Demonland

There’s a growing noise about a Mid-Season Trade Period. BARRETT: The case for a Mid-Season Trade Period. Have your say NOW This is Leigh Matthews’ opinion - AFL legend shares his concerns on a mid-season trade

Hopefully Bayley keeps the streak going.

I rate JJ highly. He should be playing at the highest level. If we can't offer him that then he has every right to explore his options.

“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.” The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote a book, “The Art of War” which describes military and competitive strategy and tactics that in time have been adapted to other walks of life including business and sport. Famed NFL head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots is a strong adherent of the 5th century writings he has used to motivate players over two successful decades. There is only one sign in his locker room and it is a direct quote: “Every battle is won before it is fought.” Belichick studies his opponents closely to know their strengths and their weaknesses. "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness". Another quote that comes from “Art of War.” The relevance for Melbourne this week as it travels across the Nullarbor Plain to take on the West Coast Eagles at its home away from home, Perth’s Optus Stadium, should be obvious. The noise around the Eagles is about the string of injuries the club suffered in last week’s local demolition derby but the Demons must not consider that all they need to do is turn up and the four points are theirs for the taking. That’s not how things work at the elite level in sport. History is full of tales of those who have taken their apparent superiority over others for granted, allowed themselves to become complacent thereby creating their own weakness for the enemy to exploit. This year’s Saints have done exactly that in each of their opening matches and sit undefeated at the top of the ladder while the reigning premiers are in exactly the opposite space. So when the Demons come to Perth, it will be with business as usual in mind. They will focus on their strengths; their superior midfield, a powerful defence and an emerging forward line with its multifaceted strengths. They should not be distracted by the fact that the desperate Eagles are set to lose a swag of players from last week’s lineup as a result of injuries incurred in the course of battle with the Dockers. On the subject of business as usual, coach Simon Goodwin pulled some nice surprises last week in the face of his team’s loss to Brisbane and the hopefully short term absence of the skipper. The man who, in the past, has appeared reluctant to ring in too many changes, brought in youth and made a few moves that some of us have been clamoring about for some time — and it worked in surprising the enemy (not to mention some of the fans) to knock them off their pedestal. Smacked as if it was straight out of the Sun Tzu playbook. Melbourne by 27 points. THE GAME West Coast v Melbourne at Optus Stadium Sunday 9 April, 2023 at 5.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall West Coast 37 wins Melbourne 19 wins At Optus Stadium West Coast 3 wins Melbourne 3 wins Past five meetings West Coast 2 wins Melbourne 3 wins The Coaches Simpson 4 wins Goodwin 3 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 16.16.112 defeated West Coast Eagles 5.8.38 at Optus Stadium in Round 9, 2022 The Eagles were in all sorts of pain as they languished out of form near the bottom of the table and spent most of the game struggling to be competitive. Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver dominated the midfield and Tom McDonald booted four goals in what turned out to be one of his last games for 2022. A crude Kade Chandler tackle put the Eagles' Luke Foley into concussion protocols and resulted in a two-match ban over the dangerous tackle which held back the young Demon’s career until he fought his way into the side at the start of this season. THE TEAMS WEST COAST EAGLES B T. Cole T. Barrass L. Duggan HB J. Jones S. Hurn J. Hunt C B. Hough E. Yeo A. Gaff HF C. West J. Darling G. Clark F N. Long O. Allen J. Waterman FOLL B. Williams R. Ginbey T. Kelly I/C J. Culley L. Edwards E. Hewett S. Petrevski-Seton SUB J. Rotham EMG L. Foley X. O'Neill J. Petruccelle IN G. Clark J. Culley L. Edwards B. Hough J. Rotham C. West E. Yeo OUT C. Chesser (knee) J. Cripps (broken ankle) J. McGovern (hamstring) L. Ryan (knee) D. Sheed (throat) L. Shuey (hamstring) A. Witherden (concussion) MELBOURNE 
 B J. Lever S. May M. Hibberd HB T. Sparrow H. Petty J. McVee C A. Brayshaw C. Oliver L. Hunter HF E. Langdon B. Fritsch J. Bowey F C. Spargo J. van Rooyen A. Neal-Bullen FOLL B. Grundy J. Viney C. Petracca I/C K. Chandler T. McDonald K. Pickett T. Rivers SUB J. Jordon EMG L. Dunstan J. Melksham A. Tomlinson IN T. McDonald K. Pickett OUT B. Brown (back) J. Melksham (omitted) Injury List: Round 4 Josh Schache - Concussion | Test Daniel Turner - Ribs | Test Joel Smith - Thumb | 3 Weeks Max Gawn - Knee | 3 - 4 Weeks Taj Woewodin - Finger | 4 Weeks Christian Salem - Knee | 4 - 6 weeks Will Verrall - Pelvis | 8 - 10 Weeks

Demonland Trackwatcher Kev Martin ventured down to Training on Tuesday Morning at Gosch's Paddock to bring you the following observations including an update on Max Gawn and a couple injury concerns for a couple of other big names. Got down to Gosch's for this morning's run. Taj was being put through a fair bit of running. He also had a small amount of time kicking and marking. Max ran more than 10 laps. At one stage, he tried a drill with direction changes, that didn't last long. The rehab also had Farris-white, K.Turner, BBB, Lever and Hibbo in it. Hibbo looks in trouble, probably his achilles. Left training after 20 minutes. Lever appeared to have a right hip complaint. He joined the main group after they finished their running. Schache was in full training, he also spent time after the session, marking the high ball. No Harmes. Kossie looked happy. The session was mainly about stretching the legs and having some fun. After some run throughs, they separated into 4 stations. Short kicking drill, with movement either left or right behind the mannequin after marking. A game of keep the soccer ball in the air. A handball game with a precision target to finish the action. The final one was competitive handball, finishing with a 40-meter pass to a leading forward. That was it. A few stayed back, working on their goal kicking. Grundy, Petty, Tracc, Moniz-wakefield, Oliver and a couple of others who I can't recall.

Gave you a facepalm. He would have wanted it that way.

Hey Craig, Happy to explore any options. I'll shoot you through a PM.

Just to be clear I'm not after a logo. I want a graphic like this one. We've been using this graphic for a while but I thought it was time for an upgrade.

Hi Demonlanders, I thought I would put this out there. If we have any graphic designers out there that want to design a graphic for the Demonland podcast please PM me. I will of course pay for your time so please PM me your rates and some samples of your work. Go Dees

1989 Elimination Final Melbourne 2.1 5.4 14.6 17.9 (111) Collingwood 3.2 6.7 10.7 13.10 (88) Waverley Park Saturday September 9 1989

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It was Lever that had the biggest go at Gus pointing his finger in his face.

We've got 2 voicemailers lined up for the Podcast. It's not too late to call in with your own question or comment for the show. Call 03 9016 3666 And don’t worry nobody answers so you don’t have to talk to a human.

While the chequered flag was waved to indicate the end of a F1 race at Albert Park, it was the Grand Old Flag of Melbourne that flew high at the MCG to celebrate the Demons win over Sydney. At the final bell it was an emphatic victory of nearly a nine goal margin, which against a Sydney side who have had “the wood” over the Demons in recent years, was something special for the fans. Make no mistake, Sydney are a seriously good side. After all they played in the GF last year and have always been competitive with a never say die attitude. It was exactly the same in this game as the score bounced between a 3-5 goal margin for the Demons for most of the match until the final quarter. Even during the third quarter the Swans had pegged the margin back to a single goal, but that was as close as they got. It was then that the Demons put the pedal to the metal, and came home by the length of the straight, kicking seven final quarter goals, and putting through 21 majors for the game. A team playing without captain Max Gawn meant the rucking roles fell to Brody Grundy and first gamer Jacob van Rooyen. And what a debut for the 19 year old kicking three goals himself and six contested possessions, while breaking open packs and creating chances for others. Assisting him in the forward line was Bayley Fritsch with three goals, and also a return to form with his dangerous crumbing around packs, but Kade Chandler also chipped in with three goals, as a result of serious running to space to take advantage of forward thrusts. Surprises abounded right from the start as Simon Goodwin placed Harrison Petty in the forward line, thereby stretching the Swans defence right from the start, which probably created more opportunities for the smaller Demon forwards. Final clearance statistics including centre square and around the ground stoppage were a dead heat for both sides. But this wasn’t the case for the majority of the match, as the Swans clearly led. It was only in that final quarter when the Demon mid-field trio of Christian Petracca, 33 disposals, Clayton Oliver 25 and Jack Viney 19 took control. In the absence of Max, Grundy took on the Sydney rucks and chalked up nine score involvements, while the damaging wingers of the Demons in Langdon and Hunter showed a clean pair of heels to their opposition with 23 and 24 possessions respectively. Melbourne are now playing a very modified type of game, where territory is king. Six players in Petracca, Oliver, May, Jordon, Hunter and Rivers had over 400 metres gained, while only one Swans player exceed this mark. This countered the Swans’ tactic of short possession type moves, and was disheartening for them when their efforts saw a single Melbourne disposal destroy all their good work. We all know the AFL season is not a sprint race, like a Grand Prix. It is truly a marathon event and keeping players fit and healthy is paramount. And like a marathon it is a grinding sport, where the final stages of a game show us the true champions. The Grand Old Flag was waved strongly at the end and after having played three of last years finalists in their first three games, and beating a Grand Finalist so emphatically in this game, shows that the Grand Prix at season end is well within its grasp. MELBOURNE 6.1.37 9.3.57 14.4.88 21.8.134 SYDNEY SWANS 1.3.9 6.6.42 9.9.63 12.12.84 GOALS MELBOURNE Chandler Fritsch van Rooyen 3 Hunter Oliver Spargo 2 Brown Jordon Neal-Bullen Melksham Petty Sparrow SYDNEY SWANS Papley 3 Franklin Hayward 2 Blakey Gulden McDonald McInerney Rowbottom BEST MELBOURNE Grundy Oliver Hunter Petracca Chandler van Rooyen SYDNEY SWANS Mills Papley Franklin T McCartin Gulden Blakey INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil SYDNEY SWANS Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Jake Melksham (replaced Ben Brown in the third quarter) SYDNEY SWANS Matt Roberts (replaced Dylan Stephens in the third quarter) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil SYDNEY SWANS Nil UMPIRES Hayden Gavine Alex Whetton Robert Findlay Jacob Mollison OFFICIAL CROWD 42,423 at The MCG PLEASE SUPPORT THE REACH FOUNDATION https://www.reach.org.au/support-us/

Our leader after 3 rounds is the 150 game man ~ Progressive 31. Clayton Oliver 26. Jake Lever 25. Christian Petracca 18. Max Gawn 14. Brodie Grundy Lachie Hunter 13. Kysaiah Pickett 9. Ben Brown 8. Ed Langdon 7. Charlie Spargo 5. Jake Bowey Trent Rivers 4. Angus Brayshaw 3. Bayley Fritsch James Jordon 
2. Jacob van Rooyen 1. Kade Chandler Tom Sparrow

The ladder after two rounds -