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Hello Guys. I can tell you that the Dees are talking to Luke Dunstan. Don't be surprised if this happens. Essendon are making a huge play for the Gold Coast's King. If not this year, they are doing incredible groundwork for the future. Several Clubs enquired about AVB with Essendon being the most interested. Cheers,

You'd think that opposition coaches would be immune from from being influenced by outside noise, particularly given they more than anyone know how much rubbish the footy experts spout. Be that as it may, i'm sure goody was more than happy for that sort of shut down lever, shut down the dees misinformation guff to swirl about. Same goes for the shut down Maxy, negate the dees guff. The discussion on Lever was funny because it centred on the idea of either putting a defensive forward on him or isolating him one one one with a key forward. The experts were banging on about Schahe's role on Allir as if it was a masterstroke. And suggested he might play similar role on Lever. Allir still had 15 odd intercepts possessions. But with the ball coming inside 50 quickly with no pressure on the kick he was always gong to struggle to be the damaging AA rebounder he had been. And the experts pointed out the dog's efforts in round 19 to engineer a match up on Naughton. Lever still had 15 intercept possessions and Naughton only kicked 2. But more to the point, in the two previous finals - and the round 23 game against the cats - Lever still got his intercepts but played a more traditional one on one role. And he is so much better one on one than he was last year (i suspect he is stronger and more confident in his knees). So goody would have been more than happy for the dogs to waste energy trying to engineer a match up for Lever. Same goes for efforts to negate Maxy. I know maxy told Goody to leave Jackson on the ball in the third, but I have no doubt goody always planned to use Jackson more often in the ruck than he had previously. And doing so really muddled the Dogs tactically i think. Leaving aside the 3 quarter goal blitz, Jackson rucking allowed Maxy to drop back into the dog's half and made it super difficult for them to get a contested mark inside 50, or an uncontested mark for that matter. It also helped May defend Naughton (who King said would be the dog's most damaging player). And the experts told everyone to watch out for Daniels and flagged the need to shut him down. It was actually quite interesting from a tactical perspective how they managed Daniels. In the first half he had 26 possessions, and by in large they let him run free. I thought he did very little with those possessions and i only counted one effective inside 50 kick (English marked it - and the proceeded to kick it into Petty on the mark). Despite that Goody sent Sparrow to him (i think) in the second half and completely shut him down. Maybe that was always the plan (ie let him go in the first half, shut him down in the second) as not only did we take him out of the game , we ran off him as he tired and exposed him for lack of pace and run. Meanwhile, coming into the game, the experts didn't really highlight the danger Salem posed. He was our best player in the first quarter i think. Or at least our most damaging. And that is when we won the game. He was allowed to sit free forward of center and he had some crazy amount of inside 50s and score involvements. Why wasn't he tagged? All week the media were banging on about Beveridge being a tactical genius able to spin goaled from thin air. Throughout his coaching tenure Goody has never been given credit for his tactical acumen by the experts, and many dees fans i have to say. That script was followed in the two week lead up with barely word said about his tactical ability. But i reckon Goody smashed Beveridge tactically. Beveridge had no strategy to deal with Jackson in the ruck or Maxy dropping back. He let Salem run wild in the first quarter. May was clearly hampered yet he didn't try to make him run or stretch out - for example by playing Naughton higher. Yes it's how they defend, but surely he had to tell his defenders to stop setting up 5 metres in front of their opponent as we exposed that all day. And most of all they needed to be aggressive in the third quarter, for example try going thought corridor, throw caution to the wind, and get that lead out to 5 goals if possible. Goody, on the other hand, used Jackson brilliantly, isolated their defenders, didn't worry about the Lever match up (more than happy for Petty and rivers to be the attacking interceptors), had Salem playing super aggressively, shut down Daniels, negated Libba, shut down Naughton and shut down Mcrae (25 possessions for a player who averages 35 or something crazy). He also completely shut down two of the key players in the Port game in Smith and Hannan, rendering the latter basically a spectator. Despite all of that very few experts gave Goody any credit for winning the tactical battle. And i didn't hear a single expert criticise Beveridge for his performance, othe rthan questioning why he didn't do more to stop the goal blitz in the third. Which is ironic, becuase there is not much he could have done, if anything about those center square clearances - they were all on their players.

I'll wait until it comes out on VHS

Maynard from the pies is on the way to the dees apparently- I have no other info and are not sure how we would make it happen but industry inside info is the source . Mate of a mate mates . Always with a grain of salt but there it is .

I feel like we've been here before. Melbourne list management team identify a handy acquisition and some Demonlanders [censored] the bed. We have a list management appreciation thread FFS. At what point do people trust the club? This is a smart piece of list management. If it doesn't eventuate then we look for other ways to add depth. If it does, we've got a hardened back up who can win the footy and keep competition for places strong.

They're talking with him & his Manager and there will be games there for him based on what I said above and inevitable injuries. It just depends on what path he wants to take. Don't forget with Jones & AVB out, there is no other inside mid depth.

First, time for another 👍 to all (well, almost all😉) posters on this gift-that-keeps-on-giving thread. Then, your offering, Mazer, gives me the courage to put my offering below out there. I thought if 1939 warranted recognition (though I've never understood why - 13-year drought? Pffft!) then 2021 definitely does! I sent it to the club and got a prompt and very warm thanks for it, which I really appreciated. Looks like that's as far as it'll go, then, but I've got it off my chest (or I finally do now😄): 3. Well The Curse was done, in the year Twenty-one, And they did it for you and for me. With that final bell, ending decades of hell, We can sing with them finally free: Every heart beats true, for the Red and the Blue, And we sing this song to you, Should old acquaintance be forgot, Keep your eye on the Red and the Blue.

I think my preference will be to order through the club, to keep the profits in house. I am however looking forward to seeing the AFL premiers DVD all over the shelves at JBHiFi, Kmart etc. Will be some gratifying moments looking at that shelf full of Demons premiers DVDs instead of another side like Hawthorn, Geelong, Brisbane, Richmond or West Coast for once in my life.

Nathan Brown's son Kynan will be part of the Oakleigh Chargers program next year as a 16-17 year old. Jemma Rigoni daughter of Guy is also part of the Oakleigh Chargers woman's team as well. Pretty sure she'll be in this year's draft. Noah Yze is making big strides in his development as well and could be part of one of the development junior squads next year. Plays up forward and kicked 10 goals in one of his games this year. Represented his league as well this year I believe. Kalani White who will be 15 next year is now coming up to the early initial stage of being part of the development squads. Most likely the Gold Coast junior development Academy. But remember we still get first dibs as a father son prospect.

Dogga: "And then, after that goal, they put English on me! No [censored] chance after that, the Doggies." Copper (pointing in the direction of Optus): "But don't you want to play there all the time, for the Dockers?" Dogga (Putting head in hands): "Nah mate, no way, my heart beats true." The end.

Thought Demonlanders might appreciate having all this gathered in one spot. Comment anything I've missed and I'll add it to the list. PRE-MATCH Road to the Grand Final – MFC Past players video message AFLW players video message Channel 7 Grand Final intro Dees take to the field ‘One team; One dream’ RADIO SEN full call (audio only) Melbourne fans on post-game talkback SEN Chris from Camberwell Dennis Cometti’s last call: Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 GAME HIGHLIGHTS SEN Commentary synced with vision [full game] – Yeah the Dees 3AW Commentary synced with vision [full game] – Yeah the Dees MMM (ft Dennis Cometti) Commentary synced with vision [full game] – Yeah the Dees Multi-Call: Angus Brawshaw Puts Melbourne in Front! – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: Petracca Kickstarts the Demons – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: Melbourne’s Third Quarter Blitz – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: The Final Siren – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: Bayley Fritsch Goes Back to Back! – The Mighty Dees All the goals – MFC Mini-match – AFL Petracca: Norm Smith highlights – AFL Fritta’s six goals – MFC https://www.afl.com.au/news/684511/drought-breakers-watch-each-quarter-as-demons-destroy-dogs PRESENTATION, CELEBRATIONS, GRAND OLD FLAG Lyon presents the cup – AFL Channel 7 post match Team song 1.0 Team song 2.0 In the rooms again Final siren and song in Melbourne cheer squad – gamblore514 Fans in Perth CBD Melbourne Demons sing-along ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Grand Old Flag’ INTERVIEWS Goodwin and Petracca presser – MFC Inside the rooms – post-match interview highlights – MFC Petracca – MFC Viney – AFL Brown – AFL May – AFL Gawn – AFL Fritta – MFC Fox Footy: Garry Lyon in the Melbourne Rooms Sunday Footy Show Panel commentary Goodwin Petracca Viney Oliver Brayshaw SOCIAL MEDIA ETC. Gus and Gawny and the Premiership Cup Podcast/Video Viney and Goody call Todd Hectic Fan Vlog from the MFC cheer squad MFC Social Wrap MFC Fan’s View Demon Fan Diaries Celebrations at Forrest Place, Perth Garry Lyon reacts on SEN The Age Real Footy podcast Jeff White reacts Ben Brown run-up meme ARTICLES At long last: For the Demons, this is a grand new flag – Jake Niall (The Age) Dee-Fence: the secret weapon in Melbourne’s drought-breaking season – Nathan Schmook (AFL.com) Luke Jackson re: Max Gawn – Sarah Black (AFL.com) Premiership skipper Gawn a captain for the ages – Peter Ryan (The Age) How the west was won: Decade of dysfunction wiped away in 31 seconds – Riley Beveridge (AFL.com) Everybody loves a happy ending - Demonblog Melbourne exorcises demons to rise from 57-year hell – The Sporting Landscape TV/ANALYSIS Fox Footy panel AFL 360 Countdown with Daisy Pearce On the Couch PHOTOS Oliver goal celebration Ben Brown realises he’s a premiership player The team and the cup Neale Daniher 2021 Premiers ANB ski mask Jack Viney snow angel Kozzie’s air time / team celebrates Kate Roffey and Simon Goodwin Famous Dees fan at 00:47 QTR3 Fritter points to his jumper (Michael Wilson) Gawn and Harmes video call Jonesy (Michael Wilson) POST MATCH Then and now: Jackson's rise to stardom - MFC YouTube Premiership Tales series - MFC YouTube Every Player's Grand Final Highlights - The Mighty Demons YouTube

Round 11.... 3 votes. Round 13.....2 votes. Round 15.....3 votes. Round 16.....1 vote. Round 17.....2 votes. We are not likely to ever be blessed again with so few injuries. Watched most of the Saints game this year and he was great when he came into team at round 11 after banging the door down in the 2nds. He could play a role at Melbourne in amongst a much better system/better quality of players. A much better version of VDB/Jones and would be really pushing Sparrow/Harmes/JJ to perform. Would be an astute pick up, who would not cost a fortune and is still improving. It's a yes from me....We have great development coaching now, he will thrive in a much healthier environment, fits our age demographic really well. We will no doubt be adding few younger prospects. We are team in the window for more Premierships, he will only strengthen our list imo.

Carlton's recruiting strategy:

I really hope the bombers don't get their hands on King

I hope we don't.

Dunstan would be solid insurance for a Club in a REAL Window for a few years and with a Player like Viney who will probably need to have weeks off during the season and the last thing we need is to keep playing Oliver every week in the guts and have him banged up by 27 like Cripps. The Club must start managing Viney & Oliver & Pettracca in particular so they can go the full journey to 32/33. Also, I suspect the Club will back Choco in to improve his disposal

footywire is yr friend for this sort of thing... https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/td-melbourne-demons 2010-15: pick 12 2010 - lucas cook pick 33 2010 - jeremy howe pick 36 2011 - rory taggert pick 2 2012 - jesse hogan (priority) pick 4 2012 - jimmy toumpas pick 26 2012 - jack viney (father/son) pick 9 2013 - christian salem pick 2 2014 - christian petracca pick 3 2014 - angus brayshaw pick 40 2014 - alex neal-bullen pick 42 2014 - billy stretch pick 4 2015 - clayton oliver pick 9 2015 - sam weideman so six premiership players from 13 selected in that time period, one other still on our list, and two others elsewhere 2016-2020: no 1st or 2nd round 2016 pick 29 2017 - charlie spargo pick 31 2017 - bayley fritsh pick 37 2017 - harrison petty pick 27 2018 - tom sparrow pick 33 2018 - james jordon pick 3 2019 - luke jackson pick 12 2019 - kysaiah pickett pick 32 2019 - trent rivers pick 21 2020 - jake bowey pick 22 2020 - bailey laurie so nine premiership players from 10 selected (!), all still on our list i think the more pertinent thing to look at is when jason taylor joined - in 2013 in that time he's made 18 first or second round selections, all bar one remain on our list, and 14 are premiership players

Der -wayne is a dead set doorknob

Already kicking with both feet, according to Mrs. Gawn.

Gold Coast's other problem is their list size. I think they had 51 for this season, as a result of concessions the AFL gave them in 2019-20. That has to be reduced like all clubs, I think, to 36 plus rookies. So they have accumulated a heap of players they now cannot keep or pay for. Their salary cap problems are tied in with the number of players they have to pay, not the quality of players. And like a lot of clubs this year, to meet reduced COVID salary caps, they backloaded contracts. The backloading starts happening this year, so we will see a lot of delisting just to keep under the cap. Other clubs just did an across the board reduction in salaries for 2021, and will avoid the problem.

Went to bed last night. Compiled my list of important things (which is many) I have to get done this week Woke up this Monday morning, sprang out of bed, showered, dressed. Grabbed my list. Checked it. Put it back down. Walked to the TV. Put on replay. 11 minutes and 31 seconds remaining in first quarter! I'll get to my 'to do' list later. Nothing is as important as watching this for an 8th time.

If only there was some way to redeem ourselves…

Media person Caroline Wilson Medium Print, Radio, Podcasts Comment Much argument amongst the judging panel her as to the rating - with anywhere between zero and three peanuts being pushed. Debate centered on the definition of axe to ground and how harmless she is. Also how much to bring old Caro grievances into the mix and whether there has been a continuous, unbroken chain of wrongness since her attacks on the dees in her coverage of the tanking saga (and arguably even further back). The fact I stopped watching Footy Classified 2 years ago makes assessment harder. That said has been relatively benign in her 3AW slots as it it pertains to being wrong about the dees. But Caro's old fashioned pre grand finals beat up by claiming on FC that the dees had instituted a curfew on its players earned her a nomination. Totally made up and an attempt at creating some unnecessary, albeit pretty harmless, fugazi. The clincher was two fold. One - despite the club never using the term curfew, in fact explicitly saying it wasn't a curfew, she backed up her beat up by claiming 'players' had said it was a curfew. Implied multiple players and that she had heard from them directly. Two - she gave Ross 'I'm withdrawing my interest in the Carlton coaching job, despite there being no interest' Lyon the platform to claim the dees are treating their players like children, not adults. On Ross 'the Boss, defence wins finals (editor note: but only of you can also score more than 30 points)' Lyon, he has been nominated for an award and i'm confident he will receive one. Update The judging panel has received multiple submissions criticising the decision to only award one peanut to 'Caro'. Several of these came after her appearance on Offsiders on the Sunday after the Grand Final where she once again raised the tanking saga. I mean why try to diminish our glorious victory? And once again she drew a false equivalence to the Essendrug saga. I mean c'mon, how could they be considered equally morally wrong or any way comparable (other than both being forms of cheating). For one thing, there is no suggestion the players were involved in the tanking saga. For another thing, no players health was put at risk. And lastly tanking was widespread in the AFL, so whilst wrong it was par for the course. Injecting your playing list thousands of times with performance enhancing drugs and breaking (smashing?) the WADA code was decidedly not widespread. So, after considering the evidence supplied in the submissions, and the fact Ms Wilson's post GF comments created a continuous, unbroken chain of wrongness with her attacks on the dees re the tanking saga, the panel has decided to change her score to two peanuts. The panel have also warned Ms Wilson that it is only the fact she has become relatively harmless that has prevented her being awarded three peanuts. Score

List management is above most people. Look at Collingwood and Gold Coast as examples. Consider how hard it would be for our recruiters and list management team if we offloaded all of our fringe players at the same time. We then need to trade (we dont have the picks) or draft to replace all of those numbers on the list. We are then left with a big bunch of 18 year olds who are taken with late picks, who we then need to give 2 year deals to. And of course, zero depth if we suddenly have a run of injuries. As much as I am not a fan of Melks lack of pressure, it will not kill us to keep him (and Hibbo) on for another year as backup. edit: That first line is not a crack at you. It's merely a statement that even the pros can't get it right at times.

I watched all 3 finals again, and Bens influence was huge in all 3 games. Just his work rate, contest work, and goals at crucial times was a very important cog in our line up.

Club has spoken both with Jacko and his parents (who very well could move down here) and it's all been dealt with. Absolutely no issue here. Not related to this specifically, but there's been a team meeting since where the players, lead by Gawn, have spoken about how it's now time to wind up the celebrations and start preparing for '22. They know teams will be coming hard for them and they will be judged on what happens next season.

I don't see it but...you have to trust the list management crew. They've got a good record. That's good to say, isn't it?

Id pay top dollar for a streamable/downloadable 4k version with all radio commentary options, and pre/ after match interviews that I could buy through Google Play or Apple TV or something and watch on any device

All I heard all week from bulldogs fans that because they’ve played more, they’ll be more fresh and we had played one game in 28 days and it would disadvantage us. After the grand final, all I heard was how they had to travel all round and barely had any time to rest and try it’s why they lost

Someone has uploaded a highlights of every goal Kozzie has kicked this year. Nothing else to do? Well worth the 20 minute watch.

Our 2021 was perfect. we won the flag

I so clearly remember this game. They were the reigning 3-peat Premiers. We had been 'their bunny' for soooo long. They were one of the 'Big' clubs that a few years earlier had said they didn't want to play their Home games vs us at the G because their fans won't go. We lost to them earlier in the season. There was a lot of hurt tangled up in all that. We beat them 17.8 to 11.15. It felt like a cathartic win. On the siren I cried as some of the past hurt was released. It felt like a turning point. As it turns out that game marked a changing of the guard. The Hawks did not make a PF again (we took care of that in 2018) and here we are Premiers. I looked for reports of that game and The Age wrote: "No football fan wants to hear their team is rebuilding, but today Demons supporters glimpsed a future filled with speed, talent and dare, and must have started to believe it had all been worthwhile...This may not be the Demons' year, but all signs suggest they would have one, and soon. Prescient.

I’d cut him some slack. He’s a young man letting his hair down. I hate the way footy fans expect players to act like they’re at a funeral after they lose a game. Just because we’re emotionally unbalanced and tie our complete mental well-being to our footy team, doesn’t mean the players should. And this was obviously some time afterwards, seeing as it is in a night club. Fair dinkum, who cares.

Just my opinion but I reckon we'll see a change in tact this year. We've hit the draft pretty hard in the last few years and taken advantage of our dip down the ladder. This has also involved trading our future first rounders as we all know. As we consolidated ourselves as the premier team in the competition, the incentive for other clubs to trade picks for our futures becomes less. There are of course teams like Bulldogs and Pies that need points, but Bulldogs are unlikely going to want to give us a helping draft hand as they are our direct competition for the coming flags and Pies seem to have an arrangement with Gold Coast in place for multiple pick swaps. With having a young team (7 players < 50 games experience and <22yr in the gf) our focus could move from drafting high end draft talent, which becomes more difficult to acquire from our draft position, to trading in established talent to supplement our list. Already we have failed in our bid for Cerra due to not having the draft capital, or so the rumours say. Perhaps the club will be content with our elite young talent and healthy list profile of our midfield brigade to challenge next year. We can then supplement our draft hand next year by perhaps trading currency from this draft into next years. This will hopefully hold us in good stead to target specific player needs both at the draft and trade table. We also have two prospects in Woewodin and AMW tied to the club as f/s and nga respectively. They will hopefully come cheaply as neither are rated as first or second round picks as far as I'm aware from the released draft articles to date. Upgrade Jordon from rookie to senior list and perhaps draft a project tall ruck or key position player and that might do us for the year.

Chocco can change his kick and perhaps work some extra magic somehow, somewhere. I don't want Dunstan to take minutes from Sparrow. Sparrow is going to be crazy good. If they can squeeze him in then sure, but nothing lost if he goes elsewhere I guess. I'm more keen to get Laurie, Sparrow and Jordon more game time

Can someone tell Carlton that the objective isn't to collect the most footy cards? Is there anyone they aren't trying to poach?

The same complaint Dockers fans had about Lingers - and then they boo him when he collects his medal! The one thing about our game plan it doesn't rely as much on precise delivery as it does on G&D.

I would have thought Sparrow/Jordan would be in line for more onball time before we needed a player like Dunstan

We are now a true destination club. Sure Dunstan would get more minutes at the Suns, and probably more coin, but he is zero chance of playing in flag there. Staying in Victoria AND having a chance of playing in premiership team would be a very attractive combination to many players i suspect. No doubt a factor in Weed signing on again.

Wow. To be honest I actually don't mind the Dunstan talk. He polled 11 brownlow votes this year and I think with the year we had with limited injuries he certainly would be a handy inclusion for a Viney or Oliver if they went down. I'm guessing this is the Alan Richardson connection?

God I hate Ernie.

What an [censored]. Did it and forgot to press save. Lucky I can fix that at the click of a button and... done! Everything else from this year should be updated as well.

Realistically, I cant see us ever losing again.

Anyone against Daisy is my enemy. She is as much Melbourne as Demonland.

Rule #1 of football: On any given day either team can win. So if 'perfect' means winning every game, it won't happen. On that definition 2021 was far from perfect: we lost a few games. And on an emotional level we missed some favourite sons playing in the Grand Final. Rule #2 of football: We don't need to be the best team of the season, just the best team in September. For mine, it was as perfect as I could have hoped. Max said it best: After 57 years of pain it 🏆 is coming home!

I am irrationally bothered by the fact that the only team we didn't beat all season was the Filth.

Thank you St Kilda for Trac!!

They were laughing how the premiership was theirs and how sweet it was. Once they started losing they changed their tune saying 2021 doesn’t count. They even claimed they’re still better than us. Come on, we were in the top 4 all year. The only beat Brisbane by a bees d**k. They claim they they weren’t doing certain things and got unfair penalties, very few actually admit we were the better team. They also claimed that margins don’t really matter. Ok beaten by 74 points they’re still the better team. I was embarrassed and humiliated when We lost in 2000 by 60 points. I’d never once claim it didn’t matter. Clowns