Not exactly to plan but not all bad news

August 30, 2012 by sally
Filed under: NSW Demons

by Darren Spence

Well that didn’t exactly go to plan. Brad Green’s last game, Chippa’s 100th, a decent recent record against the Crows, at a ground they have struggled to win of late. A good start saw Greeny put the Dees in front late in the first quarter but then, just like a kid at Xmas opening up his present with wide eyed anticipation only to find another pair of jocks and socks, it was a disappointing finish to what was supposed to be a day of celebration.

But hey it wasn’t all bad news in the penultimate round of the home and away season! Three of my favourite clubs, Collingwood, ‘Essedon’ and Carlton all lost on the weekend with the latter two clubs now confirmed to be enjoying September in the stands. All three clubs are going through their own respective ‘crises’ be it trying to sign up key players, missing the finals, an unprecedented soft tissue injury count or a coach under siege and it couldn’t happen to three better clubs. For once it isn’t the Demons on the back page for all the wrong reasons and I am smiling. I am smiling as for once the Melbourne Football Club is showing consistent signs of stability both on and off the field and, well let’s be frank, the three above mentioned clubs are the antithesis of this. Hah!

But back to the game on the weekend and, as I mentioned, we came out of the blocks first. In fact we were still well and truly in the game midway through the 2nd quarter but the 3rd quarter was far from our finest with the Crows piling on 10 goals to put the game well and truly to bed. Statistic wise the game didn’t mirror the score line – the Demons matched the Crows in inside 50s and had more disposals on the day. But alarmingly the Crows in ‘red time’ (after the 20-minute mark) of each of the opening three quarters outscored the Demons 9.6 to 0.2! This surely would have been a key area of frustration amongst the Dees brains trust. Our ability to run out games and indeed quarters has been a problem all year and it is clear the boys need another solid pre-season to build up their fitness base and properly adapt to the new game plan set in place.

Despite the loss we did have some very good performances on the day:

The standout was Colin Sylvia. A game high 34 disposals was a fantastic effort. Colin had an interrupted pre-season and his form, particularly in the back half of the year, has been outstanding and he is showing the football world just why he was taken #3 in the draft.
Nathan Jones racked up 25 touches coupled with 8 clearances and a goal in another ‘Bluey’ voting effort.
Jack Grimes continues with this sublime form collecting 23 possessions in what undoubtedly has been his best year at the club.
Rohan Bail also played a good game and easily was in our best players finishing up with 22 disposals and a team high six inside 50s.

Talking about finishing up – well our season comes to an end on Saturday with a road trip to Perth to take on the Dockers. We played very well (well for three quarters anyway) against Freo not that long ago and the boys are sure to take some heart from this. I am positive the Demons will want to finish the season on a high note and what better way than to break our hoodoo over in Perth and put a hiccup in the Dockers preparations for the finals by capturing a win!

Go Dees

Darren Spence

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