Demonland

Max Gawn, the new leader Progressive 59. Max Gawn 57. Angus Brayshaw 51. Clayton Oliver 47. Christian Salem 36. James Harmes 22. Jake Melksham 18. Marty Hore 17. Sam Frost 15. Nathan Jones Jack Viney 12. Jayden Hunt 6. Michael Hibberd 4. Bayley Fritsch Tom McDonald Braydon Preuss 3. Corey Wagner 2. Jay Lockhart Alex Neal-Bullen Christian Petracca 1. Neville Jetta Billy Stretch

The Last Post sounded out in memory of the fallen around a packed MCG at the Anzac Eve match against Richmond. The silence of the crowd assembled was in tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. But the Last Post was also an appropriate symbol of the finals aspirations now gone for the Melbourne Football club, after a mere six rounds of the 2019 Season. How far has this team fallen! From a Preliminary final contestant barely six months ago, to cellar dweller in 2019. From a trumpeter sounding out the Grand Old Flag as victory beckoned, to a bugler sounding out the end of day, or no return for the fallen. The match opened hopefully for the Demons, and they led at the first break. Michael Hibberd moved into the centre to tag Martin was a brilliant move and he held him to a mere 17 possessions for the match when he is normally a game breaker. Jake Melksham moved up the field to get his hands on the ball. Tom McDonald to defence to bolster that area, Nathan Jones into the forward line. All positive moves which proved successful. But not for long, as the now recurring problems in the forward line again raised their ugly head. Tim Smith coming off the rookie list, provided more of a target up front, but the lack of contribution from Weideman and Garlett was again telling. Not just from the scoring perspective, but the willingness to run, chase and tackle to keep the ball in the forward half. When Vlaustin and Houli have 60 disposals between them, there is something seriously deficient with the efforts from their opponents. And this was done in the absence of Rance. The coaches fell into the trap again of stealing either Smith or Weideman to do ruck duties, which left the forward line bereft of a tall. Little wonder that Melbourne (save for a doubtful 50m penalty paid to Fritsch in the final quarter) would have scored a solitary goal in the remaining 3 quarters of the game! Worse still was the simple turnovers/clangers/critical errors across the ground. Eighty-one from Melbourne, and while Richmond caused 62 of their own, the difference just becomes telling in a match where only 18 goals are scored. While managing to shoot themselves in the foot time and time again, the Demons were only a 8 points down at ½ time and 16 points at ¾ time. Not all that far away, but then badly fell away in the last. Once again the spaces opened up as Melbourne players, particularly those around the ball didn’t cover their man, and incredibly once again we found outselves with no players on the outside covering the opposition mids. This is why we were opened up in previous matches, and when the same happened in this game, the floodgates lifted. Max Gawn gave his best, yet again. Incredibly among such a talented group of mids from both sides, he amassed 13 contested possessions and 7 clearances! This in addition to his 48 hitouts. Again on the backline, Christian Salem was a standout with 17 touches most of which are drilled down a Melbourne players throat. Without his input the situation would have been seriously dangerous. More so, when Jordan Lewis spent most of the night slipping over and squandering opportunities, as the body simply is not responding to what the mind is telling him to do. The addition of Tom Mac helped cover plenty of holes down back as well, but the poor bloke cannot run and is obviously carrying an injury. What is there to do? Not much when we give the ball to the opposition on such a regular basis. Not much when we bring ANB and Garlett back to discover, yet again, they run around plenty but can’t get to where the ball is at. Not much when the two important defenders are another month or more away. Not much until the forward line starts putting in some serious work around their opponents to stop the rebounding. And that it has to be bolstered by a player from the Rookie list, as there are no other options. Until then the Last Post should be played at many more of the remaining games for the Club. Melbourne 4.1.25 4.2.26 5.5.35 6.6.42 Richmond 3.1.19 5.4.34 7.9.51 12.13.85 Goals Melbourne Fritsch Gawn Hunt Lockhart Neal-Bullen T Smith Richmond Castagna 3 Baker Ellis Riewoldt 2 Lynch McIntosh Martin Best Melbourne Gawn Melksham Oliver Brayshaw T McDonald, Stretch Richmond Vlastuin Houli Prestia Lambert Baker Riewoldt Injuries Melbourne Neal-Bullen (hamstring) Viney (shoulder) Richmond Astbury (ankle) Riewoldt (knee) Reports Melbourne Nil Richmond Nil Umpires Rosebury, Williamson, Fleer Official crowd 72,704 at the MCG

Seriously?

Your choices for the best six players on the night please - 6,5,4,3,2,1 ...

Rooke and Chaplin need to be moved on at the years end.

We're even tapping and kicking off the ground to them.

The sooner we stop handballing everytime we get the ball the better.

Richmond supporters are feral. They've had an armchair ride from the umps all night and boo everything.

How bad were teams last year to make us look good?

Fumble city.

I wish we could hit our forwards like we hit their backs.

Our disposal is the worst I've ever seen from a Melbourne team.

Nothing to see here. Protected species.

Smith > Weideman. Fight me.

Our disposal is amateurish.

Double the amount of frees. 14 to 7

Rightly so. Not worth $6.50 at the moment.

Not sure Weid is a player. Kills me to say it.

You can't touch a Richmond player but you do whatever you like to a Dees player.

We cannot buy a free.

2019 Demons are back.

Once again being murdered by the umps. Weid needs to watch Tim Smith take a mark.

THE BRIGHT SIDE by Whispering Jack I don’t often agree with Dermott Brereton but he came close to the mark last week when he labelled Melbourne a “team of downhill skiers” that works much harder offensively than it does defensively. And he was looking at the bright side of the team’s game plan. That proposition has been clear since before the season started. It was obvious from the first JLT game against Richmond when the team leaked multiple goals in a short space of time as players gave metres away to opposition forwards. The same thing applied when the team went forward - there were no desperate acts to keep the ball in the forward regions. This has been a feature of Melbourne’s game ever since. And nothing was more emblematic of that style of play (or embarrassing) than the way the Demons finished off their game last Saturday against the Saints. With 1 minute and 10 seconds left on the clock, the St Kilda was leading by 28 points. The ball was kicked into the Saints’ forward pocket where the two tallest Demons, Max Gawn and Braydon Preuss, were standing among a group of half a dozen as the ball descended on the waiting pack. Now, the game was all but over and the four premiership points were already in St Kilda’s pocket but that doesn’t mean that the defence suddenly had the licence to be the bystanders as Tim Membrey marked without the pressure of the two tall Demons, one punching from behind and the other moving across to force a contest. But it didn’t happen and what made it worse was the lapses in the following minute that enabled a mark on the siren and another goal to Jack Billings. That was the difference between Melbourne and St Kilda - the lack of concentration and application for the full 100 minutes. It also marked the difference between the team Friday night performances last September and what is the shell of that side today. It was hard to watch the Easter Sunday game between Geelong and Hawthorn and to realise that what is virtually the same team personnel wise, eliminated both of them from the finals last year. Despite all this, the result of this game is not cut and dried. The Tigers only beat the Swans by 22 points at Marvel Stadium which was also Melbourne’s winning margin against the same team on their dung heap. Miracles have been know to happen at this time but only to those who look on the bright side and make them happen. In Melbourne’s case that might be the case if every player reverted to their 2018 mindset and worked harder defensively when the ball is in both halves of the ground. THE GAME Richmond v Melbourne on Wednesday 24 April 2019 at 7.35pm at the MCG HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 75 wins Richmond 105 wins Drawn 2 At MCG Melbourne 63 wins Richmond 70 wins Drawn 1 Past five meetings Melbourne 2 wins Richmond 3 wins The Coaches Hardwick 2 wins Goodwin 0 wins MEDIA TV - Channel Seven Mate Fox Sports Live at 7.00pm Radio - TBA THE LAST TIME THEY MET Richmond 15.12.102 defeated Melbourne 8.8.56 in Round 5, 2018 at the MCG The Tigers played with the Demons for three quarters and then turned on the afterburners in a matter of moments to win by 46 points. THE TEAMS RICHMOND B Nathan Broad David Astbury Dylan Grimes HB Nick Vlastuin Shane Edwards Bachar Houli C Brandon Ellis Dion Prestia Kamdyn McIntosh HF Daniel Rioli Jack Ross Jason Castagna F Jack Riewoldt Tom J Lynch Dustin Martin FOLL Toby Nankervis Josh Caddy Kane Lambert I/C Liam Baker Noah Balta Jack Higgins Sydney Stack EMG Shai Bolton Jack Graham Connor Menadue Ivan Soldo IN Jack Riewoldt OUT Shai Bolton (Omitted) MELBOURNE B Marty Hore Sam Frost Jordan Lewis HB Bayley Fritsch Michael Hibberd Christian Salem C Nathan Jones Jack Viney Jayden Hunt HF James Harmes Sam Weideman Christian Petracca F Alex Neal-Bullen Tom McDonald Jake Melksham FOLL Max Gawn Clayton Oliver Angus Brayshaw I/C Jeff Garlett Jay Lockhart Tim Smith Billy Stretch EMG Declan Keilty Oscar McDonald Tom Sparrow Corey Wagner IN Jeff Garlett Jay Lockhart Alex Neal-Bullen Tim Smith Billy Stretch OUT Neville Jetta (knee) Braydon Preuss (shoulder) Charlie Spargo (omitted) Corey Wagner (omitted) Josh Wagner (omitted) Injury List: Round 6 Braydon Pr euss (shoulder) – 1 week Steven May (groin) – 4 weeks Mitch Hannan (knee) – 4-5 weeks Jake Lever (knee) – 4-5 weeks Jay Kennedy Harris (knee) – 4-6 weeks Joel Smith (groin) – 4-6 weeks Aaron vandenBerg (foot) – 4-6 weeks Neville Jetta (knee) – 10-12 Kade Kolodjashnij (concussion) – TBA Guy Walker (shoulder) – indefinit e Aaron Nietschke (knee) – season

I don’t often agree with Dermott Brereton but he came close to the mark last week when he labelled Melbourne a “team of downhill skiers” that works much harder offensively than it does defensively. And he was looking at the bright side of the team’s game plan. That proposition has been clear since before the season started. It was obvious from the first JLT game against Richmond when the team leaked multiple goals in a short space of time as players gave metres away to opposition forwards. The same thing applied when the team went forward - there were no desperate acts to keep the ball in the forward regions. This has been a feature of Melbourne’s game ever since. And nothing was more emblematic of that style of play (or embarrassing) than the way the Demons finished off their game last Saturday against the Saints. With 1 minute and 10 seconds left on the clock, the St Kilda was leading by 28 points. The ball was kicked into the Saints’ forward pocket where the two tallest Demons, Max Gawn and Braydon Preuss, were standing among a group of half a dozen as the ball descended on the waiting pack. Now, the game was all but over and the four premiership points were already in St Kilda’s pocket but that doesn’t mean that the defence suddenly had the licence to be the bystanders as Tim Membrey marked without the pressure of the two tall Demons, one punching from behind and the other moving across to force a contest. But it didn’t happen and what made it worse was the lapses in the following minute that enabled a mark on the siren and another goal to Jack Billings. That was the difference between Melbourne and St Kilda - the lack of concentration and application for the full 100 minutes. It also marked the difference between the team Friday night performances last September and what is the shell of that side today. It was hard to watch the Easter Sunday game between Geelong and Hawthorn and to realise that what is virtually the same team personnel wise, eliminated both of them from the finals last year. Despite all this, the result of this game is not cut and dried. The Tigers only beat the Swans by 22 points at Marvel Stadium which was also Melbourne’s winning margin against the same team on their dung heap. Miracles have been know to happen at this time but only to those who look on the bright side and make them happen. In Melbourne’s case that might be the case if every player reverted to their 2018 mindset and worked harder defensively when the ball is in both halves of the ground. THE GAME Richmond v Melbourne on Wednesday 24 April 2019 at 7.35pm at the MCG HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 75 wins Richmond 105 wins Drawn 2 At MCG Melbourne 63 wins Richmond 70 wins Drawn 1 Past five meetings Melbourne 2 wins Richmond 3 wins The Coaches Hardwick 2 wins Goodwin 0 wins MEDIA TV - Channel Seven Mate Fox Sports Live at 7.00pm Radio - TBA THE LAST TIME THEY MET Richmond 15.12.102 defeated Melbourne 8.8.56 in Round 5, 2018 at the MCG The Tigers played with the Demons for three quarters and then turned on the afterburners in a matter of moments to win by 46 points. THE TEAMS RICHMOND B Nathan Broad David Astbury Dylan Grimes HB Nick Vlastuin Shane Edwards Bachar Houli C Brandon Ellis Dion Prestia Kamdyn McIntosh HF Daniel Rioli Jack Ross Jason Castagna F Jack Riewoldt Tom J Lynch Dustin Martin FOLL Toby Nankervis Josh Caddy Kane Lambert I/C Liam Baker Noah Balta Jack Higgins Sydney Stack EMG Shai Bolton Jack Graham Connor Menadue Ivan Soldo IN Jack Riewoldt OUT Shai Bolton (Omitted) MELBOURNE B Marty Hore Sam Frost Jordan Lewis HB Bayley Fritsch Michael Hibberd Christian Salem C Nathan Jones Jack Viney Jayden Hunt HF James Harmes Sam Weideman Christian Petracca F Alex Neal-Bullen Tom McDonald Jake Melksham FOLL Max Gawn Clayton Oliver Angus Brayshaw I/C Jeff Garlett Jay Lockhart Tim Smith Billy Stretch EMG Declan Keilty Oscar McDonald Tom Sparrow Corey Wagner IN Jeff Garlett Jay Lockhart Alex Neal-Bullen Tim Smith Billy Stretch OUT Neville Jetta (knee) Braydon Preuss (shoulder) Charlie Spargo (omitted) Corey Wagner (omitted) Josh Wagner (omitted) Injury List: Round 6 Braydon Preuss (shoulder) – 1 week Steven May (groin) – 4 weeks Mitch Hannan (knee) – 4-5 weeks Jake Lever (knee) – 4-5 weeks Jay Kennedy Harris (knee) – 4-6 weeks Joel Smith (groin) – 4-6 weeks Aaron vandenBerg (foot) – 4-6 weeks Neville Jetta (knee) – 10-12 Kade Kolodjashnij (concussion) – TBA Guy Walker (shoulder) – indefinite Aaron Nietschke (knee) – season

I'm interstate. Thanks for starting the thread.