Demonland

Clashes between Melbourne and St Kilda are often described as battles between the forces of heaven and hell. However, based on recent performances, it’s hard to get excited about the forthcoming match between these two sides. It would be fair to say that, at the moment, both of these teams are in the doldrums. The Demons have become the competition’s slow starters while the Saints are not only slow to begin, they’re not doing much of a job finishing off their games either. About the only thing about their games that creates any interest these days is the post game conference from Saints’ coach Ross Lyon. That’s because he talks so much gibberish, that it provokes a great amount of debate and discussion as to the meaning of his words but not their content. At least with Simon Goodwin, we know what he’s saying which is what his expectations are from his team which, for various reasons are not currently being achieved. Which is exactly why I am tipping the Demons to win this week. They at least retain a clarity of purpose and belief in themselves and this is what should get them across the line in what promises to be the most dull, colourless and boring game of the round. It’s a game that’s been perfectly placed in a Sunday afternoon time slot where the AFL bosses will be hoping that nobody notices. Melbourne fans can be thankful that some of its stalwarts from the rapidly fading memory of the glories of the 2021 flag are still around pouring their hearts and souls into the game - the likes of big hearted ruckman Max Gawn and his deputy Jack Viney, Christian Petracca, Steven May and Alex Neal-Bullen. Many of the others are content to provide cameos of their ability during matches but little else. As it’s still part of the Doug Nicholls round, I’m expecting big things from Kozzy Pickett and Shane McAdam in honour of that recognition along with Maysie who will have the job on the Saints’ King, who their fans say has been due for a big game all season. If Narrm can get its turnover game going instead of fluffing every opportunity it had to do so, it will come out of the game a winner and restore the team’s prospects for 2024. Narrm by 15 points. THE GAME Melbourne v St Kilda at The MCG on Sunday 26 May 2024 at 4.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 125 wins St Kilda 94 wins 1 drawn At The MCG Melbourne 60 wins St Kilda 37 wins Past five meetings Melbourne 4 wins St Kilda 1 win The Coaches Goodwin 1 win Lyon 0 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 12.7.79 defeated St Kilda 8.10.58 at The MCG, Round 17, 2023 The Demons came out and kicked five goals in the first term which gave them a reasonably comfortable buffer for the rest of the game. Christian Petracca was a menace when up forward kicking four goals. Ed Langdon and Steven May were best players for the Demons. THE TEAMS NARRM B J. Bowey, S. May, T. Rivers HB J. McVee, T. McDonald, C. Salem C E. Langdon, C. Oliver, C. Windsor HF A. Neal-Bullen, H. Petty, K. Pickett F K. Chandler, B. Fritsch, S. McAdam FOLL M. Gawn, J. Viney, C. Petracca I/C L. Hunter, T. Sparrow, A. Tomlinson, J. Van Rooyen SUB T. Woewodin EMG J. Billings, T. Fullarton, B. Howes IN L. Hunter, E. Langdon, A. Tomlinson, J. van Rooyen OUT J. Billings (omitted), B. Brown (omitted), B. Howes (omitted), J. Lever (knee) EURO-YROKE B J. Battle, D. Howard, C. Wilkie HB J. Webster, L. Stocker, N. Wanganeen-Milera C S. Ross, J. Sinclair, M. Wood HF D. Wilson, B. Hill, L. Henry F J. Higgins, M. King, A. Caminiti FOLL R. Marshall, J. Steele, M. Windhager I/C R. Bonner, L. Collard, P. Dow, M. Owens SUB: C. Sharman EMG R. Byrnes, Z. Jones, B. Paton IN J. Higgins, S. Ross, L. Stocker OUT Z. Jones (omitted), B. Paton (omitted), M. Phillipou (omitted) Injury List: Round 11 Jake Bowey — ankle / Test Jacob van Rooyen — concussion / Test Daniel Turner — calf / 2 - 3 weeks Charlie Spargo — Achilles / 2 - 3 weeks Marty Hore — calf / 3 - 5 weeks Jake Lever — knee / 4 - 6 weeks Jake Melksham — knee / 4 - 6 weeks Josh Schache — Achilles/ 4 - 6 weeks

This was a lacklustre game but the Demons were in control from the start after kicking five goals straight in the opening quarter. Christian Petracca kicked four goals. Ed Langdon and Steven May played great games. MELBOURNE 5.0.30 7.2.44 9.5.59 12.7.79 ST KILDA 3.5.23 4.7.31 6.8.44 8.10.58 THE TEAMS ST KILDA B Z. Cordy D. Howard C. Wilkie HB J. Webster M. Windhager N. Wanganeen-Milera C M. Wood J. Steele S. Ross HF D. Butler M. Phillipou M. Owens F A. Caminiti M. King J. Gresham FOLL R. Marshall B. Crouch J. Sinclair I/C J. Billings Z. Jones C. Sharman L. Stocker SUB R. Byrnes EMG T. Campbell H. Clark J. Peris IN J. Billings Z. Cordy Z. Jones OUT J. Battle (concussion) J. Higgins (knee) B. Hill (knee) MELBOURNE 
 
B J. Bowey S. May H. Petty HB C. Salem J. Lever A. Brayshaw C J. Jordon J. Viney E. Langdon HF K. Pickett J. Melksham T. Sparrow F A. Neal-Bullen B. Brown C. Spargo FOLL M. Gawn C. Petracca T. Rivers I/C B. Grundy L. Hunter J. McVee T. Woewodin SUB J. Smith EMG K. Chandler J. Harmes J. van Rooyen IN J. Jordon C. Spargo T. Woewodin OUT K. Chandler (omitted) B. Fritsch (foot) J. Harmes (omitted)

Who are you tipping this week and what are the best results for the Demons?

We he went down in that contest I actually thought he had injured his knee. It wasn't until they showed the replay of him hitting his head that I forgot all about the knee.

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Narrm’s finals prospects took a crushing blow after the team’s insipid performance at Optus Stadium against a confident Waaljit Marawar in the first of its Doug Nicholls Round outings for 2024. I use the description “crushing blow” advisedly because, although the season is not yet at it’s halfway mark, the Demons have now failed abysmally in two of their games against teams currently occupying bottom eight places on the ladder. The manner in which these losing games were played out would be most disturbing to Coach Simon Goodwin. The team went down in the most lacklustre manner without giving a whimper and that is unacceptable given they had premiership aspirations a week and a half ago. And please don’t point to the club’s defeat at the hands of lowly Adelaide at a similar time of the 2021 season because that was a loss by a single point which could easily have gone the other way. The Demons can’t say that it came without warning because the pundits were already pointing before the match to the Eagle’s much improved form on their home turf. And let’s not talk excuses such as the loss before the game of young key talls in Jacob van Rooyen and Daniel Turner and the team’s running man in Ed Langdon or in form key defender Jake Lever early in the match. The later was certainly a blow given the marking dominance of West Coast key forwards Jake Waterman and Jack Darling who combined for half of Waaljit Marawa‘s goals, but Narrm still had plenty of opportunities to win back the initiative. However, the team blew its chances every time an attempt was made to put pressure on the Eagles’ lead and to come back into the game. Kudos to last week’s “almost” hero in Christian Petracca for his cameo in the second half of the second quarter but the home side was good enough to repel the Demons on this and every other occasion they showed a glimmer of a prospect of revival. Bayley Fritsch, who was unsighted in the first half when the ball rarely found itself inside 50 metres from the team’s goal, was an instrumental player in the second half with three goals, but Narrm squandered its opportunities in the third term with 3.7.25 to 5.0.30 so badly that it actually went backwards in the “premiership quarter”. And that was it. Ironically, on the evidence of this match, the Eagles who lost miserably last week in Melbourne by 11 goals, appear closer to a premiership than the Demons. This was demonstrated by the star of the match Harley Reid and to a lesser extent in their midfield by another youngster Reuben Ginbey who showed up their more experienced rivals in the game’s engine room. It’s not hard to see why every recruiting officer in the land was salivating over Reid last November. Forget about him being the rising star - he’s got that wrapped up already as well as such other accolades as the recruit of the century and possibly more coming up. That goal of his (and it needs no further explanation) was goal of the year - a game breaking match-winner that completely blew the game up in Narrm’s face. There’s nothing much more to say. NARRM 2.1.13 6.1.37 9.8.62 10.10.70 WAALITJ MARAWAR 4.3.27 7.8.50 12.8.80 16.9.105 GOALS NARRM Fritsch 3 Brown Chandler McAdam Neal-Bullen Petracca Pickett Windsor WAALITJ MARAWAR Waterman 5 Darling 3 Reid Ryan 2 Cripps Ginbey Hunt Maric BEST NARRM Neal-Bullen Pickett Fritsch Gawn Oliver Petracca WAALITJ MARAWAR Reid Waterman Kelly Darling McGovern Ginbey Duggan INJURIES NARRM Jake Lever (concussion) WAALITJ MARAWAR Nil REPORTS NARRM Nil WAALITJ MARAWAR Nil SUBSTITUTIONS NARRM Taj Woewodin (replaced Jake Lever in the first quarter) WAALITJ MARAWAR Tyrell Dewar (replaced Luke Edwards in the fourth quarter) UMPIRES Jeff Dalgleish Brendan Hosking Alex Whetton Harrison Birch CROWD 43,408 at Optus Stadium

Votes Player (Club) 10 Harley Reid (WCE) 8 Jake Waterman (WCE) 6 Tim Kelly (WCE) 2 Jeremy McGovern (WCE) 2 Jack Darling (WCE) 2 Liam Duggan (WCE) Leaderboard Votes Player Club 71 Isaac Heeney SYD 55 Caleb Serong FRE 50 Nick Daicos COLL 47 Zach Merrett ESS 43 Zak Butters PORT 38 Chad Warner SYD 37 Noah Anderson GCFC 36 Marcus Bontempelli WB 36 Max Gawn MELB 36 Matt Rowell GCFC 36 Adam Treloar WB 35 Christian Petracca MELB 34 Tom Green GWS 34 Errol Gulden SYD 32 Jeremy Cameron GEEL 32 Patrick Cripps CARL 32 Jordan Dawson ADEL 29 Lachie Neale BL 29 Sam Walsh CARL 29 Jake Waterman WCE 29 Hayden Young FRE

LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 10 111. Max Gawn 79. Christian Petracca 66. Steven May 58. Alex Neal-Bullen 40. Jake Lever 36. Jack Viney 34. Clayton Oliver 31. Bayley Fritsch 23. Kysaiah Pickett 22. Trent Rivers 20. Ed Langdon 18. Judd McVee 14. Kade Chandler 12. Tom McDonald Christian Salem Tom Sparrow 11. Blake Howes Daniel Turner 10. Jack Billings 5. Caleb Windsor 2. Harry Petty Adam Tomlinson 1. Jake Bowey