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Well Dlanders my wife and I are about to board our flight to Uluṟu and heading to the game in Alice on Sunday so dearly hope that the Dees are on fire on Sunday. It’ll be a sad flight home on Monday otherwise.!!!

Great pod again guys, love the very human dichotomy of Andy’s tendency to throw a negative veil over current form against binman’s tossing that veil to the gutter and just letting it run to the stormwater drain (whence there are a decent pile of veils now collecting). Thanks for the shout-out on the Max and Jack painting, which needless to say also has me greatly disturbed. @binman’s quite justifiable concern that he’s ignited a ‘curse’ over our form - by hanging said print - of course implicates me in the curse! What to do?! Firstly, @Demonland, burning yours is NOT the answer, and don’t think I haven’t contemplated the same action. The footy gods would not look kindly on such behaviour, dare I say it would likely institute a fresher, more malign curse. As such, I have committed new paint to canvas. Importantly, the attached photo was taken whilst the paint was still wet, making it ‘live’ into perpetuity. I trust that this (and a win in Alice Springs) will settle the matter.

I will leave you two to it…

I've made it clear that I don't like this jumper but if there is a time and a place to wear it, it's this one.

Thank god for that

Exactly. That’s the Steven May press conference.

Just a couple of cautionary tales about Laurie and Van Rooyen. Laurie probably shouldn't debut this week. He reminds me of Brock McLean who was also slow but had very good games on wet decks. The only proviso to this is if the game in the heat slows down. But early on the game will be too quick for him. Just a note on this . The medi-sub becomes very important up in Alice and should be chosen and used wisely. Van Rooyen who I'm a huge fan of was possibly earmarked for an earlier debut but played in the early game at the 'G' against the Swans and fair dinkum hardly touched it. Was hugely dissapointing. Given that he is just a kid, that is entirely excusable, but I think he was pumped up for a big game, seemed to be played as the key forward and the coaches looked at that and thought he needed a fair bit more time in the VFL, maybe even the rest of the year. Happy for either to debut but they are both players that need and should be given circumstances as much in their favor as possible. Someone suggested that Port and Dogs have weakish back line talls so this may be a good week for Van Rooyen but I'd rather see us in winning form and they force their way in as opposed to when we have come off a loss and just want to see something different.

Given he won us a flag last year doesn’t he get the benefit of the doubt at least till the season is done.

Good pod. We lost to Geelong in Geelong in a game where we could not have played much worse... Let's keep things in perspective. We are trying to win the flag, not one game in July. Have faith.

Wearing our indigenous jumper shows respect for our hosts and would be most appreciated by the NT government that is footing the bill. And locals may identify more with the mighty demons. Hopefully, we have a good stock of them and Narmm merchandise to take to Alice. Imagine if Port turn up in their indigenous jumper and we don't: headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Does he need an assistant?

Very sad. A good man and an excellent football person brought to this due to incompetence by the non-coaching people before him. He will be snapped up by another club in another coaching or football role. If we had a spot I would happily have him at the dees.

One of the more interesting things for me is that people keep saying, “We aren’t at our best. We will flick the switch. We were like this last year. Our best is still the best.” For me, I think our best last year was the best. But I don’t think we will get to that level. We pretty much have had a full list most of the year, a few injuries but not like 5 missing from our best, we have a game plan that’s been countered and I haven’t seen our counter to theirs. Or a new play. the run home will be determined by is playing above what we are now, but unless we have a new tweak to the game plan and imo some much needed positional changes we will not suddenly rise to the absolute heights we did last year. still means we are a chance to win it all, but it won’t be a demolition like last year, this run home will determine how well we hit September.

I really hope the club makes the decision to wear our normal home strip this weekend. I have no any issues whatsoever wearing an indigenous strip once a year like years gone by, but four times in a season is overkill. Particularly this one, which is probably the least striking strip we’ve had and just doesn’t look like a football jumper. Mates of mine reckon it looks like a pyjama top and it’s hard to disagree with that sadly. I know there’s more important things to worry about, but it’s worth making this point.

In theory we could still finish on top more likely 4th and that's a tad optimistic on current form. We have pretended they have been loading for the last 8 games( I mean seriously?), took a while to get going early because they started late (Premiers after all) and recently lost to Geelong because we tricked them into showing everything and we showed nothing ( it keeps gets better and better). My theory is that injuries have been an important problem and lack of professionalism crucial. What to do? I reckon they are good enough..look at the stats over the season and the challenge is really in the hands in the coaches...Goodwin especially. Plan B ?????( at long last)????perhaps restructure game day plans that no one will see coming according to the opposition. It won't be Petty up forward; in case you haven't noticed he's patching up a backline that needs help and doing it admirably..why would you move him ? Stop wasting Kossie "defending " kick ins..he's not an AAA+ battery robot ffs. Suggest a move that includes May kicking in occasionally to the right hand side..NO ONE will see that coming@ If someone is sore..give him a rest NOW. Try one , just one, left field promotion from the " twos". Read the riot act.....then get Choco to do one one commentary where there are pieces to pick up. You guys are obviously experts (especially Bluey) let's hear some common sense and no mention of Weideman

Worn for the Sir Doug Nichols round, NAIDOC week, and our trip to the heart of the nation. Don’t see an issue. They are playing poorly, the jumper is seeing the ire as we search for easy excuses and even easier fixes.

That will depress me even more at the moment. I just can't envision us climbing those heights again. MFCSS Variant DL.2.0

My opinion...it's a blight on the game and needs to be stamped out. Not only that, as you point out it's dangerous. At the start of the season all indications were that the umpires would crack down on it. ...but then again, Scott's in high places. I am concerned that the media have made it a Ginnivan verses the rest issue as now every [censored] magpie thinks it's a conspiracy against them... If anything the issue would be attribute to Selwood, the instigator of this stupid tactic and not a kid at the start of his career..it should never have gotten this far down the line. Should have been outlawed back when it started.

Listened to the rest on the way home. Geez Andy got even more fired up. Cussing and shouting. I would recommend watching 100-7 to calm down a little.

Nick Smith is still 4-6. Normal programming resumed!

Hunt is such a spark off HB. Salem, May, Brayshaw and Bowey dominate touches and want to open up the game with their boot rather than their feet. Hunt runs lines and can make mistakes but he gets us going when we are inert. And we are inert. ANB, Harmes, Spargo, and Sparrow need to lift as the lower rung of players responsible for bringing the ball up the ground and into the forward line. Don’t know if any of those will get dropped however. So poor Bedford I guess but I can feel a debut coming in my bones…

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the curse has left us fatigued atm. In that scenario, we can't implement our optimal method and related sytems. In this context, any tactical changes we might have tried against the cats may not be applicable to games later in the season, when hopefully we will implement our optimal method So, perhaps goody believes the benefit of constant repetition of role execution and our method outweighs the benefit, and risks, of making big tactical changes (eg throwing petty forward or not kicking to an outmanned Max all game) in a game we are labouring with the curse.

How does Brady Eawlings escape all this? He's been an absolute mess of an appointment.

I want to clarify that I did not call or think the coach and coaching staff are nitwits. I don't even believe that was implied. My frustration comes from us not changing anything in this match. Clearly teams have to some extent worked out ways to nullify our strategies and we can't simply rely on the Melbourne Way to just work in the end. I don't believe that our coaching staff can't react and change. I believe that we have some very creative and good football minds. We won a flag afterall. I just hope they're not being stubborn in thinking that if we just keep playing the Melbourne Way eventually it will work. We need to adapt because the competition has adapted to us. I bristled a bit at the notion of us not showing all our cards in this match and that the Cats have showed us their finals footy hand. If this is true and we're going to go through our remaining games not showing our hands then we better be prepared to win the lot from 7th or 8th and watch the first and 3rd week of finals on TV.

If it came down to it I suppose I could just photoshop him out of the premiership team poster.

3x Premiership Winner, Team Of The Century half back, Captain, the list goes on. Passed away yesterday at the age of 95. Vale.

Seriously, a loss really brings out the worst in Demonland. Wearing the jumper in Sir Doug Nicholls Round, NAIDOC week and a game in the NT all make sense. If you want to complain, complain about our NT game not being scheduled in Sir Doug Nicholls Round or NAIDOC week. But remember of course that the jumper we wear has literally zero impact on our performance. Literally zero.

Ah yes, completely change everything weeks out from finals, have a game plan that is a weekly proposition, stop defending kick ins and yell some abuse at them... All when we're 2nd on the ladder (by percentage). Seems reasonably well thought out and not an emotional reaction at all.

Ping the stagers retrospectively - 3 weeks on the sidelines (minimum) There is no other way to fix the problem And it's only going to get worse. rjay summed it up perfectly, it's a blight on the game The umpires are unable to differentiate a genuine high tackle vs a staged high tackle. It all happens so quickly that none of us know for sure until we see a replay but by then it's too late Personally, I wouldn't pay high contact frees unless the head & neck area are deliberately targeted. Most of the high contact frees are frivolous anyway So don't pay the frivolous high contact free kicks and retrospectively ban the stagers as well 3 weeks minimum on the sidelines and the players will stop staging Or do nothing and the issue gets worse

Ginnivan and Dangerfield. A couple of Rhode scholars with a masters degree in medicine.

The point is, it should be so easy to stop. If a player deliberately drops his knees or ducks into a tackle, then penalise him. And yes there will be howling from the media, but really it's a no brainer (sic)

I was waiting for someone to post this. If I’m an AFL player I tackle him at the knees. If he pops a knee, then tough luck. You can mount an argument that we were trying to counteract the drop.

If wearing different jumpers makes even the slightest difference in performance, then the club has a big problem.

They could wear pink and purple polka dotted mankinis for all I care, as long as we have a win.

“Binman 2022”

I quite like the look of it and what it represents especially in the NT in front of so many local indigenous supporters. I'm sure the boys will be keen to wear it up there. But in the end who cares what strip we're wearing just win the bloody game.

Very enjoyable podcast, lads - some genuine laugh out loud moments. I love the 3 viewpoints and I think we have a bit of all them within us. @binman makes a very compelling argument - if correct, would be fantastic. It would be fascinating to see how much of his theory is on the mark. Keep up the great work.

Lucky bastard !!!!!

Firstly love your work. Secondly, I never blame the object (or creator) just my purchasing/acquiring it. One of my OCD triggers in regards to thinking it will curse me was the purchasing of merchandise before a game or during the season. Don’t ask me why. Ok I’ll tell you. It goes all the way back to begging for a Mel Ruckle (those cute Demon plush toys) before a game. My dad finally relented before a match which we subsequently lost and I forever blamed the loss not on the Mel Ruckle but on the purchasing of anything pregame. During the finals last year my wife purchased Melbourne merch for me for Father’s Day which was just before or during finals. I told her that she just ruined our season yet we won the Flag. Therefore I decided that the curse has finally been lifted and I could buy all the merch I ever wanted. Well I think I went a little bit overboard during the post Grand Final bliss and I fear that the curse is back. My only recourse is to burn it all and bury the ashes under the turf of our most holy of holy sites at Optus Stadium.

I also heard a rumour from a bus driver once - but when the bus went below 50 the bomb didn’t explode, so me, Keanu and Sandra just got off at our stop.

Yeah, those bus drivers love to wind us up...

This is after the game. Reckon father and son doing fine. The writing was on the wall so not much to do with the pies loss, really Noble and McCrae would respectively make sure John knows it has nothing to do with him. A greek tragedy is a good metaphor for the whole North fiasco.

Andy was not happy and I totally get it, it's not like we're at the start of the season we're entering full on business time. I do think Binman supported his views though really well with how we approached these games last year. Don't want to speak for Binman here but I feel that we think it's better to come up with a somewhat plausible reason as to why Goody wouldn't change things as opposed to just calling the coach a nitwit!

Vale, a very strong innings.

That’s not what you said, nor what you meant. I wouldn’t dig yourself in any deeper.

Port & Bulldogs back 6's aren't too big a step up from the VFL I reckon. Undersized and constantly out of position this year. It might be the ample two games to debut JVR

This is what the run home looks like: Many 8pt games among the top 8 (red and blue) and a fair smattering of their games vs teams 9 to 12 (green). Even the teams in 13 to 18 can do damage. We are 1 game and significant % above 5th. % is difficult to move at this time of year so that % gap is virtually another game. By my reckoning: The top 8 is set 15 wins needed for top 4. So we need three wins. Our % is an extra buffer. I don't know which three we will win but I am certain we will win three. 17 wins or even 16 +% needed for top 2. Any team on 11 wins or less needs to win at least 5 of the last 6 to make top 2. Given that Freo, Lions, Blues and Pies also have a very difficult run home, our chances of top 2 are excellent! So never fear, dear DL's. The question isn't which games we will win, it is who is in a position to dislodge us from top 4 or top 2? So for mine, top 4 it is and top 2 is ours for the keeping! Anyway, I think we can win it from anywhere in the 8.

We lost a game and he's an easy target. Its the DL way. Per disposal he is by far our best goal assist player for 2 years now. But let's ignore that. For a midfield that is well below average by foot and decision making, the narrative should be how do we get this guy the ball more as the last kick inside 50 rather than drop him.

He was there to witness 2021 and got to hold the Cup. Valè Legend