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The atmosphere at the Melbourne Football Club at the beginning of the season was aspirational following an injury-plagued year in 2024. Coach Simon Goodwin had lofty expectations with the return of key players, the anticipated improvement from a maturing group with a few years of experience under their belts, and some exceptional young talent also joining the ranks. All of that went by the wayside as the team failed to click into action early on. It rallied briefly with a new strategy but has fallen again with five more consecutive defeats. The team has followed certain patterns that we’ve come to expect as being part of the team’s nature as it develops into nothing better than a good ordinary side. Sunday’s game against the more highly fancied Adelaide commenced in line with expectations, evolved into a surprising display of dominance (and a 28 point lead) against a highly rated opponent on its home turf at Adelaide Oval, and then deteriorated with twenty minutes of adversity. They maintained a glimmer of hope and played out the final quarter at a frustrating level that threatened a comeback but it never fully materialized. However, the outcome would have been significantly better had the Demons capitalized on their dominance in the first quarter, rather than succumbing to routine kicking errors inside 50. The Demons held a strategic advantage in key defensive positions, with Steven May, Jake Lever, and Daniel Turner exerting considerable influence throughout the game, intercepting nearly every entry into the Crows' attacking half. A couple of lapses in defence late in the term resulted in the lead being relinquished to the Crows by the first break. Christian Petracca's post-siren miss further compounded the frustration after 30 minutes, with a return of 1 goal 6 behinds with two other gettable shots sailing out of bounds. The opening of the second quarter saw a dramatic and powerful turnaround in the team’s fortunes. Everything clicked for a magical ten minutes when the Demons suddenly couldn’t miss as they piled on five goals to have the Crows on the ropes. During this period they had total control of the football with Kozzie Pickett and Jacob van Rooyen booting two goals each. Youngsters Xavier Lindsay and Harvey Langford added to the enthusiasm of the moment. However, Adelaide slowly regained its composure, the Melbourne midfield made a few fumbly mistakes and Izak Rankine turned on his own piece of magic. At half time, the lead had been eroded to just five points and with Rankine continuing to dominate (and the Demons too slow to react), the Crows turned the game to their advantage after the break. The Demon cause was not assisted by some temporary injury concerns to Max Gawn and Jake Lever at different stages in Adelaide’s comeback. Perhaps it might be time to give the club’s veteran skipper a week’s management after several interstate outings. Tom Campbell handled himself against North’s Tristan Xerri during the preseason and next week’s game is not exactly a big deal in the scheme of things. To its credit, Melbourne demonstrated resilience and never gave up. The defenders continued to perform admirably, Jake Melksham delivered a four-goal effort to complement his five from last week, and together with Jack Viney's hard nosed work ethic, they came close to securing a comeback. Some goal reviews did not favor them, and they could have had more opportunities from Petracca and Clayton Oliver, but the resultant 13-point loss was consistent with expectations for a good ordinary side. MELBOURNE 1.6.12 6.7.43 8.8.56 11.11.77 ADELAIDE 2.3.15 5.8.38 10.11.71 13.12.90 GOALS MELBOURNE Melksham 4 Pickett van Rooyen 2 Fritsch Rivers Sparrow ADELAIDE Rankine 5 Fogarty Keays Walker 2 Curtin Taylor BEST MELBOURNE May Turner Pickett Melksham Viney ADELAIDE Rankine Dawson Keays Laird Soligo Peatling LATE CHANGES MELBOURNE Nil ADELAIDE Wayne Milera (personal reasons) replaced in selected side by Lachlan Murphy INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil ADELAIDE Rachele (knee) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil ADELAIDE Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Harry Sharp (replaced Koltyn Tholstrup in the fourth quarter) ADELAIDE Lachlan Murphy (replaced Josh Rachele at half-time) UMPIRES Nick Jankovskis Craig Fleer Cameron Dore Andrew Adair CROWD 43,306 at Adelaide Oval

After an even first quarter when Melbourne led by six points, North Melbourne held sway for the next two quarters but the game was still in the balance at the final break. However, the Demons were smashed all over the ground in that last half hour to go down by 59 points, prefacing a tough year ahead for the team. MELBOURNE 4.5.29 6.9.45 8.10.58 9.12.66 NORTH MELBOURNE 3.5.23 8.9.57 11.10.76 19.11.125 GOALS MELBOURNE Chandler 3 Fritsch Henderson Oliver Petracca Turner Van Rooyen NORTH MELBOURNE Zurhaar 4 Curtis Larkey 3 Darling 2 Konstanty McKercher Parker Powell Scott Simpkin Xerri BEST MELBOURNE Oliver Chandler Petracca Gawn Lindsay Viney NORTH MELBOURNE Xerri Powell Zurhaar Curtis Daniel Comben THE TEAMS NORTH MELBOURNE B C. Comben, A. Corr, L. McDonald HB B. Scott, C. Daniel, C. McKercher C F. O'Sullivan, L. Davies-Uniacke, J. Simpkin HF H. Sheezel, N. Larkey, R. Hansen Jr F P. Curtis, J. Darling, C. Zurhaar FOLL T. Xerri, T. Powell, L. Parker I/C M. Bergman, J. Konstanty, F. Maley, W. Phillips T. Pink SUB D. Stephens EMG M. Bergman, F. Maley, B. Teakle IN T. Pink, D. Stephens OUT A. Archer (suspended), G. Logue (hamstring) MELBOURNE B J. Lever, T. McDonald, C. Salem HB B. Howes, H. Petty, J. Bowey C E. Langdon, C. Oliver, X. Lindsay HF T. Sparrow, M. Jefferson, J. Henderson F B. Fritsch, J. Van Rooyen, K. Chandler FOLL M. Gawn, C. Petracca, J. Viney I/C T. Rivers, H. Sharp, C. Spargo, D. Turner SUB T. Woewodin EMG J. Adams, H. Langford, B. Laurie IN C. Spargo, D. Turner, T. Woewodin OUT A. Johnson (suspended), H. Langford (omitted), C. Windsor (foot)

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The Casey Demons returned to their home ground which was once a graveyard for opposing teams but they managed to gift the four points on offer to Coburg with yet another of their trademark displays of inaccuracy in front of goals and some undisciplined football that earned the displeasure of the umpires late in the game. The home team was welcomed by a small crowd at Casey Fields and looked right at home as it dominated the first three quarters and led for all bar the last five minutes of the game. In the end, they came away with nothing, despite winning everywhere but on the scoreboard and the free kick count. The Demons dominated in the ruck through Tom Campbell who finished with a massive 40 hit outs and his understudy Will Verrall was next with 10. They gave their team a great run at the football in the early proceedings and virtually whitewashed Coburg in the first half. I appreciate the old saying about “would have, could have etc” but the half time lead should have been 50 points and not 20 so badly did they butcher some of their shots on goal. Their only reliable player in front of goals was Mitch Hardie who kicked three in the first half and had four of the team’s 5 goals 16 at the final break. There’s another saying that “bad kicking is bad football” and that applied to the remaining 22 in the side. It all came home to roost in the third term when the visitors found their feet and started to reel in a 27 point deficit from about ten minutes into the second half. The Lions were insipid up to that point in the game but the Demons had opened the door for them and, as often happens, they rallied to boot four unanswered goals and by the final break were only three points in arrears. The final quarter saw a seesaw battle in which the Demons discovered their kicking boots for four goals with two coming from strong play from young key forward Luker Kentfield who had been one of the culprits in the first half with four behinds. When he clunked a mark and converted to give Casey a 9 point lead at the 25 minute mark the game appeared safe but the gods were smiling on the Lions who took the advantage of the umpiring and showed why an accurate shot on goal which is worth six times a lesser effort can be of supreme importance in our game. Riley Bonner and the goal kicking Hardie were again impressive for the Demons and veteran defender Tom McDonald joined another veteran in Campbell among his team’s best. Apart from Kentfield, there was little for Demon fans to enthuse about in such a disappointing result. CASEY DEMONS 2.6.18 4.11.35 5.16.46 9.17.71 COBURG 1.1.7 2.3.15 6.7.43 11.8.74 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Hardie 4 Kentfield 2 Baldi Cross Fullarton COBURG Johnston Weightman 3 Andrew D'Intinosante Podhajski Thompson Trudgeon BEST CASEY DEMONS Campbell Bonner Hardie McDonald Woewodin Kentfield COBURG Trudgeon Toohey D’Intinosante Kennedy Gillard Bella

OLD SAYINGS by KC from Casey The Casey Demons returned to their home ground which was once a graveyard for opposing teams but they managed to gift the four points on offer to Coburg with yet another of their trademark displays of inaccuracy in front of goals and some undisciplined football that earned the displeasure of the umpires late in the game. The home team was welcomed by a small crowd at Casey Fields and looked right at home as it dominated the first three quarters and led for all bar the last five minutes of the game. In the end, they came away with nothing, despite winning everywhere but on the scoreboard and the free kick count. The Demons dominated in the ruck through Tom Campbell who finished with a massive 40 hit outs and his understudy Will Verrall was next with 10. They gave their team a great run at the football in the early proceedings and virtually whitewashed Coburg in the first half. I appreciate the old saying about “would have, could have etc” but the half time lead should have been 50 points and not 20 so badly did they butcher some of their shots on goal. Their only reliable player in front of goals was Mitch Hardie who kicked three in the first half and had four of the team’s 5 goals 16 at the final break. There’s another saying that “bad kicking is bad football” and that applied to the remaining 22 in the side. It all came home to roost in the third term when the visitors found their feet and started to reel in a 27 point deficit from about ten minutes into the second half. The Lions were insipid up to that point in the game but the Demons had opened the door for them and, as often happens, they rallied to boot four unanswered goals and by the final break were only three points in arrears. The final quarter saw a seesaw battle in which the Demons discovered their kicking boots for four goals with two coming from strong play from young key forward Luker Kentfield who had been one of the culprits in the first half with four behinds. When he clunked a mark and converted to give Casey a 9 point lead at the 25 minute mark the game appeared safe but the gods were smiling on the Lions who took the advantage of the umpiring and showed why an accurate shot on goal which is worth six times a lesser effort can be of supreme importance in our game. Riley Bonner and the goal kicking Hardie were again impressive for the Demons and veteran defender Tom McDonald joined another veteran in Campbell among his team’s best. Apart from Kentfield, there was little for Demon fans to enthuse about in such a disappointing result. CASEY DEMONS 2.6.18 4.11.35 5.16.46 9.17.71 COBURG 1.1.7 2.3.15 6.7.43 11.8.74 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Hardie 4 Kentfield 2 Baldi Cross Fullarton COBURG Johnston Weightman 3 Andrew D'Intinosante Podhajski Thompson Trudgeon BEST CASEY DEMONS Campbell Bonner Hardie McDonald Woewodin Kentfield COBURG Trudgeon Toohey D’Intinosante Kennedy Gillard Bella

After four weeks on the road the Demons make their long awaited return to the MCG next Sunday to play in a classic late season dead rubber against the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Who comes in and who comes out?

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 7th July @ 8:00pm. Join Binman & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing loss to the Crows. 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. Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

Max Gawn has a massive lead in the Demonland Player of the Year award ahead of Jake Bowey, Christian Petracca, Kysaiah Pickett and Clayton Oliver. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

The Demons were wasteful early before putting the foot down early in the 2nd quarter but they chased tail for the remainder of the match. They could not get their first use of the footy after half time and when they did poor skills, execution and decision making let them down.

Our handballing is sub standard

Sucked in Crows fans

That’s front in contract every day of the week

Our handballing has been atrocious all day.

Assume we didn't practice goal kicking this week either.

It's Game Day and the Demons are back on the road for their 3rd interstate game in 4 weeks as they face a fit and firing Crows at Adelaide Oval. With finals now out of our grasps what are you hoping from the Dees today?

A couple of retirement announcements and a Category B rookie pick at Melbourne bring us to this year’s HATCH MATCH & DESPATCH thread. There will be many more to come over the coming months - here’s this year’s version of the ins and outs at the AFL Clubs ~ ADELAIDE IN OUT BRISBANE IN OUT CARLTON IN OUT COLLINGWOOD IN OUT ESSENDON IN OUT FREMANTLE IN OUT GEELONG IN OUT GOLD COAST SUNS IN OUT GWS GIANTS IN OUT HAWTHORN IN OUT MELBOURNE IN Oscar Berry (Category B rookie) OUT NORTH MELBOURNE IN OUT PORT ADELAIDE IN OUT RICHMOND IN OUT ST KILDA IN OUT SYDNEY SWANS IN OUT WEST COAST EAGLES IN OUT Jeremy McGovern (retired) Dom Sheed (retired) WESTERN BULLDOGS IN OUT

What’s next for a beleagured Melbourne Football Club down in form and confidence, facing intense criticism and disapproval over some underwhelming recent performances and in the midst of a four game losing streak? Why, it’s Adelaide which boasts the best percentage in the AFL and has won six of its last seven games. The Crows are hot and not only that, the game is at the Adelaide Oval; yet another away fixture and the third in a row at a venue outside of Victoria. One of the problems the Demons have these days is that they rarely have the luxury of true home ground advantage, something they have enjoyed just once since mid April. Still, the club seems to have done well at the Adelaide Oval against the Crows over the years but that was mainly while they were in the doldrums. These days, things are somewhat different and with Melbourne’s finals hopes out of reach and Adelaide well in the fight for a top four berth, it’s not looking promising for the visitors. The Dees have been slow starters throughout the season, a condition exacerbated by their continual inaccurate efforts when shooting for goal. Last week they were appalling with a solitary point for and 5 goals 7 behinds kicked against them. Thanks to a couple of outstanding efforts from veteran Jake Melksham and newly re-signed Kozzy Pickett, they almost fought their way back into contention but overall, they gave away too great a lead. Another half-hearted display to open proceedings will kill all interest in the contest and seeing that the game is being played in the wilderness time of 3.15pm on Sunday afternoon, it doesn’t command the most exciting play bill of the week anyway. If Melksham and Pickett were the stars of last week’s game, then there’s very little that can be said for what were formerly the team’s strengths. The midfield stars are no longer shining brightly and in fact are the problematic with their disposal to the forwards, but what can be said about the defence? Last week, two of its former stars in Tom McDonald and Jake Lever were languishing in the Casey side while Steven May struggled without much support and lucked about a little with the Suns’ poor kicking for goal early in the game. This week the backline must contend with the dominant presence of Riley Thilthorpe who marked strongly and finished with an equal-career-high five goals over Richmond. The question is who will stop him and even If he doesn’t score the goals then Fogarty, Walker and Rachele most likely will be the ones! I’d like to be my confident self this week but last week’s pathetic first quarter effort is permanently etched in my memory. I’m not able to let that go so it’s Adelaide by 51 points. THE GAME Adelaide v Melbourne at The Adelaide Oval on Sunday 6 July 2025 at 3.15pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall - Adelaide 26 wins Melbourne 20 wins At Adelaide Oval - Adelaide 2 wins Melbourne 6 wins Past five meetings - wins Adelaide 1 win Melbourne 4 The Coaches - Matthew Nicks 1 win Simon Goodwin 5 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 10.18.78 defeated Adelaide 8.15.63 at the Adelaide Oval, Round 4, 2024 This was Melbourne’s second game at the Adelaide Oval in five days and it was well in control of the game from quarter time to complete a convincing double in the City of Churches. Max Gawn dominated in the ruck and Christian Petracca was outstanding with 29 touches. THE TEAMS ADELAIDE B J. Worrell, J. Butts, R. Laird HB M. Hinge, M. Keane, W. Milera C I. Cumming, J. Dawson, D. Curtin HF B. Keays, R. Thilthorpe, M. Michalanney. F J. Soligo, T. Walker, D. Fogarty. FOLL R. O'Brien, I. Rankine, J. Peatling I/C (from) S. Berry, H. Bond, C. Burgess, L. Murphy, A. Neal-Bullen, J. Rachele, B. Smith, Z. Taylor IN H. Bond, C. Burgess, Z. Taylor OUT - MELBOURNE B J. Bowey, S. May, J. Lever HB J. McVee, D. Turner, C. Salem C X. Lindsay, C. Petracca, E. Langdon HF J. Viney, B. Fritsch, K. Chandler F J. Melksham, M. Jefferson, K. Pickett FOLL M. Gawn, C. Oliver, T. Sparrow I/C (from) J. Adams, J. Billings, H. Langford, T. McDonald, T. Rivers, H. Sharp, K. Tholstrup, J. van Rooyen IN J. Adams, J. Billings, J. Lever, T. McDonald, J. van Rooyen OUT B. Howes (concussion), H. Petty (concussion) Injury List: Round 17 Charlie Spargo — Scapula / Test Oliver Sestan — hamstring / 1 week Blake Howes — concussion / 1 - 2 weeks Harry Petty — concussion / 1 - 2 weeks Aidan Johnson — ankle / 3 - 4 weeks Shane McAdam — Achilles / season Andy Moniz-Wakefield — knee / season

Who are you tipping this week?