Demonland

Glory days THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Neville Jetta, Oscar McDonald, Jordan Lewis HB: Christian Salem, Sam Frost, Michael Hibberd C : Dom Tyson, Clayton Oliver, James Harmes HF: Jake Melksham, Tom McDonald, Angus Brayshaw F: Bayley Fritsch, Sam Weideman, Alex Neal-Bullen Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Jack Viney I/C: Mitch Hannan, Christian Petracca, Charlie Spargo, Aaron vandenBerg Emg: Jay Kennedy Harris, Jayden Hunt, Joel Smith, Tim Smith In: Mitch Hannan, Jack Viney Out: Jay Kennedy Harris (omitted) Kent (AC joint) GEELONG B: Jake Kolodjashnij, Lachie Henderson, Tom Stewart HB: Jed Bews, Harry Taylor, Zach Tuohy C : Mark Blicavs, Joel Selwood, Cameron Guthrie HF: Sam Menegola, Gary Ablett, Tim Kelly F: Daniel Menzel, Tom Hawkins, Jordan Murdoch Foll: Ryan Abbott, Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan I/C: Jack Henry Mark O'Connor Brandan Parfitt Scott Selwood Emg: Lachie Fogarty, Quinton Narkle, Zac Smith, Jackson Thurlow No change

The official website hasn't updated from last week's listed session.

No fight from me but I will say that his two misses were extremely costly early when we could have put them away.

Don't shoot the messenger. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/collingwood/collingwood-melbourne-essendon-under-pressure-ahead-of-round-2-as-they-look-to-put-season-back-on-track/news-story/e85cbe002143010f47c2391472239e8b The heat is on a host of highly-fancied sides heading into Round 2, as history shows teams that lose their first two games rarely make finals. Since 2010, 49 teams have made 0-2 starts to the season. Only three of those — or a measly 6.5 per cent — have finished in the top-eight at season’s end, being Collingwood (2018) and Sydney (2017 and 2014)

I noticed the slight limp pre-game too. He should not have been picked and the amount of game time actually played confirms that.

You can blame @Whispering_Jack too because he compiled them. I would have asked for a recount.

We randomly take 3 posters set of votes and add them together. We have always done it this way. Blame @Chook.

And the club house leader after Round 1 is Christian Salem:- 18. Christian Salem 12. Jake Melksham 10. Angus Brayshaw James Harmes 4. Michael Hibberd 3. Clayton Oliver Corey Wagner 2. Alex Neal-Bullen 1. Neville Jetta

UNDERDONE AND OVERPOWERED by George on the Outer If there was ever a prime example of a team of players not ready for the new football season it was Melbourne in the opening round of 2019. Throughout the field there was just too much evidence of players who haven’t had sufficient pre-season or players who ordinarily wouldn’t have even graced the field at this early stage. The Demons also got a lesson on selection with Port Adelaide showing that two ruckmen on the field is an essential for this season. It was a lesson that should have been obvious to the Melbourne coaching panel were they to have reviewed the Preliminary Final disaster, not to work out what went wrong, but rather what West Coast did right. Then in the Grand Final a week later, two ruckmen overpowered a solitary Heath Grundy. With Scott Lycett and Patrick Ryder playing on the ground and tag-teaming Max Gawn it was not surprising that they simply overpowered him and the Melbourne side. The critical factor was not the ruck contests, but rather what they did when not rucking. Resting Ryder or Lycett in the forward line instead of the bench meant the Demons had to commit Sam Frost or Oscar McDonald to them. That left Westhoff free to take uncontested mark after mark. Five goals for the game resulted. That was the score difference at the final bell! And if further proof is needed for the two talls, check out what Hawthorn are doing with Ceglar and McEvoy on the ground, and they had only one week less break than us over the summer! Meanwhile when Gawn was resting on the bench, the big forwards of Tom McDonald or Sam Weidemann had to double with ruck duties. No small surprise that a single big man in front of the sticks resulted in very little scoring, including not a solitary point in the final quarter. The other selection failures were simply too many small players without the necessary experience at AFL level. Could we really expect a team including ANB, Hore, Sparrow, Spargo, Wagner, Fritsch, and Hunt to compete with taller opponents? And should we really have selected Sparrow (although he acquitted himself reasonably well) to replace a 300 game general of the backline. There may have not been many more experienced available, but a tall would have helped. Sadly, apart from these failures, too many players were simply underdone. Jack Viney with 10 possessions. Petracca with only 2 touches to half-time. Jones putting in an absolute “mare” with kick and marking failures. Even Clayton Oliver with (for him) only 10 handballs. What do they all have in common ... interrupted pre-seasons, with Jones and Viney only returning to running in the past 4-6 weeks ... it showed! Christian Salem held the defence admirably, and with 32 touches off half-back he excelled at every turn. The pity is that a HBF shouldn’t be the major possession getter in the side. Angus Brayshaw held together the mids because he, at least, could get his hands on the ball, while Harmes helped out, but they were on their own. They performed OK in the middle, and in fact Melbourne won the centre square clearances easily. But around the ground without any assistance, Port simply cut the Demons to pieces. Rockliff with 44 touches but only 4 clearances from the middle, showed where the Power were gaining the advantage. Port also used their footy smarts. Kicking the ball long, especially with the fluky wind, almost guaranteed chaos entries into their forward line. In contrast Melbourne tried to chip and seek out the better option all the time, and it failed. With the wind playing havoc, the ball often came out the back to find Port players who stayed down in the contest. Not so Melbourne who continued to fly in packs to no effect. Will it get any better next week? Not if we continue doing the same thing at selection table. The addition of Steven May will help in a big way down back, but we need to give Max a cut-out during the game. 1 ruck is not enough in 2019. We can’t do much about the lack of fitness in too many players, that’s just the nature of post season surgery, but if they are not ready and primed, then they shouldn’t be selected. Facing Geelong so early in the season will be a problem, because all their old stagers will be reasonably fit at this time of the year. Come year end (as we saw in last year’s Elimination Final) they just drop by the wayside. What will happen? Will we see a half-baked team again next week? If we do, all the pre-season aspirations will be cooked ... Melbourne 4.3.27 6.5.41 9.7.61 9.7.61 Port Adelaide 2.4.16 6.8.44 10.9.69 12.15.87 Goals Melbourne Melksham 2 Brayshaw Fritsch Jones T.McDonald Petracca Sparrow Weideman Port Adelaide Westhoff 5 Butters 2 Boak Duursma Ebert Gray Marshall Best Melbourne Salem, Harmes, Melksham, Hibberd, Brayshaw, Oliver Port Adelaide Westhoff, Rockliff, Gray, Boak, Burton, Ebert Injuries Melbourne Lewis (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Sparrow Port Adelaide Marshall (concussion) Reports Nil Umpires Rosebury, Stephens, Hosking Official crowd 38,866 at the MCG

If there was ever a prime example of a team of players not ready for the new football season it was Melbourne in the opening round of 2019. Throughout the field there was just too much evidence of players who haven’t had sufficient pre-season or players who ordinarily wouldn’t have even graced the field at this early stage. The Demons also got a lesson on selection with Port Adelaide showing that two ruckmen on the field is an essential for this season. It was a lesson that should have been obvious to the Melbourne coaching panel were they to have reviewed the Preliminary Final disaster, not to work out what went wrong, but rather what West Coast did right. Then in the Grand Final a week later, two ruckmen overpowered a solitary Heath Grundy. With Scott Lycett and Patrick Ryder playing on the ground and tag-teaming Max Gawn it was not surprising that they simply overpowered him and the Melbourne side. The critical factor was not the ruck contests, but rather what they did when not rucking. Resting Ryder or Lycett in the forward line instead of the bench meant the Demons had to commit Sam Frost or Oscar McDonald to them. That left Westhoff free to take uncontested mark after mark. Five goals for the game resulted. That was the score difference at the final bell! And if further proof is needed for the two talls, check out what Hawthorn are doing with Ceglar and McEvoy on the ground, and they had only one week less break than us over the summer! Meanwhile when Gawn was resting on the bench, the big forwards of Tom McDonald or Sam Weidemann had to double with ruck duties. No small surprise that a single big man in front of the sticks resulted in very little scoring, including not a solitary point in the final quarter. The other selection failures were simply too many small players without the necessary experience at AFL level. Could we really expect a team including ANB, Hore, Sparrow, Spargo, Wagner, Fritsch, and Hunt to compete with taller opponents? And should we really have selected Sparrow (although he acquitted himself reasonably well) to replace a 300 game general of the backline. There may have not been many more experienced available, but a tall would have helped. Sadly, apart from these failures, too many players were simply underdone. Jack Viney with 10 possessions. Petracca with only 2 touches to half-time. Jones putting in an absolute “mare” with kick and marking failures. Even Clayton Oliver with (for him) only 10 handballs. What do they all have in common ... interrupted pre-seasons, with Jones and Viney only returning to running in the past 4-6 weeks ... it showed! Christian Salem held the defence admirably, and with 32 touches off half-back he excelled at every turn. The pity is that a HBF shouldn’t be the major possession getter in the side. Angus Brayshaw held together the mids because he, at least, could get his hands on the ball, while Harmes helped out, but they were on their own. They performed OK in the middle, and in fact Melbourne won the centre square clearances easily. But around the ground without any assistance, Port simply cut the Demons to pieces. Rockliff with 44 touches but only 4 clearances from the middle, showed where the Power were gaining the advantage. Port also used their footy smarts. Kicking the ball long, especially with the fluky wind, almost guaranteed chaos entries into their forward line. In contrast Melbourne tried to chip and seek out the better option all the time, and it failed. With the wind playing havoc, the ball often came out the back to find Port players who stayed down in the contest. Not so Melbourne who continued to fly in packs to no effect. Will it get any better next week? Not if we continue doing the same thing at selection table. The addition of Steven May will help in a big way down back, but we need to give Max a cut-out during the game. 1 ruck is not enough in 2019. We can’t do much about the lack of fitness in too many players, that’s just the nature of post season surgery, but if they are not ready and primed, then they shouldn’t be selected. Facing Geelong so early in the season will be a problem, because all their old stagers will be reasonably fit at this time of the year. Come year end (as we saw in last year’s Elimination Final) they just drop by the wayside. What will happen? Will we see a half-baked team again next week? If we do, all the pre-season aspirations will be cooked ... Melbourne 4.3.27 6.5.41 9.7.61 9.7.61 Port Adelaide 2.4.16 6.8.44 10.9.69 12.15.87 Goals Melbourne Melksham 2 Brayshaw Fritsch Jones T.McDonald Petracca Sparrow Weideman Port Adelaide Westhoff 5 Butters 2 Boak Duursma Ebert Gray Marshall Best Melbourne Salem, Harmes, Melksham, Hibberd, Brayshaw, Oliver Port Adelaide Westhoff, Rockliff, Gray, Boak, Burton, Ebert Injuries Melbourne Lewis (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Sparrow Port Adelaide Marshall (concussion) Reports Nil Umpires Rosebury, Stephens, Hosking Official crowd 38,866 at the MCG

Take the discussion to the POSTGAME Thread: http://demonland.com/forums/topic/45792-postgame-rd-1-vs-port-adelaide/

Aaargh ...

Cast you votes please ... 6,5,4,3,2,1

Too early to call that it's going to be a long year? MFCSS ACTIVATED

We should be further up but were also lucky they missed some easy ones.

Think we might struggle to hit 40,000?

This will cost the teams with selfish players. Teams with team orientated players will benefit. Commentators on Thursday and Friday were noting that players on the ground were ignoring the bench to stay on the ground. I'm not sure if this was 100% accurate but if so it's not great from those individuals.

Fritsch and Spargo warming up in the sunshine.

That photo was taken ages ago. There are now 8 people in that section.

Jonesy and Wagner out there now.

Weid, OMac, Hibberd and Gus having some shots for goal.

Confirmed.