Demonland

Long ago and far away, the Melbourne Football Club replaced its coach in difficult circumstances after the team suffered a devastating loss. In the aftermath, I penned the following words: “Then came the politics, the intrigue, the axing, the sound of the football world laughing at a club, the circling of the media vultures, the reinvention of history, the anger, the irony, the pathos, the hurt on the face of the president, the dignified departure of the coach, and the determination of the newly appointed caretaker.” Today, we’re back in the same place although one difference here is that the coach who was terminated this time is Simon Goodwin, the man who four years ago guided the club to its most recent premiership victory. There is a considerable amount for which we are indebted to Simon Goodwin. The club’s first premiership after 57 years in the wilderness, multiple finals campaigns, the feeling of excitement and the restoration of relevance as a sporting organization notwithstanding some relentless media scrutiny, and recent issues at board level for a club without a home base. And with our eternal thanks to Goody, we move on … And we move forward with reason for confidence in the future as expressed by Goodwin at his outgoing press conference. That’s not an unjustified belief. He was in the midst of overseeing a significant change in style from contested slow ball movement with a base of midfield bulls to a faster transition into attack. When the Demons fell to 0-5 following their loss to the Bombers, they had a percentage of 59.5, whereas today, their record stands at 7-13 with a significantly improved percentage of 95.0. Notably, despite struggling with poor forward movement, dismal goal-kicking inaccuracy, and several close losses, their record from Round 6 onwards has been 7-8 with a percentage of 109.6. This is a resurgence of sorts and it includes victories over both of last year's grand finalists and a finals contender in Fremantle, as well as a narrow one-point loss to Collingwood, not to mention a couple of other close ones. A record that’s not shabby and not evidence of a basket case as some in the media would represent. But it raises the real question of why now? The answer to this question takes us back to 2011 when the playing group's inconsistency and unreliability created an unsustainable situation for the coach. This year's performances provided sufficient evidence in scattered instances for the board to determine that Goodwin's long-term future was similarly untenable. Perhaps, the change to a more direct, attacking style, blunted its once vaunted defensive pressure? Regardless of perspective, the style he was implementing proved insufficient in their minds to stimulate a revival over the remaining term of his contract. Consequently, this marks the end of an era and signals significant changes on the horizon. That horizon is however, outside the club’s boundaries for 2025, and given the fixture the Demons are facing, there is little optimism about improving the club’s record. Interim coach Troy Chaplin is caught betwixt and between. His team is facing three teams vying for finals participation or better, while Melbourne has a different agenda as the season draws to a meaningless close. This week, the team will face off against the Western Bulldogs, who boast Bontempelli, Darcy, and Naughton at the pinnacle of their abilities, as well as a midfield that potentially rivals or surpasses that of the Demons. Melbourne holds an advantage in the ruck, but the absence of Lever and May in defence continues to be felt. The most feasible outcome is that the younger players will gain invaluable experience against an opponent that will be desperate to secure a big win. Had the entire team demonstrated a slightly greater sense of urgency during certain periods of earlier games this year and more recently, the circumstances might be vastly different, and we could have provided our only premiership coach in six decades with a more fitting conclusion to season 2025. Western Bulldogs by 55 points. THE GAME Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs at The MCG on Sunday 10 August 2024 at 3.15 pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 92 wins Western Bulldogs 80 wins 1 draw At The MCG Melbourne 49 wins Western Bulldogs 29 wins Last Five Meetings Melbourne 4 wins Western Bulldogs 1 win The Coaches Chaplin wins Beveridge 0 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Western Bulldogs 15.20.110 defeated Melbourne 9.5.59 at Marvel Stadium in Round 21, 2024 Melbourne had no answer to Marcus Bontempelli who delivered a phenomenal performance for the Western Bulldogs and was instrumental in destroying the Demons from the very beginning of the game at Marvel Stadium. The result was that Melbourne's waning hopes of making the finals came to a dead end. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B J. Bowey, T. McDonald, T. Rivers HB C. Salem, D. Turner, B. Howes C J. Culley, C. Petracca, T. Sparrow HF H. Langford, B. Fritsch, K. Chandler F J. Melksham, J. Van Rooyen, K. Pickett FOLL M. Gawn, J. Viney, E. Langdon I/C J. Adams, J. McVee, C. Oliver, H. Petty, C. Windsor EMG T. Campbell, M. Jefferson, H. Sharp IN J. Adams OUT H. Sharp (omitted) WESTERN BULLDOGS B L. Bramble, J. Busslinger, J. O'Donnell HB L. Cleary, R. Lobb, J. Johannisen C 0. Baker, E. Richards, B. Dale HF R. Sanders, A. Naughton, M. Kennedy F C. Poulter, S. Darcy, R. West FOLL T. English, M. Bontempelli, T. Liberatore I/C J. Freijah, R. Garcia, L. McNeil, L. Vandermeer, B. Williams EMG S. Davidson, J. Dolan, B. Khamis NO CHANGE Injury and Suspension List: Round 22 Jack Henderson — groin / Available Steven May — suspension / 1 week Oliver Sestan — face / 2 weeks Jake Lever — ankle/ TBC Marty Hore — knee, shoulder / season Shane McAdam — Achilles / season Andy Moniz-Wakefield — knee / season

Dear Members, I am writing to inform you that after 9 years at the helm, Simon Goodwin will be departing the club. The Board and I came to the decision earlier this week that it is time for a new voice to lead our AFL playing group and program forward. Simon has given every ounce of his passion and energy to our club over his 11 years here, and as we look to transition to our next AFL premiership, the Board believes that a new senior coach is required to maximise the opportunity ahead of us. Obviously, decisions like these are never easy to come to, but ultimately, we have made this decision in the best interests of the football club. While Simon leaves an incredible legacy, it is now time for someone else to take the reins and bring with them new energy and new ideas to revitalise our playing list and program. As a club we have confidence in our playing group and what it can achieve, this decision is about ensuring we maximise our potential and put the right person in place to drive us to our next AFL premiership. While we have made the decision to part ways with Simon, that should not dampen the extraordinary legacy he leaves behind. Simon leaves our club as one of only four coaches in the club’s history to take our AFL program to a premiership and sits behind only Norm Smith, Frank Hughes and Neale Daniher, for games coached at the Dees. A legacy, he should be incredibly proud of. On behalf of the entire football club, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for everything he has given to the red and blue over the journey. The role of a senior coach is an incredibly demanding one, and despite the challenges along the way, Simon has poured his heart and soul into the Melbourne Football Club. While this is the end of Simon’s tenure at the Dees, he will always be a Melbourne person, and we wish him, his wife Kris and their family, all the best in their next adventure. Simon will finish with the club effective immediately and assistant coach Troy Chaplin, will step in as caretaker coach for the remainder of the 2025 season. Troy has been with the club since the end of 2016 and is well equipped and ready to guide the program over the next few weeks. We will now commence our search for the next Senior Coach of the Melbourne Football Club. As you all know, this is a crucial appointment and one which will significantly shape the future of our club. The Board will assemble a panel to lead the search for our next Senior Coach. We will confirm the full structure of the panel early next week, but for now I ask that today we focus on celebrating and thanking Simon Goodwin for his incredible contribution to our footy club.

Press conference at 1pm @ The MCG

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All of Melbourne's hopes came to a dead end when the team crashed to the rampant Westren Bulldogs who dominated a very pedestrian and tired outfit. MELBOURNE 1.1.7 5.1.31 7.3.45 9.5.59 WESTERN BULLDOGS 4.7.31 6.13.49 11.17.83 15.20.110 GOALS MELBOURNE Fritsch Pickett Sparrow 2 Gawn Rivers Woewodin WESTERN BULLDOGS Bontempelli Naughton Treloar Ugle-Hagan Wightman 2 Darcy English Poulter Richards Williams BEST MELBOURNE Gawn Bowey Rivers Sparrow Langdon van Rooyen WESTERN BULLDOGS Bontempelli Treloar Dale Lobb Weightman Liberatore THE TEAMS WESTERN BULLDOGS B T. Duryea, B. Khamis, N. Coffield HB L. Bramble, R. Lobb, B. Dale C L. Vandermeer, E. Richards, B. Williams HF A. Treloar, A. Naughton, J. Ugle-Hagan F C. Weightman, S. Darcy, R. West FOLL T. English, M. Bontempelli, T. Liberatore I/C C. Daniel, R. Garcia, L. Jones, L. McNeil, C. Poulter EMG O. Baker, J. Freijah, J. Macrae MELBOURNE B J. Lever, S. May, J. McVee HB J. Bowey, T. McDonald, A. Moniz-Wakefield C E. Langdon, C. Oliver, A. Neal-Bullen HF K. Pickett, J. Van Rooyen, B. Fritsch F K. Chandler, H. Petty, J. Melksham FOLL M. Gawn, J. Viney, T. Rivers I/C B. Howes, T. Sparrow, K. Tholstrup, D. Turner, T. Woewodin EMG J. Billings, B. Laurie, A. Tomlinson

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The Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities, opens with, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, …” This phrase highlights many of the significant challenges that humanity encounters in life, ranging from experiencing remarkable highs to living in times of despair. This is a concept that should resonate with all supporters of the Melbourne Football Club this morning as they reflect on its comprehensive 83-point victory over the struggling West Coast Eagles at Marvel Stadium. The outcome proved beyond doubt that they are the worst of clubs and that we are the best of the worst. One way of looking at this is that it’s not all darkness and despair for the Dees given their recent performances under the roof of Marvel Stadium, where they have won seven of their last eight quarters by a combined total of over twenty goals. The disappointing aspect of this was that final term against St Kilda, when they infamously flushed victory down the toilet with half an hour of abysmal play to produce one of the worst collapses a team can experience in any sporting contest. In the cold, hard light of day, that’s water under the bridge of the river that flows near the Marvel Stadium. The game provided fans with a fascinating glimpse into the club's current standing. On one hand, it relies heavily on seasoned veterans, led by Captain Max Gawn and his deputy Jack Viney, two dedicated servants of the club who must have endured immense emotional pain following the debacle six days prior. It was Max and Jack who led the way from the safe but somewhat shaky start through a record breaking third quarter that ensured there would be no repeat of last week’s disaster. Max has all but assured himself of a record-equaling 8th All Australian guernsey with yet another standout performance. This time it came via his 29 hit out, 21 possession, eight mark, nine intercepts, game (and a goal!) game. He might yet have to share the honour with former Demon Brodie Grundy while the club’s tormenter from last week has a mammoth offer on the table for a player many would consider not in the top five in the ruck category. Jack celebrated passing his old man’s games milestone with yet another display of true grit, determination and resilience (20 of his 25 possessions were contested!), playing with a broken bone in his wrist. The old guard of experienced lieutenants all stood with them - notably Clayton Oliver, Bayley Fritsch (four goals), the Christians, Petracca and Salem and a couple of real old dogs in Tom McDonald and Jake Melksham. The best is that the club still retains a wealth of experience. The worst is that this is scary because they won’t be around forever. The other hand contains a smattering of still young veterans of a previous campaign that’s rapidly moving into the distant past mixed in with some promising and hopefully, up-and-coming youth. Think Kozzy Pickett, Trent Rivers, Jake Bowey, Jacob van Rooyen, Daniel Turner, Caleb Windsor, Harvey Langford, Blake Howes, Judd McVee and new boy Jai Culley living his dream against his old club. And there’s more there coming through the ranks. Mention has to be made of Kozzy who has lifted a notch since renewing his vows with the club and extending his contract (and I’m still trying to work out how and why he was sitting on the bench for so long last week while Wanganeen-Milera snatched that complimentary Grill’d Hamburger for a Demons win from my mouth but, as I said, that’s water under the bridge). You might say that there’s a modicum of rose-coloured glasses in my analysis but the comparison was raised last week with Collingwood’s embarrassing season in the Melbourne premiership year of 2021 when the Pies were among the worst of the worst. Twelve months later they finished in the top four and another twelve months later, they were the best of the best. MELBOURNE 3.5.23 6.7.43 16.9.105 21.13.139 WEST COAST EAGLES 1.2.8 3.3.21 6.6.42 8.8.56 GOALS MELBOURNE Fritsch 4 Langford Petty 3 Culley van Rooyen 2, Culley 2 Chandler Gawn Langdon Melksham Petracca Rivers Viney WEST COAST EAGLES Cripps 2 Brockman Chesser Maric Reid Ryan Shanahan BEST MELBOURNE Gawn Viney Pickett Petracca, Oliver Fritsch WEST COAST EAGLES Maric McCarthy Kelly Ginbey Cole INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil WEST COAST EAGLES Nil REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil WEST COAST EAGLES Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Harry Sharp replaced Jake Melksham in the fourth quarter WEST COAST EAGLES Hamish Davis replaced Tyrell Dewar in the fourth quarter UMPIRES Nicholas Brown Paul Rebeschini Matthew Young Harrison Birch CROWD 16,394 at Marvel Stadium

With only 3 games to go, all against Top 8 fancies, the Demons face a daunting task as they return to the MCG when they play the Western Bulldogs. Who comes in and who goes out?

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 4th August @ 8:00pm. Join Binman & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing glorious win over the Eagles Your 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. Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

Captain Max Gawn has a unassailable lead in the Demonland Player of the Year Award from Kozzy Pickett, Christian Petracca, Jake Bowey & Clayton Oliver. Your votes please; 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

The Demons return to town fresh off a thumping win over the back-to-back wooden spooners, the West Coast Eagles, played in front of a sparse crowd at Marvel Stadium, the same venue that hosted last week's heartbreaking loss.

It’s Game Day and the Demons return to the scene of the crime to take on the wooden spooners.

It was bad enough that the Melbourne Football Club created yet another humiliating scenario inside its wretched season at Marvel Stadium last Sunday, but the final insult is that it has been commanded to return to the scene of the crime to inflict further punishment on its fans this week. Incidentally, if this match preview, of a game that promises to be one of the most unattractive fixtures in the history of the game, happens to cut out of your computer screen three quarters of the way through, it’s no coincidence. I’ll be mirroring the Demons’ lacklustre effort against St Kilda from last Sunday when they conceded the largest last quarter turnaround for victory in the history of the game. The game bears some resemblance to the last encounter between these two sides at the same venue (then known as Etihad Stadium) in 2011, when the Demons suffered an eight-goal defeat in the absence of current President Brad Green, who withdrew prior to the game and was replaced by Dan Nicholson. He's a great Melbourne man, Brad Green, but I have a feeling that he might be wishing someone else would put up their hand to replace him for presidential duties for this week because more embarrassment for the club awaits. The game is being billed as the “Battle of the Broken” because both sides are at a low ebb. In that 2011 game, they attracted a paltry 15,000 spectators and the AFL will likely be hoping for a similar or better attendance, but this is unlikely due to a lack of interest regarding the outcome from Melbourne fans and any West Coast fans who might be living here or visiting. I’m expecting a crowd of embarrassingly low proportions. I would never want to encourage anyone to gamble but I was surprised to see the Sportsbet odds that had Melbourne a firm favourite at odds of $1.08 to win. That’s extraordinary considering it scored four points to 9 goals 2 behinds in the last quarter of its last appearance at the same venue against a team normally considered staid and lacking in the spirit of adventure. So how poor must the West Coast be if they’re not capable of enticing me to accept the $8.00 offered for a win? Their most promising player and potential dynamic matchwinner is Harley Reid, but he is not comparable to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. In any event, young Harley has been ruled out of this contest and will miss the remainder of the season due to an ankle injury. The Eagles have lost their last nine consecutive games, with their sole victory this season coming against … er, um, St Kilda, when they kicked six goals in the final quarter. I’m selecting Melbourne due to their dominant ruckman and captain in Max Gawn and the fact that his teammates owe him a lot given what they did last week. Despite struggling with the 6-6-6 formation last week, Max is a proud individual. If his teammates possess any pride at all, they will exert maximum effort and go full throttle throughout the entire game this week to start the long journey towards winning back some self-respect. And if not, they deserve to be hung, drawn and three quartered. Melbourne by 46 points. THE GAME West Coast Eagles vs Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, Saturday 2 August 2025 at 1.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 22 wins West Coast Eagles 38 wins At Marvel Stadium Melbourne 1 win West Coast Eagles win Past five meetings Melbourne 4 wins West Coast Eagles 1 win The Coaches Goodwin 1 win McQualter 0 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 16.12.108 defeated West Coast Eagles 11.10.76 at Optus Stadium in Round , 2025 The Demons required more than half of the game to overcome the Eagles, courtesy of a dominant 7-goal third quarter, but when presented with the opportunity to seal the victory in the final quarter, their performance was unimpressive and rather pedestrian. The standout players for the Demons were Max Gawn, Christian Petracca, and Harvey Langford. THE TEAMS (to be loaded when available) MELBOURNE B J. Bowey, T. McDonald, J. McVee HB C. Windsor, D. Turner, B. Howes C K. Chandler, C. Petracca, H. Langford HF J. Viney, B. Fritsch, T. Sparrow F J. Melksham, H. Petty, K. Pickett FOLL M. Gawn, T. Rivers, E. Langdon I/C J. Culley, C. Oliver, C. Salem, H. Sharp, J. van Rooyen EMG,J. Adams, T. Campbell, X. Lindsay IN J. Culley H. Sharp OUT X. Lindsay (managed) C. Spargo (omitted) WEST COAST B R. Ginbey, H. Edwards, T. Cole HB L. Duggan, R. Bazzo, T. McCarthy C R. Maric, B. Hough, C. Hall HF J. Cripps, J. Shanahan, E. Hewett F T. Brockman, A. Reid, L. Ryan FOLL B. Williams, T. Kelly, L. Baker I/C C. Chesser, H. Davis, T. Dewar, T. Gross, M. Owies EMG M. Flynn, J. Petruccelle, L. Rawlinson IN C.Chesser H.Davis H. Edwards T.Gross OUT S.Brock (omitted) M. Flynn (omitted) J. Hutchinson (omitted), H. Reid (ankle) Injury and Suspension List: Round 21 Jack Henderson — groin / Test Steven May — concussion, suspension / 2 weeks Oliver Sestan — face / 3 weeks Jake Lever — ankle/ TBC Marty Hore — knee, shoulder / season Shane McAdam — Achilles / season Andy Moniz-Wakefield — knee / season