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I was sitting on the opposite side of the race from the DA tonight. Clarry stood in the race in the last quarter, and some loser near me started yelling out about buying drugs from him. I went directly to the security and got him kicked out. I thought of @Clintosaurus straight away, because I feel like this really proves why I don’t get invited to parties! 🥳🤣 The way some people treat public figures is a disgrace. I’d never want someone in my family to have to endure the garbage they have to tolerate.

Agree, [censored] comment. People who live interstate and physically can't get to the games are now not allowed to give an opinions and observations on the game? Spare me alright. Anyway, my take on the game from the benefit of my couch. The Saints will be fine under Ross. He's a very good coach and even being out of the time he's tinkered his game plan and added new elements. Saints will be an interesting watch over the next few years. Still need to add some talent of depth and I think they'll be knocking on the door. It was a nearly game for us. At times we looked like we were going to pile on the goals but whether that was still the last kick inside 50 thay costs us or a simple turnover then it's something we still need to get better at. I think the Gawn/Grundy comments have been valid. Unfortunately Max was poor where as upon reflection Brodie wasn't as bad as I thought. At least when he's in the ruck he's trying to stay involved in the game with his follow up work and tackling. This might put people off but imo I think I'd rather Grundy be given more minutes as a starting ruck and let him work his way into the game. Have Gawn as a bit of a supporting act for thr next few weeks. Wouldn't hurt to start Gawn on the bench just to have him cherry ripe for finals. Melksham had an almost game as well. So unlucky not to have taken at least 2 of those near attempted marks in front of goals. Would have easily had 4 goals on the night. With our forward structure, still think we are still lacking a tall forward up there. I really want to see how the JVR/Brown combo looks. I reckon Brown taking the number 1 defender eases so much pressure on Van Rooyen. He's just too good to be not playing senior footy. Our backs were absolutely super last night! Didn't realise Lever was being tagged which just shows how highly regarded he is within coaching ranks, especially by Ross Lyon. May turn thr clock back and was back to his 2021 All Australian best. Keep that form up and we'll be fine. Bowey completely shut down Dan Butler, Petty was great until he went off, hopefully nothing serious. Thought Rivers ball use was poor but still won some crucial one on ones. And finally, Woewodin looked like a senior player. Didn't realise how clean he was, but he's certainly got some class. Didn't one bit look like a kid that was overawed by the occasion. It's the little things that you notice such as his beautiful kick to Petracca's advantage to set up that goal. The attack on the ball in the last to then win it and dish it off near the half forward as well as his left foot kick into deep 50 to set up Langdon. He certainly gets a game next week that's for sure.

Couldn't understand the negativity on the Game Day thread - it was a high pressure game. The Aints were fighting us for a top four spot and the came hard at us. We absorbed it and kicked a winning score against a good defensive side. We did enough and ... FFS .... took the 4 points. And .... Woey - a very promising debut. BBB - good signs and added a positive factor to our forward line. S. May - You will not see a better defender's game. BOG !!!

Re: Melksham - with Sparrow’s sealer, Melksham engaged his defender leading at the ball at exactly the right time to protect his teammate and not give away a free. I think it was Howard?? Anyway, this is the more nuanced forward craft and selflessness that I have been banging on about - do we work for each other? Do we lead out of space to allow others? Do we protect our teammates and help them excel? Jake is in his last season in football and he is still contributing and we should applaud it and be thankful. We are in between forward line eras atm and he may help to bridge it and keep us competitive this year. Just ride with it.

We'd forgotten how to win, so very glad to get over the line. The biggest area of our game to improve is ground ball. We were smashed in that area. I'm sure @WheeloRatings will give us those numbers in the stats thread 🙏. St Kilda's run for pretty much the entire game was incredible given they were down to one on the bench by the end. Some of the commentary on the Facebook pages are deadset ridiculous. People constantly going Kozzy, when he's played another 87% TOG game (6th most for us) and had the third most pressure acts on the ground with 26, behind Gus on 27 and Steele with 30. Some nuffy called up 3AW and whinged about him as well. Tony Shaw stuck up for Kozzy. When Tony Shaw is speaking more sense than you, you know you're in trouble. Meanwhile, people having a go at Grundy, who was probably one of our better players, and certainly not a long way behind May and Trac. FWIW, Grundy had the most clearances for us with 7, 4 tackles and 5 score involvements. Too many people have absolutely no idea about the modern game. I heard people still screaming out 'man up' like it was 1996. We got the win, move on to Brisbane.

Personally, I’m constantly baffled as to why people care what ‘the media’ says about their club. Why does it rile people up so much? It also seems contradictory. ‘Luke Darcy has no idea what he’s talking about’ but I want him to think we are the bees knees. Who cares what Luke Darcy thinks! Form your own opinion as a result of hearing different views and analysis. Do people just want an echo chamber to confirm their view? We’re currently 4th. Do supporters want to hear each media personality say we’re the greatest to to ever exist and we won’t lose again for 15 years? Even if they said that, it doesn’t mean anything. Then we have an example of a former club legend (Lyon) who openly states he and his kids barrack for the club, and some people thinks he ‘hates us’ because he critiques how we play (his job). Mind boggling.

Ross Lyon's teams rarely lose big. That was St.Kilda's 3rd biggest loss of the year, they've lost by more than 5 goals only once and their two biggest losses were to the two highest scoring teams Brisbane and Adelaide. We held them to their 3rd lowest score of the year and we did it at their home ground. St.Kilda played very high pressure football and are 5th for a reason. Yes we needed to win after they were down 2 rotations (not 3 as many have posted), but they were down two talls not 2 runners. Yes the talls play high gametime but that's because they don't run as much. We're "defence first", the 2nd best defensive team, and we just out defended the 3rd best defensive team after beating the best defensive team on KBW. Our game style wins big finals. We lost last year because we were too beaten up, not because of fundamental game style flaws. We're always in the game and have only lost by more than 3 goals only once this year. Someone is going to have to beat us to win the flag and that won't be easy.

I accept mediocrity all the time. Right now I could be reading Ulysses by James Joyce. Instead I’m reading various opinions about Angus Brayshaw.

It is perhaps worth considering that AFL is an entertainment product, not a football code. And if you take that as a truth, then you can see why there are many many narratives, particularly towards those that have high memberships (higher clicks, greater purchasing power) Sure, once in a while the 'feel good fairytale' will occur (Western Bulldogs, Melbourne) and, those don't provide a profit, particularly when trying to claw back missed revenue during Covid.

I thought that was a very good win against a very tight defensive unit. Trac and May were both brilliant and we looked well balanced and I even like Brown and Melksham work. Thought Jordon and sparrow were good too.

A good victory against a team who are incredibly difficult to play against most weeks. Think what you like about Ross Lyon, but he is an outstanding coach and his teams are very difficult to beat. St Kilda did a lot right tonight but so did we. It was a game between 4th and 5th and that's what it looked like to me. That quarter and half in the 2021 GF that everyone seems to judge our performances by is an unfair benchmark. Reality is imperfect games like tonight. Arm wrestles that if you do enough right at the right times sees you take a hard fought victory. That's footy. And the criticism of Gawn and Grundy is out of line, Marshall played a wonderful game - he is an excellent player. Gawn and Grundy both played important roles tonight. Grundy won a lot of clearance and Gawn took 6 marks including three contested and together they matched Marshall's disposal numbers and beat him in hitouts. Gawn won't be the player he was because the team doesn't require that now according to the coach. He believes our best chance of winning a flag is two dominant rucks and I think if we are to go deep into September they will prove our biggest point of difference.

In - Supporters. It’s been a month since we had a G game. Get to the ground. Help the players build momentum and belief. It really makes a difference.

I don’t reckon Goodwin got enough credit for the win last night. He backed in Viney, Brayshaw, Sparrow and Jordan, and kept Tracc forward for 80% of that game. With Oliver out that’s our 2 best midfielders down. Simon held his nerve, and in the end Tracc was the difference in the game.

I think this need to be taken into account when understanding the emotional context it creates for supporters, particularly during our games. Last night was the first game I’d been to since Queens Birthday. I really enjoyed it, and greatly admired the effort and discipline of both teams players. I see the game really purely at the ground - meaning it’s not seen through the lens of someone whose barracking for another team, or whose employer sees more benefit in the other team winning. I saw the saints trying really hard and being fully committed, and I saw us rise to it and be cleaner, more skilful and more level headed. I just get annoyed watching the TV. We aren’t sexy and glamorous, we are disciplined and structured and organised. That’s not what TV wants, and so it works against us, and impacts our experiences and expectations.

Steven May take a bow. I thought James Jordon played one of his best games for the club. He is way too good for Casey and I really hope he gets a good crack it especially whilst Clarrie is out. Hope they can find a spot for him later in the season.

We are now 3-2 against the fellow top 6 teams. Beat Brisbane next week and we will have beaten all except Port, who we lost to by 4 points, in Adelaide, in a storm. We’re not in great form, many of our best are well down and yet we’re a game plus percentage inside top 4. If we can get it to click against Brisbane next week we could lock away top 4. I’m backing in Gawn, Grundy, Pickett, Lever to bounce back after sub standard games for them. Hoping JVR kicks ten in the VFL tomorrow and replaces a small in the forward line. Hope Petty’s ok. The negativity around here is a bit over the top, yes, we’re not playing like a premiership team, but it’s July, just bank wins. Oliver, Fritsch back for finals, find some form who knows what happens. We used to lose our game after NT every year, we managed to win the last quarter by a goal coming back from a slog in the rain this year. I’m betting if Taj and Brown kick straight in that last quarter to kill the game and give us an easy 6 goal win there’d be a lot less anger in here. It’s understandable MFCSS after our last five weeks but we weren’t losing that game.

I think the bookies don't read Demonland and get caught up in the hyper critical groupthink that has started to go on here. Kick straight the last 5 weeks leading into tonight and we'd be top of the table. And Brisbane lost to Hawthorn on the G a month ago. They get exposed on the bigger ground. No Oliver for that game is huge, but if we can match them for contest, we very likely beat them.

By the way, fantastic turn out from Dees fans tonight: it felt like 50/50 on Tier 3 and the trains home. Also, well done to the Demon Army, who kept the noise going all game.

The Demons got back on the winner's list and finally got some breathing space for the time being in the Top 4 with a hard fought 21 point win over the Saints at Marvel Stadium.

The Demons return to the MCG for the first time since King's Birthday a month ago to take on Brisbane in a Top 4 clash. Who will come in and who comes out for the match against the Lions at the G?

We won every quarter. We kicked straight. We had our best mid fielder and forward out. Our second best mid had to play at full forward. We beat the team that would have knocked us out of the top 4. So I'll have that.... but could we please stop fumbling!!!!

Those that have made reference to their 3 injuries and impact on their capacity to run out the game. Two of the injuries (King and Cordy) were to key talls that generally play high minutes with limited rotation and dont play running roles. So it was basically Seb Ross for Byrnes so negligible impact to their running game. You could argue they had more run on the ground at any one time due to having to play smaller. It’s a quality win against a good defensive pressure side breathing down our neck for a top 4 spot at a ground we rarely play at. Kudo’s to JJ for a quality game in the pivot, May in boss mode and Trac showing the nightmare match up he could be forward at the pointy end of the season.

Another well timed reminder for St Kilda that they took Paddy McCartin ahead of Christian Petracca at #1 at the 2014 draft. Cheers Sainters.

God, Brereton is a tool.

Take a bow Trac.. Great kicking effort and turnaround.

The irony isn’t lost on me that we won this game because we kicked better than the Saints

Nothing substantial... just a double cramp higher up that buggered him late in proceedings.

Howes ooked like a medial knee injury to me but no certainty. Jefferson took two great contested pack marks and flew well for others. Once he gets some bulk he'll be very good. Verrall was very promising too, rucked against Tom Campbell which was tough, but really followed up well for clearances and tackles.

I spoke to Jake Melksham and congratulated him on his 100th game with Melbourne.I said the club didn’t acknowledge it on their website.Jake said they probably didn’t know.If this is the case l believe it is appalling.

Spot on. They are a good team - as you say 5th to our 4th on the ladder well past the halfway mark of the season. They would have taken our spot in the 4 if they'd won - classic eight point game. Excellent sytem that the players are fully invested in. And well coached and hard to score against - particularly at marvel, their home deck. Marshall was awesome - he is a star. As is Sinclair. And they have some real quality young players.

That was probably the best we have played in weeks. I don't understand the negativity. We moved the ball well, our backline was rock solid and our forward line was above average. I am enjoying seeing Sparrow thrive with the extra responsibility, and Bowey and Salem are back to their best. St Kilda played very well tonight, there is a reason why they are 5th on the ladder.

Steven May. What a beast. And he took out three of their players!

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 10th July @ 8:30pm. Join Binman, George & I as we analyse the Demons victory at the Docklands over the Saints. You 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. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

Just watched most of the replay and I've got to say credit needs to go towards the Saints intensity and tackling. They played a very defensive game and shut down a lot of our handballing and kicking down the middle. Their kids did very well.

[censored] I hate these sorts of posts. For starters, @fr_ap didn’t say they’d be happy if we don’t win the flag. It’s not “accepting mediocrity” to enjoy a H&A win even if there is room for improvement. If all you do is sit there and derive joy from flags, you are going to be disappointed 99% of the time as an AFL supporter because flags are so hard to win. It’s perfectly reasonable to enjoy a H&A win, still want us to do better, still consider our overall goal is to win the flag, and still be disappointed if we don’t win the flag.

Grundy was not poor. 7 clearances and his follow up work at ground level for a ruckman is elite. But I'll leave it there. Your mind is made up.

Getting 4 points in a classic "8 point game" is hugely important when the reality is we've been struggling for form post-bye. Have just completed three straight games away from the G, now we have 5 of the next 6 at home (the only other game being vs North in Hobart). A good chance here, starting with the ultimate test in Brisbane, to build into some form. But pocketing this win before the Brisbane-Adelaide quinella was critical, no matter how we did it.

Far out, some people are never happy.

Some hard truths for fans to accept to live more comfortably: The Demons are a defence first team in the Ross Lyon mould. Demonland: Gawn’s days of AA footy are over. Deeland: Pickett’s games are earned on his defensive work. Dland: BBB is our best tall forward. Andy’s house of pain:

King out for the season. Terrible news for him. Hopefully his career won’t be cut short by continuous injuries.

For the benefit of @DeeSpencer @Gorgoroth (and numerous others) Clanger Count 57 Notables Grundy 5 Viney 5 ANB 5 Sparrow 5 Jordon 5 Brayshaw 1 By the way, I reckon it's perfectly fine to point out the errors made by players but, context must be provided and a consistent argument put forward as well Also, the good play from the players who make errors should be acknowledged as well. Do that, and you will be applying fairness Face it, it's an error filled sport and all the players make errors week to week. There's a lot of pressure & congestion and clean disposal to another player is often a difficult task. Plus, the coaching wants the players to take risks So, in my view, kicking the ball down the line and not taking a risk inboard is in many ways a clanger. It's certainly (often) a wasted disposal Dump kicking the ball to the forward pocket instead of taking a risk and passing to a forward? To me that's often a clanger and another wasted disposal So the DE rating/clanger count is skewed anyway as not enough nuance is applied Thankfully, our forward connection yesterday was improved. However, we still have a long way to go in order to have a terrific forward connection Against the best, our delivery into the forward line needs to be at least very good Again, from an overall perspective Brayshaw played a very good game. He was one of our best ... however, he's not perfect and makes the odd error But those errors are often blown out of proportion and often exaggerated. Other players get off the hook for making the same types of errors

I thought Max was good, especially in the first half. He doesn’t have to be the Max of 2016-2022 anymore. God knows he’s given all and then some for this club.

That was disappointing But in fairness, Q1 09:40 remaining, he broke out of the centre, demanded the lead, and laced a pass to leading BBB who goaled

It was annoying listening to Darcy barrack for the Saints last night but he's still salty because we brutalised his beloved doggies in the 21GF. Very transparent. Most of the media are just hacks so tbh I don't really care what they have to say.

Goody made some big calls at the selection table and they paid off against the Saints. Kudos to him. I'm glad JVR has had a couple of weeks to recharge at Casey but i want to see him come in against the Lions. If we win the flag, he'll be in the 22 for sure. I want to see him tested against another contender and also see how he goes working in tandem with BBB. We need that partnership to click so the more games they play together before finals the better.

Steven May take a bow what a great game.

Great to see Jordon have a good run at it in his natural position as an onballer. Ball use was great. Hope we have faith in him until Clarry returns

Exactly. This place has totally lost the plot, more so than the dark years and that’s saying something. I thought we were good from where we sat especially after they jumped us early. A disgusting win? FMD!