Demonland

Round 16 Thursday, July 1 Gold Coast v Richmond at Metricon Stadium, 7.20pm AEST Friday, July 2 Geelong v Essendon at GMHBA Stadium, 7.50pm AEST Saturday, July 3 Melbourne v GWS Giants at the MCG, 1.45pm AEST Adelaide v Brisbane at Adelaide Oval, 4.05pm ACST Hawthorn v Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium, 7.40pm AEST Fremantle v Carlton at Optus Stadium, 5.40pm AWST Sunday, July 4 Sydney v West Coast at GMHBA Stadium, 1.10pm AEST Collingwood v St Kilda at the MCG, 3.20pm AEST Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, 4.40pm AEST

Ignore the not our home game bit.

Well more so.

Downside of Richmond losing (always great to see them lose) is that our next 2 opponents both can sniff a finals berth.

Another Prime Time slot gifted to Geelong

May I suggest giving the podcast a listen at 1/2 speed to experience what the show would sound like if we were drunk or stoned.

MELBOURNE What it does well The Demons’ defensive improvement this year has been stark. The players have got a greater understanding of roles within their team and the structure and expectation that comes with them. The selflessness and trust that is needed for these roles to be played out is a reason as to why Melbourne can win this year’s premiership. Wingers Angus Brayshaw and Ed Langdon are perfect examples of this. They’re getting up and down the ground and pushing back hard to help the defence. It is evident these two players are understanding their roles and the defensive support they must bring. The Dees are the hardest team to score against this year. It’s like defend and support is their mantra. They’re keeping opposition points from turnovers under control, as they’re ranked No.2 in the league for this important facet of the game. They were 11th last year. What it must improve As dominant as you’d think Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca would be at the centre bounce, the numbers are not stacking up. Melbourne’s total centre bounce clearance differential is -17 for the year, which is ranked 15th in the competition. That means there is plenty of upside in that area. We know all three are super competitive, and are great players, but if they continue to work on better hitouts-to-advantage, they can get better mid-to-forward connections and more territory on the back of having a good centre bounce differential in their favour. If they do that against the best teams, it’ll give their forwards better opportunities to hit the scoreboard. It’s just another layer that can make the Demons more complete. Surprise packet Harrison Petty and James Jordon. Petty has really helped Melbourne’s defensive structure because he’s allowed Steven May and Jake Lever to play their intercept roles really well. The season-ending injury to Adam Tomlinson has given Petty his opportunity and he’s taken it. The 2017 draftee as added stability and cohesion - and that’s so important back there. With his size and mobility, he’s become an integral part of their success to this point. While Jordon is a midfielder who has given the Dees great balance. We know Petracca and Oliver are great ball winners, but Jordon plays inside and outside and is a good pressure and tackling player. He brings a good competitive edge to the side, and is improving and feeling more comfortable every week he plays. Under the pump Sam Weideman. It’s hard to be critical of Ben Brown because he hasn’t been out there a lot, but it’s important that Weideman steps up because the Demons are screaming out for another key forward. They badly need one to step up and own that position. The Demons are a strong territory team so Weideman will get plenty of opportunities - but he needs to take it. A firing Weideman would be another avenue to goal and would take the pressure off Bayley Fritsch, as an undersized forward, to be their leading goalkicker. Tom McDonald is a better player as a second fiddle, and, while we know Kysaiah Pickett has great attributes, he’s not a tall. Weideman must steel his mind when kicking for goal. His set shot goalkicking lacks confidence and he looks jittery at the moment. It must be corrected quickly as it could be the difference between him being a premiership player and not.

https://twitter.com/superfooty/status/1408208113564413952?s=20

The Demons return to the MCG on Saturday night (albeit for an away game) for the first time since mid-May when they beat the Blues. At the time, they were riding high, undefeated and celebrated by the football world. In the interim, they lost to two teams that occupy the bottom six, beaten two top four teams in front of empty or near empty stadiums and somehow fallen out of sight in the AFL bubble despite retaining top of the table status. And in a strange twist, the mantle of the league’s glamour team has been snatched away from them by this week’s opponent, the 10th placed Essendon which this week was dubbed “the most watchable team in the competition”. However, it says something about the way the football news cycle operates that it achieved this title after narrowly escaping defeat at the hands of an inaccurate Hawthorn that occupies a position second from last on the table and has recorded only one victory since Anzac Day. The Bombers’ other recent claim to fame was a victory out west to an emaciated Eagles outfit, bereft of many of its stars. Still, they’re riding high on the charts, Darcy Parish is in Brownlow consideration, Jake Stringer is enjoying superstar status winning clearance numbers and kicking goals, they’ve re-signed Zach Merrett to a long term deal, skipper Dyson Heppell has returned to life and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is as dangerous as ever in front of goals. They have a bevy of youngsters snapping up rising star nominations and importantly, a ruckman in Sam Draper back, fit and capable of winning his fair share of hit outs and clearances. We last saw the Melbourne team lamenting and looking tired on the SCG, beaten up by a Collingwood team that has been nothing short of disgraceful this year. In their game a fortnight earlier, they were so bad that they were held goalless at half time by Geelong. Against the Pies, Max Gawn struggled in the ruck against a relative newcomer in Max Lynch, the defence was beaten comprehensively in the air by Darcy Cameron and Brody Mihocek and smashed by Jordon De Goey and the resurgent veterans in Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom anxious to give their long serving coach a decent send off. Uncharacteristically for the Demons, they were often caught spectating and their forwards, as a group, contributed almost nothing. Zero goals for the second week in a row from Sam Weideman and a disappointing effort from then father-in-waiting Tom McDonald. So it’s back to the G and barring an increase in Covid19 case numbers or the discovery of an unknown strain of the virus in the sewerage system of a distant country town or a suburban dry cleaners, we should have 25,000 spectators cheering on the teams on Saturday night. Problem is that because it’s an Essendon game, we can expect the preponderance of the crowd to be Bomber fans. This is clearly a danger game for Melbourne which has shown a tendency for producing tepid performances against teams that it should put away easily based on ladder position. It will only happen if the team comes our refreshed and reset for the game ahead and the coaches and selectors have sorted out the key position malaise that has confronted the team since Weideman and Ben Brown became available after the Richmond game. For the first time since then, both are out and Jack Viney’s back so the team’s structure is back close to where it was at it’s best. That’s why I’m tipping the Demons to win. I expect them to just get over the line - by 4 points in a heart stopper. THE GAME Essendon v Melbourne at the MCG Saturday, 26 June, 2021 at 7.25pm. HEAD TO HEAD Overall Essendon 130 wins Melbourne 84 wins 2 draws At the MCG Essendon 67 wins Melbourne 45 wins 1 draw The last five meetings Essendon 2 wins Melbourne 3 wins The Coaches Rutten 0 wins Goodwin 0 wins MEDIA TV live and on demand on Kayo and live on Foxtel. Check your local guides. Radio - check your local guides. THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 10.8.68 defeated Essendon 7.7.49 at Metricon Stadium, Round 18, 2020 The Bombers were down and out and bid farewell to their coach with substantially less enthusiasm than Collingwood did Nathan Buckley. The Demons were still a chance to make the finals and a big win could have been helpful but they simply coasted along in the last having set up their win in the first three quarters. THE TEAMS ESSENDON B: J. Laverde 15 J. Stewart 17 J. Ridley 14 HB: N. Hind 19 M. Redman 27 D. Heppell 21 C: K. Langford 4 Z. Merrett 7 M. Guelfi 35 HF: A. Perkins 16 H. Jones 23 D. Smith 5 F: J. Stringer 25 C. Hooker 26 A. McDonald-Tipungwuti 43 Foll: S. Draper 2 D. Parish 3 B. Ham 33 I/C: N. Cox 13 A. Waterman 45 P. Wright 20 B. Zerk-Thatcher 30 Sub: D. Zaharakis 11 Emerg: T. Cutler 12 S. Durham 42 A. Phillips 34 In: A. Waterman D. Zaharakis Out: T. Cutler (omitted) N. Cahill (omitted) MELBOURNE B: J. Hunt 29 S. May 1 J. Lever 8 HB: M. Hibberd 14 H. Petty 35 C. Salem 3 C: J. Jordon 23 J. Viney 7 E. Langdon 15 HF: K. Pickett 36 B. Fritsch 31 T. Sparrow 32 F: A. Neal-Bullen 30 T. McDonald 25 C. Spargo 9 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Oliver 13 C. Petracca 5 I/C: A. Brayshaw 10 J. Harmes 4 L. Jackson 6 T. Rivers 24 Sub: N. Jones 2 Emerg: B. Brown 50 K. Chandler 37 N. Jetta 39 In: N. Jones J. Viney Out: K. Chandler S. Weideman (omitted) Round 15: Injury List Jack Viney (toe) — Available Bailey Laurie (eye socket) — Available Deakyn Smith (ankle) — Available Joel Smith (knee) — Available Marty Hore (knee) — 8 to 10 Weeks Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season Adam Tomlinson (knee) — Season EVERYTHING THAT COUNTS - PART 2 by SAM THE STATS MAN I can’t believe that it was less than two months ago that I was celebrating what I thought was the end of curve lowering, rolling 14 day averages, curfews, masks, isolation and loneliness, 5km travel restrictions and lockdowns. Little did I know that just around the corner lurked a 7 day “circuit breaker” that would bring a seemingly never ending series of restrictions that made little logic or sense but which, I was assured would save our bacon. I’m still waiting for the statistical proof of that opinion to substantiate the lockdown and closure of the economy. So far, nobody has died since the new measures came into vogue (apart from the poor soul who succumbed to blood clots from an Astra Zeneca shot) although a few are in hospital for precautionary reasons. The effect of all of this on the football has been staggering. The Demons have lost millions, their season disrupted by the need to travel and play at different interstate venues - they certainly didn’t look comfortable on the small SCG ground. And pity the blokes playing down at Casey and trying to stake a claim to a team destined for the finals. By the time they hit the ground at Casey Fields on Sunday, it will be five weeks since their last game which was a game delayed because of earlier Covid19 issues involving the Sydney area. It was Ben Brown’s last game and he had a mere four touches and no goals that day. Meanwhile, I continue to compile my statistical appendix and after running the data through my computer, I still have no idea as to what will happen next. 1. Steven May MFC games 12, goals 0 2. Nathan Jones MFC games 7, goals 2, CD game 1, goal 1 3. Christian Salem MFC games 12, goals 1 4. James Harmes MFC games 7, goals 4, CD games 1, goals 2 5. Christian Petracca MFC games 13, goals 14 6. Luke Jackson MFC games 12, goals 6 7. Jack Viney MFC games 5, goals 2 8. Jake Lever MFC games 13, goals 0 9. Charlie Spargo MFC games 13, goals 6 10. Angus Brayshaw MFC games 13, goals 1 11. Max Gawn MFC games 13, goals 8 12. Toby Bedford CD games 5, goals 6 13. Clayton Oliver MFC games 13, goals 5 14. Michael Hibberd MFC games 9, goals 0 15. Ed Langdon MFC games 12, goals 10 16. Bailey Laurie 17. Jake Bowey CD games 5, goals 0 18. Jake Melksham MFC games 10, goals 5 19. Fraser Rosman CD games 5, goals 3 20. Adam Tomlinson MFC games 7, goals 0 21. Marty Hore 22. Aaron Vandenberg CD games 1, goal 1 23. James Jordan ® MFC games 8, goals 2 24. Trent Rivers MFC games 13, goal 1 25. Tom McDonald MFC games 13, goals 23 26. Sam Weideman MFC games 5, goals 3, CD games 3, goals 14 27. Aaron Nietschke ® 28. Majak Daw ® CD games 5, goal 1 29. Jayden Hunt MFC games 13, goal 1 30. Alex Neal-Bullen MFC games 13, goals 9 31. Bayley Fritsch MFC games 12, goals 28 32. Tom Sparrow MFC games 9, goals 2, CD games 4, goals 0 33. Oskar Baker MFC games 3, goals 0, CD games 3, goal 1 34. Deakyn Smith ® CD games 4, goals 0 35. Harrison Petty MFC games 7, goals 0, CD games 1, goals 0 36. Kysaiah Pickett MFC games 13, goals 20 37. Kade Chandler ® MFC games 5, goals 0, CD games 3, goals 5 38. Mitch Brown MFC games 1, goals 2, CD games 2, goals 6 39. Neville Jetta MFC games 5, goals 0, CD games 4, goals 0 40. Kye Declase 41. Jay Lockhart CD games 3, goals 0 42. Daniel Turner 44. Joel Smith CD games 1, goals 0 46. Austin Bradtke ® CD games 5, goal 1 50. Ben Brown MFC games 3, goals 5, CD games 3, goals 7

We'll speak extra slow next week then.

You can never get enough Demons content.