Demonland

Chock full of Dees

The month of May was a little more than halfway into its second day when the news came. Melbourne was on top of the AFL table for the first time since Round 3, 2005. As usual with the Demons, there was no time for celebration. They had just lost tough nut Jack Viney with yet another soft spot in his foot, Adam Tomlinson’s year was in ruins with what was subsequently confirmed as an ACL and Bayley Fritsch’s careless but unintentional fend off on North’s Tom Powell was about to see him charged by the MRP. “It was a dangerous action,” piped Matthew Lloyd on TV, completely ignoring the fact that Tom Hawkins’ action that landed Steven May in hospital with a fractured eye socket last month resulted in his complete exoneration. Well, we were April Fools back then, now it’s May and the Tribunal gave Fritta his liberty back and cancelled his initial week’s suspension. Still, the early setbacks of the month had the pundits sounding out doom and gloom for the 2021 Demons. They said the first cracks were obvious when they were surprised early by the AFL easybeats in Hobart; that all of the features that have been the cornerstone of their rise to the top are about to fall apart. They said the next step would come this week with defeat at the hands of the Sydney Swans on Saturday night, to which I say, “nonsense, bring it on.” Yes, the injuries, suspension and a poor first half of football are all setbacks but the fact that they happened in May is not at all bad. That’s because, the season doesn’t end one third of the way through and there will always be challenges to face and overcome along the road to the real end game in September. In Melbourne’s case, things were traveling along nicely and people were already getting ahead of themselves with thoughts like — “will they beat the Crows in Adelaide to make it ten in a row?” The shockwaves experienced at the weekend mean that the club can now take a deep breath, take stock and go back to what is done by strong AFL clubs who always take it one week at a time.This week, it’s Sydney at the G, a place where the visitors have dominated for a long time. They’re on a high, coming off a pulsating win over Geelong and preparing for the return of Buddy and Rampe. But I reckon that we still have them covered. Firstly, on team selection, the circumstances are such that, unlike in the past when injuries have struck, the selectors have good options available with plenty of depth to come in to fill the gaps that have opened up in the past week. The club can reset by selecting from in-form players like Sam Weideman, Tom Sparrow, James Harmes and Kade Chandler waiting in the wings and the unlucky Harry Petty ready to be unleashed into the defensive hole left by Tomlinson’s injury if the selectors decide not to move Tom McDonald back there. There’s the Demons’ rock solid defence that seems to smother opposition forward lines whenever they’re put to the test. The Melbourne backline has been consistently good from the outset this season. Against the Swans, even with an underdone Buddy this week, they will continue to suffocate the opposition with their relentless pressure. The Swans somehow managed a winning score at home against the Cats on Saturday night but only by dint of accuracy in front of goal and some incredible efficiency when going inside 50. They would be pushing uphill to kick a score like 14.6 from so few entries for two weeks in a row, let alone against the stingiest of defences. Elsewhere, the Swans will be looking to emulate the midfield dominance that Ben Cunnington imparted in the first half last week and will be looking to veterans Kennedy and Parker to achieve that. The problem with that is the fact that you need to maintain sufficient energy for four quarters to cut off supply to Melbourne’s forward line. And with Bayley Fritsch remaining in the mix, the Demons’ forward line has the potency to overcome the Swans who will run out of luck when they cross the border to confront Melbourne for Saturday’s game. The news today about Christian Petracca’s new contract signing on top of a number of other leading lights including Clayton Oliver and Christian Salem is indicative of the stability of the team list and the confidence and trust the playing group have in each other. It’s a very merry, merry month of May for Melbourne, there’s a very good May in the team and the force is with them. Melbourne to win by 27 points. THE GAME Melbourne vs Sydney Swans at The MCG Saturday 8 May, 2021 at 7.25 HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 93 wins Sydney Swans 115 wins 2 drawn At The MCG Melbourne 49 wins Sydney Swans 45 wins 2 drawn Last 5 meetings Melbourne 1 win Sydney Swans 4 wins The Coaches Goodwin 1 win Longmire 5 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 Sydney Swans 10.7.67 defeated Melbourne 6.10.46 in Round 15, 2020 at Cazaly’s Stadium, Cairns The Demons spent a long day traveling from their Sunshine Coast hub to Cairns and were just plain lethargic and slow in the steamy sub tropics for an important game, the result of which spelled “disaster” for their finals hopes. Whoever signed off on this trip to FNQ involving two matches in four days when the team had no rest during the AFL’s frenzy period was just plain clueless. Full stop. Melbourne won the first and third quarters and halved the last but it was simply horrible in the second quarter and the Swans’ accuracy in front of goal in the first half (7.2) was too much for the weary Dees. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: M. Hibberd 14 S. May 1 J. Lever 8 HB: C. Salem 3 H. Petty 35 J. Hunt 29 C: A. Brayshaw 10 C. Petracca 5 E. Langdon 15 HF: Kysaiah Pickett 36 T. McDonald 25 J. Melksham 18 F: A. Neal-Bullen 30 B. Brown 50 B.Fritsch 31 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Oliver 13 J. Jordan 23 I/C: J. Harmes 4 L. Jackson 6 Trent Rivers 24 C. Spargo 9 Sub: K. Chandler 37 Emerg: N. Jones 2 T. Sparrow 32 S. Weideman 26 In: K. Chandler J. Harmes H. Petty Out: O. Baker (omitted) N. Jones A. Tomlinson (knee) SYDNEY B: D. Rampe 24 T. McCartin 30 J. Dawson 34 HB: J. Lloyd 44 R. Fox 42 J. McInerney 27 C: Parker 26 O. Florent 13 H. Cunningham 7 HF: T. Papley 11 H. McLean 41 C. Sinclair 18 F: S. Wicks 45 L. Franklin 23 W. Hayward 9 Foll: T. Hickey 31 J. Rowbottom 8. C. Mills 14 I/C: E. Gulden 21 J. P. Kennedy 12 C. O'Riordan 38 C. Warner 1 Sub: N. Blakey 22 Emerg: K. Brand 2 G. Hewett 29 D. Stephens 3 In: N. Blakey R. Fox L. Franklin D. Rampe Out: R. Clarke (omitted) I. Heeney (ankle) L. Melican (hamstring) D. Stephens (omitted) Injury List: Round 8 Jay Lockhart (calf) — 1 Week Jack Viney (toe) — 2 Weeks Aaron vandenBerg (quad) — 3 Weeks Joel Smith (knee) — 5 to 6 Weeks Bailey Laurie (eye socket) — 6 Weeks Marty Hore (knee) — Season Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season Adam Tomlinson (knee) — Season EVERYTHING THAT COUNTS by SAM THE STATS MAN The past 15 months have been a statistical anomaly for me. After the announcement by WHO of a pandemic in mid-March, 2020, I locked myself away in my room for 229 days, 12 hours and 33 minutes. In that time, I ventured out only 14 times, never further than 3.54 kilometres from home and watched 46 series of Netflix while devouring 154 meals of two minute noodles (which more accurately should be one minute 56¾ seconds). Then a miracle happened that changed my life forever. Premier Dan Andrews ditched his usual grim-faced expression and the Northface jacket and announced at his 126th Covid19 news briefing that, after a fall in the 14-day rolling average of new cases to well below five, the lockdown was over. I was free at last to immerse myself in a backlog of 3,427 studies on statistical subject matters missed over those dreary months of loneliness and isolation. It took me another 178 days to put together my thesis on the recovery of the Melbourne Football Club. Here is the first appendix with all of the statistics that matter. I ran the data through my computer and the analysis suggests that there is an 84.7% chance that the Demons’ streak of improvement will continue for some time so ignore the doubting Thomases who get things wrong 97% of the time. 1. Steven May MFC games 6, goals 0 2. Nathan Jones MFC games 7, goals 2 3. Christian Salem MFC games 7, goals 1 4. James Harmes MFC games 1, goals 1, CD games 1, goals 2 5. Christian Petracca MFC games 7, goals 8 6. Luke Jackson MFC games 7, goals 3 7. Jack Viney MFC games 5, goals 2 8. Jake Lever MFC games 7 goals 0 9. Charlie Spargo MFC games 7, goals 3 10. Angus Brayshaw MFC games 7, goals 1 11. Max Gawn MFC games 7, goals 4 12. Toby Bedford CD games 3, goals 3 13. Clayton Oliver MFC games 7, goals 0 14. Michael Hibberd MFC games 3, goals 0 15. Ed Langdon MFC games 7, goals 6 16. Bailey Laurie 17. Jake Bowey CD games 3, goals 0 18. Jake Melksham MFC games 5, goals 4 19. Fraser Rosman CD games 3, goals 3 20. Adam Tomlinson MFC games 7, goals 0 21. Marty Hore 22. Aaron Vandenberg CD games 1, goals 1 23. James Jordan ® MFC games 7, goals 2 24. Trent Rivers games 7 goals 0 25. Tom McDonald MFC games 7, goals 9 26. Sam Weideman CD games 3, goals 14 27. Aaron Nietschke ® 28. Majak Daw ® CD games 3, goals 0 29. Jayden Hunt MFC games 7, goals 0 30. Alex Neal-Bullen MFC games 7, goals 5 31. Bayley Fritsch MFC games 6, goals 18 32. Tom Sparrow MFC games 5, goals 1, CD games 2, goals 0 33. Oskar Baker MFC games 2, goals 0, CD games 2, goals 0 34. Deakyn Smith ® CD games 3, goals 0 35. Harrison Petty MFC games 1, goals 0, CD games 1, goals 0 36. Kysaiah Pickett MFC games 7, goals 14 37. Kade Chandler ® MFC games 2, goals 0 CD games 2, goals 3 38. Mitch Brown MFC games 1, goals 2 39. Neville Jetta MFC 4 games, 0 goals, CD 3 games, 0 goals 41. Jay Lockhart CD 1 game, 0 goals 44. Joel Smith CD games 1, goals 0 46. Austin Bradtke ® CD games 3, goals 1 50. Ben Brown MFC games 1, goals 2, CD games 2, goals 7

The game will most likely go ahead. Sydney players and officials will no doubt be tested. The big question is whether the Victorian government will (a) allow Sydney player and officials into Victoria from a red zone (if declared, which is likely given past history) and (b) if Sydney is exempt and can enter will the Victorian government allow a crowd to attend?

Is our Match against the Swans in jeopardy this week? If it goes ahead will we be able to attend? ** Please keep personal politics out of the thread **

i reckon they'll still keep the top levels closed if they predict a smaller crowd.

Premium members can return to their reserved seats from Round 9 vs Carlton. So long N49. You will be missed.

Unrelated?

Round 7

Best seats in the house (non-AFL/MCC)

N49 Again. Bring it on.

Not sure why people are worried about 85 or 100%. We’re not filling stadiums yet. Weather aside I was disappointed with the turnout on Anzac Eve. Can’t imagine the crowd will top that figure.

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With some new blood among the voting, it’s getting tight on top of the leaderboard 60. Max Gawn 56. Clayton Oliver 55. Christian Petracca 46. Jake Lever 44. Christian Salem 37. Ed Langdon 26. Kysiah Pickett 23. Steven May 17. Bayley Fritsch Luke Jackson 16. Tom McDonald 12. Jayden Hunt 10. Jack Viney 7. Michael Hibberd 3. Angus Brayshaw 2. Charlie Spargo 1. James Jordon Alex Neal-Bullen Adam Tomlinson

The tough Aussie Blundstone boot is made for true blue collar workers, and so it was at this aptly named stadium in Hobart, that the Demons were made to work their hardest for their seventh consecutive win of the season. From the outset, North Melbourne put scoreboard pressure on Melbourne with two majors at an early stage in the first quarter. The Demons fought back and temporarily had the lead but the Kangaroos responded to lead by five points at quarter time. This was not what the public was expecting from a potential top-of-the-ladder side pitted against an opponent on the very bottom rung without a win in 2021 and in the midst of a 13 game losing streak. And things were only going to get worse in the second quarter. The Demon woes began before the game. Jack Viney (toe) was replaced prior to the start by Oscar Baker with Nathan Jones brought in as medical sub. He wasn’t to spend too much time on the bench when his services were required after Adam Tomlinson went down with a suspected ACL injury barely five minutes into the game. This completely upset the structure not only of the defence but the entire side. Baker is primarily a winger, and Brayshaw was moved into the middle. When Tomlinson went down, Tom McDonald had to be swung into defence, thereby depriving the forward line. Jones became the interchange in the middle. The Demons just couldn’t get their act together without the structure that had served the side so well in previous games. They weren’t helped by the fact that North were playing the old “rope a dope” style of game, chipping the ball around, and amassing huge numbers of uncontested possessions. At one stage before half time, they had 90 more than Melbourne. North also took advantage with turnover goals as the pressure that Melbourne had brought to the game previously, simply went missing. In the ruck Goldstein was beating Max Gawn, not just with hit-outs, but clearances as well. He was ably backed up by the umpires who made numerous incomprehensible calls in the ruck contests, which favoured the Kangaroos. Melbourne went into half time with a three goal deficit, and things were looking ominous as far as maintaining its unbeaten record for 2021. Indeed, when interviewed at half-time, Simon Goodwin confessed that his team was being beaten in “all phases of the game”. The coach made a few telling changes made at the break. Firstly, Luke Jackson was moved into the ruck for much longer than usual. With Goldstein following Gawn on and off the field, suddenly Melbourne had superiority in the ruck contests to which North had no answer. Jackson finished with 22 possessions, seven hitouts and two clearances. But it was his mobility and contribution to team second efforts which helped to bring the other mids more into the game. The defenders suddenly got their act together, with the usual May, Lever and now McDonald intercepts that meant the ball was now regularly finding the hands of Christian Salem and Ed Langdon and consequently finishing in the forward 50 more and the scores started to come. Clayton Oliver lifted his work-rate to finish with 25 touches, including seven clearances but still, the Demons looked flat. In stepped Kosiaiah Pickett, with a couple of breathtaking efforts and goals that simply shouldn’t have happened. Bayley Fritsch couldn’t miss and had 5 majors to his name by the time the ¾ time siren sounded. The Demons had hit the front, having kicked six goals to one for the quarter. The final term saw a workmanlike effort again. By now, North had spent all their petrol tickets, and were simply unable to make any scoreboard efforts work. Still, early on they managed to be only a single kick behind, and once again, up stepped the youngsters for the side. James Jordon nailed a difficult crumbing goal to open up the margin, and Fritsch brought up goal number six. Further goals came with the final margin finally blowing out to five goals and a 49 point turnaround from half time. While the Demons have now cemented themselves at the top of the ladder the injuries suffered will cause a dramatic reshuffle for next week’s game against Sydney. Viney is out for at least a couple of weeks, Tomlinson now looks like missing the rest of the season. Angus Brayshaw suffered a shoulder injury, but played on. Ben Brown suffered a heavy head knock but hopefully won’t be a candidate for a concussion spell. Fortunately, Melbourne have plenty of available soldiers to replace them. Harry Petty will surely come in if fit and available, and Tom Sparrow will be putting up his hand for selection, after a 32 possession effort with Casey. But the Demons cannot afford to play the same way as they did in the first half of this game against the Swans. Multitudes of players were well below their best. Christian Petracca got 23 touches, but wasn’t his usual damaging self. Gawn was probably beaten on the day. Oliver was our best in the middle, but North certainly won the clearance battle on the day. Neither of Alex Neal-Bullen and Jake Melksham did anything for their respective causes and would only stay in the side because of other replacements needed. What Melbourne need to do is come out with the workmanlike efforts of the second half of this game. The Blundstone boots are tough, and the Demons need to be likewise to keep on kicking winning scores. MELBOURNE 3.2.20 6.4.40 12.7.79 16.7.103 NORTH MELBOURNE 4.1.25 9.5.59 10.6.66 11.7.73 GOALS Melbourne Fritsch 6 Pickett 3 Brown 2 Jackson Jordan Langdon Oliver Spargo North Melbourne Campbell Cunnington Larkey 2 Atley Mahony Powell Simpkin Zurhaar BEST Melbourne Fritsch Jackson Salem May Pickett Petracca North Melbourne Cunnington Hall Powell McKay Turner Simpkin INJURIES Melbourne Tomlinson (knee) North Melbourne Bonar (corked thigh) REPORTS Melbourne Nil North Melbourne Nil SUBSTITUTES Melbourne Jones (replaced Tomlinson) North Melbourne Menadue (replaced Bonar) Umpires Chris Donlon Justin Power Simon Meredith Crowd TBA at Blundstone Arena