Demonland

Saw Roosy at the footy yesterday wearing a Dees scarf.

We have seen it all before… Yes, a wonderful idea to showcase what used to be in football. Big crowds, umpires who knew how to apply the rules and not opinions, high marks, skilful players. But for the Melbourne supporters their retro is what it has been like for the past 10 years. Losing games, end on end, year after year. Opportunities squandered in front of goal. VFL standard players running around at the MCG. Just more of the same, and the game against Collingwood was no exception. Six set shots inside 50, no goal. Collingwood seven unanswered goals either side of half time, five of those from Melbourne turnovers. A total of 49 points from turnovers out of 70 for the opposition. More score in the last quarter, than in the previous 3, but only when the game was lost. 30K spectators turn up (we can forgive a bit for the weather). Yes, just like the old days, just like last week, just like the previous years. Why do we bother turning up to watch the same show and expect a different result? In an appalling display of AFL football, both sides failed to score a major until Harrison Petty dobbed a goal in the dying seconds of the first quarter. This meant Melbourne had won the quarter (big deal) and then they even extended the lead to 11 points mid-way through the 2nd. Then the retro started as Collingwood piled on seven unanswered goals, in the next 45 minutes to lead by 6 goals at ¾ time. Courtesy of multiple Melbourne turnovers, but in true retro style, by repeating the same mistakes again and again. While most fans only ever “see” the end result, the midfield have a lot to blame for with this type of loss. Consider Clayton Oliver, 7 critical errors. Brayshaw 6, Harmes 3. That’s 16 from those 3 players alone. Now compare with Collingwoods mids: Treloar, Sidebottom, Phillips, Pendelbury and Adams. 5 players and their total errorr ... five! The much touted Gawn v Grundy match probably saw Grundy take the prize for the day, but only just. It was when the ball hit the ground, that Melbourne were found wanting. And that extended to all around the ground, as not a single Collingwood player had less than double figures in possessions. Melbourne in contrast had 4 who barely troubled the statistician. Well Melbourne came out and scored more in the final quarter, than it had for the previous 90 minutes. But as the team was already six goals down on a cold and wet day, it was to little effect. To top it off Steven May hobbled off with yet another hamstring injury, nothing new for the Melbourne supporters, as they had seen similar throughout the year. Christian Petracca looked lively up forward on multiple occasions, but just faded away for most of the intervening periods. Bailey Fritsch provided the only genuine target in front of goals, with 10 marks, but then couldn’t convert, especially at critical times to finish the game with only 1.4. This was again a typical retro moment for the Demon fans. We had no less than six set shot kicks inside 50 for not a single goal. Convert just a couple of those and the match is won. Collingwood, just like Richmond the week before were kicking majors from the boundary and outside 50. We simply are unable, and multiple times just plain unwilling to take a shot when the chance arose. Jake Melksham was simply horrible, to match his equally horrible game from the previous week. But to harp on about it is not worthwhile, because the “bikkie barrel” is truly empty. The following players are due to pull on the boots at Casey this week: Hore, ANB, Jordon, J Wagner, Preuss, Keilty, Lockhart, Spargo, Stretch, Chandler, Maynard, Bradke and Bedford. Hore will surely come in to replace the injured May, but of the rest who is worthy of senior selection, that hasn’t already been tried and failed, or just simply not ready? If there was any doubt about the state of that bikkie barrel, consider we played OMac as a forward and back-up ruck. And while he acquitted himself very well, including kicking his first goal in an AFL game, we simply have no others available to do the job. We are already playing a 19 year old at FF, and one player who wasn’t on the list until half way through the season. Questions must be asked about the coaching staff this week. The centre bounce set up saw one Melbourne winger dropping back to cover the HBF who was running into the middle, and so creating an extra in defence. It was happening from the first bounce, but as the game evolved, it saw the Collingwood winger in Sidebottom standing on the wing all alone, unattended, no doubt because the Collingwood coaches saw it happening as did the Melbourne fans. Small wonder he had 23 uncontested possessions out of his 28! To top it off at the final bounce of the game, both the Melbourne wingers stood 10m behind their Collingwood opponents on the wing as the ball was thrown up. What in heavens name would possess any coach to adopt this tactic? But the Melbourne fans have seen it all before. This week, last week and long into the past. The pity is that we will see it again next week as well. Melbourne are the only side that can create a retro than goes forward as well as back! Melbourne 1.4.10 2.6.18 3.8.26 7.11.53 Collingwood 0.5.5 5.6.36 9.8.62 10.10.70 Goals Melbourne Brayshaw Fritsch Gawn Hunt O McDonald Petracca H Petty Collingwood Mihocek 4 Pendlebury Varcoe 2 Crisp Thomas Best Melbourne Brayshaw Petracca Harmes Frost Oliver Fritsch Collingwood Sidebottom Mihocek Howe Treloar Brown Pendlebury Injured Melbourne May (hamstring) Collingwood Daicos (concussion) Reported Melbourne Nil Collingwood Nil Umpires Shane McInerney, David Harris, Andre Gianfagna Official crowd 31,903 at the MCG

Fair enough but what does the poor bloke have to do to get on the injury list?

Two more weeks to go ...

Cast your votes please folks - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ...

Why is nobody playing on Sidebottom?

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We had a great opportunity to get Wines with an early pick and blew it.

Methinks Hore comes in for Lever as a late out and this was always what was going to happen. If Lever does play then I have no idea why Hore wasn't chosen over OMac.

Some Wizard Highlights

.Countdown Thought Demonlanders would appreciate a countdown to the end of this years misery. Bring on 2020.

Which results will help us secure the best bottom 6 partners for next years draw?

Take the Selection discussion to the PREGAME Thread: https://demonland.com/forums/topic/46668-pregame-rd-21-vs-collingwood/

This years membership would have been worth it for a song and dance number like this.

Goodwin: Steven May is right to go. He was very close last week, but he’s trained strongly so it’ll be good to have him back. Goodwin: Jake Lever trained yesterday away from the main group, but we expect him to be fine. He’ll train again tomorrow + be right to go. Goodwin: Collingwood has some really elite small players who can mark above the head. We will prepare for whatever set-up they go with - tall or small. Goodwin: We’ll take the wet conditions into account at selection. We could go with Harry Petty as the main tall up forward, or we could have a mix. Goodwin: We think Angus Brayshaw has really started to round his game out well in areas other than just his offence. He’s a really important part of our side + we’re happy with how he’s tracking. Goodwin: Macca has made a great contribution to the club over five years. He is a really close mate of mine + has been an unbelievable mentor. The time was right for him to depart, but it’s sad to see a great mate leave + he’s had an enormous impact on our playing group. Goodwin: This is the time of year where you get linked to a whole range of people - players, coaches + staff. There are some great footy people out there, Alan Richardson is one of them, but that’s not something I’m looking at. Goodwin: I thought we challenged Richmond for half the game last week until the conditions changed. Skill level has been a big issue for us, but I think there are positives to take out of the first half of that game. Goodwin: The captaincy next year is the last thing I’m looking at right now. Nathan Jones + Jack Viney have done an incredible job for this football club. Goodwin: The players are looking at the next three weeks as an opportunity. The spirit of our players is high.

On the surface I don't like this unless we give up peanuts for him and I don't mean a late draft pick I mean actual peanuts. Trading in injury prone players is our specialty so he'll fit right at home for a year before he is delisted or retires. Of course I'll be tickled pink if I'm wrong but I'm not particularly ticklish.

Welcome to Demonland.

Thanks to Demonlanders for their input into this week’s preview. Ralphius Maximus is short and bittersweet: We'll crack in at the bounce to create a contest, win our share of the ball, butcher the forward movement and get scored on easily from the intercepts. Not that hard to predict. Big Demon says: Unfortunately Collingwood will win because they have a lot more to play for. We will be good in parts but really the season is well over so we will have to put up with those belligerent black and white mongrels all day yet again. Soidee’s view: Sadly it will be another loss for the MFC. I have watched them closely and a losing culture has set in. Goodwin refuses to change and he will be better served to just let the team free up and play with freedom over next 3 weeks. Collingwood have all to play for, our players are drowning in process and no confidence. There will be players offloaded in the off season and those who remain will have the hardest pre season in recent history. Mahoney and Goodwin on their last chance to get it right. Don’t stuff around, if we have injury prone players then move them on. We need fit players on our list and need to bring in a power forward and speed in the middle. Mental Demons: Collingwood will win. Goodwin's comments about testing players for versatility and to see what they have for the future is an admission that we don't wan't or care to win. We will be better of with the high draft pick. It also hides our future potential for when we can put out a better team next year. The Demons have a bit of a record of not being good two years in a row. It has given a chance to have a look at some players who would not have got a look in but for injuries. It has separated a few of the men from the boys. Hore, Petty, Dunkley and Lockhart look to have something to offer. It has also weeded out some of our problems. If we were out to win we would be playing guys who are playing for their careers because their contracts are up. Of this Spargo and O Mac have very misty futures. It has also highlighted our poor drafting and player management. May is an overpriced crock but is the most secure player on our list, more secure than Max, Oliver, Salem, Harmes, Melksham, in fact everybody. May needs to show some value because his return this year has been terrible. May turns up unfit and struggles to stay on the field. Lever is not as much of a problem as he reads play well and has rebounding skills, he just needs a good run at it and his potential will be shown. Our other management problem players are Weideman (is only really a third tall); Vandenberg (has he played a game since we signed him for 3 years so the Swans would not get him?); Kolodjashnij (has not show any value at Casey); Pruess (immobile and overpriced). Pruess was a liability last week and so has not shown we can play him and Max in the same team.To be competitive against the Pies, we need our quickest team out there. If May is out again we probably need Oscar Mac in, no other tall options. JHK did not do enough last week to be kept on the list next year so another small can have a go in the big league. If Leaver is out, bring in Hore. If Tim Smith is fit we should bring him in. Would be good to have a look at Jordon, and/or Bedford. What have we got to lose except pick 2? robbiefrom13 opines: Collingwood appear to be physically far stronger than Melbourne, and faster, and unlike us they are playing with confidence - so it's hard to see us getting anywhere near them. On the other hand, if Goodwin hasn't lost the players, they - all of them, coaching staff and players - must be highly motivated to prove it and silence the growing rumblings about coach/players "connection". And Collingwood are presumably at real risk of going into this game overly confident. Like a team running out for the first time under a new coach, we could surprise the world. Terribly undermanned, we surprised West Coast a few years ago. Upsets happen - it's not impossible. But unless the stories about a breakdown between players and their coaches are wrong, it's not going to happen this week. So there's the interest - to see if the game departs from the obvious script, even a little bit. The game itself hardly matters for us, as far as this season is concerned - but the bigger narrative of the state of our club - that does. We must be getting closer to knowing for sure - so Melbourne supporters may go to the footy focused on a completely different drama to the one Collingwood fans will be there drooling for The Third Eye concludes: The Demons are struggling. Of this there is no doubt because our expectations were so high as we went into the preseason before things fell away so badly. But I wonder if we’re really that bad. We know the club is running at about ⅔ rat power due to our disastrous injury and fitness injuries but I was bemused by an article in the Herald Sun which waxed eloquent about Carlton’s future after its 24 point loss against the West Coast Eagles who took their feet off the accelerator from at least as early as the start of the final quarter on Sunday. The critics were nowhere near as friendly to Melbourne which lost by 13 points two weeks earlier in a game that could have gone either way. “Off with Goodwin’s head!” they wail. As for the Magpies, they’ve been up and down in the past month or so while suffering from an injury list that compares with that of the Demons if you believe their supporters. But according to a stat that came up on my Twitter feed that said, “Collingwood averaging 3.7 first 22 players missing per game, Dees 6.9.” Never let it be said that Collingwood folk understand the word “perspective”. Their team looked pathetic a fortnight ago against the Tigers and they were gorn by half time before their opponents virtually hung up their boots midway through the final term and allowed them to get to within 32 points of their tormentors. Melbourne, on the other hand, stayed up with Richmond for a half and fell away with the coming of the rain in third quarter to lose by 33 points. On that basis, the teams are pretty evenly matched and if the Demons can kick straight for goal, they win. I think they will do it this week - they have absolutely nothing to lose. * and that’s the retro round preview. Apologies to those who missed out. THE GAME Melbourne v Collingwood at the MCG Saturday 10 August, 2019 at 1.45pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 83 wins, Collingwood 149 wins, 5 drawn At the MCG Melbourne 63 wins, Collingwood 82 wins, 3 drawn Last Five Meetings Melbourne 2 wins, Collingwood 3 wins The Coaches Goodwin 1 win, Buckley 3 wins MEDIA TV - Fox Footy Live at 1.30pm Radio - Triple M 3AW ABC LAST TIME THEY MET Collingwood 15.8.98 defeated Melbourne 7.15.57 at the MCG in Round 13, 2019 It was a comprehensive victory to the Magpies who simplify could not miss their shots from any angle or distance after half time while the Demons’ disposal was horrible. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B Christian Salem Steven May Jake Lever HB Angus Brayshaw Sam Frost James Harmes C Nathan Jones Michael Hibberd Jordan Lewis HF Jayden Hunt Bayley Fritsch Kyle Dunkley F Harrison Petty Jake Melksham Christian Petracca FOLL Max Gawn Jack Viney Clayton Oliver I/C Oskar Baker Jay Kennedy Harris Oscar McDonald Corey Wagner EMG Marty Hore Alex Neal-Bullen Braydon Preuss Billy Stretch IN Steven May OUT Braydon Preuss (omitted) COLLINGWOOD B Brayden Maynard Jordan Roughead Jeremy Howe HB Jack Crisp Matthew Scharenberg Chris Mayne C Tom Phillips Scott Pendlebury Josh Daicos HF Callum Brown Brody Mihocek Travis Varcoe F Jamie Elliott Will Hoskin-Elliott Steele Sidebottom FOLL Brodie Grundy Adam Treloar Taylor Adams I/C Levi Greenwood Jack Madgen Josh Thomas Rupert Wills EMG Tim Broomhead Tyler Brown Ben Crocker John Noble IN Jack Madgen OUT Mason Cox (detached retina) Injury List: Round 21 Steven May (hamstring) – test Jake Lever (ankle) – test Charlie Spargo (calf) – test Mitch Hannan (groin) – 1-2 weeks Tom Sparrow (knee) – 2-3 weeks Aaron vandenBerg (foot) – season Neville Jetta (knee) - season Jeff Garlett (shoulder) – season Kade Kolodjashnij (head) – season Tom McDonald (knee) – season Aaron Nietschke (knee) – season Joel Smith (groin) – season Sam Weideman (jaw) – season Guy Walker (shoulder) – indefinite

The chat software was 4 small updates behind but I doubt that was the cause. See if you can access it now: https://demonland.com/podcast

I really wish we could get revenge on them for Round 23 2017 but alas even if we could somehow beat them they'll still make the finals.