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With Melbourne’s season hanging on a thread, Saturday night’s game against North Melbourne unfolded like a scene in a hospital emergency department. The patient presented to the ward in a bad way. Doctors and nurses pumped life-saving medication into his body and, in the ensuing half hour, he responded with blood returning to his cheeks as he stirred back to life. After a slight relapse, the nurses pumped further medication into the bloodstream and the prognosis started looking good as the next hour ticked by. The patient even sat up momentarily. Suddenly, without warning, the vital signs displayed on his bedside screen went haywire and the patient was again in peril. It took all of the skills of the experienced ER ward surgeons, helped by a team of young interns, to step in and save the day. At last report, the patient was resting in a stable condition but still on life support. There’s a long way to go but he’s hanging on … for the time being. Speaking of hospitals, welcome to Melbourne’s 2024 campaign in the post superstar phase. But it’s not just the fact that Christian Petracca‘s internal injuries will keep him out of the game for at least the rest of this home and away season that are keeping coach Simon Goodwin up at night. Leaving aside the usual media swarm and the naysayers who smell blood when a team’s going through hard times, Goody’s facing attack from all sides in the football world and not just about the unenviable task of mending the midfield in his star player’s absence and the fact that another of his superstars in Clayton Oliver is in a career slump. There’s the potential problem of overworking his skipper and champion ruckman who battles on with little support, the occasional defensive lapses and then, there’s the long-running matter of connection when going into attack which refuses to be resolved and rears its head with too many goalless (and scoreless) quarters and with most of the forwards also in a form slump. Add to this, the fact that a quiet rebuild is going on in the background. Of the teams competing in Round 15, Melbourne fielded the most players aged 22 and under with ten, compared to North Melbourne’s eight. Geelong had only four players in this category; Brisbane, Carlton, Essendon, Sydney and West Coast had five. It’s great to see so many young faces in the team working manfully but having plenty of youth and inexperience in the group also poses challenges in the heat of a tight battle. Granted that you can’t fix all of the issues surrounding a major form slump overnight, there are still some positive vibes out of all of this. The impending return of Jake Lever who is so important in the defensive structure, will help. Steven May kept Nick Larkey goalless in a peerless defensive performance and the return of his partner in crime in defence is timely in light of the do or die contest coming up on Friday night in Brizvegas. Despite the fact that North’s up and coming midfield won the clearance battles, Goodwin’s first effort on the work in progress in this area produced some promising signs. Jack Viney was an absolute beast as he worked hard under the skipper’s gaze and while Oliver was shut out under the close watch of Will Phillips. Into the breach came Trent Rivers who had plenty of time and a reasonable return lining up in centre bounces. Tom Sparrow had some good moments as well and second gamer Koltyn Tholstrup was promising at half-forward. It will be a while before he can be considered in the same light as Petracca but there were some really great signs. And how about that great lifesaving cameo run down by Kynan Brown that virtually ensured the win for his team? Despite the continuing relative dysfunction of the forward line, there was some signs of a pulse with Disco Turner kicking a couple and Harry Petty taking six marks and scoring a goal. Some more consistency and a return to goal scoring form from the likes of Bailey Fritsch, Kozzie Pickett and Kade Chandler are hopefully just around the corner. Indeed, a return to form of the likes of Oliver, Fritsch and co on the big stage up north next week is exactly what the doctor ordered. MELBOURNE 5.2.32 6.4.40 11.4.70 11.4.70 NORTH MELBOURNE 1.2.8 3.7.25 5.7.37 10.7.67 GOALS MELBOURNE Turner 2 Chandler Gawn McDonald Petty Pickett Rivers Sparrow van Rooyen NORTH MELBOURNE Zurhaar 4 Ford Sheezel 2 Davies-Uniacke Simpkin BEST MELBOURNE Viney May Rivers Gawn Sparrow Neal-Bullen NORTH MELBOURNE Davies-Uniacke Wardlaw Sheezel Zurhaar Phillips Simpkin INJURIES MELBOURNE Christian Salem (knee) NORTH MELBOURNE Nil REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil NORTH MELBOURNE Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Kynan Brown (replaced Christian Salem in the fourth quarter) NORTH MELBOURNE Dylan Stephens (replaced Toby Pink in the third quarter) UMPIRES Donlon Haussen Heffernan Wallace CROWD 28,774 at The MCG

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The Demons head back on the road for their fifth interstate trip this season when they head up to Brisbane to take on the Lions under lights on Friday night at the Gabba. Who comes in and who goes out?

The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Tuesday, 25th June @ 8:30pm. Join George, Binman & I as we analyse the Demons victory at the MCG over the Kangaroos in the Round 15. You 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. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

Captain Max Gawn has a considerable lead over the injured reigning champion Christian Petracca in the Demonland Player of the Year Award. Alex Neal-Bullen, Steven May, & Jack Viney make up the Top 5. Your votes for the loss against the Kangaroos. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

The Demons almost blew a six goal lead and ultimately hung on to win by three points over the North Melbourne Kangaroos at the MCG and have temporarily jumped back into the Top 8.

It's Game Day and it very well could be the last roll of the dice for the Demon's finals aspirations in 2024. A loss to the bottom side would be another embarrassing moment in a cursed year for the Dees whilst a win could be the spark they need to reignite the fire in the belly.

Cats up to their old tricks.

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INS – K.Brown (AFL debut), Tomlinson, Tholstrup OUTS – Petracca (inj.), Billings, Laurie (omitted)