Demonland

North's jumper is whiter around the top. Although to avoid confusion (and for aesthetics) they really should wear white shorts and we should wear our navy blue.

A record 12 players polled this week - 95. Clayton Oliver 79. Christian Petracca 61. Max Gawn 60. Steven May 50. Ed Langdon 48. Angus Brayshaw 26. Luke Jackson 25. Jack Viney 22. Jake Bowey 18. James Harmes 14. Kysaiah Pickett 13. Ben Brown 12. James Jordon 11. Alex Neal-Bullen 6. Sam Weideman 5. Jayden Hunt Harry Petty Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow 3. Joel Smith 2. Bayley Fritsch Tom McDonald

It was the top of the table Demons who inflicted their highest ever defeat of the Eagles, thereby ensuring that the sun has finally set on their long dynasty out West. The final margin was 74 points but it was the final quarter barrage of seven goals which definitively signalled to the meagre West Coast opposition and supporters exactly who was in control. That was after a similar six goal to one opening quarter, but hey … why not boo and complain about every decision that went against their miserable team for the intervening fifty or sixty minutes! It is going to be the only solace for them for seasons to come. Either that or switch allegiances to the Dockers to be able to see a decent team in action. We all know how “ undermanned” West Coast are, because they keep highlighting it, rather than the obvious age factor pervasive throughout their list. Forced to play young inexperienced footballers … spare me! In sharp contrast Melbourne is still fielding seven or eight players under 21, who all have a Premiership medallion around their neck. The first quarter saw the Eagles score the first major of the game, but that was to be their only 6 pointer for the opening half. That lit the fuse for the Demons to commence one of their punishing scoreboard thrusts, led by Kysaiah Pickett with two stunning goals. Ably backed up with further majors to Ben Brown, Bailey Fritsch and Christian Petracca, the Demons piled on six unanswered goals to effectively put the game to rest by ¼ time. Adam Simpson was now faced with the prospect of an embarrassing massacre in front of the disgruntled home crowd, so he pulled out the old “hold the ball at all costs” trick. It stopped the rot, but using it simply to deny the Demons use of the ball means he had conceded the game. It worked and turned the next two quarters into a spectacle usually seen at the soccer, as the ball is chipped around, back and forth with no genuine attempts at scoring. The result was that for half the match the Demons kicked three goals, while West Coast Eagles only increased their score by two while fans were treated to some riveting stuff! Finally, the Demons had enough of that rubbish and put down the foot to blow the opposition away courtesy of a seven goal final quarter. The Eagles fans thought they had put up a fight, but probably need to spend more time in mathematics class, since the final margin was 74 points - almost exactly the same amount that Brisbane punished them by just a week previous. For Melbourne, the usual strong performances came from its elite. Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney all recorded numbers in the high 20’s, with no player in the side amassing more than 30. Even in the ruck Max Gawn only totalled 26 hit outs with Luke Jackson 16. TMac even had 5. Down back the intercept kings in May and Lever only had five and six marks respectively. James Jordon, playing on a wing, put in one of his best games with 27 touches, while the forward line saw TMac, Fritsch, Pickett and Brown finish with 12 goals between them. All that shows was a team performing more than sufficiently to emphatically put the opposition away, but not breaking the back doing it. Once again, the rest of the competition should be worried for when the Demons change into top gear. As the sun has now set in the west, it has surely risen in the east with the Melbourne powerhouse firmly established at the top of the table, and a game clear after just nine rounds which is the same as in season 2021 and we all know how that finished. However, there is unlikely to be a repeat of Round 10 from the previous year, as the Demons now face the lowly Kangaroos. Currently 16 consecutive wins for the club and Jake Bowey, will certainly not be eclipsed by some miraculous performance from North, who are in some of their darkest days. As Melbourne supporters, we appreciate their position. But as we have found out, the sun does come out to shine again, and in our case it is shining ever brightly. MELBOURNE 6.5.41 7.9.51 9.12.66 16.16.112 WEST COAST EAGLES 1.0.6 1.3.9 3.4.22 5.8.38 GOALS MELBOURNE McDonald 4 Fritsch Pickett 3 Brown Petracca 2 Neal-Bullen, Spargo WEST COAST EAGLES Cripps Darling McGovern Waterman Williams BEST MELBOURNE Petracca Pickett Oliver Jackson McDonald Viney WEST COAST EAGLES Kelly West McGovern Barrass Redden INJURIES MELBOURNE J. Harmes (hamstring) WEST COAST EAGLES J. Kennedy (knee soreness) replaced in the selected team by H. Dixon, L. Foley (concussion), L. Ryan (hamstring) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil WEST COAST EAGLES Nil SUBSTITUTES MELBOURNE K. Chandler (replaced J. Harmes) WEST COAST EAGLES P. Naish (replaced L. Ryan) UMPIRES C Dore C Donlon A Heffernan CROWD 27,488 boos with some true Demon stalwarts in place at Optus Stadium

The Casey Demons had it easy on a windy day under sunny skies at the home of the VFL Kangaroos at Arden Street on Sunday. They caught the hapless Roos who were badly depleted by injury on the hop and disposed of them with little trouble. It was the second time in consecutive seasons that Casey inflicted a 100 plus points defeat on the Roos who had no answers for an opponent on the rampage. When the game started, Casey was without three important forward line components in Mitch Brown, Kade Chandler and Jake Melksham who were all in Perth with the Melbourne team. In the reshuffle caused by the three late changes came VFL-listers Jake Bell, Tyler Edwards and Roan Steele, all with roles to play in coach Mark Corrigan’s plan for the ladder leaders. They might have been down to 13 AFL-listed players with depleted forward line strength on paper, but it didn’t matter as they scored at will throughout the day including a nine goal third quarter blitz that made the Kangaroos look like road kill. After a brief lapse inside the first minute, it was clear that the Demons’ twin key tall forwards were going to prove a handful for the home team. WA recruit Jacob Van Rooyen has been threatening a break out game for a few weeks and this was the day. He fed the ball out to Luke Dunstan for the team’s first goal and, soon after, capped it off with his second. Then Weideman clunked a great mark to score his first and what followed was a race between the two for top goal kicker on the day that ended in a dead heat on six apiece. It was a masterclass in key forward play with both kicking goals from great ground play and strong marking. One wonders how they could have worked in Mitch Brown who was across the Nullarbor. It wasn’t all the work of the twin towers either. Dunstan suffered from leather poisoning in the middle and kicked three goals to go with his 31 disposals. Toby Bedford took time off from his professional medical sub duties at Melbourne to showcase his pace and new maturity gained from his proximity to the A Team this year. He also kicked a couple of nice goals. Bailey Laurie is coming on in leaps and bounds as well and his four second half goals would have pleased Jason Taylor and his recruiting team. Taj Woewodin showed some glimpses of a future in the big time on his return from a fortnight out with concussion. Majak Daw also returned to the team with a strong performance in the ruck and he was very capably assisted by Jake Bell who played his best game yet at the club. Casey was also well served by skipper Mitch White, the ever-reliable Jimmy Munro and defender Matt Buntine who booted his first goal, courtesy of a 50 metre penalty. Likewise, George Grey was full of sparkle as the team ran riot and served notice to all and sundry that it was determined to hold tightly onto its top of the ladder status. In a strange quirk of fixturing, both sides have a bye next week while their AFL counterparts will be slugging it out at Marvel Stadium. Surely they could have had their byes this week and played before that game? CASEY DEMONS 5.7.37 11.12.78 20.17.137 26.21.177 NORTH MELBOURNE VFL 2.2.14 5.3.33 7.4.46 10.7.67 Goals Casey Demons Van Rooyen Weideman 6 Laurie 4 Dunstan 3 Bedford 2 Buntine Grey Turner White Woewodin North Melbourne VFL Walker Mitchell-Russell 2 Dib Dick Hore Jones Best Casey Demons Dunstan Van Rooyen Weideman Daw Grey Bedford White Munro Laurie North Melbourne VFL Hore Jones Tyson Smith Watkins Guthrie Statistics Oskar Baker 1 behind 17 kicks 3 handballs 20 disposals 8 marks 3 tackles 94 dream team points Riley Baldi 2 kicks 6 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 33 dream team points Toby Bedford 2 goals 2 behinds 13 kicks 11 handballs 24 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 101 dream team points Jake Bell 4 kicks 10 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 26 hit outs 74 dream team points Matt Buntine 1 goal 1 behind 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 55 dream team points Majak Daw 1 behind 10 kicks 4 handballs 14 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 44 hit outs 117 dream team points Luke Dunstan 3 goals 1 behind 18 kicks 13 handballs 31 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 112 dream team points Tyler Edwards 5 kicks 7 handballs 12 disposals 1 marks 2 tackles 40 dream team points Corey Ellison 5 kicks 2 handballs 7 disposals 3 marks 28 dream team points George Grey 1 goal 2 behinds 11 kicks 8 handballs 19 disposals 3 marks 6 tackles 88 dream team points Bailey Laurie 4 goals 1 behind 10 kicks 6 handballs 16 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 85 dream team points Tom Macrae 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 26 dream team points Judd McVee 3 kicks 1 handballs 4 disposals 2 tackles 16 dream team points James Munro 1 behind 8 kicks 18 handballs 26 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 78 dream team points Fraser Rosman 7 kicks 3 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 37 dream team points Deakyn Smith 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 62 dream team points Roan Steele 3 behinds 9 kicks 7 handballs 16 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 56 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 20 kicks 7 handballs 27 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 97 dream team points Daniel Turner 1 goals 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 42 dream team points Jacob Van Rooyen 6 goals 2 behinds 10 kicks 12 handballs 22 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 116 dream team points Sam Weideman 6 goals 2 behinds 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 1 hit out 113 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 1 behind 16 kicks 11 handballs 27 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 92 dream team points Taj Woewodin 1 goal 1 behind 12 kicks 6 handballs 18 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 82 dream team points

It would normally be a larger differential for home games but Dean Margetts has retired.

Who comes in and who goes out?

This surface is terrible.

Not sticking tackles tonight.

Does Kelli have a book of phrases for every player?

Push in the back? Dead set dropped the ball.

Fritsch and squeezing goals through at Optus Stadium the best of friends.

Is West an AFL listed player? He’s killed us in the second half.

Please post your votes folks 6,5,4,3,2,1 …

Jeez Can we just kick straight

Trac’s set shot kicking tonight has been 🤮

If you get tackled and don’t get boot to ball isn’t it a free?

One of those goal kicking yips days.

Eagles get rewarded for every tackle. Dees not so much or at all.

This surface 🤦‍♂️

How many times are we going to kick it to Barass?