Leaderboard

I think a lot of demons fans don’t understand how we are asking Ben Brown to play. At North he played as a leading forward in a team that played a lot of games at Marvel - where it’s less contests and easier for dry ball skills. For us he’s trying to compete in the air almost 100% of the time - as it suits our midfield game style. He’s in the team to kick 2 goals from the 4 opportunities he’s going to get a week. At North, when he was firing, he was getting 10 opportunities because of the way they played, and tried to isolate him. He’s an important part of the team - specifically around aerial contests in the forward 50 and keeping players like Andrews and Stewart honest.

He was good yesterday, constantly got hands to it in packs and outnumbered contests (his vertical reach in these cases is vital) and got his pair of goals, all of which would’ve pleased Goody. Not easy being the only real tall in the forward line currently, and wearing the best of the oppo’s defence, mostly in spoiling pairs.

Ben Brown halved just about every contest he was in tonight, and most of the time the ball spilled to our advantage, which was no accident. He isn't marking many but he is feeding our ground players. You all are mad. Without him we would have lost tonight

Honestly I feel like some demonlanders are watching a different team to the one I’m watching. Our forward line instructions are clearly to prioritise bringing the ball to ground. You will see BB competing with 2,3 or 4 defenders regularly and halving the contest. If he goes up in a pack mark situation with soft hands he will only ever mark or be out marked, that is not our strategy. We play percentages and the number of individual goal kickers over the past couple of weeks tells me that our strategy works. He virtually never gets a block and without another genuine tall target he will rarely get space to run and jump. I’m not sure what key metric is telling people he is not doing his job, all I can think of is that his conversation on set shot, which is usually elite, is a little bit off lately. He does a power of work to get up the ground and provide an outlet. I’m honestly unsure what people are seeing that they could attribute to BB not playing his role.

I only saw the first half as was listening to the second half on radio but the umpiring was criminal. They want respect how about you earn it by being professional instead of parochial. It's so one-sided it is a disgrace and ours isn't the only game either. The Saints got reamed last night too, week in, week out there are absolute howlers and umpires getting sucked in by absolute rubbish like Tex leading with the head, rucks jumping all over their opponents and getting frees for blocking, scragging around contests and on key forwards going unpunished etc. Tonight was one of the worst displays I can remember though, absolutely farcical. Happy to just get away with the four points considering that.

I wish someone would invent a machine that can reproduce such blows accurately and wheneever a commentator says a player dropped too easily they would have to take the same blow from the machine. They'd shut up quick smart.

Pickett fined $2k so won't need to worry about replacing him.

and you're posting on a footy fan site?

The umpiring was criminal all night. Biased to the Crows. It was 23-9 but also so many missed free kicks for us. We have highlighted the Walker free … it was unbelievable. I think they called play on then the free kick. Oliver was hammered and two umps missed it … somehow. Oliver was scrapped by Berry all night and got nothing. He was held without the footy and not given one free. Keays free in the last (and goal) was another. They didn’t pay holding the ball for most of the night. It was a dog fight. Then 15 metrs out from Crows goal , Brayshaw gets pinged. I almost smashed the Tv. And frees to Doedee and O’Brien were actually met with surprise by them. Maybe chopping arms but that happened over and over again. BBB was smashed in the arms at every contest. Fritsch was held by one arm by Butts and didn’t receive one free kick. I agree the commentary is rubbish. Hudson and Dunstall and Ruccuito were clearly barracking for the Crows. They seemingly never questioned a decision (just thd Oliver one). Then they gave us plaudits once MFC had the game won. Clearly the home town crowd noise had an influence. We had to beat the Crows and the umps !! And we did … Go Dees

In case anyone missed the banner today… And that’s Pauline and Scott (Fritta’s parents). ❤️💙

The Oliver getting coathangered right in front of the ump when he didn't even have the ball was even worse if that's possible

Now look. I don’t usually complain about the umpires and I’m fully aware that it’s a hard task recruiting umpires but fair go. There has to be a royal commission into what took place at Adelaide Oval today. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. What in blazes is this all about?

I agree with this and it isn't just Oliver. Gawn has had a terrible run in terms of being blocked, thumped from behind, impeded. In 2018 he bolted in the AFLCA award yet finished only 4th in the Brownlow. He wasn't even the top votegetter from his own team. I cringe when I see some of the pathetic, soft frees dished out to blokes like Harry McKay yet Gawn can be literally assaulted and the commentators laugh it off as "he had to really earn that one".

6 goals 7 in the last three matches - 13 scoring shots isn’t too bad when he’s been double teamed for most contests in comparison fritta has 5.3 and kozzie 4.0

We received more frees in each of the finals games because simply, we had superior umpiring standards.

But these aren't mistakes. This is blatantly being scared to award the opposition there correct free kicks for fear of crowd reaction, pure and simple. Are you saying it was just mistakes that saw us get 3 free kicks in 3/4, when we are up on possessions and ultimately win the contest? These were two very inexperienced umpires, one a local, who were obviously not wanting to upset a feral crowd. It's not good enough in professional sport. These umpires have to be spoken to and told, " pay what you see or that's it."

They are not mistakes, mistakes would imply some level of balancing out over the course of the game or the odd one here or there. It is either being way too influenced by partisan/parochial crowds or just downright cheating. Either way it is unacceptable. If I made as many "mistakes" on my job as these clowns do I would have been sacked a decade ago.

It was rather odd to hear Ricciuto say Fogarty and Lever didn't like each other. They were never team mates, in fact Fogarty was recruited with the pick Crows got for Lever. And they would have only played against each other 2 or 3 times. Odd. And as for saying Lever 'got into' Fogarty for what was a gentle push to the shoulders, well Ricciuto has gone soft if he thinks that is 'getting into'. It certainly didn't warrant the punch to the stomach from Fogarty in return.

Great win Dees. Gutsy effort by BBB clearly sore but played his part. Weid competed hard and clearly sacrificed his normal game to help the team. The sniping on this site of these two pathetic. They both played their part something the snipers don’t want to acknowledge

I would normally agree with those who say we shouldn’t whinge about poor umpiring but we’re due to play Geelong at Kardinia Park in 5 day’s time and the crowd will be just as partisan as the one we had at Adelaide Oval. A quiet word from Goody to the umpires advisor asking him to look at the adjudication won’t hurt. And yes, it’s the clash of the top two teams so we can expect some competent umpires to run the show.

Agree, one of the worst displays since the "absolute murder" game against Fitzroy in the early 90s! If only we had commentators like Peter McKenna willing to call it as they see it these days. https://www.afl.com.au/video/183142/classic-last-two-mins-1991-this-is-murder-absolute-murder?videoId=183142&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1556673790001 But if you thought that was bad just wait til Thursday..... We're doing the Bill Hicks flying saucer tour, which means like UFOs, we've been appearing in small southern towns in front of a handful of hillbillies lately.

So we are playing all the teams below us on the ladder! God help them!!

Wherever it was it wasn't warranted. Wouldn't be surprised to see Fogarty get a deserved fine: deliberate, behind play. What I particularly didn't like was a commentator saying Lever dropped too easily. Sick of commentators making out our players stage when hit. I reckon that is why Clarrie didn't get a free for the wallop across his head, umpires think he stages so doesn't get much protection.

How good was Langdon. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ He’s been down in a few recent games. Tagged even. But showed plenty of run and heart v Crows. He runs all day. One effort in the first which he eventually passed to Trac was an excellent passage of play. And Langdon’s goal in the last was special and pivotal to winning the match.

I reckon this proves that at stoppages the real role of a ruck is simply to make sure that the other ruck cannot dominate (neutralise). (Obviously this assumes your midfielders are able to compete with theirs) An advantage they got at the stoppages was ROB got 4 stoppage clearances (of their 22 for the game) vs Weids 1. With Gawn in, they might not have got those. Where not having a ruck can be a big disadvantage (or having a good ruck like Gawn can be an advantage) is their ability to influence the game around the ground. Intercept marking and spoiling, linking up in attacking play, and body work in close to help your kids find space are three key areas that a ruck can influence. ROB did slightly out-perform his own season averages (for intercepts, disposals etc) in this match, and did statistically more than Weid did, but with only 5 marks and 6 intercept possessions in total ROB didnt have any influence on the game. As the only ruckman on the ground, and with the size advantage he had, he should have been able to influence more. So either Weid did a good job keeping him quiet or we deliberately used a game plan that kept him out of it.

If the ump department review this game, they will de register these three. Im watching the second half (missed the second half live) and I’m not one to usually speak about them. And it’s not what they gave them, it’s what they didn’t pay. And the most obvious ones. Oliver hit, langers block, Fogarty jumping into petty trying for mark of the year and getting no where near it. Huge throw by Laird. It was as putrid as the umps against tigers last week.

The Brayshaw holding decision was because he dragged the ball back in yet it was clearly the crows player that toe kicked the ball under Brayshaw.

To those that say "we won, get over the umpiring", I say there is nothing wrong with discussing any and all aspects of a game. When the umpiring is egregious, it is likely to figure prominently in people's comments on the game. Why not? We don't have to prove how morally superior we are by chosing to overlook it. Furthermore when you can only see a match on TV, there is a lot you cannot see and therefore can't reasonably discuss, but the umpiring usuallly stands out. It has been pretty bad so far this weekend. So it will be commented on. To quote those who say "get over it", I say, get over people commenting on it.

It was paid as a block. I was there and spilt my beer

First game outside of Victoria and I have to say it was a ripper to watch. Mens Department are immense, #3 & 17 are as important as #1, 35 & 8 and we bumped into Harry P on the way home from dinner still in his gear and looking very happy. There is a different feel when travelling as our hotel was right next to the team's and we kept bumping into the players out and about. Walking distance to the ground was cream on the cake Great result in enemy territory but as soon as the game was over the locals went straight back to their hospitable selves. Great fun and go Dees (Definitely won't be waiting 59years for my next interstate game)

Clarry is hard done by. The umps don't look after him, and not just this game. Players hang off him before the ball arrives and he gets pinned for not disposing of the sherrin properly. For a champion player, he gets hardly any protection most weeks from the umps and has to play through being tagged and targeted. Can't see him getting the Brownlow votes he deserves, if they just don't see what he does, how he goes about it and his performance through the duress the opposition apply. One of the toughest, fairest and most talented footballer for the Dees I've seen.

I care, had a gut full of biased interstate umpiring for the last 30+ years. For a multi million dollar industry it's F'n amateur hour

There is no doubt that the umpires made some mistakes. They generally do. Whether that is down to incompetence, unconscious crowd bias or corruption is in the eye of the beerholder.

The role Goodie has for BBB is to compete for the the long ball, usually against an outnumber, with the purpose being to bring it to ground. The fact he is 200 cm helps him do this along with the method of flying up with only one arm extended. Its a bit of a waste of talent, but so wld a plan to use our average kicking skills to hit him up on a lead exposing us on the rebound. Having our best contested mark in Gawn play in the 50 is pretty appealing.

Mitch Brown must be one of the longest travelled journeyman ever. Drafted in 2008 but only played 79 games for 3 clubs. Very few players remain from that vintage in the league. Amazing.

The commentators are a bunch of cowards, too scared to be honest while doing their jobs.

For tears right? Tell me they're for tears...🤢

This was a stressful one, ended up watching at the Duke of Wellington in the city. First game I've seen this year with the sound off, it's pretty enjoyable I must say. We started off with a bang and I think we all would have loved to just cruise on through and have a nice relaxing arvo/evening. But the Crows had other ideas and really matched us for intensity for quite a lot of this game really. It was a real physical contest you could see the Crows really trying to get stuck in and, quite a lot of dirty play I thought after the ball had gone out of bounds and things like that. I detest talking about umpiring but this one is way too hard to overlook, 23 free kicks to 9 their way. I watched this one with the sound off so I couldn't really tell if it was a crowd influenced thing but the majority of the Crows frees were very 50-50 while it really did seem like we needed to have our heads ripped off to get anything from the umps. A lot of throws in this game missed as well from both sides, but yeah seeing it down the middle as much as possible I just thought this was a terror night for the umps but in spite of all that we showed what a great side we are and were able to grit it out and pull off an amazing result! I thought Petracca really came to play today and his early goal really got the confidence up! Was getting sick to death of hearing about goal inaccuracy percentage this week so nice to see him hit the target. Thought his game overall was outstanding today, and quite often they had trouble laying a glove on him that's a 3 brownlow vote game. We move on to Clarry, boy oh boy I'm so glad we have this guy for the next 8 years! I still marvel at how easily this guy gets his hands free. 11 tackles as well, this game was definitely won at the coalface and Clarry never fails to turn up with the miner's helmet. Thought Jack Viney was really important in the second half, Ed Langdon best game since he took that nasty hit to the ribs he was back to his running machine best and that goal was amazing at such a crucial time! Gus put in a good shift again, he's got so much confidence with the ball in flight now. Lever was excellent against some of his old friends, May had a much improved game this week I thought that back 6 had it's moments early on but they are starting to get back to what we know and love. As I mentioned earlier, a real physical encounter and both sides looked totally gassed late in the game. Good to get the win but with that 5 day break I hope we can just bust on through, not sure how serious the Luke Jackson injury was I'd hope that he's an auto in. It's going to be a blockbuster down in Geelong and we really need to take a scalp in these next few games so come on the mighty Dees!

That game was a case in point where coaches opine that the free kick count is not a factor in winning or losing the game. But as a fan it’s impossible to agree with this. Yes it’s a hard game to umpire, but it should be consistent and fair.

That blocking free against Brown was the worst decision of the year.

NO CONFUSION by KC from Casey The Casey Demons took more than half a game to crack Port Melbourne at Casey Fields on Saturday but when they finally did so, they were merciless and in the end, they took no prisoners. What made Casey’s 58-point victory win so remarkable was the fact that even after late call ups to the Melbourne team that traveled to Adelaide deprived them of key players from their goal to goal line, the less experienced replacements all made meaningful contributions to the side’s overall performance as it went on its merry way to 13 wins on the trot. Casey wore it’s indigenous guernsey and conducted a very special smoke ceremony in honour of the first people on the land. The closeness of the colour combinations might well have thrown in some confusion in the early stages because, after the home team celebrated with a goal in the opening minute, the Borough had a purple patch with the slight advantage of the breeze to kick four goals (half of their final tally) in the space of 15 minutes to lead by 20 points. There was no panic as Casey reset to stem the flow but Port still held a handy three goal lead at the first break. Thankfully, Kade Chandler was active in the early going for the Demons with lots of touches and a classy goal. He remained prominent for the remainder of the game. His role in helping the team peg back the deficit was pivotal in the second quarter with two goals including the one that gave Casey the lead by a goal as the game neared half time. Port closed in on that lead twice in the opening ten minutes of the second half before the Demons finally broke the shackles to end any confusion as to which team was going to win the four points. They streamed to a 21 point lead at three quarter time before an eight goal to one final term emphatically settled the issue. Fittingly, the last goal of the day was scored by Chandler — his fifth — to cap off a great best on ground display with 29 disposals. Not far behind Chandler were Luke Dunstan with his 23 touches including eight clearances and the hardworking Oskar Baker who was equally prolific in winning the football. With only ten Melbourne listed players in the game, Casey was relying on more on its homegrown talent than it normally would and they didn’t disappoint. And it wasn’t just the more seasoned performers like Mitch White, Jimmy Munro and Matt Buntine who came to the party but also the so-called “lesser lights” who were in the thick of things. Players like Roan Steele, Luca Goonan and Miles Shepherd hit the scoreboard and Riley Baldi, Jack Bell, Corey Ellison and second gamer Ryan Valentine all stepped up to the plate. The latter was robbed of a goal by the three quarter time siren. Jayden Hunt, Trent Rivers and Bailey Laurie were all solid contributors and wait in line for the door to the Melbourne side to open for them. The competition for spots in the the team will heat up next week when Geelong’s VFL side plays host to the Demons on Friday night at GMHBA Stadium. If you can’t get a seat for Thursday’s AFL top-of-the-table, there will be plenty of room at the ground for you to support the team. CASEY DEMONS 2.3.15 6.6.36 10.10.70 18.11.119 PORT MELBOURNE 5.3.33 5.6.36 7.7.49 8.13.61 Goals Casey Demons Chandler 5 Goonan Laurie Shepherd Steele 2 Dunstan Ellison Munro Rivers White Port Melbourne Szust 3 Roberts 2 Cameron Holmes Lentini Best Casey Demons Chandler Dunstan, Rivers Baker Buntine White Goonan Steele Port Melbourne Hooper Templeton Phillips Lentini Wagner Holmes Statistics Oskar Baker 1 behind 18 kicks 6 handballs 24 disposals 11 marks 1 tackle 101 dream team points Riley Baldi 2 kicks 8 handballs 10 disposals 3 tackles 29 dream team points Jack Bell 3 kicks 6 handballs 9 disposals 2 tackles 29 hit outs 43 dream team points Matt Buntine 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 8 marks 1 tackle 56 dream team points Kade Chandler 5 goals 1 behind 18 kicks 11 handballs 29 disposals 6 marks 1 tackles 133 dream team points Luke Dunstan 1 goal 15 kicks 8 handballs 23 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 93 dream team points Tyler Edwards 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 55 dream team points Corey Ellison 1 goal 9 kicks 4 handballs 13 disposals 8 marks 59 dream team points Luca Goonan 2 goals 6 kicks 8 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 67 dream team points George Grey 1 behind 7 kicks 3 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 51 dream team points Jayden Hunt 15 kicks 15 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 72 dream team points Bailey Laurie 2 goals 8 kicks 9 handballs 17 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 77 dream team points Judd McVee 8 kicks 8 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 55 dream team points Bryce Milford 3 kicks 3 disposals 3 marks 12 dream team points James Munro 1 goal 5 kicks 11 handballs 16 disposals 13 tackles 79 dream team points Trent Rivers 1 goal 1 behind 18 kicks 1 handball 19 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 85 dream team points Fraser Rosman 11 kicks 11 disposals 7 marks 54 dream team points Miles Shepherd 2 goals 1 behind 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 74 dream team points Deakyn Smith 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 40 dream team points Roan Steele 2 goals 7 kicks 4 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 53 dream team points Ryan Valentine 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 5 marks 2 hit outs 40 dream team points Taj Woewodin 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks 48 dream team points Mitch White 1 goals 2 behinds 15 kicks 3 handballs 18 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 73 dream team points

If the AFL want umpires to be respected, make them full time professionals, pay them properly and stop the constant rules changes. The fact is though, it is easier and cheaper just to control what commentators and media say about them, all spin and no action, what Gil does best.

This is why the club needs to intervene, I can recall a half dozen contests where Clarey was being held without even having control of the ball. It happened to several players in fact. But it really is a blight with what they can get away with him. champion data should invent a new stat in his honour, a Clarry contested possession. 3 blokes hanging off him , without possession and then you blink and he wins and disposed of the ball.

whatcha readin' FOR?

Imagine the commentators today saying that, it would be their last game behind the microphone. I don’t respect our commentators, but the AFL does pressure the networks not to be honest and I have been told influence the showing of replays from umpiring errors

But the inferior side was kept in the game by umpires that were clearly influenced by the home crowd noise. At one stage it looked like Adelaide would win because of the umpiring.

Geelong are gonna get “north melbourne’d” a theory of mine that has happened 75% of times this year. Team who plays norf goes on to lose the next week.

I havent seen the game but the umpires were terrible

On tour with the family at the ground. Yes the roar of affirmation a factor, but absolutely incompetent maggotry all night. All the 50/50’s all the “technicals” went to the Crows - none to us of course. Then Clarry’s head ripped off, Nibbler driven into the ground. Clown maggots miss those, “out of position” “looking around corners” etc. They are a joke and the AFL narrative will be built to around “respect”. You have to be joking. Maggots 31 and 20 were simply appalling. So proud of our lads tonight: Clarry, Tracc, The Skipper, JJ, Weid, Rick, the list goes on. We are a good team, we play to a system, we respond when challenged, and most importantly we are fit and can run out games. Over and out from Adelaide! Go Dees.

Pretty sure he’s going to stay after he gets this picture I drew him and also the 50 cent sealer I put in with it.