Demonland

The music is gone.

You can take it to the bank that we'll be playing in Geelong and we haven't played in Tasmania for a while so we'll probably get sent there too.

Early Sunday afternoon Meggs was coffeeing in Mornington and witnessing hail, thunder, lightning, rain, wind and feeling the freezing temperatures and knowing all these elements were heading towards Casey Fields. Oh dear. The Brisbane coach had said during the week that he wanted the game moved to Marvel because “if you're going to have two of the better teams in the comp playing, (it warrants) a venue and deck that suits the occasion”. However, Casey Fields was uncharacteristically windless for the entire game. A wet deck for sure, but given the amount of rain, the playing surface looked to be in excellent condition. From a selection point of view, Narrm was missing its omnipotent key forward, Tayla Harris, and improving utility Jordan Ivey, both girls having earned 1-week suspensions. Maddi Gay returns to halfback, Sinead Goldrick is still 1-2 weeks away and Sammie Johnson was omitted. The Narrm team also contained two debutants in young tall forward, father-daughter selection Georgia Campbell and Irish recruit Blaithin Mackin, who apparently chose us over Fremantle. It was also a milestone game for fan favourite Lily Mithen, who was playing game number 50. ‘Lil you are a Dee-star! For the Lions, Brisbane was missing Dee Heslop due to AFLW concussion protocols, with veteran defender Sharni Webb her replacement. This match was a genuine top of the table clash with the winner poised for outright flag favouritism. The Demons have won the last 3 contest by a total of only 9 points (2 points, 3 and 4). Expectations were high for a close game. Brisbane stands undefeated atop the AFLW ladder with a percentage of 401.8. For Mick Stinear, it was about the midfield contest, maintaining 4-quarter pressure and somehow controlling the powerful Brisbane forward line. Q1 Narrm started the game well. Our pressure and ball movement had us on top, early. Tyla Hanks was leading our midfield and Lily Mithen was up and about in her milestone game. Eden Zanker, has enormous potential as a player but some weeks she fails to make an impact. So, it was great to see her opening proceedings by winning a contested footy at half forward and breaking away and kicking an excellent goal on the run. Her goal number 4 in Season 7. Kate Hore, who was great all game, both forward and through the middle, snapped a nice goal from a stoppage courtesy of a Lauren Pearce ruck contest and then moments later manufactured a wonderful snap for her second goal and Narrm’s third. The rest of the quarter saw Brisbane slowly ratchet up their pressure and eventually Wardlaw toe-poked a goal from a deep entry. Naarm winning the quarter but it’s tight. Dees 3.1 to Brisbane 1.0. Q2 Momentum is now with the Lions. Cathy Svarc is so dynamic, causing turnovers and creating pressure. The Lions midfielders and backs are now on top. Brisbane has several chances to score this quarter including another deep entry which results in a second toe-poke goal from Wardlaw. Heath who has been in everything goes off for some treatment for a corkie. Brisbane’s Ally Anderson misses a gettable shot and then teammate Ruby Svarc comically bounces ball on the wet deck and loses it when a certain goal awaited. Gee our backline is under the pump. Thankfully Maddie Gay is back this week and playing well. Mackin on debut is looking like she belongs out there. She’s courageous, athletic and possesses good ball skills. Late in the quarter Mithen, from the 50-metre line, has a chance to hit up Hanks on a lead but her kick is a floater and defended safely by Brisbane. A scoreless quarter for the Dees. Narrm 3.1 to Brisbane 2.3. Q3 Brisbane continues its first-half momentum with a number of forward entries. Ally Anderson has a shot, but it’s marked by Narrm in the goal square. She then has another snap but this one is rushed for a point. It’s noticeable that we have a lot of quiet players today. Bannan, Wilson, Chaplin, first-gamer Campbell all finding it tough out there. Halfway through the quarter Narrm starts to wrest control and Hanks cleverly intercepts a defensive pass and kicks truly from 35 metres for our fourth goal. We are in this game. Next Daisy kicks long but the ball bounces to the right for a point. Brisbane then moves the ball the length of the ground where somehow Zimmie Farquharson in the goal square kicks it off the ground off the bottom of her boot for a goal. That’s 3 toe-pokes from Brisbane. At three-quarter time it’s Narrm 4.3 to Brisbane 3.4. Q4 Unfortunately, the last quarter is disappointing for Narrm fans. Brisbane is really finding their strength in the contest and have a couple of excellent highlights. A Birch clearing kick only goes as far as Ruby Svarc who plays on and kicks to Dakota Davison who, instead on marking, cleverly taps it over her head to Conway. She then runs into an open goal and gives the lead to Brisbane. Moments later a high ball into Brisbane’s forward line is roved well by Hodder for another goal. The final goal of the match sees Ruby Svarc cleverly steal a Daisy Pearce handpass, intended for Paxy, and then runs on and kicks a nice goal. Hanks, Paxman, Hore, Purcell and Mithen keep giving it their all until the final siren but it’s to no avail. Full time it’s Narrm 27, Brisbane 42. The Coaches and next week:- Coach Mick Stinear said Brisbane are a good side who outworked and overpowered us. He says we need to improve our skill execution and delivery into the forward half. Craig Starcevich was really pleasing to get the win against a genuine contender. After playing lower rated teams in the first 3 rounds, Brisbane wasn’t quite ready for the early heat brought by Narrm. He was pleased with how his team fought back to even terms and was then able to run away with it in the last term. The Lions are now 2 and 2 at Casey Next week we play Carlton at Ikon Park on Friday at 7:30pm. We recently defeated them in a pre-season practice match at the MCG so we should know how to win this one. Brisbane returns to Melbourne next week to play the Tigers at Punt Road. Go Dees ! NARRM 3.1.19 3.1.19 4.2.26 4.3.27 BRISBANE 1.0.6 2.3.15 3.4.22 6.6.42 GOALS NARRM Hore 2 Hanks Zanker BRISBANE Wardlaw 2 Conway Farquharson Hodder R Svarc BEST NARRM Hanks Mithen L Pearce Gay BRISBANE Anderson C Svarc Grider Conway INJURIES NARRM Nil BRISBANE Nil REPORTS NARRM Nil BRISBANE Nil Nil CROWD 757 at the Casey Fields

Can we please play our game at Optus Stadium against Geelong instead of going to the Cattery?

If the threatening dark grey skies that loomed above Ikon Park before the VFL Grand Final didn’t provide a sufficiently inhospitable reception for our visitors from sunny Queensland, the rains that bucketed down after quarter time certainly did. For years, the Casey Demons have welcomed opposing teams at their home fortress with rain, hail, wind and frosty conditions and it was just Southport’s luck that they met those conditions head on in the VFL’s big dance. They suited Casey’s skillful players backed by a couple of hardened veterans of the competition right down to the sodden ground. Both during and after the deluge, the Sharks struggled. They were held to a mere two goals after quarter time while the Demons piled on eight to march away with the flag to the tune of 38 points. In truth, the Casey Demons would most likely have won in any weather conditions as they demonstrated throughout 2022 when they won 20 out of 21 games played, ironically losing their only match in balmy South East Queensland to the Brisbane Lions a month ago. But they were never going to lose this one. For starters, they were a team replete with 16 AFL-listed players of varying levels of experience and size backed up by two lion-hearted hard nosed performers in captain Mitch White and the brutal hard-tackling Jimmy Munro in the midfield. Both the skipper and the trusty Munro have been at the wheel in previous unsuccessful premiership campaigns but played in losing grand finals in 2016 and 2018. On Sunday, they were indefatigable in their attack on the ball and their opponents. White (29 disposals, 13 tackles) was a fitting recipient of the Norm Goss Memorial Medal for the best afield in the VFL grand final while Jimmy Munro was close behind with 21 touches including a goal plus an incredible 17 tackles. With those tackle counts, they wore down the solid-mature bodied Southport outfit and allowed players of the calibre of Luke Dunstan, Toby Bedford, Kade Chandler and Oskar Baker to create enough regular forward thrusts to break the game apart. In the end, it was the brilliance up forward of Jake Melksham who kicked the opening goal to add three more in the final term to ice up the game. Mitch Brown was another experienced hand up forward who contributed a couple of goals. Premierships are rarely won without having a superb defence and here, Casey excelled through the agency of Adam Tomlinson, Joel Smith, Daniel Turner, Matt Buntine, Corey Ellison and rookie Judd McVee. They were certainly helped by the conditions but, after the first break they were so miserly that they hardly let the wind and rain through and warmed the hearts of coach Mark Corrigan and the fans. Special mention needs to be made of the continuing emergence of Sam Weideman as a ruckman. He held his own against a much bigger opponent and his mobility around the ground was crucial to Casey’s effort in denying the Sharks the first use of the football. Although they weren’t prolific ball winners on the day, the likes of Jacob Van Rooyen, Taj Woewodin and Bailey Laurie all showed enough to suggest that there’s a lot more in store for the Demons from players of their calibre. And there ended a brilliant season from the Casey Demons with the first flag under the new banner of a century old club. Long may they reign. CASEY DEMONS 2.2.14 4.5.29 6.8.44 10.10.70 SOUTHPORT SHARKS 3.3.21 3.5.23 4.5.29 5.8.38 Goals Casey Demons Melksham 4 Brown 2 Bedford Laurie Munro Woewodin Southport Sharks Townsend 2 Johnson King Pescud Best Casey Demons Bedford Melksham White Munro Dunstan Weideman Southport Sharks Woodcock Boakye Joyce Townsend Crossley Manteit Statistics Oskar Baker 1 behind 19 kicks 6 handballs 25 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 82 dream team points Toby Bedford 1 goal 2 behinds 8 kicks 6 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 7 tackles 84 dream team points Mitch Brown 2 goals 1 behind 11 kicks 11 disposals 6 marks 64 dream team points Matt Buntine 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 35 dream team points Kade Chandler 12 kicks 11 handballs 23 disposals 8 marks 7 tackles 107 dream team points Luke Dunstan 24 kicks 7 handballs 31 disposals 4 marks 9 tackles 128 dream team points Corey Ellison 5 kicks 1 handballs 6 disposals 6 tackles 43 dream team points George Grey 7 kicks 7 disposals 5 tackles 44 dream team points Blake Howes 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals 3 tackles 22 dream team points Bailey Laurie 1 goal 1 behinds 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 45 dream team points Judd McVee 12 kicks 2 handballs 14 disposals 2 tackles 47 dream team points Jake Melksham 4 goals 12 kicks 4 handballs 16 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 96 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 4 kicks 4 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 30 dream team points James Munro 1 goal 14 kicks 7 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 17 tackles 128 dream team points Aidan Quigley 2 kicks 1 handballs 3 disposals 2 marks 6 tackles 38 dream team points Joel Smith 1 behind 10 kicks 2 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 52 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 14 kicks 5 handballs 19 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 68 dream team points Daniel Turner 6 kicks 1 handballs 7 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 35 dream team points Ryan Valentine 2 kicks 1 handball 3 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 5 hit outs 18 dream team points Jacob Van Rooyen 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 1 hit out 41 dream team points Sam Weideman 12 kicks 6 handballs 18 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 35 hit outs 101 dream team points Mitch White 24 kicks 5 handballs 29 disposals 3 marks 13 tackles 135 dream team points Taj Woewodin 1 goal 10 kicks 4 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 68 dream team points

Declan Reeve’s AFL Draft Top 30

Not a record per se but something to be proud of.