Demonland

The Demonland Podcast will not be LIVE on this week. Binman will do his regular stats files segment and will preview the upcoming Essendon match but will not be taking any questions this week. I will post the show here once I receive Binman's stats files. You can also find it wherever you get your podcasts from. We will return in our regular format once I return after the Dockers match.

Captain Max Gawn has a considerable lead over the injured reigning champion Christian Petracca in the Demonland Player of the Year Award. Steven May, Jack Viney & Alex Neal-Bullen, make up the Top 5. Your votes for the win against the Eagles. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

The Demons are back in the hunt for finals after a clinical victory over the West Coast Eagles at the MCG which was sealed after bursting out of the blocks with a seven goal to one first quarter.

He’s fallen under the radar but according to this article - PREVIEW | 2024 AFL U18s: Allies vs. Vic Country - he’s likely to line up in the forward pocket for the Allies this morning. I believe the game’s being streamed on the afl.com.au site.

It’s game day and the Demons return to Melbourne to play the Eagles at the MCG for the first time in over a decade. A win keeps the Dees finals hopes alive whereas a loss will almost certainly slam the finals window shut.

DERAILMENT by KC from Casey It wasn’t quite a trainwreck although at times, it sure looked like one, so I’ll settle for “derailment”. The trip to Brighton Homes Arena in Springfield outside the back of Brisbane might not exactly be the same place where Homer Simpson’s family resides but, if you listened closely to the utterances of the Casey Demons fans both at the ground or watching via livestream, you could hear lots of groaning and plenty of expressions of “D'oh!” reverberating in the background, particularly after quarter time. The Demons started the game brightly. They were aided by a swirly breeze and had two early goals on the board through the agency of Josh Schache and emerging young forward Matt Jefferson who is starting to look as if he belongs on the forward line after a long apprenticeship. The Lions mounted a countercharge but the Demons were equal to the task with Shane McAdam and Schache looking dangerous, albeit erratic in front of goals. A ten point lead at the first break was looking like a good reward for effort until the strength, ability, the greater experience and AFL list numbers of the northerners came to the fore early in the second term and it was all over. The combination of Fort and Smith in the ruck and the on ball skills of Lyons, Robertson and Dunkley were overwhelming as the home side relentlessly pushed forward time and again off the weight of clearances. The Brisbane backmen defended strongly, their forwards played in front and marked everything. The only mystery was the fact that they weren’t further in front. After an early second half resurgence, it was business as usual and the Demons trailed by eight goals at three quarter time and thanks to some rare individual efforts, they somehow managed to narrow the margin slightly by the end of the game. Casey had far too few players who stood up all day. Defenders Marty Hore (24 disposals, 10 marks) and Blake Howes Howes (22 touches, seven marks) worked hard to stem the flow but had very little assistance. Forwards Matt Jefferson and Shane McAdam presented well and did their bit with three goals each while Josh Schache scored two goals but also blemished his record with four behinds including a couple that were very forgettable. Jack Billings worked hard to get into the game but otherwise, most of the younger crop of Demons looked tired and failed to produce the goods. The young ruckmen were well beaten both at stoppages and around the ground. Apart from Mitch White who gave his all as he always does, Roan Steele and Tom Freeman, the VFL-listed players had minimal impact on the game. Casey are back home against Essendon, another struggling side, next Sunday. The Demons will need to lift their game as the Bombers won their game this round and are showing improvement of late with internal competition for finals places intensifies. CASEY DEMONS 5.5.35 6.5.41 7.9.51 11.11.77 BRISBANE LIONS 4.1.25 10.5.65 15.9.99 18.15.123 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Jefferson McAdam 3 Schache 2 Billings Farris-White White BRISBANE LIONS Smith 3 Craven Derksen Dunkley Lyons Ryan 2 Greenaway McPherson Manly Robertson Sharp BEST CASEY DEMONS Hore Jefferson McAdam Howes White Billings BRISBANE LIONS Robertson Lyons Smith Prior Dunkley Fort Statistics Jed Adams 2 kicks 3 handballs 5 disposals 1 tackle 16 dream team points Jack Billings 1 goal 14 kicks 5 handballs 19 disposals 7 marks 5 tackles 84 dream team points Kynan Brown 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 5 tackles 35 dream team points Tyler Edwards 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 51 dream team points Kyah Faris-White 1 goals 1 behind 3 kicks 3 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 11 hitouts 29 dream team points Tom Freeman 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 64 dream team points Max Gregory 4 kicks 8 handballs 12 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 57 dream team points Marty Hore 22 kicks 2 handballs 24 disposals 9 marks 2 tackles 106 dream team points Blake Howes 13 kicks 9 handballs 22 disposals 7 marks 78 dream team points Lachie Hunter 13 kicks 3 handballs 16 disposals 9 marks 1 tackle 76 dream team points Matt Jefferson 3 goals 1 behind 7 kicks 3 handballs 10 disposals 7 marks 2 tackles 76 dream team points Luker Kentfield 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 3 marks 25 dream team points Eddie King 2 kicks 3 handballs 5 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 23 dream team points Bailey Laurie 8 kicks 2 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 32 dream team points Shane McAdam 3 goals 1 behind 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 7 tackles 97 dream team points Ned Moodie 1 behind 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 53 dream team points Harvey Neocleous 1 behind 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 60 dream team points Josh Schache 2 goals 4 behinds 12 kicks 4 handballs 16 disposals 12 marks 96 dream team points Ollie Sestan 3 kicks 6 handballs 9 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 1 hitout 41 dream team points Roan Steele 11 kicks 6 handballs 17 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 69 dream team points Mitch Szybkowski 3 kicks 4 handballs 7 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 32 dream team points Will Verrall 6 kicks 1 handball 7 disposals 3 tackles 26 hitouts 56 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 13 kicks 6 handballs 19 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 65 dream team points

Who are you tipping and what are the best results for the Demons (for draft picks or for finals - choose your poison)?

Melbourne stands at the crossroads. Sunday’s game against the West Coast Eagles who have not met the Demons at the MCG in more than ten years, is a make or break for the club’s finals aspirations. That proposition is self-evident since every other team the club will be opposed to over the next eight weeks of footy is a prospective 2024 finalist. To add to this perspective is the fact that while the Demons are now in twelfth position on the AFL table, they are only a game and a half behind third placed Fremantle. So, with games to come against seven of the teams above it on the ladder, including the Dockers, their destiny is well and truly in their own hands. But if they can’t prevail on their home soil against the only remaining opponent that’s out of the finals race, then their credibility as a contender and their finals hopes will become greatly diminished. There is a pall hanging over Melbourne even though the club showed some good signs in last week’s game against Brisbane that its mid-season slump, which began with a narrow loss to Carlton two months ago, is nearing an end. Why the concern then with the lowly Eagles? For starters, one of the West Coast’s three wins this year was a resounding victory recorded when they monstered the Demons at Optus Stadium in mid-May. That Harley Reid goal running away from a now absent Christian Petracca and the masterful performance of Jake Waterman at full forward is still clear in the memory. And there’s more concern if you add the way in which Melbourne has squandered substantial leads with stuttering finishes in the final quarters of each of its last two games — leads which, if built upon during those periods, would have seen it sitting as high as fifth rather than labouring below the pack of finals aspirants. At the head of those concerns is the dramatic decline in the Demons’ final quarter differential figures from first in the league in Rounds 0 to 9 (at +8.7 points) to last since then (-14.2). The first thing that comes to mind at this sudden development is the question of the team’s fitness but this isn’t backed up work rate statistics on distance run, repeat sprint numbers, clearances and contested possession. The explanation suggested by coach Simon Goodwin is that it’s the team’s conservatism late in games when the team went safe enabling the opposition midfields to get on top enhancing their ability to transition the ball too easily from one end of the ground to the other. There’s also the change in profile to one of the competition’s most youthful. Against the Lions, the Demons had nine players aged 22 or younger in their side (Daniel Turner, Trent Rivers, Jacob van Rooyen, Taj Woewodin, Judd McVee, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Caleb Windsor, Koltyn Tholstrup and Kynan Brown) while Brisbane had sixteen 100-plus gamers to ten. The way I look at this week’s game is that we should be focussing more on how the club has performed in its first three quarters than in its last. They have been impressive and seem to be building up with more fitness and greater aggression at the football. The return of Jake Lever saw a massive change in the way the team went about defending its ground and attacking the football through the middle as they did in the second quarter against the Lions. Clayton Oliver was threatening and Kozzie Pickett was back to his best. Bayley Fritsch is due to return to his early season goalkicking form as well. Meanwhile, the Eagles are well down on their form from a month and a half ago. Their form has been poor, they’re coming off a six day break and are travelling across the continent to get to Sunday’s game. Lightning won’t strike a second time. Melbourne to win by 45 points. THE GAME Melbourne v West Coast Eagles at the MCG, Sunday 7 July 2024 at 1.10pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 20 wins West Coast Eagles 38 wins At the MCG Melbourne 7 wins West Coast Eagles 9 wins Past five meetings Melbourne 3 wins West Coast Eagles 2 wins The Coaches Goodwin 4 wins Simpson 5 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Waalitj Marawar 16.9.105 defeated Narrm 10.10.70 at Optus Stadium in Round 10, 2024 Jake Waterman and Jack Darling had days out with five and three goals respectively while Harley Reid was explosive out of the middle for the Eagles. The Demons were hurt by the early loss of Jake Lever and were unable to mount any semblance of a revival against an opponent that went 90% in kicking for goal in the second half. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B J. Lever, S. May, J. McVee HB A. Moniz-Wakefield, T. McDonald, T. Rivers C T. Sparrow, A. Neal-Bullen, C. Windsor HF K. Tholstrup, J. Van Rooyen, E. Langdon F K. Pickett, B. Fritsch, J. Melksham FOLL M. Gawn, J. Viney, C. Oliver I/C J. Bowey, K. Chandler, C. Salem, D. Turner SUB T. Woewodin EMG T. Fullarton, B. Laurie, A. Tomlinson IN J. Bowey, J. Melksham, C. Salem OUT K. Brown (omitted), H. Petty (hamstring), A. Tomlinson WEST COAST EAGLES B B. Hough, T. Barrass, A. Witherden HB T. Cole, J. McGovern, L. Duggan C J. Hunt, E. Yeo, J. Jones HF L. Ryan, J. Waterman, T. Brockman F J. Cripps, O. Allen, J. Darling FOLL B. Williams, H. Reid, T. Kelly I/C C. Chesser, R. Ginbey, J. Hutchinson, J. Rotham SUB J. Williams EMG H. Edwards, H. Johnston, R. Maric IN J. Hutchinson, J. Williams OUT M.Flynn (ankle), R. Maric (omitted) Injury List: Round 17 Marty Hore — calf / available Jake Melksham — knee / available Jake Bowey — general soreness / test Ben Brown — knee / test Harrison Petty — hamstring / test Will Verrall — concussion / test Christian Salem — knee / test Charlie Spargo — Achilles / TBC Christian Petracca — spleen / indefinite

It's been fixed now. You might need to remove/delete the episode, close the app, reopen it and then redownload the episode.

Fixing it now. In my haste to get the podcast out I didn't put the sounds channel in. The whole reason for doing the show earlier was so that I could wrap up the post productions stuff early so I could get to bed. Seems I work better later.

The League announced today that the 2025 Gather Round will run from Thursday April 10 to Sunday April 13, which will coincide with school holidays in South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. The traditional Easter round of matches will follow over the long weekend of April 18-21.

WE'RE LIVE EARLY TONIGHT @ 7:30PM Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

The DEMONLAND PODCAST will be LIVE tonight at the Special Time of 7:30pm. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

Votes Player (Club) 9 Josh Dunkley (BL) 9 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB) 6 Hugh McCluggage (BL) 4 Jack Viney (MELB) 2 Dayne Zorko (BL) Leaderboard Votes Player Club 89 Isaac Heeney SYD 82 Nick Daicos COLL 73 Marcus Bontempelli WB 69 Caleb Serong FRE 68 Patrick Cripps CARL 62 Errol Gulden SYD 61 Sam Walsh CARL 55 Zach Merrett ESS 55 Chad Warner SYD 53 Noah Anderson GCFC 51 Lachie Neale BL 50 Max Gawn MELB 49 Zak Butters PORT 48 Jordan Dawson ADEL 48 Adam Treloar WB 47 Jason Horne-Francis PORT 45 Max Holmes GEEL 45 Matt Rowell GCFC 44 Hayden Young FRE 41 Jai Newcombe HAW

Going to cut the questions off here. Thank you for your contributions and see you tonight.

You have to go a long way back to when the teams last met at the MCG back on Sunday 30 March, 2014 when 22,230 fans witnessed the Demons go down by 93 points - 4.6.30 to 18.15.123. It was Paul Roos’ second game at the helm of the club after the team’s opening round defeat at the hands of eventual wooden spooners St. Kilda. Needless to say, Melbourne’s defeat saw the team plummet to last on the ladder after two games. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Lynden Dunn, James Frawley, Alex Georgiou HB: Jack Grimes, Tom McDonald, Dean Terlich C: Jack Trengove, Dom Tyson, Daniel Cross HF: Jack Watts, Cam Pedersen, Jimmy Toumpas F: Jeremy Howe, Jack Fitzpatrick, Rohan Bail FOLL: Jake Spencer, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince I/C: Shannon Byrnes, Matt Jones, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Viv Michie EM: Sam Blease, Michael Evans, Dean Kent No change WEST COAST B: Jamie Bennell, Darren Glass, Mitch Brown HB: Shannon Hurn, Eric Mackenzie, Xavier Ellis C: Matt Rosa, Matt Priddis, Andrew Gaff HF: Jamie Cripps, Josh Kennedy, Chris Masten F: Mark LeCras, Jack Darling, Nic Naitanui FOLL: Dean Cox, Scott Selwood, Luke Shuey IC: Brad Sheppard, Callum Sinclair, Sharrod Wellingham, Elliot Yeo EM: Brant Colledge, Josh Hill, Scott Lycett In: Brad Sheppard Out: Dom Sheed

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 It was the Waterman and Reid show as Waalitj Marawar humiliated Narrm by 35 points at Optus Stadium. We’ve seen worse since then but this was one big warning sign of the club’s fall from a top four contender to an outsider for the finals. THE TEAMS WAALITJ MARAWAR B A. Witherden, T. Barrass, B. Hough HB T. Cole, J. McGovern, L. Duggan C C. Chesser, H. Reid, J. Hunt HF L. Edwards, J. Waterman. J. Cripps F L. Ryan, J. Darling, J. Williams FOLL B. J. Williams, T. Kelly, R. Ginbey I/C J. Jones, J. Rotham, D. Sheed, J. Williams SUB T. Dewar EMG J. Culley, H. Edwards, A. Gaff IN J. Jones, J. Waterman OUT H. Johnston (omitted), J. Petruccelle (ankle) NARRM B B. Howes, S. May, T. Rivers HB J. McVee, T. McDonald, J. Lever C J. Billings, C. Oliver, C. Windsor HF A. Neal-Bullen, B. Fritsch, K. Pickett F K. Chandler, H. Petty, S. McAdam FOLL M. Gawn, J. Viney, C. Petracca I/C J. Bowey, B. Brown, C. Salem, T. Sparrow SUB T. Woewodin EMG T. Fullarton K. Tholstrup, A. Tomlinson IN B. Brown, S. McAdam, C. Salem OUT E. Langdon (personal reasons), D. Turner (calf), J. van Rooyen (concussion)