Demonland

ALEX RANCE VS JAKE LEVER ALEX RANCE IN 2017 Disposals 16.0 Contested possessions 6.8 Intercept marks 3.2 Intercept possessions 9.4 Spoils 8.4 One-on-one mark win % 8.5 One-on-one win % 36.9 One-on-one loss %14.9 JAKE LEVER IN 2021 Disposals 16.2 Contested possessions 7.7 Intercept marks 4.8 Intercept possessions 11.2 Spoils 5.7 One-on-one mark win % 27.3 One-on-one win % 36.4 One-on-one loss % 22.7

@Supermercado is always welcome back on. I believe work commitments have kept him away.

The Casey Demons were untroubled for the third week in a row as they went on a four quarter romp at Marvel Stadium to record a 107 point win over an undermanned bottom-of-the-ladder North Melbourne VFL. The scoring riot began about ten minutes into the game when Sam Weideman notched the first of four goals that could easily have been six or seven but for some uncharacteristic misses from close in. The Demon forward, spurned so far by the club’s AFL selectors, demonstrated a strong work rate, an example followed throughout the evening by his teammates. Indeed, time and again during the game, the skills and the drive to work hard and to team together were the factors that underlined the massive chasm between the two sides. There was some resistance in the third term when they finally scored a goal or two but in the end, the century plus winning margin was a fair indication of the difference between the teams. The football public is aware that the two clubs are at different stages in the development cycle but the game was not the best vehicle to showcase the VFL on prime time Thursday night national television. By quarter time with four goals to nil in the bag, two of them to Weideman, the game already looked over. The Demons increased the lead at every interval thereafter to 54, 62 and eventually 107 points at the end with Kade Chandler’s goal after the final siren. Coach Mark Corrigan was able to rotate his players on and off and over the ground at will. Majak Daw was impressive early in ruck and around the ground and came off early in the piece with what looked like a niggle. This gave rookie ruckman Aaron Bradtke more valuable time than usual to show his wares. He still has a lot to learn but he’s a tall unit and will get better with added experience and muscle on his frame. Tom Sparrow was very much in need of a good run and got it this week. The improving midfielder put together a career high 31 disposals in a best on ground performance but needs to work on his kicking for goal. James Harmes, on return from a hand injury, took a while to warm up but soon became a destructive force against his insipid Kangaroo counterparts. Small men Toby Bedford and Chandler thrilled the small crowd with their electric pace but face a daunting task breaking into the Demons’ AFL side given the form of its incumbent smalls. One half of the Casey line up was made up of the club’s VFL-listed players and they deserve great credit for their contribution to the cause. Skipper Mitch White was strong over the ground and chipped in with a couple of quick goals in succession to kick off the final term. Jimmy Munro was prolific with 23 touches and ten solid tackles. Twenty-year-old Zac Foot from the Sydney Swans was fast and clever and picked up three goals. He could easily be snapped up in the mid season draft. A number of the young Casey boys put in pleasing performances given that they had less ground time than their more experienced and seasoned teammates. The most pleasing aspect of the game would have been the fact that the team was able to play in the same style and fashion as the Demons’ AFL team and though the opposition never demanded it, they were able to play with intensity when required. That, and the fact that two young recruits in Jake Bowey and Fraser Rosman showed that they have talent and are coming along nicely. 2021 VFL Mens Casey Demons 4.6.30 8.9.57 11.13.79 19.17.131 North Melbourne VFL 0.2.2 0.3.3 2.5.17 3.6.24 Goals Casey Demons Weideman 4 Foot 3 Chandler Grey Harmes White 2 Bedford Machaya Munro Rosman North Melbourne VFL Gunther Polidoros Scott Best Casey Demons Sparrow Harmes Bedford Weideman Bowey Chandler North Melbourne VFL Gunther Roos Appleby W. Walker Clayton Dumont Statistics Toby Bedford 1 goal 2 behinds 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 78 dream team points Jake Bowey 15 kicks 8 handballs 23 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 92 dream team points Aaron Bradtke 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 18 hit outs 68 dream team points Kade Chandler 2 goal 3 behinds 12 kicks 5 handballs 17 disposals 6 marks 9 tackles 104 dream team points Majak Daw 5 kicks 5 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 10 hit outs 39 dream team points Corey Ellison 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 46 dream team points Zac Foot 3 goals 1 behind 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 8 marks 3 tackles 98 dream team points Tom Freeman 13 kicks 2 handballs 16 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 74 dream team points George Grey 2 goals 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 52 dream team points James Harmes 2 goals 16 kicks 11 handballs 27 disposals 2 marks 9 tackles 123 dream team points Jack Hutchins 6 kicks 6 disposals 4 marks 28 dream team points Neville Jetta 10 kicks 6 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 64 dream team points Tom McCaffrey 1 behind 7 kicks 4 handballs 11 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 37 dream team points Cory Machaya 1 goal 8 kicks 3 handballs 11 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 59 dream team points James Munro 1 goal 1 behind 9 kicks 14 handballs 23 disposals 4 marks 10 tackles 105 dream team points Fraser Rosman 1 goal 14 kicks 3 handballs 17 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 82 dream team points Deakyn Smith 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 46 dream team points Ryan Sparkes 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 73 dream team points Tom Sparrow 3 behinds 17 kicks 14 handballs 31 disposals 9 marks 5 tackles 128 dream team points Corey Stockdale 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 37 dream team points Sam Weideman 4 goal 3 behinds 15 kicks 2 handballs 17 disposals 10 marks 1 tackle 5 hit outs 118 dream team points Mitch White 2 goals 1 behind 8 kicks 2 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 63 dream team points

Quite a few games can go either way this week. Who are you tipping?

If they would have chosen $$$ over spectacle then they may as well just get rid of the ladder and play a round robin competition all year between the Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, Geelong, Adelaide & West Coast.

ROUND 11 Friday, May 28 Western Bulldogs v Melbourne, Marvel Stadium, 7.50pm AEST Saturday, May 29 Collingwood v Geelong, MCG, 1.45pm AEST Brisbane v Greater Western Sydney, Gabba, 2.10pm AEST St Kilda v North Melbourne, Marvel Stadium, 4.35pm AEST Gold Coast v Hawthorn, TIO Stadium, 7.10pm ACST West Coast v Essendon, Optus Stadium, 5.40pm AWST Sunday, May 30 Richmond v Adelaide, MCG, 1.10pm AEST Sydney v Carlton, SCG, 3.20pm AEST Port Adelaide v Fremantle, Adelaide Oval, 4.10pm ACST ROUND 12 Friday, June 4 Melbourne v Brisbane, TIO Traeger Park, 7.20pm ACST Saturday, June 5 St Kilda v Sydney, Marvel Stadium, 1.45pm AEST Adelaide v Collingwood, Adelaide Oval, 4.05pm ACST Essendon v Richmond, MCG, 7.25pm AEST Sunday, June 6 Carlton v West Coast, MCG, 3.20pm AEST Fremantle v Western Bulldogs, Optus Stadium, 4.40pm AWST Byes: Geelong, Gold Coast, Greater Western Sydney, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide

No problem. I've moved the thread to the main board and changed the title. You might get more action here. Anyone collect footy cards? Here's your thread.

Thank you for putting it in numerical order of weeks out. ?

Assume the Colour is the substitute for the *

Activate the 3 Pronged Attack .... What's our best 3 Pronged Attack?

How can it not be Bulldogs vs Dees even if we're both not 10-0. Unless the wheels fall off one or both of us before then we should absolutely be given the slot.

If we play the Lions on Friday Night 4th of June it means our Queens Birthday match against the Pies is Monday the 14th June giving us a 10 day break after the NT. We then have the Bye the following week before playing Essendon.

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Good to see Mitch finally make his debut for the Dogs. Good luck Mitch.

BTW Based on last weeks report Laurie should have been 5 as he was 6 last week and Smith should have been 5-7 Weeks as he was 6-8 Weeks last week. So Laurie has gone from 6 Weeks to 6-7 Weeks. Smith has gone from 6-8 Weeks to 8 Weeks.

The football world was reminded this week about the last time Melbourne opened a season with six wins or more in a row. That was in 1965 when Sir Robert Gordon Menzies was Prime Minister of Australia and the country was fighting a war in faraway Vietnam. It was before Jack Viney’s father, Todd, was born — a time when the game was played almost exclusively on Saturdays and when Demon fans used to wake up in the morning mostly safe in the knowledge that there was not even the remotest possibility that their team would lose that day. And so it was when the final siren blared over the MCG on Saturday 22 May, 1965. The scoreboard bore witness to a narrow victory for the Demons over their bitter rivals, the Magpies — a total of 6.13.49 was enough to better their opponents’ 7.5.47 for a sixth consecutive victory. However, not a single member of the crowd of 56,808 who attended was aware of the ill wind building overhead preparing to descend upon the Melbourne Football Club carrying with it a curse of monumental proportion. The Norm Smith Curse was to take its time (the Dees won another two before the losses began) and a further two months would elapse before the zephyr rose in strength to reach force 12 hurricane magnitude. By then it was a vicious, destructive and deadly wind. On a dark and gloomy Saturday 24 July, 1965, Demon supporters woke to the news that their coach had been sacked and replaced by old war horse Frank V “Checker” Hughes. A small number trekked out to a windswept City of Coburg Oval (the day’s crowd was 8,312) to watch Melbourne fall on its sword by 21 points. Coach Norm Smith was reinstated a week later but the damage was done. The one thing that was clear from the experience was that the Demons were no longer a cohesive unit with everyone on the same page. They missed the finals for the first time since 1953 and the curse remained in the hearts and minds of the Melbourne faithful for years to come, constantly returning to the memory of that fateful day in July, 1965 when a brood of witches sat in a windstorm under thundery skies and cast a spell over them:- “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” Some 5½ decades passed until 2020 when a plague came and brought with it a massive dislocation to our normal lives. We stayed at home, businesses closed down, the old and infirm died. Our sport stopped dead in its tracks until respite came in the country’s north. Football teams were taken into hubs and games were played in exotic locations like tropical Cairns where, one day, the Demons landed in the eye of a storm. They lost both of their eminently winnable games played over a four day span in oppressive conditions but something magical occurred up there. The damned spot was removed and the Norm Smith Curse suddenly evaporated. Melbourne has not lost a game since that visit to the stormy tropics. From out of the experience of defeat came a steely resolve to play selfless football. The players gelled together as one and this has carried through the pre season and into the opening rounds of 2021. It helps that there’s a fair bit of hardness, class, determination and natural improvement among the playing group starting from the top with the leadership. Max Gawn and his young sidekick Luke Jackson are not only winning plenty of ruck duels but winning the ball both in the air and on the ground. They give the team a virtual extra player. They have at their feet an elite midfield with Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver performing ball- winning feats in perfect harmony along with a magnificent support cast in Angus Brayshaw and Jack Viney. Around them gather wingers and half back flankers who run like the wind and accumulate the footy. The key defenders won’t even let the wind through — Steven May, Jake Lever and Adam Tomlinson are about as miserly as you can get. Then there’s a forward line where selectors have struggled to date to fit in the likes of Ben Brown and Sam Weideman! Against them this week is a team in a state of disarray. North Melbourne is a young side that’s been kicked around the park in all of its games this year and last week ended up in quarantine playing the Dockers in an otherwise empty stadium. They spent the best part of the week not even knowing whether they would be playing on their home away from home, Blundstone Arena. Some might argue that this forced bonding will advantage them and that they are a chance to cause an upset against a cocky opponent at a place where they have triumphed over them three times in the recent past by 5, 4 and 5 points respectively. I have news for them. Blundstone Arena in 2021 is not the the City of Coburg Oval of 1965 and unlike then, the Melbourne team is playing as one, with steely determination whether in fine and sunny weather or in thunder, lightning, or in rain. Those things no longer matter. The curse is over and the Demons will be too good for the hapless Kangaroos. Melbourne will win by 63 points. THE GAME North Melbourne v Melbourne on Sunday 2 May, 2021 at Blundstone Arena, Hobart at 1.10pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall North Melbourne 82 wins Melbourne 85 wins 1 draw At Blundstone Arena North Melbourne 3 wins Melbourne 0 wins Last five times North Melbourne 3 wins Melbourne 2 wins The coaches Noble 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 13.14.92 defeated North Melbourne 5.5.35 at Adelaide Oval, Round 11, 2020 After a relatively even first half caused by some wastefulness in front of goal, Melbourne careered away thanks to the dominance of midfielders Petracca, Oliver and Brayshaw. THE TEAMS NORTH MELBOURNE B: A. Bonar 16 B McKay 23 S. Atley 18 HB: J. Ziebell 7 J. Walker 19 A. Hall 43 C: L. Young 17 J. Simpkin 12 J. Stephenson 2 HF: K. Turner 28 C. Taylor 5 C. Zurhaar 44 F: Jack Mahony 1 N. Larkey 20 T. Thomas 26 Foll T. Goldstein 22 B. Cunnington 10 T. Powell 24 I/C: A. Bosenavulagi 15 T. Campbell 42 C. Lazzaro W. Phillips 29 Sub: C. Menadue 31 Emerg: E. Ford 40 B. Scott 8 D. Tyson 21 In: A. Hall C. Lazzaro Out: L. Davies-Uniacke (personal reasons) C. Menadue (omitted) MELBOURNE B: J. Lever 8 S. May 1 M. Hibberd 14 HB: C. Salem 3 A. Tomlinson 20 J. Hunt 29 C: O. Baker 33 C. Petracca 5 E Langdon 15 HF: J. Jordon 23 T. McDonald 25 J. Melksham 18 F: C. Spargo 9 B. Brown 50 B. Fritsch 31 Foll: M. Gawn 11 A. Brayshaw 10 C. Oliver 13 I/C L. Jackson 6 A. Neal-Bullen 30 K. Pickett 36 T. Rivers 24 Sub: N. Jones 2 Emerg: K. Chandler 37 H. Petty 35 In: O. Baker B. Brown Out: K. Chandler (omitted) J. Viney (toe) Injury List: Round 7 James Harmes (wrist) — Available Jay Lockhart (calf) — 1 Week Aaron vandenBerg (quad) — 3 Weeks Bailey Laurie (eye socket) — 6 to 7 Weeks Joel Smith (knee) — 8 Weeks Marty Hore (knee) — Season Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season

I got the impression that he wasn’t a user of Demonland the website. I plug the show on our various social media channels plus I’m sure there are people that have found the podcast just by searching the various podcast apps for Demons content.

There has been a huge learning curve and now that we have ditched Skype to communicate remotely between the hosts the audio quality is much better lending to an overall better product. Without boring people with specifics the individual hosts audio is now recorded locally on their own computers and then mixed together in post so that it sounds a lot cleaner rather than the distortion you get from Skype. Using Skype also presented issues where cohosts couldn’t hear each other if they began talking over each other. Because we are not physically in the same room there are no visual cues when one person wants to interject. I’ve contemplated adding a video component so that hosts can see each other but then you can get into bandwidth issues if someone’s internet is flaky.

Or we could do it the old fashioned way and both WB and the Dees go undefeated until our Round 11 clash and then we beat them percentage be damned.