Demonland

Who are you tipping?

Why would two midfielders replace Clarry and Petty when the Port forward line at time may consist of Dixon, Georgiades & Marshall.

It was when describing what our situation would be like if we didn’t have Gus saving us with his intercept marking.

We can’t take anything for granted, can we? After all, the Melbourne that took Port Adelaide for a long ride around the Adelaide Oval in early April of this year and switched off late in the game is finding it difficult of late to switch back on. Apart from a stellar display against the Brisbane Lions a fortnight ago, the Demons have laboured during the middle part of the season and, with a tough draw ahead of them, have reached a critical stage of the season after their first flag in decades. The wheels haven’t exactly fallen off but there have been chinks exposed in the armour. The first of those chinks were seen with a series of injuries among their much vaunted defensive structures which saw a falling off in their pressure levels across the board and which manifested in a lack of connection up forward. While the backline has steadied and come together again, the magic up forward has remained absent. Against Geelong last week at GMHBA Stadium, the old confidence that was symbolic of the 2021 Demon attack was gone. The talls weren’t marking, the smalls weren’t crumbing and the team relied to a large extent on Christian Petracca to play the role of Mr In Between. His three goals simply weren’t enough and perhaps it’s time for a bit of change to the way in which the team approaches goal. The critics certainly think so because they’re saying that the opposition have worked Melbourne out. So the club finds itself coming back to the Northern Territory for a crucial home match in the red heart of the continent in what should be a spiritual home against Port Adelaide which has historically found TIO Traeger Park a happy hunting ground — a home of its own away from home. Indeed, for Melbourne to get out of its current little rut it will have to do something it has never done before and that is beat the Power on this land. Port’s record against it is 3 - 0 in Alice Springs and given its recent form, there’s every chance of an upset that nobody would have predicted a couple of months ago when they were languishing near the bottom of the table. If there is to be a circuit breaker between the teams then I would go for the rucks which is not Port’s main strength and was a bit of a blind spot for Melbourne last week with both Max Gawn and Luke Jackson returning from injury. Maxy was underdone while Dogga didn’t appear to be 100% and couldn’t replicate his magnificent solo ruck effort pre injury against the Lions. I expect both to be fully switched on and back to their very best. Their example will help the team rise again and turn on a clinic for the Demons fans away from their traditional home. Melbourne by 15 points. THE GAME Melbourne v Port Adelaide on Sunday 17 July, 2022 at 3.20pm at TIO Traeger Park HEAD TO HEAD Overall Port Adelaide 21 wins Melbourne 15 wins At TIO Traeger Park Melbourne 0 wins Port Adelaide 3 wins Past five meetings Melbourne 3 wins Port Adelaide 2 wins The Coaches Goodwin 3 wins Hinkley 3 wins MEDIA TV — live and on demand on Kayo and live on Foxtel. Check your local guides. Radio — check your local guides. THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 10.8.68 defeated Port Adelaide 4.12.36 in Round 4, 2022 at the Adelaide Oval The game at Adelaide Oval earlier this year was a walk in the park for the Demons. Port remained goalless until 22 minutes 18 seconds into the third quarter when Melbourne released its grip. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: M.Hibberd 14 S.May 1 A.Tomlinson 20 HB: J.Harmes 4 J.Lever 8 C.Salem 3 C: A.Brayshaw 10 C.Petracca 5 E.Langdon 15 HF: T.Sparrow 32 M.Gawn 11 A.Neal-Bullen 30 F: B.Fritsch 31 B.Brown 50 C.Spargo 9 Foll: L.Jackson 6 J.Viney 7 K.Pickett 36 I/C: T.Bedford 12 J.Jordon 23 J.Melksham 18 T.Rivers 24 Sub: L.Dunstan 27 Emerg: K.Chandler 37 J.Hunt 29 S.Weideman 26 In: L.Dunstan J.Melksham T.Rivers A.Tomlinson Out: J.Bowey (omitted) J.Hunt (omitted) C.Oliver (thumb) H.Petty (H&S Protocols) PORT ADELAIDE B: R.Burton 3 T.Jonas 1 T.Clurey 17 HB: D.Byrne-Jones 33 A.Aliir 21 D.Houston 5 C: K.Amon 15 W.Drew 28 K.Farrell 24 HF: Z.Butters T.Marshall 4 C.Rozee 20 F: R.Gray 9 C.Dixon 22 S.Powell-Pepper 2 Foll: J.Finlayson 11 O.Wines 16 T.Boak 10 I/C: M.Bergman 14 R.Bonner 26 M. Georgiades 19 J.Mead 44 Sub: J.Burgoyne 36 Emerg: X.Duursma 7 S.Motlop 6 T.McKenzie 12 In: R.Bonner Out: J. McEntee (omitted) Injury List: Round 18 Blake Howes - Foot | Available Andy Moniz-Wakefield - Groin | Available Daniel Turner - Face | Available Clayton Oliver - Finger | Test Joel Smith - Ankle | 1-2 Weeks Deakyn Smith - Jaw | 4 Weeks Tom McDonald - Foot | 7-9 Weeks

I think I dropped a rare f-bomb in this weeks show so I apologise for that.

That will depress me even more at the moment. I just can't envision us climbing those heights again. MFCSS Variant DL.2.0

Firstly love your work. Secondly, I never blame the object (or creator) just my purchasing/acquiring it. One of my OCD triggers in regards to thinking it will curse me was the purchasing of merchandise before a game or during the season. Don’t ask me why. Ok I’ll tell you. It goes all the way back to begging for a Mel Ruckle (those cute Demon plush toys) before a game. My dad finally relented before a match which we subsequently lost and I forever blamed the loss not on the Mel Ruckle but on the purchasing of anything pregame. During the finals last year my wife purchased Melbourne merch for me for Father’s Day which was just before or during finals. I told her that she just ruined our season yet we won the Flag. Therefore I decided that the curse has finally been lifted and I could buy all the merch I ever wanted. Well I think I went a little bit overboard during the post Grand Final bliss and I fear that the curse is back. My only recourse is to burn it all and bury the ashes under the turf of our most holy of holy sites at Optus Stadium.

I hope you are right but that was one match. Are we not going to show our hand in the run home now because we could be playing any one of those teams (Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle and Brisbane) in the finals? Did we not show our hand to Geelong in the first half of Round 23, 2021 and then decided to flick the switch and show our hand in the second half? I have faith in our coaches, they certainly have the runs on the board and I will forever be grateful to them but I am a little bit worried about not only our losses this season but who we lost to.

This was another thing that got me fired up. With all due respect to my learned cohost Binman, who I have the utmost respect for and defer to in the tactical side of our onfield game, if I am to accept his narrative, a he may very well be correct, then the Lions threw (perhaps too strong a term) the match against us because they too were in their loading phase and knew they couldn't beat us so they laid down their swords. If that is the case then we in fact still have not beaten anyone of note because you can't consider that a true reflection of where we are at if the other team wasn't showing their finals hand.

I want to clarify that I did not call or think the coach and coaching staff are nitwits. I don't even believe that was implied. My frustration comes from us not changing anything in this match. Clearly teams have to some extent worked out ways to nullify our strategies and we can't simply rely on the Melbourne Way to just work in the end. I don't believe that our coaching staff can't react and change. I believe that we have some very creative and good football minds. We won a flag afterall. I just hope they're not being stubborn in thinking that if we just keep playing the Melbourne Way eventually it will work. We need to adapt because the competition has adapted to us. I bristled a bit at the notion of us not showing all our cards in this match and that the Cats have showed us their finals footy hand. If this is true and we're going to go through our remaining games not showing our hands then we better be prepared to win the lot from 7th or 8th and watch the first and 3rd week of finals on TV.

If we lose this week the gloves will be right off.

We'll be LIVE in 1 hour. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

VOTES PLAYER (CLUB) 8 Cameron Guthrie (GEEL) 8 Mitch Duncan (GEEL) 8 Patrick Dangerfield (GEEL) 2 Christian Petracca (MELB) 2 Tom Atkins (GEEL) 1 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 1 Mark Blicavs (GEEL) LEADERBOARD VOTES PLAYER CLUB 84 Clayton Oliver MELB 72 Andrew Brayshaw FRE 72 Touk Miller GCFC 68 Lachie Neale BL 67 Christian Petracca MELB 65 Patrick Cripps CARL 63 Jeremy Cameron GEEL 62 Connor Rozee PORT 49 Callum Mills SYD 46 Charlie Curnow CARL 46 James Sicily HAW 45 Sam Walsh CARL 45 Peter Wright ESS 43 Hugh McCluggage BL 43 Bailey Smith WB 42 Jack Crisp COLL 42 Jack Sinclair STK 41 Sam Docherty CARL 41 Darcy Parish ESS

Never fear Jake Melksham is here.

Join @george_on_the_outer, @binman & I on the Demonland Podcast Monday night 11th July LIVE @ 8:30pm for breakdown of the Round 17 loss to Geelong. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

There were more than a few stories about Friday night’s game between the Casey Demons and Geelong at GMHBA Stadium. The first was one of complete domination in the first quarter (six goals to nil), ascendency in the last (five to two) and the second was about the void in between (zero to seven). The third was about how, in the end, the Demons retained their unbeaten record despite the hell of a scare they had on the rainswept spaces of the Cattery. However, the story that folk might be telling somewhere down the track in the future is the one about how a few of the club's young guns approached readiness for higher achievements in the rain and the gloom of Corio Bay where their senior counterparts had met with a humiliating defeat only 24 hours earlier. Casey was so quick off the blocks that they had six goals on the board in the blink of an eye with some fine input from the team’s solid mix of performers including, pleasingly, a few Demon young guns in Bailey Laurie, Jacob Van Rooyen and Taj Woewodin. Then, after something of an arm wrestle for the first half of the second term, the Cats gained the momentum through ruckman Jonathon Ceglar (returning after a long injury lay off) and goal kicking utility Francis Evans to kick the next eight goals of the match over a period that stretched to close on the 10 minute mark of the final quarter when Laurie kicked his second. During the period in which the Cats had the ascendency, the Demons resembled their senior counterparts from the night before as the seemed frozen when it came to their approach to goals. In between Laurie’s first goal late in the opening term and his second, Casey managed nine consecutive behinds and it appeared that it would almost certainly suffer its first loss of the VFL season. However, once the team regained its composure, the goals flowed and the Demons returned to normality to peg back a 12 point deficit to win 11.9 (75) to 9.10 (64). Laurie (29 touches) in particular was outstanding and he and Van Rooyen showed that they are approaching readiness for higher glory while Woewodin will almost certainly have to wait for 2023. Trent Rivers and Jayden Hunt put their hands up for their more immediate return and Kade Chandler and Luke Dunstan must also be close. Sam Weideman also had his moments. Casey stalwart Jimmy Munro (24 touches) was also tough in the clinches. In the end, the tired Demons walked off the ground having notched up their 14th win for the season having well earned a rest for next week’s bye but I suspect that some of them will not be resting at all and that rather, they have a long trip to the centre of the country ahead of them. CASEY DEMONS 6.1.37 6.3.39 6.7.43 11.9.75 GEELONG VFL 0.3.3 4.3.27 7.6.48 9.10.64 Goals Casey Demons Laurie 3 Van Rooyen Weideman 2 M Brown Chandler Hunt Woewodin Geelong VFL Evans 5 Neale 2 Chafer Stephens Best Casey Demons Laurie Dunstan Rivers Hunt Woewodin Van Rooyen Chandler Geelong VFL Evans Ceglar Narkle McLaughlan Narkle Byrne Capiron Statistics Oskar Baker 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 62 dream team points Jack Bell 1 behind 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 21 hit outs 53 dream team points Mitch Brown 1 goal 11 kicks 2 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 52 dream team points Matt Buntine 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 39 dream team points Kade Chandler 1 goals 11 kicks 8 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 70 dream team points George Churchill Grey 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals 3 tackles 22 dream team points Luke Dunstan 19 kicks 10 handballs 29 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 91 dream team points Corey Ellison 4 kicks 1 handball 5 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 26 dream team points Kobe George goals 1 handball 1 disposal 2 dream team points Jayden Hunt 1 goals 12 kicks 5 handballs 17 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 82 dream team points Bailey Laurie 3 goals 1 behind 16 kicks 13 handballs 29 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 118 dream team points Judd McVee 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 31 dream team points Jake Melksham 1 behind 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 2 marks 6 tackles 78 dream team points James Munro 6 kicks 18 handballs 24 disposals 2 marks 9 tackles 94 dream team points Trent Rivers 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 2 marks 51 dream team points Fraser Rosman 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 38 dream team points Deakyn Smith 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 6 tackles 41 dream team points Roan Steele 1 behinds 4 kicks 1 handball 5 disposals 1 tackle 14 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 15 kicks 1 handballs 16 disposals 1 mark 47 dream team points Jacob Van Rooyen 2 goals 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 5 hit outs 80 dream team points Sam Weideman 2 goals 2 behinds 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 1 hit out 57 dream team points Taj Woewodin 1 goal 7 kicks 6 handballs 13 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles dream team points Mitch White 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 1 tackles 48 dream team points

STORIES by KC from Casey There were more than a few stories about Friday night’s game between the Casey Demons and Geelong at GMHBA Stadium. The first was one of complete domination in the first quarter (six goals to nil), ascendency in the last (five to two) and the second was about the void in between (zero to seven). The third was about how, in the end, the Demons retained their unbeaten record despite the hell of a scare they had on the rainswept spaces of the Cattery. However, the story that folk might be telling somewhere down the track in the future is the one about how a few of the club's young guns approached readiness for higher achievements in the rain and the gloom of Corio Bay where their senior counterparts had met with a humiliating defeat only 24 hours earlier. Casey was so quick off the blocks that they had six goals on the board in the blink of an eye with some fine input from the team’s solid mix of performers including, pleasingly, a few Demon young guns in Bailey Laurie, Jacob Van Rooyen and Taj Woewodin. Then, after something of an arm wrestle for the first half of the second term, the Cats gained the momentum through ruckman Jonathon Ceglar (returning after a long injury lay off) and goal kicking utility Francis Evans to kick the next eight goals of the match over a period that stretched to close on the 10 minute mark of the final quarter when Laurie kicked his second. During the period in which the Cats had the ascendency, the Demons resembled their senior counterparts from the night before as the seemed frozen when it came to their approach to goals. In between Laurie’s first goal late in the opening term and his second, Casey managed nine consecutive behinds and it appeared that it would almost certainly suffer its first loss of the VFL season. However, once the team regained its composure, the goals flowed and the Demons returned to normality to peg back a 12 point deficit to win 11.9 (75) to 9.10 (64). Laurie (29 touches) in particular was outstanding and he and Van Rooyen showed that they are approaching readiness for higher glory while Woewodin will almost certainly have to wait for 2023. Trent Rivers and Jayden Hunt put their hands up for their more immediate return and Kade Chandler and Luke Dunstan must also be close. Sam Weideman also had his moments. Casey stalwart Jimmy Munro (24 touches) was also tough in the clinches. In the end, the tired Demons walked off the ground having notched up their 14th win for the season having well earned a rest for next week’s bye but I suspect that some of them will not be resting at all and that rather, they have a long trip to the centre of the country ahead of them. CASEY DEMONS 6.1.37 6.3.39 6.7.43 11.9.75 GEELONG VFL 0.3.3 4.3.27 7.6.48 9.10.64 Goals Casey Demons Laurie 3 Van Rooyen Weideman 2 M Brown Chandler Hunt Woewodin Geelong VFL Evans 5 Neale 2 Chafer Stephens Best Casey Demons Laurie Dunstan Rivers Hunt Woewodin Van Rooyen Chandler Geelong VFL Evans Ceglar Narkle McLaughlan Narkle Byrne Capiron Statistics Oskar Baker 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 62 dream team points Jack Bell 1 behind 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 21 hit outs 53 dream team points Mitch Brown 1 goal 11 kicks 2 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 52 dream team points Matt Buntine 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 39 dream team points Kade Chandler 1 goals 11 kicks 8 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 70 dream team points George Churchill Grey 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals 3 tackles 22 dream team points Luke Dunstan 19 kicks 10 handballs 29 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 91 dream team points Corey Ellison 4 kicks 1 handball 5 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 26 dream team points Kobe George goals 1 handball 1 disposal 2 dream team points Jayden Hunt 1 goals 12 kicks 5 handballs 17 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 82 dream team points Bailey Laurie 3 goals 1 behind 16 kicks 13 handballs 29 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 118 dream team points Judd McVee 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 31 dream team points Jake Melksham 1 behind 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 2 marks 6 tackles 78 dream team points James Munro 6 kicks 18 handballs 24 disposals 2 marks 9 tackles 94 dream team points Trent Rivers 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 2 marks 51 dream team points Fraser Rosman 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 38 dream team points Deakyn Smith 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 6 tackles 41 dream team points Roan Steele 1 behinds 4 kicks 1 handball 5 disposals 1 tackle 14 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 15 kicks 1 handballs 16 disposals 1 mark 47 dream team points Jacob Van Rooyen 2 goals 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 5 hit outs 80 dream team points Sam Weideman 2 goals 2 behinds 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 1 hit out 57 dream team points Taj Woewodin 1 goal 7 kicks 6 handballs 13 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles dream team points Mitch White 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 1 tackles 48 dream team points

Clarrie will miss next week but will still be well in front at the end of the game. 187. Clayton Oliver 129. Christian Petracca 97. Angus Brayshaw 94. Jack Viney 84. Max Gawn 71. Steven May 63. Ed Langdon 48. James Jordon 31. Luke Jackson 27. Jake Lever 25 James Harmes 22. Jake Bowey 18. Harry Petty 17. Kysaiah Pickett 15. Tom Sparrow 13. Ben Brown Bayley Fritsch 12. Michael Hibberd 11. Alex Neal-Bullen 8. Tom McDonald 6. Sam Weideman 5. Jayden Hunt Charlie Spargo 4. Christian Salem 3. Joel Smith