Saturday Morning on Demonland (1)

[Binmans PA 26,032]

My sister and I were at the Cattery that day. I don't know. We're a different team and club than we were then, but that was a deeply embarrassing day and those who were responsible, be it players or administrators, should forever hang their heads in shame.

I don't want to rattle off a cliche, but you had to be there to really feel this pain. We couldn't turn off the TV or walk out of the room. We stayed until the very end. It was inexcusable. 

Edited October 8, 2021 by A F

[Tim 2,791]

6 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Now that the premiership flag’s been won and the season’s over, we can discuss various topics from a new perspective. Why not start by facing one of our greatest demons - 186?

The events of ten years ago that saw a coach move on and massive upheaval are now a thing of the distant past. 

This article looks at the players who took part in the game against Geelong at Kardinia Park that came to be known as 186.

Where are they now?: Melbourne’s 22 – Round 19, 2011

What are your recollections and views on that game now that most of its “Demons” have been well and truly buried?

 

4 hours ago, demon3165 said:

Sorry to to bring this up but in 1979 Fitzroy kicked 36.22.238 to win by 190 points i was at that game.

In the 2021 finals series our winning margins totalled 190 points; I like to think that with that symbolism, and winning the flag, we consigned the 1979 Fitzroy  and Geelong 186 results to the shizen hausen - way down past where they can creep up and cause us mental fragility about whether our club could ever climb the mountain again.

Edited October 9, 2021 by Tim

[hemingway 7,589]

1 hour ago, demon3165 said:

Sorry to to bring this up but in 1979 Fitzroy kicked 36.22.238 to win by 190 points i was at that game.

Me too. Awful. Humiliating, sad, shameful. Never forget that day. 

[old55 21,288]

Unlike you to pull the wrong rein WJ, but I really don't think two weeks after the club's greatest ever triumph in a Covid affected, 18 team national competition, where we finished top and smashed the finals, away from our rightful home, is the time to start headlining our greatest ignominies.  Yeah we've come a long way baby - we all know that.  Now's the time for countin' coz the dealins done.

Edited October 8, 2021 by old55

[hemingway 7,589]

10 minutes ago, A F said:

My sister and I were at the Cattery that day. I don't know. We're a different team and club than we were then, but that was a deeply embarrassing day and those who were responsible, be it players or administrators, should forever hang their heads in shame.

I don't want to rattle off a cliche, but you had to be there to really feel this pain. We couldn't turn off the TV or walk out of the room. We stayed until the very end. It was inexcusable. 

Character building. It makes the resurrection that much sweeter. 

[FlashInThePan 1,893]

I have to agree with @DemonOX I struggle to understand why you would want to rehash this period. We lived through it, I honestly can’t see what more there is to learn from it. 
 

This team totally changed the narrative this year, forever. I’m done with wallowing in how terrible we were. We can’t do a lot as supporters, of course we buy our memberships, go to games and make noise and contribute financially as we are able. The other big thing we can do is not constantly talk about losing and the terrible times. I don’t want to be part of the ‘veil of negativity’, I want to be positive and feed into the positivity this group is generating.

 We absolutely humiliated the cats in the prelim, they are not going to forget that for quite some time. We beat them in every phase of the game, I recall Isaac smith reflecting that the last quarter was perhaps the worst quarter of football that he has ever been a part of. Why don’t we talk about that instead?

[dl4e 5,583]

1 hour ago, demon3165 said:

Sorry to to bring this up but in 1979 Fitzroy kicked 36.22.238 to win by 190 points i was at that game.

Remember it well. I suppose the diffference was we came back and beat essenscum the following week. 

[radar 1,848]

Not only was I was at 186 - I was in Geelong members. 
 

Four games of significance since - 

2015 Geelong - Max breakout game Win

2018 Geelong - win first final 12 years

2021 Geelong - R 23

2021 Geelong - Perth Preliminary Final

[Wrecker46 2,654]

That was on my birthday and my wife booked tickets for the game and a hotel in Geelong for the night. Worst faarken birthday ever. Standing behind the goals with a cousin who lives in and barracks for Geelong watching the ball fly over our heads over and over again and my cousin checking phone to advise me if it was going to be a record margin and updating me constantly.

Just to be clear my wife is not my cousin they were both there.

[Timothy Reddan-A'Blew 3,818]

Interesting thoughts, pro and con, about the consideration of history, the timing thereof, and its value.

Rather than a 'where are they now' piece, I would have found a 'what were they thinking' piece of some interest. The Schwab shenanigans before, and the Essendon win following, provide pause.

[WalkingCivilWar 31,406]

1 minute ago, Wrecker46 said:

That was on my birthday and my wife booked tickets for the game and a hotel in Geelong for the night. Worst faarken birthday ever. Standing behind the goals with a cousin who lives in and barracks for Geelong watching the ball fly over our heads over and over again and my cousin checking phone to advise me if it was going to be a record margin and updating me constantly.

Just to be clear my wife is not my cousin they were both there.

Soz Wrecker, I’m not laughing at the main part of your post. But that last line cracked me up 😂 

[Nasher 33,047]

1 hour ago, MadAsHell said:

My only memories of 186 was I had the flu at the time and had been asleep when the game started. I woke up during the 2nd quarter and checked my phone to see we we're about 80 points down at the time. I avoided checking again until it was over.
 

Are… are you Brent Moloney?

[Sir Why You Little 34,436]

Schwab never apologized for his tenure. 
he should be interviewed on a Demon Podcast about his apalling tenure. 
Not that i agree with players laying down (which is what they did)

Dean Bailey was thrown to the wolves i will never forget that behaviour (RIP)

[WalkingCivilWar 31,406]

20 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

I have to agree with @DemonOX I struggle to understand why you would want to rehash this period. We lived through it, I honestly can’t see what more there is to learn from it. 
I’m done with wallowing in how terrible we were. We can’t do a lot as supporters, of course we buy our memberships, go to games and make noise and contribute financially as we are able. The other big thing we can do is not constantly talk about losing and the terrible times. I don’t want to be part of the ‘veil of negativity’

If the dark times were not still affecting supporters I would agree wholeheartedly with you about never needing to bring it up again. But for some of us, the effect still lingers. Maybe it always will. But periodically addressing it can only be a good thing, in a therapeutic sense. Imho, anyways. 

[Wrecker46 2,654]

It sucks when you go to Geelong to watch us lose by 186 but can't go to the MCG to watch Melbourne win a premiership.

Out of interest was 426 on our list when we lost by 186?

[binman 37,992]

My main reflection about that game was that it triggered the sacking of Bailey.

And my main reflection on that decision is we were still well in the hunt for a final's spot. 

Yes, 186 was obviously a sign things were crook in Tilabrook, but getting sacked when you still have good chance of making finals past the mid point of the season was really tough on Bails. 

[daisycutter 28,494]

i never understood why it happened

it was like the players went on strike

we might get the true story on day, rather than just the aftermath

[Little Goffy 12,560]

Any sense of inferiority or cringe is certainly washed away by beating Geelong three times in a season including denying them them the minor premiership with a shot after the siren and then absolutely belting them in a preliminary final (83 points? Seriously?).

But.

Given that I don't think our team has quite peaked yet, and Geelong are dancing on the edge of a list cliff which they've been pushing their luck on for years already...

[radar 1,848]

186 was literally a dark day.
Finished very late - Cats kicked lotta goals BTW - before  ground had lights

[DeeSpencer 23,124]

The amazing thing about that game is that 2011 was a good year compared with 07-09 and 12-14.

If you lined up all the win loss records and asked which year did we get belted by 31 goals you wouldn’t pick 2011.

2010 had genuine optimism. 2011 quickly snuffed that out as it was clear we were rebuilding on the shakiest foundations you’ll ever see.

2011 really was the end result of probably a decade of under-resourcing the footy department, both financially but also culturally with no support from plenty of different boards and CEO’s. Neale Daniher held the place together, Dean Bailey admirably tried to do the same. Hard to know what we can do as members except hope we never get caught in the same situation. 

 

[Wells 11 4,699]

Bailey / schwabb helped create the choice of Neeld. Neeld bought in Taylor and helped create the choice of Roos. Roos picked Goodwin. So in short id say it’s all been a very carefully managed and genius capitulation…pure genius.  186 was the beginning of our masterplan and no one was smart enough to spot it. 

Oct 21 says it was ALL worth it. 

 

[Demonland 64,798]

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

Really? Hope they enjoyed getting thrashed in a game that meant something. 
God I despise that club. Hope they struggle for the rest of eternity. 

Lol no it wasn't. 😜

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 10,579]

2 hours ago, Premiers said:

A shout out to Col Garland.  In the article he says:  "The club means a lot to me. I was there from age 18 to 30...After your time, you just become a supporter...And it's just like anything in life. When you see close friends, who are good people, achieve success in whatever field - that's a really good thing."

I always was a fan but he went to the top when he commented on (his good mate) Frawley winning a premiership.  He said something like:  If I don't win one with Melbourne it won't mean much'. 

Little doubt Garland's heart still beats true.

I have a real soft spot for Col.  Great MFC player and personality.

Had a Facebook memory pop up the other day from Colin signing on for another 3 years in 2015 till the end of 2018.  To me this was a pretty important and committed signing at the time, when we were still very much building a credible team a still looked a fair way off finals.  Colin was still playing decient footy at that point, would have had some currency at that stage and the talk was, would he go and join someone else to have a crack at a more immediate and likely chance of playing finals.   While others on here at the time had their doubts about Cols footy credentials, wrongly or rightly, I rated what he did on the footy field and in particular his competitive spirit and toughness in the face of some of the adversity we faced at the time, so was very happy to see him reject potential imeediate sucess elsewhere and sign on for another 3 years.  I saw it as a sign of both the guys loyalty and belief in where the club was going.

As history would show, Colin never saw out his 3 year contract until 2018 and didn't get to share in even that early euphoria of making and winning finals as a player, instead retiring before his contract was up when it was clear his body and football no longer had what it took to contribute to the team in a meaningful way.  From what I can recall, over his career, Colin had also built a bunch of respect within the playing group for the way he went about his training and leadership off the field.  As a mere supporter from afar, I take all this on face value and I'm greatful for what Col bought to the MFC.  He may not have been there on the field in that great last game in September a few weeks ago, but I think it's guys like Colin that were the genius and would fit in well with the teams current selfless ethos which has been credited with that sucess.

In a similar respects 186 is also very much an important part of that story of the 4 quarters of shear brilliance that we whitenessed against the Bulldogs as this game and other similar woeful losses were experiences that built perspective and resilience within some of the teams leadership and young players at the time like Gawn and Viney.  As a club we were down, but refused to lie down and kept getting up over and over again until we are now where we are.  I'm prouder to support a club that's come from there to be where we are now than if we were one who has always had it realitively easy like Hawthorn, Essendon, West Coast, Adelaide, Collingwood, Carlton and Geelong to an extent.

[Older demon 2,166]

The HS recently published an article by David Roberstson, a one eyed demon supporting journo. It was a beautiful reflection of Robbie Flower who only played finals in what was to be his last 3 games. Davids recollection was way back in high school when Robbie was at Murrumbeena high and were playing Caulfield high (David's school team). From Davids memory Robbie, pencil thin and awkward looking put on a display on that miserable wind swept day that had to be seen to be believed and dominated. Just as he would for Melbourne often is poor teams.

I had the joy of seeing Rob in spectacles playing his first seconds game and quickly making the firsts. He is still the most skilful and courageous player I have seen. If ever you want to write about a player that endured hard times for minimal success this is the man. I hope he is looking down on us with a smile.

[1964_2 2,357]

55 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

i never understood why it happened

it was like the players went on strike

we might get the true story on day, rather than just the aftermath

Maybe we all had gastro, like Geel claimed in the prelim