Demonland

Footy Classified saying Cameron Bruce isn’t interested in the Dees coaching job.

Just a guess but based on the graphic. Petracca to Carlton Walsh to Port Butters to Dees 🤪

Big news dropping?

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Melbourne are considering a major overhaul of their football department by creating a new position, as incoming CEO Paul Guerra eyes further change ahead of the 2026 season. Competition sources have confirmed the Demons, who are on the lookout for a new senior coach after the sudden sacking of Simon Goodwin, are also making inroads into creating a new senior role – to be in charge of strategy. The West Coast Eagles did a similar thing at the end of last season, hiring their premiership coach John Worsfold to oversee the football department in a role that the club said would include coaching structure, development, performance and culture. If the club were to make the appointment in the off-season, it would mean that current football boss Alan Richardson, who is contracted for 2026 is part of the club’s subcommittee to choose the next coach, would answer to the new appointment. The role would essentially sit between the football department and Guerra, who officially starts as chief executive on September 8. The club wouldn’t be drawn into commenting when contacted on Monday. The Age can also reveal the club’s psychologist, Stephen Rendall, has resigned after nearly four years at the Demons. The club said Rendall, a performance psychologist, would continue to work for the club in the background up until the national draft until a proper handover was organised. Rendall, who formerly worked as North Melbourne’s psychologist, has worked for the club during a turbulent period for the playing group, including a difficult trade period last year when star midfielders Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca both tried to leave but were denied trades by the Demons. Rendall is the third major departure from the club in recent weeks, who has parted ways with Goodwin and one of his right-hand men, Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark “Choco” Williams. Guerra, who did the radio rounds on Friday night before the Demons’ tight loss to Collingwood, said he and the club have shown they are not afraid to make tough decisions. He said the club will announce a new coach by preliminary final weekend. “I think a new coach coming in means that there will be more change in there,” he said. “We want to set this coach up, whoever it is, to be successful over the next decade. There’s no doubt they’ll have a view on the game plan that they want to play, and we want to be able to support that. “They’ll probably have a view on who they want as some of the assistants as well. “We’ve got a number of assistants that will carry through, we’ll obviously look to see what the new coach wants to do as well, and we’ll support that coach to make sure that they’re going to be successful.”

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MELBOURNEHire Nathan Buckley. If a rival coach emerges to blow the coaching panel’s socks off in coming weeks, then so be it. But he was at the peak of his powers by the second half of his coaching career even if it was time for change when he was moved on by Graham Wright. He nearly won a flag in 2018, lost a rain-sodden prelim to GWS in 2019 despite a last-half domination, won a final in 2020 as the “Dirty Pies” travelled to Perth to isolate in a Covid year, then was sacked halfway through 2021. He has the profile to sell Melbourne, the relationships to deal with high-maintenance players (Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca), the excitement factor to convince players like Judd McVee to stay. Of course there will have been regrets at Collingwood, with the club’s lack of a star key forward meaning they suffered some of the connection issues the Demons still suffer. At Melbourne he wouldn’t have a quick fix even if Jacob Van Rooyen had a better finish to the season than his start. He would surely decide to keep Christian Petracca, even if a decision looms on Clayton Oliver. As incoming CEO Paul Guerra told ABC Radio on Friday night, there are no concrete decisions on players until the new coach arrives but he is optimistic Petracca will stay. “I hope so. All of those conversations, there will be no speculation about what we will do in draft and trade until the new coach starts. A new coach comes in with a different style and game plan. We then need to map our list to that game plan and work out what players we need to look at to target and perhaps what players might need to look for new homes.”

The dates for the Qualifying Finals has been locked in.

Congratulations to Max Gawn for taking out his 2nd consecutive Demonland Player of the Year Award and his 4th overall. He joins Nathan Jones and Clayton Oliver as players having won the most number of Demonland Player of the Year Awards.

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Top of the Table The Dees demolished the Saints in a comprehensive 74-pointshellacking. We filled our boots with percentage — now a whopping 520.7% — and sit atop the AFLW ladder. Melbourne’s game plan is on fire, and the competition is officially on notice. Our tall timber forward trio put on a clinic: Tayla Harris (4 goals), Eden Zanker (2), and Georgia Gall (2) stretched the Saints’ defence to breaking point. Tyla Hanks backed up her Round 1 heroics with another eliteouting—28 disposals, 12 tackles, and 490 metres gained.Kate Hore (26 disposals, 5 clearances) was sublime, setting up scoring chains with 14 score involvements. Leadership. Despite missing Lampard and Gillard, the makeshift defence held firm—just three goals conceded across two rounds. Saraid Taylor was rock-solid, keeping Saints spearhead Jessie Wardlaw to only six possessions and no majors. The only sour note was Liv Purcell’s knee injury. We awaither prognosis with fingers crossed. The match Melbourne controlled all three phases from the outset. Our pressure, ball movement, and forward efficiency overwhelmed St Kilda, who had no answers. Even with Purcell’s injury before half-time, the midfield depth shone: Hanks, Hore, Heath, Paxman, Fitzsimon, and McNamara all outworked their Saints counterparts. For St Kilda, Tyanna Smith (20 disposals, 9 tackles) and Georgia Patrikios (19 disposals, 8 tackles, 1 goal) stood tall, with a nod to the improving J’Noemi Anderson (9 tackles, 1 goal). Match moment A heartwarming highlight came in the final term when Lily Johnson slotted her first goal in red and blue — her teammates swarming her in celebration. Well done, Lily! Another moment to savour: Sinead Goldrick’s lightning-fast spoil — her deadly fist was pure defensive poetry. Meggs’ musings It was pleasing to see Megan Fitzsimon and Eliza McNamara step up in the middle after Purcell’s injury. They kept the engine room humming and will likely see more midfield time, especially with Grace Beasley unavailable. Molly O’Hehir showcased her running power with 315 metres gained. This young gun belongs—and she’ll only get better. Coaches and Next Week Mick Stinear was pleased with the team’s fast start andpraised their skill and connection, crediting a stellar pre-season. On Liv Purcell, he said she was sore and would go for scans. He highlighted her elite hands, creativity, and love of studying Libba at the Bulldogs — a nod to her contested craft. Nick Dal Santo acknowledged Melbourne’s dominance, admitting the Dees won all three phases of the game. Next up: Collingwood at Victoria Park, Sunday at 1:05pm. Demonlanders — get there if you can and support our women!. Meggs’ reckons the Women will do what the Men couldn’t do and that is to beat the Pies. C’mon Dees! MELBOURNE 2.5.17 7.8.50 9.9.63 13.11.89 ST KILDA 1.0.6 1.1.7 2.2.14 2.3.15 GOALS MELBOURNE Harris 4 Gall, Zanker 2, Bannan, Fitzsimon, Hore, Johnson, Paxman ST KILDA Anderson, Patrikios BEST MELBOURNE Hanks, Harris, Hore, Zanker, Pearce, Paxman ST KILDA Smith, Patrikios, Watson, Anderson INJURIES MELBOURNE Purcell (knee) ST KILDA Nil LATE CHANGES MELBOURNE Lily Johnson replaced Sarah Lampard (calf strain) ST KILDA Natalie Plane replaced Darcy Guttridge (ankle soreness) CROWD 2,152 at Casey Fields

It was yet another disappointing outcome in a disappointing year, with Melbourne missing the finals for the second consecutive season. Indeed, it wasn’t even close, as the Demons' tally of seven wins was less than half the number required to rank among the top eight teams in the competition. When the dust of the game settled and supporters reflected on Melbourne's six-point defeat at the hands of close game specialists Collingwood, Max Gawn's words about his team’s unfulfilled potential rang true … well, almost. After the game, it was reported that the Demons' captain acknowledged the side had relinquished more than a dozen winnable games this season. 2025 certainly started that way with the three-point loss in the opening game against the Giants. The two clashes against Collingwood were by a combined margin of seven points, while five of their last six defeats were all relatively tight results, including three by the exact margin of one goal in the past month alone. There were also others that were thrown away by poor kicking for goal such as the Alice Springs game against the Saints … but I wouldn’t go as far as to say a dozen games or possibly even the eight or nine extra wins that would have made the Demons finals contenders. However, the season's final game and other recent close calls have certainly provided some food for thought for the weeks ahead about learning how to win games consistently as the club chooses its new coach and makes other moves that will inevitably herald changes in the team's overall strategy and playing ranks heading into the trade, free agency, and drafting period. As monotonous as this might sound, when the history of the season is told, Max Gawn will stand out head and shoulders above his teammates. Not simply because of his obvious physical attributes but also because of the momental contribution he has made to the cause. It was no different on Friday night as he amassed 26 hit outs, 22 disposals (14 contested), seven marks and he took part in nine score involvements. Against the Magpies, he received great support from his well established lieutenants in the midfield in his vice captain Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca. They were also backed up by many of the clubs premiership gladiators from 2021. But among those who also made their presence known was a young rising star who could well become the defining feature of the team’s engine room for many years to come. Harvey Langford, the 19 year old, 190cm tall left-footed young dynamic rising star candidate added to the narrative with 26 disposals and a goal. There are several other emerging players who, like Langford, are poised to become integral components of Melbourne's lineup for years to come - the likes of injured speedsters Caleb Windsor and Xavier Lindsay, who were sorely missed, and Koltyn Tholstrup, who missed out on Friday but is rapidly improving and on the cusp of becoming a regular senior player. Although not outstanding in this game, Jai Culley, who is even taller than Langford, has been thriving since his promotion a few weeks ago. The younger brigade are the future in a team in which change is inevitable because the trend of losing winnable games must be reversed. The trend persisted until the very end of the team's season. When Christian Petracca scored early in the final term, the Demons were poised to win due to their uncharacteristic accuracy in front of goal. However, they failed to hold their shape long enough to produce the upset by sustaining the pressure on the Magpie defence in the final twenty minutes. During that critical period, both teams had five scoring opportunities, excluding a couple of Demons' shots that went out of bounds. Melbourne scored five points, while Collingwood secured four unanswered goals and a single point. Close but too far away. MELBOURNE 3.0.18 5.3.33 10.5.65 11.10.76 COLLINGWOOD 2.7.19 6.10.46 7.13.55 11.16.82 GOALS MELBOURNE Fritsch 3 Melksham Pickett 2 Langford Petracca Petty van Rooyen COLLINGWOOD Elliott Schultz 2 Crisp De Goey Long McStay Maynard Mihocek Sidebottom BEST MELBOURNE Gawn Oliver Petracca Bowey Salem Langford COLLINGWOOD N Daicos Pendlebury Cameron Schultz Elliott De Goey INJURIES MELBOURNE Howe (groin) COLLINGWOOD Nil REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil COLLINGWOOD Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Harry Sharp (replaced Jai Culley in the fourth quarter) COLLINGWOOD Roan Steele (replaced Jeremy Howe in the second quarter) UMPIRES Brendan Hosking Nathan Williamson Robert Findlay Nathan Toner CROWD 60,611 at The MCG

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 25th August @ 8:00pm. Join Binman & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing loss to the Collingwood. Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show. Thank you to every body that has contributed to the Podcast this year in the form of questions, comments and calls. Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

Congratulations Max Gawn on taking out his 2nd consecutive and 4th overall Demonland Player of the Year Award. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

Thank god this season is over. Bring on 2026.