Demonland

You can’t get votes for running laps of the G after the punters have all gone home. That means Tracc increased his lead over Clarrie but it’s still a contest with plenty of games to go after the bye. 148. Christian Petracca 127. Clayton Oliver 68. Jack Viney 53. Max Gawn 43. Angus Brayshaw 40. Brodie Grundy 39. Jake Lever Trent Rivers 35. Steven May 29. Lachie Hunter 24. Christian Salem 19. Jake Bowey Bayley Fritsch 18. Ed Langdon Kysaiah Pickett 15. Judd McVee Tom Sparrow 11. Kade Chandler 9. Ben Brown 8. Charlie Spargo 6. Jacob van Rooyen 5. Tom McDonald Alex Neal-Bullen 3. Michael Hibberd James Jordon Adam Tomlinson 1. Harry Petty

They’ll be in the 40s by years end the way they’re going.

Might save this one for the Mid Season Review next week during the Bye.

When booking things I always keep an eye on whether it's a weekend (footy) or a Monday (podcast) but when we booked months ago I thought Tuesday would be fine.

How was it not a push in the back to Viney at the end there when 30 seconds before it was a push in the back on Adams.

Good possibility I won't be able to do the Podcast tonight as we forgot we had tickets to Michael McIntyre tonight. Will know later today. Podcast may be tomorrow night now so keep the questions coming.

King Gee, a name synonymous with hard work wear, was emblematic of the hard work done by Melbourne against Collingwood at the “Gee” to win the first King’s Birthday match in more than seven decades. As a result, the Demons have never lost a modern day version of the King’s Royal Blockbuster match and long may that continue! The final margin of a mere four points probably overstated the closeness of the match since, for the third week in a row, the Demons could not kick straight from set shots in front of goal. This week it was 4.10 from those set shots. And while the coach thought it was the least of his worries post match, the fact that such poor outcomes keep the opposition in the game and capable of challenging to the end is something that needs to be sorted in the weeks and months to come. The final score of 8.18 really summed it up. Fortunately, a stingy defensive structure kept the opposition well out of the game, so all credit for the win should lie with those defenders. Having said that, the forwards without their straight kicking boots, as least put on plenty of pressure to keep the ball in the attacking area with 17 tackles inside 50. That the Collingwood forwards managed only four for the game, demonstrates that their game style is all about “run and gun”, without a lot of hard work forward of the ball. To this point of the season they have papered over that deficiency, but were exposed by the brilliant defensive unit of the Demons, who repelled attack after attack. The three talls in defence means stability down back and enables players around them to be free to do damage. While Jake Lever was held to a solitary mark, Adam Tomlinson popped up with ten for the game. Nine intercept possessions each for Christian Salem and Trent Rivers were complemented by eight each for Steven May and Jake Lever while Judd McVee chipped in with seven. The combination of Salem and Rivers combination was deadly to Collingwood’s chances, both with 24 touches, but with disposal efficiency of 83 and 78% respectively, meaning that they were not only repelling opposition advances, but also starting the next line of attack. Given that the Magpies came into this match averaging 94 points a game, the fact they were held to a mere 62 points in this match was exemplary. The other important factor in the game success for Melbourne was a game plan which denied Collingwood the corridor, which they need to execute their “run and gun” tactic. Time and time again they were forced wide and the inside kick or running past handball denied as the Demons stuck to their task of all ground pressure, with simple hard work. The other area of dominance was the King Gee efforts in the middle by Jack Viney and Christian Petracca. The former, with 32 touches and an incredible 19 contested possessions, led the way to make him King of the “Gee” on the day. While Petracca with 28 touches and 15 contested certainly helped cover the absence of Clayton Oliver. On the wing Lachie Hunter kept punching the ball forward with 28 touches, seven of which were contested, just to add to his game topping 610 metres gained for the side. Up forward, despite the inability to kick truly, at least Bayley Fritsch was able to nail three majors, which took him to 200 goals for the Club. Jacob van Rooyen only managed a single major, but his attack on contest is constant, and probably what the coaches want most of all. Joel Smith looked far more comfortable this week, and when called upon to deliver, did so. None more so than a run down from behind tackle to help change momentum in the Demons favour. Importantly his tall presence caused no end of problems for the Collingwood defence who are too accustomed to Moore being left unattended in the game. Not so today. Finally, a shout out to the vocal crowd of Demon supporters. They had plenty to shout out loud about and while the crowd numbers didn’t meet the expected 90+ thousand, they certainly made their voices heard at critical times during the match. If the MCC and AFL member areas had been more highly populated this could well have reached a home and away record. The Demons take away the four points, which was critical in the overall season context as it keeps the side in the top four position, and stopped Collingwood moving further ahead on the ladder. It put the side into the right position for the second half of the season, where they will be trying to prove they are the true Kings of the “Gee” come the last week of September MELBOURNE 1.4.10 3.8.26 6.11.47 8.18.66 COLLINGWOOD 3.1.19 5.4.34 6.5.41 9.8.62 GOALS MELBOURNE Fritsch 3 Grundy Neal-Bullen Smith van Rooyen Viney COLLINGWOOD Lipinski 2 Cox Crisp N Daicos Harrison Hill McCreery Mihocek BEST MELBOURNE Viney May Fritsch Salem Petracca Tomlinson COLLINGWOOD Mitchell Pendlebury Crisp N Daicos Maynard LATE CHANGES MELBOURNE Nil COLLINGWOOD Jack Ginnivan (managed), replaced in selected side by Reef McInnes INJURIES MELBOURNE Adam Tomlinson (hand) Jack Viney (shoulder) COLLINGWOOD Darcy Moore (ankle) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil COLLINGWOOD Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE James Jordon (replaced Charlie Spargo in the third quarter) COLLINGWOOD Oleg Markov (replaced Ash Johnson in the third quarter) UMPIRES Hayden Gavine Brendan Hosking Simon Meredith Matt Stevic CROWD 83,578 at the MCG FIGHT MND TOTAL TO DATE $2,454,483 Thank You

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I generally just pinch them from the small selection of short video clips that the AFL or 7AFL post on twitter throughout the match. Viney's blind turn whilst incredible was not one of them this week.

The Demons have earned a well earned rest during the bye week and will head down the Princes Freeway as they are required to every year to take on Geelong at GMHBA Stadium in a bid to embed themselves into the Top 4. Who comes in and who goes out?

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Tuesday or Wednesday, 13th or 14th May @ 8:30pm. Join Binman, George & I as we analyse the Demons nail biting win over the Magpies. 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 odcas

The Dees dominated the contest but poor kicking allowed the Magpies to get within a kick with 30 seconds to go in the match but the Demons held on to take out the King’s Birthday clash by 4 points.

Christian Petracca holds the lead over an injured Clayton Oliver followed by Max Gawn and Jack Viney in the Demonland Player of the Year Award. Please cast your votes 6,5,4,3,2,1 …

My Demons seats area too. Not happy with Dees fans giving their tickets to Pie friends. I pay good money so I don’t have to rub shoulders with filth.

Lot of Collingwood supporters here but all I see are gate receipts.

Late in the opening term of their game at Casey Fields on Sunday afternoon, the Casey Demons were dominating and held a lead of 31 points over Collingwood VFL. Was it the wind advantage? The fortress is well known at this time of the season for the strong winds that can mess with a game but that wasn’t the case this time. The way the hosts were playing, it looked as if a Magpie nightmare was about to unfold. But alas for Casey, that was not to be and rather, it was exactly the opposite as from that point in things fell apart for the reigning VFL premier. They were uncharacteristically held goalless in the second term, managed only one in the third and took until halfway through the last before kicking a couple of goals that were too late to avert another bad loss at home that has seem them lose touch with the top echelon of teams on the VFL premiership table. The story began well before the opening bounce. With two key Melbourne listed key position talls in Harry Petty and Tom McDonald and rookie ruckman Will Verrall already out injured, the Casey Demons were struck a body blow with injuries to full forward Ben Brown, key defender Daniel Turner and ruckman Jack Bell and the unavailability of Matt Buntine forcing a major recasting of the side that left it undermanned and undersized. When the Magpies made their comeback in the second quarter, their efforts were aided by the fact that the Casey Demons lacked the big men to go with the Magpies who dominated the air in the last three quarters. That dominance began in the ruck where their super tall men feasted on a young light bodied learner in rookie Kyah Farris-White who recently has been plying his trade in the Coates Talent League. The youngster tried hard in the ruck but struggled around the ground and in the air. Teammate Josh Schache was also conscripted into the ruck and while he too worked hard in the ruck duels, he had his hands full with the Collingwood big men. To compound the situation, Magpie forward Nathan “Freddy” Kreuger turned things around and gave Casey coach Taylor Whitford a nightmare of his own with his strong marking and accurate kicking for his five goals. For the Demons, it’s hard to fathom where they would have been without the return from injury of Jimmy Munro who finished the game with 21 disposals and 10 bone crunching tackles. Early in the game youngster Matt Jefferson was dangerous up forward with the first two goals of the game but lack of opportunity kept him to only one more for the day. Another youngster in Andy Moniz-Wakefield was busy throughout and contributed a nice goal. He was unlucky not to get a second but it was touched by a teammate as it went through. Blake Howes was another young Demon who worked hard against the odds with 28 possessions that must see him closing in on an AFL debut. Casey listed players Roan Steele and George Grey gave their hard working skipper strong support on the day and Ryan Baldi also worked hard. The defeat sees Casey drop to 7th on the ladder, a situation that is not likely to improve in the short terms as the Demons have a bye next weekend. CASEY DEMONS 5.4.34 5.6.36 6.10.46 8.11.59 COLLINGWOOD VFL 1.2.8 6.3.39 9.3.57 11.7.73 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Jefferson 3 White 2 Melksham Moniz-Wakefield Neocleous COLLINGWOOD VFL Krueger 5 Longmire T Wilson 2 Kelly Steene BEST CASEY DEMONS Munro Howes Moniz-Wakefield Steele White Grey COLLINGWOOD VFL Krueger Steene Jetta Ruscoe Begg Bianco Statistics Jed Adams 1 kick 3 handballs 4 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 16 dream team points Riley Baldi 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 54 dream team points Luke Dunstan 7 kicks 12 handballs 19 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 52 dream team points Kyah Farris-White 1 kicks 4 handballs 5 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 15 hit outs 33 dream team points Tom Freeman 8 kicks 1 handball 9 disposals 2 marks 29 dream team points George Grey 9 kicks 3 handballs 12 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 56 dream team points Blake Howes 15 kicks 13 handballs 28 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 94 dream team points Matt Jefferson 3 goals 1 behind 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 52 dream team points Bailey Laurie 9 kicks 10 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 60 dream team points Cooper Macdonald 3 kicks 3 disposals 2 tackles 14 dream team points Tom McRae 1 behind 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 27 dream team points Jake Melksham 1 goal 1 behind 10 kicks 6 handballs 16 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 69 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 1 goal 11 kicks 7 handballs 18 disposals 6 marks 5 tackles 91 dream team points James Munro 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 10 tackles 108 my dream team points Harvey Neocleous 1 goal 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 35 dream team points Charlie Peters 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 1 tackle 39 dream team points Josh Schache 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 17 hit outs 70 dream team points Oliver Sestan 1 behind 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 49 dream team points Miles Shepherd 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 37 dream team points Deaykin Smith 3 kicks 5 handballs 8 disposals 2 tackles 24 dream team points Roan Steele 14 kicks 7 handballs 21 disposals 4 marks 5 tackles 89 dream team points Ryan Valentine 2 behinds 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 5 tackles 8 hit outs 65 dream team points Mitch White 2 goals 15 kicks 6 handballs 21 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 69 dream team points

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