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I wouldn't be surprised if they come out with a point to prove but we have a real chance to destroy them psychologically and I hope we take it

I don't think the bulldogs are a soft team at all. Quite the opposite actually, and apart from Libba who is a sniping dog and Hunter who is a ducking coward, the majority of their players are "hard but fair". It's easy to look soft when you have taken the foot off the pedal and the other team makes you look like you don't want it. That's the way I saw the Grand Final at least. I reckon the first quarter will be a ding dong battle as the oldies would call it.

Turn it up!!!

Not a lot of posting happening, maybe more as the game gets closer. There is a bit of talk about not going to the game, arriving after the flag is unfurled or retreating to the bar so they don't see it. And a it of reflection on the GF result. Overall they have been fairly tame. Some selections from bf and 'woof': I want to see a more defensively-minded midfield. Someone tag Petracca or Oliver for the whole game. I don’t care who. Q: What bay is our cheersquad in? I bought a couple tickets in M3 but I think that might be with the Dees’ fans…. ?? A: I think you are smack bang in the middle of the Melbourne cheer squad We had and still have multiple deficiencies/weaknesses in our team especially in our key position roles, had to travel to 4 states, had to win 3 finals in a row to get to the GF, had a third of our team sh*t the bed in the GF from the start of the first quarter, yet we were still up by 3 goals at one point in the third quarter. Another year of development and fixing key weaknesses goes a long way. We are still the second best team in it even with these apparent faults. How about we stop discussing how we have little chance against this "juggernaut" and start discussing tactics to actually win. The pessimism is ridiculous. I don't blame the tactics\coaching instructions so much as the players' over zealous reaction to those instructions. The road to ruin is always paved with good intentions. Moving forward we need to back ourselves to adjust to the opportunities that Melbourne's defence will give us on the ground rather than focus too much on the ones that we think they will prior to the match. I'm pretty fatigued still from last year, and watching on tv again with all the pitfalls that brings does not excite me. Also don't like the idea of getting done by Melbourne first up. I'm excited for round 2. I just want round 1 to be over. Some trepidation. And the fact that we STILL don't have a ruckman continues to concern me. But I'll probably have the lid off at first bounce. I'm looking forward to having a different game to dwell/celebrate over. *!*!*!*! that GF memory off. Let us make a Round 1 statement and rain on Melbourne's parade. Yeah, I reckon our blokes hate those Demons flogs. Would love to see us start some biff next Wednesday. Besides Libba who do you expect to take it up to Melb from a physical stand point? I can't think of many as we have a quite a few 'nice boys' in our team... and not many with any mongrel. Would love Libba to lead the way and the nice boys to drop the halo and take a stand. Nothing stupid or over the line but I want to let those flogs to know we’re coming for them. I think my favourites the last few looking for some mongrel from their palers. It wasn't that long ago that we were the ones that played nice bruise-free footy. Now we have Salem, May, Viney, Picket, Spargo etc who know how to hurt without hurting themselves or getting reported. WB were soft in the GF, May, Salem and Viney knocked the stuffing out of a few key players in the first 10 minutes. They may tinker with their game plan but I don't think they are going to find 'mongrel' overnight. Its not in their DNA.

Ffs these flogs genuinely need to get over this.

I reckon Tim English is one of the softest players running around in the AFL. For a guy his size he's scared of his own shadow. The rest of the doggies team are pretty hard and fair which I agree with.

Big thing I noticed tonight was the amount of scrub kicks and times caught holding the ball we did, speaks of heavy legs from last weeks run fest. Hopefully look a heck of a lot better next game after some solid recovery work. PS for anyone that was there, my daughter was the girl on the field at three quarter time in the 3 shots on goal thing they did for BCNA with the 3 kids. She got her third one through and was super happy about the cheer the crowd gave her. Big thank you if that was you cheering, you made her night!!! 🙏😊❤️💙

Great god. That flipping song still? Smash these fluckers, Demons.

Look I'll be honest, I already knew how incredibly soft Schache is. We all knew this from when we worked with him through the Murray Bushrangers system back in his under 18's days. He was a high talent and Darren Ogier the bushies coach at the time would make him do extra competitive work after training to try and toughen him up a bit. This was a direction given to him by recruiters. Watching his progress over the years not much has changed. JUH is more down to attitude problems and whether he applies himself to his training and diet off field.

Demons by 74 points - a reprise of the Grand Final

Dont like the Wed evening slot, but it is what it is. Will head down to the Duke after work for a bite to eat and a couple of frosties, then off to the ground early because I too do not trust the new ticketing system. More beers in the Betty Cuthbert bar will ease the nerves Go Dees!

He picked the Dogs to win the GF because Goody would be coaching from the bench. We should all acknowledge that the man's a genius.

Plane lands at 11am on Wednesday, straight to the accomodation and the very slow pub crawl will start from docklands into the MCG, 2 x Dee’s supporter and 2 x band wagon supporters from QLD coming down for the festivities!. Cannot wait for the game, scared how much merchandise I’ll buy before the game…….

I'm genuinely surprised any players from other teams got in at all...

Loved it back in day when your membership card was punched at the gate by an old boy wearing a vest and a tweed jacket. Bring it back.

The drink is an OVERATED coach

all this fuss over a naff bit of eurodisco trash from the 90s...

I'm sure they'd be commenting on overconfidence. There are too many posters who are describing this game as a "should win". We are going to lose games in 2022 and the first of those could easily be this Wednesday.

Make this happen Maximum Volume

So true. I had a call last week from Alex Neal-Bullen to thank me for my years of membership and signing up again this year. Thrilled to receive the call. Just another way the club is making fans feel valued. Relevance to this thread is that during the chat I said something about the team singing 'Freed from Desire' might spur the Bulldogs. He said he couldn't even remember it as they sang so many songs. I'd say our players would be happy to see them sulk over a song. Easily wounded if they are still sulking.

Enjoyed that. Credit to the presenter who was able to draw long considered answers out of the boys rather than yeah, nah, it was good, we're training hard, looking forward to the season, etc etc.

I hope we run out to that song.

I wouldn’t be too yappy either after getting annihilated in a GF.

um ding dong actually 😃

I wonder what Beveridge will change with their ball movement and defensive play. They were badly caught out on those in the GF so I am expecting some surprises. If there is any threat to us that is probably it. We will 'play our way' so will be relatively predictable to them for planning and tactics. Whereas changes in their style will make them less predictable to us. Nonetheless, it is hard to see how they can become an all-ground defensive team in one preseason as it isn't their natural game. And with a bit of luck any changes they have made aren't yet embedded and will come unstuck during the game. Under pressure they revert to what they know best. Demons by 21 points.

The Woofters will be breathing fire to this one, will cook them mentally if they lose

Just a quick little heads up, keep an eye out for the name Roan Steele who has recently signed with Casey from Frankston YCW. Has been training with Melbourne.

Agree with both posts. Libba's a pest and not in a good way, Hunter is a Selwood-level ducker (some will say Spargo is the same but whatever) and I reckon Beveridge has known for years that English is too soft to be a good ruckman as he gets bullied around far too easily. Otherwise, I think the Dogs get physicality right. Macrae, Dunkley, Bont, Daniel, Smith, Naughton - these are players who don't shy away from contact but don't go out of their way to be [censored] about it (unlike Libba).

Shark Fin Inn’s my favourite yum cha in the city if you want to mix it up. Pricier than the cheap ones but less than the high end ones, and the quality to match. The CBD pubs are all a bit ordinary IMO. Y+J’s is a classic but the atmosphere is very hampered by the train tunnel construction. The Duke does a solid job but isn’t anything special. Garden State is cool enough if you’re keen to be trendy. The Imperial is a soccer pub at heart but if the weather holds off the rooftop is nice and might be my pick. Personally I’d be tempted to invest $10 and 10 minutes on a train or uber to Richmond. Have a little crawl from the Swan, public house or Harlow if the roof tops are open for a great CBD view, the Richmond club, the Posty and then most of all the London Tavern before the traditional short walk to the ground. Just don’t look in the windows at the Royal. Alternatively if you want to score some points for being cultured you could take 10 minutes there and back to Fitzroy. The Rose, the Standard, the Builders Arms are decent options and people watching the hipsters beats the CBD crowd.

Agree with that. I think it's a sign that they are not sure the playing list and game plan has changed enough to make a difference if we are in top gear. No different to what many of us, myself included would call for when we were not quite there in our past few finals efforts. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they roll us this week. I also would not be surprised if the Dogs have a small drop down the ladder this year.

He's counting a pre-season match which we lost: so he's correct.

only a 'medium' chance of showers according to the bom; they've got it listed as 'partly cloudy' and 27

Agree .... Would love to see our version of "Americas Game" for 2021. My favourite is 1981 San Francisco 49ers. Reminds me of us. Click 'Watch on YouTube'

That was more like the NFL Films version and had Goodwin mic’d up like in the NFL. That was great. And not that I read too much into Roffey and Goodwin exchanging congratulations but she referred to the start of the year and where ‘we could have been’ and I, again, thanks god that we have a strong board and specifically this strong woman to get rid of the cancer before it destroyed this man and this team and pushed this club off course.

Huge wraps on Petty from the boys.

I don’t know if they do yum cha, but I highly recommend the Mao Please dumpling restaurant in Little Bourke St. Fantastic dumplings and noodle dishes. I make a point of going there whenever I’m in Melbourne.

No. But just as worried 🤭

Nothing like a reality check before finals, but I could have done without QUITE such a bad performance! Several players put in season-worst games. Many played as though they expected a repeat of last week, which is wild considering the stark difference in setting and opposition. It doesn't exactly fill you with confidence for what's ahead, but here's hoping we can regain some form and understand why Carlton's approach was so effective in curtailing us. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, so you'd think we'd be onto it, it's just a matter of having the legs, mental freshness and persistence to apply what we need to do. I only saw one end of the game due to my seating position (trying and failing to gain some wind protection), but based on that it felt like the one who had the most zeal was Heath. She's sky-high on confidence right now. P.S. According to Zanker's interview with the ground announcer pre-match, she'll be right to go for finals.

For those wondering if there will be GA seating, there is plenty. The email from the AFL related to afl members only regarding reserving seats. Great Southern Stand M5-M7 Q1-Q12 Q13-Q15 1/2 (rows K-DD) Ponsford Stand M28-M32 Q28-Q36 Olympic Stand Q49-Q52 (rows T-MM) Q53-55 (rows K-MM)

Bannon Mithen Paxman Colvin D Pearce

Not sure I’m following the umpires were terrible narrative. They were better than the last few weeks I thought (not saying much I admit). Carlton went harder at the ball mistly and hit the frees. Still some dodgy decisions there but didn’t influence the game too much

I really really hope we get a great crowd. Just to witness the unfurling of the flag will give me goosebumps because we haven't been through it. I hope we are loud and when our premiership boys run out they hear the biggest cheer for them. I do not want to hear from media people or read oh melbourne supporters didn't show up. I'm sick of hearing that over the years. I reckon the members will be pretty full and be rocking and I hope we have a nice easy win.

After giving “the best presentation they’ve ever seen” (by Melbourne), Cerra was obviously keen (on coming to us). His agent stated he just couldn’t see how they’d get a deal done, “they’d (Fremantle) would probably want Jackson” (it was a quip). When Cerra’s agent asked Melbourne how they’d get the deal done, their response was “don’t worry about that”. It then ended there. Read what you’ve posted above, which I’ve highlighted in bold and italics. You’ve created a scenario in your head that didn’t happen, then posted it as almost being fact. You’re essentially catastrophizing, and it’s not the first time you’ve done this.

Well & truly puts Carlton game in context.

Football commentator makes prediction... Supporters outraged.... more clicks on website.... more advertising... football commentator given pat on back by boss for creating website traffic... football commentator makes more crazy prediction... more supporter outrage... I think I see a pattern.

I'd look at AVB if he is fit.

Watching "Show Me The Money" and they've covered MFC doing the "best presentation I've ever seen" (Robbie D'orazio) to Cerra. Not explicitly said, but insinuated a fair few times that they only didn't pick Melbourne because they thought they wouldn't be able to get the deal done. Dees basically said 'don't worry about that' in regards to how they'd get the deal done, which makes me a tiny bit worried about Jackson, but hopefully the agents not thinking Melbourne could get the deal done means Dogga indicated he wanted to stay.

I don't know too much about except that he has genuine X factor and can run all day. With a bit of exposure to semi professional level he could hopefully follow in the footsteps od Bayley Fritsch. Jack Lonie and former Giant Sam Reid have been added to Casey's list.

I can’t wait to be back at the G and cheering on the boys again. If you can make it, be there. Never take for granted being able to watch the boys live. It can be taken away quickly and we just don’t know what Covid sh!tfight awaits us next.