Demonland

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/706162/the-reserves-practice-match-all-17-players-reviewed WITH no VFL in action due to COVID-19, the AFL clubs have had to come together and find another way to give the players outside their best 22 a hit-out. For Melbourne, that came in the form of a 14 v 14 practice match against Carlton on Saturday morning. The clash at Ikon Park, which took place ahead of the Demons one-point Round 2 win, saw 17 players take to the field in a bid to put their hand up for selection next week. While scores weren’t recorded, the Dees were in control of the game, kicking close to 10 goals more than their opposition. This is how the boys performed, according to the side’s coach, Matthew Egan. Sam Weideman “Sammy Weideman played up forward and in the ruck and his aerial work was very good. He really jumped at the ball, provided a really good target and his goal kicking was very good as well. Him and Mitch Brown both kicked five (goals).” Mitch Brown “Browny’s movement was very good – his leading at the ball was excellent. The whole forward line just functioned really well, they took their turn and Browny got off his man really well.” Mitch Hannan “It was just good to see him back playing footy and he moved really well. His speed and power was definitely on show and his ability to get off his opponent with multiple leads was really good. He played a really selfless role as well – he gave a few off. He didn’t look rusty at all – he came back and was straight back into it.” Aaron vandenBerg “Again, it was good just to see him play out a full game. He played mainly in the midfield and his contest work, as always, was really solid, and his ability to get out of contested areas was a highlight as well.” Kysaiah Pickett “Kozzy mainly played forward, but we used him on-ball a little bit and he ended up with 19 possessions and a few clearances. He looked dangerous, his decision making with the ball was very good and he was moving across the ground really well – he gets right up and races back into the forward line.” Michael Hibberd “Hibbo played a little bit down on game time just in case he was needed for the AFL, but when he was on he was defending really well. He took four intercept marks and looked very comfortable with the other backs.” Jay Lockhart “He missed a little bit of training with a sore quad, so he was a bit stiff to miss out on selection, but he was really influential – in particular in the second half. He helped out his teammates in the air and used the ball really well coming out of defence – he looked really good.” Toby Bedford “Toby kicked a couple of goals on the run. It was a tough day for small forwards, but he used his speed and run and carry. When he got his chances, he made the most of them, so it was a good game by Tobes.” Charlie Spargo “Spargs moved around a little bit – he played high half-forward, on-ball and a little bit on the wing. The ball went over his head a bit because we were kicking it to the keys a fair bit, but he ran really good patterns and was really clean.” Oscar McDonald “His aerial presence was pretty dominant. He jumped at the ball really well and took a few really good intercept marks in a few contests down the line.” Kade Chandler “He’s been down back for a couple of weeks in the match sim and he’s been going really well there. We’ve been using him as a high half-back that can join in offence because he’s a really good ball user. His game was good, he understands what he needs to do as a defender and he beat his man a lot of the time, so it was a good first game for him in 10 months.” Josh Wagner “He had a really good game and his defending was the highlight. There was a lot of space, there was only four v four in the backline, and he just gave his opponent no areas to work in.” James Jordon “JJ’s ability to hit bodies, lay tackles and win the hard ball was a highlight of his pre-season and particularly his last four weeks. That’s why he was named emergency, so he’s developing really nicely.” Tom Sparrow “Along with JJ, his physicality around the ball was good, but more so his ability to get out of contested areas. He has genuine power and speed to leave the contest and that was really on show. It was good to see his inside and outside run on Saturday.” Kyle Dunkley “He played mostly on the wing, where he’s been going really well the last three weeks. The game was a bit more through the middle and didn’t get out to the wingers a lot, but he played his role really well.” Oskar Baker “Oskar was on the other wing and it was one of his better games. He knew what he needed to do, and he had a few highlights with a goal from 60m and a squaring pass to Weids while running inside 50.” Austin Bradtke “It was probably his best game for the club. He rucked for most of the game and his work at the centre bounce and follow up around the ground was really good. He followed up and kicked a goal at one stage and had 13 possessions which was good to see.” Corey Wagner didn’t partake in the game, being carried over as emergency.

Pick Update. NORTH : Pick 5, 34, Flynn Perez. DEES : Kysaiah Pickett (2019)

That wasn’t included in our random pick.

Picked at random on the day following the game.

You are correct. Yesterday was a tough day watching the Dees. Wins that feel like losses can do that to you.

Update. Kangaroos Pick 6 Demons Pick 17

We take three sets of votes from each round.

And we have a new leader after Round 2 Progressive 19. Christian Petracca 18. Jack Viney 16. Max Gawn 15. Steven May 13. Clayton Oliver 10. Oscar McDonald 9. Ed Langdon 6. Jake Lever Trent Rivers 5. Kysaiah Pickett 3. Jayden Hunt 2. Jay Lockhart Christian Salem Adam Tomlinson

Melbourne and Essendon last met in Round 3, 2019 - exactly one year ago in football terms but, as we know, that’s 14½ months in real time. The game was a high scoring shoot out and notably, both sides were remarkably accurate in front of the goals. Also of interest, Mitch Brown who is now on the Melbourne list, was omitted from the Bomber's team for the game. THE TEAMS 
 MELBOURNE B Jay Lockhart Oscar McDonald Neville Jetta HB Josh Wagner Sam Frost Christian Salem C Jayden Hunt Clayton Oliver Nathan Jones HF James Harmes Sam Weideman Kade Kolodjashnij F Angus Brayshaw Tom McDonald Jake Melksham FOLL Max Gawn Christian Petracca Jack Viney I/C Bayley Fritsch Michael Hibberd Alex Neal-Bullen Corey Wagner EMG Harrison Petty Braydon Preuss Tom Sparrow Billy Stretch IN Corey Wagner Josh Wagner OUT Steven May (injured) Tom Sparrow (omitted) ESSENDON B Aaron Francis Patrick Ambrose Conor McKenna HB Kobe Mutch Michael Hurley Adam Saad C Orazio Fantasia Zach Merrett Andrew McGrath HF Jake Stringer Zac Clarke Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti F Devon Smith Shaun McKernan Mark Baguley FOL Tom Bellchambers David Zaharakis Dylan Shiel I/C Matt Guelfi Dyson Heppell David Myers Darcy Parish EMG Mitch Brown Sam Draper Kyle Langford Jordan Ridley IN Zac Clarke Kobe Mutch OUT Mitch Brown (omitted) Kyle Langford (omitted)

I'm not sure my heart can.

It was Melbourne v Carlton at the comics stadium; a game between 16 and 17 in 2019. How could anyone pick a winner? There had to be a point of difference, and so it would prove to be as the Demons literally fell over the line at the end, by a solitary point. In an almost complete replica of the Richmond v Collingwood game two nights previously, one of the sides (Melbourne in this case) rushed out to a five goal lead in the first quarter, while the Blues failed to bother the goal umpire at all. Melbourne then piled on two more goals in the opening ten minutes of the second quarter and then we all watched as, (like Richmond), Carlton agonisingly slowly hauled back the score. What was going on here? A team that completely dominated the first term suddenly stopped running, playing on and lost all vigour and confidence. That was what the viewers were witnessing. Players who were everywhere and involved in that first 16 minutes, just simply disappeared for the remainder of the journey. The five goals between Jayden Hunt and Alex Neale-Bullen during the period of ascendency was their total contribution (not that we are complaining about that), but these are two “running” players finished the game with only 7 and 9 touches respectively! And they weren’t alone. Can anyone remember anything that Jake Melksham (10 touches) did during the game? Or Tom McDonald (9)? You can forgive our bevy of 1st game players for having low possession counts, but once again Melbourne were getting virtually zero useful output from its forward line. Bayley Fritsch was presenting and opened the account for the side, but he too only had nine disposals. To quote Guru Bob: As the commander of the naval vessel Lusitania confided, when the front half of his boat was blown off by a torpedo: “We just had nothing up forward”. But was the real truth further up the field? The completely dominant mid-field, led by Max Gawn simply stopped firing after that opening salvo. Clayton Oliver had blanketed Patrick Cripps, but it was the others in the Carlton mid-field who started getting the ball. It wasn’t pretty the way they did it, and plenty came from fumbling and silly handball courtesy of the Melbourne side. But they kept getting those chances, and eventually (after 2½ quarters) they drew level, with barely two minutes left to play. There were lots of instances of sloppiness from Melbourne as players just kept gifting opportunities to the Blues - three defenders flying against each other only to watch Betts slip out the back on his own and goal; kicking to 2 on 1 situations in the dying seconds, spoiling Max in a marking contest - it was horrible to watch and we just kept doing it. The point of difference was simply Christian Petracca. When someone, anyone, was needed to step up he was the one who did it. He scored the teams solitary 6 pointer from halfway in the second to the end of the game. It came about from a strongly contested mark, brute power and a willingness to take on the opposition. He was leading when leadership was sorely needed. Max was equally up to the role of leader of the club, even though his dominance faded after that 1st quarter. More importantly it wasn’t just his rucking, but his second efforts, roving and telling marks around the ground, while trying to show others what they had to do. A ruckman is not supposed to get 21 touches, especially in 16 minute quarters, but he did, in addition to his 34 hit outs. Ed Langdon was another significant contributor, especially in tight situations, with 23 disposals and Tomlinson on the other wing certainly did his job with 16 touches. Trent Rivers deserves a special mention in his first game, showing plenty of poise and kicking skills to guarantee his spot in the future. Luke Jackson didn’t get much of the ball, but he was always in the contest and presenting. When he adapts to the game, he will be fine, and hopefully provide more of a target than we saw from the other forwards in this game. Plenty of talk about Harley Bennell, who not unsurprisingly, didn’t set the world on fire, since he only played 50% game time. Importantly, he got through the game unscathed and like Jackson, once he gets back to the pace of the game will be a serious contributor. And Melbourne certainly does need contributors! It simply cannot go into games with only five or six players having any meaningful impact or only contributing for 20 minutes and then having a rest for the remainder. Against the top sides, that would be a recipe for a massacre. The point of difference in this game as it is played today is marginal. There aren’t “easy beat” sides any more, as the Eagles found out against the Suns last night. Some players they will find out that the point of difference is they don’t get a game next week, because we have nearly 20 others waiting to take their place. If it doesn’t change, for the supporters there will be no point of difference between 2020 and 2019! MELBOURNE 5.2.32 7.4.46 8.5.53 CARLTON 0.0.0 2.5.17 4.6.30 GOALS Melbourne Hunt 3 Neal-Bullen Petracca 2 Fritsch Carlton Betts Casboult Cripps Cunningham Gibbons Lang McGovern BEST Melbourne Gawn Petracca Oliver, Salem Langdon Viney Carlton Murphy Docherty Weitering Petrevski-Seton McGovern Curnow INJURIES Melbourne Nil Carlton Newman (knee) REPORTS Melbourne Nil Carlton Nil UMPIRES Chamberlain Stephens Brown Broadbent VENUE Marvel Stadium

A weekly Grand Final-style ticket ballot for paid-up members is almost certain to be introduced when crowds return to AFL football in Victoria, potentially as early as next month. As the National Cabinet prepares to ease COVID-19 restrictions from July — which could allow for crowds of 10,000 or more to attend matches — the AFL and its clubs are looking at how they can manage a high demand for tickets when fans are given the green light to attend matches at the MCG, Marvel Stadium and GMHBA Stadium. A meeting between the clubs and AFL officials on Friday discussed a range of options, but the prospect of a weekly “golden ticket” ballot for members was believed to be the most favoured.

Gold Coast will finish higher than us this year.

Take the discussion to the post match thread: https://demonland.com/forums/topic/48248-postgame-rd-02-vs-carlton/

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

What has happened to Salem's disposal?