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Finals 2018? Mick McGuane thinks so.

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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McGuane's prediction for us to make finals is a no brainer! 

Incremental improvement will happen from our talent, another preseason and increased experience of young guys in their 4th+ year.

So the proverbial 'drover's dog' can get us into the finals.   

Simply scraping into the finals won't be enough to call the year a success, imv - as I said a 'drover's dog' will get us there.  We need to achieve a quantum improvement and finish in or just outside the 4 and win at least one final. 

I hear people talk injuries.  Yes, teams need luck with injury to win the GF but they aren't an excuse for not making the quantum improvement into the finals next year as we have an excellent top 30 which gives us plenty of depth. 

The want by players will determine how far we go. 

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    Should've made the finals relatively easily this year so just making them next year doesn't thrill me much.

    Sixth with one finals win is a bare pass for me.

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    A "quantum" of anything is the smallest possible unit of that thing, so I think we should be aiming for a bit more than that.

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    3 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

    Should've made the finals relatively easily this year so just making them next year doesn't thrill me much.

    Sixth with one finals win is a bare pass for me.

    Agreed

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    Brownlow, Norm Smith, Premiership in AFL, VFL and AFLW .

    Richmond couldn't do it. Pathetic. And don't anyone start suggesting they didn't have a team in the AFLW as an excuse or I'll spew up!

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    Won't believe it til I see it. How many false dawns have we had? Yes this team has the makings of a strong outfit but they folded when the pressure was on, both this year and last year. 

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    8 hours ago, Chook said:

    A "quantum" of anything is the smallest possible unit of that thing, so I think we should be aiming for a bit more than that.

    For scientific usage, true.

    In general usage 'quantum leap':  a sudden large increase or advance.

    I think we are looking for the same thing.

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    13 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

    Should've made the finals relatively easily this year so just making them next year doesn't thrill me much.

    Sixth with one finals win is a bare pass for me.

    making the finals for the first time in 12 years won't thrill you that much?   there is no guarantee we will make finals, improvement is not linear and a lot of teams below/around us will improve too

    I will be ecstatic if we make the finals

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    1 hour ago, DubDee said:

    making the finals for the first time in 12 years won't thrill you that much?   there is no guarantee we will make finals, improvement is not linear and a lot of teams below/around us will improve too

    I will be ecstatic if we make the finals

    we made finals regularly during the 90's and early 00's and most times we just made up the numbers so no I'm not ecstatic by just making finals.... 8 out of 18 (barely the top half of the comp) shouldn't be that hard to hit it with a reasonable degree of regularity .. to go further is where it becomes a much harder task.

    Many have said it before but to stutter for the third year in a row is not acceptable. We are not as strong as Richmond who can withstand many years of just missing out.

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    Making the finals .........

     

    is better than ...........

     

    Not making the finals!!!!!!

     

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    People assume that because we should've made finals this year the natural progression is to make them next year. Take nothing for granted in this competition. 10 sides who missed out this year will be busting their boilers to get there next year. Who's to say an injury ravaged Hawthorn or Collingwood won't jump ahead of us next year if things don't go our way?

    I'd be rapt to see September action next year after so many years of pus.

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    1 hour ago, Tough Kent said:

    People assume that because we should've made finals this year the natural progression is to make them next year. Take nothing for granted in this competition. 10 sides who missed out this year will be busting their boilers to get there next year. Who's to say an injury ravaged Hawthorn or Collingwood won't jump ahead of us next year if things don't go our way?

    I'd be rapt to see September action next year after so many years of pus.

    At the beginning of the season and at the end of the day, wise words.

     

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    4 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

    At the beginning of the season and at the end of the day, wise words.

     

    We need three things a reasonable draw - tick and average year for injuries- who knows, Demons have a massive upside and with a little luck/mental strength, we could be top 4 & then it’s a roll of the dice.

    2018 roll on!

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    Demons should not count their imps before they spawn.

    Look no further than the 2016 Premiers not making the 8 this year.

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    2 hours ago, Tough Kent said:

    People assume that because we should've made finals this year the natural progression is to make them next year. Take nothing for granted in this competition. 10 sides who missed out this year will be busting their boilers to get there next year. Who's to say an injury ravaged Hawthorn or Collingwood won't jump ahead of us next year if things don't go our way?

    I'd be rapt to see September action next year after so many years of pus.

    So true. 

    Our expectations of the team does not always take into account the others. 

    We know that its an incredibly even comp and so many different facets make for success or failure. 

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    22 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

    McGuane's prediction for us to make finals is a no brainer! 

    Incremental improvement will happen from our talent, another preseason and increased experience of young guys in their 4th+ year.

    So the proverbial 'drover's dog' can get us into the finals.   

     

    If only footy was that straight forward.

    We can easily miss the finals.  We are Melbourne after all.

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    Until Melbourne can overcome the mental weaknesses we will struggle to make finals. We have a list that can match it with any side but continue to be easily bullied as the hunted.

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    One thing that I have always noticed about us as a club is that we just assume things will happen. Almost like natural progression, the competition will yield to our brilliance and we will be given our just rewards because of who we are.

    I have labored this point a lot on this board but it is very true. See the Red and Blue Print. You didn’t need PJ to spell it out like he did, but he was right that many people in the club seemed to think that we would become a league powerhouse just because of the high draft picks we had.

    NOTHING is guaranteed next year. Keep in mind that the Dogs will rebound, St. Kilda are also pressing and that there are a tier of teams (Collingwood, Fremantle, Hawthorn) who could also make a leap to the lower reaches of the top 8 should all the cards fall their way.

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    On 12/12/2017 at 9:45 AM, Colin B. Flaubert said:

    One thing that I have always noticed about us as a club is that we just assume things will happen. Almost like natural progression, the competition will yield to our brilliance and we will be given our just rewards because of who we are.

    I have labored this point a lot on this board but it is very true. See the Red and Blue Print. You didn’t need PJ to spell it out like he did, but he was right that many people in the club seemed to think that we would become a league powerhouse just because of the high draft picks we had.

    NOTHING is guaranteed next year. Keep in mind that the Dogs will rebound, St. Kilda are also pressing and that there are a tier of teams (Collingwood, Fremantle, Hawthorn) who could also make a leap to the lower reaches of the top 8 should all the cards fall their way.

    This is why Goody is on notice. The way 2017 ended is simply not good enough, particularly as it ended in almost the exact same way that 2016 did

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    On 08/12/2017 at 11:13 AM, dl4e said:

    Until Melbourne can overcome the mental weaknesses we will struggle to make finals. We have a list that can match it with any side but continue to be easily bullied as the hunted.

    Melbourne don't have a mental weakness with this group...

    It's just that our class players are all under 22 yo or yet to play 80/100 games, they're still learning the ropes...if we start losing games like we did this year in the next couple then I will concede the point.

    This is not the Melbourne of 186, unfortunately we are the same supporters and years like we've had take there toll.

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