Demonland

Melbourne is, not for the first time, paying for lapses in matches whereby the club leaks multiple goals without answer and which usually cost the club in those all-important eight point games as it did last week against the Western Bulldogs which replaced the Demons in the AFL top eight. And this week, they come up against a team that reputedly plays in the same mode as the Bulldogs but has been able to prevail over better opponents than Melbourne. It’s not that the Demons are out of form or a poor side. Over the course of the last four matches they have been beaten comprehensively in only one quarter - that being the third term or the “premiership quarter” last week where they were completely destroyed, conceding 6 goals 1 behind to a few points. St Kilda is still in the race for a double chance while for Melbourne, this week’s clash is virtually a case of the last chance saloon. The Demons are likely to be buoyed by the return of captain Max Gawn and former skipper Nathan Jones who would both have come in handy last week in the face of the Bulldogs’ onslaught. A major challenge for Melbourne is to take advantage of a winning ruck by winning clearances at the stoppages. When opponents gain the upper hand moving the ball out of scrimmages and into the open and they gain territory by run or by swift ball movement, it’s often panic stations for the Demons. The ace card for the Saints this week could be Jack Steele who last year bested Clayton Oliver. Steele is a class act and if he’s on Oliver again this week, it could spell trouble for Melbourne and their leading midfielder who last week managed only 15 touches. While people might think that the midfield is the be all and end all to the puzzle of the team’s inconsistency, you can’t ignore the almost complete breakdown last week of Melbourne’s forward line in terms of its failure to exert the pressure necessary to keep the ball inside the attacking region, to gain possession and to score goals. Most of the mid and small forwards were dysfunctional at the weekend while Mitch Wallis on his own showed them up with four goals. And even Sam Weideman’s goal scoring for the day was done and dusted one minute into the second quarter when he kicked the last of his two goals. The club needs a four quarter effort of pressure football from all players, especially the forwards, if it’s to maintain touch with the top eight. It’s do or die for the Dees ... and unfortunately, on form, I have to tip the Saints by 22 points. THE GAME St Kilda v Melbourne at TIO Traeger Park on Saturday 29 August 2020 at 7.40pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 121 wins St Kilda 94 wins 1 drawn At TIO Traeger Park Melbourne 0 wins St Kilda 0 wins Past five meetings Melbourne 2 wins St Kilda 3 wins The Coaches Ratten 1 Goodwin 0 wins MEDIA TV - Channel 7 Live at 7.30pm Fox Footy Channel Live at 7.30pm RADIO - THE LAST TIME THEY MET St Kilda 15.14.104 defeated Melbourne 13.7.85 at Marvel Stadium, Round 19, 2019 The Demons held sway in the first half and led by as much as 19 points in the second quarter before the Saints reeled them in early in the third term and the game see sawed until early in the last when they took control to win by 19 points. For the second time in the season it was St Kilda’s outside run that enabled it to prevail. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE FB Adam Tomlinson Steven May Jake Lever HB Christian Salem Oscar McDonald Michael Hibberd C Aaron vandenBerg Jack Viney Ed Langdon HF Trent Rivers Sam Weideman Angus Brayshaw FF Mitch Hannan Mitch Brown Jake Melksham FOL Max Gawn Christian Petracca Clayton Oliver I/C Nathan Jones Kysaiah Pickett Charlie Spargo Josh Wagner EMG Oskar Baker James Harmes Tom McDonald Braydon Preuss IN Mitch Brown Max Gawn Nathan Jones Oscar McDonald Trent Rivers Josh Wagner OUT Bayley Fritsch (omitted) James Harmes (omitted) Jay Lockhart (omitted) Tom McDonald (omitted) Braydon Preuss (omitted) Tom Sparrow (shoulder) ST KILDA FB Jarryn Geary Callum Wilkie Nick Coffield HB Ben Paton Hunter Clark Dougal Howard C Jack Billings Zak Jones Sebastian Ross HF Bradley Hill Josh Battle Dan Butler FF Tim Membrey Max King Rowan Marshall FOL Paddy Ryder Jack Steele Dean Kent I/C Nick Hind Ben Long Ed Phillips Jack Sinclair EMG Jack Lonie Daniel McKenzie Jonathon Marsh Dylan Roberton IN Hunter Clark Ed Phillips OUT Jack Bytel (omitted) Jake Carlisle (omitted) Injury/Suspension List: Round 14 Max Gawn (knee) – available Nathan Jones (quad) - available Alex Neal-Bullen (suspension) – 1 match Luke Jackson (hamstring) – 4 weeks Tom Sparrow (collarbone) – 4 weeks James Jordon (finger) – 4 - 6 weeks Marty Hore (toe and quad) – indefinite Harry Petty (groin) – indefinite Kade Kolodjashnij (head) – indefinite Aaron Nietschke (knee) – season

Apologies for audio lag issues between the hosts. I think I've nailed it down to my main podcast computer. It's running as slow as dogs balls and I think this contributed to the lag between myself and the two hosts on separate computers. Thinking of either replacing this old beast or doing a clean install.

Well aware.

Maybe 6. 7 if we're lucky.

We'll be LIVE @ 8:30pm Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

I'm not sure it's as simple as 2018 being the aberration. I think the game has evolved since 2018 and we haven't. On the plus side I don't think we're a bottom 4 side anymore. I just don't believe we can match it with the Top 8 sides and it's questionable whether we can match it with the teams knocking on the door of the 8. The next 3 weeks will be telling. I'm not very confident about being able to match it with the Saints. The two weeks after that will confirm for me whether we are truly not bottom 4 material.

Join @george_on_the_outer, @binman & I as we discuss getting collared by the dogs tonight @ 8:30pm Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

Would certainly give Jones a chance to reach 300.

Not changing .... our jumpers this week.

The big mover this week is Steven May who pushed Max into 5th place. 121. Christian Petracca 96. Clayton Oliver 93. Jack Viney 87. Steven May 84. Max Gawn 52. Jake Lever 44. Ed Langdon 36. Michael Hibberd 29. Angus Brayshaw 15. Jay Lockhart 14. Christian Salem 13. Oscar McDonald 10. Jake Melksham Sam Weideman 8. Kysaiah Pickett 7. James Harmes Luke Jackson 6. Mitch Hannan Trent Rivers 5. Adam Tomlinson 4. Tom McDonald Charlie Spargo 3. Jayden Hunt 1. Braydon Preuss

The winner of the game is in the top eight and the loser out. Had Melbourne won, it would have consigned the Bulldogs season to the scrapheap given their remaining fixture which still includes a bye. The Demons led at half-time but they gave the Dogs a bone which was willingly accepted — they notched 6 goals in the third quarter and dumped the Demons out of the eight. This game simply saw all the bad habits return for Melbourne players. When they serve up dinky kicks, dinky handballs, little forward pressure, inaccurate kicking for goal, unpressured turnovers, and lack of discipline against a side that runs and spreads, the failings of the team and particular individual players was on display for all to see. In a game decided by four and a bit goals, Melbourne gave away two 50m penalty gifts and themselves had two goals disallowed due to a lazy approach and a failure to kick strongly with a flukey wind. As we saw a week ago, accuracy wins matches but it was not to be this time. While most statistics were surprisingly equal (except for handballs where the Dogs excelled, and hitouts to advantage where Melbourne did) the most telling and damning statistic was the scores from turnovers. They scored 59 points to 23, a six goal differential in a game that was lost by less than five. No matter how much contested ball won by either side, no matter how many ruck contests won, no matter how many marks, if you give the ball to the opposition, particularly one that runs and runs, the game will be lost. And don’t blame the backline for the opposition scoring, when they defend again and again, only to see it handed back. No surprise Wallis kicks 4 goals when it gets put on his chest at least 3 of those times. Aaron Naughton, the shining hope for the Dogs was held scoreless by Stephen May who dominated down back. Jake Lever continued to intercept and spoil, but they can’t hold back the deluge coming in from upfield when our mids don’t work hard enough on their opponents. The small forwards for the Demons were simply horrible. The Bulldogs were able to waltz the ball out of their defence multiple times without so much as a smattering of pressure, during the game in general it was much the same. Plenty of déjà vu from the Geelong game there! Hannan, Spargo, Pickett and Melksham in particular failed to do the work to keep the ball in the forward 50m and provide further scoring opportunities. Once again Melksham could only muster a single tackle for the whole game, and his refusal to contest marking opportunities, seeking the cheap kick over the back has surely been noticed by the coaching staff? Sam Weideman continues to mature, and his marking was telling, but when Tom McDonald gets thrown into the ruck, Sam is left all on his own. Footscray at least rested English down forward to provide a threat when he wasn’t rucking, but we failed to do likewise. It became easy for Gardner and Keath to double team a solitary tall forward. How many times have we fallen into that trap this year? The mids on the statistics pages equaled the Bulldogs for possessions and clearances. You wouldn’t have known it with the output from the middle in terms of quality. Too often Melbourne reverted to the short quick handball rather than the decisive break-out and kick we had seen over the past three weeks. The Bulldogs mids just kept pumping the ball long and deep and five of their mids scored goals themselves. For the Demons only Oliver troubled the goal umpire. Before the game the side lost Nathan Jones to a “quad niggle”, and his hardness around the contest was sorely missed. His replacement in Hannan had a meagre six touches for the game, and has probably burnt his opportunity for next week although the Jones and Sparrow injuries might keep a spot for him. What to do now? We gave the Dogs a bone, and they wolfed down the opportunity. We have opened the door to other sides now, and failed ourselves to demonstrate we are a capable finals contender. We have given Carlton a bone to chase next week, the prospect of finals for them. Next week we come up against St.Kilda already two games ahead of us. Fail that test, and we give the finals chances to Carlton, GWS Giants and Collingwood along with the Bulldogs. Our season will be over. Will the Demons have the strength of will to go for the bone on offer, or will they allow their bones to be picked over resulting in another wasted season? MELBOURNE 1.3.9 5.5.35 5.8.38 7.10.52 WESTERN BULLDOGS 2.4.16 4.4.28 10.5.65 12.8.80 GOALS Melbourne Weideman 2 Fritsch T McDonald Melksham Oliver Spargo Western Bulldogs Wallis 4 Bontempelli Cavarra English Liberatore McLean Smith Vandermeer Williams BEST Melbourne May Viney Petracca Weideman Lever Salem Western Bulldogs Bontempelli Liberatore Smith Wallis Macrae, Hunter INJURED Melbourne Tom Sparrow (shoulder), Nathan Jones (quad) replaced in selected side by Mitch Hannan Western Bulldogs Nil REPORTED Melbourne Nil Western Bulldogs Nil UMPIRES Chris Donlon, Nick Brown, Shaun Ryan VENUE Metricon Stadium

MFCSS IS ALIVE AND WELL ...

Turnovers have been horrendous.