Thinking Demons
Thinking Demons
Thursday 9 August 2012
Socrates once said “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think”. Now I am not sure if Mark Neeld is a fan of the classical Greek Athenian philosopher but this year Neeld and his brains trust have been spending all season getting the boys to think and play a different brand of football and the fruits of this labour were in full force on Saturday as the Mighty Demons flew out of the blocks and comprehensively beat the Gold Coast Suns.
I couldn’t believe the rumours last week that, given the GWS win, our proud club may contemplate ‘tanking’ to possibly finish last this season! What a loud of CRAP! as the game was over at quarter time and this time it was Melbourne that had all the play. I expected the Dees to win but six goals to zip at quarter time perhaps exceeded most supporters’ expectations.
Despite being elated with the win I am sure this is tainted with a hint of disappointment in that the margin was not greater – especially given the fact that the Suns’ bench showed a remarkably close resemblance to a bombed WW1 bunker by the end of the game. An interesting stat this year is that Melbourne have won 13 qtrs in the first half of this season but only 5 after half time and many put this down to experience and the youth of the list. This certainly wasn’t the case on the weekend when for only the second time this year our playing list had notched up more games than our opposition.
But hey!……I will take the win……in fact I will take ANY win and for only the third time this year I was happier than Matthieu Ricard! (a French Buddhist monk often reported to be the ‘happiest man on the planet’). The day started off on a great note with the announcement that two of our most talented players had committed to the Demons for a further three years! The signing of Nathan Jones and Jeremy Howe is fantastic news and really does show the faith that our players have with the direction the club is heading. Losing Jordie before the bounce made me a tad nervous but we had several players who lifted and ensured we came away with the 4 points. Let’s have a look at some of our key performances.
- Do I even need to tell you????….cue that algorithm!!…<INSERT NATHAN JONES> Jonesey celebrated his new contract with belting out 29 touches and 5 tackles to be our leading possession getter in just another ‘Bluey’ voting performance.
- Colin Sylvia has been in true Draft pick #3 form of late and picked up 24 disposals and capped off a great day with 2 goals.
- Talking about goals Brad Green finished with five and celebrated with vigour. I haven’t seen such high quality celebrations since Aussie was at the club!
- Brent Moloney is officially back in form with 24 possessions whilst our two co-captains, Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove and Tom McDonald and Jeremy Howe were all amongst our best players which was a Grand Old Day for the Mighty Demons.
- Lastly I am going to keep banging on about Jake ‘the pencil’ Spencer as I am absolutely loving the way he is going about his footy. He chases hard, he presents at contests and on the weekend managed his first senior AFL goal. He had the most hit outs on the ground and I am so happy to see the big man playing well.
This week it is the Saints – another ‘bogey’ side of late. The last time we beat St Kilda Brock McLean dominated in a memorable finals win. Well there won’t be finals this year and there definitely won’t be McLean running out in the Red and the Blue on Saturday but I sure the boys will be keen to make it two in a row as they strive to finish the season on a high note.
Go Dees
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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
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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
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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.
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Ivor Warne Smith at CHB!
Darren
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