2 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

History teaches the present. How those lessons are acted upon is the future...

History is also to be remembered not lived.

1 minute ago, demon3165 said:

History is also to be remembered not lived.

Sure. But when history delivered the MFC 6 Flags in 10 years it is worth taking notice of in a serious way. 

1 hour ago, Little Goffy said:

I am very confident I will never quite understand why this post quotes my silly little aside or even why it is in this thread. Truly bewildering.

paywalls...  and the state of the globalisation. 

And the frustration of how business is undoing all the good things of the recent past, for mere margins & share price gains.  The antichrist is hard at work, and It's pulling things apart as we live ur lives under more and more stress, due to 'It'.

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

interestingly the message seems to have evolved over the season. From not worrying about what has gone on before it, we cant change the past, to writing our own narrative to embracing our successful past.

I guess as the team knocks over various hoodoos and unwanted records it is finally safe to embrace the successful past.

He certainly comes across as measured (which frustrated me earlier in the season) and I get the feeling the players won't be overawed by their first final. The process, each contest and supporting/trusting your team mates mantra has been well drilled into them.

I'm excited for Friday.

He has to come across as measured,,, because he'll be castigated either way.   

 

Also, if he wants his players to be "composed"...  then he has to show the same example.

Uh, ok. Keep an eye on the antichrist for me, cheers.

Evil espirit de corpses?

 

 

Edited September 3, 20187 yr by Little Goffy

6 hours ago, DV8 said:

What a pleasure it is,  that I have detoxed from reading the H/Sun. 

Just in the 'nick of time', since the Far-Out Right are taking over around the globe, controlling  'All and Sundy'

 

In the absence of real church leadership, for the people,,, the antichrist of commercialism is showing its ugly face, & is taking over.

... wanting everything, to sell for money and power (greed),,, and not pay taxes at the same time.

- - - - -

 

Bless you Gough, rip.

 

.

Who's the driver ?

It has to be one of two I guess ?

 

Baldrick, have you been in the diesel oil again?

6 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Baldrick, have you been in the diesel oil again?

LoL.. thanks Daryl.

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Sure. But when history delivered the MFC 6 Flags in 10 years it is worth taking notice of in a serious way. 

It's nothing to do with history, it is the perfect phrase for what they are trying to achieve now, just happens to come from the mouth of Norm Smith

The players know the history, but they desperately want to write their own piece

4 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

I certainly do not dismiss the past, but believe eyes should be mostly toward to avoid the footy equivalent to a car crash. There is literally a lot to look forward to!

I do, however, dismiss ghosts and curses in the same way as gods being cloud fairies. Hocus pocus.

I'm sure the Committee that sacked Norm Smith convinced themselves they were looking forward when they did it. Unfortunately the "esprit de corps" was destroyed because of it. Norm Smith didn't curse the MFC, the Committee did. Not by mumbling some words and some hocus pocus but by their actions.

Swooper Northey probably came closest to breaking it by re establishing many of the values Smith had instilled.

Unfortunately we then lost our way again with too many people with opinions and impatience. I would think it has been difficult building "esprit de corps" with the unrest and incompetence at Board and Administration levels over a lot of years. The treatment of Woewodin and Jnr Macdonald had a poisonous affect on me; could not imagine the impact it would have on a playing group.

Finally we have a stable Board and thanks to Jackson/ Roos and now Goodwin I feel that the Curse of the Committee has been lifted. Not because we have won any finals but because we have a Club that is whole again.

 

36 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

It's nothing to do with history, it is the perfect phrase for what they are trying to achieve now, just happens to come from the mouth of Norm Smith

The players know the history, but they desperately want to write their own piece

Of course they do, but by knowing the enormity of what Norm and his players were able to achieve in the past, they have figures and standards to aspire to.

5 Flags in 7 years is serious history and any notes found and enacted upon from that period are gold. 

It has a lot to do with history. Norm is still a part of the club in the 21st Century as a guide and mentor for Goodwin and his coaches. 

Great

44 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Of course they do, but by knowing the enormity of what Norm and his players were able to achieve in the past, they have figures and standards to aspire to.

5 Flags in 7 years is serious history and any notes found and enacted upon from that period are gold. 

It has a lot to do with history. Norm is still a part of the club in the 21st Century as a guide and mentor for Goodwin and his coaches. 

Great

Nah, sorry it's history, you aspire to create your own history not repeat it, it was a phrase that is apt

"Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future."

"Dennis Waitley"

In the past when this was brought back by the Schwab administration, it was used as a branding exercise. The logo, events with poets, blazers...it was a bizarre exercise in trying to make the club about the vision, rather than of the vision. Things like brandishing "MCG - HOME OF THE MIGHTY DEMONS" along the Olympic Stand, showing footage from the 60s before the first bounce...no one really cared because no one understood. It was assumed the players and fans knew of and respected this past. The club demanded it, rather than working to earn it. 

This appears to have all got lost in the vision. How can you build an identity around a history of success when you're losing games by 186 points and players are protesting against you?

This has and always should have been about the playing group. Only they can drive home this ideal, this vision and standard.

21 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Nah, sorry it's history, you aspire to create your own history not repeat it, it was a phrase that is apt

5 Flags in 7 years i wouldn’t mind repeating....

I don't much like all this 'curse of Norm Smith' talk. It's all rubbish. Melbourne won the first seven games of 1965, most of them by small margins and then fell in a hole. Sure, they sacked Norm Smith but the writing was already on the wall. Barassi's departure had a lot to do with it and until Barassi came back in the early 80's Melbourne reverted to the level of mediocrity that all unsuccessful sides constantly practice. In a nutshell, it was death by a succession of committees who assumed the glory days were just around the corner simply because they were the MFC and were owed success.

Northey came along - an inspired choice in retrospect - we recruited well - Spalding Dean, Viney Stretch, Johnson etc etc - Lyon came along and from 1997 to 1991, from the early Balme days and about every second year of Daniher's reign, the Demons were as good as most teams but not quite good enough.

The post Daniher years were totally poisoned, I believe, not by the Norm Smith curse, but by the sheer folly of the management. How incompetents like Schwab and Co were allowed to fester is beyond the imagination. Mind you, the almost Hawthorn merger debacle and the rescue by an ill-fated millionaire with no football background signified there was something rotten in the state of Denmark. The nadir of Neeld were an inevitable result, sadly at the expense of an innocent and talented journeyman called Bailey who at least instilled some panache and fleeting joys to us long suffering supporters.

Let's  rejoice in what we have now. We have a team which has grown and prospered bit by bit, the way in the end good sides prosper. Where this journey takes us is unknown but it feels like it could be a good ride while it lasts.

 

57 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

5 Flags in 7 years i wouldn’t mind repeating....

10 in 25 would be better

1 hour ago, dworship said:

"Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future."

"Dennis Waitley"

You sure that wasn't Gerard Cometti?

One thing I’ve noticed in both the finals and  it’s not something I picked up on during the year is that there is that there seems to be a deliberate effort among the players to give each other a pat on the back or a rub on the head after they’ve done something well or made a big effort.  

Also when a teammate is on the ground, someone always bends down grabs their jumper and helps them up.

It’s a small thing but IMO it’s a great thing.  Shows they genuinely care about each other and that there is obviously a great team spirit in the group.

I didn’t notice the Cats or the Hawks players doing it as religiously as our players or at all.

Great sign.

A huge difference this year and especially in the latter half of the season is that we now have a TEAM ... not a bunch of talented individuals, but a cohesive team.

Like Richmond, like Footscray 2016.

Could achieve anything should this hold, and of course that always depends to a degree on luck and more so avoiding bad luck.

How far they have come on that front...

I remember the game against Brisbane in 2014 when we looked like we would win all day and proceeded to die in the arze over the last ten minutes.

One thing I couldn't believe was Sauce Merrett splattering Cam Pedersen's nose all over his face and no one going up to remonstrate. It showed where we were at and that (along with Jordie McKenzie missing that soda in the goal square) probably led to Roosy's 'a team waiting to be beaten' line.

“One in all in...”

12 hours ago, hells bells said:

One thing I’ve noticed in both the finals and  it’s not something I picked up on during the year is that there is that there seems to be a deliberate effort among the players to give each other a pat on the back or a rub on the head after they’ve done something well or made a big effort.  

Also when a teammate is on the ground, someone always bends down grabs their jumper and helps them up.

It’s a small thing but IMO it’s a great thing.  Shows they genuinely care about each other and that there is obviously a great team spirit in the group.

I didn’t notice the Cats or the Hawks players doing it as religiously as our players or at all.

Great sign.

I used to bang on about this in the lean years. Little things that build the comaraderie. I guess you can't fake it. It's fantastic to see.

Oh and another thing I have been waiting a long time to see,. from todays Herald Sun...

 

Collingwood and Melbourne will also cash in on their status as power Melbourne clubs playing exciting football with young and marketable stars.

Both can expect a huge boost in Thursday and Friday night football after Melbourne secured only a single Friday night clash this year - an away clash against Port Adelaide.

 

13 hours ago, hells bells said:

One thing I’ve noticed in both the finals and  it’s not something I picked up on during the year is that there is that there seems to be a deliberate effort among the players to give each other a pat on the back or a rub on the head after they’ve done something well or made a big effort.  

Also when a teammate is on the ground, someone always bends down grabs their jumper and helps them up.

It’s a small thing but IMO it’s a great thing.  Shows they genuinely care about each other and that there is obviously a great team spirit in the group.

I didn’t notice the Cats or the Hawks players doing it as religiously as our players or at all.

Great sign.

Yep... genuine Comraderie !

Edited September 17, 20186 yr by DV8

On 9/3/2018 at 9:13 PM, dieter said:

I don't much like all this 'curse of Norm Smith' talk. It's all rubbish. Melbourne won the first seven games of 1965, most of them by small margins and then fell in a hole. Sure, they sacked Norm Smith but the writing was already on the wall. Barassi's departure had a lot to do with it and until Barassi came back in the early 80's Melbourne reverted to the level of mediocrity that all unsuccessful sides constantly practice. In a nutshell, it was death by a succession of committees who assumed the glory days were just around the corner simply because they were the MFC and were owed success.

 

Northey came along - an inspired choice in retrospect - we recruited well - Spalding Dean, Viney Stretch, Johnson etc etc - Lyon came along and from 1997 to 1991, from the early Balme days and about every second year of Daniher's reign, the Demons were as good as most teams but not quite good enough.

The post Daniher years were totally poisoned, I believe, not by the Norm Smith curse, but by the sheer folly of the management. How incompetents like Schwab and Co were allowed to fester is beyond the imagination. Mind you, the almost Hawthorn merger debacle and the rescue by an ill-fated millionaire with no football background signified there was something rotten in the state of Denmark. The nadir of Neeld were an inevitable result, sadly at the expense of an innocent and talented journeyman called Bailey who at least instilled some panache and fleeting joys to us long suffering supporters.

Let's  rejoice in what we have now. We have a team which has grown and prospered bit by bit, the way in the end good sides prosper. Where this journey takes us is unknown but it feels like it could be a good ride while it lasts.

 

this 'IS', the politically correct, at they're best...   and that is OUR curse.

 

Nothing to do with Smithy...  but goes against his ethos.

Edited September 17, 20186 yr by DV8

Interesting story about how trust and bonds have been built.  Starting by Goodwin revealing a lot about himself to the players, similar to what Hardwick did at the beginning of last season.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-09-20/gambling-family-issues-more-goodwin-tells-all

Described by Melksham thus:  "For him [Goodwin] to open up like that shows a fair bit of courage, but also shows just how much he trusts the group, and so many players benefit from that...There's been a lot of other coaches and players who have got up and spoken similarly to the group. Most of us did it." 

Hibberd: "I feel like it's bonded us as tight as I couldn't even imagine. Guys I didn't know that well at the end of last year, I feel like I've got tight bonds with those guys now, so it's been a good year." 

Also interesting that Jim Plunkett (General Manager - People and Cultures) who runs the sessions sits on the bench on game days, similar to Richmonds 'mindfulness' coach.

Hard as nails on field.  Very human off field.  Easy to see how Esprit de corps is being built.