Leaderboard

Happy New Year (didn't time it quite right but I'll live!)

Realised I hadn’t watched the GF all year… poured a pint of home brew Czech Dark lager and away we go…😃

The moment Bayley Fritsch slotted through his fifth goal after accepting a pass from Charlie Spargo early in the final quarter of the Grand Final, the result was a given. The Demons were six goals in front and the Bulldogs were spent; the drought was over. The game itself managed to roll on with goals coming seemingly on endless rotation and when it was stopped by the final siren (the mercy rule doesn’t apply in the AFL), the scoreboard had Melbourne in front by 74 points. The sun rose on the following morning with the day’s newspaper highlighting the new “immortals”. If not before, we understood then that it wasn’t all a dream and that Norm Smith’s curse finally was dead and buried. The Demons had won a premiership with a group that dominated through the winning of its own ball in the midfield. They were the best at it with a group filled with contested beasts led by Christian Petracca (ironically, the winner of the medal named after the man whose curse had just recently ended), Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney and more. They received silver service from their ruckmen, skipper Max Gawn and a young man who came of age in the sizzling last half of the third term, Luke Jackson. It’s all well and good to claim supremacy in the midfield but foundations for premierships are built on much more than that. If Melbourne had the best ball winners through the midfield, it also had a clinical defence led by impenetrable intercepting key defenders Jake Lever and Steven May aided by Adam Tomlinson early in the season and when he was injured by Harrison Petty and flanked by the elite kicking skills of Christian Salem and Trent Rivers and later Jake Bowey who, in effect, took the place of the unlucky Jayden Hunt. Up forward, the Demons had to make do with only one dominant key forward at a time, firstly Tom McDonald and more lately, Ben Brown but with Fritsch the constant, a strong mark and nimble of foot on the way to a 59-goal season. Their involvement in the forward line with medium to small forwards Kysaiah Pickett, Charlie Spargo and running machine Alex Neal-Bullen strangling opposition defences time and again with their immense forward pressure, the critical component of the club’s on-field success and not more so than in the finals and spectacularly, in the ultimate game of the season. By the time the breakthrough came and Fritsch kicked his rapid fire two goals on end at the 16 minute 34 second and 17:49 marks of the third to bring Melbourne right back in the game the Bulldogs were running on the spot, the Demons in twos and threes and covering more ground than the early settlers. Their superior fitness, the legacy of a long hard preseason and a sustained program put into place by departing fitness guru Darren Burgess, culminated in a 45-minute blitz that was never before seen in the ultimate game of a season. The Immortals B: M. Hibberd 14 S. May 1 J. Lever 8 HB: T. Rivers 24 H. Petty 35 C. Salem 3 C: A. Brayshaw 10 C. Petracca 5 E. Langdon 15 HF: A. Neal-Bullen 30 T. McDonald 25 T. Sparrow 32 F: C. Spargo 9 B. Brown 50 B. Fritsch 31 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Oliver 13 J. Viney 7 I/C: J. Bowey 17 J. Harmes 4 L. Jackson 6 K. Pickett 36 Sub: J. Jordon 23 Emerg: K. Chandler 37 J. Hunt 29 J. Melksham 18 There was more … The scene was set in preseason with the list coming up in reasonably good health and opening the scratch match period positively with a narrow win over the Tigers at Casey Fields in late February. This was followed up with a loss to the Bulldogs with a below strength lineup at Marvel Stadium in the AAMI Community Series match but there was no need to panic (although some did). It was, after all, a practice match. Head Coach, Simon Goodwin had been building his team for a number of seasons. They nearly made it in 2018, slipped and fell in 2019 and by virtue of a plague that blunted their edge in fitness, they were ½ a game away from another assault last year. On every line Goodwin had great or at the very least highly competent skilled players but he was after something more. More hard work, greater fitness and a cohesive, selfless unit. There were many examples throughout the year, the most frequently cited being the move of Angus Brayshaw out of his natural position in the the centre to a new role on the wing. Together with Ed Langdon, they were the club’s ying and yang wingmen, important link players who plied their trade to devastating effect along the outside fringe areas of the field. Everyone had a role to play. In times of pandemic and caps on football club expenditure, Melbourne did well to augment its existing coaching support structure for Goodwin, already headed by General Manager of AFL Football Performance Alan Richardson, Backline and Forward coaches Troy Chaplin and Greg Stafford with former premiership coach Mark Williams as Head of Development and Adem Yze, the Midfield coach. Both were revelations. The Demons took the first steps into the 2021 season proper with a solid win over the visiting Dockers in Round 1 after leading all day and continued on their winning way against St Kilda and GWS. While not particularly convincingly, they took the points over an undermanned Geelong and finally shook off Hawthorn in a brilliant last term. Suddenly, they were sitting on a 5 - 0 winning streak (7 - 0 if you counted the last two games of 2020) but they still lacked credibility in the eyes of the football world. Along came a Saturday night contest at the home of football in front of a large crowd against the reigning premiers. After a slow start in drizzly conditions, they took hold of the reins and pressurised and suffocated the Tigers to a standstill. That night also marked Nathan Jones' 300th match and the battle-hardened veteran was able to hold his head high. The evening belonged to the midfield duo of Petracca and Oliver that had supplanted their former skipper in the midfield but the club faithful honoured the man who had led them through the wilderness to a point where they were ready to make the great leap forward into premiership contention. Sadly, the Demons’ captain of 2014–2019 and winner of three Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medals would only play two more games - this was his swansong. Also on his way out was long serving small defender in Neville Jetta who was to also finish up at the end of the season with 159 great games under his belt. The Melbourne train rolled on and on with another three wins before a surprise 1-point loss to the lowly Crows in Adelaide in controversial circumstances. They responded in the best possible way with consecutive wins over top four contenders in the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions. Both were emphatic victories that saw the Demons firmly installed as mid season flag favourites. The pandemic robbed the club of a big home ground cash bonanza when its Queens Birthday Blockbuster against Collingwood was shifted to the SCG. It was Nathan Buckley’s last hurrah as Magpie coach. His team was switched on and brought a pressure game with them but the Demons failed to respond in kind to go into the bye round with their tails between their legs. The mid part of the season was to be the club’s low point of the year. They beat a rising Essendon and another top four contender in Port Adelaide away from home but lost games to GWS and the Western Bulldogs and drew against Hawthorn. The defeat at the hands of the Dogs was disappointing and cost Melbourne top spot as winter came to an end but it wasn’t the end of the world. In actual fact, the reversal against the new ladder leaders became the catalyst for a dominant seven match period that covered all of August and September and culminated with the triumph in the year’s Big Dance. With Victoria in lockdown and the Delta strain surging, the AFL switched games here and there to successfully keep the season alive. Melbourne criss-crossed the country and beat Gold Coast, West Coast, Adelaide and Geelong at various venues and under various weather conditions including lightning, thunder and rain. The win at Corio Bay over the Cats saw a famous comeback from 44 points down to a winning goal after the siren from Max Gawn which secured top spot and the McClelland Trophy. They were on their way to becoming immmortals. The Brisbane Lions fell in the Qualifying Final after some early resistance from Charlie Cameron but the Demons were well in control by half time and coasted to a win that looked a lot easier than the eventual 31 point margin. There was no resistance a fortnight later when an aging Geelong was unceremoniously dumped from the finals by 83 points after managing a single final half goal in the face of a Demon tsunami. Max Gawn’s third quarter was sublime and unforgettable. The Western Bulldogs were similarly ruthless on the following evening when they demolished a bedraggled Port Adelaide by 71 points. The Grand Final promised to be a clash of Titans but we know now that this promise lasted until that point in the premiership quarter when the Demons went “bang, bang, bang!” The club made a big bang at AFL All-Australian team selection with five players gaining selection and Max Gawn was named as skipper after earning his fifth All-Australian jacket as the No.1 ruck. He was joined in the 22-man squad by teammates Steven May, Jake Lever, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca. In addition, Bailey Fritsch and Christian Salem would have been unlucky to miss out. Emerging ruckman Luke Jackson won the AFL Rising Star Award. Simon Goodwin topped of the premiership year with the AFL Coaches Association Coach of the Year award. Clayton Oliver received accolades from the AFL Coaches Association as its AFL Champion Player. He also finished third in the Brownlow Medal with in excess of 30 votes, an outstanding achievement given the quality of players competing against him for votes each week and capped it off with his third Keith “Bluey” Truscott Memorial Trophy for the club’s best and fairest player. In addition to bidding farewell to two of the club’s champion veterans in Nathan Jones and Neville Jetta, we saw the departures of Aaron Bradtke, Kye Declase, Marty Hore, Jay Lockhart (all delisted) and Aaron vandenBerg (retired). Their places will be taken in 2022 by Luke Dunstan (St Kilda), Jacob Van Rooyen (Claremont, WA), Blake Howes (Sandringham Dragons), Taj Woewodin (East Fremantle, WA) and rookies Judd McVee (East Fremantle, WA) and Andy Moniz-Wakefield (Northern Territory). The expanded VFL competition was doomed by the plague but the Casey Demons started the season in outstanding fashion and were sitting on a 6 - 0 record at the end of June. They kicked themselves out of a win at Casey against the more accurate Giants on a night when Ben Brown was rested for almost the whole game in preparation for a promotion back to the AFL leaving them one player short in a tight finish. They won their next game comfortably but the dice were loaded when they lost to Footscray with half their VFL team leaders flying aimlessly between Tullamarine and the Queensland border. Toby Bedford was runner up the best and fairest and best Melbourne player. Jake Bowey cut his teeth at Casey with 8 excellent games before he made his AFL debut. That 1 point loss to the Giants (in which he had 27 touches) was his only losing game for the year. Veteran Jimmy Munro won his second Gardner Clarke Medal for Best and Fairest. The Melbourne AFLW team under coach Mick Stinear had a solid season and made it to the finals where they beat Fremantle comfortably but reverted to type with poor kicking for goal in their 1.9.15 to 5.3.33 Preliminary Final loss against Adelaide. Earlier, they had a perfect 3 - 0 start to the season before another putrid effort in front of goals against the Bulldogs. Their finals chances were in jeopardy but they regrouped to score some big victories in the tougher half of the draw. At times, they looked premiership material. Two midfielders at opposite ends of their careers in Karen Paxman and Tyla Hanks tied in first place for the Best and Fairest Award. Hanks also won the NAB AFLW Rising Star Award while Paxman was named in the All Australian side for the fifth time in as many seasons – one of only two players to hold that honour – while also placing fifth in the league’s Best and Fairest Award. Paxman was also the Demons’ vice-captain and was skipper in the finals series in the absence of the injured Daisy Pearce. The team was well served by contributions from Eden Zanker, Lily Mithen and Maddi Gay. The club had a number of retirements and other departures at the end of this season but has recruited well for the 2022 season which is due to start in early January. The departures include Niamh McEvoy, Shae Sloane, Tegan Cunningham and Meg Downie (all retired), Chantel Emonson (traded to Geelong) and Mietta Kendall (delisted). The recruits are Tayla Harris (Carlton) and Olivia Purcell (Geelong), draftees Georgia Campbell, Tahlia Gillard and Alison Brown and Eliza West, a rookie from the Casey Demons VFLW team. Stinear has been reappointed as senior coach. The Casey Demons also made the finals in that competition’s uncompleted season. During the season Kate Roffey succeeded Glen Bartlett to take the club presidency and become the first female president in the club’s 163 years long history. She was in the right place at the right time and saw in a premiership and with it a financial windfall from merchandise sales on top of the sale of the Bentleigh Club freehold. A great result for CEO Gary Pert after his last assignment at the Magpies. Roffey’s Her big moment came ten weeks after the event when 35,000 fans came to the MCG to watch the replay and to celebrate their heroes. What of next year? The vagaries of the pandemic with its sheer chaos and its changes in complexion as a result of the emergence of new strains make it difficult to predict the future of the game but otherwise things look rosy. The Demons have a deep list having re-signed a number of its stars to longer contracts during the season and also holding on to many players beyond the 23 grand finalists who might easily have moved elsewhere for greater opportunity - all of that indicates strength and stability and puts them in a handy space in the new era for the Melbourne Football Club.

Agree. Go back 12 months and everyone was saying T Mac is finished and Weid is da man. I think there's a lesson in that. I'm not totally confident that he'll do it (I don't think anyone can be), but I do think it's important for the medium term depth of the side that Weid makes it in some capasity. Our team ethos and game style means he doesn't nessacerilly have to be the superstar, but if he can be a solid contributor in the years between BBB and T Mac dropping off and/or retiring, while we develop other young KPFs, then I think that is important. Sure we could try to aquire a ready made mature KPF from elsewhere, but there are no gaurentees there either. I think BBB would be a great player for Weid to be an understudy to. Lead up forward that can also crumb and do smart stuff and kick goals once the ball hits the deck. The general demeanor of BBB is also such that I think he'll also be a great mentor and developer of our next batch of forwards.

Great article that sums up the situation really well. https://themongrelpunt.com/afl-season-2022/2021/10/12/where-the-dees-get-even-better-in-2022/ Quote “In successful teams, there is always someone knocking on the door, and with Dunstan’s move from St Kilda to the premiers, he has made no bones about the fact that he wants to prove himself and make his way into this rotation. It puts the others on notice – step it up, or step out of the way.” ”Whilst a lot of the attention when talking about the Dees goes on the Petracca/Oliver combination, and rightfully so, however, the designated roles and the discipline to adhere to their allocated roles are an absolute strength of this Melbourne team that simply does not get the attention it deserves.”

For a break I’m watching one of my favourite three pre covid games. 2000 QF win v Carlton. Green, Bruce and Yze in the last Q. My other 2 favourites are in 1994 Final when Ox had a day out v Carlton. And 1988 Prelim at VFL Park when we stopped Carlton going back to back. Now there’s consequences and penalties for cheating, Carlton have had no success

Best “Before and After” ever. EVER. I look at the top pic (every time I open my pantry door) and I think about how when this was taken these boys didn’t know that in a little over three hours’ time history would be made. None of us knew. We hoped. But none of us knew. And the bottom pic? Words aren’t needed.

I think there might be lots of GF births in late June this year. Bang bang bang!

Thanks very much flash. I didnt watch many Saints games so my knowledge of LD is zip. As for JJ and Sparrow I thought the former was somewhat jibbed when TS took his spot but I now totally get it. As for TS ceiling, I dont think I'm alone in saying it's very high. I get the feeling we have a future champion on our hands. At his age, his courage, strength and mature use of the ball are very positive and the two goals kicked off a step in the granny by him and Trac on the fifty, give me pause to think TS may follow the others footsteps. I know that's a huge call but his gf efforts were fantastic for his age and that's why I hope he gets to play a lot of games next year. The Mfc has done a great job in the young players recruited and then entrusted many of them with a Gf birth. Given most of our elite players are mostly around 25 and all the young players we have, I can't imagine us not being a force for the next five to ten years. It's looking very, very, very good for four more flags...bang bang bang bang..... back where we belong..with the most cups. #Deesbacktoback2022.

He is definitely good. Based on 2021 he is well ahead of both Sparrow and JJ. That being said we don’t yet know what the ceiling is for those two. His 11 Brownlow votes puts him well in front of even Viney if you rate that as a measure. i am predicting we will use most of our list this year and where fitness and injuries were the measure of success for good teams in past years, depth will be the measure in 2022. COVID infections are going to hit every team hard, players will not be isolating and infection numbers will be closer to European levels than 2021 Australian levels. It is going to make for a very different looking season. I’m guessing it is going to favour team’s like the bulldogs who are constantly pushing versatility (often, in my opinion, to the detriment of themselves). I suspect it will also favour team’s with good depth and players who are well drilled to swing into a role. i am also predicting that taking the whole list to Perth and spending all that time together is going to look like genius in 2022.

If 2021 is anything to go by Dunstan Is very good. Viney at his best I think has more to offer, but Viney is rarely at his best, whereas Dunstan is ultra consistent, improving, and could possibly work better with our midfield. Dunstan gives our midfield more versatility because he can be first cab off the rank, which makes Oliver/Petracca harder to tag at center bounces as they would be on the move. It’s just something else for our opposition to worry about. Dunstan is a very good ball winner. He is a magnet to the footy, just needs to continue to improve his usage. For a large part of 2021 we didn’t use Gawn’s taps all that well. Dunstan may be the guy who gets better use of them.

The 2022 flag will be better than 2021 :- lets make this club a powerhouse again! This is only the beginning

I like what Hamish says after Maxy’s goal in Round 23: ”And just like that… Melbourne are minor premiers. Try and write it. Try and script it. Try and believe it. It’s happened!”

My ringtone is just Bang Bang Bang Bang

It's weird, the more I hear about it the more I just cannot believe we actually did it. On abc grandstand they just replayed highlights and I got all excited again. We actually did it.

Were you one of those that didn’t celebrate the Millennium on Dec 31st 1999? 😂

You're technically correct and we all know that's the best type of correct.

I feared Demonland would never see a flag…..that was an incredible season. Another great year of chat and banter on here, HNY everyone and best wishes to all.

You dont get best on grounds in multiple games in winning teams against Richmond and Brisbane without being very good imo. A first round draft pick entering the prime of his fitness and abilities with his best ever year behind him?! He's unquestionably "better" than Sparrow, Jordan etc but is he better at playing the role the team needs? That's questionable. St Kilda have been diabolical with their list management in recent years. Cant believe he's on the scrap heap when depth is going to decide everything this year, if indeed a full season gets played with player (s) pulling out every week on the morning of games.

I'm still a fan of the Weed. Reckon what is stopping him is mostly between his ears. Had a few injury setbacks too over the last couple of years. His body shape looks much improved. Stronger through the thighs, hips and shoulders, which will help prevent him getting pushed around in the contest for marks. Hope the tank is similarly improved. Wouldn't be surprised if Weed overtakes Tmac by end of 2022. Be a good sign for the health of our KPF stocks. HNY to all on Land. And what a great footy year it has been.

It's the year that brought us more Covid, climate change problems, Trump and the protests in Washington, Putin's continuing belligerence, Xi's continuing belligerence, working and learning from home, Craig Kelly and Clive Palmer, protests and a Melbourne Premiership. So, all in all, a pretty good year*. Happy New Year to all. Let 2022 be a repeat of the Year of the Demons *Note: I appreciate that this has been a hard year for many. Please appreciate the tongue in cheek nature of this post.

I assume that's Grgic on the left maybe Hopgood next to him? Don't know about the last one.

Agree and he did finish 10th in the 2020 B&F while playing a virtual lone hand up forward for much of the season which I think some are forgetting.

Long as the attitude is right, these boys are too good for just one. i am hoping they thrive on the challenge of being beaten for many years. Norm is at Peace now

nah, i celebrated twice, once then, then a year later......all bases covered ah, and i see we can now celebrate the ton again thanks to wcw

True but This variant is different. Spreads way more quickly and relatively mild so people won’t know they have it and will keep going out and about. Therefore herd immunity could well be a factor. Hopefully we see it in the northern hemisphere soon and can learn from it before we stayed home and wanted donut days. Soon we’ll have 20K days like NSW. Plus I reckon way more people have and aren’t getting tested

Hamish is a lightweight in this area, but I give him credit for this one. It was excellent for the event that had just unfolded

LMFAO. Happy New year BBO and keep it comming in 2022. While I love talking Demons footy anytime, anywhere, the interspersed quality comic releif here on D'land is generally superior to that found elsewhere.

Hey The mighty Dees have been premiers all year!

We simply start again

Well said old chap, well said.....i never thought wed see it either. What a year in so many ways. HNY and best wishes to all on DL.

Either way the point was made, we tsunam'd them.

We peaked three months ago and now everything seems a bit passé.!!❤️💙💕

I’ve been saying it’s make or break time for Sam for years now. Not sure whether to repeat myself or come up with something new. There’s no way this isn’t his last chance.

Another 300-400 pages to pass the Hogan & Goodwin threads. Though it might never get there, given we'll all be re-locating to the 2022 post game Premiership thread in 9 months.

Back online now!

I consider my posts to be an educational resource Mazer - towards the improvement of mankind.

All is well here od. The Maid is busy cooling me with a fan crafted from peacock feathers and by providing regular libation. I wish you good fortune and good health for 2022!

I must admit photos of ex players give me immense pleasure. Most players had no choice, they were drafted or zoned to the Dees whereas I could have walked away anytime. In my own very small way I feel responsible for 57 years of misery. They say past players associations are really strong at unsuccessful clubs because that is all there is. No premierships....Then again if Rod Grinter rang me up I would think twice about saying no. And some players left the club not on the best of terms, and to see them so happy fills my heart with pure joy.

I love how Bt just doesn't finish his

I see it as Brayshaw being delirious with amazement at what he was seeing, and became incoherent and unable to articulate his thoughts.

(for the sake of getting to 100) Am I the only one on here, who feels that 'Bang, Bang, Bang' undersold the occasion, and wished like hell the Channel 7 version had someone else in commentary at the time, rather than JB or Bristle?

Dunstan will be the benchmark, and any midfielder not named Petracca or Oliver will have to be better than Dunstan. It’s a good standard to set. Jordan, Sparrow, and even Viney, will have to bring their A-game to get more midfield minutes.

Happy new year demonlanders (except Dr D, wherever you are) Cheers to another flag in 22

I got it LDC but there will be someone who does not. Nature of the human race sadly.

I’m excited about 2022 as well Luke. Reckon we’re going to go back to back

Thank you all for your concern. Like Melbourne under Neale Daniher the site regularly goes up and down, usually it's fixed before anyone notices but this time I thought I'd give the hard-working technical department the Christmas-NY period off without harassing him for a fix. All data is safe, and hopefully in 2022 I'll fill in more of the many information gaps.

Not for me. I've never seen a thread where someone is training the house down trying to break into a premiership side.