Demonland

Meggs asks is it time to heave ho the melodies and words of yesteryear and update Club theme songs with some Australian composers and singers? What prompted this reflection was the discovery that this week’s combatants’ themes were written by the same early 20th century American composer, George M. Cohan. Cohan’s melodies The Yankee Doodle Boy and You’re a Grand Old Flag have been used by Hawthorn since 1956 and Melbourne since 1912. Even earlier, the club themes of Brisbane (French National Anthem) and Geelong (Bizet’s Carmen) were written during the 19th century by two disparate Frenchmen. Meggs can’t see the connection to Aussie rules. A discussion for another time perhaps. This week Melbourne takes on Hawthorn at Kinetic Stadium in Frankston at 5:05pm. Get excited, it’s a brand new venue for the Dees to exploit and break records. So far in Season Eight Melbourne is undefeated with three convincing wins against Collingwood, GWS and the Western Bulldogs and are premiership favourites. By way of comparison, Hawthorn defeated the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat but has lost to Essendon and Fremantle. Mick Stinear would have to be pleased with his forwards. They have the highest points for (255), nine goals more than any other team, and are second on the ladder by percentage (271.3%). Kate Hore tops the all-time AFLW goalkickers list with 61 goals, while Tayla Harris sits third on 59. Enough stats. Last week’s match demonstrated the depth of Melbourne’s midfield, led by Hanksy, Purcell, Mithen, Paxy and Westy with support from Mackin, Hore and Heathy (trying to slow the Blackburn train). Isn’t McNamara building brilliantly into the season! Selection this week Alyssa Bannan is listed as a test on her sprained ankle. If Banno misses, then expect housemate Megan Fitzsimon (also listed as a test) to be her replacement. Go Fitzy. Hawthorn reported that Stephenson will be unavailable due to concussion. Our opponents, Hawthorn Hawthorn’s experienced coach Bec Goddard knows her footy. The practice match loss to Melbourne by 64 points will have provided plenty of learnings for her team. Meggs expects the Hawks to be prepared and much more competitive in this match. The key question is, can they match Melbourne’s fitness and pressure over four quarters? Watching them play the first three rounds you can see they have recruited a strong group of senior players from around the competition. All Australians Emily Bates and Greta Bodey from Brisbane, Aileen Gilroy and Kaitlyn Ashmore from North and their skipper Tilly Lucas-Rodd have been fantastic additions and are leading the team in 2023. The Hawks have a couple of young rucks, one is Lucy Wales (from Casey Demons), who should test our girls. Irishwomen Aine McDonagh and Bridie Hipwell have both impressed around goals. Meggs view The Demons are heavy favourites this week. The forward line should be too talented for the Hawks’ backline to control, especially with the mid field support and pressure applied over the four quarters. The evenness of talent and skill under pressure will be telling. It is hard to see Bates, Lucas-Rodd, Kashy, Gilroy, young Fleming et al sustaining the rage but they have looked good at times this year and applied lots of pressure in our pre-season game. That said, Meggs thinks we are humming and on song while the opposition will not be a happy team at the end of the night. Go Dees! Melbourne by 33 points THE GAME Melbourne v Hawthorn at Kinetic Stadium, Frankston, on Friday 22 September 2023 at 5:05pm (Melbourne time) HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 0 wins Hawthorn 0 wins At Kinetic Stadium, Frankston Melbourne 0 wins Hawthorn 0 wins The Coaches Stinear 2 wins Goddard 0 wins MEDIA TV - live free on 7mate. Foxtel, Kayo. Mobile – AFL Live Official App and AFLW Official App Radio - check your local guides. THE LAST TIME THEY MET This is the first official meeting between the clubs but they met last month in a practice match at Casey Fields with Melbourne winning a one-sided affair 8.16.64 to 0.6.6 (19 August 2023). It was a good chance for Mick Stinear to trial new strategies and test his team’s fitness under the new rules of longer quarters and interchange limits. He welcomed back Eliza McNamara and Gaby Colvin from long term injuries. Sherriff looked to be playing forward this year and Kate Hore was setting herself up for a great season. Georgia Campbell has played only one game mainly as a forward but went ok in the ruck and took a strong grab. Eden Zanker kicked four goals, looked confident and set for a big year. Missing players included Gay, Gall, Fowler, Ivey, Aimee Mackin and Watt. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B T. Gillard L. Birch HB S. Goldrick S.Lampard S. Heath C B. Mackin T. Hanks E. McNamara HF A. Mackin L. Mithen T. Harris F K. Hore E. Zanker FOLL L. Pearce P. Paxman O. Purcell I/C A. Bannan G. Campbell M. Chaplin G. C. Sherriff E. West EMG G. Colvin J. Ivey R. Watt IN A. Mackin OUT M. Gay (managed) HAWTHORN B E. Everist M. Eardley HB C. Brown J. Richardson C. Baskaran C K. Stratton T. Lucas-Rodd T. Smith HF A. McDonagh B. Hipwell G. Bodey F T. Luke S. Locke FOLL L. Wales A. Gilroy J. Fleming I/C K. Ashmore E. Bates B. Deed L. Elliott T. Fellows EMG M. Breed C. Dumont A. Kemp IN B. Deed T. Fellows OUT A. Makur Chuot (managed) L. Stephenson (concussion) Injury List: Round 4 Alyssa Bannan (ankle) test Megan Fitzsimon (back) test Sammie Johnson (calf) 1 week

Fair enough. Rightly or wrongly we couldn't offer him game time. He would be a walk up start in most teams. Sorry to see him go.

It was my daughters birthday but even if it wasn’t I would have been hard pressed to get the motivation up. I’ll be low energy tonight as it is.

Cutting off the questions here. There's a lot to unpack here and my motivation is low. I just hope I can bring some energy to the podcast because I'm still not over the loss.

CHANGES 2023 Part 1: Silver Linings by The Oracle Friday night, the Melbourne Football Club was unceremoniously dumped from the AFL finals in straight sets for the second year in a row after winning the premiership in September 2021. To make things worse, its greatest ever player in Ronald Dale Barassi passed away within 24 hours and its dual All-Australian headline recruit Brodie Grundy who wasn’t deemed worthy of a final, announced he wanted out of the club on Monday. The gravity of these two events is vastly different but they do demonstrate how bad things have been going for the Demons this month. As with most things however, there are still many silver linings for the club notwithstanding the loss of a club icon, the defeats and the bad run of luck, injuries and suspensions that have hit the club recently. While we are now forced to sit back and watch as four clubs no more talented than ours battle it out for premiership glory, the focus for Melbourne must now be on the regeneration and improvement of its list by way of the process of change through trading, free agency and drafting over the coming two months. The silver lining is that the club already has a strong list that sits within the premiership window, it has some good young up-and-comers including some who are in the warehouse waiting for an AFL debut and an outstanding hand with which it can confidently trade or enter the November Draft in search of high-end talent. On that last point, at this time in 2022, the club’s first pick in the November Draft was a late second rounder at number 34. This year, the scenario prior to entering October’s trade period is that the Demons have locked in picks 5, 13, 24 and 32. With a good selection looming in a trade with the Swans for Grundy and others attracting interest as well, the possibilities for bettering that position are strong. Grundy might be gone but Lachie Hunter proved an asset on the wing after transferring to Melbourne from the Bulldogs with Josh Schache who had very few opportunities at AFL level but has been retained for next season. Melbourne found a few true rising stars in the underestimated Judd McVee who played every game for the season and the young power forward Jacob Van Rooyen who will go forward in leaps and bounds while Bailey Laurie and Taj Woewodin also showed great promise for the future. Second year key defender Daniel Turner again had his season hampered by injury but is expected to break into a regular position with added bulk and a good summer of training. This brings us to the players in the club’s "warehouse" — youngsters who have yet to be tested at senior AFL level and can therefore we can consider them as recruits for 2024 even before considering trades, free agents and draftees. They are — § Blake Howes would almost certainly have played AFL but for a bad run with injury over the past two seasons. The classy, tallish winger, who can also go forward has some big wraps on him and could bring some much-needed polish into the Demon line up in 2024. § Andy Moniz-Wakefield is a Next Generation Academy player from the NT who showed further improvement at Casey and bagged five goals in the 2023 Wild Card game against North Melbourne. One to watch in 2024. § Matthew Jefferson — the club’s first round draft pick last year (received as part of the trade with Fremantle for Luke Jackson) had a mixed season at Casey. His best was excellent and included two four goal efforts, but he tired late in the year. Some added weight and work on his leading patterns over the pre-season should pay some big dividends in the next year or so. § Jed Adams still has a way to go but he contested well, demonstrated some strong defensive skills and is a good mark. Very much a work in progress. § Will Verrell learned from some of the best ruckmen in the game in 2023 and showed that he is a very willing combatant in the big man stakes. Will be worth watching as his development continues in 2024. § Oliver Sestan is a player who could be anything but then again might not make it. He came raw from school and junior country football where he was a brilliant goal sneak into an elite AFL squad much in need of a football education and, because of injury failed to see out his first season. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this player. § Kye Turner and Kyah Farris-White are two rookie listed players who, for varying reasons, we saw very little of in 2023. They appear to be a fair way off. The club has announced that another rookie, Deakyn Smith, will not receive a renewed contract so along with the retiring Luke Dunstan and Michael Hibberd, he is the first of the changes for 2024. That leaves the Melbourne Football Club list looking like this: — PRIMARY LIST: — Jed Adams Jake Bowey Angus Brayshaw Ben Brown Kade Chandler Luke Dunstan (retired) Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn Brodie Grundy James Harmes Michael Hibberd (retired) Blake Howes Lachie Hunter Matthew Jefferson James Jordon Ed Langdon Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Tom McDonald Steven May Jake Melksham Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Christian Salem Josh Schache Joel Smith Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow Adam Tomlinson Jacob van Rooyen Jack Viney Taj Woewodin ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A Judd McVee Oliver Sestan Deakyn Smith (delisted) Daniel Turner* Kye Turner Will Verrell ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B Kyah Farris-White Andy Moniz-Wakefield * to be elevated to Primary List for 2024

The Demons withstood a spirited challenge from the Western Bulldogs in the 10th anniversary of the Hampson-Hardeman Cup to run away with it in the last quarter and take their unbeaten run to 12 wins on the trot, an AFLW record. The Doggies were tenacious and their losing score of 6.5.41 was the highest score against Melbourne since their last loss against Brisbane in Round 4 on 18 September 2022. With the sad passing of AFL football legend Ronald Dale Barassi, champion player and coaching maestro, and Friday night’s shattering 2-point semi-final loss to Carlton by the men’s team, we Demon supporters needed something to lift our spirits. Meggs hopes our star AFLW team’s 42-point, entertaining, hard-fought victory at the Field of Dreams, Casey Fields, was cathartic for you too. Our key leaders Kate Hore and Tyla Hanks continue their weekly displays of sublime footy nous and skill execution. Improvement builds across the entire playing group and our depth of personnel and elite fitness levels are the envy of the league. Coach Mick mentioned there is some work to do on our defence. Some would agree. The Bulldogs were terrific with their endeavour, led by star captain Ellie Blackburn and trailed by only eight points midway through the third quarter. Melbourne’s system, fitness and ability to execute our trademark run and carry game style saw the Dees win easily in the end. It was a physical game and the notorious Casey windy conditions made skill execution difficult. Melbourne had 16 players with more than ten possessions displaying the even spread of contribution whereas by comparison the Bulldogs had only ten players. Too many positives to mention everyone but a few: Eliza McNamara is building nicely in her comeback from injury. Loz Pearce has started this season very strongly and her ruck support, young Campbell, looks promising. Tayla Harris had a terrific game and Macken keeps learning, starting at a few centre bounces. The Dees remain second on the ladder after three games on percentage and take on the Hawks away next week. Melbourne will start favourite, but the problem with building a winning streak is the implied pressure of an unbeaten run. In terms of the game: Q1 From the outset such intensity from the Bulldogs.The Dees win a contested ball in the centre and then execute their trademark run and carry. Harris Hore, Purcell and finally Hanks involved, who side steps and pinpoint passes to Mithen. Lily goes back and goals for Melbourne’s first score. Moments later Hore gets high-tackled in front of goal and kicks our second from her freekick. Next Mackin kicks deep inside the 50 to Bannan, who instinctively moves to her right to score but is then tackled by two ferocious Dogs, her shot goes wide but now she’s down in pain. Sadly, Bannan’s day is done. On the last play of the quarter Eliza Mac puts Hore under pressure with her handball and Deanna Berry picks it up and slams it through from 40 metres. Nice goal, she had missed with her two previous attempts. ¼ time: Dees 2.3.15 Dogs 1.2.8 Q2 Again, real intensity from the Bulldogs. Ellie Blackburn leads her team well. Halfway through the quarter Hanksy wins a free and passes to Paxy in a better position who goals. Repeated forward entries and Sherriff kicks a nice opportunist’s goal. Dogs keeping up the effort and stalwart Kirsty Lamb kicks a lovely left foot goal from a throw in. Mick has moved Heath on to Ellie B. Tough gig. Young Rylie Wilcox takes a ripper mark over Eliza Mac and kicks a nice goal. ½ time: Dees 5.7.37 Dogs 3.3.21 Q3 The Bulldogs team intensity continues. Kirsty Lamb, without looking, kicks a miracle goal and it’s a 10-point game. Harris kicks long to Gay who goals. Gillard drops a mark she should have taken, McLoed then runs into an open goal and it’s an 8-point game. From the ensuing centre bounce the Dees win the clearance and Zanker gets on the end for a quick reply. We make it look easy at times. Some more magic from our new forward, Maddi Gay, who gives and gets from Sherriff to kick a rippa goal on the run, her second for the day. Some more confusion from our backs allows McFarlane to run on to a bouncing ball and kick a Dogs goal. ¾ time: Dees 8.7.55 Dogs 6.5.35 Q4 Lily Mithen kicks a nice goal on the run to begin. That’s 2 today. Go Lil. Next Eliza MacNamara kicks a ripping inside 50 low drop punt to hit Kate Hore, lace out. It’s Tayla Harris’ turn to pinpoint Zanker inside 50. Edo bananas a goal on her leftie. Dogs are tiring, the team intensity has waned. Dees running away with it. Hanksy finds Paxy who long bombs her second goal. The siren sounds and it’s a convincing 42-point win. Three zip in 2023. Coaches and next week Melbourne Coach Mick Stinear was pleased with the win in tricky conditions. We were able to execute our run and carry game to put on good score. He noted there were defensive lapses during the match, with the Dogs scoring more freely than he would have liked. He said Alyssa Bannan has a sprained ankle. Optimistically she’ll be right for next week, at worst 1-2 weeks. Bulldogs coach Nathan Burke was proud of his team’s four-quarter effort and intensity around the contest. He feels Melbourne are the best team going around by a fair way. He highlighted that pre-season injuries have affected the Dogs overall match fitness but sees promising signs ahead. Next week, the Demons take on the Hawks at Kinetic Stadium (Friday, September 22 at 5:05pm).  MELBOURNE 2.3.15 5.7.37 8.7.55 12.11.83 WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.2.8 3.3.21 6.5.41 6.5.41 GOALS MELBOURNE Gay Hore Mithen Paxman Zanker 2 Hanks Sherriff WESTERN BULLDOGS Lamb 2 Berry McFarlane McLeod Wilcox BEST MELBOURNE Hanks McNamara Hore Pearce Gay Paxman WESTERN BULLDOGS Blackburn Lynch Lamb Pritchard Wilcox INJURIES MELBOURNE Bannan (ankle) Gay (hip) WESTERN BULLDOGS Wilcox (knee) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil WESTERN BULLDOGS Nil CROWD 1,457 at Casey Fields

The podcast will air live on Tuesday night @ 8:30pm

Well, the 2023 season is over for the Demons after a two point loss to the Blues in the First Semi Final. All season WE have been hearing about the “learnings” that the team needed to make after each loss, but how much have we actually learnt when they: 1. Lost four successive finals at our own home ground; 2. Fell in five of their last six losses despite having more shots at goal and in the sixth, they had an equal number of shots; 3. Lost seven games by under two goals; 4. Kicked 118.51 (69.8%) in the first 7 games, but scored 203.226 (45.2%) for the remainder of the season. In the finals it was 16.28 at 36.4%. What has been learnt is that kicking straight wins matches. But that blatantly obvious notion seems to have eluded the MFC as they burned numerous opportunities to ice games. With Melbourne recording yet another miserable 9.17 in front of goal, the result left the door ajar for Carlton, and they bumbled their way through it with seconds remaining to send their obnoxious fans into delirium. Chances, chances and straight out failure to score a major when the opportunity presented. The captain fluffed two straightforward attempts from close range. The side’s last five shots for the season were all behinds at a time when the game and the season was on the line. We have heard that finals football is a different game. It certainly is, since it becomes a matter of centimetres and individual wins over an opponent. With two goals denied because of touched calls, including one by Max as well, the line between success and failure was once again, quite literally a fingernail. A season finished and a real opportunity lost. Have the team and coaching panel learnt the lesson? Hard to see that they have when the results are the same. It was also hard to understand both the selections and the non-use of the sub. The claim that Schache was to be insurance for Max, frankly fails the “pub test” when he wasn’t used at all. The non selection of Grundy also fails the same test, since Max was forced to play 87% game time against two ruckmen, including no break at all in the third quarter! Grundy had an exemplary performance in his last game at Casey while playing in the ruck, something which Schache didn’t do! The defenders held up strongly all night led by Steven May with ten interceptions, while Jake Lever backed up with nine. May took seven marks, Lever eight, but it was those truly telling contested marks, not just the three he took, but that they were at critical points in the game. Adam Tomlinson returned to the side, and managed to lose De Koning in his first venture, and in his second pushed him in the back, so gifting Carlton their first two goals. What was the margin in the end? Why Turner wasn’t given the role, when he reads the play so much better and is streets ahead in mobility is another conundrum. Big shout out to Trent Rivers with an amazing ten contested possessions while playing off half back. But it was up forward that the side was let down. They missed Harrison Petty, Jake Melksham, Jacob van Rooyen and Ben Brown although they had co-opted Joel Smith to be the leading target. He certainly performed well above expectations with three goals and (unlike others) zero behinds. The same could not be said for Tom McDonald who simply looked slow and unable to impact any aspect of the game. Wasn’t he brought in as the back up ruck? Or was that Schache? Well in that role he only had 1 hit out and no score for the match, so that was another piece of brilliance, with Schache sitting on the bench for the whole game. The mids did their best against quality opposition, Jack Viney with a credible 15 contested touches from his 31 overall. Petracca also 15 contested, but in the absence of Brayshaw, he was unable to be used up forward as much, and the forwards certainly needed all the help they could get. The supporters were burnt again, but we all know they will come back. They have learnt to take defeat all too often and it is no surprise that “Melbourne Football Club Supporter Syndrome” is burnt into their psyche when their side blows a two goal lead with minutes to go … again. One would think those supporters would learn?  MELBOURNE 3.3.21 4.7.31 7.11.53 9.17.71 CARLTON 2.2.14 5.3.33 7.5.47 11.7.73 GOALS MELBOURNE Smith 3 Fritsch Pickett 2 Langdon Petracca CARLTON Acres De Koning Motlop Walsh 2 Curnow Kennedy Owies BEST MELBOURNE May Oliver Viney Smith Petracca Sparrow CARLTON Walsh Cripps Newman De Koning Weitering Saad INJURIES

 MELBOURNE Nil CARLTON Cripps (nose) Docherty (shoulder) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil CARLTON Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Nil CARLTON Ollie Hollands replaced David Cuningham in the fourth quarter UMPIRES Simon Meredith Nathan Williamson Andre Gianfagna Jacob Mollison CROWD 96,412 at the MCG

Congratulations to Christian Petracca on winning the 2023 Demonland Player of the Year 261. Christian Petracca 200. Jack Viney 150. Clayton Oliver 112. Max Gawn 106. Steven May 99. Angus Brayshaw 88. Steven May 72. Jake Lever 68. Trent Rivers 59. Lachie Hunter 58. Kysaiah Pickett 46. Christian Salem 40. Brodie Grundy 34. Jake Bowey Bayley Fritsch 31. Alex Neal-Bullen Tom Sparrow 27. Ed Langdon 24. Judd McVee 19. Jake Melksham 18. Kade Chandler 16. Harry Petty 13. Jacob van Rooyen 12. Charlie Spargo 9. Ben Brown 5. Tom McDonald 4. Michael Hibberd 3. James Jordon Joel Smith Adam Tomlinson

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Tuesday, 19th September @ 8:30pm. Join George, Binman & I as we analyse the Demons devastating loss to the Blues in the Semi Final. You 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. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

Once again inaccuracy cost the Demons as they are bundled out in straight sets for the 2nd consecutive final series going down to the Blues by 2 points in front of 96,000 people at the MCG. Bring on 2024.

Congratulations to Christian Petracca for taking out his 2nd Demonland Player of the Year Award. With a 59 votes lead over Jack Viney he cannot be overtaken. Your votes please for today’s loss against the Blues. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 …

Now there’s a family of 5 Blues in this Category 1 Dees area. I know Category 1 Dees who could not get tickets. This is a disgrace.

How are there 9 Carlton supporters in a row in a Demons Category 1 Bay?

Based on numbers already outside the ground I think we’re going to be severely outnumbered tonight.

It's Game Day and the Demons take on the Blues in a sudden death final at the MCG. A win for the Dees will see them face Brisbane at the Lions' fortress at the Gabba and a loss will see them bundled out of the finals in straight sets for the second season in a row.

No way Goody makes that many changes. I imagine only the two certain outs will be replaced. Perhaps the sub too.