It’s time to say it…

[Boots and all 1,000]

49 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

1987 as per previous respondents, Boots. That year, with the night premiership as huge underdogs, Robbie's last year, the hectic late landing into 5th, the two huge finals wins and the dramas of the 3rd, is more memorable to me than '88, which may have had moments of favouritism? From a bit of googloogling, I see that, coming off a close '87 prelim, and a feeling we might have done better against Carlton than the Hawks did, we opened at 10-1 flag odds and evens finals odds. We then topped the ladder in Round 7, beating Hawthorn in that round, and Round 8, when we sat 7-1. The Hawks then had a run but we closed to within a game in 2nd in Round 16. They then steamed away to finish 3 games clear while we late-season-slumped to 5th (again!) starting with a loss to Hawthorn.

Well, certainly a far cry from this year!! Our major tests are behind us, aside from Port. I guess there is always the chance of further upsets, like the Adelaide loss, where we never hit our groove. I can see us firming further as flag faces. Bloody wonderful time of my life!!

[Boots and all 1,000]

1 hour ago, Cassiew said:

We made a late rush and only just qualified by winning our last game and hawks JUST beating cats. We’d been pretty inconsistent all year.

I still say that even if Bucks hadn’t kicked that goal and we’d made it, we never would have beaten Carlton in the grand final. We’d lost easily to them and would have been without Wilson, Lyon and Flower. Still hurts though 

Right, a few big outs there. Every loss hurts, but losing in that manner, gee that's agony!!

[Boots and all 1,000]

1 hour ago, Fork 'em said:

Walking into work Monday morning these days be like .....

So great to be able to hold our heads high...haha.

[bobby1554 1,244]

9 minutes ago, Better days ahead said:

We'll run them off their feet just like we did to the Lions

Round 23 will tell us a lot

[Boots and all 1,000]

55 minutes ago, danielE288 said:

Yeah cats are a worry, but think we can cover them still.

Tigers are far from finished as well. I expect a late charge when they start getting players back from injury.

[Demon Disciple 12,122]

I’m firmly of the belief that the loss to the Crows re-focussed our attention in a huge way. Games prior to that and we were just doing what needed to be done and never playing our best football.

Sure against the Dogs and Lions we didn’t play at our best the entire game, but we were forced to play our best to win. 1st quarter against WBD and 2nd half against Lions.

I think the past 2 weeks has seen a shift from the playing group wanting to believe and hoping, to truly believing we are going somewhere.

Long way to go, but we still have a couple of gears to go up to. We are not red-lining like we were during the backend of 2018.

[Fork 'em 6,983]

1 hour ago, bobby1554 said:

Don’t underestimate Geelong. Dangerfield and Cameron are two big ins to the team we beat

We'll choke them fools to death like the rest.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Big difference between winning a premiership and being the best team.

Right now we are the best team.

[Timothy Reddan-A'Blew 5,129]

FLAG FAVOURITES

Fatal (forgive us...)

[Emerald 1,744]

My heart says yes but my head's telling me not to count my chickens before they hatch.

[Little Goffy 14,542]

Last night's win nudges Goodwin's win-loss percentage up above both John Northey and Ivor Warne-Smith, making him Melbourne's 'winningest' coach since the great man himself.

It'll take just a couple more wins to push Goodwin ahead of Jack McKenzie (1915, 15 games coached) and there would be only the three Demon premiership-winning coaches above him in our history.

I'm keeping my lid on until Goodwin passes McKenzie, but after that I'll be going bonkers.

[Little Goffy 14,542]

5 minutes ago, Emerald said:

My heart says yes but my head's telling me not to count my chickens before they hatch.

New German technology is now available for exactly that.  It even allows sex-identification of the chicks in embryo so that the eggs with male chicks can be removed and allowed to addle so that later there's no need to, you know, shred a baby animal.

Moral of the story:

Rechnen dein küken und zelebrieren!

[BDA 22,753]

2 hours ago, bobby1554 said:

Don’t underestimate Geelong. Dangerfield and Cameron are two big ins to the team we beat

Come to think of it I reckon Sydney are the team that match up best against. That game at the G was our toughest win of the year. I'd prefer to avoid them during finals.

[Supreme_Demon 3,847]

Still remaining humble.

 

I am taking it one game at a time.

 

I am greatly impressed that we are playing so well as a team! The win against the Lions was wonderful.

 

That is what excites me the most about the Demons this year. The fact that we ARE playing as a team!

Nevertheless, we still should not get ahead of ourselves.

I want to really test ourselves against a full strength Geelong, a full strength Western Bulldogs, a full strength Richmond and against Port Adelaide. I also think we should never underestimate any team.

I will be a lot more confident once we beat more full strength sides.

The Demons players need to not start drinking their own bath water. We haven't won the flag yet and still have a VERY long way to go. As Russell Robertson said we are still just "babes in the woods" as mentioned in 'The Age' article.

Finals will be a totally different ball game.

Having said all that...I am genuinely excited.

 

If the Demons break their Premiership drought I will cry tears of joy.

Edited June 5, 2021 by Supreme_Demon

[Jaded No More 68,915]

It’s a long season and premierships are not won in June. 
We need to push hard for top 2, and hope like hell we stop getting Covid outbreaks in Melbourne. If we can nail both of these and have a bit of luck on the injury front, we could go all the way. 
But again, a long way to go and injuries and Covid can very well curtail the season quicker than we can say “lockdown”. 

[gs77 4,250]

2 hours ago, bobby1554 said:

Don’t underestimate Geelong. Dangerfield and Cameron are two big ins to the team we beat

Surely Geelong's aged legs will be pretty weary come September?

[Cassiew 1,903]

Oh I know all this. But right now we are the premiership favourite and the best team in the league. Maybe we won’t win it, maybe we have peaked, maybe we will choke.

But right now we are the best team in the league. The media has said we are outright premiership favourite. This has never happened to us in my (not saying my age) lifetime. I’m going to enjoy it while I can. Let’s just lap it up while we can. It may never happen again.

Edited June 5, 2021 by Cassiew

[ucanchoose 1,816]

1 hour ago, Better days ahead said:

Come to think of it I reckon Sydney are the team that match up best against. That game at the G was our toughest win of the year. I'd prefer to avoid them during finals.

Struggling to put away st kilda....  No threat come the business end

[titan_uranus 25,018]

It has dawned on me that the second half last night may well be the best football we have played in my lifetime (30+ years).

As has been said, premierships aren't won in June. Still three months of H&A games and there will be improvement in some of the sides below us (Geelong and Richmond the two big ones).

3 hours ago, bobby1554 said:

Don’t underestimate Geelong. Dangerfield and Cameron are two big ins to the team we beat

They've reached 8-3 despite having a number of key players out injured.

Unlike Richmond, who gave up some games through injury, they've kept themselves top 4 for a second half of the year surge.

I fear Geelong just as much as the Dogs or Brisbane.

[Cassiew 1,903]

2 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

It has dawned on me that the second half last night may well be the best football we have played in my lifetime (30+ years).

As has been said, premierships aren't won in June. Still three months of H&A games and there will be improvement in some of the sides below us (Geelong and Richmond the two big ones).

They've reached 8-3 despite having a number of key players out injured.

Unlike Richmond, who gave up some games through injury, they've kept themselves top 4 for a second half of the year surge.

I fear Geelong just as much as the Dogs or Brisbane.

But didn’t they struggle to put Collingwood away? If magpies had kicked more accurately they may even have pinched it

[Nicko 1,382]

3 hours ago, old dee said:

The council's around Victoria have put in a complaint to the MFC. It seems there are lids all over streets everywhere across the state.

The Moreton bay council is wondering who to lodge their complaint with....they’re thinking no one is taking their lids off for the broncos who are again the easy beats this year.....they were so confused to find my lid in the street....❤️?

[titan_uranus 25,018]

26 minutes ago, Cassiew said:

But didn’t they struggle to put Collingwood away? If magpies had kicked more accurately they may even have pinched it

Yes but they played that game without Dangerfield, Blicavs, Guthrie, Duncan, O'Connor and Miers.

They're playing poorly but winning. They have more room for improvement than probably any other side currently in the top 8.

[WERRIDEE 5,479]

Geelong are nothing. We will belt them just like we did before with or without Danger and Cameron. Port I worry about they have embarrassed us 2 years in a row we have to get one back on them.

[Jaded No More 68,915]

3 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Yes but they played that game without Dangerfield, Blicavs, Guthrie, Duncan, O'Connor and Miers.

They're playing poorly but winning. They have more room for improvement than probably any other side currently in the top 8.

They are also extremely old. Their experience will be vital in finals, but gees they wouldn’t want to have to work hard in a second half or a final quarter. 

[titan_uranus 25,018]

12 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

Geelong are nothing. We will belt them just like we did before with or without Danger and Cameron. Port I worry about they have embarrassed us 2 years in a row we have to get one back on them.

7 minutes ago, Jaded said:

They are also extremely old. Their experience will be vital in finals, but gees they wouldn’t want to have to work hard in a second half or a final quarter. 

I'm certainly a bit more confident about beating Geelong with Cameron now that I've seen us hold Brisbane to their third lowest score all year despite them having Daniher, Hipwood, Cameron, Bailey, McCarthy and McStay.

But Geelong have a much higher ceiling than the rest of the top 8 because we just don't know how well they can play when they get closer to their best 22 on the park.

As to their second half fitness, they're league leaders in third quarters having won 9 of 11, and they're 7th for fourth quarters having won 6.