19 hours ago, Nasher said:

Addendum: please Footy Gods, let it be Essendon. I would settle for Collingwood.

I'd like it to be Geelong down in Geelong please. Exercise those 186 demons for the supporters. ;)

12 minutes ago, A F said:

I'd like it to be Geelong down in Geelong please. Exercise those 186 demons for the supporters. ;)

I'd settle for that too, but with the passage of time, I've devalued 186. The whole club just laid down that day because of the incompetent meddling of the board. I don't think it was reflective of where we were at, at the time. It was an anomaly. A complete own goal.

I rate the 148 point loss against Essendon in round 2, 2013 as a far more soul destroying loss. The front running, injecting mongrels absolutely humiliated us. It was a clear and obvious signal that we were clearly in a lot of trouble. Dean Terlich made his debut. Tom Gillies played his second and last MFC game. It gives me nightmares thinking about it.

4 hours ago, old dee said:

Strange sensation winning I was at lunch ( which lasted till 8pm) with a bunch of Tiger fanatical friends who were more excited about the Dees than me. I have seldom been this non committed. I am sure not attending games for two seasons has something to do with it.

I feel the same mate.

19 hours ago, chook fowler said:

clearances remain the biggest concern. We may well struggle against the Dogs and Lions if this is not addressed.

It really depends on the cleanness of the clearance. I'm sorry but you can't just look at the stats. Hurried, unclean clearances play straight into our defensive hands. Do we want to lose stoppage, of course not, but provided the opposition midfield can't waltz out of stoppage with the ball, we'll be in the game. Sydney was a perfect example of this. That was the highest pressure game for the season. For any game played thus far. Yet, we soaked up the pressure, forced rushed clearances and forced them wide. 

I think the more dangerous stat against a team like the Dogs is our dwindling inside 50 tackles. If Weideman and Brown aren't kicking goals, they could cost us.

14 minutes ago, A F said:

I'd like it to be Geelong down in Geelong please. Exercise those 186 demons for the supporters. ;)

You mean "exorcise".

50 minutes ago, AzzKikA said:

I feel the same mate.

It is a symptom of MFCSS, being unable to experience pleasure and joy when the team starts playing well. Pretty sure it's in the DSM.

52 minutes ago, A F said:

It really depends on the cleanness of the clearance. I'm sorry but you can't just look at the stats. Hurried, unclean clearances play straight into our defensive hands. Do we want to lose stoppage, of course not, but provided the opposition midfield can't waltz out of stoppage with the ball, we'll be in the game. Sydney was a perfect example of this. That was the highest pressure game for the season. For any game played thus far. Yet, we soaked up the pressure, forced rushed clearances and forced them wide. 

I think the more dangerous stat against a team like the Dogs is our dwindling inside 50 tackles. If Weideman and Brown aren't kicking goals, they could cost us.

Will be interesting to see how this works against the Dogs. If Bont, McRae, Treloar can waltz it out of the middle our defenders won't have a chance, especially at Docklands.

Watching the replay: must agree with those critical of the barracking for Carlton, or Eddie Betts at least. Brayshaw's refusal to acknowledge Lever got his foot to the ball when tackled by Betts allowed JB to rabbit on for another minute about Eddie's glory.

BT's "observations" about Melbourne supporters are utterly without value. So glad I was at the game and did not have to listen to these clowns. Anyone notice how quiet Bartel was? Maybe he was embarrassed to be associated with these two.

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I thought you guys were just complaining but Jesus BT was insufferable on the commentary in this game. Not just cringeworthy like McLachlan or Basil or Ling but downright unprofessional in his constant belittling of the MFC. Surely the AFL can't be happy with their product being represented in this manner?

BT is bigger than the game. He IS the entertainment. You think 38,000 showed up to watch two gangs of young ruffians squabbling over a ball in the rain?

2 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

A key factor to our improvement is of a generation of best 22 home developed players now reaching the sweet spot of experience and games played.

Salem-115, Petracca-111, Harmes-107, Brayshaw-103, Neal- Bullen 89 and Hunt 83.

Damn it, I forgot Oliver with 109 games. That’s seven home grown players including 3 A graders. No more the club of callow youth, tired old warriors and journeymen.

Edited May 17, 20214 yr by John Crow Batty

2 hours ago, Superunknown said:

I agree - we need to take the opportunity when presented to bury teams and get the %. It could mean the difference between 1 and 2 or 4 and 5.....

Mate, our percentage is currently better than any minor premier since Sydney in 2016. The key to a healthy % is restricting opposition scores, not belting teams off the park. We're tracking fine.

16 minutes ago, RigidMiddleDigit said:

Watching the replay: must agree with those critical of the barracking for Carlton, or Eddie Betts at least. Brayshaw's refusal to acknowledge Lever got his foot to the ball when tackled by Betts allowed JB to rabbit on for another minute about Eddie's glory.

BT's "observations" about Melbourne supporters are utterly without value. So glad I was at the game and did not have to listen to these clowns. Anyone notice how quiet Bartel was? Maybe he was embarrassed to be associated with these two.

Jimmy Bartel is definitely embarrassed by BT’s buffoonery, as are Luke Hodge and Jobe Watson, among others. Sometimes to the degree that it makes for uncomfortable viewing. 

16 minutes ago, Accepting Mediocrity said:

Mate, our percentage is currently better than any minor premier since Sydney in 2016. The key to a healthy % is restricting opposition scores, not belting teams off the park. We're tracking fine.

Past performance doesn’t guarantee future returns.

Take your point but we could be on the end of some thrashings and see a dramatic drop. 

I manage risk and to me this seems like  useful outcome on some fronts. You are right that continued 4 goal wins are useful but despite wins of similar magnitude our % is dropping off.

Technically you could restrict a team and mete out a thrashing. Eg 100-40 etc.

Edited May 17, 20214 yr by Superunknown

Certainly don’t miss McAvaney, do we? Only cared about his favourites, didn’t he? More suited to horse racing commentary, isn’t he? Annoying how he ended every statement with a question, wasn’t it? ?

22 hours ago, SPC said:

Brian Taylor is a [censored] 

Im watching the replay now. Seems like BT thought acting bored and not giving the Dees any credit was funny?

If he was genuinely bored how is this guy still getting paid to commentate. If I was his boss id be furious. 

37 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Jimmy Bartel is definitely embarrassed by BT’s buffoonery, as are Luke Hodge and Jobe Watson, among others. Sometimes to the degree that it makes for uncomfortable viewing. 

I just finished watching the replay and came to Demonland to see if it wasnt just me noticing BTs performance. 
Im really struggling to understand how he gets away with it. Maybe he was sick and feeling flat? Or trying to be funny? 

 

10 minutes ago, Rascability said:

I just finished watching the replay and came to Demonland to see if it wasnt just me noticing BTs performance. 
Im really struggling to understand how he gets away with it. Maybe he was sick and feeling flat? Or trying to be funny? 

 

Or all of the above. I, too, fail to understand why they keep him in commentary. Surely there’s myriad ex-players who’d do a better job. 

3 hours ago, Superunknown said:

I agree - we need to take the opportunity when presented to bury teams and get the %. It could mean the difference between 1 and 2 or 4 and 5.....

You can't sit back waiting for a team to make mistakes. What if they don't.

No not with you there, I was thinking just in terms of making sht teams feel bad about themselves

Coaches votes:

10 Clayton Oliver (MELB)

8 Tom McDonald (MELB)

6 Jake Lever (MELB)

4 Samuel Walsh (CARL)

1 Christian Salem (MELB)

1 Sam Docherty (CARL)

 

Split:

5/5  Oliver

4/4 McDonald

3/3 Lever

2/2 Walsh

1/0 Salem

1/0 Dcherty

Very consistent coaching view this week.

 

Leader Board 44	Hugh McCluggage	BL
42	Clayton Oliver	MELB
40	Marcus Bontempelli	WB
38	David Mundy	FRE
36	Ollie Wines	PORT
35	Samuel Walsh	CARL
34	Max Gawn	MELB
34	Touk Miller	GCFC
33	Jack Macrae	WB
33	Christian Salem	MELB
32	Dustin Martin	RICH
31	Tim Kelly	WCE
30	Mitch Duncan	GEEL
30	Cameron Guthrie	GEEL
30	Jacob Hopper	GWS
29	Tom McDonald	MELB
29	Zach Merrett	ESS
29	Darcy Parish	ESS
28	Tom Hickey	SYD
28	Christian Petracca	MELB
28	Taylor Walker	ADEL

 

Oliver outright 2nd!  Well Done.

Gawn and Salem in top 10

McDonald has flown up the charts

Petracca is sliding.

Sam should come over to the bright side, i'll bet he would love to as well.

Meanwhile back on BT's area of expertise. Guess who gets the game between TWSNBN and Freo. None other than Watson and Footscray's least favourite son.. non bias commentary....

21 hours ago, binman said:

I noticed that. A small thing but that's leadership right there. And care.

I could not be more impressed with Tracc's maturity and all round demeanor this year. Has become a true leader right before our eyes

Thought exactly the same thing. Well done, Christian.

21 hours ago, CYB said:

Was at the game. Mate saw Trac spew his guts out before the game started. Not sure if nerves or something else.

midfield definitely need to lift - too predictable at stoppages and we never seem to get a clean clearance. The midfield is great defensively but cannot hurt teams enough with poor kicking inside 50 - today field kicking was supposedly pretty efficient. We also don’t use the corridor enough - kicking it wide is boring and predictable.

We kick wide because we're kicking to a 208cm giant and usually another one of our talls too. Richmond's game has been predictable for a long now too. It's all well and good that something is predictable but you've got to be able to stop it if you're the opposition. That's called playing the percentages. When we need to, we still look for the switch, which is something we haven't had the courage to continually do in past years.

21 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Caboult apparently isn't 100% right and obviously there was a lot of team stuff but I thought Petty held his own in a number of contests too. 

He still managed to outmark Max at one stage, so I reckon Petty did a great job a a rule.

21 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

The thing about Petty from what I've seen with him at VFL is that the upside in terms of ball use and intercept marking is really strong. 

And I agree. Intercepting and ball use are his strengths. IMV, he's a bit of a Lever clone, but further behind in his development. 

Watched the replay to confirm thoughts seeing it live.  BT is an absolute tool, understands so little.  The game was tense, not boring!

I think the team trusts the defense to do the work a little too much - we gave them paths into the 50 that better defensive running would have cut off.  Our pressure was good to great most of the time, but they got around us more than I would like.

1.7 in the last!

most of the blues goals came from lucky snaps where they had a loose man outside the contest in our front 20-30, and we pumped it out too close to the contest.  Something to watch in future.

Loving the unsung heroes in our team  - Jordon, Rivers, ANB, Spargo all doing great.  Hunt and Langdon moving like Maseratis. Oliver was fantastic, Gus got to all the right spots but his kicking radar was a bit off. Frittata marked well and contributed.

TMac was superb.  Weid did well, brown tried hard and impacted some contests.  Thought they flew together or interfered with each other too much.  When they get that sorted, the front end will be much better.

not our best performance, but the effort was there and we kept their score low, so even when we are not great, these two things will see us right more times than not.  Still not great on clearances yet.

i look forward to when we put it all together.  I am a very happy demons fan this year!

3 hours ago, old dee said:

I am sure it is not going to a game since 2019 but I am less connected / excited than any time in the last 20 years. 

I just want to be clear I understand this.

The team is 9-0 sitting on top of the ladder and you’re the least excited you’ve been in the last 20 years?

2 minutes ago, P-man said:

I just want to be clear I understand this.

The team is 9-0 sitting on top of the ladder and you’re the least excited you’ve been in the last 20 years?

Got it in one, strange eh!

I appreciate Oliver getting a lot of love this week as he was a prime mover in yesterdays win and many others

Tmac , Trac  Gawn and May and Salem have been major contributors and rightly praised. And Kozzie is the new glamour player.

But Ed Langdon has not missed a beat and been a major player in every single game this year.

He does so much. I know hes appreciated here but I dont think the media has picked up how vital he has been to our nine wins in a row.