BBQ at the Cammy
BBQ at The Cammy
Join the NSW Demons this Sunday at 12 midday for a bite to eat while talking footy with other Dees supporters. We are combining with the WCE supporters for a BBQ lunch at the Camelia Grove Hotel before the game against the West Coast Eagles.
Melbourne v Carlton – Round 20 Match Review
Melbourne v Carlton – Round 20 Match Review
By Darren Spence
Some at Carlton claimed the Dees play ‘bruise free’ footy but on Saturday we played ‘Blues free’ footy as the uncontested possession rate of Carlton rose at an exponential rate in line with the current US debt. The first 20 minutes of the game offered Demons supporters an optimistic ray of hope, however poor conversions and the Blues moving into another gear quickly snuffed out any chance of a fairytale start to Viney’s coaching career. In what possibly is a first, the game contained five Number 1 draft picks though the spectacle didn’t rise to any soaring heights. In my thinking we were missing either through injury or poor form arguably seven out of our best 22. For those interested the seven I am alluding to include the Russian, Grimes, LJ, Morton, Bail, Sylvia and Strauss (counting him due to time of injury). Especially the loss of the Russian through injury certainly didn’t help our cause as the Blues relentlessly cleared the ball at stoppages. Melbourne was smashed in the clearances and in what seems to be a recurring theme these days; our turnovers received full punishment whilst we failed to capitalize. The fact that we remained on par with Carlton on inside 50s for most of the game appears an anomaly as an eight goal to nil 2ndquarter ensured a Carlton win. Our shots for goal have not been too bad this year but you aren’t going to win too many games kicking 7.16! Let’s have a look at some of our better contributors for the game.
Lynden Dunn– since coming back into the seniors this lover of facial hair has been a solid contributor. He continues to provide a decent target up front and once again capitalized on his opportunities to kick 2 goals. A continuation of this form in the last four games would be the goal for Lynden and I for one hopes he achieves this as I firmly believe a fit and firing Dunn is a major asset for our team.
Col Garland– Col is often under rated by the football community but certainly not within the confines of the MFC. He is super consistent and rarely gets beaten. He is great over head both marking and spoiling and on Saturday read the play especially well causing multiple intercepts and turnovers.
Manlove 1update – Regular readers this year may recall an Ancient Arabic saying I quoted stating that the Pyramids fear Luke Tapscott; well I failed to take into consideration Stefan Martin’s ‘the most improved player in the league’ knee. His courage and attack on the footy sets the standard for the team and after taking 2 hard hits to the head Luke was carried off on a stretcher and off to the Epworth. From all reports he is fine but we will not know if he will be rested this week till closer to the game.
Manlove 2– The Gys continues to be amongst our top clearance men and was good around the stoppages on Saturday. Again playing against a top shelf midfield augurs well for his continued development.
Hounding Howe– People are really starting to take notice of this guy as he is going from strength to strength every game he plays. A mature age 33rdpick he is proving to be a great find for the club. His contested marking is exciting to watch and his disposals are good. As he grows in confidence you can see an improvement in his defensive skills as well. I for one am looking forward to seeing him play in the red and blue for many years to come. I salivate at the thought of both Howe and LJ roaming around the forward 50; you will be assured some great highlight packages!
Nathan Jones– Jonesy worked very hard on the weekend and provided good physicality at contests. He racked up the possessions himself and should be proud his game on Saturday.
Ricky Petterd– Ricky has been quite consistent the last few weeks. He again provided a dangerous target up forward and took some great contested marks. Another player who is looking to consolidate and finish the year on a good note.
James Strauss– I felt I needed to mention ‘Johann’ and wish him all the very best for a speedy recovery and to get back playing soon. His injury seemed to coincide with the Dees fortune as once Strauss left the field Carlton took over and we never gained the match lead again.
Jack Watts– ‘Killer’ was our best player. He kicked two goals (one a fantastic blind turn around Brock) and was solid in both offence and defence. He was moved back as a loose man in the back line and there took many marks and switched play very well.
We now look forward to this Sunday and a ‘home’ game against the Eagles at Etihad Stadium. Our record there rivals the success of Eddie the Eagle and this game provides a great challenge. I do give us a real chance – the availability of the Russian is a key; plus a win (unbelievably) keeps our finals chances alive!
Go Dees
Discombobulation and rebuilding faith.
Discombobulation and rebuilding faith.
by Darren Spence
37.11 on the 30.7.11. This was a quirky coincidence on a day which all Dees fans will want to quickly forget. I clearly remember the day way back in 1979 at Arctic Park watching Fitzroy belt us by 190 points. If I can still clearly remember that day sadly the horrors of the weekend seem destined to remain a nightmare for many years to come.
In the history of the league there have been some truly poor sides. Let’s look at some of them….
St. Kilda – lost their first 48 games in a row on entering the VFL competition. Ironically they won their first game by a point against the team that went on to win their first premiership that year – Melbourne. The Saints also have ‘won’ a record 26 wooden spoons in their history; twice as many as the next club.
University – the now defunct club was not very successful. They never finished higher than six in a 10 team comp, never played finals, lost their last 51 games in a row and in total lost 97 of the 126 games it competed in between 1908 and 1914.
Fitzroy – In 1996, its last year as a standalone team in the AFL, the Lions won one game and finished the season with a lowly percentage of 49.5%.
Sydney – in 1993 the Swans won one game for the year and averaged an astonishing 145 points against for the season.
There have been teams such as Hawthorn in 1928 and North Melbourne in 1934 that went winless throughout the entire season. It is fair to say that some of the teams mentioned above most likely would have struggled in the Diamond Valley football league but not one of them, in fact no other team (besides the Dees team in 1979) have even come close to suffering the ignominy of the loss inflicted on the Melbourne Football Club on Saturday. University even with its poor record was never beaten by 100 points (the only team to have achieved this feat).
The Demons proudly display 12 stars on the back of their jumper denoting the number of premierships we have won. This feat makes a mockery of long standing clubs such as Footscray and St.Kilda who have only won one each. Yes we ourselves have put some ordinary teams on the park over the course of history; matching our premiership wins we have ‘won’ 12 wooden spoons. Relatively recently we managed one win during the 1981 season. Our current side is no comparison. We have an exciting developing team, capable of matching any side on their day and that’s why it hurts so much, that’s why still to this day I am discombobulated and am yet to fathom how we let it happen!
I am not going to prolong the suffering by mentioning any more about the weekend and I am certainly not going to sycophantically deal out gratuitous player highlights after that performance but I will make a few comments about our outgoing coach. From all reports Dean is a great bloke and he certainly had the support of his players. I really do feel sorry for him as he has spent all his time as coach building up a side that is one day able to compete for a flag and he unfortunately will not be around to reap the rewards of his hard work. That’s tough. I truly hope Dean gets another appropriate gig in the AFL as I am unequivocal in my belief that he still has a great deal to offer the AFL.
OK this Saturday we are up against the Blues. This game was always destined to have that extra bit of spice after the comments made by Mitch Robinson that the Dees played ‘bruise free’ footy. Bailey at the time said they team would not forget those comments any time soon and I am sure it will be mentioned by Todd during the week or before the game. But from a game having a bit of spice it is now laced with Bhut Jolokia chili pepper! This is a game you just do not want to miss. How the boys react will go along way to defining their character and begin the task of rebuilding faith back into their long suffering supporters. Join us to watch the game at 2.10pm tomorrow at the Camelia Grove Hotel – Melbourne v Carlton Live on the Big Screen.
See you there.
Go Dees.
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