Post Match Discussion - Round 12 (never in doubt)

[DemonOX 8,786]

Was first thing I did ..... blah blah blah "none of our players turned up to play today". Yeah that would be because we didn't let them buddy

Don't spoil it for me YD!!

[The team we love 416]

I woke up this morning after dreaming an under-manned Dees fought out a gutsy win at the Cattery. Then I picked up the paper and it confirmed we had a great win. Bloody ecstatic!!

[DeeZee 7,363]

This group of youngsters reminds of 1987 where we had a great list of players coming through like Stynes, Lyon, Schwarz,Neitz,Viney etc... Gawn, Hogan Brayshaw, Stretch, Neil Bullen, Vandenberg,Petracca,Kent ,McDonald etc.. Are the future, and it's happening now.

No looking back now, believe in this team, they want success.

We have a game plan and some good players to implement it.

We also have some experience and leadership now with Jones, Vince,Cross,Lumumba,Dawes,Dunn ec. , and some good coaches who provide a consisitent message and stability.

[Ethan Tremblay 30,826]

Schwarz and Neitz didn't get recruited until the 90's but yes I agree completely. Had the same thoughts this morning.

[rjay 24,887]

I sat right behind the bench this game and it game me an interesting perspective.

First of all, the players were aware of how long was left in the quarter at all times. Obviously a massive focus this week and hilariously still yelling "1 minute left" when we were 4 goals up in the last quarter which prompted a geelong supporter to yell out at Millsy "relax, you've got this."

Secondly you realise how important and Vocal Jones and Watts are even off the field. Both players dont sit down on their breaks, preferring to stand up and coach/encourage on the sidelines. Watts doesn't shut up on the boundary. Great to see.

And lastly i was really impressed with how composed and relaxed they all were off the field. They really seemed quietly confident that it was their day.

So great being in Geelong for this massive win for the club. You could hear a pin drop when walking out of the ground. No one in the stadium including the geelong players rated us any chance, and it was just a massive middle finger up at them performing the way we did. Great Great win.

Watts is really coming of age, you can see it in how he is very instructive in set ups around the clearances now.

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

Schwarz and Neitz didn't get recruited until the 90's but yes I agree completely. Had the same thoughts this morning.

Didnt you say there were Geelong supporters at your work? Hope you are giving it to em this morning....I have 1 at mine and when I showed her the back page of the paper she screamed!

[Nasher 33,607]

I woke up this morning after dreaming an under-manned Dees fought out a gutsy win at the Cattery. Then I picked up the paper and it confirmed we had a great win. Bloody ecstatic!!

Similar for me - I woke up this morning feeling like absolute crud - first day back at work after 3 weeks off and I have a wretched cold. Was about half an hour in to my day before I suddenly remembered what happened and started grinning again. Winning is the gift that keeps on giving!

[Mad_Melbourne 877]

Will be an interesting prospect coming into the game after the bye as no player deserves to be dropped.

Whilst Riley as the sub didn't get much of the ball he continually dug in and each 3 of his possessions were score involvements which is pretty impressive.

JKH and Fitzy played well in the VFL, Hogan definitely will not be playing VFL and the "obvious" changes that people would have thought performed more than adequately.

What this week highlighted:

Chris Dawes is actually a much more important player than people who label him "concrete hands" will have anyone believe. His ability to fight for the ground ball, compete in the air, lead on the ground but also create space through correct leading patterns is vital for the function of our forward half.

Angus Brayshaw is going to be a superstar and Stretch and ANB do not look too shabby either.

Midfield accountability goes along way to getting the job done.

Max Gawn will be first choice ruckman for the next 10 years, providing he can keep injury free, would love to see him get a few summers under his belt.

Melbourne are most definitely on the up, despite people saying that our loss from last week has shown how little the club has improved, we have the makings of a top 4 team in 3-5 years

[TheoX 1,222]

Thread needs more Mitch Clark. #eatabag

The win was so good I completely forgot about him.

[DemonOX 8,786]

Winning is the gift that keeps on giving!

No Nasher it's a 12 month subscription to the Jello club.

Thanks for that National Lampoons. Great movie btw

[hemingway 7,615]

About 10% of them left the stand i was in.

But most stayed to applaud their champ off the ground.

And many that walked past us after the game gave us a "well played today" as we stood in sheer happiness.

Very nice of the supporters to admire our win and our supporters doggedness to be there yet again.

Well Jazza you get all the benefit from being there along with other faithful diehards. What a memorable day and you can say....I was there.. it will live in your footy memory bank for ever. A little like that famous day at the Western Oval in 1987. Days like Sunday are few and far between made all the better in being there. Nothing could be sweeter.

[Chris 2,892]

Just had a look at the age profile of the list and geez the future is impressive.

Neal-Bullen 19, Petracca 19, Brayshaw 19, Salem 19, Kennedy Harris 20, Hogan 20, Viney 21, Kent 21, Toumpas 21, Tyson 21, Frost 21, McDonald 22. Wow.

No Stretch?

[Young Dee 1,303]

No Stretch?

Neal-Bullen decided to be selfish and take up two spots

[hemingway 7,615]

Was first thing I did ..... blah blah blah "none of our players turned up to play today". Yeah that would be because we didn't let them buddy

Not to many gracious losers in the coaching ranks these days, in particular the Scott Brothers although the list could go on.

Roosy being one exception.

[DistrACTION Jackson 8,663]

What would be great is if we come out in 2 weeks time and break another hoodoo- beating the Eagles.

I really hate that club! Their supporters are smug, they are gifted a ridiculous amount of free kicks each game and they always smash us.

It would be so sweet to beat Geelong in Geelong and then beat the Eagles the next game!

[Oneday 248]

I am still in total disbelief! I was at the game with a few of my old uni mates (who of course are Geelong members), when Hawkins kicked truly to give them a 1 point lead 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter, I got a tap on my shoulder from a Geelong supporter behind me and he pointed and said "Hotham is about 5 hours that way". I had much pleasure at the end of the game turning to him and saying, "I'm not sure if your GPS has updated yet, but look out for the end of the road". I must give credit though as after I told him that, all his mates laughed and they all said congratulations on a great win.

What a great weekend it is when the mighty Dees win, and win well.

[Lucifers Hero 39,598]

Non-playing highlights:

- players listened to coaches

- the belief (in our systems) before the game from Stretch, Neal-Bullen, Gawn and Viney interviews

- the not over-the-top celebrations on the final siren

- Roos' wry grin a few seconds after the siren...a penny for his thoughts

- all the pics of individual players at different times hugging Jones...they clearly adore the captain.

- Roos setting the example and ran on the field and first went to Enright!

Non-playing lowlights:

- Scott, a poor loser saying: "we had no rucks, we let them get easy goals, they kicked straight"

- Scott, a poor loser - not to give us credit as the better team on the day, nor acknowledge the respect of our guard of honour for Enright.

[old dee 23,781]

Not getting too carried away. We only beat Geelong. They really need to look at their recent recruiting.

Watched the last quarter from behind the couch.

Brayshaw looms as our best mid since Flower.

Love it.

I was at my Sisters at a family get together and we were in another room to the Foxtel.

I watched the last quarter from behind a door way.

Kept peeking around the corner.

[Young Dee 1,303]

Non-playing highlights:

- players listened to coaches

- the belief (in our systems) before the game from Stretch, Neal-Bullen, Gawn and Viney interviews

- the not over-the-top celebrations on the final siren

- Roos' wry grin a few seconds after the siren...a penny for his thoughts

- all the pics of individual players at different times hugging Jones...they clearly adore the captain.

- Roos setting the example and ran on the field and first went to Enright!

Non-playing lowlights:

- Scott, a poor loser saying: "we had no rucks, we let them get easy goals, they kicked straight"

- Scott, a poor loser - not to give us credit as the better team on the day, nor acknowledge the respect of our guard of honour for Enright.

.....mmm I'm sure Goodwin wouldn't mind if I stick around a little longer

[Deespicable 2,724]

Shades of Northey's first year and certainly a sign that we are making inroads.

While it's a team game and you need all 22 functioning to be competitive, there are two players who deserve the most praise for turning us around IMO - and I am not talking about Vince and Crossy, even though the recruitment of both last year has given us much-needed onfield maturity.

Obviously we have made a habit of mucking up our draft choices but Angus is the Bontempelli of this year's draft and his tackling ferocity, when combined with Jack Viney, has turned us around from being a soft-c..k team to being respected and maybe even a little feared. For the first time since when Brocky was firing in 2006, I'm not worried about our hardness.

The other is Gawny, who in the past three weeks has shown us how influential a winning ruckman can be. He didn't tire as much this week and that's because he had a monster back-up in Spencer - I just hope Roosy decides that having two rucks is plausible in terms of rotations and his desire to have run as well.

Obviously they won't win every game - there's Sandi and Nic Nat and Goldy to contend with - but if we you want to win clearances, then it helps having a couple of guys who can win the hitouts.

Sure we can't match it with the mature men at Hawthorn, Freo or Sydney yet, but everyone else is fair game for our midfield at stoppages.

If you look back at our worst games - Freo, Hawthorn and GWS (after quarter-time) - we were smashed at the clearances.

If we are going to be a stoppage team like his old bloods, then Roosy has to forget his solo ruckman idea.

Going to be very interesting to see who Jesse replaces up in Darwin - the Eagles are one side with two big boys.

[DemonDave 1,089]

Anyone take a photo of the scoreboard?

I took this one, didnt get the rest of the scoreboard on there for perspective, but I wasnt the only one of the very few Dees supporters around us that took a similar snap!

[loges 6,767]

It wasn't as evident at the ground for me, but watching the replay before, Dunn's game was massive. I'd say just about his best game for the club. We didn't have any passengers today. Everyone played their role and we minimised the stupid little errors that had been creeping into our game over the last couple of weeks. That is the benchmark, Melbourne. That is the benchmark. You do that every week and we'll make the 8 next year.

Wrong we'll nearly make the 8 this year( if we keep playing like yesterday)

[Spirit of the Demon 249]

YE OF LITTLE FAITH by The Oracle

The Geelong fans who were streaming out of the ground in their droves would have been shocked at the sight of this when they arrived home and turned on their television sets:-

A Geelong victory over Melbourne at the Cattery has become such a common sight that the producers of the news at Channel 9 had presumed the inevitable and decided that not only was Geelong already celebrating a win in Corey Enright's 300th game, but his entire home town of Kimba was celebrating his achievement and the victory with him.

Melbourne fans have been making fun of the production failure at the Nine Network ever since although let's face it - most of us were fairly much convinced on the night before the game that it would be a blow out in favour of the Cats and possibly one of three figure proportions.

Not only that, but after Max Gawn goaled to give the team a 20 point lead deep into the opening term, how many of us thought that lead would surely and inevitably dissipate very quickly? And it almost did with a late goal to the Cats and then the first major of the second quarter which made it only 6 points the difference.

We fought back but as we reached the halfway mark of the term, how many of us remembered the same period in earlier games against Adelaide, GWS and Port Adelaide and sat waiting for what we thought was the inevitable - and then Hawkins kicked one in the shadows of half time to make it a 5 point game?

Before the second half was two minutes old, Hawkins repeated the dose and the Demons' lead was gone but it was only temporary because Jake Spencer booted an unlikely reply followed by goals to Matt Jones and Jeff Garlett and it was suddenly back out to 16 points.

So who among us was confident of a Demon win at that stage with ten minutes gone into the half? Sure enough, we sat back and watched in horror as Geelong scored three in a row to lay down yet another challenge as they snatched a two point lead and looked ready to run away with the game.

When we rallied again it was Gawn setting up the ball for Jack Watts to pass to Garlett for his third and then young Alex Neal-Bullen got his third. The Cats came back but a Jeremy Howe mark and goal from a tight angle gave the Dees an 11 point lead at the final break. Who now had enough belief in their ability to play out that final term in the darkening cauldron of Simonds Stadium and to finish in front when it really mattered?

I'll venture to say that it wasn't many with last week's dramatic final 42 seconds against St. Kilda at an equally hostile venue back in town still fresh in our minds.

But the Demons continued their surge led by young and old with goals to Nathan Jones, Jeremy Howe, Billy Stretch and Bernie Vince to take the lead out to 32 points at the 17½ minute mark. The skipper and Vince had been magnificent all day racking up possessions thanks to the hard ruck work of emerging giant Gawn. Young Jack Viney was emerging as the conqueror of a different type of giant in football, snaring the scalp of Joel Selwood to go with that of Gary Ablett Junior in the opening round (and how much did we miss him when he broke his leg?).

And we still had our doubts and the Cats still came with two goals to narrow the margin back to 19 points with a win still gettable and the final siren six minutes away. Then Garlett got his fourth and there was still doubt in the minds of the Demon fans even as the Cat fans streamed out. The Enright party was spoiled. They knew.

Even then, the Demon leadership urged the players to defend stoutly and as the seconds ticked away our belief and our faith was restored for perhaps the first time in ten long years, leaving only a red-faced producer at the studios of Channel 9 unaware of the good news.

Melbourne 5.2.32 7.3.45 13.4.82 18.5.113

Geelong 3.1.19 6.4.40 11.5.71 13.11.89

Goals

Melbourne Garlett 4 Neal-Bullen 3 Howe M Jones Vince 2 Gawn N Jones Spencer Stretch Tyson

Geelong Hawkins Johnson Kersten Lang Motlop 2 Guthrie Selwood Walker

Best

Melbourne Vince Brayshaw N Jones Gawn Dunn Viney Garlett

Geelong Motlop Blicavs Guthrie Caddy Stokes

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Geelong Nil

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Geelong Murdoch (hamstring)

Substitutions

Melbourne Aidan Riley replaced Jimmy Toumpas at three quarter time

Geelong Michael Luxford replaced Jordan Murdoch in the third quarter

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Geelong Nil

Umpires Chris Donlon Troy Pannell Andrew Stephens

Official Crowd 28,007 at Simonds Stadium

Congratulation for your insight Oracle but by me it was never in doubt.

[Rich Demon 5]

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

Non-playing highlights:

- players listened to coaches

- the belief (in our systems) before the game from Stretch, Neal-Bullen, Gawn and Viney interviews

- the not over-the-top celebrations on the final siren

- Roos' wry grin a few seconds after the siren...a penny for his thoughts

- all the pics of individual players at different times hugging Jones...they clearly adore the captain.

- Roos setting the example and ran on the field and first went to Enright!

Non-playing lowlights:

- Scott, a poor loser saying: "we had no rucks, we let them get easy goals, they kicked straight"

- Scott, a poor loser - not to give us credit as the better team on the day, nor acknowledge the respect of our guard of honour for Enright.

18.5.113

Edited June 22, 2015 by Wadda We Sing