Demonland

From Whispering Jack Melbourne 4.1 Kangaroos 5.3 Goals to Neitz and Newton. Austin Wonaemirri has had a hand in the last 2 goals and kicked one himself. Nearly 1/4 time.

From Whispering Jack Melbourne 2.1 Kangaroos 4.3 Wonaemirri goal

From Whispering Jack: Melbourne 1.1 Kangaroos 3.2 Simon Buckley goal

From Whispering Jack: Melbourne 0.1 Kangaroos 2.1 (Thompson goal) Nathan Jones playing well

Bumped after unpinning. <> nothing to see here

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. You know who you are. It definitely goes along way to keeping DEMONLAND around and is greartly appreciated by the site administrators and contributors. Cheers and Go Dees, Andy

Definitely! PM me and I'm sure we can arrange something.

Thank you. It is very much appreciated.

It personally cost me $30 each month for the hosting of the site. The domain name registration costs me about $150 every 2 years. When our message board was with Aimoo, it used to cost me about $360 a year so that we wouldn't have any pop up ads. Now that Nasher is hosting the Message Boards I'm not sure what his costs are but I would like to send some of the donation money his way to attempt to cover his costs. I reckon I have spent approx. $5,000 over the last 8 years not to mention the countless hours creating, updating, moderating and maintaining this site. I know I have probably overspent over the years but I did it all for the love of our great club. I hope that helps. Cheers and thanks to those of you who have already donated. It is greatly appreciated. Andy

Hi Guys, As you know over the last 8 years DEMONLAND has always been (and always will remain) FREE despite the fact that it costs us to run the site. We have to pay hosting fees, domain name registration as well as the time it takes to upload and maintain the site. I have set up a donation link on the homepage in order to encourage the members of this site to help us contribute towards the maintaining of this site that you all love. It will direct you to the PAY PAL site which is completely secure. I don't expect to make money from this and any funds not used directly towards covering the costs of this site will be donated back to the club. I appreciate and thank everyone who assists us in this. Cheers and GO DEMONS, Andy --- In order to donate please visit www.demonland.com and click on the Donate buttons to Donate.

BEATEN BY BULLDOGS IN BENDIGO - a not nearly as well alliterated report by Diablo So it was on the afternoon of February 29th, the girlfriend and I made our way up to Bendigo to have a look at the Dees taking on the Doggies at the magnificent Queen Elizabeth Oval. I had high hopes for this game, even against a strong Dogs' lineup, as another posse of front-liners returned to the team. Even as, a couple of hours before the bounce, we made our way to the Rifle Brigade across the street to take in a few bevies and a meal, I was pumped. As we took our place in the main Grandstand at the park, it wasn't overly surprising to see that the Dogs' supporters heavily outnumbered us. What was mildly disappointing was that the Dees didn't appear to have any sort of merchandising or membership tent at the ground. I could be wrong, of course, but the Doggies' one was glaringly obvious as it was plonked right in front of the main gate. It does seem ridiculous that we wouldn't at least have a small setup somewhere, so I'll put it down to poor eyesight on my behalf. Anyway, the first quarter began and my positive attitude (a rarity for me, I'll admit) was vindicated as the Dees FLEW out of the blocks. After a few wayward efforts from both teams, including Will Minson missing an absolute pudding from 15m out, Robbo won a free kick and goaled from 25m out in the pocket. A lovely kick from Flash to a leading Neitz set the skipper up for his first kick in anger of 2008, and he didn't disappoint, drilling it from a tight angle in the right pocket. Chook got amongst it in his first hit-out for the year, gathering a couple of touches and taking a strong grab at half-forward, but it was Jones, Davey and Bate who were impressive from the get-go. Jones racked up touches and Davey's pace and skills were on display all night, whilst Bater was by far our best forward, leading hard and linking up the play. Bater kicked a sausage, some good interplay with Yze led to a running goal for Davey, and then good hands from Weetra and then Morton in traffic released Bate to kick a big bomb for our fifth. We were playing all over the dogs at this stage and they didn't look like getting near us. Then fate conspired to screw us into the ground yet again. The last 2 goals went to the Dogs after soft free kicks, and a 50m penalty. Now, before I go any further, I want to get the umpiring off my chest. To be fair, I'm just going to say it was poor, when in fact I felt like they castigated us. Without replays, it's hard to totally criminalise the umps, but suffice to say there were about four very tiggy touchwood 50m penalties, and I can't think of more than 3 Bulldog goals that were not from free kicks. It was exceptionally frustrating, but I won't dwell. Reading the commentary this morning, I can see I wasn't the only one who thought the maggots were in rare form last night. So, quarter time rolled around and we were still comfortably ahead, 5.4 to 2.3. Jones, Bate, and Davey had been our best, with Sylvia also getting amongst it late in the term. Moloney was solid coming off half-back and through the middle, and Miller and Carroll had repelled everything that it was in their power to deal with. All in all, a great opening. The first goal of the second term went our way, with Jones delivering the goods after some swash-buckling, tackle-busting run and carry that would please even the cynics. That's when the wheels fell off. Apparently delighted that they had finally managed to use run and carry effectively, after failing to do so for the entirety of last season, the boys went into hibernation. Jones and Beama, both good contributors in the middle, came off, and the Dogs finally got the ascendancy. Sylvia had a great quarter though, tearing through the middle with strength and pace. The Dogs had a good portion of help from the umpires, but they swamped us and whilst the backline, at least, battled manfully, they couldn't halt the tide. We were able to spoil virtually every time, only for the umpires to penalize us for some innocuous infringement. I've got no doubt that some of them were warranted, but some of them were bloody rubbish… Sorry, forget the umpires. Anyway, we conceded six goals with no answer, and the tables were not only turned, but well and truly lying on top of us at half time, as we went in 6.6 to 8.4 down. Our tackling and ferocity, which had been prominent early, had evaporated and we looked lackluster for much of the second quarter. The second half began as the first had ended, with the Dogs goaling from a free kick straight away. It seemed to wake us up, however, and we fought back strongly, hitting the post twice before Davey snapped truly after a ball up. Neitz jagged his second shortly afterwards. More free kicks, 50m penalties and the inevitably-ensuing goals to the Dogs left us 3 goals down, before Robbo took a fine grab and bagged a sausage from a tight angle. After that, things went very sour for us pretty quickly. Aker, who had cut us to ribbons all night, had a party in the rest of the third and what was played of the last. Robbo was reported after sending a Dog defender base over apex, though it looked a soft report at worst. Not too many positives for us to take from the second half really, though Jones, Davey and Sylvia all battled to the death. Cale Morton found a bit of the ball and had some good touches. Unfortunately, our forward line was more stagnant than a stubbie in a Mosque. The match ended in (for us, anyway) suitable ignominy, as the lights at the ground took a dump and the umpires finally cut us some slack by ending the game early. All in all, it was not a diabolical performance by Melbourne, but after the first quarter, I was expecting a bigger effort. Our first quarter was excellent, however, and our third quarter was also competitive, and saw us well within striking distance at the last change. Unfortunately, we capitulated in the final term, and the Dogs surged ahead of us. They may have just, on the balance of play, deserved to win the game, but the umpires gave us a bath. Western Bulldogs 2.3.15 8.4.52 11.7.73 14.9.93 Melbourne 5.4.34 6.6.42 9.9.63 9.9.63 Goals Western Bulldogs Akermanis Murphy 2 Boyd Eagleton Griffen Hahn Johnson Minson Mulligan O'Keefe Ward Welsh Melbourne Bate Davey Neitz Robertson 2 Jones Best Western Bulldogs Akermanis Eagleton Higgins Hill Cooney Johnson Melbourne Jones Davey Bate Sylvia Miller (Get out of town, Diablo, surely ye jest? Maybe, but he battled hard and had some fine moments), Valenti (I know I haven’t mentioned him; he bobbed up at times throughout the game with plenty of poise and is just naturally able to read the play. Get this boy on the senior list ASAP) Reports R Robertson (Melbourne) for charging J Mulligan (Western Bulldogs) Umpires M Head C Kamolins J Mollison. Crowd 7000 (approx) at Queen Elizabeth Oval, Bendigo

Hillary Clinton?

Western Bulldogs best and fairest Brian Lake (formerly Harris) will miss the remaining matches of the NAB Challenge series, but is expected to be fit for the Dogs’ clash with Adelaide in Round 1 of the home and away season. Lake underwent hip surgery on Tuesday morning after sustaining an injury against Essendon in the NAB Cup quarter-final against Essendon last Friday night. Lake has played 97 matches for the Dogs since making his debut in 2002.

First of all thanks to Diablo for volunteering to do a report and SMS the scores from Bendigo. I'm not sure why we had the outage on Friday night, perhaps it was due to the system getting fatigue about our loss. I hope that Nasher can use some psychology with the system in the future so that it doesn't get upset at these things or better still that we win and it doesn't get upset at all. Perhaps we could have one person at Demonology designated to get the scores and relay them onto the site over there. It would probably be more efficient than having everybody to log onto both sites and jam both systems (in which case we won't find out the scores until well into Satruday evening going by the publicity we get from the media compared with Collingwood that scored write ups bigger than for our senior game for its VFL team). Haydo - thanks for your offer as well. All reports will eb welcome and Go Dees!

If there's anybody going out there and willing to write a report for Demonland (ghost writing assistance and editing provided) please contact me by PM.

DEMON CHANGE by Bananabender This climate change thing is really getting to me. I live in a part of Queensland that until recently has been drought stricken yet at one stage our place was subject to severe water restrictions even though the local dam was 100% full. I drive almost all the way up the coast through flooded communities and in mostly rain soaked conditions and end up in the far north of the state to watch a game designed to be played in the cold of winter in the southern parts of this continent. The conditions are hot and humid but no rain when I arrive at Cazaly Stadium, Cairns with my mates to witness the NAB Challenge between Melbourne and Richmond. I am however, confronted with something even more frightening that climate change - I call it "Demon Change". Fair dinkum! The team is barely recognisable when they run out onto the ground. You can work Richmond out from the yellow and mainly black gear, but my first impression when the Demons emerge from the rooms is that they're wearing pyjamas; a mainly silver outfit reminiscent of my own night time attire as a five year old. Totally shocking and in no way matching club officials who are decked out in mainly red regalia. And it's not long before the faces of the coaching staff turn an appropriate shade of red to match the colours of their shirts. It is at this same point that I notice the true effects of Demon Change. There are so many new faces out there! I am too late to find a footy record on sale so it is hard keeping up with who's who out there on the field. I can say that most of the better known faces at Demonland are missing. No Neita, Robbo, Whitey, Brock, Bruce, Rivers, Wheels, Wheats or Carroll and they are only the names I can remember after consuming my full ration of frothies from plastic cups as the evening wears on to a painful end. The spectacle is pretty well hopeless but I suppose that is made inevitable by Demon Change. There is a smattering of players I recognise but many who I don't. The Tigers kick the first but it's a promising start as the Dees counter with a couple of goals to Michael Newton and newcomer Trent Zomer. Soon the inexperience and brittleness in the defence lets the Tigers through for some easy goals. Nathan Jones is our best early in the piece and Newton looks dangerous up forward. Aaron Davey and Brent Moloney start on the bench but once out on the field their presence helps. Still, the more accurate Tigers have the aid of the breeze and dominate the latter part of the first term (thanks to some loose defence) to hold sway to the tune of 16 points by quarter time. Melbourne mounts a comeback early in the second term with goals to Isaac Weetra and Newton but both are wasteful and fail to take full advantage of the opportunties presented to them through the midfield drive of Jones and Moloney whose penetrating kicks forward set up a number of scoring chances. Colin Sylvia is also at his best at this stage with some strong tackling and kicks to advantage. The Dees are five points down at the main break but they should be well in front. This is the end of the penny section as they say because after half time, the Demons are disappointing, wasteful in front of goal and tending towards a rabble although it must be said that some of the more experienced players are interchanged after half time and the younger players seem a little overawed. That could not be said of Addam Maric who shows his capacity to be a dangerous crumbing forward with a nice goal. The Tigers however, are playing with more purpose and with greater accuracy in front of goal as they skip to a 26 point lead at three quarter time but not before another disaster occurs with Newton going down with a head injury. His head is put in a neck brace and he is stretchered off and headed for Cairns Base Hospital. With our only effective key position forward out of the game, the team's confidence and its ability to mount a fightback seem to have been snuffed out. They fail to take advantage of the favouring breeze and the Tiger machine rolls on to a 35 point victory. Brad Green, Davey and Matty Bate lead the troops but there is not enough in the tank as the ship goes down in the steamy tropical night. I later learn that Juice Newton is cleared of any serious neck injury and is released from hospital where they must have been confused to see a patient admitted with such an injury already dressed in his PJ's. Speaking of PJ's, Paul Johnson plays a virtual lone hand against Simmonds and Pattison with John Meesen, well beaten in the ruck and later moved forward. Meesen looks mobile and might be a chance for a tall key position possibly in defence but is not the answer as a ruckman on what I have seen. Dean Bailey has stated that Brad Miller will be tried at both ends of the ground during the season but, after playing him at full back in this game, I think the best bet for him is at centre half forward. Miller has as many good games in defence under his belt as Heather Mills has toes and it's about time we forget about that one winning performance against Barry Hall a few years back. Cale Morton, Maric and Shane Valenti show some promise for the future but most of the other youngsters need time. I would suggest that it's also time to get serious about the forthcoming season and that the regulars start filtering back in the next few weeks as, without a solid core of experienced players, it's difficult to expect a cohesive and winning game plan to develop. My verdict therefore is that while change is always necessary, too much Demon Change is not necessarily such a good thing. Richmond 5.1.31, 6.4.40, 11.5.71 14.10.94 Melbourne 2.3.15 5.5.35 6.9.45 8.11.59 Goals Richmond Pettifer 3 Howat Hughes Schulz 2 Brown Foley Morton Pattison Raines Melbourne Newton 2 Davey Green Maric Petterd Weetra Zomer Best Richmond Pettifer Newman Simmonds Tambling Foley Bowden Melbourne Davey Jones Moloney Newton Sylvia P Johnson Valenti Umpires Armstrong Kamolins Kennedy

by Bananabender This climate change thing is really getting to me. I live in a part of Queensland that until recently has been drought stricken yet at one stage our place was subject to severe water restrictions even though the local dam was 100% full. I drive almost all the way up the coast through flooded communities and in mostly rain soaked conditions and end up in the far north of the state to watch a game designed to be played in the cold of winter in the southern parts of this continent. The conditions are hot and humid but no rain when I arrive at Cazaly Stadium, Cairns with my mates to witness the NAB Challenge between Melbourne and Richmond. I am however, confronted with something even more frightening that climate change - I call it "Demon Change". Fair dinkum! The team is barely recognisable when they run out onto the ground. You can work Richmond out from the yellow and mainly black gear, but my first impression when the Demons emerge from the rooms is that they're wearing pyjamas; a mainly silver outfit reminiscent of my own night time attire as a five year old. Totally shocking and in no way matching club officials who are decked out in mainly red regalia. And it's not long before the faces of the coaching staff turn an appropriate shade of red to match the colours of their shirts. It is at this same point that I notice the true effects of Demon Change. There are so many new faces out there! I am too late to find a footy record on sale so it is hard keeping up with who's who out there on the field. I can say that most of the better known faces at Demonland are missing. No Neita, Robbo, Whitey, Brock, Bruce, Rivers, Wheels, Wheats or Carroll and they are only the names I can remember after consuming my full ration of frothies from plastic cups as the evening wears on to a painful end. The spectacle is pretty well hopeless but I suppose that is made inevitable by Demon Change. There is a smattering of players I recognise but many who I don't. The Tigers kick the first but it's a promising start as the Dees counter with a couple of goals to Michael Newton and newcomer Trent Zomer. Soon the inexperience and brittleness in the defence lets the Tigers through for some easy goals. Nathan Jones is our best early in the piece and Newton looks dangerous up forward. Aaron Davey and Brent Moloney start on the bench but once out on the field their presence helps. Still, the more accurate Tigers have the aid of the breeze and dominate the latter part of the first term (thanks to some loose defence) to hold sway to the tune of 16 points by quarter time. Melbourne mounts a comeback early in the second term with goals to Isaac Weetra and Newton but both are wasteful and fail to take full advantage of the opportunties presented to them through the midfield drive of Jones and Moloney whose penetrating kicks forward set up a number of scoring chances. Colin Sylvia is also at his best at this stage with some strong tackling and kicks to advantage. The Dees are five points down at the main break but they should be well in front. This is the end of the penny section as they say because after half time, the Demons are disappointing, wasteful in front of goal and tending towards a rabble although it must be said that some of the more experienced players are interchanged after half time and the younger players seem a little overawed. That could not be said of Addam Maric who shows his capacity to be a dangerous crumbing forward with a nice goal. The Tigers however, are playing with more purpose and with greater accuracy in front of goal as they skip to a 26 point lead at three quarter time but not before another disaster occurs with Newton going down with a head injury. His head is put in a neck brace and he is stretchered off and headed for Cairns Base Hospital. With our only effective key position forward out of the game, the team's confidence and its ability to mount a fightback seem to have been snuffed out. They fail to take advantage of the favouring breeze and the Tiger machine rolls on to a 35 point victory. Brad Green, Davey and Matty Bate lead the troops but there is not enough in the tank as the ship goes down in the steamy tropical night. I later learn that Juice Newton is cleared of any serious neck injury and is released from hospital where they must have been confused to see a patient admitted with such an injury already dressed in his PJ's. Speaking of PJ's, Paul Johnson plays a virtual lone hand against Simmonds and Pattison with John Meesen, well beaten in the ruck and later moved forward. Meesen looks mobile and might be a chance for a tall key position possibly in defence but is not the answer as a ruckman on what I have seen. Dean Bailey has stated that Brad Miller will be tried at both ends of the ground during the season but, after playing him at full back in this game, I think the best bet for him is at centre half forward. Miller has as many good games in defence under his belt as Heather Mills has toes and it's about time we forget about that one winning performance against Barry Hall a few years back. Cale Morton, Maric and Shane Valenti show some promise for the future but most of the other youngsters need time. I would suggest that it's also time to get serious about the forthcoming season and that the regulars start filtering back in the next few weeks as, without a solid core of experienced players, it's difficult to expect a cohesive and winning game plan to develop. My verdict therefore is that while change is always necessary, too much Demon Change is not necessarily such a good thing. Richmond 5.1.31, 6.4.40, 11.5.71 14.10.94 Melbourne 2.3.15 5.5.35 6.9.45 8.11.59 Goals Richmond Pettifer 3 Howat Hughes Schulz 2 Brown Foley Morton Pattison Raines Melbourne Newton 2 Davey Green Maric Petterd Weetra Zomer Best Richmond Pettifer Newman Simmonds Tambling Foley Bowden Melbourne Davey Jones Moloney Newton Sylvia P Johnson Valenti Umpires Armstrong Kamolins Kennedy

Confirmation on the AFL site - Melbourne’s Newton cleared of neck injury

Our correspondent Bananabender who promises he'll do a report when he sobers up has emailed his goalkickers as follows:- Newton 2 Davey Green Maric Petterd Weetra Zomer At this point in time he doesn't recall seeing anyone who resembles Clint Bartram at the ground.

Reported by twodogs on Demonology that Michael Newton is fine and in the pool of his motel with the rest of the team - "Petterd is getting his fore arm strapped, Wonaeamirri has some sort of finger injury, the good news is that Newton is in the pool with the rest of them, what a beefcake parade, come back inside Lorraine, you're embarrassing yourself. They all look incredibly fit. Missus says she is now an ex saints supporter. Will post a detailed match report when I get back to Mission this afternoon. Just had a quick word with PJ, Newton's neck is fine, is hoooning and wrestling in the pool with half a dozen others." We're also hoping to hear from Bananabender who has covered some Qld games in the past to find out if he made it to Cairns to provide a report on the game.

Thanks H. Will start a separate thread as many people have expressed concern about Juice.

Nice spin. It was also the closest game we've played in so far this year .

or perhaps it's our Nathan Brown making a comeback?

Thanks guys and keep the scores rolling in! [The above is the quarter time score]

THE SILVER LINING by The Oracle Those who turned up to Skilled Stadium yesterday (or watched it on television) expecting Melbourne to win against a reasonably strong Geelong combination with the final selected line up of 26, please stand up. It's good to see you all remain seated. That's right, although the objective in most matches is to win the four points or to go on to the next round of competition, this was highly unlikely given the unavailability through rest, rehab, injury and club imposed suspension of 18 MFC listed players. And that was reflected accurately in the result of the game. The rest of the list all played against the Cats, eight of them in the first AFL games ever - Kyle Cheney, Tom McNamara, Adamm Maric, Stef Martin, Shane Valenti, Isaac Weetra, Austin Wonaeamirri and Trent Zomer while another, John Meesen (2 games for Adelaide) was wearing the red and blue (and silver) for the first time ever. Then we had Jace Bode, Simon Buckley, Colin Garland, Michael Newton and Matthew Warnock whose senior AFL experience is yet to pass double figures. And it doesn't stop there because included in the team was also a couple of seasoned 20 year olds in Matthew Bate and Nathan Jones, the latter having moved out of his teens less than a month ago. And in the stands watching sat at least a dozen of the more talented players including a majority of those in the leadership group. That sounds like game set and match to me when, despite signalling his indifference to the Nab Cup concept and particularly some of its rules, Mark Bomber Thompson then chose close to his strongest team. Geelong was on show on its own patch of turf and in front of the faithful for the first time since it crushed Port Adelaide to win last year's premiership. The Cats were on song from the beginning while the young Demons were a bundle of nerves. The predictable happened and the home team blew them away in the first 10 to 15 minutes despite Melbourne enjoying the wind advantage. With their greater skill and experience all over the ground and with their control over the centre bounces and the stoppages, they kicked 8 goals to 2 in the opening stanza and late in the second term the margin was 63 points. Melbourne played its best football to reduce that margin to 48 points at the main break and reduced it even further to 26 points after that before Geelong surged again. In the final term, the stronger bodied Cats took complete control again and Steve Johnson added to his highlights package to finish with six goals. There were few highlights from Melbourne's point of view but there was some silver lining (apart from the obvious silver material in it's hideous uniform). The Demons did achieve something. They managed to get through the game with no apparent injuries and will now move into the NAB Cup Challenge where there is no limitation on interchanges and the list of players being nursed through their pre season can build their on their preparation for the coming season. Coach Dean Bailey was also given a pointer as to where some of his teams strengths and weaknesses lie and he also had the opportunity of looking closely at how his younger players are progressing (although his top two draft picks in Cale Morton and Jack Grimes were also out injured and Adamm Maric was a late inclusion after missing last week's community camp in Canberra with school commitments). After the game, Bailey told reporters – "We played a lot of kids. We put them in important positions on the ground and that's the only way you can learn and develop – don't hide them and don't put them on the bench." He would have been impressed with some of the youngsters and knows that he goes away with a lot of the raw material for success in the future. The big plus to my mind was the way 17-year-old Tom McNamara went about his game. He's the youngest player in the AFL competition and possibly might have even been lucky to get a run but he held up well in the back line in a true baptism of fire. He showed he can mark, kick and he contests the ball well. Rookie Shane Valenti has his detractors who claim that he is too small and too slow but he certainly burrowed in for the football and gained a lot of fans from a performance that saw him at the top of his team's possession gatherers. If he doesn't make it then it won’t be for the lack of trying. Basketball convert Stef Martin showed a bit and, if he can work on his kicking, he could become a key tall. Colin Garland showed that he has improved his game over the summer and his three goals (including a super goal) highlighted his potential and versatility. The other youngsters flashed all in and out of play. Bailey would also have been pleased with the performance of three 20 year olds in Nathan Jones, Simon Buckley and Matthew Bate who all stepped up to the plate in difficult circumstances. In the absence of most of the club's midfield stars of last year, it was Jones who copped the brunt of the tagging and he proved himself under intense fire. Former Adelaide (and before that Geelong Falcons) ruckman John Meesen, returned to home territory and played in a number of positions around the ground. Whilst he didn't star, the big man looks to be a real acquisition and given the poor form of the Demon rucks on the day he will be a much-needed one. When you get beaten as badly as Melbourne did in the end, there's usually a lot about which you can’t get excited and there were quite a few lowlights for the afternoon. I thought the rump of the club's more experienced players were poor, the rucks in particular disappointing. They were easily brushed aside by Geelong's big men and failed to give their mainly inexperienced on ballers the service they required. Although Jeff White managed to get a bit of the ball around the ground, I'm concerned about how he will fare against the AFL's powerhouse ruckmen on a weekly basis throughout the season. The experienced Russell Robertson and Brad Green were disappointing. Robbo hit higher notes with Kate Ceberano during the week on television than he did yesterday at Skilled Stadium and Greenie's disposal let him and his team mates down on the day although to his credit, he improved his output later in the game. Adem Yze, in his comeback game after last year's hernia and last week's poke in the eye, toiled hard in defence and should be much better from the run. The umpires were as rusty as the players and produced an ordinary display with some inconsistency in decision making and the level of confusion at their decisions among the crowd was high. The other lowlight for mine was the innocuous combined Nab Cup/clash strip, which was an absolute shocker and actually clashed more with the Cats' colours than the club's traditional jumper. The club does penance for losing to Geelong by travelling to the far reaches of the country next week so thankfully, I probably won't see that abomination for a while. Geelong: 0.8.1, 1.12.4, 1.15.7, 2.22.10 (160) Melbourne: 0.2.4, 1.4.4, 2.8.5, 2.11.5 (89) Super Goals: Geelong: Byrnes Wojcinski Melbourne: Buckley Garland Goals: Geelong: S Johnson 6 Davenport 2 Lonergan 2 Gamble 2 Byrnes 2 Kelly 2 Mooney Milburn Hunt Stokes Prismall Wojcinski Melbourne: Newton 2 Garland 2 Robertson Green Weetra Meesen Valenti Zomer Sylvia Best: Geelong: S Johnson Ling Prismall Stokes Bartel Byrnes Wojcinski Milburn Taylor Melbourne: Jones Buckley Valenti Yze Meesen Garland Injuries: Geelong: G Ablett (calf) Melbourne: Nil Reports: Nil Umpires: Rosebury Sully Kamolins M Nicholls