Demonland

?

Wow what a finish.

Who are you tipping this week?

Well done MFC for keeping the sponsorship dollars rolling in.

Can't get anything past you guys. Well some of you anyway. This was actually a last minute April Fools Pranks after I forgot about the actual prank I was going to pull. I'll have to save it for next year.

Despite the chaotic events occurring in Canberra over the past few weeks, one thing is for certain. This weekend’s game at Manuka Oval in the nation’s capital between the GWS Giants and Melbourne will decide which of Scott Morrison or Leon Cameron is the most under the pump at this point in time. This time twelve months ago, the Giants were coming off a season in which they had played off in a grand final. They opened up their 2020 campaign with a resounding 32-point victory in round 1 against Geelong before the Covid19 closure came along to ruin their season. However, things really haven’t been the same for them since the return to play and their heartless display against the Dockers last Sunday suggests they’re in for a world of pain as the club feverishly works in damage control mode to prevent the further defection of star players to other clubs. We’ve only had two rounds but the talk of the week has been at which club and for what pay Josh Kelly will command in 2022. That’s hardly promising news when you’re on 0-2 and a tough few weeks loom ahead. The Giants have a good recent record at Manuka. The Demons beat them with relative ease in their early days but in their last two encounters they were rubbish. In early 2015 they kept the home side goalless and led by an excess of 5 goals before half time before an avalanche of 14 consecutive goals saw them falter to a 45-point embarrassment. In 2017, when a long-awaited finals place was on offer, Melbourne scored three goals to nothing in the first ten minutes and then conceded the next 8.6.54 to Greater Western before the first break. The eventual 35-point loss was flattering thanks to their accuracy in front of goals. I’m expecting much better this time. That’s because the Demons are looking at their best since their break out year of 2018. The playing conditions of this season are seeing a return of more contests and faster movement which appears to suit their style much better than the game of the past couple of seasons. Despite the loss during the pre season of their two main tall forwards, the injury situation is nowhere near as catastrophic as it was when they went into decline in 2019 (they haven’t yet had to activate the new sub rule) and their youngsters are not only standing up — they are coming to the fore at important moments of their games. Now, if only they could get their kicking boots on in front of goal ... The Giants’ kicking for goal has also been shaky so far but they will need to be at the top of their game against Melbourne’s defence headed by Steven May and Jake Lever. With the Demon midfield back at close to full strength and showing greater depth, the odds are strongly in favour of a big victory for the visitors. Melbourne by 41 points. THE GAME GWS Giants v Melbourne at Metricon Stadium, Sunday 4 April, 2021 at 6:10pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall – Melbourne 7 wins GWS Giants 6 wins At Manuka Oval – GWS Giants 2 wins Melbourne 1 win Past five meetings – Melbourne 3 wins GWS Giants 2 wins The Coaches – Goodwin 2 wins Cameron 2 wins THE 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 12.7.79 defeated GWS Giants 11.8.74 at the Gabba, Round 17, 2020 The Demons led early but were reeled in by half time and the Giants took the ascendency after half time. Melbourne came back in the final term with the first three goals including a bottler from first year player Trent Rivers seeing the team home despite a very late goal from GWS’s Brent Daniels. THE TEAMS GWS GIANTS B: S. Taylor 15 L. Keeffe 25 M. Buntine 21 HB: I. Cumming 13 N. Haynes 19 L. Ash C: J. Kelly 22 S. Coniglio 3 J. Buckley 44 HF: T. Taranto 14 T. Greene 4 M. de Boer 24 F: B. Hill 37 H. Himmelberg 27 B. Daniels 16 Foll: M. Flynn 30 J Hopper 2 C. Ward 8 I/C: P. Davis 1 T. Green 12 C. Idun 39 X. O'Halloran 33 Sub: N. Shipley 34 Emerg: K. Briggs 32 Z. Sproule 28 C.Stone 18 In: M. Buntine T. Green C. Idun X. O’Halloran Out: T. Bruhn (Omitted) H. Perryman (Illness) S. Reid (Suspension) Z. Sproule (Omitted) MELBOURNE B: N. Jetta 39 S. May 1 J. Lever 8 HB: Christian C Salem 3 A. Tomlinson 20 J. Hunt 29 C: E. Langdon 15 C. Petracca 5 N. Jones 2 HF: K. Pickett 36 T. McDonald 25 A. Neal-Bullen 30 F: C. Spargo 9 L. Jackson 6 B. Fritsch 31 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C.Oliver 13 J. Viney 7 I/C: A. Brayshaw 10 J. Jordon 23 T. Rivers 24 T. Sparrow Sub: J. Melksham 18 Emerg: K. Chandler 37 M. Hibberd 14 H. Petty 35 In: J. Melksham Out: O. Baker (Omitted) Round 3: Injury List Mitch Brown (calf) — Available Joel Smith (finger) — Available Jay Lockhart (groin) — Available Sam Weideman (leg) — 2 to 3 Weeks Ben Brown (knee) — 3 to 5 Weeks James Harmes (wrist) — 5 Weeks Marty Hore (knee) — Season Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season

After 21 years Demonland will be shutting it’s virtual doors. The toll that supporting this club has taken on me over the years has led me to this point and as a result this site will cease to exist from the end of today. Thank you to all the wonderful contributors and posters over the years and especially to those who have donated their time and money to helping this site remain online Hopefully one day this team will rise again and deliver us the premiership we all dream about Thank you and goodbye Go Dees ???

I'm shocked.

The Demonland Podcast is LIVE tonight at 8:30pm. Join @george_on_the_outer, @binman & I as we dissect Round 2 win over the Saints as well as our Finals our Top 4 finish in the AFLW before previewing our Round 3 match against the Giants. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

I don't think any plans should be considered set in stone for the next 2 years or so.

PLAYER INJURY LENGTH Mitch Brown Calf Available Jay Lockhart Groin Available Joel Smith Finger Available Sam Weideman Leg 2-3 Weeks Ben Brown Knee 3-5 Weeks James Harmes Wrist 5 Weeks Marty Hore Knee Season Aaron Nietschke Knee Season

The drums are beating for the Giants.

After Round 2 LEADERBOARD VOTES PLAYER CLUB 19 Dustin Martin RICH 18 Taylor Walker ADEL 16 Darcy Moore COLL 16 Clayton Oliver MELB 12 Dan Houston PORT 12 Jack Macrae WB 11 Travis Boak PORT 10 Noah Anderson GCFC 10 Marcus Bontempelli WB 10 Andrew Brayshaw FRE 10 Zak Butters PORT 10 Steven May MELB 10 Tim Membrey STK 10 Callum Mills SYD 10 Tom Mitchell HAW 10 David Mundy FRE 10 Joel Selwood GEEL 10 Bailey Smith WB 9 Taylor Adams COLL 9 Errol Gulden SYD 9 Christian Salem MELB

@binman file away for discussion on podcast

Is this a new form of Melbourne which has suddenly emerged in 2021? In the past, whenever the pressure was applied, the team would falter early and as a consequence, it would more often than not, be forced to confront its own self-inflicted failure. But perhaps not so this year. The match at Marvel Stadium against the Saints provided an insight into how creating pressure, actually relieves it on the club, players and coach. Right from the start, Melbourne was there to make a statement. With St.Kilda promising so much pre-season, the hopes were high, and a Demon loss would have seen the club slip back into the pack in the race to secure a finals spot. However, the 18 point victory against a finals contender will surely lead the game’s observers to take some notice of what the Demons have been crafting in the past couple of years. It is the group of young players who are making their mark. Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow, James Jordon, Kysiah Pickett and Luke Jackson, with barely 1/10th of the games that Nathan Jones has under his belt in his career, are already carving their names into regular spots in the side, and putting pressure on other older experienced players to just get a game. They can’t be denied, and their performances will keep them in the side. But it is also the team pressure that was so evident from early in the game, that eventually won the day. Even when the Demons were 16 points down in the second quarter, they continued to apply the pressure and then got the results with eight of the next ten goals. That’s not the Melbourne side that the fans have been watching play in the past years. Right from the outset, the addition of Jack Viney in the midfield was telling as he kicked the first two goals for the side. But it was the Jack of old, with his toughness around the ball, which enabled Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca the latitude to be so, so damaging. This week they took full advantage of Max Gawn’s ruck dominance and had 17 clearances between them, while Viney chimed in with four of his own. St.Kilda have a simple sling-shot tactic and game plan, but when you pressure and shut down their small runners, in the same way that Melbourne did to them in Alice Springs last year, they get starved of chances. Lonie, Billings, Butler and Higgins were barely sighted and it all fell to Gresham to try and create opportunities. But he couldn’t do that on his own. The backs just did what they did last week, and the intercept marking of Steven May, Jake Lever and Adam Tomlinson was brilliantly backed up by the ground work of Nev Jetta, Rivers and Christian Salem. More important was the clean delivery they provided further up the ground, which simply kept pressuring the St.Kilda backs. The forwards are still missing the fire-power to benefit from these chances, but Tom McDonald did his best and finished with a couple of goals. Bayley Firtisch had numerous set-shot chances, but could only manage to trouble the goal umpire once. However, Pickett was superb and cut a swathe through the defenders to put in an early candidate for goal of the year. Likewise his constant pressure has them looking over their shoulder all the time, but like the Saints situation, it can’t be left to one or two to “carry the can”. Hopefully, the long awaited arrival of Ben Brown will soon come to give Tom some help in holding off the big defenders. Luke Jackson is still raw, but very talented, and we still have to purloin him to fill in with ruck duties. Still when the side can put together a score of 91 points, we will be in the winner circle most games. The pressure and the media attention suddenly moves off the coach and the club. The journalists will find another easy target, but this type of win gives everyone much more breathing space. It gives everyone the chance to show their capabilities and as we have seen to date, we can start to marvel at what is possible! MELBOURNE 3.4.22 6.7.43 9.13.67 12.19.91 ST KILDA 3.2.20 6.3.39 8.4.52 11.7.73 GOALS Melbourne McDonald Pickett Viney 2 Fritsch Jones Langdon Neal-Bullen Spargo Sparrow St Kilda Steele 3 King 2 Battle, Billings Gresham Higgins McKernan Membrey BEST Melbourne Oliver Salem Gawn Petracca May Pickett St Kilda Steele Howard Gresham Ross Gresham Wilkie INJURIES Melbourne Nil St Kilda Jimmy Webster (jaw) REPORTS Melbourne Nil St Kilda Nil SUBSTITUTES Melbourne Oskar Baker (unused) St Kilda St Kilda Jack Bytel (replaced Webster) UMPIRES Foot Fleer Mollison CROWD 25,903 at Marvel Stadium