realisation of how fitting it was that Billy Stretch was in the team that finally brought home some silverware to Yarra Park. The name Craig Jennings was unknown to most of mankind just a few days ago but today, it’s bigger on the world scene than Karaoke. He’s the man who really broke the Norm Smith Curse in front of the kids as he coached the club to its first VFL/AFL premiership since 1964 (if you leave out the pre-season Ansett Cup of 1989 against Geelong - nobody knows what an Ansett is these days anyway). The Jennings strategy was obviously to work the prime numbers based on the theory of diminishing returns, to grind the opposition in a downwards mathematical progression. Hence, the scores of 82 (including 7 Zoopers) against Carlton, 70 (this time with 9 regulation goals) against North and finally just 56 points against Hawthorn which was enough to win the Big Blue X by that beautifully prime number of 10 points. The Dees worked those numbers with system, style and precision. They dominated their games and the result was never in doubt. They forked the Hawks and undoubtedly put an end to the Curse just as predicted by Scully in the X-Files so many years ago. The Craig Jennings Medalist by unanimous acclaim was born-again mathematical genius Jake Melksham who was taken out of defence and transmogrified last year into a forward with a rapier-like boot that homed in on the Zooper zone with precision all night. He scored Melbourne’s first three Zooper goals of the evening against the Blues, notched another against the Roos and his fifth in the granny. Otherwise, he was always in the game, up forward, down back, marshaling the troops with class and skill. There were plenty of other highlights, James Harmes’ physicality, some flashes of brilliance from Angus Brayshaw, skipper Neville Jetta’s control in defence, a very promising cameo from recruit goal sneak Bailey Fritsch, TMacX’s ability to find the goals, Corey Maynard’s strong attack on the footy, Josh Wagner’s improvement in defence, Tom Bugg’s in your face aggression (but get your disposal right please son) and AleX Neal-Bullen’s continued upward progression. And then there was TraX. This young lad Xtian Petracca is really something. He looked so impressive out there whether it was bullocking through packs, taking strong marks or winning the tip-off against the NBA size dinosaur. When the Summer Olympics roll around in Tokyo again in 2020, you can line him up in the Aussie basketball team with his old mate, Benjamin David Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers (and Dante Xum and Maynard and J Smith of course). Together they can take on the world and perhaps even knock off another flag from the Imperial Palace for the Demons. Most Melbourne fans would have been euphoric with the outcome. The premiership was in the bag, the Norm Smith Curse put to bed for good and the mystery of the curious incident of the Hawk in the night-time solved. The only thing I couldn’t work out is how this tattoo of a Demon appeared on my ankle. AFLX NIGHT TWO IN MELBOURNE 16 FEBRUARY 2018 - THE PRIME NUMBER SOLUTION GROUP 1 Melbourne 7.1.6.82 defeated Carlton 2.5.4.54 Goals: Melbourne Zooper goals: Melksham 3, Bugg, T.McDonald, Petracca, Wagner Goals: Harmes Goals: Carlton Zooper goals: Lamb, Williamson Goals: Dow, Lamb, O'Brien, Polson, Silvagni North Melbourne 5.4.9.83 defeated Carlton 5.2.6.68 Melbourne 1.9.6.70 defeated North Melbourne 3.2.4.46 Goals: Melbourne Zooper goals: Melksham Goals: Fritsch 3, T.McDonald 2, Bugg, Harmes, Jetta, Melksham Goals: North Melbourne Zooper goals: Hartung, Higgins, McDonald Goals: Preuss, Zurhaar GROUP 2 Hawthorn 3.6.7.73 defeated Essendon 3.3.6.54 St. Kilda 2.5.2.52 defeated Essendon 2.2.5.37 Hawthorn 4.5.7.77 defeated St Kilda 2.5.5.55 GRAND FINAL Melbourne 3.3.8.56 defeated Hawthorn 1.5.6.46 Goals: Melbourne Zooper goals: Harmes, Melksham, Neal-Bullen Goals: Bugg, T.McDonald, Neal-Bullen Goals: Hawthorn Zooper goals: Burton Goals: O’Hanrahan 2, Ross 2, Burton

While I don’t rate Bugg, a bit harsh hanging him out to dry from an AFLX sideshow. From all reports he has trained his arse off to win back the respect of the playing group, lets give him the chance and hopefully if the coaches deem him worthy, he may prove us wrong.

I don't mind the new clash strip. I have seen the great Robbie Flower play in it, and every time I see it I think of him.

I'm going with the theory that there wasn't enough time for the regular strip to be washed and tumble dried in time for the Grand Final.

This is our best ever AFLX season.

A couple of rule changes and it could be alright. Play on a bigger oval. Have 18 a side on the field. 4 20 minute quarters with time on. Get rid of super goals, add rucks, tackling and contests.

1964 VFL Premiers 1987 Night Premiers 2018 AFLX Premiers The holy trinity.

Went last night, and agree with others, better live than TV Confirmed a few points I had gleaned from training They are listening to the tackling coach we have brought in from Storm Melksham up forward is going to be a nightmare matchup, can't leave him alone from 60 metres out Harmes has taken his footy up another notch Nev told me he was feeling good and ready to go Seen similar plays at training, this was an upmarket training after all, but Goodwin demands constant effort and we saw that last night and in Hawthorn game a decided lift in intent

ET there are some things I can believe that is not one of them. The AFL letting a club decide something !

T Mac slotting set shots like they was nothing made it worth watching.

Gonna pop down to Bunnings tomorrow and buy some MDF and metallic spray paint. Who wants a replica trophy?

WE'RE BACK!!! Grapeviney & I (and maybe Nasher) will be back LIVE with a new show to dissect the off-season, gloat about the AFLX victory, preview the JLT series and talk AFLW. Join us LIVE at 8:30pm on Wednesday 21/2 here: http://demonland.com/podcast

I 100% agree OD. He’s a reliable, dominant player who can run all day, rarely misses a goal or a game, yet is under appreciated here. He’s worth as much as anyone on our list.

you do all realise that no team has won an aflx grand final and an afl grand final in the same year - ever

Best bet Randwick Race 4 no 2 Deploy Bets value Randwick Race 8 no 1 Frolic Best longshot (or each way if you prefer) Flemington Race 6 no 5 Rimraam

Agree 100%. Great strip that brings with it a spasmodic shudder. This would have been a perfect option for the clash strip poll @Demonland

Spot on Dante I agree 100% and the last para is exactly me. If the Dees finished tomorrow so would my interest in AFL.

i think just a bit of marketing and exposure by the club plus an opportunity to get some feedback

You wouldn't have liked footy in the 70's, 80's or the 90's then WA because that is what we generally got ... end-to-end free flowing footy The players played in their positions too ... I'm just happy that I got to witness those 3 magical decades instead of what we now get. But each to their own and I might eventually enjoy the current brand of footy. I'm trying to like it. I tend to only go to the Demon games or watch the team on the telly ... only watch selected AFL games - maybe 1 other game per week. I know plenty who now view footy in the same way. It's their own team and that is about it.

I’m down at Casey Fields and there’s a special atmosphere down here ... almost as if it was a continuation of last night’s action. There’s music blaring as the boys go through their drills. There are no food trucks but you can smell the hot dogs being sold by the South East Demons. They’re doing match simulation in front of me and Hoges (matched up on Oscar) kicked the first goal and then our marked Oscar, then hit the post. Clarry’s Looking good - he just hit Mitch Hannan on the chest for a goal. There’s a small rehab group at the sidelines - Jack Viney and Sam Weideman who are both moving well. Jack looks like a mallee bull. They’ve been joined by Joel Smith and Jeff Garrlett who earlier were involved in the training drills. Earlier Dom Tyson was with the rehab group but he appeared to be in a bit of discomfort.

While it is good to see the supporters here making whoppee over winning a 'grand' final, I noticed the players hardly cracked a smile when the final siren went. Good to see that they have more serious things on the agenda.

Something I really liked: when the game was open we ran and played with flair. When things got tough, we got tougher. We actually played a range of footy styles (evident by the changing score lines across the night). This bodes well for the season, as the ability to change gears and do what needs to be done at the time may be the big step-up, rather than in past years having one style for every occasion.

Save yourself some cash (like the AFL) and use polystyrene

Rapt we won. A good hit out for a few of the boys. Nice to see a mix of established talent with some raw newbies. Plenty to like. No injuries reported (phew!)

Yeah it was weird...but you know what? We just sold another 1000 clash jumpers tonight.

Marketing? I like the away strip, apart from the 70's flashbacks.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AFL/status/964452747826249729?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet could watch this tackle over and over

On a more serious note, it's hard to take much from a Mickey Mouse game of 'footy', but a few things stood out. a) Petracca made me nervous every time he changed direction or went air born, but his ability to keep his feet is outrageous. b) Melksham and TMac have a vortex like ability to split the middle of the big sticks. c) Bugg has a distinct lack of ability by foot and will struggle for games as such. d) Seeing a blonde #4 with tattoos and some mongrel was a refreshing change.

All jokes about the concept aside, Fritsch will play senior footy at some point this year.

I reckon our skill level is up a notch on last preseason

Melxsham.

Ok, cool D77. So that gives us Alizee 1.80, Cliffs Edge 6.00 and Stellar Collision 2.70 for a whopping great return of 29.16 for your lazy dollar.......a return of 145.8 for your minimum multi outlay of 5 bucks....Ill be putting that into the Dees girls against Freo making that return of 211.41. Binman will do his usual Sat morning picks and wee should be right to go.

It would be interesting to hear thoughts from anyone else that attended the games. Took the kids for a night out and it was an enjoyable evening for most part. The sideshow grew tiresome though. There were a lot things going on during the games but it was good to see some of our boys around and add some cardboardware to the cabinet. The clash strip was pleasing to the eye, looks like a winner. We are running out of words to describe Jetta. The games tonight were really quick and his ability to read the play before an opponent even disposed of the ball was just incredible. Absolute marvel.

Best Bet. Randwick Race 8 No. 3 Alizee $1.80. I struggled to find anything at longer odds. Alizee is definitely a class above her rivals and is well weighted. She trialled well recently and I believe she will be hard to beat. It's probably a bit silly not to declare Redzel as my "Best" as the horse is the same odds as Alizee but my record with straight races isn't very good. Edit: Sorry Macca, quoted you by mistake.

At least we're not over-hyping this magnificent AFLX Premiership triumph!

Funny use of the word observations. But agree on TMac's younger brother. he was unsighted all night.

I wonder if it was an MFC decision or an AFL decision. MFC decision = marketing AFL decision = clash strip agenda

@Satyriconhome said we would be taking it seriously. Seems he had the good oil. Brayshaws comments post Grand Final (hehe, wanted to insert that somewhere) went along the lines of being competitive in everything we do this year. After the brain fade of last year, it was nice to hear that. I firmly believe that the mental side is the thing standing between last years result, and greatness. Would like to have seen the kids, but the stand in coach wanted to WIN. Love that mindset.

Somehow this evens things out for our loss in the 1988 Grand Final, and I'll go out on a limb and say tonight's game is more important. I might have knocked the concept last night but, let's be honest, it's the best thing the AFL have come up with in decades.

Big Maxy "my favourite opposition ruckman and my least favourite team mate" classic

If we beat North let’s all meet in the city and go on a Philadelphia Eagles style rampage.

Melksham to win a brownlow on this performance. We are in front at the moment so I've decided this competition now matters.