Demonland

The bulldogs are the only team that consistently get soft free kicks directly in front of goal.

I have no idea who to barrack for here.

Throwdogs

We might actually get a top 5 pick. Thanks Jacko.

How Clayton Oliver’s first 150 games stack up with modern AFL greats

Geez I've felt a bit sorry for them after the weekend and now, if I didn't suffer from a horrible bout of MFCSS, I'd be lacing up my dancing shoes and heading to the cemetery to dance on some graves.

Fixed it for you @sue 😜

Who are you tipping this week?

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.