Demonland

Each team plays each other once Plus an extra rivalry round 200 H & A games vs 198 current Final 12 = 15 Finals vs Current 9 A minimum $20M more on current rights 1 Team from Tasmania (Tassie Devils) & 1 Team from NT/North QLD (Northern Crocs)

The story goes that there’s a certain player from Geelong who has been seen in Moorabool Street crooning the old Sinatra classic, “I’ve got you under my skin.” His name is O’Connor and he’s been tasked to achieve one thing on Sunday by his coach, Chris Scott: to get under the skin of a Demon midfielder on Sunday and thereby tag him out of the big contest at the G. The idea behind the tactic is to not only blunt one of the team’s most destructive weapons but to distract them all from producing their best in the game. Based on how Scott had his team playing on Easter Monday, this is how his charges are expected to try to control the ebbs and flows of the match going against the new trend of exciting fast, free flowing attacking football which is where the game appears to heading. Stop the opposition by all means available from getting out into the open and pushing forward to attacking tall forwards who win the contests and boot large scores. But they’re an aging team that might get away with such a strategy in a 16 minute quarter match up as they did last year but those extra minutes in 2021 will find them out, particularly against an opponent that sets up well defensively as Melbourne does. So we can expect Scott to possibly adapt and do something differently or risk the possibility of being run over as almost occurred in the last two Cats’ matches. The likelihood is that it won’t work this week because he has too many of his big guns out with injury and suspension. Despite the fact that there’s still plenty of talent left at the Cattery, they are up against a well balanced Melbourne that’s approaching near full strength and has shown extra fitness and resilience so far this year. The midfield is strong, it’s backed up by two ruckman who are holding sway around the ground and the defence is very tight, conceding the least amount scored in the competition when opponents enter their forward 50. In the three games to date, the Demons have scored 38.45 against 30.19 (the opposition accuracy has been extraordinary given that it began with six consecutive behinds from the Dockers in round 1). If Melbourne can blunt the accuracy of its opposition one day, then watch out! And there we have it. On paper, the Cats present as the best adversary that the Demons have faced this year but the reality is that they are nowhere near full strength and are perhaps fortunate that they’re not sitting on 0-3. I’m not convinced therefore that they’re capable of getting under Melbourne’s skin this week. Melbourne by 25 points. THE GAME Melbourne v Geelong at the MCG on Sunday, 11 April 2021 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 85 wins Geelong 132 wins 2 draws At the MCG Melbourne 52 wins Geelong 54 wins The last five meetings Melbourne 1 win Geelong 4 wins The Coaches Goodwin 1 win Scott 5 wins 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 Geelong 7.5.47 defeated Melbourne 6.8.44 in Round 4, 2020 The Demons were coming off a week’s Covid19 enforced break after Essendon’s Conor McKenna produced a positive test and they made a rusty start to an ugly, low scoring, defensive scrap. They trailed by 17 points at the last charge and their last minute surge fell tantalizingly short when Adam Tomlinson’s shot in the final minute missed narrowly. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: N. Jetta 39 S. May 1 J. Lever 8 HB: J. Hunt 29 A. Tomlinson 20 T. Rivers 24 C: A. Brayshaw 10 C. Oliver 13 E. Langdon 15 HF: K. Pickett 36 T. McDonald 25 A. Neal-Bullen 30 F: C. Spargo 9 L. Jackson 6 B. Fritsch 31 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Petracca 5 J. Viney 7 I/C: N. Jones 2 J. Jordon 23 J. Melksham 18 C. Salem 3 Sub: T. Sparrow 32 Emerg: K. Chandler 37 M. Hibberd 14 H. Petty 35 No change GEELONG B: L. Henderson 25 M. Blicavs 46 Jed Bews 25 HB: 24 T. Atkins 30 T. Stewart J. Kolodjashnij 8 C: I. Smith 7 M. O'Connor 44 Z. Tuohy 22 HF: M. Duncan 22 G. Miers 32 L. Dahlhaus 40 F: S. Menegola 27 T. Hawkins 26 B. Close 45 Foll: R. Stanley 1 C. Guthrie 29 J. Selwood 14 I/C: J. Clark 6 Z. Guthrie 39 J. Henry 38 Q. Narkle 19 Sub: M. Holmes 9 Emerg: C. Constable 18 J. Jenkins 11 In: B. Close Z. Guthrie S. Menegola Q. Narkle Out: C. Constable (omitted) F. Evans (ankle) S. Higgins (thumb) B. Parfitt (hip soreness - late withdrawal) Injury List: Round 4 Sam Weideman (leg) — Available Ben Brown (knee) — Available James Harmes (wrist) — 3 Weeks Marty Hore (knee) — Season Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season

Demon skipper Max Gawn is one big unit at 208cm and lately he’s been standing even taller. We already know that he’s unstoppable in the air when going for a mark but with three consecutive victories to open the season, you might say that he has his head in the clouds. And that is literally true thanks to a fan at Demonland.com who recently arranged for our big ruckman to go even further than the clouds but way beyond to the edge of space and into the stratosphere. And this photograph of Max at 35km above the Earth with the curve of the planet visible behind him is the proof of the new heights reached by Max. The background to this picture is a special programme from Earth to Sky Calculus which is about bringing real life science to students. https://www.earthtosky.store/free-lift They have a programme of measuring radiation levels, cosmic rays and other experiments on high altitude balloon flights over the Sierra Nevada mountains in the USA. You can see the results of some of their work at this site: https://www.spaceweather.com/ They also take “non-scientific” payloads, (ala Max) providing you pay for the helium to get the balloon up there. So we sent Max along for the ride and the result was that he reached an altitude of 35.1 km (115,158 feet) during a 2.5 hour flight to the stratosphere, and we got great footage of nearly the entire flight. As with the Melbourne Football Club it’s onwards and upwards from here and there’s lots more to come about the story of the high flying Demon captain ...

We actually play the Hawks at the G on Sunday the 18th. There is a match at the MCG on Saturday 17th in the evening (Carlton vs Port) at 7:25pm If the Dees make the Grand Final it would have been great for them to play as a curtain raiser to the Dees vs Hawks match.

You can vote for Kozzy this week too. https://www.afl.com.au/goal-of-the-year

People (usually driven by the media) make such a big deal about the club that players supported as a kid. Sure we'd all love to play for the Dees but if we were drafted by Fremantle you'd probably be a Docker through and through. Although if the Dees then came knocking with a mighty big cheque ...

??

Congrats to Hanks and Zankar McNamara a little bit stiff to miss out.

I smell FREE KICK GEELONG coming up.

Max Gawn and Clayton Oliver share the lead after three rounds:- 27. Max Gawn Clayton Oliver 21. Christian Petracca 18. Jake Lever Steven May 17. Ed Langdon 13. Christian Salem 12. Kysiah Pickett 11. Jayden Hunt 10. Jack Viney 7. Tom McDonald 3. Angus Brayshaw 2. Charlie Spargo 1. James Jordon Alex Neal-Bullen Adam Tomlinson

I didn't have Viney in my notes for discussion so happy to bring him up and see what the guys think.

The Demonland Podcast is LIVE tonight at 8:30pm. Join the boys as we dissect the Round 3 win over the Giants as well as our stunning Qualifying Final win in the AFLW before previewing our Round 4 match against the Cats. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

After 3 Rounds

How's the shephard from Sparrow?

A 34-point win in the nation’s capital has seen the Demons kill the Giants hopes early in the 2021 season. It wasn’t only the scoreboard, but a succession of injuries to major players for GWS that has put paid to their aspirations. The winning result wasn’t just due to the opposition losing players, but also to the relentless pressure from this 2021 Melbourne side that put them in the winners circle. In past years, a 16 point deficit at the first change combined with a rampant Toby Greene with two majors to his name would have foretold a far different result for the Demons. But not for this side as they tightened up in the second quarter, shut Greene down temporarily, and started to kick straight in front of goal. Tom McDonald and Bailey Fritsch hadn’t touched ball in the first quarter, but finally Kysaiah Pickett showed the others where the big sticks lay. Clayton Oliver had taken a beating from Matt DeBoer and others, and had yet to shake the tag, but that caused others in the mid-field to take up the responsibility. The Demons’ situation was made easier when GWS lost Coniglio and Davis before ½ time and they went into the major break just two points adrift. That minor scoreboard deficiency was removed within seconds in the third quarter, and Pickett put in another contender for Goal of the Year to lift team spirits even further. Oliver was sent forward to break the tags, and unfortunately couldn’t kick straight to drive the dagger into the GWS hearts. But worse came for them when DeBoer left the field with yet another injury, and the pressure was off. The Demons should have put the Giants to the sword, but continued to give them opportunities with a couple of silly errors. Still, they took an 18 point lead into the final quarter to continue the turn-around. The injuries continued for GWS with Keefe and Daniels playing out the game, but barely able to put up more than a trot. The dam wall broke, and Pickett continued his startling form to finish with 4 goals for the game, and certainly being the reason for a couple more attributed to team-mates. A 34 point victory continue the winning start to the season to put the Demons at 3-0, something not achieved since 2005. Around the ground, Max Gawn showed the way as captain with 24 disposals, but importantly 6 contested marks out of 9 total, and then two goals to his name. A different game plan sees him roaming the backline and now forward line, because Luke Jackson is proving to be more than capable in the rucking role, with 10 hitouts and 15 touches as a back-up to Max. This will become more critical in future games, since two mobile ruckmen creates huge nightmares for opposition. The forwards still struggle, particularly Tom McDonald, who looked injured similar to last year. Unable to accelerate and jump off the ground he could only manage 3 marks and 8 disposals for the game. Fortunately, Fritsch came back from a slow start to finish with 3 majors, and the mids finally made some contributions with Christian Petracca, Alex Neal-Bullen, Jackson, Angus Brayshaw, James Jordon and of course Gawn all making the goal umpire do some work. Like many other teams this round, the backline wasn’t as strong as we have come to expect. There were dropped marks and too many easy “out the back” goals to the Giants. Are we seeing the exposure of the zone defence, as teams are able to move the ball into the forward line more quickly and are able to change up options in front of them? Now after three rounds, there are only three undefeated teams, Melbourne being one of them. The importance of putting wins ”in the bank” should be well known to this club, and to date they have achieved that. They may have killed the Giants, a team with regular final appearances in recent history, but it is a long season. There will be no better KPI for the team when they face Geelong in the next round. They also have been regulars at the pointy end of the season, and have loaded up with veterans from other clubs in an attempt to continue that. Do the Demons have the capital to continue their successful run, and in doing so gain the interest of their supporters and critics? MELBOURNE 2.3.15 6.5.41 10.7.67 15.12.102 GWS GIANTS 5.1.31 7.1.43 8.1.49 11.2.68 GOALS Melbourne Pickett 4 Fritsch 3 Gawn 2 Brayshaw Jackson Jordan Neal-Bullen Petracca Spargo GWS Giants Greene 5 Kelly 2 Green Himmelberg Hopper O’Halloran BEST Melbourne Gawn Viney Hunt Brayshaw Pickett Langdon GWS Giants Taranto Greene Kelly Ash Haynes Hopper INJURIES Melbourne Nil GWS Giants Davis (ankle), Coniglio (ankle), de Boer (hamstring) REPORTS Melbourne Nil GWS Giants Nil SUBSTITUTES Melbourne Melksham (unused) GWS Giants Shipley (replaced Davis) UMPIRES O'Gorman Williamson Findlay CROWD 9,563 at the Manuka Oval

Take the Post Match discussion here: https://demonland.com/forums/topic/49870-postgame-rd-03-vs-gws/

Who comes in and who goes out for our Round 4 match against Geelong at the MCG?

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, & 1 please...