Demonland

Nobody really knows how long immunity (if any) from infection lasts after contracting COVID. Could be no or little immunity that last from a month to three months. Getting it in the preseason is not going to help in June or in September. Clubs will probably need to hub in the lead up to and throughout the finals to protect their players.

This game loomed as a big test even before the season, a return to the scene of Melbourne’s finals campaign demise in 2021. As both teams notched up three wins in a row, the prospect of a tantalising clash and the hope of revenge only grew. Some major outs to the Crows in the lead-up to the game and the ins of Gay and Mithen only seemed to bolster Melbourne’s chances. One thing was for sure, there would be a lot to learn from this game about where this season is going for both highly touted teams. I knew that my viewing experience would be less than ideal, a combination of many interruptions and somewhat patchy reception due to a change in location mid-way through – and unfortunately, that ended up being the least of my frustrations. FIRST QUARTER The last two games have started with a sinking feeling due to early goals, and unfortunately the vibe was similar here. Although the score damage wasn’t quite so immediate, it was a hot start, and I soon had a nagging feeling that the Crows were going to test us around the ball. Some big early hits saw the Crows pile on the physical pressure. While our players seemed overawed though willing, Adelaide got numbers to the contest, were clean with the ball and dominant at ground level. I was happy to see Gay going in hard early on return, after we missed her physicality last week, while Goldrick was lively. L. Pearce was taking advantage of less vaunted opposition, striving to follow up her ruckwork at every opportunity. Caris out saw Parry taking on more of the ruck duties, with Melbourne opting for an extra mid to try to match the strong Crows outfit. Yet the defence looked reactive and slow to respond, not aided by a lack of pressure up the ground. By late in the first, the Demons were lucky not to have conceded three goals from within about ten metres of the goal line, as the Crows made something from nothing time and again in that area of the ground, led by the ever-dangerous Phillips who was seemingly without an opponent. With six minutes remaining, it was ten inside 50s to three, and the tone for much of the game was set. Melbourne succumbed to the temptation of bombing the ball wildly forward; a kick to Harris in a three on one contest down the line was representative. Defenders Allan, Rajcic and McKinnon were dominant for the Crows in the air, and the Dees playing straight into their hands. It was the first goalless quarter for the Dees this season. SECOND QUARTER When Randall succumbed to an earlier hamstring injury in the second (she must be cursed against Melbourne after that concussion in the prelim last year), there was hope that a defensive reshuffle might allow our forwards to take advantage. It was not to be, however, as the Dees failed to gain barely any time with the ball, and when they did it was with hesitation, fumbling and poor execution. The pressure was beginning to tell, with players like Paxman making an increasing number of uncharacteristic errors, while others lacked awareness of the play around them and were too easily caught napping or devoid of options forward. The run and support we’ve become accustomed to had run dry, while the Crows two-way running and relentless approach was immense. Many tried to stand up, but no single leader emerged to take responsibility. Under siege, the defence scrapped hard and with desperation, keeping them in the game for longer than what other teams have managed under Adelaide’s onslaughts. But if you’re relying on misses from Phillips, you know you’re in deep trouble, and she soon took the lead in the competition’s all-time goal kicking tally. The frustration was palpable for Dees fans. When some clean possession finally emerged, in the hands of Zanker, she delayed her kick forward for far too long, perhaps waiting for the perfect option, and got caught holding the ball. Despite their dominance, the Crows only had a 15-point advantage at half-time, though Melbourne’s second goalless quarter of the season made a comeback seem a distant prospect. THIRD QUARTER Finally, the Dees managed to muster some semblance of possession footy in the third, yet their opposition were well and truly in their heads by this stage, and you could almost see the players hearing footsteps every time they got the ball. As a result, their disposals were often much more rushed than they needed to be, and fumbling became contagious as the perceived pressure took its toll. The backline continued its toil, and Colvin had some good moments but allowed the season-leading goal kicker Woodland free too many times. Again, Heath looked exposed when caught in marking contests while Birch had the opposite difficulty when the ball hit the deck. Attempts to move the ball forward repeatedly broke down, either at half back or half forward. There was only so long that Melbourne could repeatedly scrap, contest after contest, before eventually a stronger Crows player would break free, with 4.5 for the quarter their reward. Meanwhile, in the opposite scenario, their players were able to bring ours down in good tackles, or they cleverly double-teamed those they knew would try to fend off – consequently, they won many holding the balls against and completely stifled our ability to set up our preferred mode of play. To make matters worse, L. Pearce went down heavily – cue my muttering, “Not the knee, not the knee”. Turns out it was an ankle, but you hate to see it. The Dees did find some more structure in this quarter and moved the ball slightly better at times, though no goals resulted. Phillips’ goal off one step form 45 metres all but sealed the deal, making the last quarter all about avoiding absolute embarrassment. FOURTH QUARTER Goldrick was a welcome sight in the middle, instantly bringing more pace on the ball, making me wish the switch had come sooner. Our collective questions about what exactly Parry contributes were somewhat resolved, though I don’t think any of us liked the answer. The Dees finally got some effective first use out of the centre, and a score soon resulted through a goal to Harris out the back in the kind of space that had been entirely absent for almost any player in a red and blue jumper to that point. It was clear that many grinding victories in the back half of last season has instilled in our players a certain belief in their ability to turn things around – but they needed to bring that attitude from the first bounce, build the pressure to get the game on their terms before attempting to execute the precision stuff. Of course, in the end, a 14-point loss flattered the Demons substantially – it could so easily have been much, much worse. Daisy’s two in the last brought some respectability to the scoreboard, off the back of hard work by McNamara, Fitzsimon and Hanks in particular. The fact that they kept Adelaide to one point in the last was reward for effort after a difficult day for the defenders, but the damage was well and truly done. Unlike previous outing against the Crows, we didn’t have the chance for inaccuracy to take the game away for us. They went a step further to deny us opportunities almost completely. STATS & STAND-OUTS For the Crows, Phillips (17 disposals, 3 goals and 6 tackles) was a class above and unmatched in making something from nothing. Again, we wonder what could have been if she’d had a consistent pathway to footy. She was well supported by Marinoff (26) and Hatchard (29). McNamara led the way for Melbourne with 22, followed by Hanks (20) and Lampard (18), the lack of dominant possession-winners speaking to Melbourne’s inability to get first use or retain it when they did. Gay and Paxman (13 each) and Mithen (11) were well down on their usual output. Zanker has had a quiet few weeks after a strong start to the season, while Bannan went missing much like the wings on Norwood Oval. Goldrick can hold her head up with 4 clearances, only behind Marinoff with 5. West strived hard to make things happen in the last after being unsighted most of the game. Despite going down injured in the third, L. Pearce led the hit-outs with 12; her efforts couldn’t be questioned. Harris was starved of opportunity and struggled to find the ball outnumbered up the ground, while Daisy made the most of her chances when they came. Hore was held goalless for the first time this season; she’s a barometer for the functioning of our forward line and linkage with midfield. Both teams had poor efficiency inside 50 though the Crows’ 43% and many more opportunities (44 to 21) made the difference, as well as the quality of their entries with 6 marks to 2 inside 50. Of Melbourne’s 40 rebound 50s, it’s safe to say that far too few resulted in possession, and certainly not the chains of possession required to move the ball forward with any system. Contested and uncontested possession were quite even, signalling that getting the ball wasn’t always the problem – it’s what each team did with it. There was a 10-tackle differential in Adelaide’s favour (their best tackle count for the season), including a mammoth 26 to 3 tackles inside 50. Not surprisingly given the pressure on the ball carrier, turnovers were higher than usual for the Dees, and while clearances were even, the difference between ‘good’ clearances that lead to meaningful forward entries as opposed to ‘poor’ ones that are less impactful was stark. Clearly, there are fundamental flaws in our game plan, in the sense that it simply does not stack up against immense pressure tactics – we saw it with St Kilda, and we saw what it looks like from a top team this week. Is there a Plan B? Can we revert to our better contest work from last season? MELBOURNE 01.1 02.2 0.2.2 3.3.21 ADELAIDE 2.1.13 2.5.17 4.10.34 4.11.35 GOALS MELBOURNE D Pearce 2 Harris ADELAIDE Phillips 3 Martin BEST MELBOURNE McNamara Hanks Lampard Goldrick D Pearce ADELAIDE Phillips Marinoff S Allen Hatchard Rajcic INJURIES MELBOURNE L Pearce (ankle) ADELAIDE Randall (leg) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil ADELAIDE Nil CROWD TBC at Norwood Oval NEXT ROUND Gold Coast at Casey Fields on Sunday 6th February, 2022 THE LAST WORD Our club’s first loss since the 24th July 2021!

From DemonWiki: http://demonwiki.org/Mergers "That year (1986) the club also had discussions with North Melbourne. The proposal involved Bob Ansett as president and John Kennedy coach of a side wearing the front of North's jumper and the back of Melbourne's, with the club training at Arden Street. The club was to be called Melbourne-North Football Club. The terms were not favourable to Melbourne, and when Ansett refused to compromise on what looked more like a takeover the deal was cancelled."

Spotted on the Gold Coast over Christmas/New Year.

Easier to do for an event like the Olympics particularly in a country as tightly controlled as China. Success or failure it would be impossible to implement for the Home and Away season. Our finals will most likely be some kind of hub situation if teams are still being hard hit on a week to week basis at that end of the year.

That makes no sense considering we would want home games occasionally against those teams for the gate takings. It's not as if it saves us from having to play 6 games interstate a year. I always assume we played Essendon as the away team because they never (or rarely) forced Essendon to don their away guernsey and it was easier to shaft us and make us play in the Bali tops.

I'm sure the body of water between mainland Australia and Tasmania is the Tasman sea too but they may as well send us to NZ.

Getting shunted yearly across the Tasman definitely has not helped that record.

I'm taking it one week at a time. 😜 In the past decade I think we've only had 2 home games against the bombers.

This one is almost impossible as we rarely get a home game against them.

Nice to not be on these lists.

From what I'm hearing testing seems to be very loosy goosy at the AO. Seems they're going for the don't ask, don't tell approach.

MONDAY 24TH JANUARY 2022

I thought I'd start a thread for any of the training sessions that we don't have any trackwatchers present. In this thread I will post any photos and videos that the club puts up on social media. If we have a trackwatcher at a particular session then that will have it's own thread.

Melbourne was greeted on its AFLW return to Casey Fields by the venue’s customary warm and blustery conditions, so everyone must have felt right at home. Meanwhile, I looked on from the cool, calm climate of my living room, enjoying the quality commentary of Jason Bennett and ex-Dee Mel Hickey. Kudos to those who made the journey, short or long, and endured those harsh environs of summer footy. The match-up with the Saints had all the hallmarks of a danger game: the sneaky thought of a percentage boost, the eye to the big game next week and the hungry opponent with everything to gain, not to mention another rotation of players in and out and the loss of a crucial cog in Mithen to the dreaded protocols. FIRST QUARTER The Saints brought in great energy and made a lively start with a quick goal in the first minute. Melbourne was under pressure, as the players found themselves going in ever-decreasing circles by hand, eventually getting trapped or having to rush a kick forward that was easily picked off. St Kilda were winning the territory battle, with the Dees struggling to clear against the wind, not helped by some diabolical band passing to stationary players waiting to be tackled. Several usually reliable players were let down by their skills and decision-making in this regard. Still, despite things not going their way, the Demons persisted and were rewarded for some good overlap and hard running to find space and an easy goal for Harris through Hore’s crucial linking work. The overuse of the handball continued and the absence of Gay and Mithen was felt around the ball. The Saints missed some goal opportunities and didn’t capitalise on their wind advantage, so the overriding feeling going into quarter time was that we were lucky to be just two points behind. SECOND QUARTER The second quarter saw Melbourne trap the ball in its forward half, with Sherriff in particular working hard to cut off attempted defensive 50 exits by the Saints, using that Casey experience to read the wind. By the eight-minute mark, it was five inside 50s to zip, and a nest of Saints were soon swarming in the back half. Rising above them all was Harris with a strong overhead mark from a high kick forward by Bannan, who’d stuck around after taking a ruck contest to set Melbourne’s second goal in motion. Harris’s next chance went begging before miscommunication on the wing allowed Saints’ debutant Richards to evade Birch and Tarrant and send a neat kick to Xenos who out-marked Heath and kick truly. In the last minute, Parry was finally able to hold onto a mark after several attempts, with her kick forward leading to another behind from a hurried West kick. The Dees’ commitment to fighting out the quarter was personified by a super effort from Hore who came from nowhere to run down the kick-in player. Unfortunately, she missed too, the Dees were 1.5 with the wind and the familiar inaccuracy beast had reared its ugly head again, leaving them just three points up. THIRD QUARTER The Saints started the quarter with renewed vigour, obviously keen to make the most of the wind advantage. Within 20 seconds they were on the board with a behind, and a failure in positioning for the kick-in saw a quick repeat entry and a shot on goal for Shierlaw, who missed. Lampard took the same approach with the subsequent kick-in, this time with more success as Harris worked up the ground to contest. Before long, however, the ball was back in the Saints’ 50, with the Dees defending desperately, the enjoyably intense battle between Heath and Xenos continuing. Notably, however, Melbourne made more ground in their efforts to clear 50 than the Saints had, chewing up their opponents’ time with the wind and resulting in some attacks of their own. A great mark by Birch on the wing was followed by frustration as she spent an inordinate amount of time trying to draw a 50, giving the Saints ample time to set up. Luckily, heads-up play by Daisy earned a holding the ball free kick amongst the flood that resulted. She lined up, her intention to pass patently obvious, yet the Saints were none the wiser and she delivered to Hore who converted a handy goal against the tide. Seven points down with two minutes remaining, St Kilda persisted, opening up the field moving forward, with McDonald on the end for a classy major. The Saints were making their own luck and again Xenos outpointed Heath for a mark close to goal. Her miss let the Demons off the hook big time, and some heroics from fend-off fanatic Zanker against about five opponents were needed to see off another attack. Scores were level heading into the last. FOURTH QUARTER The final quarter commenced with excitement — and admittedly, some degree of dread — with a close contest seemingly on the cards. Would Melbourne finally be able to gain some clean ball in the last or could St Kilda maintain their pressure? As it turned out, it was the former, and the first sign was a tenacious effort by Goldrick at the bottom of the pack to clear to Hanks who hit up Harris. Her kick was offline, this time to the left, but another chance was imminent due to a holding free kick by an anxious defender. She used the wind perfectly to kick her third, making it one goal in Round 1, two goals in Round 2 and three in Round 3 for the big recruit. A brilliant stoppage goal straight out of the ruck to L Pearce soon followed — cue hilariously exuberant celebrations by all on field, such was the delight of her teammates. That made it two goals in four minutes, with Bennett in the commentary remarking, “Bang, bang”. Unfortunately for him, the next bang didn’t come for another several minutes, via a nice goal to Hanks courtesy of some good Harris forward pressure—but not before an absurd non-decision on a 50-metre penalty, an almost long-bomb from Bannan, another high-flying attempt by Harris, more fend-offs from Zanker and a disappointing Hore poster. Safe to say the Demons had a bit going on while the Saints were looking tired. Then the floodgates opened with three goals in the last 90 seconds to Daisy, Fitzsimon and Hanks, leaving Bennett wishing he’d bided his time and making it 6.5 to 0.0 in the last. The percentage booster we’d been after had come to fruition after all, landing on that very Melbourne score of 9.10.64. STATS & STAND-OUTS The Saints’ Lucas-Rodd lead the disposals with 22, while for the Dees it was Paxman with 19 (12 handballs), Lampard 17 (11 kicks) and Hanks 16 (a 50/50 split). Hore, Colvin and Harris had 4 marks apiece. The Saints’ tackling dominance (75 to 53) came off the back of 12 tackles to White, 10 to Cutting and 9 to Lucas-Rodd, while Hanks had 8, after which the Dees dropped off significantly. Five clearances and a dominant 20 hit outs by L Pearce were crucial, supported by 4 clearances each to Zanker, Hanks and West, while Vesely had 5 for the Saints. Melbourne’s 234 disposals to 191 and 28 to 14 clearances were bolstered by that one-quarter blitz. The victors’ superior efficiency (67% to 50% inside 50) spoke to their ability to execute when it counted through weight of attacking numbers, with 30 to 16 inside 50s total, and 10 tackles to 4 in that area of the ground. In defence, Colvin looked steadier one-on-one and in the air than last round and while Birch had some moments to forget due to questionable decision-making, she also had some goal-savings ones. Lampard slotted back in to direct the ball movement off half back, albeit with some uncharacteristic errors by foot. Sherriff worked her way into the game, as did Scott whose physicality had some impact. Tarrant and Parry, meanwhile, left a bit to be desired and may be looking over their shoulders at selection. Fitzsimon impressed again, scrapping hard and making things happen with repeat efforts, rewarded with a well-deserved first AFLW goal. Hore continues to contribute steadily, but a few more on-target shots would make her even more of a game-changer. Teams are putting in the work against Hanks and Paxman, but so far, one or both break free eventually. West was very involved but let down by her kicking early, although she did adapt to cover that weakness as the game went on. Zanker became more prominent in the second half, going into fend-off mode; as enjoyable as that is, she might need to put that away against smarter and stronger opponents like the Crows. In a final point of interest, Stinear revealed that Caris was brought in due to L Pearce suffering Covid in the lead-up to Round 1 and hinted that this may not be necessary as a season-long tactic. MELBOURNE 1.0.6 2.5.17 3.5.23 9.10.64 ST KILDA 1.2.8 2.2.14 3.5.23 3.5.24 GOALS MELBOURNE Harris 3 Hanks 2 Fitzsimon Hore D Pearce L Pearce ST KILDA M McDonald Vogt Xenos BEST MELBOURNE L Pearce Hanks Harris Birch Fitzsimon ST KILDA Lucas-Rodd Jakobsson Priest Xenos Shierlaw INJURIES MELBOURNE Fitzsimon (cut head) ST KILDA Nil REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil ST KILDA Nil CROWD 1,217 at Casey Fields NEXT ROUND A red-hot undefeated Adelaide on Saturday afternoon at Norwood Oval. THE LAST WORD A final quarter blitz made for enticing viewing, but a four-quarter win would be welcome future prospect.

To be fair to the footy club this post was from Jeff White's account.