The trek will soon begin.

I have booked an uber canoe to get across the swollen croc invested river to the landing where I will be met by a dog cart pulled by cassowaries for the trip to the landing strip

translates as

The Mrs is driving me to the airport in air conditioned comfort.

Go Dees

 

24 minutes ago, Lefty said:

The 4 tall forwards are going to be a worry for us and will stretch us without May.

Do not discount Tim English drifting forward either. He has kicked 6.3 in 7 matches against us. We seem to struggle to match up against his height when he's resting in the forward line even with May in the side.

Do not discount Max playing back for a portion and taking out all aerial threat. 

I like it but I hate it. 

The really unfortunate thing is that we have 3 very hard games to start the season, so this is a very unideal time to be missing 4 key players in our best 22. 

If this was happening rounds 7-9 where we play North, Gold Coast and Hawks you'd be far less worried, but starting the season 3-0 vs 0-3 is make or break. 

Hopefully Viney and Fritta will play next week. Can't see us pushing Salem straight in without decent match preparation and honestly, if we risk May and he blows up the calf and misses half the season, I would be furious. 

Calf injuries + old age = bad news. 

So in the age today Sam McClure has heard that only about 55,000 will be there Saturday night and that will be disappointing when both teams are going to be aiming for a top 4 spot and both teams should play finals. 

I agree with him with the crowd prediction. I mean on Saturday night there should be over 60,000. Covid restrictions have gone and we are coming off a pretty good season and have some awesome recruits. 

The thing that annoyed me was the final line he wrote.. Has the ski season come early. Like come on Sam. Honestly you are better than that. Don't start running with that r1

3 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

So in the age today Sam McClure has heard that only about 55,000 will be there Saturday night and that will be disappointing when both teams are going to be aiming for a top 4 spot and both teams should play finals. 

I agree with him with the crowd prediction. I mean on Saturday night there should be over 60,000. Covid restrictions have gone and we are coming off a pretty good season and have some awesome recruits. 

The thing that annoyed me was the final line he wrote.. Has the ski season come early. Like come on Sam. Honestly you are better than that. Don't start running with that r1

He's a Blues fan that hates the Dees. The dig doesn't surprise me. I agree that our fans need to turn up and we can't complain about not getting blockbuster games and timeslots if we don't bother rocking up especially when we have a once in lifetime genuine A-Grade of a side to watch. Why is he only targeting Dees fans for not turning up though? Why do the Bulldogs fans get off scot-free?

5 minutes ago, Demonland said:

He's a Blues fan that hates the Dees. The dig doesn't surprise me. I agree that our fans need to turn up and we can't complain about not getting blockbuster games and timeslots if we don't bother rocking up especially when we have a once in lifetime genuine A-Grade of a side to watch. Why is he only targeting Dees fans for not turning up though? Why do the Bulldogs fans get off scot-free?

At the same game last year I reckon it was 90% Dees fans, the doggies fans did not turn up.

22 minutes ago, Vipercrunch said:

I like it but I hate it. 

Who tipped Richmond? ROFL

12 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

So in the age today Sam McClure has heard that only about 55,000 will be there Saturday night and that will be disappointing when both teams are going to be aiming for a top 4 spot and both teams should play finals. 

I agree with him with the crowd prediction. I mean on Saturday night there should be over 60,000. Covid restrictions have gone and we are coming off a pretty good season and have some awesome recruits. 

The thing that annoyed me was the final line he wrote.. Has the ski season come early. Like come on Sam. Honestly you are better than that. Don't start running with that r1

I think our fans will turn up.  It is the Footscray fans that will be missing.

McClure is click baiting failing to mention that the combined membership of the games he compares us to, is about double the combined membership of our game. 

13 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

 

The thing that annoyed me was the final line he wrote.. Has the ski season come early. Like come on Sam. Honestly you are better than that. Don't start running with that r1

No he isn’t, terrible journalist like Caro, report doom and gloom, with nil footy intellect 

2 minutes ago, Action Jackson said:

At the same game last year I reckon it was 90% Dees fans, the doggies fans did not turn up.

Its a Melb home game. Dogs fans don't get free entry. That will deter a lot of their fans. Footy is expensive these days. Family of 4 $130 plus food etc and transport.

19 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

So in the age today Sam McClure has heard that only about 55,000 will be there Saturday night and that will be disappointing when both teams are going to be aiming for a top 4 spot and both teams should play finals. 

I agree with him with the crowd prediction. I mean on Saturday night there should be over 60,000. Covid restrictions have gone and we are coming off a pretty good season and have some awesome recruits. 

The thing that annoyed me was the final line he wrote.. Has the ski season come early. Like come on Sam. Honestly you are better than that. Don't start running with that r1

The Dogs don’t draw big crowds.

11 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Its a Melb home game. Dogs fans don't get free entry. That will deter a lot of their fans. Footy is expensive these days. Family of 4 $130 plus food etc and transport.

I'm not disputing that. Just more the fact that media were saying similar stuff last year re the crowd but failed to acknowledge that there were barely any Dogs fans there.

So we essentially had 90% of our membership base at the game, so not sure what more they expect.

54 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Its a Melb home game. Dogs fans don't get free entry. That will deter a lot of their fans. Footy is expensive these days. Family of 4 $130 plus food etc and transport.

Spot on.

I wish the media would get off the stupid topic of crowd size. They are just a shill for the AFL on that front. 

The world has changed since COVID - there will still be some mega crowds for specific matches, but as a generalization the numbers will never go back to what they were pre covid.

One, people have got used to watching footy at home.

And some people have perhaps come to the conclusion that, all things considered, it is a better experience.

No hassles with bar codes, no ridiculously packed trains on the way home (with zero masks and plenty of yahoos), no 'game day' experience (eg blaring music and ads at EVERY SINGLE break in play) to suffer through. No insufferable oppo fans. And no shelling out $10 for flat mid strength beer in a plastic cup.

But above all, as you note jnr it, it is expensive for a family to go to the footy.

With inflation and high interest rates, going to the footy is a discretionary spend. And many simply can't afford it.  

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 20232 yr by binman

11 minutes ago, binman said:

Spot on.

I wish the media would get off the stupid topic of crowd size. They are just a shill for the AFL on that front. 

The world has changed since COVID - there will still be some mega crowds for specific matches, but as a generalization the numbers will never go back to what they were pre covid.

One, people have got used to watching footy at home.

And some people have perhaps come to the conclusion that, all things considered, it is a better experience.

No hassles with bar codes, no ridiculously packed trains on the way home (with zero masks and plenty of yahoos), no 'game day' experience (eg blaring music and ads at EVERY SINGLE break in play) to suffer through. No insufferable oppo fans. And no shelling out $10 for flat mid strength beer in a plastic cup.

But above all, as you note jnr it, it is expensive for a family to go to the footy.

With inflation and high interest rates, going to the footy is a discretionary spend. And many can't simply afford it.  

 

 

 

Plus the monster TV's available nowadays at a reasonable price.

50 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

So in the age today Sam McClure has heard that only about 55,000 will be there Saturday night and that will be disappointing when both teams are going to be aiming for a top 4 spot and both teams should play finals. 

I agree with him with the crowd prediction. I mean on Saturday night there should be over 60,000. Covid restrictions have gone and we are coming off a pretty good season and have some awesome recruits. 

The thing that annoyed me was the final line he wrote.. Has the ski season come early. Like come on Sam. Honestly you are better than that. Don't start running with that r1

McClure's a fool if he thinks 55,000 is a disappointing crowd for these 2 teams.

If he did his research he would've noted that 31,000 is the average attendance for these two clubs at the MCG since 1990, excluding the 1994 semi final. The average crowd at Marvel would be a fair bit lower when these two sides meet.

Dogs fans don't turn up to the G, much like we don't really turn up to Marvel (i.e. -13,000 to an MFC game last year at Marvel when we were 9-0)

I'm expecting 45,000-50,000 for this game as I don't expect many of their fans to turn up.

 

Edited March 15, 20232 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

1 hour ago, layzie said:

People are underestimating Daniel Turner, I think this guy can seriously play and this could be the perfect chance for him to announce himself. 

The team seem to really adore him as well. I think he has the potential to become something special, just needs an opportunity. 

3 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

McClure's a fool if he thinks 55,000 is a disappointing crowd for these 2 teams.

If he did his research he would've noted that 31,000 is the average attendance for these two clubs at the MCG since 1990, excluding the 1994 semi final. The average crowd at Marvel would be a fair bit lower when these two sides meet.

Dogs fans don't turn up to the G, much like we don't really turn up to Marvel (i.e. -13,000 to an MFC game last year at Marvel when we were 9-0)

I'm expecting 45,000-50,000 for this game as I don't expect many of their fans to turn up.

 

Plus he fails to mention that the largest crowd for a Tigers v Carlton opener was 90k in 2018.

So if we just assume there was 50% of each supporter group, that's 45k each.

So if Melbourne have 40-45k supporters there it is roughly in line with those two sides..... so what is he on about.

16 minutes ago, binman said:

 

With inflation and high interest rates, going to the footy is a discretionary spend. And many can't simply afford it.  

 

 

 

I think this is a big one.

Unless you are like me, and never ever buy food or drinks at the venue, and have a pre paid membership that gets your free entry to all H&A games, footy is a very expensive outing.

Add to that the price of petrol/parking/public transport, and you are looking at $100 for 2 people at a minimum. That's money a lot of people just don't have to spare right now.

Unless you are a hardcore fan, like all of us on Demonland, most people will absolutely pick and choose which games to go to given the cost of living. Whereas they might have gone to 10 games a season, they might only go to 5 or 6 and they'll make those games the ones they are really keen to watch, rather than every game on the schedule. 

Weightman not playing is arguably a bigger out for them than may is for us, particularly given their other small forward crumbing option, Arthur Jones, is also out (though given he is yet to debut he is not a huge out).

Even with may out, their tall forwards are not going to clunk many marks inside 50.

The keys for them, if they can't mark it inside 50, will be ensuring oppo defenders don't intercept mark and winning inside 50 ground balls. Weightman is critical for them in terms of winning inside 50 ground balls.

It will be super important we win most of those inside 50 ground balls - one to prevent them from scoring and two to bounce from defence and set up offensive transitions and scoring chains. If we win most of these contests, we will win. 

McVee, Bowser, Rivers and Gus (and players like Nibbler and Spargo pushing back) will all have key roles in terms of winning contested ball inside 50 and being the first links in the chain out of our back half.

Edited March 16, 20232 yr by binman

32 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

The team seem to really adore him as well. I think he has the potential to become something special, just needs an opportunity. 

Serious consideration needs to be made to bring Turner in.

I don't feel comfortable with only Petty and Lever trying to man up on three of JUH, Norton, Darcy, Lobb and English at the one time. We'd definitely be a key defender down.

The other options are playing T Mac as a key defender, which is probably the most reliable option but we're back to square one in terms of missing his link and run further up the ground as well as a much needed goal kicking option in the absence of Fritta.

The other option is Tomlinson who was serviceable in the first 4 rounds last year as a key defender, but is badly out of form going by pre season game reports.

May out is a shocking loss and our defence went to pieces after half time in the mid season games he missed last year.

58 minutes ago, binman said:

With inflation and high interest rates, going to the footy is a discretionary spend. And many simply can't afford it.  

Spot on there. Families are doing it tough, and spending to attend a footy match and eat overpriced food isn't a must.

There's also public transport issues. The Belgrade and Lilydale lines in the eastern suburbs are undergoing major works until late May, and I doubt thousands will cram onto replacement buses and do a longer more expensive journey too. 

1 hour ago, dees189227 said:

So in the age today Sam McClure has heard that only about 55,000 will be there Saturday night and that will be disappointing when both teams are going to be aiming for a top 4 spot and both teams should play finals. 

I agree with him with the crowd prediction. I mean on Saturday night there should be over 60,000. Covid restrictions have gone and we are coming off a pretty good season and have some awesome recruits. 

The thing that annoyed me was the final line he wrote.. Has the ski season come early. Like come on Sam. Honestly you are better than that. Don't start running with that r1

Is he better than that, though?

Doubtful. Sam is a gronk.

For me, Disco is THE only option. Don't want TMac put back in defence and definitely don't want Tommo in ahead of Disco. Give the kid a few weeks, Lever will be General in Mays absence.

We got this

Edited March 16, 20232 yr by AzzKikA

4 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Spot on there. Families are doing it tough, and spending to attend a footy match and eat overpriced food isn't a must.

There's also public transport issues. The Belgrade and Lilydale lines in the eastern suburbs are undergoing major works until late May, and I doubt thousands will cram onto replacement buses and do a longer more expensive journey too. 

So is the Seymour/Shepparton line, for another 3 weeks.