I love the Olympics
I love the Olympics – Darren Spence
Thursday 2 August 2012
Well the Olympics are on and you really know you live in Indonesia when the prime time viewing is the preliminary round match between Nigeria and Sweden in the table tennis. (Some guy from Sweden won for those of you that are interested). By the way – what exactly do table tennis commentators do between Olympic Games anyway? I love the Olympics. It is the only 2 weeks every leap year that people sit down watching sports they have absolutely no idea about. It is the only time arm chair experts come out and shout at the Canadian diving judge for giving a diver a 9.0 when ‘he clearly opened up on his pike way too early’ as well as shake your head at how the Chinese gymnast only received a 7.5 for execution when ‘ he definitely landed his Yurchencko vault’.
However you don’t need to be an arm chair expert to realise the Mighty Demons continue to struggle to string four quarters together and as a result on Saturday our hoodoo at Etihad stadium and against the Roos remained intact. It really is both frustrating to watch now and yet tantalising for our future as our new game plan provides us glimpses of hope for the years to come. North came out of the blocks and the game was all but over by quarter time but to our boys credit we fought back hard winning the 2nd quarter before delivering what Mark Neeld claimed was ‘a sub-standard AFL quarter’ after the main break. The Dees broke even in the final stanza but to be honest we were never really in the game. Why North have the wood over us in recent years discombobulates me but we will now have to wait till next year to address the imbalance.
The game, however, didn’t leave us bereft of honourable mentions on the Demon front.
- Cue that algorithm <INSERT NATHAN JONES> was our leading possession getter with 32 and managed to kick a goal.
- Jonesey was clearly our best player and will take away his first ‘Bluey’ this year by the length of the Flemington straight. Last year’s ‘Bluey’ winner Beamer Moloney returned to the team with a welcome return to form getting his hand on the ball 29 times.
- Big congratulations to our former skipper in Brad Green who finished with three goals whilst our current co-captain in Jack Grimes was solid with 23 touches.
- I want to mention big Jake ‘the pencil’ Spencer, he has had it tough with injuries but he is making the most of his opportunities. I love the way he chases hard and really commits himself to every contest. He finished with a career high 27 hit outs and is doing everything possible to ensure he stays on our list come the end of the season. I sure am one that hopes he does.
This week it is the Gold Coast Suns……a game which both teams will be very eager to win. I really can’t see our boys dropping this game and with the boys at Casey on top of the ladder the pressure will be on our senior players to ensure they retain their spots as our season nears its completion.
Go Dees
Statistically Speaking
Statistically speaking – Darren Spence
Friday 27 July 2012
Meatloaf had a hit with 2 out of 3 ain’t bad but I seriously doubt Mark Neeld would have been belting out any tunes from ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ at AAMI Park this week as the Demons disappointingly lost – what I thought was a winnable game – to Port Adelaide. History has shown that if you break even on disposals and clearances, have more tackles, more marks and 10 more inside 50s than your opposition then you will most likely win the contest. Yet sadly it wasn’t ‘It’s A Grand Old Flag’ being played late on Saturday night.
Last week saw the start of the Holy month of Ramadan – the Muslim month of fasting in which Muslims refrain from dawn until sunset from eating and drinking – and it is Melbourne that is going through its own form of fasting as we continue to lament the loss of both Mitch Clark and LJ and continue to struggle to kick winning scores. The positive thing is that we are getting the ball into our attacking 50 and (as I said earlier) winning our fair share of the ball – this augurs well for the future and is showing that our game plan is starting to gel with the players. We seem now to be more than competitive in large parts of the game, winning our 2nd opening quarter in a row and now we just need to replicate these performances throughout the entire game. I am positive this will come – sooner rather than later!
As much as the players and staff will be hurting, there were some pleasing performances in the hot and humid conditions up in Darwin.
- Our co-captain Jack Grimes was the leading possession getter on the ground with 32 disposals and he followed that up with 11 marks and 4 tackles in a game where he really led from the front.
- Nathan Jones continued his fantastic season with 26 disposals – capped off with a goal.
- I was really impressed with Neville Jetta’s game. In his first game for the year he had 18 touches in a welcome return to the senior side.
- Brad Green battled hard all night for 2 goals 3 behinds and two of our younger players in Dan Nicholson and Tom McDonald also deserve mention for putting in solid performances on Saturday night.
- A final mention to Jeremy Howe who has a mortgage on the Mark of the Year for 2012 and continues to delight fans with almost a hanger a week!
This week it is the Roos. North have had the wood on us of late – winning the last nine games against us. With North still in the hunt for a finals berth and our boys fired up to atone for last week, we hope to see the Dees put a real dint in North Melbourne’s finals aspirations.
Go Dees
Darren Spence
Random Numbers
- Colin Sylvia led our possession count with 23 and kicked a goal and is showing why he is one of the most important players on our list.
- In a remarkable recovery from a serious lung injury, Tom McDonald quickly slotted back into his pre – injury form with 17 touches in another solid game from the young Demon.
- Stefan Martin took full advantage of the Big Russian’s misfortune playing an admirable game against Griffin with 19 disposals, 26 hit outs and 2 goals and reminding Demon fans just what we have missed this year with Stef out through injury.
- Jack Grimes battled well through injury notching up 22 possessions, as did Joel Macdonald in arguably his best game for the year.
- A welcome return to the team from our ex skipper Brad Green with 3 goals and I liked the way Daniel Nicholson worked hard all day – 18 disposals his reward.
- Solid efforts also by our other co-captain Jack Trengove and Nathan Jones and it was great to see James Strauss running around again (albeit at the misfortune of Luke Tapscott and Mark Jamar). A special final mention to Tom Couch who made his long awaited debut and picking up 13 touches and laying 9 tackles showed just why the Demons’ brains trust were so keen on him. I for one am looking forward to seeing many more games from him in red and blue in the years to come.
Ivor Warne Smith at CHB!
Darren
life: it goes on
Thursday 5 July 2012
Robert Frost once said “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on”. These words would have been ringing in the ears of the Demons’ brains trust after our loss against the Lions on Sunday. No Clark, No Jamar, No Jones, No Davey, No Green, No LJ, No Bartram, our rising star nomination from last week down and out virtually in the first minute of the game…. Are you kidding me!!??? Flash, Green, LJ and Bratram have been out for a while but to lose our number 1 forward, our leading ruckman, our best player this year by a street and a young gun who has been in some great form this year was a cruel blow to the mighty Dees and whilst you will not hear any excuses coming from the lips of Mark Neeld it really was little surprise we didn’t come away with the chocolates up at the Gabba.
But like the Black Knight’s fighting response to King Arthur in Monty Python’s Holy Grail – “Look you’ve got no arms left”…..’It’s only a flesh wound” the boys did put up a valiant effort. Amazingly (given the final score) we actually had more inside 50s and more contested possessions than the Lions – a very pleasing result on a day when little else went right. The fact that we failed to convert our inside 50s into scores is a reflection of the huge hole left by Clark. And our lack of spread leading us to be smashed in uncontested possessions was not helped by being one man down early in the hot and humid conditions in Brisbane.
However there were some solid performances from our boys on Sunday and here are some of them:
- Colin Sylvia has started to put together some solid form and with 21 possessions, 7 marks, 5 tackles and a goal he is starting to get back to the player that we all have all so badly missed.
- I keep ‘hounding’ Howe and on Sunday he was arguably our best player. In almost identical stats to Sylvia he also picked up 21 disposals coupled with 7 marks and capped off a solid day with a goal. In a year where some players have stood up and taken their game to a new level Jeremy Howe would undoubtedly be at the top of this list.
- Stefan Martin heralded a welcome return to the senior side with a solid game. 21 disposals and 20 hit outs was a sound performance from the big man.
- Others that warrant a mention include Sam Blease with 2 goals and I also liked the game from Jack Trengove.
This week it is the Tigers. With a rivaly that stretches almost as far back as the game itself, these games are always big – regardless of their respective ladder positions – and this will be no exception. Hopefully we will see the return of some of our key players this week but regardless it is another fantastic opportunity for our developing side to show what they’ve got on the big stage. Let’s hope for some luck on the injury front and sit back and enjoy what is bound to be a fantastic contest.
Go Dees
Darren Spence
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