Most Heartbreaking Loss?

[Demonland 72,186]

As a Dees fan which game has been your most heartbreaking loss?

At the time, the loss to Geelong in Geelong last year was shattering and I considered it my most heartbreaking loss because at the time I believed our season done especially when I looked at our draw and saw Swans, Eagles away & GWS to round off the year.

Now once the season was done and dusted that loss doesn't sting as much considering my Geelong family got their comeuppance in the EF.

The 87 Preliminary Final loss pain still runs deep and is perhaps amplified by the emotional scars that was inflicted on the 11 year old me.

[Docs Demons 1,791]

87 at Waverley for me.. Friend was the fitness/runner guy and got me and son in rooms after. Very sad however even if we had won I doubt we would have won the GF as Flower and Wilson would not have played and Carlton were far and above the best team. They gave Hawks a bath the following week.

[Damo 3,356]

87 Prelim.

Having come from nowhere.

Trying to keep it together afterwards waiting to get out for an hour in the car with parents in back.

Robbies last game taken out by Dipper.

Hawthorn.

 

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,294]

87 Prelim easily.

I had played in a losing Grand Final same day,  was BOG so everyone in the team had to buy me a beer to drink out of a pewter mug. 

Reckon i was 15 beers in when the siren went. I sat there and didn't speak for half an hour with tears in my eyes. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,821]

Geelong loss after the siren last year was my most heart breaking.

Seen way too many train wrecks down there and that game put me over the edge.

The drive home from Geelong to Pakenham (12:30am) that night was not great.

[DemonWorshipper 304]

I'm too young for 87 prelim, so it's the 2004 Elimination final v Essendon for me. It had come off such a deflating 4 weeks after we were 1st after Round 18. I was sitting near the goals when Phil Read missed in the dying minutes to tie the match. 

It wasn't just the margin but the talent we had in the team at the time (White, Neitz, Yze, Johnstone, Davey, Green Etc).  Competing and beating the best but also prone to some bewildering losses to lower ranked teams.  

2004 was a missed chance for the Demons in so many ways.  It was also the last game we got to see Troy Broadbridge play, which in retrospect adds another layer of heartbreak.

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by DemonWorshipper

[rjay 24,927]

'87 prelim was hard to take, but it was a great ride that year.

...the following years record GF loss to Hawthorn shattered me.

That was soul destroying stuff.

[Traja Dee 108]

148 vs Essendon in 2013, mainly due to the insipid performance of our players. I stayed for the whole game, watching on level 4 with my arm around my 8yo son, wondering why I steered him toward following Melbourne. 

I remember seeing the Captain Jacks pulling the team into a huddle at the start of 3/4 break, wondering if the had it in them to prevent a 186-style humiliation. No, was the answer revealed in the next 30 minutes. I also remember Big Russian dropping a simple chest mark is the first quarter and thinking that it would be a long night. 

The heartbreak was that this confirmed how low the club had sunk  

 

[Laughing Goat 308]

87 Prelim.

I was only a kid but the vision of total chaos with no one hearing the siren & then seeing so many grown adults crying was something I'd never seen at a footy game.

Knowing it could have been Robbie's swansong game made the result, & the way it played out,  even more devastating.

[hemingway 7,627]

87 Prelim was shattering. Our expectations of a Granny birth and possible flag were high, our team and coach were flying. We outplayed the Hawks all day. The result was just so unjust.  Still remember the bitterness and anger of seeing jubilant Hawk fans rejoicing in the car park and hurling abuse at a couple of demon kids who were crying. I regretted for a long time not going over and punching the most offensive Hawk in the face. 

Closely followed by the debacle of 88. Again expectations high but by quarter time, just a huge emptiness in the pit of my stomach. Cyclonic depression remained over the MCG for the rest of the game.  What a bunch of thugs and tossers were those Hawks.

Loss to Bombers in 2000 was expected but the nature of the loss was demoralising particularly sitting there with my boys who were so disappointed. 

Since that time any win against the Hawks and Bombers have been sweet. 

 

[Megatron 886]

18 minutes ago, Traja Dee said:

148 vs Essendon in 2013, mainly due to the insipid performance of our players. I stayed for the whole game, watching on level 4 with my arm around my 8yo son, wondering why I steered him toward following Melbourne. 

I remember seeing the Captain Jacks pulling the team into a huddle at the start of 3/4 break, wondering if the had it in them to prevent a 186-style humiliation. No, was the answer revealed in the next 30 minutes. I also remember Big Russian dropping a simple chest mark is the first quarter and thinking that it would be a long night. 

The heartbreak was that this confirmed how low the club had sunk  

 

Yeah that game was probably the most deflated I had ever been. Worse than the 186 point defeat in Geelong as I knew we were better than that and had showed signs of playing good football. There was obviously a lot disconnect from the players towards the administration but that loss to Essendon was worse because we were as bad as the score showed and it looked like the club was finished... to my eyes anyway. 

But the most heartbreaking loss was Adelaides loss to WC in rd 23, 2017. Yes we should knocked off the pies but after 11 years of pure [censored], I would taken anyway to get in. I was in a rage. Had to go for a drive, crank up with music and swear every word you could think of as loud as I could until the rage was out of my body.

[Fork 'em 6,983]

Where to begin ...... There's been so many.

87 prelim.
88 GF.
2000 GF.
Losses against bottom side Carlton when challenging for top 4 in around 04.
The semi final against adeleaide at the G when we went on a rampage through the 2nd and 3rd qrs to be overrun in the last.
Neil Danihers last game as coach when essendon got us in the last minute.
The collingwood loss in the last game 2yrs ago.
Last years Prelim was right up there.
Best contested team in the comp and just did not give a yelp.
Any loss against Essendon.

And don't get me started on the yo, yo YEARs for disappointment.
The list could go on and on.

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Fork 'em

[Dee Zephyr 19,267]

Many disappointments over the years.

Round 11 2015 against the Saints when Montagna ripped out the heart of my little fella sticks out to this day. The result had no bearing on the season, but I’ll never forget the disappointment on his face as he was then old enough to understand the game. 

A game we shouldn’t have lost that day after finding ourselves in front with little time left, but I realised then and there he’d gone past the point of no return. He was well and truly hooked on the Red and Blue.

[Sir Why You Little 37,036]

‘87 by a Country Mile

it still hurts

[Fork 'em 6,983]

19 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Many disappointments over the years.

Round 11 2015 against the Saints when Montagna ripped out the heart of my little fella sticks out to this day. The result had no bearing on the season, but I’ll never forget the disappointment on his face as he was then old enough to understand the game. 

A game we shouldn’t have lost that day after finding ourselves in front with little time left, but I realised then and there he’d gone past the point of no return. He was well and truly hooked on the Red and Blue.

I was the same watching with my young daughter who had seen stuff all wins.
We hit the front with what 20secs left in the game.
She says, "20 seconds left dad. We're gonna win."
I said " 20 seconds is a lifetime darling, anything could happen."
And I went cold as the nightmare unfolded.

[Deemania since 56 6,636]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

The 87 Preliminary Final loss pain still runs deep and is perhaps amplified by the emotional scars that was inflicted on the 11 year old me.

That was a big disappointment - one to never forget, actually - but even last season, there were a few losses that make one shudder. I was convinced that umpiring was second-rate and biased, amongst other negatives. 

[Deemania since 56 6,636]

34 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

Where to begin ...... There's been so many.

The reality is in your statement, Fork 'em. It really became a disaster trail - up, winning, down, losing. Loss... We were not expected to win some games (and we didn't), so convention beat us, time and again. Umpiring represented this groundswell of negative expectation. Many a time we stunned the footballing public within games - generating an awesome silence in crowds made up in the main with opposition supporters and then, the tide turned; we ended up losing such matches as our fight was unconventional. 

[JV7 2,351]

Geelong in Geelong 2018

St.Kilda 2015 (Montagna goal)

Essendon 2004 Elimination Final 

Essendon Danihers last game 2007

Collingwood round 23 2017

[In Harmes Way 7,775]

If it isn't 1987, then it's 186

And Roosy's last game.

Edited February 21, 2019 by In Harmes Way

[Dee Dubya 220]

There have been many disappointments over my 60 odd years, but thankfully, time and alcohol have erased most memories. Living and working in Geelong at the time, 186 is still immune to to the Scotch medications. More recently, the final round loss to the Collingwood gentlemen in 2017 still hurts. I'll never forget the chilling funeral like atmosphere at Jolimont station with both platforms packed only with stunned demon fans with the distant sound of that disgusting song being sung by thousands of toothless bogans at our sacred home. God how I hate 'em.

[hells bells 2,023]

The final v Adelaide (Travis Johnstone’s best career game) burns pretty deep for me.  Can’t remember what year it was. 

[pineapple dee 2,892]

Don't remember the year or the round but I remember the opponent and the capitulation.

It was vs Essendon. We led by almost 8 goals at 3/4 time. We kicked the first goal of the final quarter at the 6 minute mark to get the lead out to 51 points. I was rubbing my little hands together thinking "We've got this one in the bag". 

Then they kicked 10 goals or so with ease to win the game going away.

That was a horrible experience watching all those happy Bummer fans after their team came back from the dead to snatch the victory.

[Moonshadow 17,676]

Uplifting. Lucky I don't have any sharp objects handy

[Dee Zephyr 19,267]

Not sure if heartbreaking, I’d be interested to read what kind of item breaking occurred after Round 2 2016.

[Wells 11 5,401]

Nothing even comes close to 87. Going into that game I was ( we all were) on a high after the elation of the previous 8 weeks. Culminating in absolutely smacking the Roos and then the swans in finals. And I do mean smacking. 100 plus v north and was it 80 v swans? I felt that even if we lost nothing could take away the good feeling. Well I just got that so wrong and it translated into what was a real grief process for a good few weeks. Never felt worse after a loss... or for as long. Forget Stynes... I Can still see yeats and  Eisholds last minute simple misses when I close my eyes.