Demonland

I take it the teams won't be released until tomorrow evening.

Club Matches Goals Behinds Misses Total shots Accuracy % St Kilda 11 118 61 44 223 52.9 GWS Giants 10 94 58 26 178 52.8 West Coast 10 100 60 38 198 50.5 Carlton 10 96 64 30 190 50.5 Geelong 11 118 71 47 236 50 North Melbourne 11 92 61 31 184 50 Fremantle 10 76 41 35 152 50 Richmond 11 105 75 32 212 49.5 Melbourne 10 92 71 27 190 48.4 Hawthorn 10 82 50 40 172 47.7 Gold Coast Suns 11 102 71 43 216 47.2 Essendon 10 86 60 38 184 46.7 Western Bulldogs 11 94 65 45 204 46.1 Collingwood 11 91 64 44 199 45.7 Adelaide 11 69 51 34 154 44.8 Port Adelaide 11 113 96 49 258 43.8 Sydney 10 76 70 28 174 43.7 Brisbane 11 111 112 43 266 41.7

The AFL is preparing for the worst as more empty seats will force clubs to think differently about their membership packages for next season while football department staff cuts begin on the road.

Who are you tipping?

I’m not sure how the Annual Membership works with the renewals. On your account on the back end it says you’re in the 7 day grace period which expires on the 14th. See what happens after that. If it keeps you as an Annual Member then the Demonland Gods will be smiling on you.

Looks like Pendles is back.

Preface this by stating he got the Round 14 Melbourne vs Essendon in the NT wrong.

Dees likely to join for a 2 match stint like our two match stint in Adelaide. Hopefully we get more than a 4 day break.

A little known fact for Victorians is that Queenslanders don’t celebrate the Queen's Birthday in June but rather in October. The scheduled date on this year’s calendar is 5 October, 2020. However, I have a suggestion for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and that is to move the date forward a month and a half to this Saturday so that the coming clash of traditional rivals, Melbourne and Collingwood, continues a longstanding tradition of our game — the Queen’s Birthday Blockbuster. Her Majesty was actually born on April 21, 1926 which is nowhere near October so moving the official date a bit closer to her real birthday in a year that’s an aberration in historical terms would be a perfect way to demonstrate flexible leadership in hard times. Annastacia is a canny politician who’s been around long enough to know that if she does Victoria a favour there’s an obvious quid pro quo in it for her. The prize is the 2020 grand final, a concession that’s available because time has Victoria beaten in terms of staging the grand final. Even if your premier Dan Andrews was able to deliver a knock out blow to Covid19 you don’t have enough security guards in Melbourne to run hotel quarantine for the interstate visitors who normally come there for the grand final. Any event that keeps the Magpies in the limelight will get Eddie McGuire’s approval and the AFL is too busy dealing with gropers and WAGs to get involved so, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a done deal. And who do I think is going to win the big Queen’s Birthday Blockbuster in the Sunshine State? Why, the Demons of course! The team has rallied tremendously in the short space of time since it copped a whacking at the hands of Port Adelaide, Chairperson Glen Bartlett, Coach Simon Goodwin and most of football’s commentariat. The players are standing tall, happy with their hub life and playing with confidence. Sure, they’ve played two of the bottom three teams and they’re up against a top eight side in Collingwood which usually means they’re heading for a fall, but not this time. In direct comparison to the last time they met, Melbourne is the in-form team with a healthy list (bar for their latest ruck woes) and Collingwood, with a long injury list, has to back up after a four day break and a long trip from Adelaide to Brisbane. The Demons’ only problems appear to be how to fit injured or rested players from their last game into the side and how to straighten up their kicking for goal which has been problematic in games against the Magpies over the last two or three years. The Melbourne midfield was captivating against North Melbourne and though I’m not suggesting that Collingwood’s on ball division will be as easy to take apart than were the Kangaroos, the addition of Max Gawn and Jack Viney can only help the cause. Queen’s Birthday or not, the Demons should win this Blockbuster. Melbourne by 12 points. THE GAME Melbourne v Collingwood at the Gabba Saturday 15 August, 2020 at 5.10pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 83 wins, Collingwood 150 wins, 5 drawn At the Gabba Melbourne 0 wins, Collingwood 0 wins Last Five Meetings Melbourne 1 win, Collingwood 4 wins The Coaches Goodwin 1 win, Buckley 4 wins MEDIA TV - Fox Footy Live at 5.00pm LAST TIME THEY MET Collingwood 10.10.70 defeated Melbourne 7.11.53 at the MCG in Round 21, 2019 An injury depleted Melbourne parlayed a 5 point quarter time lead into a 6 goal deficit at the final break before drawing the Magpies’ lead back to 17 points at the final siren. Brodie Grundy overshadowed Max Gawn in the ruck battle but the battle in the midfield was close all day. For the second time this season, the Demons paid for their inaccuracy in front of goal. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE FB Michael Hibberd Steven May Jay Lockhart HB Christian Salem Jake Lever Nathan Jones C Ed Langdon Clayton Oliver Adam Tomlinson HF Jake Melksham Tom McDonald Bayley Fritsch FF Christian Petracca Sam Weideman Kysaiah Pickett FOL Braydon Preuss Angus Brayshaw Jack Viney I/C James Harmes Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow Aaron vandenBerg EMG Mitch Brown Mitch Hannan Jayden Hunt Joel Smith IN Jay Lockhart Braydon Preuss Jack Viney OUT Mitch Hannan (omitted) Luke Jackson (hamstring) Trent Rivers (omitted) COLLINGWOOD FB Jack Crisp Darcy Moore Jack Madgen HB Brayden Maynard Lynden Dunn John Noble C Tom Phillips Steele Sidebottom Josh Daicos HF Brody Mihocek Ben Reid Will Hoskin-Elliott FF Callum L Brown Darcy Cameron Jamie Elliott FOL Brodie Grundy Taylor Adams Scott Pendlebury IC Trey Ruscoe Josh Thomas Travis Varcoe Rupert Wills EMG Tim Broomhead Mark Keane Chris Mayne Matthew Scharenberg IN Jamie Elliott Will Hoskin-Elliott Darcy Moore Scott Pendlebury Ben Reid OUT Tim Broomhead (omitted) Chris Mayne (omitted) Jordan Roughead (concussion) Brayden Sier (quad) Jaidyn Stephenson (omitted) Injury/Suspension List: Round 12 Corey Wagner (wrist) – available Max Gawn (knee) – test Alex Neal-Bullen (suspension) – 3 matches Luke Jackson (hamstring) – 4-6 weeks Marty Hore (toe and quad) – indefinite Harry Petty (groin) – indefinite Kade Kolodjashnij (head) – indefinite Aaron Nietschke (knee) – season

Melbourne: Ed Langdon Langdon is really starting to get himself settled in Melbourne’s midfield after crossing over from Fremantle at the end of last year. The hard-running wingman is very adept at keeping his width and often gets used in transition. He has a great ability to run and carry the footy and deliver inside 50, which he did on six occasions against the Roos. Langdon had 23 disposals in total and 321m gained.

I think I’ll close this before it gets nasty.

“I just think that Melbourne have got to settle down Sam Weideman and just play him week in, week out,” Wallace told SEN’s Dwayne’s World. “They’ve tried three key forwards and they’ve tried two key forwards with (Tom) McDonald being one of those. I think their best option has been (Luke) Jackson and Weideman … let those two develop. “I think personally that Melbourne’s actually stunted Weideman’s development. “Why do I say that? Since that prelim final they’ve been too particular at match committee on whether he is playing well enough to absolutely hold his spot." Australian Football Hall of Famer Wallace urged Melbourne to get games into Weideman like what Brisbane has done with Eric Hipwood. “Have a look at Brisbane with what they did with Eric Hipwood, they just believed that Eric Hipwood was where they are going," Wallace said. “He’s had ups and downs, good games and bad games, but they just played him and played him and played him. “Weideman’s actually older than Hipwood … Weideman’s played 37 games and Hipwood’s played 86 – 49 games difference. "I just think that they’ve actually tried too hard with what they’ve been doing with Weideman. They just need to play him.”

If Adelaide get a priority pick then we should retroactively get one for last year.