Demonland

Melbourne’s nine game winning streak came to an end in Adelaide with a one point loss to the Crows. Losing to a team that had only won three games for the season, having lost five in a row was certainly nothing to crow about. All around the ground players collectively put in their poorest performance for the year. The loss of Christian Salem before the match was critical, as his replacement Nev Jetta is a mere shadow the player he once was. The mind is still willing, but the body no longer reacts to the instructions, and he spent the whole game behind and conceding to his opposition. He wasn’t alone, as Sam Weideman, with a must perform asterisk next to his name did nothing of the sort, and has once again put his position in the side in jeopardy. The rest of the forward line weren’t much better, with Tom McDonald well down on his performances, while Bayley Fritsch and Jake Melksham yet again failing to record a single tackle each for the whole game. Others managed 14 tackles inside 50m, but not them. Small wonder there was little defensive pressure save for Charlie Spargo and Kozzie Pickett. Even Max Gawn in the ruck was well below his best, for despite multiple marks and outscoring on the hitout stat, his dropped marks cost the side multiple goals. To top it off, his attempt to take the ball out of the ruck contest in the dying seconds was not so smart. The team only needed a point with the goal-mouth 10m away, so a hit forward surely would have resulted in at worst, a scrambled point and a drawn game. When Luke Jackson was rucking in the middle of the final quarter, the side hit the front, because he not only got the ball to our mids, but provided an extra mid with his athleticism. When he moved the momentum swung Adelaide’s way again. Clayton Oliver nearly single-handedly brought the side back from their malaise with 27 contested possessions, and 12 disposals in the third quarter and 38 overall. Sadly he was let down by others around him not stepping up to the plate. James Harmes opened his account with 5 critical errors and didn’t improve. His opponent had 21 touches to ½ time. He is not the tagger of 2018 any more. Christian Petracca performed at his best again, with 32 touches, but we cannot expect a miracle effort every week. And we can’t expect he and Oliver to do all the work. This week we won clearances thanks to that pair, but lost the game. Still with Oliver working his heart out and the side leading by up to 16 points deep in the final quarter, the errors just kept coming from the Demons and with more passengers than the No.59 tram on a Friday night, they couldn’t muster the will to get over the line. It wasn’t helped by some flaky umpiring decisions, particularly in the dying minute with an obvious deliberate out of bounds by Adelaide not paid (compare the one paid against Jake Lever earlier in the game that resulted in a goal to the Crows), but the Demons should not have been in that situation in the first place. This week the coaches had problems about which players to select. Next week against the Bulldogs, it will be who to drop. The forward line did not work, and not working was their hallmark in this game. Ben Brown will likely be an easy inclusion, but he won’t be the only one. The backs failed to gel, and the critical nature of structure and roles was broken when only one player can’t perform that role. There will be changes there as well. Salem when available will slot back in easily. This game was nothing to Crow about. We were beaten comprehensively, even though only losing by a solitary point. Surely these players and the Club should know the difference between winning and losing can come down to just a couple of single efforts. It can be the difference between finals or not. It can be the difference between top 4 or not. But when too many don’t make that effort, the result goes the other way MELBOURNE 5.1.31 8.4.52 11.8.74 14.11.95 ADELAIDE 4.2.26 8.4.52 11.5.71 15.6.96 GOALS Melbourne Oliver 3 Langdon 2 Fritsch Gawn Harmes McDonald Petracca Pickett Rivers Spargo Weideman Adelaide Walker 3 Fogarty Keays Rowe Thilthorpe 2 Berry McAdam Mackay Seedsman BEST Melbourne Oliver Petracca Langdon Gawn Lever Adelaide Keays Seedsman Laird Walker Mackay INJURIES Melbourne Salem (soreness) replaced in selected side by Jetta Adelaide Nil REPORTS Melbourne Nil Adelaide Walker (reported for dangerous tackle on Oliver), Fogarty (reported for striking Lever) SUBSTITUTES Melbourne Tom Sparrow (unused) Adelaide Ronin O’Connor (unused) Umpires Curtis Deboy Hayden Gavine Jacob Mollison Official Crowd TBC at the Adelaide Oval

Who comes in and who goes out for the top of the table clash against the Bulldogs?

The loss we had to have ...

Your votes please 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

I'd never heard of that and now I wish I hadn't looked it up.

I always like non standard fast food fare at foreign grounds. Any culinary goodies I should be on the lookout for at Adelaide Oval?

Seen a lot of outlawed 80s peroxide jobs already in less than 24 hours so the double mirrored sunnies it is then.

What's the sun in the eyes situation for those sitting in the Eastern Stand on the Top Level (500s) for a 4pm game on a Sunny day at this time of the year?

Can only hope so. They've had their time in the sun. Time to head back to the cellar.

BT talking about Brisbane playing Melbourne in a few weeks and basically dismissing the Dees and writing the game down as a win to Brisbane Show some respect BT you Muppet.

Free Kick count is lopsided but this guy is the biggest whinger in the AFL.

Brisbane 17 frees to 4

How many unrealistic attempts at marks does Daniher get? Cameron too.

Brisbane 7 frees to 1

Tigers look hot. Brisbane look flat.

Who are you tipping this week?

I thought all teams were taking chartered flights.

Funnily enough I was actually thinking that today.

Beautiful day in a Adelaide and Saturday is meant to be exactly the same.

Absolutely no clash. One is light & one is dark. The AFL has NFI when it comes to clashes.