Sorry if someone else has posted about this but one of links shown at the end of the vid about Pedersen was for this game. It's fantastic viewing if you're missing football.

Not a bad side....It all fell apart after that and would not have even remotely foreseen the nightmare years that were to come.

Here's the Demonland match review from that game written by WJ - http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/4636-the-boxing-match/

This was the game we all thought McLean would be an all time great for the club.

A very unexpected win given our previous finals performances of 04 and 05.

How good was Daniel Ward?

Wardy always copped it on here. I never understood why. He ran hard his entire career

An excellent foot soldier.

Wardy always copped it on here. I never understood why. He ran hard his entire career

An excellent foot soldier.

Agree - I think he bagged 4 goals on the run one day against the Lions??

Ran hard and kicked long.

Wardy always copped it on here. I never understood why. He ran hard his entire career

An excellent foot soldier.

yeah agree as well Ward was a good solid player

I was listening to this game in the Chinese countryside on a live stream on the internet. At the time, I would never have guessed that this would have been the last time we would be 'good'.
Since then I have lived in two other different countries and have completed a masters degree. Hopefully, next year will be the start of the rise of the Demon!

This game features an absolutely awesome tackle by Nathan Carroll on Fraser Gehrig, around the 56 minute mark. One of the best I've seen. It's a shame what has transpired for both the club and that particular individual since then.

What an exciting style of game was played. Am I right that the game now is not so free flowing? On another thread they are talking about how dangerous Dipper was but if I was a Saint I'd be looking over my shoulder because of Byron Pickett. There was a real air of danger about him and he could play.

What an exciting style of game was played. Am I right that the game now is not so free flowing?

We finished up best of the Victorian teams that year and our style was free flowing but look at our side that night. Who were our "star" players, what were their attributes and where did they go from here?

MELBOURNE

B: Whelan Carroll Holland

HB: Bruce Rivers Ward

C: Green McLean Johnstone

HF: Yze Miller Bate

F: Robertson Neitz Davey

FOLL: White Jones McDonald

IC: Bell Jamar Pickett Sylvia

EMG: Brown Dunn Read

IN: Holland Pickett Whelan

OUT: Bartram Godfrey Motlop

Football was going in a completely different direction to the attractive free flowing game that the traditionalists admire. That year's grand finallists were the Eagles and the Swans. The former had classy midfielders like Judd, Cousins and Kerr who would run both ways all day and the latter known for its relentless defensive style.

Soon after we beat the Saints they sacked coach Grant Thomas and appointed Ross Lyon, direct from the Swans, in his place. Lyon changed the style of the team bringing in the concept of the press involving forward pressure, midfield zone defence and pushing numbers behind the ball which had his team overtake Geelong for much of 2009 only to fall narrowly to them in the grand final. Collingwood adapted the Saints' style further in 2010 with a brilliant midfield and just pipped then in the grand final that year.

Meanwhile, we headed south under Daniher in 2007 and chose Dean Bailey to replace him. With the dominant style of game evolving at St. Kilda, Collingwood and Hawthorn and Geelong having a team brilliant enough to counter those teams in most years in this era, Bailey didn't have the cattle to compete and his more simple, outdated game style was no match for these sides. We caught the Swans in 2010 and perhaps had a bad break with Davey's injury late that year against the Hawks but free flowing football was never going to do it for the Melbourne sides that followed after that night in September 2006.

Not only did we stop beating most of the other Victorian teams and we can't win at Etihad but we have struggled to win games outside of our state. Our wins have been confined to a handful of games against lowly Victorian teams, home games against struggling interstaters and the early matches of the new franchises.

I'll leave it to others to analyse the team from that final win over the Saints if they wish but, knowing what we know now, it should have been no surprise that we went tragically downhill from there onwards.

A lot of our players eg. White, Neitz, Robertson, Yze and Johnstone (although moved to Brisbane) were reaching the end of their careers.

Inadequate recruiting over previous years also stated to catch up with us.

There were many factors which contributed to the demise.

Was this the game that cost Grant Thomas his career?

I watched the first quarter last night and it amazing the things you forget i.e: Jones with hair, Mclean could at one stage cover the ground well, Neitz was better than most give credit. Neitz, Yze, Davey and Green aside we had a core group of mature bodied role players and some promising kids in Bell, Jones, Sylvia and Mclean at the bottom end. Jones aside the others never developed as required and our picks to replace those that left aside from Frawley were poor. Even then we never had a premium mid that could lead the way and still haven't found one.

For me it wasn't that the game style changed as through the last 7 years various styles have taken teams to the top. It was we recruited and developed poorly to bridge the gap of those quality players that made up the structure of the side.

B: Whelan Carroll Holland
HB: Bruce Rivers Ward
C: Green McLean Johnstone
HF: Yze Miller Bate
F: Robertson Neitz Davey
FOLL: White Jones McDonald
IC: Bell Jamar Pickett Sylvia
EMG: Brown Dunn Read

Looking at the side it had a fair amount of older players reaching the end of their careers but also a number of players that were promising but never continued their upward trend into becoming A-graders or stars. Dunn, Bell, Bate, Miller, Sylvia and McLean were all meant to be a part of the core to take us on to the next phase. Sylvia became a good (but inconsistent) "servant", Dunn a workhorse journeyman, McLean we all know about, and the rest faded into oblivion. Of all that group I wouldn't have picked Dunn to be the only one still playing for the Dees.

Mclean, Bate, Jones, Sylvia, Bell... after that night i thought these guys were our future to lead us forward.. I really thought Mclean was going to be a genuine superstar.

Travis Johnstone is right up there with Davey as one of the best kicks i have ever seen.

I do miss the Daniher years.

This game was the beginning of the end of the Daniher era. However, the end of that era should never be confused with being the cause of our current day troubles. Nearly all clubs go through troughs. It's not a problem to go through a 'flat' period, it's how you manage that flat period. It's all about stemming the bleeding from that period while creating a new era of stars in the meantime. It's about showing faith in the blokes who have showed faith in you in the past. If those blokes want to move onto other clubs for a chance at a premiership then so be it but chances are if you have a good club culture, they will want to hang about to help the next generation emerge. If they are past it or getting to the end of their tenure, they should be treated like men and not like slabs of meat.

That kind of club culture was impossible to bring about from 2008 on wards. I'll let others make up their minds as to why.

This game was the beginning of the end of the Daniher era. However, the end of that era should never be confused with being the cause of our current day troubles. Nearly all clubs go through troughs. It's not a problem to go through a 'flat' period, it's how you manage that flat period. It's all about stemming the bleeding from that period while creating a new era of stars in the meantime. It's about showing faith in the blokes who have showed faith in you in the past. If those blokes want to move onto other clubs for a chance at a premiership then so be it but chances are if you have a good club culture, they will want to hang about to help the next generation emerge. If they are past it or getting to the end of their tenure, they should be treated like men and not like slabs of meat.

That kind of club culture was impossible to bring about from 2008 on wards. I'll let others make up their minds as to why.

Yeah Draft Picks destroyed this club, sometimes you need to trade them for established players, Blease and Strauss picks should've been traded for established midfielders as should've the Tapscott and Gysberts picks, if Bailey did that we would've risen up the ladder quickly, that's how the Swans would've played it.

Yeah Draft Picks destroyed this club, sometimes you need to trade them for established players, Blease and Strauss picks should've been traded for established midfielders as should've the Tapscott and Gysberts picks, if Bailey did that we would've risen up the ladder quickly, that's how the Swans would've played it.

Or we could have picked up Shuey, Zaharakis, Talia and Fyfe.

This game was the beginning of the end of the Daniher era. However, the end of that era should never be confused with being the cause of our current day troubles.

So if Daniher left us in a such good place, why did the Board sack him?

So if Daniher left us in a such good place, why did the Board sack him?

Groan...

Neale's time at the club was up. He had been a good coach for 7-8 years he had been at the club but like everyone, sometimes if you have been a particular environment too long then your impact can be minimized. He had gotten the most he could have gotten out of that list and come 2007, it was obvious another rebuild was on the cards. While ND had already overseen two rebuilds of the club in his time there and while they both produced varying amounts of success, it was questionable whether he could do another one and take us to a flag.

Other long term coaches have left clubs as they have hit a flat spot but those clubs have managed to turn it around. Our biggest mistake in 2008 was listening to that chucklehead Mark Maclure, a bloke who admitted to Mike Sheehan that he just says stuff to get headlines, when he branded us a basketcase. Things weren't great to be sure but with some astute drafting, some recruits who were there to fill a need for the medium term and a progressive phase in of the kids, it needn't have turned out as bad as it did. The problem was never that ND stuffed the club, it was that the rebuild was totally botched.

Kevin Sheedy was sacked at Essendon in 2007 as well. Does that mean his entire 27 year career at the Bombers was a write off?

Yeah Draft Picks destroyed this club, sometimes you need to trade them for established players, Blease and Strauss picks should've been traded for established midfielders as should've the Tapscott and Gysberts picks, if Bailey did that we would've risen up the ladder quickly, that's how the Swans would've played it.

I don't think it's either or. While we are a great example of what happens if you rely entirely on youth, there are examples of clubs who have shunned the draft, just traded for/bought experienced players and ended up in the s***e. Carlton of the mid 90's through to the early noughties is a great example.

The problem was that we bought in all these kids and threw them to the wolves before they were ready to play.

I was at that match. Remembering Gehrig getting caught by Carroll, and stuffing himself in the process still brings a smile to my face.

I remember that night, just, iwas in a dogdy pub in Hobart, got very drunk and played a lot of you am I and gunners on the juke box.

I was in a park in Lisbon getting regular updates on my phone.