Demonland

Clarrie extends his lead to 24:- 78. Clayton Oliver 54. Christian Petracca 32. Brodie Grundy 29. Jake Lever Jack Viney 26. Max Gawn 18. Lachie Hunter 16. Ed Langdon 13. Kysaiah Pickett 11. Trent Rivers 9. Ben Brown 7. Charlie Spargo 7. Judd McVee 5. Jake Bowey Tom McDonald 4. Angus Brayshaw Bayley Fritsch Tom Sparrow 3. James Jordon Alex Neal-Bullen 2. Jacob van Rooyen 1. Kade Chandler Michael Hibberd Harry Petty Steven May

The smell of linament around football change rooms is pervasive. Be it Deep Heat, Goanna Oil or Tiger Balm, the aroma creeps into the very makeup of every football team. And in this ANZAC Eve game, Richmond brought along their Tiger Balm but it was the Demons who eventually applied the Deep Heat to the game that resulted in them being victorious to the tune of 18 points. Make no mistake, this was a tough hard and telling game. The Tiges opened up a 25 point lead in the second quarter, leaving the Demons looking way out of sorts in the same way as they appeared in their previous losses in Brisbane and last week in the Adelaide Gather Round. Fortunately, they had the Deep Heat with them to bring into the contest and courtesy of Brodie Grundy and Jack Viney they applied the heat and started to produce results. Down back Noah Cumberland threatened to blow the game apart after three first quarter goals, but once the heat was applied by Michael Hibberd, he disappeared from the game. Further, Hibberd became a defensive wall on his own with 12 intercept possessions to add to his 23 disposals overall. The other bricks in the wall, namely Steven May and Jake Lever contributed with 11 and 10 equally important intercepts of their own. And lest we forget the contributions of Angus Brayshaw in his defensive roles, popping up at the most critical points in the game preventing the opposition from bringing their heat to the game. By way of a similar comparison at the other end of the field, Jacob Van Rooyen was virtually unsighted for ¾ of the game, but applied all his efforts to produce a final quarter barrage of three goals. This brought the Demon fans to their feet with chants of “Roo” rebounding throughout the near 84,000 strong crowd. Equally important was the contribution of Kade Chandler around goal, with desperately needed three majors,given the quiet games of Kozzie Pickett and Bayley Fritsch, who usually fill the roles of major goalkickers. The experiment of Harry Petty up forward will probably be parked for a “break glass” situation as he could only manage four marks for the game and by the final quarter found himself back in his role in the defensive structures. Likewise, the resting ruck forward experiment can be put to bed as, despite their height advantage, Grundy failed to kick a goal and Max Gawn managed to snag one lucky one late in the piece. Their skills are more useful around the ground and of course in the ruck roles. The wingers Ed Langdon and Lachie Hunter, keep on keeping on and the only question of heat would be how hot the opposition players get chasing them around the ground. Twenty disposals each, covering the defensive roles and driving the ball deep into attack is emblematic of the heat which the Demons brought to the game when needed. Melbourne was genuinely fortunate that Richmond were unable to kick straight in a grinding game, particularly from set shots which saw them kick 6.9 while the Demons scored 9.5 from their set chances in front of goal. In the end this was the difference between winning and losing. Once again, it was when Grundy finally got on top of the opposition ruck in the latter stages of the game, in exactly the same way as he did against Brisbane and Essendon, that the side came back into the contest. Except this time it produced the winning outcome in the game. Once he brought the heat, the likes of Clayton Oliver, Viney and Christian Petracca were able to do their best as well. The Richmond lead slowly evaporated to see a mere 2 points separating the sides at ¾ time after an Oliver goal after the siren. The final stanza then became a question of how much courtesy of the Van Rooyen show while the Tiges could only manage a single goal late in the game. The Demons’ Deep Heat melted the poor Toiyges like the butter that they are made of according to the old Fairy tale. For Melbourne it was the type of heat that they need to bring to each and every game. But with some very tired legs, cramps and plenty of body contact in this game, they will be needing bucketloads of the lineament version during the 5 day break before their next match against North. MELBOURNE 2.2.14 6.2.38 10.5.65 15.6.96 RICHMOND 5.2.32 8.4.52 10.7.67 11.12.78 GOALS MELBOURNE Chandler van Rooyen 3 Fritsch Gawn Jordon Langdon Neal-Bullen Oliver Petty Pickett Viney RICHMOND Riewoldt 4 Cumberland 3 Hopper Mansell Martin Ryan BEST MELBOURNE Viney Oliver Petracca Gawn Lever Sparrow RICHMOND Short Riewoldt Taranto Martin Hopper INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil RICHMOND M.Rioli (hamstring) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil RICHMOND Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Bailey Laurie (replaced Trent Rivers in the fourth quarter) RICHMOND Hugo Ralphsmith (replaced Ben Miller in the fourth quarter) UMPIRES Brett Rosebury Robert O'Gorman Curtis Deboy Jamie Broadbent CROWD 83,985 at The MCG

It was Round 10, 2022 … NARRM 4.4.28 8.9.57 10.13.73 14.16.100 NORTH MELBOURNE 3.0.18 6.1.37 8.3.51 8.5.53 The undefeated Demons bearing the indigenous name of our city beat North Melbourne at the Docklands for the first time ever in their ninth meeting at the venue. They were by no means dominant against the lowly Kangaroos and it took until the last quarter before they finally shook off their plucky opponents. THE TEAMS NORTH MELBOURNE B: K.Turner 28 A.Corr 4 L.McDonald 11 HB: B.Scott 8 J.Walker 19 L.Young 17 C: H.Greenwood 18 L.Davies-Uniacke 9 F.Perez 39 HF: J.Horne-Francis 6 N.Larkey 20 P.Curtis 25 F: J.Ziebell 7 C.Zurhaar 44 J.Anderson 3 Foll: T.Goldstein 22 J.Simpkin 12 T.Thomas 26 I/C: K.Hayden 37 T.Powell 24 C.Taylor 5 T.Xerri 38 Sub: A.Bosenavulagi 15 Emerg: J.Archer 34 C.Coleman-Jones 21 J.Stephenson 2 In: H.Greenwood J.Horne-Francis J.Simpkin T.Xerri Out: C.Coleman-Jones (omitted) C.Lazzaro (omitted) J.Mahony (ankle) J.Stephenson (omitted) NARRM B: J. Hunt 29 H.Petty 35 T.Rivers 24 HB: J.Lever 8 S.May 1 J.Jordon 23 C: T.Sparrow 32 L.Dunstan 27 E.Langdon 15 HF: A.Neal-Bullen 30 B.Brown 50 C.Petracca 5 F: T.McDonald 25 L.Jackson 6 B.Fritsch 31 Foll: M.Gawn 11 C.Oliver 13 K.Pickett 36 I/C: J.Bowey 17 A.Brayshaw 10 J.Melksham 18 C.Spargo 9 Sub: T.Bedford 12 Emerg: B.Laurie 16 A.Tomlinson 20 S.Weideman 26 In: T.Bedford L.Dunstan J.Melksham Out: K.Chandler (suspended) J.Harmes (hamstring) J.Viney (hamstring) Odd spot: The Demons haven’t played North Melbourne at the MCG since April 2018. The victory broke a long time losing streak against the Kangaroos but can you guess who the top goalkickers were for each side that day?

He’s a Demon through and through. If he’s half decent in his draft year he will be a Demon.

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on at the special day and time of Tuesday, 25th April @ 8:30pm. Join George, Binman and I as we analyse the exciting victory on ANZAC Eve against the Tigers at the MCG. 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

The Demons return to the MCG for their Round 7 clash against North Melbourne. Last years wooden spooners have been a lot more competitive this season under new coach Alastair Clarkson and will be looking to take a scalp. Who comes in and who goes out next week?

The Demons showed the ANZAC Spirit in the final quarter to overrun Richmond on ANZAC Eve by 18 points at the MCG. By the end of the round they should be back in the Top 3.

Clayton Oliver leads the Demonland Player of the Year after 5 rounds from Christian Petracca & Brody Grundy. Who gets your 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 2 votes please?

After a season and a quarter during which they dominated the VFL competition, the Casey Demons made an uncharacteristic slip up that resulted in a two goal defeat. It would be unfair therefore, to be too critical of their performance in going down to Richmond on Sunday at the home fortress, Casey Fields. At the same time however, it would be fair to say that the circumstances of the defeat were more than disappointing. The team Casey fielded included 14 AFL listed players as against about half a dozen on Richmond’s AFL roster. Moreover, they had the advantage of experienced veterans all over the ground to the point where it should never have been a struggle to win and where defeat was almost unthinkable. One has to wonder as to whether the result was an outlier. After all, it doesn’t often happen that your three key forwards on the day, Ben Brown, Tom McDonald and Ryan Valentine kick two goals 10 behinds between them. And more than half of the missed shots for goal were very, very gettable. After all, Brown and McDonald have 369 AFL games and more than 500 goals between them! But the most unforgivable aspect of the game was the lack of intensity displayed in the battle for the points on offer. For that, both teams were responsible but Casey has been renowned of late for its contested football and strong tackling game. When Senior Coach, Taylor Whitford and his assistants sit down to discuss their first loss for the season, they will be confronted with the fact that nine of their players on the day, failed to execute a single tackle and three others managed just one. The entire team managed only 35 tackles for the game - exactly the same number of tackles executed in his three games this season by the club’s currently injured tackle machine James Munro. That figure tells us how sorely missed this one player was to the team. After dominating the first ten to fifteen minutes of the game, the Demons dropped their guard. They were sluggish and appeared unwilling to take risks. Eventually, they allowed the Tigers back into the game and then the opposition sensed weakness and took control. After a horror second term when they scored a mere five behinds to 6.1, they were in an uncustomary position, trailing by four goals at half time. They regrouped and pegged the deficit back to half that margin by the end of the game but even then, it was left too far too few to do the heavy lifting. Casey in general was not fighting hard enough to keep the ball within the fifty metre arc and therefore, the was unable to bridge the gap to victory. Three players deserve to be mentioned in the wash up to this game. Luke Dunstan was a tireless worker for the team and combined strongly with James Harmes in stemming the tide and bringing the team to within a kick or two of regaining the ascendancy in the last half of the game. Likewise, Daniel Turner was rock solid in defence, often against a deluge. He looks to have a future at a higher level. Full credit to the winners for playing as a team and sticking to the plan of playing positive attacking football and refusing to become overawed by a more seasoned opponent. Things won’t be any easier for the Demons in their next challenge which takes the form of a top of the table clash against an in-form and undefeated Box Hill Hawks to be played next Sunday afternoon at the Wonthaggi Recreation Reserve. CASEY DEMONS 2.4.16 2.9.21 8.13.61 11.16.82 RICHMOND 1.2.8 7.3.45 12.4.76 14.10.94 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Harmes 3 Dunstan Edwards 2 Grey Jefferson McDonald Valentine RICHMOND Melville Nathan 3 Ross 2 Bilston-McGillen Faimalo Hicks McDonagh May Olden BEST CASEY DEMONS Dunstan Harmes Turner Howes Edwards Woewoedin RICHMOND Ross McDonagh Trezise Bracher Teal Olden Statistics Jed Adams 5 kicks 2 handballs 7 disposals 4 marks 28 dream team points Jack Bell 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 25 hit outs 54 dream team points Ben Brown 4 behinds 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks 1 tackles 51 dream team points Luke Dunstan 2 goals 20 kicks 20 handballs 40 disposals 12 marks 4 tackles 162 dream team points Tyler Edwards 2 goals 11 kicks 3 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 66 dream team points Kyah Ferris-White 2 handballs 2 disposals 12 hit outs 11 dream team points Max Gregory 3 kicks 6 handballs 9 disposals 21 dream team points George Grey 1 goal 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 62 dream team points James Harmes 3 goals 10 kicks 19 handballs 29 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 113 dream team points Blake Howes 8 kicks 8 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 5 tackles 72 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 goal 1 behind 3 kicks 1 handballs 4 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 28 dream team points Tom McDonald 1 goal 3 behinds 11 kicks 3 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 9 hit outs 60 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 3 tackles 40 dream team points Harvey Neocleous 2 kicks 5 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 31 dream team points Oliver Sestan 1 behind 9 kicks 1 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 37 dream team points Miles Shepherd 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 27 dream team points Cooper Simpson 2 kicks 5 handballs 7 disposals 1 mark 19 dream team points Deaykin Smith 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 3 marks 37 dream team points Roan Steele 1 behind 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 42 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 53 dream team points Daniel Turner 13 kicks 5 handballs 18 disposals 8 marks 2 tackles 80 dream team points Ryan Valentine 1 goal 3 behinds 6 kicks 6 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 2 hit outs 49 dream team points Taj Woewodin 1 behind 11 kicks 8 handballs 19 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 64 dream team points

LOST AT HOME by K C from Casey After a season and a quarter during which they dominated the VFL competition, the Casey Demons made an uncharacteristic slip up that resulted in a two goal defeat. It would be unfair therefore, to be too critical of their performance in going down to Richmond on Sunday at the home fortress, Casey Fields. At the same time however, it would be fair to say that the circumstances of the defeat were more than disappointing. The team Casey fielded included 14 AFL listed players as against about half a dozen on Richmond’s AFL roster. Moreover, they had the advantage of experienced veterans all over the ground to the point where it should never have been a struggle to win and where defeat was almost unthinkable. One has to wonder as to whether the result was an outlier. After all, it doesn’t often happen that your three key forwards on the day, Ben Brown, Tom McDonald and Ryan Valentine kick two goals 10 behinds between them. And more than half of the missed shots for goal were very, very gettable. After all, Brown and McDonald have 369 AFL games and more than 500 goals between them! But the most unforgivable aspect of the game was the lack of intensity displayed in the battle for the points on offer. For that, both teams were responsible but Casey has been renowned of late for its contested football and strong tackling game. When Senior Coach, Taylor Whitford and his assistants sit down to discuss their first loss for the season, they will be confronted with the fact that nine of their players on the day, failed to execute a single tackle and three others managed just one. The entire team managed only 35 tackles for the game - exactly the same number of tackles executed in his three games this season by the club’s currently injured tackle machine James Munro. That figure tells us how sorely missed this one player was to the team. After dominating the first ten to fifteen minutes of the game, the Demons dropped their guard. They were sluggish and appeared unwilling to take risks. Eventually, they allowed the Tigers back into the game and then the opposition sensed weakness and took control. After a horror second term when they scored a mere five behinds to 6.1, they were in an uncustomary position, trailing by four goals at half time. They regrouped and pegged the deficit back to half that margin by the end of the game but even then, it was left too far too few to do the heavy lifting. Casey in general was not fighting hard enough to keep the ball within the fifty metre arc and therefore, the was unable to bridge the gap to victory. Three players deserve to be mentioned in the wash up to this game. Luke Dunstan was a tireless worker for the team and combined strongly with James Harmes in stemming the tide and bringing the team to within a kick or two of regaining the ascendancy in the last half of the game. Likewise, Daniel Turner was rock solid in defence, often against a deluge. He looks to have a future at a higher level. Full credit to the winners for playing as a team and sticking to the plan of playing positive attacking football and refusing to become overawed by a more seasoned opponent. Things won’t be any easier for the Demons in their next challenge which takes the form of a top of the table clash against an in-form and undefeated Box Hill Hawks to be played next Sunday afternoon at the Wonthaggi Recreation Reserve. CASEY DEMONS 2.4.16 2.9.21 8.13.61 11.16.82 RICHMOND VFL 1.2.8 7.3.45 12.4.76 14.10.94 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Harmes 3 Dunstan Edwards 2 Grey Jefferson McDonald Valentine RICHMOND VFL Melville Nathan 3 Ross 2 Bilston-McGillen Faimalo Hicks McDonagh May Olden BEST CASEY DEMONS Dunstan Harmes Turner Howes Edwards Woewoedin RICHMOND VFL Ross McDonagh Trezise Bracher Teal Olden Statistics Jed Adams 5 kicks 2 handballs 7 disposals 4 marks 28 dream team points Jack Bell 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 25 hit outs 54 dream team points Ben Brown 4 behinds 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks 1 tackles 51 dream team points Luke Dunstan 2 goals 20 kicks 20 handballs 40 disposals 12 marks 4 tackles 162 dream team points Tyler Edwards 2 goals 11 kicks 3 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 66 dream team points Kyah Ferris-White 2 handballs 2 disposals 12 hit outs 11 dream team points Max Gregory 3 kicks 6 handballs 9 disposals 21 dream team points George Grey 1 goal 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 62 dream team points James Harmes 3 goals 10 kicks 19 handballs 29 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 113 dream team points Blake Howes 8 kicks 8 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 5 tackles 72 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 goal 1 behind 3 kicks 1 handballs 4 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 28 dream team points Tom McDonald 1 goal 3 behinds 11 kicks 3 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 9 hit outs 60 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 3 tackles 40 dream team points Harvey Neocleous 2 kicks 5 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 31 dream team points Oliver Sestan 1 behind 9 kicks 1 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 37 dream team points Miles Shepherd 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 27 dream team points Cooper Simpson 2 kicks 5 handballs 7 disposals 1 mark 19 dream team points Deaykin Smith 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 3 marks 37 dream team points Roan Steele 1 behind 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 42 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 53 dream team points Daniel Turner 13 kicks 5 handballs 18 disposals 8 marks 2 tackles 80 dream team points Ryan Valentine 1 goal 3 behinds 6 kicks 6 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 2 hit outs 49 dream team points Taj Woewodin 1 behind 11 kicks 8 handballs 19 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 64 dream team points

It's ANZAC Eve and the Demons return to the MCG after two weeks on the Road in Perth and Adelaide to face Richmond who have lost their last 3 games on the trot. They will need to win over the Tigers to retain their spot in the Top 8.

Extra extra! Read all about it.

Dees officially out of the 8

He wasn't training at Gosch's today.

Half a had shorter than Max. Jeff took a photo of Max and his son so I’m sure we’ll see it on social media.

Jeff White is here with Kalani who is now taller than Jeff.