POST MATCH DISCUSSION

[Deestroy All 14,266]

Gawn being knackered didn't help, probably should've thrown Fitzy in there, although he looked knackered too.

But anyway, we [censored] won. We played exciting football, took ripping marks, kicked ripping goals and laid some big tackles. Finally a match worth watching.

First time I've been impressed by Watts since he kicked that bullocking goal against Richmond.

Presented well, actually jumped into aerial contests, finished well, and that Leo Barry mark was the icing. A year and a half wasted under Neeld.

Toumpas' first half was stellar by foot. And that front on tackle on Cordy was a beauty.

No Gawny, no Melbourne.

Hopefully no more toeJamar.

Fitzy is more fun to watch than YouTube.

I love Chris Dawes. Not as much as Clark and Hogan, but I love him and his superman jumper.

Terlich is a [censored] ripper. Don't many (if any?) damaging turn overs today, great game.

Tommy the Mop is back. Yeah he does stupid things, but the solution is spread for him so he can kick it long to you.

That'll do. What a great day of footy watching.

Oh and I put a bit on a Port Adelaide/ Melbourne double. That should pay for the heart surgery that I need after that last quarter.

Edited June 29, 2013 by Deestroy All

[DEE fence 5,007]

I never want another priority pick ever

[tonatopia 278]

Is Todd viney responsible for hogan, terlich, Kent, matt jones jones and clisby?

If so, the fella is a gun!

[Slartibartfast 17,265]

Did Craigy mention that they were more experienced than us?

I just loved that the players seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Thank heavens for the fresh air.

[This Dangerous 93]

Daniel Nicholson had 17 disposals, 4 clearances, 6 marks and 11 tackles. I say we leave the kid in the guts.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

best day of my life (until we conceded 7 unanswered goals in the last 20 minutes)

took the shine off it big time.. wtf is wrong with us?

anyway.. apart from the obviously awesome performance of Watts, it was all the blokes that normally give us f-all.. rodan, davey, fitzpatrick, toumpas, dunn etc

just about everyone was good tonight (up until 10 minutes into the last)

been a long time since i've had the pleasure of saying that (up until 10 minutes into the last)

f-ck the fact i have to put that disclaimer in there

[RalphiusMaximus 6,048]

That was a pretty awesome night. Starting off with a big win in the women's game was good, but to see us finally put the doggies away was sooo sweet. I find it hard to really fault anyone who played tonight. There were a few cases of bad fumbles/overrunning the ball, but not as many as we usually see and we finally started to string together the possession chains that we normally screw up after two kicks.

I largely agree with the adulation being directed at Watts. He was very important tonight and played a huge role in the game. My one complaint is the point he kicked. It was the easiest shot he had all night, running into an open goal with no pressure, and he decided to run to the right and kick it sideways. All he needed to do was head directly at the goal and kick it forwards. Stupid play and not the first time he;s done it. Still, that is one relatively small issue in an otherwise really good game.

[DEE fence 5,007]

Post match press conference for Geelong, Freo and Dogs have been up for an hour

Still no sign of ours.

PJ please clean out our media department, they are bloody useless.

I normally ignore your ignorant crap, but this really got under my skin, our media people have been doing a damn fine job with little to work with.

[tonatopia 278]

i think neeld was giving the wrong messages to the players, he made 60 point losses into honorable losses, he also made it ok to lose just because you dont have experience, nothing honorable about 34 point lose

Neeld was just saying that shite to save his job. He was never anything but a good assistant coach at afl level.

Demonlanders were fooled In-mass. Results talk, bullshite walks.

[Pates 9,660]

I was working tonight so I missed the game but huge positive to take that we outplayed them for 3 quarters. Extremely disappointing that after all that work we let it go for 15min and almost lost it.

BUT I will always take a win. It was interesting to see Trengove after the game and he was clearly annoyed by how they finished, I'm sure he'll celebrate the win but he knows that that wasn't good enough.

I'll watch the game properly tomorrow but I'm happy the hear Watts played well and played a crucial part in the final minutes of the game. We know there's talent, slowly the desire is starting to match it.

At least for this week it's a grand old flag!

[DemonWorshipper 304]

Who knows? Our pathetic media department still havent uploaded it

Here:

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2013-06-30/postmatch-demons

[Adam The God 30,239]

Im happy we won but that last quarter makes it feel like a loss. Very happy with Watts tonight.

Agreed. Isn't it disappointing to walk away from one of our very few wins with a hollow feeling. That [censored] me off. The effort across the first three quarters was solid though. Also, before I discuss Watts and the rest of the team I think it's important to note the Garland love is through the roof at the moment. What a champ.

Meanwhile, tonight wasn't the night where Watts announced himself, but I can feel him building up to it. I just hope it's not one of those 'switch it on for contract talks' run of performances. The only flawless game Jack has played so far is the defensive game against Essendon last year. I can't wait to see him play one up forward. Just a few poor decisions and one-on-one's that let him down tonight. Incremental improvement though. Should have kicked 5.

A few observations across the rest of the ground:

* Howe needs to work waaaaaaay harder defensively. He's fast becoming a one-trick pony.

* Trenners played his best game for the year. His field kicking was efficient and his tackling as always was first rate.

* Chip was fantastic in defence and supplied much need offensive run.

* Our midfield was killed in the clearances all night, which makes it difficult to fathom how we actually won the thing. The fact that young Libba was the only Bulldog winning those clearances for three quarters probably helped.

* The Geelong model of counter attack from half back seemed to be the go. Garland, Frawley, Terlich (who needs to really work on his kicking - he gets it enough, just butchers it), Clisby (who needs to know his limitations) and Tommy Mac (see the former) provided great rebound out of defensive 50.

* Rodan was fantastic. Easily his best game for us, but not his only good game for the club. He's been pretty consistent as of late. Not only was he creative tonight, but he was instrumental in our ability to stifle the Bulldog midfield for three quarters. He probably kicked the goal of the year thus far too.

* The coaching staff really have to work on the decision making of Terlich and Matt Jones. They are both great readers of the play and can get into the right spots to receive, but their decision making is abysmal. First season players, okay. But if they can iron out those flaws they'll become very valuable members of our side going forward. I'd add Tommy Mac to this point too. What was he thinking at the end of the third? Know your limitations and start taking the right options. Really like him as a player though.

* Starting to get pretty excited by Toumpas. A couple of times tonight he showed great positioning, awareness and an ability to win the contested ball. Considering he doesn't have even a B grade midfield around him, he's beginning to look really, really promising. If we can get a few more hard bodied mids beside him to share the workload with Nathan Jones, he could develop into a really devastating ball user. Just think, young Jack Viney has barely played a game either. Really exciting. I just hope we can bring in one elite experienced midfielder over the summer. We'll also get another highly touted youngster.

* I thought Nathan Jones broke even in the end, but his disposal in the early part of the game was deplorable for someone of his experience and ability. He did improve as the game wore on though.

* Fitzy did a couple of nice things too. His kicking has certainly improved, while his height and mobility should trouble a few defences this year.

* Dawes also did well with his pretty ordinary supply at times. That strong mark and goal in the final quarter proved vital.

* My final thought: please get us a midfield!

Dan Nicholson detractors please eat your hats!

Thought he played his best game for the club. The disappointing thing is his man still kicked three and had at least 25 possessions. I felt Nicho, like many of his team mates, let his concentration slip in the last. We've got to work on this.

We play Sydney next week and whilst we may struggle a bit it is not that long ago that we beat them in Melbourne one Sunday afternoon. Let’s hope Goodes doesn’t play.

I think our fitness could be a problem based on the last quarter.

Sydney are also coming off a hard slog in the rain, against a tougher opponent than us. They also have the flight down south. I think that'll even itself out.

This might sound crazy but that last quarter might be good for them. The game is never won.

Totally agree. I had quite a strange viewing experience tonight. I was essentially hoarse at three quarter from all my shouting. For the entirety of the final quarter I was detached and somewhat hollow. I'd much prefer us having to slog out an entire game, rather than walk over the line easily at this stage in our development.

The thing that I was looking for from our guys was who would stand up under the pressure when things got tough. It was Garland, Frawley and Dawes. Sylvia attempted to have an impact but he just doesn't influence the game enough. He's the icing on the cake type. Our defence stood up in the last, but our midfield killed us. The all the goals came from midfield. Even those kicked by forwards. It was from direct clearances that were then impossible to defend against.

We have some work to do, but upon reflection I think this win will be really important going forward. It means little in the scheme of the ladder and the AFL season as a whole, but for us it's utterly psychological.

Mark Neeld sucked the life out if this list.

Neil Craig just might get it back.

We won tonight thankfully. The belief will come.

Mark Neeld what the F did you do for 18 months???????

An absolute dud. Thank whatever you believe in that he's gone. I hope he's instrumental in the continued stagnation of the Blues midfield next year too.

The umpires almost cost us the game by giving the Dogs free kick for Out on the full when it came off a Dog players leg, they goit a goal and cut the margin to 2 points.

Absolutely disgraceful effort by the maggots.

Great win, we are in much better shape than the Dogs who have absolutely no KPP's on their list that are worth a damn.

Great to see Gawny towel up that Minson loser.

Are you serious? We had a great run with the umpires tonight. That was a hopeless decision, but it more than evened itself out across the game. Personally, I could understand a few livid Dogs supporters.

And let's be honest with each other here. Maxy tried hard but was no match for Minson.

Edited June 30, 2013 by AdamFarr

[Red and Bluebeard 2,084]

That was a pretty awesome night. Starting off with a big win in the women's game was good, but to see us finally put the doggies away was sooo sweet. I find it hard to really fault anyone who played tonight. There were a few cases of bad fumbles/overrunning the ball, but not as many as we usually see and we finally started to string together the possession chains that we normally screw up after two kicks.

I largely agree with the adulation being directed at Watts. He was very important tonight and played a huge role in the game. My one complaint is the point he kicked. It was the easiest shot he had all night, running into an open goal with no pressure, and he decided to run to the right and kick it sideways. All he needed to do was head directly at the goal and kick it forwards. Stupid play and not the first time he;s done it. Still, that is one relatively small issue in an otherwise really good game.

Actually, he should have handballed over the top to Howe, who would have run into an open goal. At least we didn't lose by a couple of points (although we nearly did!)

[bananas 428]

The last quarter will have lessened the differential, but at 3/4 time I noticed that we were smashing them in uncontested marks. I'd hazard a guess that it's the first time this year we've won that stat, let alone won it comfortably.

Great indicator of the team working hard to spread and present options for each other, which leads to an increased ability to find those options (the skills today looked way better than they have in ages --- probably as much to do with bad Bulldogs defensive pressure as anything we did, but hell, it's a start).

[angrydee 842]

Minson 51 hit outs... Wow.

18 of them in the last qtr

[angrydee 842]

And our backline shat all over their key forwards. Who was Frawley even playing on?

We were rooted in the middle from the first bounce. Gawn is nowhere near fit enough to actually play as first ruck and Minson outplayed him in the centre square all night. Couple that with our two decent mids (Jones and Rodan), to the handful of very good players they had rotating through there, and you can see why it was always going to be a battle to win four quarters.

That we actually dominated 85% of the game is a huge credit to us and we should be happy with what we produced. We can build from this.

Anyone who doesn't think Neeld was ruining this team, is blind. We are a different side and guys like Watts are new players. It gives me hope when before I had none.

Disagree re Gawn 33 hit outs each to 3/4 time. Then Max ran out of condition.

edit: typo

Edited June 29, 2013 by angrydee

[NO MERGER 20]

Hi Guys, have just blogged some pics on my website from tonights match > http://www.theaussieword.com/2013/06/melbournefc-demons-win-thriller-over.html

Great win from the boys tonight - even though I suffered mild hyperthermia. Go Dees!

[RickyJ45 407]

i think neeld was giving the wrong messages to the players, he made 60 point losses into honorable losses, he also made it ok to lose just because you dont have experience, nothing honorable about 34 point lose

I think Neeld's internal message whether explicit or not (by behavior or management style) was more along the lines of "failure is not an option" which may not be the best mantra to bring up a young group of kids to trust their instincts and strive forward in a creative way

[RalphiusMaximus 6,048]

Hi Guys, have just blogged some pics on my website from tonights match > http://www.theaussieword.com/2013/06/melbournefc-demons-win-thriller-over.html

Great win from the boys tonight - even though I suffered mild hyperthermia. Go Dees!

Love the pic of Fitzpatrick. Must be a damn nice camera to get those close-ups that clear. Great work.

[P-man 13,366]

Good riddance.

Amen.

[P-man 13,366]

What a night. What a bizarre range of emotions this club puts you through. And I wouldn't have it any other way,

[DemonFrog 1,354]

best day of my life (until we conceded 7 unanswered goals in the last 20 minutes)

took the shine off it big time.. wtf is wrong with us?

anyway.. apart from the obviously awesome performance of Watts, it was all the blokes that normally give us f-all.. rodan, davey, fitzpatrick, toumpas, dunn etc

just about everyone was good tonight (up until 10 minutes into the last)

been a long time since i've had the pleasure of saying that (up until 10 minutes into the last)

f-ck the fact i have to put that disclaimer in there

The last 20 minutes was for Mark Neeld, as they all love that guy.

[Waltham33 475]

Elated to win all things considered. The last qtr was a fade out, a lot due to the fact Minson was destroying Gawn. Anyone else notice the Dogs had the same set up for ruck duels in their forward 50 in the last qtr and 4 goals directly resulted from it? Overall good to see th Dees playing positive attacking footy. Win or lose it is at least watchable.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,212]

The last quarter will have lessened the differential, but at 3/4 time I noticed that we were smashing them in uncontested marks. I'd hazard a guess that it's the first time this year we've won that stat, let alone won it comfortably.

Great indicator of the team working hard to spread and present options for each other, which leads to an increased ability to find those options (the skills today looked way better than they have in ages --- probably as much to do with bad Bulldogs defensive pressure as anything we did, but hell, it's a start).

Yep and Barry Hall said that the players were "knackered" as they came off the ground, a complete turnaround from earlier in the year against Port I think when he said they were hardly sucking oxygen at all.

[DemonFrog 1,354]

Anyone heard what the Dogs are now saying about their team?