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So I’m watching this with my husband who is a recent arrival to the Melbourne supporting club thanks largely to me refusing to marry him if he didn’t get serious about AFL and Melbourne… when that Geelong loss was shown and then that stat was mentioned, he turns to me and goes “how is it possible to be this bad?” He has no idea. Bloody bandwagoner!

You joke like I didn’t mention that he has to barrack for Melbourne in my vows… My best friends also made a speech in which she said this will only be the happiest day of my life until Melbourne wins a flag. She is correct. A prophet is she.

Is it only us who notice Christian Salem?? He is a gun. His 1st Quarter in the GF was 10/10 i just don’t understand why he is so underrated…

Well my 11 year old cousin is a Blues supporter - apparently told his dad last week he wants to support the Demons 🤣💙❤️

Garry was a vessel for the fans that couldn’t make it and I will always remember vicariously living through him and him continuously sharing his experiences in those few weeks. He is also so well spoken and understands big moments and can eloquently relay them in layman’s terms.

The first 1/3rd of the doco depressing for obvious reasons but it set the scene. Still hard to believe that we won a grand final and, in that manner, too. Will watch this again, but might skip the sad stuff aha. One part did make me laugh tho was the vision Merger meeting with Brian Dixon saying they didn’t want to go to inferior Glenferrie Road facilities and want to have the best facilities in the league. Hopefully we get there soon!

I believe Tom Sparrow is secretly a Viney. He reminds me of Todd in so many ways.

I was hoping they’ll have more inside footage of like the addresses at half time or Gawn out on the field in the huddle at 3/4 time. It was a bit same same. Lucky I love watching us win flags. An easy watch. Would watch us win again. 10/10.

Just watched the last half - the final 10 minutes someone was cutting onions. Brilliant.

I suggest this umpire needs to grow a thicker skin. Players are allowed to question or laugh at a poor decision as a way to show frustration. It was a ridiculous free. If the umpire feels belittled by that, it says more about the umpire than the player.

How bloody awesome was that. As a 46 y.o rusted on Demon... the show was a recounting of my life. Was at western oval as a 12 y.o. in 87' and then at all the finals, there for 88, there through the yoyo 90s. The merger game. The 2000 run. The [censored] years and the guys who died way way too young. Was at Optus oval - took the 8 year old son - so glad he doesn't understand the [censored] we've had on our plate for so long. Enjoy the success now and fingers crossed for the year ahead

Jonesy moving into media street this season with gigs on SEN and channel 7, according to the little paper. SEN is set to unveil former Melbourne captain Nathan Jones as its big-name recruit. Jones, who has dabbled in radio previously with RSN, will be the main voice of Friday night football for SEN. He is also set to feature in the commentary box for Channel 7 at various times throughout the season. Jones will balance his media commitments with a new career in property development. A much-loved figure at the Demons, the 34-year-old was the hard luck story of Melbourne’s premiership win. He didn’t feature in the senior line-up after round 15 and missed the Grand Final after leaving Perth to be at the birth of his twins. Jones, who was captain of Melbourne from 2014 to 2019, won three consecutive best and fairests (2012-2014) and became just the second Demon to play over 300 games. He announced his retirement after 302 games in the lead-up to last year’s grand final. There will be some tweaks in SEN’s football coverage with AFLW star Daisy Pearce and Hawthorn premiership star Jordan Lewis set to scale back their radio commitments.

This is only short (and trigger warning for the posters that need it - It quickly covers a couple of those famous losses), but really well done and has a few new insights. https://www.afl.com.au/ondemand/stories/491019/season-final-story?episode=9&fbclid=IwAR1-44biAI8uOmjGELIxDvt48RQjerk_EgydgILoiKcGWkXKKNeb6vfGozg#season-1

He’s brilliant SWYL, as tough as they come without the fanfare. Don’t understand it either. At least Max pointed out his first quarter of the GF in the doco, along with Gus’s third quarter and Trac’s overall game.

I am so glad someone else is sharing the blame. I have worried for decades that it was just my voice Jim heard which caused him to run through the mark.

Aside from Jack Viney having a crack at his teammates when he was 18, there was nothing really ground breaking in the doco. It wasn't enjoyable reliving our tragic history post 1964. I think Garry Lyon used a bit of poetic license when describing Jimmy Stynes running through the mark in the 1987 prelim. Dipper was the Hawthorn player who was unmanned in the forward pocket. I was behind the goals and screaming for someone to pick up Dipper, when Jimmy ran to man him up. And the siren hadn't gone at that stage, as Garry described. The players who all missed gettable shots at goal, which would have sealed the game, were more at fault than Jimmy. Yeats, Jackson, Eishold and Campbell were the real culprits. I would have loved to have seen a doco that just related to our entire 2021 season, with behind the scenes footage that included Darren Burgess' training methods. As a sports lover, I find the ESPN 30 for 30 docos fantastic. Unless you are a Dees supporter, this was a pretty average doco to be honest.

Jaded No More, but Jaundiced Still?

Personally I could have done without the history lesson for the first half but I guess it needed context. At least they won’t have to include it all again in next years one.

I get this but nah [censored] it - I want plenty more, not just one. I'm hungry and greedy for success, I want us to win so often and for so long that other clubs despise us out of envy and jealousy. I've been wanting that my whole life and now it's so close I can taste it. Keep 'em coming Demons until we take our rightful place at the top of the pile.

Pig says hi….

The images of the players coming off after the “merger game” against the Hawks, the jacket Balme had on…. Makes me miss me Dad, he had the full length jacket the same as Balme and a Dees tracksuit he would wear to games. We’d walk from Fitzroy to the G and stop off at pubs on the way, I was an embarrassed 18yr old and he couldn’t give two fks.

Yep ... Recently I had to answer a question for some future online ID. I couldn't find a question I liked liked until I saw "What was the best moment of your life?" Ah easy ... "Melbourne flag" I wrote with my oldest monster peering over my shoulder. "What? .... Not the birth of your children?" she asked horrified. As I explained to her. I've been waiting/hoping to see a Melbourne premiership my whole life. Having kids was never real high on my priority list. She knows what I'm like, has watched me roaring at games and the TV her whole life and handled it well 😅

Mate. It was a short sharp production about our premiership with a bit of context to how much it meant, not a 2 hour episodes, 10 season epic on every single aspect of our history...

So did Jack Viney make Todd Viney cry ? Jack’s taken it to the next level

I loved and totally agreed with the comment on Harmes' kick to Fritta "best kick of the year"

Two comments about issues raised in the doco. 1. Some of us at the ground clearly heard the siren before the umpire paid the penalty forJimmy's infraction. The noise of the crowd was so loud that it is not unreasonable to accept that the umpires did not hear it but it still rankles. On the other hand, facing the lolly blues the following week in high temperatures without Robbie might have been too much. 2. The merger did not go ahead because not only the the dorks did not agree but also, and more importantly, Joe Gutnick came aboard and promised money to keep our club afloat. Otherwise, according to the advice we received from a club legend and committee man, the club was financially stuffed and had no future. Overall the doco was highly enjoyable and, for those who are nit picking about the content, there was only 90 mins and I believe that they filled the time wisely.

Having endured all the pain, l thought re-living some of it through the documentary was important, to provide context for just how momentous 2021 was in the history of our great Club, and our supporters old and new. My eyes were stinging with tears for much of it, as I rode a ‘roller coaster’ of contrasting emotions: from the joy of 1964 to Norm’s ill-considered sacking a few months later; from the ‘poetry’ of Robbie, to heartache in the knowledge that he is no longer with us; from the despair of the potential merger, to the elation when it didn’t proceed; to the unforgettable journey, and ultimate tragedy of Jimmy’s story; ………… and then to the trepidation, followed unadulterated joy of September 2021. Outstanding doco imo. Never to be deleted!

100%. To my disgust, my 7 year old was barracking for the Tigers until last year. All he had ever really known was Tiger success. Now he's a Demon, and allowed to sleep in inside the house the again :-)

I was 33 in 96 so had gone through a lot of the pain I don’t think I would have supported anything with Whorethorn in it… they have inflicted too much

In '96 I was turned 12, so there would have been some sadness without being fully aware of the ramifications but would continued to follow. But as Jack and Todd discussed, going through the struggle made the grand prize more rewarding.

They're just jealous.

I enjoyed it. Unlike some, I liked the historical context to the Flag. It is one of the great football stories and Flower, Barassi, Stynes etc needed to be a part of it. The documentary was made for a general audience, not just the fan base who are all too familiar with the painful past. The Norm Smith dismissal is just as perplexing as ever. There has to be a backstory and maybe an archeologist will find the full story engraved on a stone tablet hidden in a dark corner somewhere. I hope so.

Oh understand the facilities are good at the above, just found it funny years later in 2022 we're still trying to source a training base/facility. That being said if we did merge, would the club be training at Dingley, Glenferrie Rd or have jumped in before Collingwood to secure whatever its called now.

Need to unfurl the dictionary…

Was a good doco from Mike Sheahan. I do wish we could graduate to the NFL Films style of doco at some point… You can’t talk about the drought breaking flag without talking about the drought, so I think that was fine, and good context for the 100000 new Dees fans that we will gather over the next couple years. ”You like Track? That’s nice… NOW WATCH THIS AND SHARE THE PAIN… welcome!!! xoxo”

I am very sorry to hear of the terrible conditions you have had to endure, and I have a daughter in Brisbane which has copped heaps as well. One thing which did make me smile was your reference to "Fence Posts Hanging of Power Lines" which sounds like one of my training reports from Casey!

Yep, agree. Even with 1987, they skip from slipping into the 5 through to losing the prelim. Those 2 winning finals in 1987 where we belted the roos and then the swans were absolute highlights of the 1980's, but don't fit in with the 57 years of pain narrative.

I just watched the reply of this game as it just happened to be on foxtel and those 50 metre penalties plus a lack of intensity from our guys were the main difference. one thing I noticed was how hard Kozzie and ANB work. They do alot of unrewarded running just to put pressure on the opposition to try and cause in turnovers . Their value to the team us much more than goals alone.

Oh right! Forgot that was great to hear how supported he felt from the club after his brother passed.

If you go to web address - https://www.myheartbeatstrue.com/?fbclid=IwAR1B6SnPuntpi9L26m2ZB_kdY1k-i2-6uLr2if-l0VwAQ0_VKxy1fCSue30 it is there for all to view.

In the grand final Sparrow looks like he’s straight out of 1994.

Haven't seen it yet but don't feel I need to relive all the pain ..... Again. Even during the finals last year. They couldn't give us anything without highlighting how our history is has been littered with disasters and disappointment. Just give me an hr and a half of the good stuff.

My old man is in his 80's and lives 2,200km away. After all of the times my brother and i (in our 50's) would [censored] and moan about him making us follow his Demons, the year we finally deliver is destroyed by the Covid drama. I too am hoping we can salute again. I will even forgo being there in person if I can just sit beside him and cheer the team home together one time before he leaves us.

Fantastic docco! Hate him or love him that was a great performance by Garry Lyon. Well done to Mike Sheehan also who conducted the interviews. My spine tingled the whole way through to the end from the moment they started discussing the Grand Final onwards. I'm seriously so greedy and hungry for more finals success!

What a doco and what crap times this club has been through. All that pain to finally get there. I only got to sit through it for 28 years, I couldn’t imagine 57 years of it. Dees fans are one of a kind. see you all round one!! lets goooooo!!!!

Spooky! Almost like they could be related...

It’s been pretty depressing so far. The good part is coming. I hear we win a flag in this one.

Or Robbie. At least Neale got to see it!

Life is incredibly cruel that Jim could never experience this glory.