20 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

The media are really pushing the "MFC are winning the GF" fairytale. Eddie was banging on about it in the telecast yesterday.

44 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Yep....

GF in Perth.The real question is the two prelims and perhaps the previous finals.

I'm seeing a pre grand final bye that allows quarantining and testing for the visiting teams in Perth.

With no WA sides in finals this is will be a neutral venue.  The big concern for clubs will be if you are allowed crowds in Geelong/Adelaide will they get finals in the first week regardless of ladder position 

I’d go to Perth for a grand final but can’t afford to quarantine, so that and the cost will be a big issue for supporters.

Id rather a 50% capacity MCG with mandatory covid tests taken in a 3 day window before the game and shown before entry.

12 hours ago, A F said:

This could have gone in a few of the threads, but I notice David King has finally relented and pegged us as his flag favourite on FIRST CRACK, jumping off the Dogs.

He talked about us in the last 6 weeks being #1 in a list of categories vis a vis defending without the ball and a mile better than any other team (ridiculously so), so defending ball movement, forward half intercepts etc.

He basically said, if it continues, you can't not back us.

I think the real x factor that I've completely underestimated this season going into finals is Luke Jackson. He's not as damaging or as involved for as long as Jake Stringer (who I'd say is the best player in the comp over the last 3 or 4 weeks), but given where the rest of our game sits, I thought for the first time today, this kid could actually tear the 2021 finals series up.

The fact he's started marking the ball and adding goals to his game from the contest, to add to his ability to get it on the outside, is a massive, massive development for our forward half. I worry slightly that McDonald coming back will disrupt this, but we'll have to wait and see. It worked okay against the Suns.

The other tantalising aspect to LJ's game was again on display today from stoppage. He's a freak in that not only can he rove his own tapwork ala NikNat, he's an elite user by foot at 200cm. Wowee.

So can we win it? We just need a bit more luck and I think barring a horror out of the box performance, it's ours to lose now.

We're still vulnerable when Oliver or Petracca are slightly off, but fortunately they're rarely off and then we have Viney as a finals wild card as well.

 

I've mentioned it before in one of the threads that there we're two scribes from the R3 win over GWS that said that we can win the flag, Joey Montagna and Matt Rendell.

Matt Rendell went a bit shakey on the Dees before the Port game and tipped Port but then straightened back up.

Joey has stuck fat and backed us in from that R3 moment.

If there was any other scribe backing us in please let me know.

6 minutes ago, Win4theAges said:

I've mentioned it before in one of the threads that there we're two scribes from the R3 win over GWS that said that we can win the flag, Joey Montagna and Matt Rendell.

Matt Rendell went a bit shakey on the Dees before the Port game and tipped Port but then straightened back up.

Joey has stuck fat and backed us in from that R3 moment.

If there was any other scribe backing us in please let me know.

Joey got the final8 being cemented 8weeks ago with tiges being there wrong but he was on the dees bandwagon before there was a bandwagon

15 minutes ago, Win4theAges said:

Joey has stuck fat and backed us in from that R3 moment.

If there was any other scribe backing us in please let me know.

Gerard Healy has been very strong on us since early 2020 if you listen to his evening show with Scoop McClure. Has seen the potential in us for a long while.

David King was the original believer in us back in 2018, but these days he jumps on and off us depending on what color jocks he's wearing on the day.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Gerard Healy has been very strong on us since early 2020 if you listen to his evening show with Scoop McClure. Has seen the potential in us for a long while.

David King was the original believer in us back in 2018, but these days he jumps on and off us depending on what color jocks he's wearing on the day.

King ‘follows his numbers’…

He was right to jump off us after 2019 - that was pathetic.

It did allows to get Jackson so you win some, you are pathetic and get draft compensation you don’t deserve…some.

Pre Finals Bye Officially Scrapped.

 

I've had both my Covid shots as I'm sure that countless others on here have, I've had two negative tests and I'm prepared to have another three or four if needed.

We should be allowed to go to see the Demons play in finals if we can show that we haven't got Covid and have been vaccinated, what is the reward if you are treated the same as those that refuse the vaccination or won't get tested.

It's almost impossible to go to Perth because of the restrictions they have in place and if they are going to move it, I'd prefer Adelaide because we could get there earlier and isolate for maybe seven days. If we win I don't care how long they keep me over there,. I don't drink but I could learn.how to appreciate a glass or two if we won a flag.

33 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Pre Finals Bye Officially Scrapped.

 

According to the AFL site, a week's rest will be incorporated during the finals prior to the preliminary final. I'm a bit worried about this - for the top 4 sides that win in week 1, the preliminary final would be their next game, in 3 weeks' time with the bye!  Potential for rustiness or degraded match fitness through the roof. Also helps aged or less fit sides such as the Govtfunded Cats. 

 

29 minutes ago, Dante said:

I've had both my Covid shots as I'm sure that countless others on here have, I've had two negative tests and I'm prepared to have another three or four if needed.

We should be allowed to go to see the Demons play in finals if we can show that we haven't got Covid and have been vaccinated, what is the reward if you are treated the same as those that refuse the vaccination or won't get tested.

It's almost impossible to go to Perth because of the restrictions they have in place and if they are going to move it, I'd prefer Adelaide because we could get there earlier and isolate for maybe seven days. If we win I don't care how long they keep me over there,. I don't drink but I could learn.how to appreciate a glass or two if we won a flag.

Lots of under 60s have not been able to get vaccinated with the ATAGI-recommended vaccine for their age group. Pfizer supply has been constrained. 

14 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

Apologies if posted elsewhere but can we confirm yet where the Geelong game is to be played next week? 

3 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

Lots of under 60s have not been able to get vaccinated with the ATAGI-recommended vaccine for their age group. Pfizer supply has been constrained. 

Yep i'm in the 30-39 bracket, even if i went AZ today I wouldn't be fully vaccinated until after the GF. 

If they did implement a fully-vaccinated policy at least that would reward the older dees fans that have been through more hell than some younger generations aha. 

 

If Melbourne does win the flag this year, there is one other real kick in the guts waiting for us.

The post grand final day gathering when supporters get together at their training ground, and soak in the premiership.

I never thought I'd be able to guarantee at seat at the GF if we ever made it. But I always comforted myself with the thought that I could go to the day after event. Now, even if I was in Australia, I couldn't go. 😥

12 minutes ago, Wadda We Sing said:

Apologies if posted elsewhere but can we confirm yet where the Geelong game is to be played next week? 

Has not been confirmed but I bet my right nut it's in Geelong. No reason why it wouldn't be considering it's there home game and was originally scheduled there.

2 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Has not been confirmed but I bet my right nut it's in Geelong.

Please work that expression into tonight's podcast. 😃 

21 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

Lots of under 60s have not been able to get vaccinated with the ATAGI-recommended vaccine for their age group. Pfizer supply has been constrained. 

AZ has been available by the truckload for a while and has also been available for those under 60 for a while. Andrews has been pushing AZ too, the only one who hasn't is that [censored] health advisor up in Qld and she changed her mind a day after saying she wouldn't allow it.

There are a fair few GFG members who won’t be able to attend I imagine (I’m one). It’d be good if we could transfer our GFG to a member who can attend . I asked Gary Pert and it seems GFG is not transferable - hopefully this changes given the extenuating circumstances 

There’s so much more to still play out. If you had told me 3 weeks ago we’d fly around the country for no game, then come back to Melbourne to play an ‘away’ game against the Suns, then quarantine for 7 days only to have a game stopped because of lightning I’d have told you to stop eating mushrooms and get a job ya hippie!

Its a week by week proposition. What happens if Delta sings her way to WA? What happens if a WA team goes on a run and then all of sudden get a huge advantage by finishing lower and is gifted home finals? What happens if we have a nation wide lockdown again?

My advice is to stay nimble, accept that it’s all a moving feast, and have some confidence that the club has clearly prepared for anything.

1 minute ago, Dante said:

AZ has been available by the truckload for a while and has also been available for those under 60 for a while. Andrews has been pushing AZ too, the only one who hasn't is that [censored] health advisor up in Qld and she changed her mind a day after saying she wouldn't allow it.

The CHO of QLD is probably worth listening to and as always context is important - she was speaking in the context of the QLD outbreak and 18 year olds taking AZ

 

as far as I can tell, the preferred vaccine by age group is still Pfizer under 60, however their advice counsels people to weigh up the risks in outbreak areas. That doesn’t sound like a “go and get AZ irrespective of risks” to me.

https://www.health.gov.au/news/australian-technical-advisory-group-on-immunisation-atagi-weekly-covid-19-meeting-on-11-august-2021-update

 

27 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Please work that expression into tonight's podcast. 😃 

Only if it's organic to the conversation.

 

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

Only if it's organic to the conversation.

Or if the balls drop the right way. 😉

9 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

Strict guidelines will be, we want the finals from 2nd week.  I reckon the AFL will have the week off after first week of the finals to allow all the 6 clubs left to get into WA to quarantine.  They will be resigned to the fact that there will be games next week with no crowds, expect Essendon and GWS to head into Brisbane and AFL will be hoping Port and Geelong finish top 2.