GAMEDAY: Rd 18 vs Essendon

[Demonland 71,868]

It’s game day and the Demons face a massive test which may determine whether they have what it takes to play finals this season. The task has been made all the more difficult without their Premiership Captain Max Gawn.

[Guest]

Pffft Essendon Shmessendon

GIVE ‘EM HELL, DEES!!!

Confidence and belief. We can do this!

Us by a Matty J (21 pts)

❤️💙👊🏼

[Newport34 380]

Getting in early for this one.

It’s game day baby. Pumped!

Unfortunately I won’t be at the G to cheer the boys on. Attending a birthday celebration for a mate who is a Bombers supporter 🤮

We will miss Max’s contested marks. Hope it rains and JV to go full beast mode. 

Go Dees. Give ‘em hell!

SN34 

[jnrmac 20,055]

We'll see if there's a Plan B today

Contest will be king

[Deecisive 1,709]

It will be interesting to see how we go with the ruck department. while i think max is a great ruckman the number of times his hitouts go to our players is not brilliant. his work around the ground is what is really important to us. So as long as who ever is in the ruck does not give away too many free (i.e. petty) and can play that marking player around the ground we could be ok. its just that we also lose that marking presence in the forward line. also, given petty's issues with his foot i wonder if this will put too much pressure on his feet. oh well in a few hours we will know how successful or not goodie's decision to not play a ruck and leave our forward line intact.

[Frustrated Demon 244]

Will be a win by 10 pts or a 10 goal flogging. Let’s see which Melbourne side shows up.

[TheWiz 766]

[Dee Zephyr 19,267]

Too much talk about Max missing. Let’s see some more of this tonight.

 

[Brownie 5,980]

My Wonderful wife's 50th birthday tonight. So it will probably Sunday lunchtime before I hunker down to watch the game.

Go well Dee's. Got a feeling we might snag this one

[ANG13 2,062]

Well what a grey damp cold miserable day it is at the moment, I hope it clears up to be a nice dry evening for football. 
 

There’s not many games where I wake up nervous from the get go but today is. The result of this game is huge for our season, we just need to get the win. And where playing Essendon I ride shotgun with WCW in my hatred for this arrogant scum of a club. 

[forever demons 2,220]

5 minutes ago, Brownie said:

My Wonderful wife's 50th birthday tonight. So it will probably Sunday lunchtime before I hunker down to watch the game.

Go well Dee's. Got a feeling we might snag this one

Must have been a child bride,dear old brownie

[At the break of Gawn 4,460]

Sunny morning but I’m really hoping for rain. If it’s a dry game I think we’ll struggle with all their height. Going off last night’s game, it’ll be a game for the smalls to dominate and a ground ball game which we should win comfortably. 

Dees to have a hot start but Essendon to claw some of it back. Dees by 14pts

[640MD 3,373]

8 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Pffft Essendon Shmessendon

GIVE ‘EM HELL, DEES!!!

Confidence and belief. We can do this!

Us by a Matty J (21 pts)

❤️💙👊🏼

I agree,   Just wish I had your confidence  Go Dees

[dazzledavey36 54,733]

Rather it be a rain and wet weather game.

They're not a big contested based team and do rely on that outside game and overlap. 

Also brings their talls down a notch.

[640MD 3,373]

8 hours ago, Newport34 said:

Unfortunately I won’t be at the G to cheer the boys on. Attending a birthday celebration for a mate who is a Bombers supporter 🤮

 

SN 34    My first game for 2 years,  I will give em one for you  Go Dee's

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,227]

What could possibly go wrong?

[Deeoldfart 8,016]

We’ve turned a significant corner over the last two weeks with our pressure and contest work, and I expect them to be on show again tonight.  Goody will have plans for the ruck, and to (somewhat) cover the absence of Max around the ground.  The form and enthusiasm of our ‘in form’ youngsters gives us a new and exciting look, and the cool heads and leadership of our ‘elder statesmen’ will hold us in good stead when it counts.    
I’m on edge, but quietly confident that we can take the 8 points on offer.

[Maldonboy38 6,395]

I have the ying and yang experience this morning.

• YING - Delight and expectation that my Dees are playing, are on TV, and a heap of new young players showing some skill and grunt.
• YANG - we are playing the [censored] whom I loathe with a passion equal to those drivers who refuse to indicate before they hit the brake pedal.

If the game is played in a similar manner to last night Pies v Cats, we are in for a good night. If it becomes an aerial game it could become difficult for us.

Kozzie's milestone, Clarry finding the ball, Fritsch & Melksham in tandem, May & Lever in tandem, Langdon & Windsor in tandem. 

Dees by 10

[Chook 15,012]

Win tonight and it's still going to be a tough road to make finals. Lose and it's almost impossible.

As others have mentioned we're showing some really positive signs with our tackle pressure and forward connection (Roo is looking like a gun in the making imo). I'm cautiously optimistic about Petty and Turner tonight in the ruck. I think Roo should play forward 100%, as he's so critical to our structure.

Melksham will play a big role in keeping the forwards functioning as a unit, and will be instrumental in us getting the best out of van Rooyen.

Let's go Dees.

[Superunknown 4,215]

@Jaded No More are we heading to Sportsbet?🕵🏻🕵🏻

[Jaded No More 68,879]

4 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

@Jaded No More are we heading to Sportsbet?🕵🏻🕵🏻

Negative. I repeat, negative 

[old55 23,519]

Just now, Jaded No More said:

Negative. I repeat, negative 

Prime him for R24, that's all I ask!

[Adam The God 30,209]

6 minutes ago, Chook said:

Win tonight and it's still going to be a tough road to make finals. Lose and it's almost impossible.

As others have mentioned we're showing some really positive signs with our tackle pressure and forward connection (Roo is looking like a gun in the making imo). I'm cautiously optimistic about Petty and Turner tonight in the ruck. I think Roo should play forward 100%, as he's so critical to our structure.

Melksham will play a big role in keeping the forwards functioning as a unit, and will be instrumental in us getting the best out of van Rooyen.

Let's go Dees.

Great post mate.

IMO, it's no coincidence that the week Melksham comes back in, JVR gets the 2nd and 3rd best defender and gets a look at 8 shots on goal.

If Melksham can play his role, it frees up either JVR or Fritta and we become much more dangerous in the forward half.

[DeeZee 7,372]

I’m feeling optimistic about this game.

We will tag Merrett heavily and Petty will go with Draper around the ground using his defensive skills and providing an outlet marking option for us.

Apart from Trac and Max being out, the others have hit good form at the right time and I reckon this the statement game of the year for us.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,813]

For those into good luck charms and superstitions, we’re 15-3-1 for Saturday night games since round 1 2021.

Already 3-0 this year.