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Darren
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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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An unwavering passion
Some may say it was ‘only’ against GWS but their form of late has been sound and the demolition job our boys imposed upon the newbies I am certain will be the precursor of our return to our rightful place of ‘Masters of the MCG’. In a win of this magnitude it isn’t difficult to find players whose performances warrant mention but as it has been all year some Demons continue to stand up week in week out.
To save myself time I have written an algorithm whenever I begin by mentioning our highest disposal winner {INSERT NATHAN JONES HERE}. Jonesey finished with a game high 33 touches and once again was arguably our best player on the day.
No more knockers for Jack Watts! He is having an amazing year and 27 possessions and 7 marks across the half back line was another great game. It isn’t just the amount of touches he gets its the way he uses it that has many Dee fanatics salivating at the mouth.
Matthew Bate had his best game for the year with 28 touches, Jack Grimes continues his rich vein of form getting his hands on the ball 26 times and Colin Sylviawould be pleased with his return to form with 23 disposals and 2 goals.
Mark Neeld continues to show just how good a coach he is and his move to play Jared Rivers up forward to further help out Mitch Clark paid off in spades with ‘Old Man’ kicking a career high 4 goals. Col Garland kicked 3 and not to be out done, Mitch Clark also kicked 4 all in the first quarter! Sadly we will miss Mitch for the rest of the year but Neeld’s masterstroke at least gives us confidence that we have some capable options for what is an almost impossible player to replace.
Moving two of our key defenders up forward has also had another huge benefit. It has given Tom McDonald the opportunity to show the football world just what he is all about. And show them he has! 26 touches on Sunday has seen him rewarded with the Rising Star nomination for the week. A fitting reward for a rising star for the mighty Demons. Talking about rising stars, a final mention to Jeremy Howe who had another outstanding game and who Neeld has mentioned has the ability to be an elite midfielder.
This week it is the Lions. Brisbane are coming off a great win and the boys are sure to be smarting after losing to them in Round 1 this year so this game will be a cracker! Can we make it two in a row??? Of course we can!!!
Go Dees
Darren Spence
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Melbourne v Collingwood – a view from abroad
Well things didn’t exactly start out as planned. Recently arrived in Jakarta I headed to a pub that I knew showed AFL without fail. Strolling in I confidently went up to the owner and asked him to please put on the footy. The conversation went sorta like this…
“sorry Sir it is a Monday – no AFL on a Monday only Friday and weekends”
“No it is the Queens birthday…public holiday big football game”
“Queens birthday?”
“Yeah Queen of England…in Australia we get a public holiday to celebrate her birthday”
“It is the Queens’ birthday today?”
“No actually it is in April but….”
“But today is June?….” (now I really had no answer for this and my patience was now running thin!)
“LOOK CAN YOU JUST CHECK TO SEE IF IT IS ON!!
Success!!!….he found the game and just as soon as I finally got a smile on my face it was quickly evaporated as to my horror we were 6 goals down. As I said….things didn’t start out exactly as planned. I hate watching games where the result is pretty much decided early in the match but things did get better the longer the game went on. Clearly Neeld would not have been happy with the end result however he would have been pleased the way the boys played after quarter time. 6 of the next 7 goals is as good as any club has done against the Pies and the fact the boys fought on is enough to continue to offer hope for the club – albeit we didn’t come away with the win.
On a day where the Demons left without the points we did have some solid contributors:
- I have been ‘hounding’ Howe for over a year now and he rarely lets me down. 5 contested marks in the first half, 7 for the match, our first goal and 2 for the game was a fantastic effort.
- Absolutely NO bonus points for who had our most possessions on the day! Yes again it was Nathan Jones! 31 disposals was again a fantastic effort. Perhaps the club can save some money and just give him the ‘Bluey’ now…he is winning it by a street.
- Again no bonus points for our leading goal kicker on the day……once again Mitch Clark…he finished with 4 and once again he can hold his head up high.
- Jack Grimes (with 25 touches), Cale Morton and Jack Watts all deserve a mention on a day the club would wish they could play the first quarter again.
This week
After the bye last week, we are back at the ‘G’ and this time against the newbies GWS. For probably the first time this year we will start favourites and I clearly don’t need to spell out why this game will take on extra significance. I clearly don’t but I clearly will….
Rumour has it that it wasn’t an earthquake in Melbourne this week but actually Tom Scully and his fat wallet landing at Tullarmarine. $cully had the audacity this week to claim that he ‘left a while a go now and that people would have gotten over his defection”…..YEAH RIGHT……He will get booed and rightly so!. Not one normally to endulge in schadenfreude I actually hope we fail to hear 1 solitary boo on Sunday….this means he doesn’t get a single touch. I am disappointed Tappy got himself suspended as a few hard, tough ‘legal’ tackles on him would clearly make my day.
I say all this but actually, perhaps paradoxically, I am glad he took the money and ran for more than 1 reason. Most importantly if we had Scully today the facts are we wouldn’t have Mitch Clark and I certainly know who I would rather have in our team! Also we have graciously accepted 2 first round draft picks for his loss and with a so called ‘super draft’ this year, coupled with the coming of Jack Viney we are going to be in a great position to further lay the platform of a great side.
So good riddance Scully and go Dees!
Darren Spence
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His palms are sweaty…
There was another celebration going on over the course of the weekend and this was the Queens Diamond Jubilee. A fantastic effort by Her Majesty and across Great Britain they celebrated in style. Amongst the events included:
- a 1000 boat flotilla on the River Thames
- a star studded concert outside Buckingham Palace
- fireworks displays and gun salutes everywhere.
Now I did mention it was a fine achievement by HRH but surely the Demon win is up there with it and deserved a similar celebration? I contacted the AFL on Monday with a recommendation that this week see the following events staged in commemoration of beating the equal top side on the ladder:
- a re-enactment of RDB walking on water across the Yarra
- Mark Neeld in a tinny waving to fans as he goes underneath Flinders St bridge
- a pig shooting display by Rodney ‘Balls’ Grinter
- Steve ‘Strawbs’ O’Dwyer letting off fireworks as the players run onto train at AAMI Park
- and finally Russell Robertson singing ‘It’s A Grand Old Flag’ outside Windy Hill whilst the Bombers train.
But back to Saturday night. In what can only be described as a tough and dour contest, we saw our beloved Demons get over the line by 6 points and lift us off the bottom of the ladder. There are many players (if not all!) that deserve a special mention this week but my first goes to our coach Mark Neeld. This poor bloke has been treated worse than Anders Breivik by some corners of the media in recent weeks and I am perhaps most happy for him that we won on the weekend. He has stuck to his guns when it comes to his game plan yet been flexible enough to play players out of their ‘normal’ positions where team match ups suit – Jack Watts and Colin Garland are 2 obvious examples of this.
Jack Watts picked up 24 possessions, 7 marks and laid 4 tackles roaming across the half back line and is now showing the football world that he can indeed play this game! Much conjecture has been made over the fact that we should have chosen Michael Hurley over ‘Killer’ – now Hurley will be a good player but I certainly know who I would rather have had on Saturday night in my team!
Colin Garland took a game high 11 marks, kicked 2 crucial goals and accumulated 20 touches in a rare game up forward. He probably was the difference between the sides in the end with goals in the game coming at a high premium. A master stroke by Mark Neeld and I am sure we will see more of Colin up forward to provide us more flexibility and perhaps more experience to Tom McDonald playing on opposition A grade forwards.
Nathan Jones – now I might just cut and paste from every other report this year! Our highest possession getter and he kicked a goal. To top it off he laid 9 tackles on Saturday night and boy I love watching him play.
Jack Grimes also had 26 touches and he is now stringing some great games together.
Jeremy Howe had another solid game with 24 disposals, whilst Brent Moloney, Daniel Nicholson and Jack Trengove also impressed me on the night. Once again Jordie McKenzieclaimed another high quality scalp restricting Brent Stanton to only 23 possessions and a final mention to James Sellar who played his best game for the red and blue on Saturday night picking up 18 touches and taking 6 marks.
I could go on and probably mention another dozen or so players who are stiff to get a mention but oh what the heck…….Jared Rivers, Cale Morton, Mitch Clark, Tom McDonald, Luke Tapscott, Brad Green, Lynden Dunn, Joel McDonald, James Magner, Mark Jamar, Colin Sylvia and Sam Blease – you all get a mention this week! I am so happy!
This week it is the QB clash with long-time rivals Collingwood. Our win on the weekend will throw more fuel onto what is always a fiery clash with the Pies. Let’s hope we can make it 2 in a row!
Go Dees
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