Demonland

No surprises here. Players used 22 Demons have attended a centre bounce in 2018. Ruckmen 2018 ruck attendances (top two): Max Gawn (499), Sam Weideman (32) Centre square hit-outs per game (minimum five games): Max Gawn (16.3) Centre square hit-outs to advantage differential (team): +4.1 (first) Onballers Most common ruck-rover combination: Max Gawn-Clayton Oliver (71) Most used midfielder (midfielder who attends most centre bounces): Clayton Oliver (427) Centre clearances won (team differential): +3.5 (first) Centre clearance king (minimum five games): Jack Viney (3.6) ANALYSIS: Melbourne is the top-ranked centre clearance team in the competition with ruckman Max Gawn essential to the Demons' midfield dominance. Gawn's ability to give his midfielders first use is critical to how the Melbourne machine functions, with the Demons ranked No.1 in the competition for centre square hit-outs to advantage differential. Gawn has developed a strong rapport with Clayton Oliver and Angus Brayshaw, but the fact 22 Demons have rotated through the centre bounce points to the team's emphasis on being versatile through the centre/forward regions of the ground. If they can get co-captain Jack Viney back into the side for the finals, the Demons will be far better off. – Ben Guthrie

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Listen to grown men cry LIVE on the Demonland Podcast Tonight @ 8:30pm with @Grapeviney and @Supermercado. Listen & Chat LIVE: http://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

I will bare my bum down the Perth equivalent of Bourke Street.

My plan is to take the temperature of the room. I will observe who is around me. Most likely I will be deep in enemy territory. I will keep my mouth shut as much as I can during the game because I hate it when out numbered opposition supporters get lippy. I would certainly would wait until the outcome was assured before I started any smart alec behaviour. I'd also make sure there was noone around me that I could not outrun in a footrace.

So do I so they'll be in good company.

6 Dees in the squad.

What's the Crown complex like?

I've of course had a look at the apps but sometimes a little local knowledge helps.

I have one of those light weight jackets that keep me warm enough at the G on a cold day or night and not too hot even if the sun is shining as long as it's not too warm. I will of course be bringing a scarf which can be concealed easily inside the jacket if things go south.

Can I get a weather report from the locals for Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday? Will help if you are familiar with Melbourne weather at this time of year as a comparison. I just want to know what type of clothing I need to pack. Also need to know how cool it gets at night at this time of year. Thanks in advance.

Hopefully I make it back alive. Too soon?

Did we really need a new thread for this? Kidding. They're not wrong.

Clarrie has a big lead at this stage. We need to make the finals to add some interest into this battle. 195. Clayton OIiver 169. Max Gawn 118. Angus Brayshaw 109. Jesse Hogan 70. Nathan Jones 67. James Harmes Tom McDonald 56. Christian Salem 51. Christian Petracca 49. Jake Melksham 47. Neville Jetta 39. Bayley Fritsch 38. Jack Viney 32. Jordan Lewis 31. Michael Hibberd Oscar McDonald 29. Jake Lever 18. Jeff Garlett 14. Alex Neal-Bullen 12. Dom Tyson 6. Tom Bugg 4. Joel Smith 3. Sam Frost 2. Dean Kent 1. Bernie Vince Josh Wagner

When we could win against top 8 sides even when there was a wide discrepancy in free kicks paid to the opposition over us ... THE TEAMS WEST COAST EAGLES B: Shannon Hurn, Eric Mackenzie, Will Schofield HB: Thomas Cole, Tom Barrass, Brad Sheppard C: Andrew Gaff, Matt Priddis, Elliot Yeo HF: Lewis Jetta, Jack Darling, Dom Sheed F: Liam Duggan, Jeremy McGovern, Drew Petrie FOLL: Nathan Vardy, Sam Mitchell, Luke Shuey I/C: Jamie Cripps, Josh Hill, Mark Hutchings, Malcolm Karpany EMG: Chris Masten, Jack Redden, Sharrod Wellingham IN: Josh Hill, Malcolm Karpany OUT: Mark LeCras (hip), Jackson Nelson (hamstring) MELBOURNE B: Neville Jetta, Oscar McDonald, Michael Hibberd HB: Jayden Hunt, Sam Frost, Jordan Lewis C: Jake Melksham, Clayton Oliver, Christian Salem HF: Christian Petracca, Cam Pedersen, James Harmes F: Jeff Garlett, Tom McDonald, Mitch Hannan FOLL: Max Gawn, Bernie Vince, Jack Viney I/C: Tomas Bugg, Alex Neal-Bullen, Billy Stretch, Dom Tyson EMG: Ben Kennedy, Josh Wagner, Sam Weideman IN: Max Gawn, Billy Stretch OUT: Nathan Jones (quadriceps), Jack Watts (hamstring)

There it was ... the chance to cement a spot in the Finals for 2018. The BCNA ladies had shown the way with their own courage in the face of adversity, and came out in their thousands to show they cared. Hawthorn had removed Geelong from the equation for us. Shortly after the start, the Bulldogs put North out of reach from us as well. All we needed to do was beat Sydney and the Demons were to experience September action ... and they choked! They choked in front of goal in the first quarter kicking 2 goals 6 to 1.1 for the Swans. Most from set shots, and like we should have learned from other gettable games during the year, you nail those opportunities, and the game is over. But we choked. We choked even further in front of goal in the 2nd term kicking 1 goal 6, to allow Sydney to stay in the game. It is something you cannot do given the older experienced heads that they have. And it came when they piled on 6 straight goals in 15 minutes. By now the Demons were well and truly choking, as they watched their finals chances fade away ... surely the story couldn’t finish the same way as it did in 2017? And all of this was happening while Sydney were 2 down on the interchange after losing Johnson to another knee injury and Smith as well for the game. It didn’t get much better in the 3rd and by the final change Melbourne were nearly 5 goals in arrears. But they managed to stage a sort of come-back and within 15 minutes of the final siren were barely 2 kicks behind. All that was needed was someone to stand up and take command. All that was needed was for someone to take on the responsibility of finishing the work of others. Instead Melbourne continued to try to pass the ball off, and missed even the simplest of kicks. And again they choked. Chance after chance was fluffed, fumbled, or straight out given directly to Sydney opponents. ANB and Jones with 8 and 7 clangers for the game set the stage. All that was needed was the Benny Hill music to be played over the MCG speakers to complete the scene. In the end the Demons went down by 9 points. Another game that should have been won and wasn’t. How costly those chokes we will find in the next 2 weeks. The pity about the loss is that once again it demonstrated the gulf that exists between our bottom 6 players or so, and the rest of the side. We have shuttled players back and forth through Casey, and while they show plenty in the VFL competition, they cannot perform on the big stage. Today Garlett had 3 kicks for the game and zero tackles! Without forward pressure, the ball rebounds down the other end too quickly and he provided nothing for the team. Jayden Hunt, brought back in to provide run and carry on his first game back from Casey managed only 10 touches. A late injury will probably mean he will avoid the ignominy of being dropped next week. Charlie Spargo also only 10 touches and unfortunately has to provide something special when as small as he is. Maybe he has a future in the middle, but that won’t be this year. Cam Pedersen fought his way back from Casey, and took a couple of good marks, but then failed to finish the work with 4 clangers from his 10 touches. With Melksham and Hibberd back next week and Bugg, Kent and Hannan showing something at Casey, there are almost easy changes. In contrast the backs were fantastic. Frost completely “owned” Franklin and used his superior pace to provide run and chances from the backline in the absence of others. Oscar was unbeaten the whole day, and Neville provided his usual stoic surety, despite being cleaned up again. Surely he is the most battered of our players at the moment, and it is a credit to him that he fronts up each week. Salem was reliable with his kicking, but is sometimes too unselfish. Just go for goals when inside 50 ... you are the best kick in the side! The mids fought a classic battle with the Sydney opposition. Tellingly, 4 of the 6 goals that Sydney scored in the 2nd quarter happened while Brayshaw was off the ground for 10 minutes. Pity was that the umpires failed to reward HTB decisions and one umpire in particular paid a solitary free to Melbourne in the whole match. But then Sydney are masters at holding the ball in and making it look like they are trying to get it out. Oliver was magnificent again to top the disposals, with Brayshaw not far behind. Harmes held Kennedy for most of the game but Kennedy just started to get the better in the second half. Still 26 touches off his own bat was a fine effort. The wingers in Tyson and Jones, despite lots of touches themselves, simply had no defensive side. Hannebury, Newman and Heeney were allowed to run free and they did much more damage with their possessions. The Melbourne forwards were crucified by their own players. After the 1st quarter Tom McDonald was finally moved onto Aliir Aliir to stop his aerial dominance caused by Melbourne players kicking the ball to his area. Of all the players he was the one not to kick it to, but we did. The delivery was simply shocking. It was bad enough seeing plenty of the high balls coming in, but worse was the inaccuracy giving Hogan and McDonald little chance time and time again. The forwards had good reason to choke on that sort of service. vandenBerg popped up for 3 majors and it was good to see him get some reward for his work this week. He can only get better, and will be given the chance in the next 2 weeks. Hogan unfortunately is playing injured, and his condition isn’t helped by the rubbish coming his way, when the ball gets set on top of his head or out wide or he has to double back. We are now a game and % above 9th spot. We must win 1 more game to get into the Finals action. Other results have set it up for us. Next week we face West coast in Perth. We won’t get any help from the umpires, and probably a handicap from them, given the history of their home ground advantage for frees. But they are without Natinui, Gaff and Kennedy. Yet they beat Port without them this week. Once again it is ALL up to us. Will we do it, or choke yet again? Melbourne 2.6.18 3.12.30 7.14.56 10.18.78 Sydney 1.1.7 7.2.44 13.6.84 13.9.87 Goals Melbourne vandenBerg 3 T McDonald 2 Garlett Hogan Jones Pedersen Petracca Sydney Papley 3 Franklin Heeney 2 Cunningham Dawson Hannebery Hayward Kennedy McCartin Best Melbourne Brayshaw Tyson Harmes Oliver Salem Frost Sydney Lloyd Heeney Newman Aliir Franklin Kennedy Hewett Injuries Melbourne Hunt (ankle), Jetta (nose), Hogan (foot) Sydney Johnson (knee) Smith (back) Reports Melbourne Nil Sydney Nil Umpires Dalgleish, Nicholls, Fleer Official crowd 51,424 at the MCG

He did. “Melbourne don’t right now. They didn’t handle the occasion, they haven’t handled the occasion and they’ve got two weeks to try and handle an occasion. “The bottom line is they just don’t handle big occasions.”

He's not wrong.

CHOKERS by George On The Outer There it was ... the chance to cement a spot in the Finals for 2018. The BCNA ladies had shown the way with their own courage in the face of adversity, and came out in their thousands to show they cared. Hawthorn had removed Geelong from the equation for us. Shortly after the start, the Bulldogs put North out of reach from us as well. All we needed to do was beat Sydney and the Demons were to experience September action ... and they choked! They choked in front of goal in the first quarter kicking 2 goals 6 to 1.1 for the Swans. Most from set shots, and like we should have learned from other gettable games during the year, you nail those opportunities, and the game is over. But we choked. We choked even further in front of goal in the 2nd term kicking 1 goal 6, to allow Sydney to stay in the game. It is something you cannot do given the older experienced heads that they have. And it came when they piled on 6 straight goals in 15 minutes. By now the Demons were well and truly choking, as they watched their finals chances fade away ... surely the story couldn’t finish the same way as it did in 2017? And all of this was happening while Sydney were 2 down on the interchange after losing Johnson to another knee injury and Smith as well for the game. It didn’t get much better in the 3rd and by the final change Melbourne were nearly 5 goals in arrears. But they managed to stage a sort of come-back and within 15 minutes of the final siren were barely 2 kicks behind. All that was needed was someone to stand up and take command. All that was needed was for someone to take on the responsibility of finishing the work of others. Instead Melbourne continued to try to pass the ball off, and missed even the simplest of kicks. And again they choked. Chance after chance was fluffed, fumbled, or straight out given directly to Sydney opponents. ANB and Jones with 8 and 7 clangers for the game set the stage. All that was needed was the Benny Hill music to be played over the MCG speakers to complete the scene. In the end the Demons went down by 9 points. Another game that should have been won and wasn’t. How costly those chokes we will find in the next 2 weeks. The pity about the loss is that once again it demonstrated the gulf that exists between our bottom 6 players or so, and the rest of the side. We have shuttled players back and forth through Casey, and while they show plenty in the VFL competition, they cannot perform on the big stage. Today Garlett had 3 kicks for the game and zero tackles! Without forward pressure, the ball rebounds down the other end too quickly and he provided nothing for the team. Jayden Hunt, brought back in to provide run and carry on his first game back from Casey managed only 10 touches. A late injury will probably mean he will avoid the ignominy of being dropped next week. Charlie Spargo also only 10 touches and unfortunately has to provide something special when as small as he is. Maybe he has a future in the middle, but that won’t be this year. Cam Pedersen fought his way back from Casey, and took a couple of good marks, but then failed to finish the work with 4 clangers from his 10 touches. With Melksham and Hibberd back next week and Bugg, Kent and Hannan showing something at Casey, there are almost easy changes. In contrast the backs were fantastic. Frost completely “owned” Franklin and used his superior pace to provide run and chances from the backline in the absence of others. Oscar was unbeaten the whole day, and Neville provided his usual stoic surety, despite being cleaned up again. Surely he is the most battered of our players at the moment, and it is a credit to him that he fronts up each week. Salem was reliable with his kicking, but is sometimes too unselfish. Just go for goals when inside 50 ... you are the best kick in the side! The mids fought a classic battle with the Sydney opposition. Tellingly, 4 of the 6 goals that Sydney scored in the 2nd quarter happened while Brayshaw was off the ground for 10 minutes. Pity was that the umpires failed to reward HTB decisions and one umpire in particular paid a solitary free to Melbourne in the whole match. But then Sydney are masters at holding the ball in and making it look like they are trying to get it out. Oliver was magnificent again to top the disposals, with Brayshaw not far behind. Harmes held Kennedy for most of the game but Kennedy just started to get the better in the second half. Still 26 touches off his own bat was a fine effort. The wingers in Tyson and Jones, despite lots of touches themselves, simply had no defensive side. Hannebury, Newman and Heeney were allowed to run free and they did much more damage with their possessions. The Melbourne forwards were crucified by their own players. After the 1st quarter Tom McDonald was finally moved onto Aliir Aliir to stop his aerial dominance caused by Melbourne players kicking the ball to his area. Of all the players he was the one not to kick it to, but we did. The delivery was simply shocking. It was bad enough seeing plenty of the high balls coming in, but worse was the inaccuracy giving Hogan and McDonald little chance time and time again. The forwards had good reason to choke on that sort of service. vandenBerg popped up for 3 majors and it was good to see him get some reward for his work this week. He can only get better, and will be given the chance in the next 2 weeks. Hogan unfortunately is playing injured, and his condition isn’t helped by the rubbish coming his way, when the ball gets set on top of his head or out wide or he has to double back. We are now a game and % above 9th spot. We must win 1 more game to get into the Finals action. Other results have set it up for us. Next week we face West coast in Perth. We won’t get any help from the umpires, and probably a handicap from them, given the history of their home ground advantage for frees. But they are without Natinui, Gaff and Kennedy. Yet they beat Port without them this week. Once again it is ALL up to us. Will we do it, or choke yet again? Melbourne 2.6.18 3.12.30 7.14.56 10.18.78 Sydney 1.1.7 7.2.44 13.6.84 13.9.87 Goals Melbourne vandenBerg 3 T McDonald 2 Garlett Hogan Jones Pedersen Petracca Sydney Papley 3 Franklin Heeney 2 Cunningham Dawson Hannebery Hayward Kennedy McCartin Best Melbourne Brayshaw Tyson Harmes Oliver Salem Frost Sydney Lloyd Heeney Newman Aliir Franklin Kennedy Hewett Injuries Melbourne Hunt (ankle), Jetta (nose), Hogan (foot) Sydney Johnson (knee) Smith (back) Reports Melbourne Nil Sydney Nil Umpires Dalgleish, Nicholls, Fleer Official crowd 51,424 at the MCG

Any travel tips? Restaurant advise. Pre-match/aftermatch functions?