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Has 186 been laid to rest?

tiers
tiers
in Melbourne Demons

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1 hour ago, Project13 said:

186 doesn't bother me anymore, but it's a (disturbingly) important part of what made 2021 so special.

Sure, the Cattery massacre was 11 years ago, but it set us back so far culturally that we can't forget it happened. To win a flag within a decade of that unspeakable horror is pretty darn impressive IMO. 

One can just as easily say to win a Prelim and Flag only 4 years after the West Coast disaster is just as impressive as it contained about  half of the team members of that 2018 side that got pummelled.

And in MHO the scarring is felt in many different ways. Is it for the Club ie Geelong we fear long term OR maybe  just the Cattery as a ground that affects our psyche. Or even just some players like Stevie Johnston who always played well against us.

in actual fact we have probably the best recent record of any other AFL team at the Cattery winning in 2015 2017 ( Coreys 300th gameI I think) choking by 3 pts in the Tuohy goal after the siren in 2018 and gaining revenge this year with what will be one of our greatest Club wins this century coming from 44pts down about 20 mins in the third quarter. (Does that remind us all of something even more special four weeks later or even the trouncing three weeks on when we blew the Cats out of the contest in the last half).

And of course 2011 2016 and 2019 are all that we now have buried as embarrassing losses by a Club powerless to stop the Cats blitz at  that venue.

While many Demonlanders openly hate and despise the Cats They are not any where near the arrogance of the big Victorian clubs Essendon Hawthorn Richmond and the Pies to hate or the booing and one sided freaks that Optus Stadium is called their home.

We should respect the Cats  record and longevity that has kept  them ( like Cwood used to be in nearly the first 100 VFL years constant challengers) that have mysteriously under achieved in Finals.

Now the Cats fans are obviously  jealous and a bit fearful of their future after 2021and the Dees hold over them with 3 different but systematic unravellings of their slow but steady style.

Long May it continue! 

 

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    We humiliated Geelong twice in a month. And more importantly we're premiers. Who cares about losses from a decade ago?

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    21 hours ago, tiers said:

    In the grand final, we outscored the doggies by 93 points in a quarter and a half.

    Extrapolate that for a whole game (not real but for comparison purposes) and that rate of outscoring would equate to 248 points.

    When it happened to us, we were at the lowest point of our form and ability. OTOH, the doggies were in a GF and streaming until we rose from our lethargy.

    I reckon that a 93 margin in a quarter and a half in a GF is enough to cancel out the memory of 186.

    GO DEES

    I understand where you are trying to go with this but does it really matter when your club are the current World Champions of the AFL.

    PS: The cup is in our cabinet. 🏆

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    To everyone who has replied.

    I started this thread to gauge supporters reactions to that awful day.

    The universal response has been that it is history and we now move on as PREMIERS.

    My hope is that, should we once again pass through a difficult time, this will never be raised again.

    GO DEES

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    If someone told you on that fateful day on July 30 2011 not to worry, we'll be winning a flag in 10 years time. Would you have taken it? 

    Tough one and easy to say in hindsight but yes.

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    7 minutes ago, layzie said:

    If someone told you on that fateful day on July 30 2011 not to worry, we'll be winning a flag in 10 years time. Would you have taken it? 

    Tough one and easy to say in hindsight but yes.

    Yes

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    Don't care about 186 anymore.

    We were crap back then, and had been for ages and the rebuild would commence next season.

    All 186 means to me now is the donk I had in my EH about 40 years ago.

     

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    Just now, Deepfreeze said:

    Don't care about 186 anymore.

    We were crap back then, and had been for ages and the rebuild would commence next season.

    All 186 means to me now is the donk I had in my EH about 40 years ago.

     

    I still find it hard to believe the list fell apart so quickly. The list was ready to take off after 2010 yet in Neeld's Open Mike he reckons when he got to the club end of 2011 it was a mess. Not sure about that.

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    Unfortunately 186 was not rock bottom for us, as horrible a day as it was. Two years later we won only 2 games. We wouldn't have beaten the worst VFL team that year. I have never seen a team from any club play as poorly as we did during that time. The next year Paul Roos was brought in and we started to turn things around.

    We finally got to see the fruits of their labour this year and wasn't it fantastic. As good as the final 40 minutes of the GF was it was the PF two weeks before when we put the cats to the sword that I felt we could put that all behind us. The cats kicked two late goals before half time, keeping them in the game. In the second half we saw our captain play his best quarter of football yet as our midfield took control of the game. I was brought to tears ans felt reborn. I still can't watch that quarter dry-eyed. Hallelujah!

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    35 minutes ago, layzie said:

    If someone told you on that fateful day on July 30 2011 not to worry, we'll be winning a flag in 10 years time. Would you have taken it? 

    Tough one and easy to say in hindsight but yes.

    For mine, that’d be a big bunch of nope right there. I look at it this way: if someone was to say to me now (at a match this year), “Today you’re gonna see your beloved Dees cop a humiliating thrashing to the tune of 186 points at the hands of Essendon (my scenario so I get to choose the opponent 😉), the likes of which will break your heart and leave you mentally scarred for god knows how long… but don’t worry, it guarantees you a flag in 10 years” I’d definitely say NO! 
    It’s not just that 10 years is such a long time to wait. It’s also because no promise of anything in the future is worth suffering that happen again.

    On the subject of hypotheticals, on the morning of the GF my son put this to me: Melbourne win the GF today, or Melbourne lose but you get a million dollars. What would you choose? I said Melbourne winning the flag, because a million dollars may or may not make me happy, whereas Melbourne winning the flag is 100”% guaranteed to make me happy. He said, “the disturbing thing is, I know you mean that” and left the room shaking his head. 😆

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    11 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

    On the subject of hypotheticals, on the morning of the GF my son put this to me: Melbourne win the GF today, or Melbourne lose but you get a million dollars. What would you choose? I said Melbourne winning the flag, because a million dollars may or may not make me happy, whereas Melbourne winning the flag is 100”% guaranteed to make me happy. He said, “the disturbing thing is, I know you mean that” and left the room shaking his head. 😆

    I can understand him shaking his head as he can't inherit your happiness. The million dollars, on the other hand...

    As to the original question, I've just noticed that 186 just happens to be twice 93. A nice symmetry given the 93 points was in one half of football.

     

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    49 minutes ago, Demon4Life said:

    Unfortunately 186 was not rock bottom for us, as horrible a day as it was. Two years later we won only 2 games. We wouldn't have beaten the worst VFL team that year.

    My take is that we'd become largely inured to failure by the time 2013 came along. The nadirs we experienced during that time didn't feel as bad as we had been blindsided by 186. We were convinced that we were on an upward swing during 2011. To be disabused of these notions in such brutal fashion made it feel like we had reached the bottom.

    Hence, the emotional rock bottom in 2013 wasn't as bad.

    If you think about it now, 148 was actually worse than 186. Essendon were a bottom half of the 8 team at best while that Cats team went on to win the flag (and was arguably better than their all time great '07 team). When round 2, 2013 rolled around, anyone who was serious on this board was of the opinion that we were no better than absolute poo grade. Thus it made it easier to swallow when the hammer dropped.

    Edited by Colin B. Flaubert

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    15 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

    148 was actually worse than 186. Essendon were a bottom half of the 8 team at best while that Cats team went on to win the flag (and was arguably better than their all time great '07 team).

    Thankfully I was at home watching on TV for 186. For 148 I was there until the bitter end.

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    It's not so much the 186 loss that we needed to atone for. To me it's about the decades of being a terrible team and being a doormat for clubs like Geelong, Hawthorn, West Coast and even North and St.Kilda for that matter, who had long winning streaks over the years playing us. We owe clubs a lot of good hidings, just like what they've dished out to us and I think we will do that over the next 5 or so years, as long as we can keep our elite list together. 

    We have beaten Geelong in two finals now ending their seasons in 2018 and 2021. Make no doubt about it Geelong will be hoping like hell to not come up against us when finals come around. 

    But if by chance we could atone for the Geelong 186. I would love to see Scott sacked at the hands of a Melbourne thumping. That would make me feel all warm and fuzzy at night. 

    Edited by Caligula's cohort

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    1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

    I can understand him shaking his head as he can't inherit your happiness. The million dollars, on the other hand...

     

    My happiness will still be around when I bite the dust. The million dollars, on the other hand…

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    1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

    As to the original question, I've just noticed that 186 just happens to be twice 93. A nice symmetry given the 93 points was in one half of football.

     

    Less than one half of football. Greater rate than 186.

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    9 hours ago, mauriesy said:

    It was 10 years ago. Just like 190 was 42 years ago.

    The current team doesn't dwell on the distant, and neither do I.


     

    Getting flogged by both the Dawks and Essenscum in Grand Finals haunted me no end.
    Not sure I've even thought about those loses since the GF till now.
    Only reason I've thought about 186 is there seem to many around here who can't let it go and keep bringing it up. 

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    6 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

    On the subject of hypotheticals, on the morning of the GF my son put this to me: Melbourne win the GF today, or Melbourne lose but you get a million dollars. What would you choose? I said Melbourne winning the flag, because a million dollars may or may not make me happy, whereas Melbourne winning the flag is 100”% guaranteed to make me happy. He said, “the disturbing thing is, I know you mean that” and left the room shaking his head. 😆

    I remember a bloke on 'Ology who stated that if we ever did win a flag we'd find the joy of victory short lived and not what we thought it was cracked up to be.

    Well it was far better than what I thought it was going to be.
    By a long way.



     

     

    Edited by Fork 'em

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    Still think Viney put it best in his post GF siren interview ..... "and now we are premiers"

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    13 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

    I will be on my death bed and they’ll ask if I have any final wishes. My last words will be, “play it from the Bont’s goal in the third.” 😁

    Find the QR code for that moment and follow Nathan Vardy's idea 😉

     

     

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    We won the flag in the same year which coincided with the 186th year from when the city of Melbourne was formed. 
     

    Done

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    18 hours ago, 58er said:

    2011 not 2021 !! 

    Thanks for the pick up. My point still stands on a Cats fan view of the Dees v Cats success rates from 2012 onwards

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