Demonland

The Casey Demons missed out on the minor premiership when they were overpowered after half time by Williamstown to go down by 29 points in the last game of the VFL regular season at Casey Fields on Saturday. The injury-depleted Demons have limped through their last two games after 12 wins in a row and only managed to keep the right to a home final after a come-from-behind victory saw the Box Hill Hawks upset Geelong’s VFL side at City Oval Box Hill. The sun shone and the air was crisp with signs of an early coming of spring as the home side relished the conditions and dominated the early going scoring three of the game’s opening four goals. Cam Pederson was on fire booting the first two and Jeff Garlett shrugged of the criticism of his recent lethargic performances with a great chase, running down an opponent and converting to give his team a 13 point lead deep into the opening term. The Demons should have been further in front at this stage with Pedersen, Tim Smith and Declan Keilty winning handsomely in the air and the Wagner brothers mopping up the ball at ground level. A late goal to the Seagulls gave them a glimmer of hope as the scoreboard which showed them 7 points in arrears at the main break really flattered them. Tim Smith, who has been off target in recent times, finally found the target with a snap on goal but the dogged Williamstown runners suddenly found their feet to pile on three quick goals to grab the lead. Garlett struck a purple patch and responded with two of his trademark opportunist goals and an arm wrestle followed that saw the visitors benefit from some lucky umpiring decisions to take a one point lead into half time. With the game evenly poised in the early stages of the third quarter, the Seagull runners gradually got on top and took control of the midfield with the result that they broke through for three goals to take a grip on the game. They were helped by some questionable umpiring decisions that frustrated the Demons and, despite a goal to Goy Lok against the run of play, they looked beaten at three quarter time when another goal on the siren restored a 20 point lead in favour of the visitors who then booted four in quick succession to nail the game. The Demons were definitely feeling the effects of a long list of injuries at Melbourne and lacked the depth necessary to hold sway over a top line an in-form opposition but notwithstanding, the efforts of their leading VFL listed players like Jay Lockhart, Corey Wagner and, to a lesser extent Jimmy Munro, were outstanding while youngsters Cory Stockdale and Tom Freeman (in his second game) were also impressive. Demon listed players Dion Johnstone and Pat McKenna showed some good signs playing their best football at the club so far. The Casey Demons move on to the qualifying final at Casey Fields against Geelong VFL next Saturday and should be strengthened by the return to the fold of a few eligible Melbourne players during the AFL bye weekend. Peter Jackson VFL 2018 Casey Demons 3.3.21 7.4.46 8.8.56 12.13.85 Williamstown 2.2.14 7.5.47 11.10.76 17.12.114 Goals Casey Demons Garlett 4 Pedersen 3 Hutchins 2 Lockhart Lok T Smith Williamstown Rodda 4 Cavarra 3 Dunell George Gibbons Thorpe 2 Norton Schultz Best Casey Demons Lockhart Garlett C Wagner Johnstone Pedersen Freeman Williamstown Gibbons Bewley Cavarra Meese Rodda Masters Statistics  Jaxon Briggs 5 kicks 2 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 20 dream team points Wayne Collis 2 kicks 2 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 24 dream team points Tom Freeman 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 35 dream team points Jeffrey Garlett 4 goals 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 90 dream team points Mitch Gent 7 kicks 6 handballs 13 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 42 dream team points Jack Hutchins 2 goals 10 kicks 2 handballs 12 disposals 5 marks 55 dream team points Dion Johnstone 1 behind 18 kicks 2 handballs 20 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 79 dream team points Declan Keilty 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 48 dream team points Mitch King 1 kicks 6 handballs 7 disposals 3 tackles 17 hit outs 41 dream team points Mykelti Lefau 1 behind 4 kicks 5 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 2 hit outs 38 dream team points Jay Lockhart 1 goal 3 behinds 15 kicks 8 handballs 23 disposals 6 marks 8 tackles 121 dream team points Goy Lok 1 goal 3 kicks 4 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 5 tackles 47 dream team points Pat McKenna 1 behind 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 73 dream team point Cory Machaya kicks handballs disposals marks tackles dream team points James Munro 1 behind 5 kicks 7 handballs 12 disposals 1 marks 7 tackles 56 dream team points Cameron Pedersen 3 goals 1 behind 12 kicks 5 handballs 17 disposals 5 marks 6 tackles 7 hit outs 105 dream team points Harry Petty 4 kicks 3 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 26 dream team points Angus Scott 3 kicks 4 handballs 7 disposals 1 mark 20 dream team points Tim Smith 1 goal 1 behind 7 kicks 1 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 4 hit outs 56 dream team points Cory Stockdale 1 behind 8 kicks 10 handballs 18 disposals 4 marks 9 tackles 94 dream team points Corey Wagner 2 behinds 10 kicks 11 handballs 21 disposals 2 marks 8 tackles 91 dream team points Josh Wagner 15 kicks 9 handballs 24 disposals 2 marks 11 tackles 110 dream team points Mitch White 11 kicks 5 handballs 16 disposals 6 marks 4 tackles 75 dream team points

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/expert-opinion/mark-robinson/robbos-allaustralian-team-why-demon-max-gawn-has-to-on-the-field-ahead-of-pies-brodie-grundy/news-story/17ef4411ef47509158723204b599d5e8

Article appears to have been pulled from AFL website. Here is the link to HUN: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-daily-rolling-football-news-coverage-from-across-australia-for-friday-august-24-2018/live-coverage/f931632a3f6635ab0ac77d5ff784da3c The Age: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/magpie-sam-murray-being-investigated-by-asada-report-20180824-p4zzh0.html

Fritsch's kick to Hannan in the Melksham goal play was superbly weighted.

I'll just leave this one here.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-08-23/we-didnt-overcelebrate-goodwin

You've been around long enough to know that we at Demonland are robots who automatically react to every attempt at humour by merging it with another thread involving the person in question being ridiculed so that it gets buried never to be seen again.

After watching freo roll over last weekend I can say with absolute certainty that there is no chance that this scenario will eventuate.

I think his wife gets the 3 votes. Best podcast interruption since Neville Jetta's kid.

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No problem.

Fair enough. It takes a lot of effort for me to do these podcasts after soul crushing losses.

There's always a point in the show where we travel down a depressing path. I doubt we will traverse that path tonight.

There are many permutations that can happen. If we can get to the final dance the one team I would love to be up against would be the Eagles. Imagine the hype if it is us vs Collingwood in the Granny. There is still a long way to go first.

That's an excellent idea. I didn't have the foresight to film my or the crowd's reactions around me to final goals or siren. I was in absolute disbelief. Add to that the fact that I always think we can still lose it. I'm so scarred.

Listen to the Demonland Podcast featuring @Grapeviney and I LIVE Tonight @ 8:30pm and hear @Supermercado explain how his Bradbury Plan went horribly wrong. Listen and Chat LIVE: http://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

There. Renamed again in more neutral terms to also enable discussion on all eight fascinating games other than Melbourne v GWS Giants that remain in the 2018 home and away season.

Finally getting noticed in the media.

Not if we finish 4th.

THE STYLE GUIDE by Whispering Jack The graphic shown this week during a segment of “On the Couch” laid out some extraordinary statistics about the Melbourne Football Club’s season to date. The numbers read as follows:- • Contested possessions differential – #2 • Pressure – #2 • Points for – #1 • Points against – #9 • Points from turnovers differential – #2 • Points from clearances differential – #2 • Inside 50 differential – #1 • Time in forward half – #1 • Forward half intercepts – #1 • Points from forward half chains – #1 This was a selection of the numbers available and is by no means all inclusive about the story of the team’s style this year. They tell the story of a team that’s willing to take games on and that plays an exciting, attacking brand of football but, while the both the style of game and the actual figures are impressive, until last Sunday, they raised a question mark about why this team was desperately fighting for its life as a 2018 finalist, rather than sitting comfortably in the upper echelons of the competition preparing for qualifying finals in the coming weeks. The question was answered partially by Age writer Michael Gleeson before that game in The questions the Demons need to answer where he wrote about the alternate AFL ladder:– “It is the ladder that says what would happen if the team that lost the close games won them instead. So what would happen this year if the teams that lost games by 10 points or less won them? “The answer? Melbourne would be two games clear on top of the ladder.” Gleeson also alluded to the positive statistics such as the Demons’ #1 ranking in the competition for contested possessions but raised the spectre of its then inability to beat a top eight side and pointed to a wide gulf between its performances against top and bottom half teams. The answer according to Gleeson was that the team’s inability to stop the ball going the way of the opposition when it attacks. “Actually, the point is that Melbourne don’t defend.” That was part of the answer but it needed empirical proof and that came by means of the way that Melbourne finished off the game against the West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium on Sunday. In those final ten minutes, after their game-long lead had evaporated before their eyes and their season was on the line, they defended stoutly and showed they had learned the lesson of their soul-destroying loss on enemy territory a month earlier against Geelong. And they did it with the style that should hold them in good stead in the weeks to come. THE GAME Melbourne v GWS Giants at the MCG, Sunday 26 August, 2018 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall – GWS Giants 5 wins, Melbourne 5 wins At The MCG – Melbourne 3 wins, GWS Giants 1 win Past five meetings – Melbourne 2 wins, GWS Giants 3 wins The Coaches – Cameron 1 win Goodwin 0 wins THE MEDIA TV - Channel 7, Fox Sports 3, Live at 3.00pm RADIO - Triple M 3AW ABC ABC Grandstand THE LAST TIME THEY MET GWS Giants 14.13.97 defeated Melbourne 10.2.62 at UNSW Canberra Oval, Round #, 2017 The Demons suffered their second consecutive loss and dropped out of the top eight after they were thumped by the Giants in Canberra. Things started well enough with the opening three goals against the wind but GWS rolled into gear with the next eight goals and by the first break it was all but over. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Neville Jetta, Oscar McDonald, Jordan Lewis HB: Christian Salem, Sam Frost, Michael Hibberd ? Angus Brayshaw, Clayton Oliver, James Harmes HF: Jake Melksham, Tom McDonald, Aaron vandenBerg F: Bayley Fritsch, Sam Weideman, Alex Neal-Bullen Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Christian Petracca I/C: Mitch Hannan, Dean Kent, Charlie Spargo, Dom Tyson Emg: Tomas Bugg, Jay Kennedy Harris, Cameron Pedersen, Josh Wagner No change GWS GIANTS B: Jeremy Finlayson, Phil Davis, Adam Tomlinson B: Adam Kennedy, Nick Haynes, Harry Perryman ? Lachie Whitfield, Callan Ward, Jacob Hopper F: Sam Reid, Jeremy Cameron, Aiden Bonar F: Zac Langdon, Harry Himmelberg, Josh Kelly Foll: Rory Lobb, Stephen Coniglio, Dylan Shiel I/C: Matt Buntine, Lachlan Keeffe, Daniel Lloyd, Tim Taranto Emg: Dylan Buckley, Isaac Cumming, Brent Daniels, Zac Williams In: Josh Kelly, Sam Reid Out: Brent Daniels (omitted), Ryan Griffen (hamstring) It was the Jake Lever injury that sent Melbourne’s 2018 season into a month-long tailspin and three consecutive defeats in mid-season and which ultimately set the scene for the team’s revival that led to the securing of a berth in the finals. The Lever departure required some tinkering with the defensive line up with which the selectors grappled, struggled and finally got right. There were other elements that required attention, small kinks here and there but despite the pain of the last gasp defeat by Geelong and the confused mess of the Swans game, the 17-point victory over West Coast last weekend, proved they were worthy of participating in the finals after an absence of twelve long years. The irony is that Melbourne’s tough run leading into the finals with three matches on end against three fellow finalists is going to hold it in good stead in September. As far as I’m concerned, coming up against Sydney, West Coast and the GWS Giants represents a perfect preparation, immeasurably better than say, the Cats, who were given the task of playing against witches’ hats on their own home turf in the finals lead up. For the Demons, the game against GWS presents a perfect opportunity to tune up against quality opposition without in any way releasing the pressure valve. Aside from the remote chance of making it back into the top four should the Pies stagger against the Dockers, there’s a home final at stake (although Melbourne seems to play just as well away from home these days). Thankfully, the failure of Port Adelaide and North Melbourne to stitch up opposition teams in recent games, has allowed the Demon faithful some temporary respite for their fraying nerves knowing their team will definitely be featuring in next month’s action. They will no doubt recall the humiliation of their team’s encounter with the Giants in the national capital last year when, after kicking the first three goals against the wind, it conceded an unanswered 8 goals 6 behinds before quarter time to be well and truly blown off the park. The carnage in Canberra this week pales into insignificance against that dark day. The star for GWS was Josh Kelly who returns for them this week to make for a fascinating battle of the midfields. We know how strong the Demons are in this area with their young guns and iron man Nathan Jones. They will have the support of All Australian big man Max Gawn who should match up very favourably against Rory Lobb in the ruck contests but the Giants are the highest-ranked clearance team in the AFL. Ultimately, I believe the Demons will triumph because of their forward line strength (they are the highest-ranked team for scoring, inside 50s and marks inside 50), the defence has at long last settled with Oscar McDonald and Sam Frost solid, and the visitors have the deeper injury list. That’s enough for me to tip Melbourne to win an epic encounter at the MCG by 5 points.

The graphic shown this week during a segment of “On the Couch” laid out some extraordinary statistics about the Melbourne Football Club’s season to date. The numbers read as follows:- • Contested possessions differential – #2 • Pressure – #2 • Points for – #1 • Points against – #9 • Points from turnovers differential – #2 • Points from clearances differential – #2 • Inside 50 differential – #1 • Time in forward half – #1 • Forward half intercepts – #1 • Points from forward half chains – #1 This was a selection of the numbers available and is by no means all inclusive about the story of the team’s style this year. They tell the story of a team that’s willing to take games on and that plays an exciting, attacking brand of football but, while the both the style of game and the actual figures are impressive, until last Sunday, they raised a question mark about why this team was desperately fighting for its life as a 2018 finalist, rather than sitting comfortably in the upper echelons of the competition preparing for qualifying finals in the coming weeks. The question was answered partially by Age writer Michael Gleeson before that game in The questions the Demons need to answer where he wrote about the alternate AFL ladder:– “It is the ladder that says what would happen if the team that lost the close games won them instead. So what would happen this year if the teams that lost games by 10 points or less won them? “The answer? Melbourne would be two games clear on top of the ladder.” Gleeson also alluded to the positive statistics such as the Demons’ #1 ranking in the competition for contested possessions but raised the spectre of its then inability to beat a top eight side and pointed to a wide gulf between its performances against top and bottom half teams. The answer according to Gleeson was that the team’s inability to stop the ball going the way of the opposition when it attacks. “Actually, the point is that Melbourne don’t defend.” That was part of the answer but it needed empirical proof and that came by means of the way that Melbourne finished off the game against the West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium on Sunday. In those final ten minutes, after their game-long lead had evaporated before their eyes and their season was on the line, they defended stoutly and showed they had learned the lesson of their soul-destroying loss on enemy territory a month earlier against Geelong. And they did it with the style that should hold them in good stead in the weeks to come. THE GAME Melbourne v GWS Giants at the MCG, Sunday 26 August, 2018 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall – GWS Giants 5 wins, Melbourne 5 wins At The MCG – Melbourne 3 wins, GWS Giants 1 win Past five meetings – Melbourne 2 wins, GWS Giants 3 wins The Coaches – Cameron 1 win Goodwin 0 wins THE MEDIA TV - Channel 7, Fox Sports 3, Live at 3.00pm RADIO - Triple M 3AW ABC ABC Grandstand THE LAST TIME THEY MET GWS Giants 14.13.97 defeated Melbourne 10.2.62 at UNSW Canberra Oval, Round #, 2017 The Demons suffered their second consecutive loss and dropped out of the top eight after they were thumped by the Giants in Canberra. Things started well enough with the opening three goals against the wind but GWS rolled into gear with the next eight goals and by the first break it was all but over. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Neville Jetta, Oscar McDonald, Jordan Lewis HB: Christian Salem, Sam Frost, Michael Hibberd ? Angus Brayshaw, Clayton Oliver, James Harmes HF: Jake Melksham, Tom McDonald, Aaron vandenBerg F: Bayley Fritsch, Sam Weideman, Alex Neal-Bullen Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Christian Petracca I/C: Mitch Hannan, Dean Kent, Charlie Spargo, Dom Tyson Emg: Tomas Bugg, Jay Kennedy Harris, Cameron Pedersen, Josh Wagner No change GWS GIANTS B: Jeremy Finlayson, Phil Davis, Adam Tomlinson B: Adam Kennedy, Nick Haynes, Harry Perryman ? Lachie Whitfield, Callan Ward, Jacob Hopper F: Sam Reid, Jeremy Cameron, Aiden Bonar F: Zac Langdon, Harry Himmelberg, Josh Kelly Foll: Rory Lobb, Stephen Coniglio, Dylan Shiel I/C: Matt Buntine, Lachlan Keeffe, Daniel Lloyd, Tim Taranto Emg: Dylan Buckley, Isaac Cumming, Brent Daniels, Zac Williams In: Josh Kelly, Sam Reid Out: Brent Daniels (omitted), Ryan Griffen (hamstring) It was the Jake Lever injury that sent Melbourne’s 2018 season into a month-long tailspin and three consecutive defeats in mid-season and which ultimately set the scene for the team’s revival that led to the securing of a berth in the finals. The Lever departure required some tinkering with the defensive line up with which the selectors grappled, struggled and finally got right. There were other elements that required attention, small kinks here and there but despite the pain of the last gasp defeat by Geelong and the confused mess of the Swans game, the 17-point victory over West Coast last weekend, proved they were worthy of participating in the finals after an absence of twelve long years. The irony is that Melbourne’s tough run leading into the finals with three matches on end against three fellow finalists is going to hold it in good stead in September. As far as I’m concerned, coming up against Sydney, West Coast and the GWS Giants represents a perfect preparation, immeasurably better than say, the Cats, who were given the task of playing against witches’ hats on their own home turf in the finals lead up. For the Demons, the game against GWS presents a perfect opportunity to tune up against quality opposition without in any way releasing the pressure valve. Aside from the remote chance of making it back into the top four should the Pies stagger against the Dockers, there’s a home final at stake (although Melbourne seems to play just as well away from home these days). Thankfully, the failure of Port Adelaide and North Melbourne to stitch up opposition teams in recent games, has allowed the Demon faithful some temporary respite for their fraying nerves knowing their team will definitely be featuring in next month’s action. They will no doubt recall the humiliation of their team’s encounter with the Giants in the national capital last year when, after kicking the first three goals against the wind, it conceded an unanswered 8 goals 6 behinds before quarter time to be well and truly blown off the park. The carnage in Canberra this week pales into insignificance against that dark day. The star for GWS was Josh Kelly who returns for them this week to make for a fascinating battle of the midfields. We know how strong the Demons are in this area with their young guns and iron man Nathan Jones. They will have the support of All Australian big man Max Gawn who should match up very favourably against Rory Lobb in the ruck contests but the Giants are the highest-ranked clearance team in the AFL. Ultimately, I believe the Demons will triumph because of their forward line strength (they are the highest-ranked team for scoring, inside 50s and marks inside 50), the defence has at long last settled with Oscar McDonald and Sam Frost solid, and the visitors have the deeper injury list. That’s enough for me to tip Melbourne to win an epic encounter at the MCG by 5 points.