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I'll have to adjust my draft rankings

Dangerfield #3??? Who TF put this list together? He’d be in my top 3 most unpopular!

The Dees convincingly overcome the fast-starting reigning-premiers Adelaide to win by 21 points in a fiery Qualifying Final match at Ikon Park on Friday evening. In that first quarter Adelaide jumped out of the blocks kicking their first goal inside 20 seconds finishing with 3 goals to nil. All was quiet at Ikon Park. Melbourne, having easily outplayed lesser opponents over the past six weeks took time to ratchet up their intensity. But, by mid to late first quarter, the Dees began to exhibit signs of wresting back control. Mick Stinear had matched up Goldie on 4-time AFLW most courageous player award winner, skipper Chelsea Randall keeping her to 7 possessions and 6 tackles for the game. Lampard was initially assigned to the dangerous Danielle Ponter but at the quarter time break Mick moved Heath to Ponter and Lampard to a wing. They were great moves — Lampy impressed everyone with her two goals and Heath was in everything laying seven hard tackles, as she does. Feeling the pressure at quarter time, Stinear asked his charges to go harder and believe in our system. Our system works. By half-time the Dees were 2 points up. A highlight of the second quarter was Bannan’s six — bounce sprint down the wing, right in front of us madly cheering fans. It was very exciting to watch live despite it not ending in a goal. The act itself helped build and change momentum. In the midfield Liv Purcell (BOG) and Tayla Harris were outstanding as we started successfully executing our trademark handball and running game. The Dees won the possession count 258 to 182 and marks 43 to 24. What about Mackin having 15 disposals? In just a few months of learning our game she has exhibited remarkable aptitude, speed, and game sense. Blaithin and Alyssa were selling lots of candy tonight. Adelaide only scored one more goal for the match after quarter time. Even though you felt the Dees were on top the difference was only four points at ¾ time. In the last quarter the Dees kicked three goals to put the result beyond doubt. The final goal to Eden Zanker was a nice way for Edo to finish her ‘50 dazzling games’, paying homage to the @Deearmy banner. The Dees now earn a week off to get over their bumps and bruises and prepare for a Preliminary Final against either Richmond or North Melbourne. Meggs predicts our opponent will be the 8th placed Kangaroos. Q1 An electric start by the Crows with a goal inside 20 seconds by danger-girl Danielle Ponter which hushed the parochial home crowd. Moments later Ponter marks again but her shot on goal misses. Eloise Jones then misses. But from a forward pocket ball up, Adelaide ruck Caitlin Gould doesn’t miss. About halfway through the first quarter the Dees slowly begin to match the intensity of their opponent. It’s a final and very physical as you’d expect. You can hear the clashing of bodies. The crowd starts to get engaged with noisy encouragement to spur on the Dees. Eliza West has a shot on goal which falls short and is rushed for our first score. Sarah Allan is dominating in defence. She wins a freekick and the Crows work the ball forward with Gould kicking her second goal. Late in the quarter, Eloise Jones collides heavily with Lily Mithen with both players only having eyes for the ball. Brave Lily looks hurt and comes off to see the medicos. Just before the siren Harris earns a free in front of goal but sprays it right. At quarter time Melbourne 0.2.2 to Adelaide 3.2.20 Q2 After the quarter time pep-talk, the Dees bring a stronger physicality to dominate the quarter. The first highlight is Bannan’s electric six—bouncer which seems to have heightened the energy levels of her teammates. Lily Mithen is back out there, she’s inspiring too. One tough cookie. Purcell has the first shot, a point to the right. Moments later another inside fifty and a Daisy dribbler just misses. Finally, Purcell gets on the end of another forward chain and her kick bounces just over Sarah Allan’s outstretched hand for the first goal of the quarter. Chaplin getting involved and her dangerous kick to half forward ends up with Paxy who handpasses to Lampard for a great goal on the run. Edo then has a shot from the boundary line which misses everything. But from the ensuing throw in, Lauren Pearce, employing Max Gawn-style ruck craft, grabs the ball out of the ruck and kicks a huge goal. Loz getting one back on Gould and suddenly, the Dees have taken the lead. At half time Melbourne 3.4.22 to Adelaide 3.2.20 Q3 Melbourne is on top early. Bannan marks directly in front and kicks a goal. Alyssa really thrives in these big games. But after a Kate Hore miss at one end, Adelaide surges the ball forward where the opportunistic Ash Woodland reads the bounce of the ball and kicks Adelaide’s fourth goal. At the ensuing ball up, Harris taps to the brilliant Hanks who streams from the middle and kicks towards Daisy who misses the mark but follows up and snaps on goal. It just misses but it’s exciting stuff from the Dees. Late in the quarter West cops a nasty kick to her shin and goes off for treatment. At three-quarter time Melbourne 4.6.30 to Adelaide 4.2.26. It’s a four—point game! Q4 Early in the last quarter Lampy tackles Steve Lee Thompson in the forward pocket. She earns a free and duly converts for her second goal. The crowd really enjoyed that one. Bannan then takes a nice mark 40 metres out following some more great linkwork by the Dees. She goes back to take her kick, strolling in deliberately but then sells some candy, running around the mark to get closer to goal and nails a bewdy. The crowd is going bananas. Electric stuff from Alyssa. Hore then makes a huge tackle Marinoff on the wing in front of the main crowd. We are well on top now. And Westy’s back out there. There’s a bit a feeling in this bruising encounter as players continue to push and shove. The last goal of the match is fittingly kicked by our milestone girl Zanker. Mackin breaks a tackle and kicks it deep into the forward pocket where Edo reads it best and goals. Melbourne 7.6.48 to Adelaide 4.2.27. The Coaches and next week: Melbourne Coach Mick Stinear said it was a tough physical game and an even team effort. Adelaide is a really strong side who brought their best contest footy in that first quarter and overwhelmed us. But pleasingly we didn’t panic and knew what we had to do. He was actually surprised how his side was able to turn it around so quickly. He singled out Lampy for her game on the wing and Lily for putting her body on the line. Such a tough player Lil who inspires her teammates. He acknowledged the support from the Ikon Park home crowd and the team fed off the energy. He thinks Ikon is a quality ground for footy and is the likely venue for the upcoming preliminary final. Matthew Clarke couldn’t have been happier with that first quarter but after that Melbourne were able to get the ball out to their runners. Even though Melbourne got on top in the middle quarters they were still in it at ¾ time. He felt Melbourne played even stronger tonight than in their Round 1 victory. Chelsea Randall is expected to be right to go next week. MELBOURNE 0.2.2 3.4.22 4.6.30 7.6.48 ADELAIDE 3.2.20 4.2.26 4.2.26 4.3.27 GOALS MELBOURNE Bannan Lampard 2 Pearce Purcell Zanker ADELAIDE Gould 2 Ponter Woodland BEST MELBOURNE Purcell Lampard Bannan Mithen Hanks Harris ADELAIDE Marinoff Allan Gould Ponter Hatchard INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil ADELAIDE Randall (head knock) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil ADELAIDE Nil CROWD 2,555 at Ikon Park

One of those words that mean something completely different to what many people incorrectly assume. Laconic definition: Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise. The definition of laconic refers to someone who doesn't talk a lot or uses very few words.

It's a footy fan forum. People are going to post their opinions and thoughts.

Missed TMac. delivery inside 50 too predictable got our conditioning program wrong Too many niggles and injuries at the wrong time

This is one of those myths that seems to get a bit of airtime on DL that I’d like to call out. I doubt we have a better midfield kick than Gus, and that is on both sides of his body. Last year his kicking efficiency was 67.6%, that is around 15% more efficient than Oliver and 11% better than Petracca. No one on our team with significant midfield minutes disposed of the ball anywhere near as well by foot unless you count JJ on the wing (around 73%). i don’t mind people criticising our players if it there is an actual issue in their game. But there are a lot of completely inaccurate criticisms here that seem to become like a meme. This is one of those.

Worth every cent. One of the greatest talents to ever pull on the red and blue.

Averaged 7.6 turnovers per game once he went into the midfield. Out of our other mids - Viney 5.4, Oliver 5.2, Trac 4.8. During that period he averaged 27 disposals per game, which is less than both Clarry (32) and Trac (28).

Or one might remember the saying, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. I watched him butcher the ball too many times as a midfielder. I think he’s a great player but wing or HBF - and I suspect the two wings will now be Langdon and Hunter.

I’m a fan of Gus and delighted he signed on but his disposal is not his strongest attribute

Your post highlights exactly why quoting statistics alone is absolutely pointless and the hilarious thing is that the 'myth' actually exists in the heart of your post. Firstly, it's not clear whether or not you're talking about the season just gone or last year as in 2021? If it's the latter, I'm not sure why you'd bother posting these stats at all given Gus played wing the whole year and when you're predominantly outside of where the heat is, naturally you'll have a higher DE by both foot and hand. If you're talking about this year, the same argument applies given his move to the middle (where it's the hardest area to stack consistent effective disposals) came very late in the year and up until then he played across half back mostly, (a position where it is the easiest to stack consistent effective disposals). Supporters who suggest Gus butchers the ball more than he should are absolutely dead on the money. No useless statistics will be able debunk that. Gus was afforded more time, space and less pressure with ball in hand than Trac and Clarry due to the position he played in most of this season and last. Naturally, his disposal efficiency will be higher. However, he still butchers the ball far too often when under little to no pressure. Your eyes will tell you that and not a silly statistic.

oh. i see, it was your brother born in 1942 not you i remember halfpennies though there wasn't many around and i did see the odd farthing though nothing had a farthing in its price and i doubt shopkeepers would have accepted them. and yes in 1945 a 10 pound note would have been a king's ransom. you could buy a house in melbourne for under a thousand quid better stop there or i'll upset the millenials 😆

Winner of every MFC award, AA award and AFLaward multiple times along with an AFL Premiership the only awards he has yet to win is the Brownlow and Norm Smith which he may be able to win in the coming years

Waste of money having both Salem and Brayshaw back so I hope they allow him to move to the midfield fully.

Didn’t know Melbourne had so many recruiters that weren’t actually employed by the club going off this thread 😂😂

Pluses and minuses here. Would you think it good to have no candidates to vote for in the upcoming State elections? 10 candidates gives members options, it's called democracy. The down side of democracy is you are answerable to your constituents and this can make some things difficult to achieve as not all of them will agree with your ideas. Some might even have better ideas.

Both teams just making up the numbers as they say dogs worst team to make the 8 Not sure about Libby Birch in the special comms role

interesting. He had Jackson and Pickett wrong (especially pickett rated at 30) but overall what eventauted was the cream is at the top. Its pretty decent.

Was very good down back when given more of an intercepting role, especially when Lever was out. But as the season went on his constant desire to peel off and intercept rather than man up meant we had too many fold back defenders. The ball lived in our back half. Hence why it made sense to move him back to the midfield and play someone like Hunt who would aggressively defend an opponent and cut off outlet kicks. He didn’t turn it over much down back but that’s because he would give and receive chip kicks in to the pockets. Very rarely did he take more aggressive corridor kicks and even more rarely did he run the lines - both vital attributes for a successful back flanker. He was more effective as a midfielder than I imagined. Giving him the starting position of tagging someone like Neale was wise. It minimised his defensive lapses and took away from the downside of too many ball focussed mids. But boy was he inefficient with the ball in the midfield. Overall he had a good year but I just don’t agree with the value of such a long contract and surely plenty of $$$ to a player who’s greatest attribute is versatility. There’s a downside to every position Gus moves as it throws out team balance given he doesn’t blend in as a role player nor does he have the standout attributes to be locked in any given role. I have no idea where he’ll play in 2023. I assume they’ll give him a chance to win an on ball spot but I still think our best midfield mix needs speed and skills around the big 3.

He looks a bit laconic in general play but brave in the air

I agree. The cats seemed to manage player loads far better than us to be healthy at the end of the season. But I think it is part of a learning curve, it was the first time we made a GF in 20 years and how players are managed the following year was a new process for the club and as far as I'm aware the support staff as well. We'll be better for it in 2023.

Players like Dusty and Buddy and Dangerfield are very much liked by many, but they’re also disliked by many. The top three on that list ought to be Fyfe, Bont and Maxy since they are players who are universally liked, maybe not loved by all, but I daresay not hated by many. Imho anyways.

Six weeks ago my eldest Granddaughter ( heading to 12 ) decided that she wanted to play Basketball. She had only ever messed about at school lunch times. She is amongst the taller girls at her school in her age group so that helps. She is now four games in and she is playing well and really enjoying it. On top of that Pa is enjoying it just as much to the point where I have to say I am enjoying watching her team more than the Dees in 2022. Never thought that would happen. May this continue! Yesterday I jokingly told her I will be too Old to see her play in the Olympics. She just smiled and that smile was worth a thousand words.

I even know Geelong supporters who can't stand Danger...

Holy [censored] they must have been mounted when they wrote this.... First... Gritty Kangaroos and classy Lions win through to AFLW grand final Then later..... Richmond will now meet North Melbourne in the AFLW grand final only a fortnight after the Tigers drew with them to deny the Kangaroos a top-four finish. Amazingly bad

Goldy is a unique player...we use her in a shutdown role but she's also used us an attacking take the game on option at the same time.

Spot on there WCW! What an absolutely awful game to represent two finalists in the competition. Neither side kicked a goal after quarter time, and the coaches just loaded the backlines, as no 666 rule applied apart from the commencement of the quarters. Our win against Adelaide will be critical, as it has now put us on the right side of the draw, as Brisbane and Adelaide are the only teams that remotely look like challenging us. We actually outmuscled Adelaide to win, which is what they did to us in last seasons GF. But with Purcell, Hanks and West on the inside they matched them brilliantly. Two of those players were effectively only playing their 2nd season for us. And a big shout out to Goldy for shutting down Randall. But a bit too gutsy a coaching move for me to leave Marinoff unattended, but those mids of ours kept getting the ball before her....

One of my favourite players, he has the knack and brings it to the fore at the most unexpected and necessary moments of many games across the season. I'd like to see him up forward more often, as well - he was producing dead-eye-[censored] at one point in the recent past - he has terrific goal accuracy when 'on the run' from well outside the hot zone. Opportunities were low, but he seized these to great effect.

I love the way we now take the game on, and have the players now to do it successfully. Putting Haris in the ruck has been an inspiration.

Nar worse Eskimos who have never seen a game of AFL But liked the sounds of the players as they munched through their Fish Fingers at Dinner time!!! PFFFFT

No detail provided about the method used to compile but i would have thought Maxy the most popular. He seems to be universally well liked by supporters of all teams. I wouldn't say the same about dangerflog. Strange list

And I’ve put a comma where I think one should be. Your sentence is fine without one, but you leave me little else to highlight. In fact, you leave me naught. Also, check these out… There’s a professional pastry chef in the Demon Army who brings plates of deliciousness to matches. These cupcakes were devoured just as the game started last night. The blue food dye is almost indelible. From my spot in the front row, during that miserable first quarter, I looked behind at my comrades and what a sight I beheld. A sea of grumpy and grizzly faces yelling unsavoury comments to the umpires but all with bright blue lips and tongues. 😁

This is a constant week in, week out. The umps allow way too much leway re incorrect disposal. It penalises teams that are more skillful and want to take the game on, and benefits teams that just want to bash and crash. It's time they start umpiring to the standard of the better players, rather than the new recruits from other sports.

Eden’s partner is in the centre holding the giant Eden head. And her sister who possesses neither her height nor her footy prowess (her words, not mine 🙂) is second from the left.

Some on here think he is highly overrated, and we should trade him for whatever we can get. Pure Comedy Gold….

Above everything else, that was an incredibly physical match, up there with any men's game I've ever seen. Womens' footy between two good sides is now at the point that it is legitimately exciting in its own right as a spectacle and a great representation of what Australian football is all about.

Just received the email!! The one we have all been waiting for!! 7 years!! Until 2030. Woo Hooo!!

Dysfunctional connection between mids and forward line more specifically I would think. Or dysfunctional forward game plan rather than (all) the individuals.

A pretty good one I would imagine.❤️💙👍👌🤘🙏

Suspect they have done that and know that answers Doubt they will air them publicly The question will be whether the coaching staff change the game plan or continue with the same old same old that got them to second on the ladder I hope they add variety because clubs have worked us out and the predictability killed us 8 x 90 pts or more scored against us vs 2021 only one did that happen.

Great article about a team always just missing out and how we've built a great core and game style https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-21/melbourne-demons-aflw-premiership-window-wide-open/101555732

Don't follow him then.

Predicting a premiership window is about as reliable and picking one of these.

not many players sign a three year extension without having played a debut game, i wouldn't have thought good optics

Compare his highlights to phillipou. I agree that Jefferson looks a long way off. Phillipou looks much more robust. I'd be trading up to make sure we get him. Contested marking and kicking them from 55.

There was many different offerings in terms of every team’s best 22. They all differ of course but the core is basically the same.

Yeah I'll have a look at it. Most are pretty spot on but I find it difficult to believe that Weideman couldn't get a game for basket case Essendon.

Last week I saved this…. https://www.theinnersanctum.com.au/afl-your-clubs-way-too-early-best-23-for-2023/ … and was gonna ask you to tell us who you’d pick for best 22, but in every team, not just ours. Then I realised that’s a lot to ask of you. But if you do have a spare lifetime or two, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I'm tearing up knowing he will go down as probably Melbourne's greatest player....