Demonland

Forwards can’t be inaccurate if there are no forwards.

INS – Spargo, Jordon, Woewodin (AFL debut) OUTS – Fritsch (inj.), Harmes, J.Smith, Chandler (omitted)

I have a feeling Brisbane might manage some players this week but still win by 100 plus.

Who are you tipping this week?

On the one hand it would wipe out an embarrassing record held by the club for 44 years on the other hand the percentage boost it will give Brisbane this season over us might be insurmountable. Having said that I don’t think we’ll be able to catch Brisbane now on wins so percentage may be moot and they’re likely to thrash the Eagles by a lot anyway even if they don’t exceed 190 points.

There’s only one way that St Kilda will beat Melbourne on Saturday night and that is if the roof of Marvel Stadium develops a leak from the rain outside (the Bureau of Meteorology predicts a 70% chance of rain). Under a closed roof, the windless conditions at the venue give the Demons’ forward line their best chance in ages of snapping out of the most massive dose of off the rails scoring yips since Ian Baker-Finch put away his favourite set of clubs and retired from golf. It’s a well-documented fact that from Rounds 1-9 this season when Melbourne was ranked No. 1 for scoring accuracy, they have plummeted to a No. 18 ranking through rounds 10-16. And all this before the Demons confirmed their best forward Bayley Fritsch will miss an estimated 7-8 weeks with a broken foot which effectively means his season is over even assuming his recovery rate sees him at full fitness at a slightly better rate than Clayton Oliver or Tom McDonald. These players are all vital cogs in the club’s revival. The thing is that Melbourne is still playing its customary tough, hard brand of pressure football in the air and on the ground in defence and in the middle but when the ball starts zeroing in on that front third of the ground, it automatically finds a player wearing an opposition guernsey or goes through the wrong side of the big sticks. The saving grace has been that while Demons kicked 5.15 against the Giants, following scores of 8.15, 8.18, and 8.13, most of their recent losses were played in heavy wet conditions and that won’t be the case this week. The team has been followed around by dark black storm clouds laden with precipitation. It has followed them at home, in Geelong, over to Adelaide a couple of times and even to the country’s normally dry heart. The malaise has virtually eliminated their final two chances altogether and threatens their tenuous hold on a top four spot. They might even drop out of the finals altogether if they continue to miss their targets in front of goal. Fortunately, the circuit-breaker is now at hand for the game at St Kilda, winners at their last start but by a paltry eight points against the AFL’s most easy to beat side since the days when Dean Bailey and Mark Neeld ruled the roost at Melbourne. Over the first three quarters, the Saints allowed the Eagles to score 12.2 from 28 inside 50 entries. Now a defence as lousy as that is quite capable of leaking goals even to the wayward Demons on dry ground and I’m eliminating the possibility of a reprise to the days when the sprinkler system was inadvertently left on overnight before a game at the Saints’ old home ground. There are too many comic book heroes at Marvel Stadium to allow that to happen. I’m tipping Melbourne to hit its targets in the dry conditions at the Docklands and to win by 50 points. THE GAME St Kilda v Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Saturday 8 July 2023 at 7.25pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall St Kilda 94 wins Melbourne 124 1 drawn At Marvel Stadium St Kilda 9 wins Melbourne 6 wins Past five meetings St Kilda 2 wins Melbourne 3 wins The Coaches Lyon 0 wins Goodwin 0 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 14.9.93 defeated St Kilda 8.7.55 at The MCG, Round 8, 2022 Ah, what a glorious time it was when the Demons found their men on the forward line and those men kicked truly. Ed Langdon, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca all gathered possessions in the high thirties and Ben Brown and Kozzie Pickett snagged three goals each. Oh, wasn’t that a time? THE TEAMS ST KILDA B Z. Cordy D. Howard C. Wilkie HB J. Webster M. Windhager N. Wanganeen-Milera C M. Wood J. Steele S. Ross HF D. Butler M. Phillipou M. Owens F A. Caminiti M. King J. Gresham FOLL R. Marshall B. Crouch J. Sinclair I/C J. Billings Z. Jones C. Sharman L. Stocker SUB R. Byrnes EMG T. Campbell H. Clark J. Peris IN J. Billings Z. Cordy Z. Jones OUT J. Battle (concussion) J. Higgins (knee) B. Hill (knee) MELBOURNE B J. Bowey S. May H. Petty HB C. Salem J. Lever A. Brayshaw C J. Jordon J. Viney E. Langdon HF K. Pickett J. Melksham T. Sparrow F A. Neal-Bullen B. Brown C. Spargo FOLL M. Gawn C. Petracca T. Rivers I/C B. Grundy L. Hunter J. McVee T. Woewodin SUB J. Smith EMG K. Chandler J. Harmes J. van Rooyen IN J. Jordon C. Spargo T. Woewodin OUT K. Chandler (omitted) B. Fritsch (foot) J. Harmes (omitted) Injury List: Round 17 Clayton Oliver - Hamstring | Test 
Michael Hibberd - Kidney | 2 Weeks 
Tom McDonald - Ankle | 4 - 6 Weeks 
 Bayley Fritsch - Foot | 7 - 8 Weeks 
Kye Turner - Groin | TBC

It was a strange day for the Demons across the country, it took Casey 60 inside 50s to produce a 96 point win while Melbourne scored five goals in Alice Springs going into the arc 73 times. In the absence of a Casey correspondent for Sunday’s game due to KC’s unavailability, here’s coverage from Around the state leagues on the AFL site. “James Jordon continued to push his claim for a regular starting spot in the senior side with a strong performance in Casey's thumping 96-point win over Greater Western Sydney on Sunday. Jordon finished with a game-high 41 disposals, seven marks, five tackles, seven clearances and kicked a goal. Young spearhead Jacob van Rooyen responded to his omission from the top side in emphatic fashion, kicking an equal game-high four goals to go with his eight marks. Son-of-a-gun Taj Woewodin was a strong contributor with three goals and six marks to go with his 26 disposals, while midfielder Luke Dunstan collected 31 touches and had four clearances. First-year forward Matthew Jefferson had a day out with four goals and five marks, while Andy Moniz-Wakefield (three goals) and Mitch White and Josh Schache (two goals apiece) were also busy up forward. Bailey Laurie (25 disposals, three clearances), Blake Howes (24, six marks) and Daniel Turner (22, six) were solid.” CASEY DEMONS 3.7.25 8.9.57 12.12.84 20.14.134 UWS GIANTS 1.3.9 2.6.18 3.12.30 4.14.38 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Jefferson van Rooyen 4 Moniz-Wakefield Woewodin 3 Schache White 2 Jordon Munro UWS GIANTS Flynn Gruzewski Rowston Stone BEST CASEY DEMONS Jordon Munro Woewodin Dunstan van Rooyen Howes UWS GIANTS Flynn Peatling Fleeton O’Connor Davis Anderson Statistics Jed Adams 4 kicks 1 handballs 5 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 32 dream team points Riley Baldi 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 4 marks 1 tackles 48 dream team points Jack Bell 7 kicks 8 handballs 15 disposals 4 tackles 18 hit outs 68 dream team points Luke Dunstan 1 behind 17 kicks 14 handballs 31 disposals 6 marks 1 tackles 102 dream team points Tyler Edwards 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 4 marks 1 tackles 49 dream team points Tom Freeman 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 29 dream team points George Grey 2 kicks 1 handballs 3 disposals 1 marks 11 dream team points Blake Howes 1 behind 17 kicks 7 handballs 24 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 91 dream team points Matt Jefferson 4 goals 8 kicks 8 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 59 dream team points James Jordon 1 goal 2 behinds 26 kicks 15 handballs 41 disposals 7 marks 5 tackles 157 dream team points Bailey Laurie 2 behinds 12 kicks 13 handballs 25 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 79 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 3 goals 9 kicks 4 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 77 dream team points Ned Moodie 3 kicks 6 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 27 dream team points James Munro 1 goal 1 behind 11 kicks 14 handballs 25 disposals 5 marks 6 tackles 110 dream team points Josh Schache 2 goals 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 1 hit out 70 dream team points Oliver Sestan 1 behind 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 50 dream team points Deaykin Smith 14 kicks 6 handballs 20 disposals 6 marks 1 tackles 71 dream team points Roan Steele 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 46 dream team points Daniel Turner 18 kicks 4 handballs 22 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 85 dream team points Jacob van Rooyen 4 goals 1 behinds 10 kicks 6 handballs 16 disposals 8 marks 2 tackles 100 dream team points Will Verrall 1 kicks 4 handballs 5 disposals 3 tackles 7 hit outs 30 dream team points Mitch White 2 goals 1 behinds 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 69 dream team points Taj Woewodin 3 goals 11 kicks 16 handballs 27 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 103 dream team points

1000% Fritta is swapped for Melk. We don’t take risks.

Just our luck they’ll open it during the week only for some mechanism to break and it has to remain open during our game and it rains all day.