2 hours ago, Action Jackson said:

100% agree. He just rambles every time I listen to him, in a manner not too different from Donald Trump.

I get a good laugh out of it, but his analysis is pretty poor.

Is that a condition of having fake blond hair as you get older???

2 hours ago, JJJ said:

I’ve met him heaps of times. Top bloke actually.

I have heard the same.

Top bloke - but a woeful special comments person. 

I watched the first half of the first GWS game last night, and geez Dermie is out there. Can't time his comments to sync with the play by play call, clearly hasn't done his research ('Leigh, do the demon's always hold their defender back') and says some off the wall things. 

An example of the latter was saying he didn't like Max dropping back into defence (which in of itself is ok - although the strategy is actually a key element of our system) and preferred him to always follow the ball. Ok. But then later when maxy went forward and took a strong mark Dermie says max should go forward more often.

I don't generally agree with Dermot but I also think Richmond are still a threat.

They had a horrible run with injury and have the right system to continue winning. If they stay fit, they are in the top 4 mix.

Tiges doing a serious rebuild with 5 picks in the top 30. Probably means if they are lucky, very lucky with their picks and development they could be a very serious contender in 2023. Depending also of course on how many of their ageing stars can hold up.

 

I don’t think the Tigers will even make the finals. They had an amazing 4 years and could have easily won all 4 flags if not for Mason Cox pulling that prelim out of his backside. 

Dynasty teams rarely recover after their 3-4 years at the pinnacle. Their best players are old, they can’t rely on their pressing game anymore as their defence is weak. They’re done

 

2 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Richmond have a fistful of second round draft picks.  In a draft that is said to be very even from 20 to 45 they have every chance of getting some excellent talent that can play next year, as we did with our draftees (LJ, Kozzie, Rivers and Bowey).  I don't think they will win in 2022 but will be thereabout.

Geelong also have a fistful of second round draft picks and could quickly rejuvenate their team to avoid a deep slide.  Am starting to revise my view of them tumbling down the ladder in the next year or two.

yeah it interesting I just don't seem them there and there abouts. Cotchin looks gone, reiwoldt surprised me last year but his time is close, lost some key players as mentioned. I just dont see it.

 

Outside of us, I see the dogs with a huge talent base now, they will bring another elite junior in Darcy as well as Ugle Hagan to develop and the natural progression of an out and out gun in Smith and I'd be thinking they are our biggest competition next year. but you never know.

 

It might 'click like it did for us with teams like Brisbane or Sydney.

Can see the tigers improving but not enough for a flag. I think the true contenders are us, dogs, giants and maybe swans.

Will we still have enough want will be interesting? I think there still a lot of room for improvement from quite a few of our players but will we be hungry enough?

The chance to relive that glory at the MCG will do it for us.

Hawthorn looked dead in 1990.

Carlton looked dead in 1994.

Geelong looked dead in 2010.

10 hours ago, durango said:

There was a coach or commentator who once said 'you don't win premierships in April', so I say 'no team will ever win a match in December'.

His opinion may turn out to be correct or way of the mark because no one predicted the MFC was going to be 1st in 2021 in August and Premiers in September.

The greatest leveller is injuries and no one can predict that future, look at Fyfe his future is in doubt because the injury was treated but a problem occured during rehabilitation.

If both Richmond and Melbourne players remain healthy it maybe a Grand Final worth watching until half way thru the 3rd quarter like 2021 where predicting the result was very iffy. 

A sensible response, compared with some of the angry hyperbole on this thread. Brereton put the Demons in his top 3, for God's sake. What more do people want?

I can see Richmond doing a Geelong over the next 2 years - annoying the carp out of the entire competition because their older players are absolute guns who hate losing. They will ride high and hurt teams because their top 8 players really are (have been?) great to watch, but they will only be strong enough to then lose in the Semis or Prelim. 

Dees  -  then daylight.

Dogs, Tiges, Swans primed and ready to have a genuine crack.

Lions and Port up there but I remain unconvinced about either of them.

And there is usually a bolter or 2. Bombers or Saints possibly.

Richmond, even with a fit Dusty, are no longer a premiership threat.

Like most "special comments" ex-players, Dermott changes his opinion based on what is happening in the QTR being called.

Can safely ignore.

Either way whether it’s Richmond , Geelong , bulldogs , whoever…I don’t care … but I’m loving the fact now we are the champs so to the rest of the comp I say

Richmond and Geelong hung on in 2020 because of shorter season and shorter quarters.

Yes, I can understand if the Tigers 2021 season was a down year, a bit like our 2020 season that followed 2019, but I think the key difference is that in 2019, we predominantly had a list that was maturing, where as in 2021, they had a team that was predominantly aging.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Richmond are better in 2022, but I don't expect they will be the top side.

I guess the real test will also be of us if we can maintain and/or our game, even in the face of increased injuries which will likely be the case, given the near dream run we had injury wise in 2021.

Edited November 18, 20213 yr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

5 hours ago, Bay Riffin said:

Outside of us, I see the dogs with a huge talent base now, they will bring another elite junior in Darcy as well as Ugle Hagan to develop and the natural progression of an out and out gun in Smith and I'd be thinking they are our biggest competition next year. but you never know.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/11/17/why-brownlow-medallist-likes-where-the-bulldogs-are-positioned/

Seems like Gerard Heally agrees with you Ray.

Interesting if you read the article that the Demons finally won over Gerard, as I got the feeling that for most of the season, he was a non believer in us and was backing the Doggies in to win the flag, which I guess in a way was not an entirely unreasonable position given our previous track record of folding in times of pressure and it wasn't really until late in the home and away after that amazing finals series that we really flicked the switch and went from just a super solid defense side, to one that could also totally dominate good sides offensively consistently as well, within the same game.

4 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/11/17/why-brownlow-medallist-likes-where-the-bulldogs-are-positioned/

Seems like Gerard Heally agrees with you Ray.

Interesting if you read the article that the Demons finally won over Gerard, as I got the feeling that for most of the season, he was a non believer in us and was backing the Doggies in to win the flag, which I guess in a way was not an entirely unreasonable position given our previous track record of folding in times of pressure and it wasn't really until late in the home and away after that amazing finals series that we really flicked the switch and went from just a super solid defense side, to one that could also totally dominate good sides offensively consistently as well, within the same game.

The bulldogs were “agonisingly close” to a premiership , yet lost the grand final by 74 points ? 🤨

2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

Hawthorn looked dead in 1990.

Carlton looked dead in 1994.

Geelong looked dead in 2010.

Geelong came 2nd in 2010 with 17 wins. Still had a massive group of talented players

3 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Geelong came 2nd in 2010 with 17 wins. Still had a massive group of talented players

And Carlton finished 2nd in 1994 - but faced a red hot ox in the 1st qualifying final 

I'm sorry, I cannot read or listen to anything supplied by a 57 yo man who still dyes his hair blonde

Next...

Games are won in the midfield and Richmond's midfield doesn't come close to Melbourne's or the Bulldogs.

Cotchin is done. Prestia's hamstrings are shot, Edwards is 34 next year and Dusty is coming off a serious injury. 

The next crop of players are not capable of stepping up. 

Edited November 18, 20213 yr by dee-tox

Derm doesn't like us because we prevented Horethugs winning four premierships in a row. Definitely two of the best consecutive wins in the Deez modern history IMHO (up until 2021 anyway). 

Dermott is probably a good bloke, but his footy analysis is too often poor and pretentious. Ask yourself how much weight his opinions would carry if he wasn't a famous (and very good) ex-player. He tries to sound impressive but too often uses big words he doesn't know the meaning of, and butchers other big words. Take apart his wise-old-man pronouncements and you find the essence of what he says is okay, but often garbled in layers of sloppy garnish.

That said, we have to be wary of Cats 2007 and Tigers 2018. In both years they were clearly the best side, but were ambushed in the finals. There's a good chance we will be the best side next year, but I hope we don't expose our flank in the finals.

1 hour ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

The bulldogs were “agonisingly close” to a premiership , yet lost the grand final by 74 points ? 🤨

I guess it depends on how you look at it. One way is that any team that loses in the Grand Final is clearly closer than 16 other teams in the competition. The other way is that with about 5-10 minutes left in the third quarter, they were within a kick of the lead. It might have ended up being a 74 point loss, but with about 40 minutes to go, it was anybody's game. 

4 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I guess it depends on how you look at it. One way is that any team that loses in the Grand Final is clearly closer than 16 other teams in the competition. The other way is that with about 5-10 minutes left in the third quarter, they were within a kick of the lead. It might have ended up being a 74 point loss, but with about 40 minutes to go, it was anybody's game. 

I’d say the pies were agonisingly close in 2018, the dogs 19 point lead in the 3rd was a mirage. I’m not saying we all weren’t [censored] bricks watching mid way through the 3rd but in the final analysis the team flicked a switch , went up multiple gears and obliterated them , same as the cats in the prelim but not as abruptly.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more dominant 40 mins of football ever let alone in a grand final , let alone inflicted by the Melbourne Demons on another team , who themselves destroyed port the week before. It would be truly frightening for opposition teams to see what we were capable of when on in September.

I just think saying the dogs were agonisingly close in the article is under selling how awesome we played. There would be many in the media, and football world in general, that were in disbelief that a Melbourne team would ever be capable of winning a flag, let alone doing it in that sort of manner . Hell most of us probably haven’t really processed it fully yet.  

21 minutes ago, Tony Tea said:

Dermott is probably a good bloke, but his footy analysis is too often poor and pretentious. Ask yourself how much weight his opinions would carry if he wasn't a famous (and very good) ex-player. He tries to sound impressive but too often uses big words he doesn't know the meaning of, and butchers other big words. Take apart his wise-old-man pronouncements and you find the essence of what he says is okay, but often garbled in layers of sloppy garnish.

That said, we have to be wary of Cats 2007 and Tigers 2018. In both years they were clearly the best side, but were ambushed in the finals. There's a good chance we will be the best side next year, but I hope we don't expose our flank in the finals.

Agree - Just need to watch out for any random bouts of gastro in prelim final week and also lanky opposition ruckman prone to pulling goals out of their [censored]