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Just booked five tickets for the game. All Eagles supporter mates coming but they’ve all agreed to wear Demons scarves.

18 in the bag for me all up Thanks to Uncle Bitter for half of those numbers. 🔴🔵💪

My week ahead in pictures leading into Friday night …. Monday Tuesday Thursday team selections Gameday Post match

I'll add a bit to that @adonski I would be hugely surprised if the club thought it was best fit to trade Sparrow.. like Adam Treloar Lachie Neale type surprise. First of all Sparrow is contracted still. Club resigned him for a couple of years off the back of only playing 7 games in 2 years and most of it impacted by injury. The club rates him so HIGHLY. He's one of the most impressive up and coming individuals at our club due to his work ethic and professionalism. His leadership is first class for a young player and Jordan Lewis has been on record at his SEN breakfast slot as his pick for a future leadership role at the club. I do know Choco Williams is a huge wrap for this kid also. Sparrow is also happily settled in Melbourne. Has found himself a Melbourne girl and lives with Jimmy Jordon and Aaron Nietschke. We are now seeing the real potential Sparrow has off the back of consistency of games and also more midfield time. His impact against Geelong and then Brisbane in a final was enormous for the team. If Cerra nominates Melbourne it won't be at the expense of Sparrow. There'll be other alternative.

Anyone who watching the Gus and Gawny podcasts knows Gus is a very important part of the culture we continue to build Remove elements of that at your peril Personally rather have Gus playing for us than Cerra - not sure what the fuss is about him tbh

2019 was a fantastic effort by our recruiting team not only that they got it right but Jackson and Kossie were gutsy calls. There were question marks over each but both have proven outstanding. And it's not only 2019, it's what JT has done in the last 4 years. Games played is from a couple of weeks ago: This has been our drafting since 2017 with picks in the top 50: 2020 Bowey P21 4 2020 Laurie P22 0 2020 Rosman P34 0 2019 Jackson P3 27 2019 Pickett P12 36 2019 Rivers P32 31 2018 Sparrow P27 20 2018 Jordon P33 21 2017 Spargo P29 56 2017 Fritsch P31 82 2017 Petty P35 27 2017 Baker P48 13 Nine of twelve picks are now regulars in the team. Two are untried and one is probably a fail. I reckon that's pretty incredible. Of that group only Spargs played against WCE in 2018 final although Fritta played in the previous two finals. That's pretty amazing.

I'll be there along with a Freo supporting mate in Dees gear! Let's do this!

Obviously Jackson, Pickett and Rivers are guns. That's the obvious one. However you could look at 2017 as being the more important one to our performance at the moment, especially considering that we traded out our first rounder for Lever and then nailed 3 picks in the 30s on Spargo, Fritsch and Petty, each of whom are deeply entrenched in the team. That's an extraordinary set of hits with picks that low. Often people look back at a draft and say "Yep, that's the one that made that team", like you look back to Geelong's 2001 draft as the reason why they were so good (Bartel, Kelly, Johnson, Ablett), or Hawthorn's 2004 draft (Buddy, Roughy, Lewis). The reality is that these teams had mulitple great drafts and the club's 'superdraft' was built on an equally impressive draft a few years earlier. In 1999, Geelong drafted Joel Corey, Paul Chapman, Cameron Ling and Corey Enright, whilst in 2001 Hawthorn drafted Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Campbell Brown and Rick Ladson.

I’m nervous but how much better is watching your team in a prelim instead of missing the finals. That’s what I keep reminding myself anyway.

Exactly Trying to remain detached and reflective but anxiety keeps emerging through the cracks. And we have not even got to the GF. its so much easier watching a game as a neutral supporter. Winning has its pleasure but also it’s pain. If we knock off the Cats we still have another 2 weeks to endure this emotional turmoil.

We are not the sort of club to ever approach a player without a solid plan that we can make a trade happen.

One small blessing. Considering that most of us can't attend any matches, the work that the MFC media department is doing to keep us up to date from W.A. should be applauded. Once I've dealt with the afternoon emails, MFC official is the first site I hit. I'm loving the effort they're making from the Joondalup Resort. Interviews and footage...eating it up (more than once). The club is clearly making an extra effort to keep us in the loop for good reason as most of us are stuck elsewhere. Hats off to Ben Gibson and Caitlin Nobes. You're doing a great job.

The way Brayshaw talks about the wingers club he ain't going anywhere

Garry Lyon just said on the couch that he got a text message from Tim Gossage that Friday night's game is expected to be sold out 60k by midnight tonight! Big stage. Our time to shine boys.

How good is this! Well done WA Dee fans.

Duckwood bobs up for a high free in the last quarter in a close contest

Before the tickets went on sale today I didn’t really pay all that much attention to the general vibe. But I’ve had plenty of people at work hit me up for tickets or access to them, majority are Eagles supporters who will be going for Melbourne.

I think the turning point for the fortunes of the football team was the recruitment of Jake Lever. I believe Lever has not only brought fantastic defensive talents to the team but I reckon he has been one of the catalysts for the type of culture change we've been crying out for for years. We have developed a range of leaders across the team, Max being the most obvious one. You've also got May, Jones, Oliver, Petracca,Viney. The difference with Lever is that he communicates an incredibly strong desire to excel and he leads by example. He is the consummate thinking player and he demands the highest standards of his team mates whilst delivering the goods himself. There are a lot of factors in play this year, but getting this player has changed the attitude and actions of this team in a similar sort of way to Joel Selwood at the cats.

How about Steven May in his first season when he was giving Frosty a big mouthful one game? At that point is was a question of: is the new boy overdoing it and upsetting team cohesion, or has Frosty buggered up and the new boy is setting standards? I think we know now!

Geelong handed MelbourneFC arguably the darkest day in our history. And now they stand between us and our best chance of a premiership in most of our lifetimes. It's going to be a very, very long 4 days.... As a Geelong based Melbourne supporter, the thought of losing to them on Friday night fills me with absolute dread.

No idea where to post this but check out Chandlers run from the 25 sec mark.

Ticketmaster start gates....

Particularly liked the one about the Willy wagtail

This is Taj stats so far this year at Colts level.

Surely can’t be real. He’s used the correct ‘you’re’. Mitch feels like a ‘your’ bloke to me 😄

Game officially sold out 👏

I just saw the grab of Selwood's post-game interview from On the Couch, where he smugly (literally with a smile on his face) told the camera that they didn't care about their loss to Port because they'd won 11 straight in the middle of the season (which wasn't true, it was 11 from 12). [censored] if we lose on Friday it's going to be so hard to stomach.

Prelims are the people’s finals, you don’t get all the hangers on and fat cats like you do the granny. When Eagles or Freo have played home prelim, which has only been 05, 13, 15 x2 and 18 outside of members you really struggle to get a ticket. There’s quite a decent vibe to be part of it this week and great for footy lovers. 8 of us going and can’t wait

I think we should roll them. By biggest concern is Clayton Oliver. If I was Scott, I'd physically target and to try hurt him. Geelong are grubs enough to do it. Selwood, Dangerfield, Hawkins have a free pass to hurt people and I reckon they'll try and take him out of the game. I just want to see us get through this with a win and unscathed. I'd almost consider giving Jones a run to go out and just tear Selwoods head off.

All days of the week especially Friday:

The spirit in the group is fantastic. Never has it looked better. Plenty of laughs but plenty of teaching going on and intensity. The future and the present look really bright

Brayshaw is not looking for a move, if one is made it has come from the coaching/list management team. And highly highly unlikely to happen.

I think that B. Smith is actually Brock Smith - yet to play a game after being taken at 33 by Brisbane. The B.Smith of fame and fortune was in the 2018 draft.

Week leading up to prelim = 🤢 It’s game-day on steroids. It’s five consecutive game-days. It’s five consecutive game-days on steroids I may not survive.

Very happy the club allowed us to send our barcodes to relatives, well done. Mind you my brother in Perth and his son finally coughed up for a membership. I am told they will have 16 in the crowd which is fantastic. We can win this. I think its interesting Geelong has not won more in the time its been in the finals and wonder if the home ground has helped get them there but is a drawback when they play the finals on bigger grounds. I hope so.

Yes your correct DD, he played mostly with Aquinas last season but broke into the East Freo colts late in the season. I didn’t see a lot of him last season but as I posted last year my information was that East Freo FD and Aquinas footy people were very excited about his commitment and desire to work hard and get the best out of himself, which would see him flourish at the next level

Here's a collection from Geelong's BF site: We know we can blow them out of the water, we also know they will fight hard and have the capacity to get back into it ... We win 2 quarters then I reckon we win the game. We win one quarter ... then we best be up 66 points instead of 44. (In response to a Dees poster) You might be worried because we've been in so many prelims. I'm worried because we've lost 9 out of 11 of them. If the weather remains on schedule, a wet track, it greatly helps out Melbourne who have a brilliant quartet of mids and smalls. I actually think a wet track helps us because it makes it harder for them to expose us for pace out the back and on the ground in our defence. I hope it buckets with rain personally because it advantages us imo. Geelong crazys non negotiable rules for winning: do not lose We have the home ground advantage ha ha. Melbourne have the better mid-field; we just have to face that. The collapse of our mid-field after half time is why the Tigers ran over us in the 2 finals and why the Dees did the same a fortnight ago. I'm hoping the selectors go for a young player to replace Parfitt (who has in any case been in great from). I'd be happy with Clark or Narkle, and to lesser extent Simpson. Holmes showed us the virtue of youth ( and let's get off his back about kicking). In response to a post suggesting Guthrie to Petracca to keep him accountable: Guthrie on Petracca, mental picture a Willy Wagtail trying to root an Emu. Kolo won't hold Fritsch a second time round; in truth Kolo should be dropped - he was awful on Friday night - but we all know he won't be. Melbourne also have classier defenders - another bitter truth. But we can still win if we kick straight; if the fearsome threesome up forward get off the leash; if our mids can get a few decisive centre clearances; and if the Dees suffer an attack of nerves ( remember the 2007 PF?). Basically will come down to the midfield battle and converting our opportunities. Don’t really rate their forwards but expect them to get more inside 50’s. If our forwards can score early I think we are some chance. We won’t blow a big lead if we get one like last time. Tend to think though that the D’s are primed. Had a charmed run with injury which is what you need to get there. It will be tough, but we can win. Jake Lever, Steven May & Christian Salem - They must be help accountable; we can't let any of them be the + 1 and set up their play. Max Gawn - Stanley must jump into him all night, Rata to give him a 5 min chop out each qtr. Kysaiah Pickett & Charlie Spargo - Curtailing small forwards influence hasn't been our strong suit. Atkins & Bews will need to be on their games. Clayton Oliver - 37 possessions, 9 clearances & 2 goals last time we played them - with O'Connor & Parfitt injured, who can stop his influence? Over to you, Chris Scott.

Alan Richardson on SEN just confirmed that Alex Neal Bullen will be fine to play this weekend. Sounds like Jayden Hunt won't be as much.

Given my display name, I feel obligated to post in this thread and I'm disappointed that I haven't already done so. Really rated Dom when he was at his peak and played a good role for us, still remember that goal against the Hawks in 2016 which helped to break that run of losses to them. hope he gets another shot at it if he wants to. Thanks for everything Dom!

If you look at this realistically we go in with significant up side. Top v Third; Injured v Uninjured; All Australian 5 v 1 (Stewart injured); Under 22 3 v 0; Goal kickers over 20 5 v 3; Total stats top 10 3 v 0 etc etc. if it wasn’t for history and MFCSS all of us would be supremely confident. I for one am embracing this game I simply think we are the better team. Of course it possible to lose but with all these advantages it will take a 1958 level upset for it to happen. It has taken to long to get here for me not to suck it up and enjoy the week. If doubt creeps in I remind myself of these facts and no matter what happens it is all positives compared with the despair of the Neeld era. I attended 87; 88; & 2000 and hoped rather than believed. This is a whole different wonderful experience.

A Big Footy Rookie named Glek 🤔

Me too! I have Eagles mates going to the game on Demon barcodes and all are barracking for Melbourne. I reckon we’ll easily have the crowd on side!

Should stick with a midfielder in honour of Tom Dyson. I suggest James Jordon - which will then become James Jordon

Peter Bell could get another feather for his cap here.

I think it's more that they were able to selectively add talent when they had a chance but didn't have to add in bulk like they did in those drafts. We are also a little different in the core of our team was taken in the Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver drafts, which preceded this. We did it a little more slowly and methodically, rather than just smashing one draft out of the park as the article suggests. 2019 was just a bit of a free hit after an unexpected down year. Wrong B Smith. Bailey was the year before. (Snap @grazman!) Also the 5th player on the list definitely appears to be Deven Robertson rather than Noah Anderson. The height is after the name, and Anderson is taller than 185cm.

Chris Scott's Geelong beat Collingwood 3 times in 2011 to win the flag. They were the only 3 games Collingwood lost for the season going 22-3, pretty amazing!

I think Cerra would be a great get and I agree that Oliver and Petracca are critical members of our midfield. But I don't think we're as thin as you believe. Sure we would suffer if one of them went down but we have Brayshaw on the wing to come back into the midfield and Viney, Harmes, JJ and Sparrow who have all proven themselves capable and the latter two will only be better next year. For example: Petracca, Brayshaw, Viney, Harmes, Sparrow in the middle and JJ to the wing is still competitive I don't think we need to sell the farm to get Cerra which is what it may take.

This should sum up my week. Monday: Neurosis - Fear and Sickness Tuesday: Tool - Invincible Wednesday: Led Zeppelin- Sick Again Thursday: NIN - Help Me I Am In Hell Friday: Run the Jewels - Blockbuster Night pt.1

'But then I saw Jimmy Stynes cross over the mark in 1987 right in front of me at Waverley.' Ugh - some scars right there..... though I believe that day is what made Jim the man he was in relation to the club and what he wanted to bring from that day forwards - not just for himself. ( The burden he had to carry in relation to Robbie Flower....) Then we have Jim pass the batten to the gangly Kiwi lad with broken knees > Max Gawn. Jim saw something in this Max kid - a massive influence. Between Max and Jones we have the been able to thread the ties that hold all these young players together. I really feel like the things that happened on that day back in 1987 started a ripple that has taken this long to reach the shore as a swell. There is a delicate balance between playing for the past and playing for now and all these boys have the balance. Thankyou Robbie - Thankyou Jim - Thankyou Jonesy - Thankyou Max