Demons 101
Well Saturday started off on a perfect note.
A beautiful autumn day in Sydney preceded what turned out to be a wonderful NSW Demons function. A large contingent descended on the Bavarian Cafe in Fox Studios to listen to an amazing array of guest speakers from the inner sanctum of the MFC. These people gave up their collective valuable time to support the NSW Demons fraternity and the speeches were all extremely enlightening.
Chris Connolly was our MC for the event and gave us a great insight into some of the inequities that currently exist in ground receipts and the hard work the administration of the club has been doing behind the scenes to rectify this and even up the playing field. Max Gawn spoke of how they were’ smashed’ during pre-season, life adjusting to the new game plan, how the new leadership group is starting to gel together and how his rehabilitation is coming along. Don McLardy spoke about our new sponsors and how important it is for supporters to stick with the team and how the whole board has utmost faith in Mark Neeld and the new coaching group.
Finally we had Josh Mahoney and Neil Craig talk about a myriad of topics, from how the players are keeping themselves motivated through goal setting, that morale is surprisingly high and a more thorough insight into our new style of play. All guest speakers were highly accommodating, answered all questions asked and goes to show that the club does value us up here in the harbour city. Overall the function was an almighty success and most of this was down to the diligent hard work put in by Sally and I personally would like to say thank you to her. So thanks Sal.
However this is where the ‘great’ part of the day ended as sadly we were smashed by the Swans in what can only be described as a disappointing effort (insert more vivid adjective here of your own choosing)!. The game was truly over before the Dees even got out of the blocks. So much so that whilst my good mate Ted and I were lucky enough to be holding up the banner pre-game during the players warm up, a stray ball came my way. I picked it up and passed it to Jack Trengove – if you look at our stats at quarter time I am pretty sure I was one of few in Demons gear that had an effective kick against my name at this time!
There were few highlights to come out of the game from our perspective though Jack Watts and Sam Blease both arguably played their best game in Melbourne colours on what really was a dark night for the Melbourne Football Club. It would be remiss of me not to mention Jeremy Howe who surely took mark of the year with his fantastic leap. I am not sure (but I think I read it somewhere on the internet so it must be true) that Howe’s hang time was so long that some supporters arrived back at Tullamarine before he landed on the SCG turf.
I mentioned earlier that Don McLardy made a plea to supporters to stick by the club during these tough times and to pay homage to our 101 point loss I thought I would help our President out and give you all 101 reasons why you should stick with and support the Melbourne Football Club. So here is my Demons 101:
- What else are you going to talk about on Monday around the proverbial water cooler?
- So you have to keep watching sport – it’s in your blood – so are you going to change sports? Don’t believe all the rhetoric about Rugby being the game they play in heaven! Somehow I just can’t see St. Peter being tagged a hooker.
- Rugby League – PLEASE!…..You are kidding!
- So you have to follow AFL – now you can’t possibly support the same side that Joffa follows!
- How can you possibly sing a theme song that starts – da da da da………..that makes me want to throw up!
- Don’t think you can sell all your Demon gear on E-Bay either – the way we are going at the moment you probably couldn’t give the stuff away!
- How could you sleep at night leaving big Jimma with all his hard work on increasing membership being stripped away?
Well it isn’t quite 101 reasons but you get my point. Stick with us – the ride may be bumpy but it will be so worth it in the end – I promise you.
This leads me on to this week’s game and it is the Blues on Sunday. The Blues have some injury concerns and I certainly hope for a good showing and I so desperately want us to win – for no other reason so that I just don’t have to listen to da da da da ANYMORE!
Go Dees
Darren Spence
Meet Don McLardy in Sydney at the NSW Demons Lunch
Join us to meet and talk footy with MFC President Don McLardy at the NSW Demons Match Day Lunch this Saturday. Neil Craig, Chris Connolly, Josh Mahoney and Max Gawn are also coming along to talk with us about the Dees and to answer all your burning questions. We have signed MFC Guernseys for auction, great raffle prizes to be won and we will start the afternoon with the Grand Old MFC Trivia Quiz!
Bookings are essential and can be made at http://www.trybooking.com/BJOJ
WHERE: Bavarian Bier Café, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park
TIME: 12.00 noon
COST: $60 for adults (includes a 2 course meal), $30 for children under 12
For more information contact Sally Trevena on 0409 783 318 or sally@nswdemons.com or go to Events on our website www.nswdemons.com
Darren’s Review – Things Could Be Worse
Last Week – Things Could Be Worse
Things could be worse. Yes we are officially the first foundation team from the VFL/AFL to be 18th on the ladder but things could really be worse. You could, for instance:
- Follow Manchester United – who had the EPL premiership ripped from their grasp with essentially the last kick of the season.
- You could play for the Genoa football club, an Italian professional team, who in the midst of a bitter struggle to starve off relegation, recently lost 4 -1 which then resulted in their fans jumping a perspex fence and chasing their players around the pitch demanding that the remove their shirts as they didn’t believe they were fit to wear them.
- You could be a Greek politician trying to hold their fragile economy in one piece.
- You could be on the board of JP Morgan Chase wondering where on earth $2 billion went.
- You could be Nicolas Sarcozy, a man clearly punching above his playing weight, who has just been booted out of the French Presidency.
- You could be Jason Akermanis – who….well is Jason Akermanis.
So could things could be much worse than being a Melbourne supporter right now. On the big stage of Friday night football it is fair to say that the boys would be mightily disappointed with their efforts. We certainly took a backward step after making some considerable improvements over the previous weeks. Once again Mitch Clark could hold his head up high with 3 first quarter goals. He truly has been a leading light for the club this year – heaven knows where we would be getting our goals without him! Nathan Jones is another who I keep mentioning week in week out and again he played well against the Hawks leading our disposal count. The fact that he was the only Demon player on the night to win over 20 possessions (he had 21) says a lot about our performance. (As a comparison the Hawks had 12 players accumulate 20 possessions or more). You aren’t going to win too many games with statistics like that!
This Week
So we move onto this weekend and it is the Swannies in the Indigenous round. This week they are celebrating 30 years since the Swans first played at the SCG – a game incidentally that I went to all those years ago. We lost that day but this week the Swans have some injury concerns and I am certain that Neeld and his crew will have the boys totally fired up and it is sure to be a cracking game.
Go Dees
Comparisons make life simple
Last week
People like comparisons. They make life simple – they make – well – comparing things easy. So here is a comparison for you. Game for game versus last year’s premiers’ we are a 143 point better side this year. Yes I know all you spoil sports out there will point at all the fallacies in my argument like how half the team this year is completely different and the coaching department is almost totally new but the facts remain the same – yes we didn’t win but we continued to move positively in the right direction last week and, let’s be honest, we can’t ask more than continuous improvement week in week out.
Besides not getting wiped off the planet like last season there were other positives that came out of the game on Saturday. For the first time this year, and against one of the toughest competitors, we came out in front on contested possession. Contested possession is one of the key barometers to success and this is a huge plus for us and something we can continue to build on over the course of the year. There were also some very good players on the day and let’s look at some of them.
I have to start with MITCH CLARK. 4 goals on return after nearly capitating himself is fantastic in anyone’s book. He continues to lead (metaphorically and literally) on the ground and I really can’t extol his virtues enough so far this year.
CALE MORTON – Cale is often maligned with the Melbourne faithful but his return to the side this year has seen him in perhaps the best form of his career. On the weekend he collected 20 possessions and was easily in our best players in my opinion.
CHIPPA FRAWLEY – Just how good is this bloke? Tom Hawkins has been eating first class defenders for breakfast since last years’ grand final and to keep him to 1 goal on the afternoon and pick up 19 possessions himself was a great effort.
Whilst starting on the bench caused more than a murmur amongst some commentators, our 2 skippers both played great games topping the stats list for our boys.
Special mentions this week to some all familiar regulars in this report this year. HOUNDING HOWE – took his obligatory hanger on Saturday and worked hard all day. TOM ‘RONALD’ MCDONALD continued to impress and lay claims to a permanent spot in our defence. Finally NATHAN JONES – he battled hard all day, hit the scoreboard again with 2 goals and continues to provide enormous drive through our midfield.
This week
This week we are on the big stage….Friday night football is back for the might Demons and it is another tough one – this time against the Hawks. I am certainly looking forward to this game and will watch with anticipatory hope that we continue our improvement and you never know – we just may sneak away with a win.
And next week
Before the Melbourne v Sydney game join us for our Sydney Match Day Lunch with Special Guests Neil Craig, Josh Mahoney, Chris Connolly and Max Gawn. The NSW Demons Match Day Lunch is at the Bavarian Bier Café, Moore Park on Saturday 19 May from 12 noon to 3.30pm.
Bookings are essential and can be made at http://www.trybooking.com/BJOJ
Go Dees
Darren Spence
Sydney Match Day Lunch Special Guests Neil Craig, Josh Mahoney, Chris Connolly and Max Gawn
We will be joined by Chris Connolly who will MC the event and guest speakers MFC coaches, Neil Craig and Josh Mahoney and exciting young ruckman Max Gawn.
Bookings are essential and can be made at http://www.trybooking.com/BJOJ
WHERE: Bavarian Bier Café, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park
TIME: 12.00 noon
COST: $60 for adults (includes a 2 course meal), $30 for children under 12
Get up close and personal with players and coaches of the MFC whilst enjoying a meal and some drinks before the Swans game with die hard Demons supporters. An autographed MFC jumper will be raffled on the day along with other prizes.
Q&A – send in questions that you would like answered. We will make a selection of the questions most people want answered and also the most interesting! You will need to be at the lunch to hear the answers!
For more information contact Sally Trevena on 0409 783 318 or sally@nswdemons.com
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