Demonland

Got to fix those 2nd Quarters

1. Melbourne Wing Duo: Ed Langdon and James Jordon It was only ever going to be one team at the top spot with Ed Langdon being the premier wingman of the competition. In previous seasons, it was Angus Brayshaw and Langdon who would dominate the wide areas and play their role to perfection, which was crucial to their drought-breaking premiership win last season. However, Brayshaw has found himself slotting into the backline at the Dees, leaving emerging gun James Jordon to take his position on the wing - and what a job he has done in 2022. After making his debut last year, Jordon is averaging 21 disposals and three marks in his second season, with his pressure and hard-running making him an important player in the Melbourne 22. The 21-year-old looks set for big midfield minutes for the reigning premiers and will take his game to a new level. Langdon has started 2022 in typical Ed Langdon fashion, averaging 24.8 disposals and 4.8 marks a game as well as spending 100% time on the ground in the opening three rounds. Langdon's endurance and ability to always be an option for transitional football is the reason he is the best in the competition. Not only individually, but Melbourne's usage of their wings sets them apart from any other team in the competition and is a big reason for their premiership success last season.

The ANZAC Eve blockbuster between Melbourne and Richmond has become something of a bellwether event for the two clubs. The winner has gone on to collect the premiership flag on four out of five occasions since the Tigers overran an injury-stricken Demons side late in their 2017 encounter. The outlier was 2018 when Richmond dominated the season but like Melbourne, it stumbled at the final hurdle and failed to make the Grand Final. The 2022 version might turn out be just another game but there’s a fair amount at stake here. The Demons came into last year’s encounter with five wins from five matches but the football experts were as yet unconvinced. It was the win and the ruthless manner in which it was achieved that gave them legitimacy in the eyes of the pundits. It also reversed the roles of the respective teams. Melbourne was not longer the hunter; it became the hunted. Richmond slowly fell away as the season wore on and eventually lost touch with the top eight. Their dynasty was over, our day had come. Twelve months down the track, it’s the Tigers who are still battling for legitimacy in the eyes of their supporters and the football public while the Demons are riding high. Not high enough to develop complacency because fortunes can change quickly and dramatically in this day and age. However, they do seem to have the wood on Richmond who would gladly welcome back superstar Dustin Martin from personal leave and co-captain Dylan Grimes from a hamstring issue. Melbourne have developed a high level of efficiency and proficiency in everything it does. Last week for instance, they broke even statistically with their opposition counterparts in the rucks. The number of hit outs was 34 each but GWS “won” the clearances by 41 to 33. But the quality of the clearances that went in favour of the Demons was by far the greater and this allowed them to break loose in that third quarter and apply maximum damage on their opponents. Once they had control of the football, they ran with vigour and I’m not just talking about the player with the football. So much of that athletic advantage can’t even be quantified in terms of statistics, other than the really important one that we see on the scoreboard. The result was a 10 goal quarter that left their prey shattered and gasping for breath. Vanquished. This is why Melbourne is traveling along so nicely at the moment. The players are fit, focused and invested in a total team effort. Of course it helps to have midfielders like Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney playing at the top of their game with the likes of Angus Brayshaw, Ed Langdon, James Jordon, James Harmes and Tom Sparrow as a sparkling support base. By way of contrast, Richmond’s very best is a fading memory of the past. Some of the characters are still there but they’re worn down and weary. A few are past their prime but there isn’t the same attacking spirit that we see from Melbourne and they can’t match the iron clad defence that has left opposition attacks frustrated and in despair. Even so, Nathan Buckley insists the Demons are still not playing the way they want to play. "They're going to ramp that up over the next couple of weeks, I think there's better to come." Heaven help the rest of the competition if he’s right and heaven help the Tigers on Blockbuster Night. Melbourne to win by 45 points. THE GAME Richmond v Melbourne on Sunday 24 April, 2022 at 7.25pm at the MCG HEAD TO HEAD Overall Richmond 107 wins Melbourne 76 wins Drawn 2 At MCG Richmond 72 wins Melbourne 64 wins Drawn 1 Past five meetings Richmond 4 wins Melbourne 1 win The Coaches Hardwick 4 wins Goodwin 1 win MEDIA TV live and on demand on Kayo and live on Foxtel. Check your local guides for free-to-air. Radio - check your local guides. THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 12.10.82 defeated Richmond 6.12.48 in Round 6, 2021 at the MCG The Tigers were out of the blocks early but when the light drizzle turned to rain, the Demons edged past them and with the Christians (Petracca and Salem) and Clayton Oliver all picking up possessions at will, it was Melbourne all the way after half time. THE TEAMS RICHMOND B: N.Broad 35 R.Tarrant 6 J.Gibcus 28 HB: J.Short 15 N.Vlastuin 1 D.Rioli 17 C: J.Ross 5 T.Cotchin 9 K.McIntosh 33 HF: J.Castagna 11 L.Baker 7 S.Edwards 10 F: T.Lynch 19 J.Riewoldt 8 N.Balta 21 Foll: T.Nankervis 25 D.Prestia 3 T.Dow 27 I/C: S.Bolton 29 R.Collier-Dawkins 26 J.Graham 34 R.Mansell 31 Sub: M.Parker 37 Emerg: S.Banks 41 M.Rioli 49 T.Sonsie 40 In: R.Collier-Dawkins J.Gibcus K.McIntosh R.Mansell Out: J.Aarts (omitted) B.Miller (omitted) M.Pickett (injured) H.Ralphsmith (ribs) MELBOURNE B: J.Hunt 29 S.May 1 H.Petty 35 HB: J.Bowey 17 J.Smith 44 T.Rivers 24 C: A.Brayshaw 10 C.Petracca 5 E.Langdon 15 HF: K.Pickett 36 S.Weideman 26 A.Neal-Bullen 30 F: B.Fritsch 31 B.Brown 50 C.Spargo 9 Foll: M.Gawn 11 C.Oliver 13 T. Sparrow 32 I/C: L.Dunstan 27 J.Harmes 4 L.Jackson 6 J.Jordon 23 Sub: T.Bedford 12 Emerg: J.Melksham 18 A.Tomlinson 20 T.McDonald 25 In: B.Brown L.Dunstan J.Smith Out: J.Lever (H & S Protocols) T.McDonald (omitted) J.Viney (H & S Protocols) Injury List: Round 6 Michael Hibberd - Calf | 1 week Daniel Turner - Foot | 3-4 weeks Christian Salem - Knee | 4-5 weeks Blake Howes - Foot | TBC

Protected species

Full frontal

That would be 200m

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Join @binman & I on the Demonland Podcast tonight LIVE @ 8:30pm for breakdown of the Round 5 match against GWS Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

Lucky he chose the Cats. Otherwise he’d be playing at Casey 😜

It was a case of the ends justifying the means for the Casey Demons on Sunday afternoon. They led all day, won by 35-points with 16 AFL-listers in the side and claimed top spot on the VFL ladder, but they also played some ugly football in even more ugly conditions to get there. But a win is a win. The opposition did very little to help by going totally negative against the wind after the Demons kicked away with three goals, one to Mitch Brown followed by two to Majak Daw, midway through the opening term. After that, the game turned into a messy slog in the swirling conditions but Casey was at least able to score goals against the stiff breeze with both sides scoring two each in the second quarter to give the home team a handy 21-point lead at the main break. The next ten minutes of football was more of a slopfest with plenty of errors from both sides, overuse of handball, more negative tactics from the Lions and some equally poor umpiring. With Majak Daw out of the game, Jacob Van Rooyen was doing some work in the ruck and the forward line was depleted and out sorts. But suddenly, the team hit a purple patch with goals to Brown, Corey Ellison and two to Roan Steele to put them up by 8 goals with time still to go with the wind. Ironically, the first of those goals to Steele came after an exciting passage involving a string of handpasses and short passing that was very much exceptional in a day of dour football. Late in the term Coburg hit back with their only score for the day against the wind - a goal that must have given them some belief because they went into attack in the last quarter and narrowed the Demon lead to 4 goals before Toby Bedford chipped in with a great running snap goal to finish off the opposition run. Conditions were perfect for captain Mitch White who led the field with 26 disposals and one goal. Young goalsneak Steele from Frankston YCW showed why the recruiting staff pursued him so hard and he kicked three timely goals. Youngsters Bailey Laurie and Taj Woewodin played their best games yet for the club and provided great support for the experienced Luke Dunstan and Jake Melksham while Adam Tomlinson and Joel Smith were rock solid in defence. Toby Bedford stood out in his record 9th game in the first month of football for 2022 which include 5 as AFL sub for Melbourne. He was unused for the last four of those games which allowed him to subsequently take the field for Casey but that unusual run will end this week as the VFL game on Sunday at Punt Road will take place before the Anzac Eve blockbuster on Sunday night. The VFL Tigers returned to form at the weekend and it should be a great curtain raiser for the main game. Casey Demons 3.5.23 5.7.37 9.10.64 13.12.90 Coburg 0.0.0 2.4.16 3.4.22 8.7.55 Goals Casey Demons Steele 3 Bedford Brown Daw 2 Chandler Dunstan Ellison White Coburg Lowson Podhajski Silvestro 2 Jepson Thomas Best Casey Demons White Tomlinson Melksham Dunstan Bell Bedford Woewodin J Smith Coburg Podhajski Bunker Nelson Maibaum Statistics Oskar Baker 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 3 marks 1 tackles 52 dream team points Toby Bedford 2 goals 7 kicks 8 handballs 15 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 72 dream team points Jake Bell 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 29 hit outs 65 dream team points Mitch Brown 2 goals 2 behinds 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 48 dream team points Kade Chandler 1 goal 2 behinds 9 kicks 4 handballs 13 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 1 hit out 65 dream team points Majak Daw 2 goals 2 kicks 1 handballs 3 disposals 22 dream team points [injured] Luke Dunstan 1 goal 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 81 dream team points Corey Ellison 1 goal 7 kicks 1 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 1 hit out 39 dream team points George Grey 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 26 dream team points Ryan Koo 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 32 dream team points Bailey Laurie 2 behinds 12 kicks 9 handballs 21 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 79 dream team points Judd McVee 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 39 dream team points Jake Melksham 1 behind 12 kicks 9 handballs 21 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 80 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 1 behind 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 marks 18 dream team points James Munro 2 kicks 9 handballs 11 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 41 dream team points Fraser Rosman 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 33 dream team points Deakyn Smith 1 behind 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 1 hit out 36 dream team points Joel Smith 7 kicks 6 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 56 dream team points Roan Steele 3 goals 10 kicks 2 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks 70 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 20 kicks 4 handballs 24 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 72 dream team points Jacob Van Rooyen 5 kicks 8 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 4 hit outs 41 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 15 kicks 11 handballs 26 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 114 dream team points Taj Woewodin 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 76 dream team points