Demonland

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

Once again inaccuracy and inefficiency going inside 50 rears it's ugly head as the Demons suffered their second loss on the trot and their fourth loss in five games as they go down to the Pies by 38 points on Kings Birthday at the MCG.

TURNAROUND by KC from Casey The Casey Demons won their first game at home this year in the traditional King’s Birthday Weekend clash with Collingwood VFL on Sunday in a dramatic turnaround on recent form that breathed new life into the beleaguered club’s season. The Demons led from the start to record a 52-point victory. It was their highest score and biggest winning margin by far for the 2024 season. Under cloudy but calm conditions for Casey Fields, the home side, wearing the old Springvale guernsey as a mark of respect for their historic roots, settled down first and scored the first goal from Kai Windsor at the three minute mark. From there, they held the lead throughout the game and pleasingly, increased their lead at every interval even through the Magpies had their kicking boots on and managed to score on many of their forays into the forward line. Casey was well led once again by skipper Mitch White who led his team in the disposal count with 18 kicks and 10 handballs, also kicking a goal. White seemed to always be on hand whenever needed to help teammates in yet another fine display of leadership for the team. He was capably assisted by two experienced heads in Ben Brown who not only contributed two goals but gave a handout in the ruck and Adam Tomlinson who held sway in defence with his 22 disposals and nine marks. In a strong response to his omission from the Melbourne AFL side, Shane McAdam was in strong marking form (he finished with eight marks including a couple of blinders) and was the game’s most dangerous forward with four goals, adding one each quarter. However, from a Demons’ future perspective, one young player really stood out. WA recruit Koltyn Tholstrup was outstanding around the ground and up forward. Seemingly buoyed by the recruitment of former Subiaco teammate Luker Kentfield in the mid-season draft, he lifted his game with a four quarter performance of 26 disposals, 10 clearances and 5 marks, 5 tackles and a goal. Not far behind Tholstrup in the pecking order was emerging young midfielder Oliver Sestan with 23 possessions, seven clearances and two goals. Although used sparingly on debut, Kentfield had a great start at his new club, showed strength in the contest and booted a couple of goals. Casey’s two ruckmen Will Verrall and Tom Fullarton were solid in sharing the big man duties while Taj Woewodin in the midfield and defender Andy Moniz-Wakefield had good days collecting 20 and 17 disposals respectively. Also pleasing to Casey’s senior coach, Taylor Whitford after a torrid first half of the season in which he lost two of his ace recruits in Leo Connolly and Campbell Hustwaite was the good form of his VFL-listed brigade. Apart from White’s outstanding leadership, Roan Steele, Mitch Szybkowski and Max Gregory led the way in contributing to the team’s victory along with some excellent cameos from others. With a bye coming up next weekend, Casey have a fortnight’s break before taking on North Melbourne at Casey Fields for the second half of the season. CASEY DEMONS 3.4.22 8.8.56 12.11.83 18.14.122 COLLINGWOOD VFL 1.1.7 4.1.25 6.2.38 11.4.70 GOALS CASEY DEMONS McAdam 4 B Brown Kentfield Sestan 2 Edwards Fullarton King Neocleous Peters Tholstrup White K Windsor COLLINGWOOD VFL Farrant Lane Mahoney 2 DiMattia Johnson Ryan Sparkes Wilson BEST CASEY DEMONS B Brown White Woewodin Fullarton Tomlinson Tholstrup COLLINGWOOD VFL Demattia Glover Lane McInnes Sparkes Mahoney Statistics Jed Adams 2 kicks 2 disposals 1 tackle 10 dream team points Ben Brown 2 goals 1 behind 8 kicks 9 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 6 hitouts 82 dream team points Tyler Edwards 1 goal 1 behind 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 68 dream team points Tom Freeman 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 37 dream team points Tom Fullarton 1 goal 1 behind 14 kicks 7 handballs 21 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 14 hitouts 101 dream team points Max Gregory 7 kicks 8 handballs 15 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 59 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 behind 3 kicks 2 handballs 5 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 32 dream team points Luker Kentfield 2 goals 1 behind 4 kicks 4 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 34 dream team points Eddie King 1 goal 1 kick 2 handballs 3 disposals 1 tackle 17 dream team points Shane McAdam 4 goals 1 behinds 9 kicks 4 handballs 13 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 95 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 8 kicks 9 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 57 dream team points Ned Moodie 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 30 dream team points Harvey Neocleous 1 goal 4 kicks 11 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 55 dream team points Charlie Peters 1 goal 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 6 tackles 61 dream team points Ollie Sestan 2 goals 12 kicks 11 handballs 23 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 84 dream team points Roan Steele 2 behinds 11 kicks 5 handballs 16 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 68 dream team points Mitch Szybkowski 7 kicks 8 handballs 15 disposals 6 tackles 58 dream team points Koltyn Tholstrup 1 goal 2 behinds 13 kicks 13 handballs 26 disposals 5 marks 5 tackles 108 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 16 kicks 6 handballs 22 disposals 9 marks 1 tackle 88 dream team points Will Verrall 1 behind 9 kicks 3 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 20 hitouts 68 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 18 kicks 10 handballs 28 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 98 dream team points Kai Windsor 1 goal 5 kicks 7 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 42 dream team points Taj Woewodin 10 kicks 10 handballs 20 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 68 dream team points

It's Game Day and the Demons are once again faced with a classic 8 point game against a traditional rival on King's Birthday at the MCG. A famous victory will see them reclaim a place in the Top 8 whereas a loss will be another blow for their finals credentials.

From 28:17

Trigger warning

In the space of a month Melbourne has gone from chocolates to boiled lollies in terms of its standing as a candidate for the AFL premiership. The club faces its moment of truth against a badly bruised up Collingwood at the MCG. A win will give it some respite but even then, it won’t be regarded particularly well being against an opponent carrying the burden of an injured playing list. A loss would be a disaster. The Demons have gone from a six/two win/loss ratio and a strong percentage just south of 125 which placed them firmly in the top four after besting the previously unbeaten Cats to where they are now. At seven/five, a percentage barely over 100 and tenth on the ladder, a catastrophic fall from grace on the back of a scoreless opening term against Carlton, a woeful capitulation by 35 points to West Coast and last week’s 92-point drubbing by Fremantle. The only W in this period was against St Kilda. Their opponent this week is not in such good shape either but not for reasons of poor form or a lack of enthusiasm but rather, because they have been decimated by a massive injury list. At Marvel Stadium on Friday night, they came out firing and full of enthusiasm to kick four of the first five goals to lead by 22 points before the Western Bulldogs reeled them in and ultimately dominated the final term scoring five goals to nothing. If the Magpies had nothing to give in the last quarter of that match, then consider the Demons who gave nothing for all but the opening seven minutes of their game against the Dockers in Alice Springs! As former Collingwood coach, Nathan Buckley, said after the game: top four teams “just don’t have a performance like” the Demons’ 92-point loss. “Plenty of sides have got players out at the moment and to only get 37 inside 50s against any opposition is a concern.” Buckley believes there are lingering issues beneath the surface at Melbourne and there are some real questions to be asked. The fans have been asking those questions all week, but nobody has come up with any answers so the task of looking into the crystal ball has been made more difficult because of the lack of clarity coming from the Demon camp. In the normal course of things, I would look at Collingwood and read missing names like De Goey, Mihocek, Cox, Pendlebury and Elliott and declare Melbourne past the post for a win by five goals. However, on current form (and if truth be known, there is no current form that you can trust in the context of this team), you would be justified in arguing that the firm of N & J Daicos could beat them on their own, such is the skill and brilliance of that duo. They never let their team down which, after some of the Demons’ dismal recent performances, you can’t say about any of them other than perhaps Max Gawn and possibly Christian Petracca and the skipper is carrying an enormous burden on his big shoulders at present. The Magpies at least showed plenty of aggression and determination in their last up display which means that they should be able to open up a big enough lead on the Demons to hold off any fast finish that their slow starting opponents are capable of mounting. Collingwood by 5 points. THE GAME Collingwood v Melbourne at the MCG, Monday 10 June 2024 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Collingwood 154 wins Melbourne 85 wins 5 drawn At the MCG Collingwood 86 wins Melbourne 64 wins 3 drawn Last five meetings Collingwood 4 wins Melbourne 1 win The Coaches McCrae 3 wins Goodwin 1 win LAST TIME THEY MET Collingwood 9.6.60 defeated Melbourne 7.11.53 at the MCG in the 2023 Qualifying Final The Demons were jolted early in the 2023 Qualifying Final by the head high hit that ended Angus Brayshaw’s career and helped give the accurate Magpies a big enough start to fall in by 7 points despite a goalless final quarter. Many Melbourne fans argue that hit cost their team a flag and many others are still bemused about the fact that the perpetrator was free to play on in his team’s finals campaign including the winning grand final. THE TEAMS COLLINGWOOD B B. Maynard, D. Moore, C. Dean HB I. Quaynor, B. Frampton, J. Noble C S. Sidebottom, F. Macrae, J. Daicos HF B. Hill, L. Schultz, W. Hoskin-Elliott F B. McCreery, P. Lipinski, J. Howe FOLL D. Cameron, J. Crisp, N. Daicos I/C H. Harrison, N. Kreuger, O. Markov, L. Sullivan SUB J. Bytel EMG E. Allan, T. Jiath, A. Johnson IN W. Hoskin-Elliott, N. Kreuger OUT A. Johnson (omitted), W. Parker (omitted) MELBOURNE B J. Bowey, S. May, T. Rivers HB C. Salem, T. McDonald, J. McVee C E. Langdon, C. Oliver, C. Windsor HF K. Pickett, B. Fritsch, H. Petty FF K. Chandler, J. van Rooyen, A. Neal-Bullen FOLL M. Gawn, J. Viney, C. Petracca I/C B. Howes, B. Laurie, T. Sparrow, D. Turner SUB J. Billings EMG B. Brown, K. Brown, T. Woewodin IN J. Billings, B. Howes, B. Laurie, IN J. van Rooyen OUT L. Hunter (calf), S. McAdam (omitted), A. Tomlinson (omitted) T. Woewodin (omitted) Injury List: Round 13 Jacob van Rooyen — adductor / Test Marty Hore — calf / 1 - 2 weeks Josh Schache — foot / 1 - 2 weeks Jake Lever — knee / 2 - 3 weeks Jake Melksham — knee / 2 - 4 weeks Lachie Hunter — calf / 4 - 6 weeks Charlie Spargo — Achilles / TBC

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