Demonland

With Casey Fields basking in sunshine, an enthusiastic throng of young Demons fans formed a guard of honour for the evergreen and much admired 75-gamer Paxy Paxman. As the home team ran out to play, Paxy’s banner promised that the Demons would bounce back from last week’s loss to Brisbane and reign supreme. Disappointingly, the Kangaroos dominated the match to win by 50 points, but our Paxy certainly did her bit. She was clearly our best player, sweeping well in defence. The Roos won the contested footy and clearances on the day and capitalised on pressuring the Demons into turnovers. North Melbourne’s total of 71 points is the highest score against Melbourne by any team in AFLW history. Melbourne has been considered one the ‘Big 3’ teams alongside Adelaide and Brisbane and held the best win loss ratio in the competition until last week. North Melbourne, after having beaten us by a combined 91 points in our last two matches, are premiership favourites and have pushed Melbourne down the heavyweights pecking order. Today, North’s stars Riddell, Garner and Kearney were supreme. Kate Shierlaw kicked 5 goals and was too good for Gaby Colvin. Midfield bull Mia King laid a game-high 12 tackles and ruck Emma King dominated with 31 hit outs. For the Dees It seemed at the ground that the Melbourne players gave a solid 4-quarter effort but our errors through constant North pressure caused the eight-goal drubbing. Eliza McNamara was everywhere, laying 10 tackles, with 21 disposals and kicked a goal. Kate Hore started in centre bounce, played as a forward, as a spare in the backline and even tagged Ash Riddell in the last quarter. She threw herself into the fray, including a monster tackle on former teammate Libby Birch in the third quarter. The Irish girls Mackin and Goldrick never gave up and worked hard to create opportunities. We would be lost without their combined spread and contest work. Lily Mithen, Tyla Hanks, and Sarah Lampard stayed involved all day while Maeve Chaplin provided her usual grit and run from defence. Mick later rued turnovers which led to North scoring: such as kicking off the ground instead of picking up the ball, miskicks in defence and giving away unnecessary free kicks in front of goal. Remember, Westy played 2 seasons of VFLW when cross-coding from basketball. So wasn’t it great to see draftee Grace Beasley kicking a ripper first AFLW goal today in only her third game! Melbourne has now lost 5 of its last 6 games. It will be fascinating to see whether Mick Stinear, in the last year of his extended contract, can turn this season around. Moment of the match In the centre square, Blaithin Mackin, while being tackled by two North players, cleverly kicks it Goldie and Alyssia Pisano streams by for a hand pass. Pisano shows off her turn of speed and ball bouncing skills to kick from just inside the 50-metre arc and the ball is bouncing towards the big sticks. Eden Zanker, with Sarah Wright in hot pursuit, makes afateful split-second decision to try and catch the ball and kick it before crossing the line. Unfortunately, Edo manages only to touch the ball, and a certain goal is now only a point. Coaches and next week Melbourne Coach Mick Stinear said North Melbourne won the contest and clearance today and cited North’s scoring of 50 points from turnovers as the real difference. It was important to celebrate Paxy’s milestone match and Mick highlighted how much Paxy brings to the playing group. North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker was pleased with how his team responded from last week’s draw against the Cats. He was delighted with how his team won the contest, pressured the Dees and transitioned the ball. He gave special mentions to Kate Shierlaw with 5 goals, Mia King and Taylah Gatt. The Demons head to Perth next Sunday to take on the in-form Dockers at Fremantle Oval. A good chance for some team bonding and regrouping. Looking forward to us bouncing back. Go Dees! MELBOURNE 2.1.13 2.1.13 2.2.14 3.3.21 NORTH MELBOURNE 2.1.13 6.1.37 8.2.50 11.5.71 GOALS MELBOURNE Beasley Fitzsimon McNamara NORTH MELBOURNE Shierlaw 5 Bruton O'Loughlin Riddell 2 BEST MELBOURNE Paxman Mithen Goldrick Fitzsimon NORTH MELBOURNE Riddell Shierlaw M King Garner E King Kearney INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil NORTH MELBOURNE Nil CROWD 2,023 at Casey Fields

Are you referring to the Demonland Logo or my Profile Picture?

Blues need to make room for some big dollar signings.

In keeping with our tough draw theme, Week 3 sees Melbourne take on flag favourites, North Melbourne, at Casey Fields this Sunday at 1:05pm. The weather forecast looks dry, a coolish 14 degrees and will be characteristically gusty. Remember when Casey Fields was considered our fortress? The Demons have lost two of their past three matches at the Field of Dreams, so opposition teams commute down the Princes Highway with more optimism these days. The Dees held the highest all-time win/loss ratio until last week. Adelaide now leads with 72.8%, from Melbourne 72.7%, Brisbane 67.9% and North 66.7%. Long term injuries to stars such as Liv Purcell, Tayla Harris, and Lauren Pearce plus speedster Aimee Mackin are not helping our prospects this season. Supporters need to be patient as the team integrates nine new players, having traded 4 or 5 regulars to other clubs. North is a formidable team this year led by three superstars of the competition: defensive general Emma Kearney, theleague-leading possession winner Ash Riddell and Jasmine Garner, the 2024 captain’s choice competition’s best player. Mick Stinear often sends the diminutive Shelley Heath to run with Garner. He did not send anyone to Ally Anderson last week and publicly rued that decision. Ally dominated the game andearned 10 coaches’ votes. Meggs was at Arden Street last Sunday to witness the power of work that Ash Riddell does. She was awesome and earned 8 coaches votes. Our superstar Kate Hore was well tagged by Bre Koenen last week resulting in only 10 disposals and a late consolation goal. The North coaching team will have gone to school on this. Congratulations to Paxy on her 75th game! She has settled well as our halfback general, and her experience will be vital against the Roos. Selection this week Thankfully no new injuries to report at the time of writing. In addition to the 21 players selected last week, we have only 4 additional players available. They are tall forward Georgia Gall, halfback Lily Johnson, key back Delany Madigan and utility Denby Taylor. Pisano did well last week, could we see another debutant? Lily Johnson impressed in VFLW with her pace, courage and good kicking skills. North Melbourne will make a couple of changes this week: Irish speedster Erika O’Shea is listed as a test. If playing, she matches up well on Banno. Goal-sneak Alice O’Loughlin will return from her one-week suspension. Meggs view Expect North Melbourne to be too strong across the ground. A very settled team with no major injuries. Demons’ rucks Georgia Campbell and Rhi Watt will be fully tested. North has Emma King, 187cm tall, and support from Kim Rennie. A midfield of Garner, Riddell, the classy Bruton and bull Mia King will make life very difficult. Expect Mick to play Goldrick and Lampard though the middle again with Hore at times. Heathy will likely run with Ash or Jazz. It has been a tough initiation for cross-coder Grace Beasley, and she improves with each week. Our main hope for winning is freeing up Tyla Hanks, as her ball movement and creativity is elite. Amy Smith, daughter of Shaun, executes tagging roles well for North and may go to Hanksy. Geelong looked dangerous last week when using speed to break from the contest. We need to do this to win. Blaithin Mackin is playing her career best footy and making a real impact from her wing. Eliza McNamara has begun season in great form too. Zanker had her best quarters last year against Adelaide and Geelong. How about monstering your old mate Libby and kicking a bag, Edo If we can garner strength this week with 4-quarters of pressure footy at home, maybe we can surprise in a closely fought contest. Go Dees! North Melbourne by 4 points THE GAME Round 3: Melbourne v North Melbourne, Sunday 15 September 2024 at 1:05pm (Melbourne time) Casey Fields, Melbourne - Wurundjeri/ Boon Wurrung HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 6 wins North Melbourne 2 wins At Casey Fields Melbourne 3 wins North Melbourne 1 win The Coaches Stinear 5 wins Crocker 1 win MEDIA TV - Fox Footy, Kayo. Mobile – AFL Live Official App Radio – Casey Radio. THE LAST TIME THEY MET - Season 8 Qualifying Final at Ikon Park, 4 November 2023 MELBOURNE 0.1 0.1 0.2 1.3 (9) NORTH MELBOURNE 1.4 2.4 5.6 7.8 (50) GOALS MELBOURNE Bannan NORTH MELBOURNE Randall 3, Eddey 2, O'Loughlin, E. King BEST MELBOURNE Hanks, Purcell, Hore, Goldrick, Gay, Gillard NORTH MELBOURNE Garner, Riddell, Kearney, Randall, Wright, Pullar INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil NORTH MELBOURNE Shierlaw (head knock) CROWD 5,431 at Ikon Park Darren Crocker, the North coach, highlighted in the post-match press conference that ‘how to beat Melbourne’ was no secret following their recent losses to the top 3 teams. North was brilliant on the day. Far more aggressive, laid 104 tackles and forced Melbourne into skill errors which ended up being the Dees 2nd biggest loss in history. Experienced forward Tahlia Randall had a field day kicking 3 goals. She and her mate Kate Shierlaw well and truly outbodied and outsprinted their now new teammate Libby Birch. There were rumours that an illness had swept through the Demon camp which helped explain the underwhelming performance. There were no such excuses from Mick Stinear. His team had finished second during the home and away season, earned the second chance but sadly, lost the next week to be out of the finals in straight sets. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B Colvin Gillard HB Chaplin Heath Paxman C McNamara Lampard Mackin HF Bannan Mithen Goldrick F Zanker Gall FOLL Campbell Hanks Hore I/C (from) Beasley Fitzsimon Hill Johnson Pisano Taylor Watt Wotherspoon IN Gall Johnson Taylor OUT NORTH MELBOURNE B Birch Ferguson HB Kearney Wright Bresnehan C Gatt Garner Smith HF Eddey O'Loughlin Bruton F Randall Shierlaw FOLL Rennie King Riddell I/C (from) Burke Craven King Martin McGrath O'Shea Tripodi Wall IN McGrath O'Loughlin O'Shea OUT Injury List: Round 2 Melbourne Jemma Rigoni Groin 2-3 weeks Saraid Taylor Calf 3-4 weeks Lauren Pearce Wrist 6 weeks Olivia Purcell Face TBC Tayla Harris Shoulder Season Jacinta Hose ACL Season Aimee Mackin ACL Season North Melbourne Erika O’Shea Knee Test Lula Pullar Calf 1-2 weeks Eliza Shannon Ankle 1-2 weeks Georgia Stubs Ankle Season

No surprises that we're not in the conversation anymore.

Impressive.

Is there an echo in here? Happy to hear this. Need all the leadership we can get.

I see him at many non Sabbath games (Thursday/Sunday/perhaps Saturday nights) in the Premium Members section with a couple other younger family members so unless he's being given tickets by the club then he is a paid up Premium Member.

What else did the club offer Trac to make that statement the other day? 😜