Leaderboard

Hi everyone! We interviewed Gerard Healy for our most recent episode of the Deeluded podcast—please take a listen and let us know what you think! https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/deeluded-the-melbourne-demons-podcast/id1219118375 Gerard had some interesting thoughts on premiership medals for the entire squad (including Chunk), landing Cerra (he thinks we should throw up Weideman plus a pick, which seems ambitious!), and the midfield chess game against the Dogs. Is tagging Libba the answer again? Or are Macrae and Smith the bigger threats? Hope you enjoy it!

I love this. It’s only a small thing, but the Demon by proxy thing is such a great way of creating human connectedness out of a cruddy situation, in a time we really need it. Great stuff.

Not much to report, they’ve broken up into 3?groups and rotated through drills. Drills were based on transition footy, ground ball work and close congestion work. Pretty basic stuff with a focus on tomorrow being a full hit out What looked like the mids group worked on transition from corridor turnovers when they were together. Defenders in that drill worked on transition from ground ball gets and intercepts. Forwards were very much working on ground ball wins finding space and converting. All groups worked on one on one contests focused on breaking the initial tackle and also working your opponent off the footy. There was also a drill working on short kicks on the 45 and quick ball movement between the arcs and on a wing All finished now, more just turning the body over. Gus is out there walking around great to see Tomo involved in warm up and he did rehab after that. Pert, Lever and Gus answering questions while the rest have shots on goal

They're not much but the recipient of our barcodes (a Dockers fan) has gone all in and is at training...

Last week he learned us that the Cats beat you up inside, nothing surer, it’s their DNA, it’s what they do. Next minute, they don’t lay a glove on us, in a bruise free prelim. Him getting it wrong is my favourite media watch.

Steve and I went and we guesstimated around 100 Demons over the far side, 200 Demons in the guts there and another 100 or so on this side, around 400 fans give or take. The boys were in the red strip today, and one singular man in blue, Angus. Is there a smidgen of a chance he'd actually enjoy being the odd one out? Or......orchestrated it? He was on the ground and involved in a handball feeder role. As Pennant posted it wasn't a testing session, light duties really., I think the rehabbers Tomlinson and Nietsche had a tougher work load than everyone else. They were involved with the group kick to kick and when that broke, started half ground sprints with around 4 others. Then the pair did a number of cone drills which were based on change of direction, calling for and leading to a coach who would pass the ball. It wasn't easy to concentrate on anything in particular as they were split into small groups all over the ground. Perty was addressing the fans and bringing players over in pairs to have photos and a chat. I was mostly just out of ear shot but was able to pick up initially that the group needed to keep a little distance and not sign autographs which was at the request of the AFL. Choco had a chat too but once again I wasn't able to hear what he was saying but I'm sure it would have been entertaining. I was able to have a chat with Shannon Byrnes, I mentioned it was great that he stayed and was still at the Club, he said he loved being here. I asked if Geelong had approached him and he said yes a couple of times but he was happy at Melbourne and that a move to Geelong would be a big move for him to make, "and anyway, I want to be here through this period, I've been through the ordinary ones too". I also asked if Nathan was likely to stay on in some capacity, apparently that hasn't been discussed as yet but he has completed coaching courses and is interested in coaching. As mentioned the session included a soccer match which was fun to watch, skills were not too bad actually, Clayton layed off a lovely back heel pass which was impressive. Salem was the goalie for the reds which had me scratching my head, surely he'd be a gun soccer player right? The red team must've read my mind as Salo got moved to the midfield. Hunty was on the orange team and was involved in some nice plays including the only goal kicked. It coincided with Salem having just been moved out of the goals, unfortunately he just couldn't be everywhere. He had the final word that I presume was directed to his goalie which was "what the [censored] was that" Hunty best on for mine! Maysie trained No snakes Go Dees

Not every listed player. Only players that played at least one game

On a positive note at least we are not wearing the white shorts for the Grand Final.

Word coming from WA supporters at the open training is it was dodgy seafood not gastro. If true, that's obviously a lot better than gastro.

The fact that Hunt won't get a medal after playing 20 games this year is a joke * assuming he is not selected for the GF

Max Gawn. I get the feeling he's due for a breakout game.

Spargo. He is the coolest kid. Rarely gets overly excited with a goal and he has kicked some beauties. Rarely makes mistakes. Lowers his eyes and finds teammates. He is the off-broadway kid. Not as flashy as most around him but equally important.

Caulfield

Gastro is very contagious. Zero chance it would have taken a full week for symptoms to occur, if we did get it from Geelong. Also Goodwin and Yze would have had a lot less contact with Geelong players than our players, who all appear to be fine. More chance they both caught it out and about. I assume they've been hanging out, maybe went to a cafe or dinner together and got sick. Since it is so contagious, it is a good thing they are isolating from everyone else.

Live and let live. Melksham and Hibberd have that history and treatment by Essendon and then by WADA and the media. That is their history as much as any player having a grief filled past, or any personal challenge. Don’t forget that the real victims in the Essendrug scandal were the players. And your last bit is way OTT.

The 22 can't win a premiership without the others. As much as our football culture would have you believe it's the 22 on the day, it isn't. You don't get there without winning enough games to qualify. Take away the FD and the rest of the squad and see if you can win a flag. It's a team win, all the team should be rewarded. It's time this stupid on the day culture was relegated to the past. A premiership is won because of a good season not just a good day.

My WA uncle just sent these through.

It seems that it took a few weeks for the Dogs to reorganise their attack without Bruce and they are now relying on smalls to kick goals while Naughton provides and almost singular marking and contesting target. First thing first: Aaron Naughton has had 4, 3 and 6 contested marks in the finals. He is their designated target who the Bulldogs rely on as the 'bang it long' option. With the small forwards they have, they know and he knows all he has to do is get the ball to ground. In contrast, Tim English has had a total of zero and Schache has had two. Schache did prove effective at getting general marks inside 50 and keeping mobile enough to demand attention. But here's my main point - Bulldogs goals in finals by tall (190cm+) or small (under 190cm) vs Essendon Talls 5 - Naughton 3, Shache 2 Smalls 8 - Weightman 4, Hannan 2, Smith 1, Vandemeer 1, vs Brisbane Talls 2 - Schache 1, Naughton 1, Smalls 9 - Smith 3, Liberatore, 2, Johannisen 1, Macrae 1, Hannan 1, Weightman 1 vs Port Adelaide Talls 3 - Naughton 2, Schache 1, Smalls 14 - Smith 4, Hannan 3, Bontempelli 2, Johannisen 1, Treloar 1, other Smith 1, Vandermeer 1, Scott 1, Did I do better than ol' Kingy?

And it was fun watching their 'forward line to die for' in action too.

Not sure how I feel about hibbo's comments about his ex teammates. Ill advised and poorly timed comes to mind. But I feel really strongly about the narrative those players were the real victims. FMD those knuckle heads were not victims. And certainly not the 'real victims'. Weak. Naïve. Poorly advised. Sheep like. Sure. Victims. No. They chose their path. They are completely complicit and should have been more harshly penalised. They were all consenting adults, who at the very least must have known they were being asked to cheat given the secrecy of the program. Some of that group who chose to have hundreds of injections of god knows what cocktail of experimental drugs will no doubt refuse to be vaccinated. The only victims in that sad affair are their fans.

Two supporter groups quietly confident. Gee they harp on about the round 19 game like it means something. We were in our Burgo-induced slump and played like garbage and still nearly beat them. Nobody is mentioning their last three rounds of the H & A season, or the fact the umpires helped them beat Brisbane by a point whereas we flogged them the week prior. Should be a ripping contest regardless, but using that game as a confidence booster is massive false hope.

Surely this is @Ethan Tremblay

I have not forgotten. Or forgiven

Not at Australia Post

Also supporters who can prove they have mental scars.

They also need a planning permit. That could take years. As you are aware it is smack bang in the middle of a low rise residential area with mainly houses on medium to large blocks of land. I suspect the locals will want to keep it that way. With it being on a corner with three street frontages the locals will probably want a park with community facilities. The club has sold in a peak market. Good time to cash in and let someone else take on the locals and the bureaucracies.

Petty for mine. I think he takes and flogs naughton, allowing may and Lever to intercept everything keeping the dogs to under 60 points.

You missed Lever's renegotiated contract earlier in the year. Then there was Petracca's long term deal, which you would assume would be for less money in exchange for more years. The club has been repositioning its TPP for 2022 all year.

Charlie Spargo 💪🏽

Neal-Bullen has been the unsung hero of the final series. If we win, Jake Lever and Christian Salem will have the biggest game of their lives imo.

Both teams are right to feel confident because they're a chance. It's a Grand Final, so you should feel confident .... it's just one game. They'll be playing against a completely different type of team to any they've played in the finals so far. They've smashed Essendon and Port in contested possession and were +10 against Brisbane, but we are by far the number 1 contested team team in the league (+17.9 pg .... 2nd best was Geelong's +9.9). Our wins were against the 2nd and 3rd best contested teams and we beat them +30 and +22 in our finals. The Dogs will need to find a way to use their biggest strength (winning contested possession) against the best contested team in the league, and then find a way to negate our biggest strength (defence and intercepts). If they somehow nullify our intercept game then they just have to overcome all of the other reasons that we should win. They are a good team, but they will likely need something pretty special to happen to beat us. That's why we're the favourites.

King is looking at the Schache/Aliir thing as being what won them the game. It wasn't .... it was simply a sideshow. The Bulldogs won the first quarter with +22 contested possessions and that was the whole game done. They won based on contested possession, not by negating Port's intercept game. There were one or two times that worked for them, but Aliir still had 11 intercept possessions because Schache isn't a very good player. The difference is that, whilst Port have an excellent interceptor (as do we), we have many excellent interceptors and a midfield whose key strength is defensive pressure. If they want to push forwards to defend against Lever, then we'll just have the AA Full Back do the intercepting (who is arguably an even better player), Petty or even the AA ruck to do the job instead. Plus the ball is unlikely to come in so easily because Port were so woeful in the midfield that Jakovich and McIntosh couldn't have saved them. That simply hasn't happened against us, and I'd bet against it magically starting next week. David King knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. He can be given as many stats as possible but he simply doesn't have the wherewithal to use them properly. The Port game was one team that was ready to play a high paced, contested game of football versus another team that looked genuinely afraid. The rest of it was just window dressing. We had to win against Geelong. We were much better than them, so we won comfortably, but they were still fighting. Port were terrible. Most of the competition would have beaten them that night because they had no fight in them. The Dogs threw one punch early and Port dropped straight to the canvas, hoping that the count came quickly.

There has been a reasonable number of complaints on here about media analysis, game callers etc. From myself and many others. The AFL media Association has just announced Daisy Pearce as the winner of the 2021 Best Opinion/Analyst Award. Justly deserved and how good is that.

According to a mate that is there yes.

Nice to see the ABC News channel sport reporter being across it… she just stated that Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin and one of his players, Adem Yze are isolating with a case of gastro 😁

Goody was there at the start but sneezed and he walked off oddly.

Was anyone else in the zoom with yesterday with pert, richo and nibbler? anyway, pert said something along the lines of, richmond sold 3 thousand T-shirt’s in their premiership years (each year) and we have sold nearly 10 thousand! I’m pretty sure that’s what he said He also said after the Geelong prelim, we made more money those next few days from the demon shop then we did from the shop altogether in 12 months!

I hope he does his brother proud.

Which he’d do well, yet I like the idea of Petty’s competitiveness and under the radar strength and athleticism one-on-one against Naughton. Kid’s a gun, we haven’t seen his full potential yet.

Hibberd. To me, the dogs can do two things that really scare me. 1. Beat us in the midfield. If that happens, then fair play to them.. 2. Kick too many goals from ground level balls in our backline. Hibberd's ability to desperately scrag and smother and fight to get those rushed behinds could save 10-15 points in this match, and add in any rebound we get from him we could be looking at the difference between winning and losing.

T.Mac heart and soul of the club will have a big game.

Another Caulfield

Do you think that Max Gawn would think his medal would be worth less if Nathan Jones also got one?

Depends who you are! Dodgy Seafood is BAD… Antibiotics can fix it pretty quick (memories of Koh Samui 2002….)

This should happen. And a culture change will happen after - there will be those that have been trained by society that if you aren’t there on the day you aren’t worth the time of day. I would either go with all people in the FD or have a 5 game quota or something like that. The coaches deserve it and for those that say it will demean the medal for the 23 that played - that’s society training you. They don’t do anything alone, none of us do.

One of the stranger narratives all year from footy media types when talking about our games against other contenders is how we are going to deal with their strengths. It is always acknowledged how great our defensive system is, and of course the individual skill of Gawn, Tracc and Oliver is highlighted. But it's almost as if they think our incredibly effective midfield and forward line systems are second rate compared to other contenders. Pre round 11 it was all about how we are going to deal with the devastating midfield and clearance game of the dogs. How will we combat the four headed forward line monster of (insert one of the Lions, Cats and Dogs here)? Goody must love the fact that our forward line is hardly ever talked about as a threat that needs to be quelled. In the six games we have won since the loss to the dogs in round 19 we have averaged 100.5 points per game. That is padded a bit by the fact we toweled up the Suns and the Crows. But three were against top 4 teams - Cats x 2 and the Lions In the seven games the dogs have played in that same period they have averaged 81.5 points per game. We are far away the most potent team in the AFL in the last two months of football, but yet we have to worry about Naughton? Go figure.

I agree that any player who ran out on the ground for the club during the season, should be rewarded with a medal; they all contributed to getting us to the big dance (not just the 22 fortunate enough to take the field that day). There’s probably even an argument for ALL players on the list getting a medal, as it’s a team game, and they are all part of the team and they all contributed in one way or another.

Trent Rivers to keep Weightman to zero free kicks.

I think Benny Brown might cement himself in Demon folklore with a 4-5 goal day out.

GAWD im having training report withdrawal symptoms 😱 I LOVED bringing Demonlanders training reports this year🤩 Alas not to be this finals time. Sorry guys and gals. Hopefully normality will return next year and I can resume usual service😇 Demonlanders in Perth ,over to you🤩