Demonland

You wouldn’t believe it but the phrase “break a leg” is actually a term of encouragement, usually said to one who is about to perform before an audience, but in the case of the Melbourne Football Club, it’s gone a step further and taken the expression literally. The Demons are about to step out onto the MCG in a big semi final match up with one of its finest carrying a broken fibula, albeit of the hairline variety. The stunt is all about bringing "good luck" to the team and let’s face it — after the game against the Swans last week, they need some good luck! And not only do they need luck but in the words of coach Simon Goodwin speaking after Melbourne’s Qualifying Final loss … "We've got to be clear as a club that we need to learn from what we did tonight." It was only two games ago that Melbourne completed its second decisive win for the year over the Brisbane Lions, the fourth in two seasons. On that basis, you would think that this week’s Second Semi Final on Friday night at the MCG against the same opponent minus its number one ruckman is a lay down mizere but it’s not! That would be because of the Demons’ demise under the pressure to the Sydney Swans after quarter time in last week’s Qualifying Final. The team was terrible in leaking goals after turnovers even though it could be argued they were the victims of some cruel momentum turning decisions by the umpires at crucial points in the game. They also had some bad breaks like Christian Petracca injuring his calf muscle and fracturing that fibula as well as a few other assorted ailments but there really are no excuses for the almost complete shutdown of the forward line — Ben Brown kicked a solitary goal, Jake Melksham and Kozzy Pickett only touched the ball five and four times respectively, yet they missed at least four none too difficult chances between them. Alex Neal-Bullen was ineffective and Charlie Spargo could have done better before he got it in the neck. And not for the first time this year, the team failed at the finish with no goals in the final term. With all that said, a 22 point loss doesn’t sound all that bad but the look of it was awful at the end and, without Steven May and Clayton Oliver, it would have been a true bloodbath. So can they turn it around this week against the Brisbane Lions who would be approaching this game with the incentive of overturning two major humiliations heaped on them this year and the bonus of a Preliminary Final berth for doing so? This brings me to the above Simon Goodwin quote about learnings. Melbourne’s forward woes that have underlined its second half of the season (six wins, seven defeats) have been well documented. They recur about once in every two weeks in the form of predictable ball movement into the forward line, dropped marks, turnovers, fumbling and poor kicking for goal. You have to ask yourself why, if the coach says that we have to learn from what we did, that we keep repeating the same mistakes every few weeks with our entries into the forward 50? Why we don’t mix things up a bit more and why we don’t employ different players in the goal front? Well, part of the riddle might be answered on Friday night because it’s quite within the realms of possibility that the decision might be forced. The brains trust could well depart from tradition and play Trac at full forward because it has no choice. Anyway, I’m tipping the Demons to win because, as I mentioned earlier, those forward yips happen every second week and this one’s not one of those second weeks. But watch out the next time they play!!! Melbourne to win by 48 points. THE GAME Melbourne v Brisbane Lions at The MCG, Friday 9 September, 2022 at 7:50pm HEAD TO HEAD * Overall: Melbourne 29 wins, Brisbane Lions 22 wins At The MCG: Melbourne 15 wins, Brisbane 3 wins Last Five Meetings: Melbourne 4 wins, Brisbane Lions 1 win The Coaches: Goodwin 7 wins, Fagan 2 wins * does not include Brisbane Bears or Fitzroy games MEDIA TV live and on demand on Kayo and live on Foxtel. Check your local guides. Radio - check your local guides. LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 18.7.115 defeated Brisbane Lions 8.9.57 at The Gabba, Round 23, 2022 Everything went well for the Demons from the opening bounce and the Lions were driven to distraction in front of their home crowd. How do you think they’ll go in front of a hostile crowd of fanatical Demon fans? THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: C.Salem 3 S.May 1 H.Petty 35 HB: A.Brayshaw 10 J.Lever 8 M.Hibberd 14 C: T.Sparrow 32 C.Oliver 13 E.Langdon 15 HF: J.Melksham 18 M.Gawn 11 J.Harmes 4 F: A.Neal-Bullen 30 B.Fritsch 31 C.Spargo 9 Foll: L.Jackson 6 J.Viney 7 C.Petracca 5 I/C: B.Brown 50 J.Hunt 29 K.Pickett 36 T.Rivers 24 Sub: J.Smith 44 Emerg: T.Bedford 12 J.Bowey 17 J.Van Rooyen 21 No change BRISBANE LIONS B: D.Gardiner 27 D.McStay 25 D.Rich 10 HB: B.Starcevich 37 H.Andrews 31 K.Coleman 18 C: Z.Bailey 33 J.Berry 7 C.Ah Chee 4 HF: D.Zorko 15 E.Hipwood 30 L.McCarthy 11 F: J.Payne 40 T.Fullarton 21 3 C.Cameron 23 Foll: D.Fort 32 46 L.Neale 9 H.McCluggage 6 I/C: N.Answerth 43 C.Rayner 16 D.Robertson 2 D.Wilmot 44 Emerg: K.Lohmann 1Emerg: R.Lester 35 K.Lohmann 1 R.Mathieson 36 J.Prior 20 In: N.Answerth D.Fort T.Fullarton C.Rayner Out: J.Daniher (personal reasons) O.McInerney (ill) R.Mathieson (omitted) J. Prior (omitted) M.Robinson (omitted) Injury List: First Semi Final Christian Petracca - Calf | Available Clayton Oliver - Face | Available Bayley Fritsch - Knee | Available Andy Moniz-Wakefield - Groin | Available Charlie Spargo - Throat | Test James Jordon - Foot | 2 Weeks

On Monday, the AFL’s general manager of women’s football, Nicole Livingstone, announced that Round 3 is Indigenous Round. She’s hoping to encourage future Indigenous AFLW players from across the country to take up footy and follow their dreams. Nicole is bullish on AFLW progression, “(only starting in 2017) … it feels like AFLW is just part of the sporting fabric now and part of the AFL,” she said. This week the Narrm Football Club (our Dees name for the next 2 weeks) takes on the improving Saints who sit second on the ladder with a percentage of 321.6. In the first 2 rounds St Kilda trounced expansion teams, Swans by 29 points and Hawthorn by 53. Meanwhile, the Demons, who defeated last season’s premiers in Adelaide by 28 and a ‘Top 4’ team in North by 2 at the ‘G, sit 6th with 140%. Needless to say, Nick dal Santo’s Saints will be excited to test themselves against one of the premiership favourites, in Melbourne. Our coach, Mick Stinear, has our girls playing exciting, combative, skillful footy. It’s great to watch. He is challenging his players with assignments and game-day roles and getting encouraging results. A couple of examples include giving Tayla Harris stints in the ruck which keeps her involved and sees her taking marks around the ground and growing in confidence. Then there’s Casey Sherriff, now a key forward, who is able to match up well against a star player like Emma Kearney and earn a coaches vote (her first ever). By the way Sherriff, Lampard and Gay have all begun this season in super form. Is this a by-product of housemate rivalry? What about our engine room! Liv Purcell, with an uninterrupted pre-season, has started brilliantly. She compliments the emerging Eliza West and the talented Tyla Hanks and together with ruck Lauren Pearce form our core midfield. Plus there is super support from runners in Paxy and ‘Lil, Edo and whoever else Mick decides to throw in there. From the Saints POV. Last season’s best and fairest winner, ex Dee and Blue, Bianca Jakobssen has started well. She was named as a defender in the Round 2 Team of the Week along with our own defensive general, Libby Birch. Congrats girls. Caitlin Greiser, another in the R2 TOTW, is a strong and dangerous forward presence who averages a goal a game. In 2020, the last and only time we’ve played at Moorabbin, the G-Train bagged 2 goals, and we lost. She’s in good form, kicking 3 goals last week against the Hawks. The Saints have plenty of other dangerous forward options in tall Kate Shierlaw, Jess Matin and small Nicola Xenos. We should expect their strong midfield group of Tarni White, Olivia Vesely, Georgia Patrikios and tall ruck Erin McKinnon to be highly competitive. Expect another entertaining, close match. Melbourne by 9 points THE GAME St Kilda v Melbourne at RSEA Park on Sunday 11 September 2022 at 2:10pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall St Kilda 1 win Melbourne 2 wins At Moorabbin Oval St Kilda 1 win Melbourne 0 wins The Coaches Stinear 1 win Dal Santo 0 wins MEDIA TV live on 7mate and Kayo. Check your local guides. Radio - check your local guides. THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 9.10 (64) defeated St Kilda 3.5 (23) at Casey Fields, 22 January 2022 This Round 3 game was played in hot summer conditions and developed into a real arm wrestle for 3 quarters. The score at the last change was 3.5.23 apiece. However, a 6 goal final quarter blitz by Melbourne, aided by a drop-off in Saints intensity around the contest plus a little help from the infamous Casey Fields breeze, resulted in a super 41 point victory. Melbourne’s class really shone in the 4th quarter. The major goalkickers were Tayla Harris 3 and Tyla Hanks 2. Other notable contributors were Paxy, West, Fitzy, Lauren Pearce and Libby Birch. THE TEAMS Injury List: Round 3 Sinead Goldrick (knee) 1-2 weeks Georgia Gall (foot) 6-8 weeks Gab Colvin (knee) Season Eliza McNamara (back) Season Rhi Watt (knee) Season

Week 3 Finals Fixture has been released.

Injury List Christian Petracca Calf | Available

Injury List Christian Petracca Calf | Available Clayton Oliver Face | Available Bayley Fritsch Knee | Available Andy Moniz-Wakefield Groin | Available Charlie Spargo Throat | Test James Jordon Foot | 2 Weeks

Thank you to @Bigfoot, @CYB, @Deeminion, @buck_nekkid, @layzie, @At the break of Gawn, @Kelpien, @Watson11, @John Demonic, @Deetective Sgt. Taggert, @Xecutioner, @everythingsablur, @OhMyDees, @Demonised, @Rab D Nesbitt, @Jibroni, @Gouga, @YesitwasaWin4theAges, @DemonWA, @Doug Reemer, @DeezNuts, @Singa, @Demon Dynasty. Thank you to our caller Kieran from Canberra for calling in again. Thank you to our voicemailer Matt for leaving us a message. Thank you to my cohosts @george_on_the_outer & @binman. And thank you to our loyal listeners.

I assume you mean Angus?

We should be asking to play our home finals at Optus Stadium.

Might save this one for the post season show. Hopefully it’s not needed after a Flag. please bring this one up again should we lose this week (or the next).