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As much as I'm on this ‘death ride’ with the rest of ya’s, it’s sorta morphed into a Jackson bashing session. Remember it’s about where Freo finish this season. Jackson might be dealing personal guilt and anxiety and when your heads a mess your footy’s generally the same. Just a reminder. 🔴🔵

I reckon a team has about one, or at the most 2, crunch games per year (not including finals). This is Melbourne's. Sydney have not been beaten in 16 of their last 20 games against the Dees. They massively have the wood over this club. Yes, we won in 2021, but we and they both know that that doesn't change the fact that they have our measure as a football club. It's in their psyche and ours. If Melbourne want to reinstate some authority, demeanor, or aura over the competition, they must win this game on their home ground. Not many will agree with my next comment, but I believe if we can't beat this younger and less experienced side on our home ground then we're not winning the premiership in 2023. It's a must win. It's that important. They'll be smarting from their last game on the 'G, but our imperatives are equally important. Am I confident ? A resounding no. But they must find a way. It's never easy to break a dominance, because they're there until they're not. And they can last a very long time. I sense there's still a slight fragility about this team. The flag notwithstanding. I'll learn a heap by Sunday night. It's as crunch as you get.

Well here's an untold Uncle Bitter story, In the early 70's myself and my mate got [censored] as nits at the Croxton Park Hotel. My beautiful 16 year old girlfriend (later to be my beautiful wife, now my late wife) drove us, unlicensed, to Mernda. We weren't worried, in those days, we knew the coppers would have accepted that it was the best option. Different times. PS. My wife and I laughed about that for years. Sadly not enough years.

He played 25 games in 2021. He was a valuable member of the side that got us into the finals and to the Grand Final. Why would he feel "uncomfortable"?

Well he is a swan I guess

Doesn't say much really.

I personally believe Rivers will stay, at least for another 3-4 years. I'd like to see JJ given Harmes role, I think he's a much more consistent performer and you know exactly what you're going to get with him. Harmes maybe has a higher ceiling in regards to potential goals etc. but I'd prefer JJ.

I agree with this other than your comment we're not winning the flag if we don't win Sunday. I think we still can and not just because Gawn and Pickett are out but it is a long season and I'd rather we hit our straps in Aug/Sept than round 3. Swans are the bogiest of all bogey sides for us! I still remember losing to them in 92 or 93 after they'd lost 26 on the trot, and losing to them at the G with Dermie leading the way in 94. They've had our measure for too long, I would love to see a win on Sunday but I don't think it will happen. They are a smart team and a smartly coached team, they love crowding and harassing us then getting us on the rebound. I would be more confident playing them at the SCG rather than the MCG, I have a feeling their small mid/forwards like Papley, Gulden and Mills will get us but if we bring the heat we have more than enough firepower in the middle to do the job. I still think we can win the flag this year regardless of Sunday's result though.

Congrats on 150 games to Clayton Oliver! Clarry is already the best Demon in my lifetime. Scary to think he's only 25 and still has so much elite footy ahead of him. He's the best inside midfielder in my lifetime too. His quick hands and ability to absorb tackles and dispose cleanly is unmatched by anyone. Some of his groundball gets while on the move are just [censored]. His toughness and ability to win contested ball is unmatched by anyone. Top 5 in the league for tackles too, so he works hard both ways and is very very consistent. Back to back coaches MVP awards puts him alongside Gary Ablett Jnr and ahead of Dusty, Dangerfield, Fyfe, Bontempelli etc. When his career is finished, you'd look at that and say it's right. If he didn't have gun team mates like Petracca, Gawn, Brayshaw etc stealing Brownlow votes off him, he'd have won 2-3 Brownlows by now. He's the most consistent and hard midfielder in the league. Coaches would dream of having him in their side. He'd be first picked league wide. Here's hoping Clarry can stay healthy and fit and give us 150 more! Choo Choo!

The bad news gets worse. Much worse in fact. Rumour has it that Bayley Fritsch has a library book that is TWO DAYS overdue.

Going to make a second posts with some other fun reference points directly related to this weeks round 3 fixture, TMac moves past Barassi to 205 games played Viney moves clear of the Ox to 174 games Petracca will have officially played more games than Jack Watts as a dee Clarry's 150th moves him = with Whelan, Sean Wight and Jared Rivers Brayshaw and Harmes are on track to share their 150th together and move = with Ivor Warne-Smith, Nathan Brown and Leoncelli this week (games 146) ANB goes past Gerard Healy the dee to 131 Melksham is sneaking ever closer to 100 dees games and F/S eligibility (currently 96) Spargo draws level with Trenners Rivers moves past Ricky Petterd who he has currently got a mirrored record of (39-1-14) v (14-1-39), Sparrow is currently one game behind him. Petty plays game 51 the same Vanders finished on, and still 1 shy of Dogga Tomlinson moves even with Bugg, Scully and Wonaeamirri if named and finally Bowey matches the games of Jimmy Toumpas some contrasting careers in there hey!

Im swinging between both possible outcomes quite frequently. On one hand, im expecting quite a significant response from the whole team. I expect hard running and frantic pressure, but on the other hand im also not sure what type of melbourne team is going to show up. Sydney melted in the GF when they were met with similar pressure from the Cats and they just couldnt settle. They'll have some misplaced confidence from the two bruise free wins from this year and the fact they have the wood over us. It just takes a small amount of complacency to get put on your bum. Game plan wise, i think (hope) we'll see something a little different to stifle their ball movement. We have to capitalize when we have the ball and kick 4-5 goals in the first 15 minutes - anything less will keep them in the game for longer. The key is to dent their confidence and get them to lose some dare in ball movement and start playing a little more conservatively. If we can do this (ala Dogs and many other teams in 21) we will be able to really lock the game down defensively and capitalise on turnover and scores from HB. A few key matchups: We have to make McCartin accountable. If JVR plays, you can bet your house that'll try to force that matchup. We need manic forward half pressure from Chandler, ANB and Spargs. Getting anything out of TMAC, BBB and Fritta is a pipe dream so we need to make sure these smaller fellas are instructed to run and tackle hard. Gulden is one of their better kicks and we cannot let him get off the handle on the wing or HF. Similarly the lizard is a reasonable kick off HB and has some pace. We have to have a defensive matchup on both. Lastly is our offesnive ball movement. I dont rate Sydney's back six that highly and are vulnerable to faster ball movement. They can be scored heavily against if you move it quickly against them. So in summary: pressure all over the ground, to force turnover and/or win contest and clerance -> quick ball movement to stop defenders zoning off and isolate our key forwards.

I predict C.Oliver will retire with 350 games for Melbourne 1 x Brownlow 3 x Premierships 8 x All Australians 6 x Best and fairests

Hickey and Reid apparently still unavailable according to the AFL website which is at least something. Clarke who shut Salem out of the game in the final as a defensive forward is also supposed to be out. https://www.afl.com.au/news/891822/in-the-mix-r3-who-s-under-the-pump-pushing-for-selection- Putting them aside, they have a pretty full list and are flying. I don't care if they've only beaten GC and Hawthorn, they're a well drilled outfit with highly skilled and talented players.

I agree wholeheartedly with almost of the above - not so sure about not winning means no premiership, but i take the point nonetheless and my confidence in our chances will certainly take a hit if we lose. Huge test of where we are at on a couple of fronts. One, we need to psycologically rebound from last week and the impact of Maxy going down. We need to stand up this week and prove that we can win without Maxy and that there are mutiple leaders. And two, the numbers are stark - i had forgotton how bad (4 win in 20 games? Shesh). I think a big factor in that record, at least in the last 2-3 seasons is that their method (fast ball movement off hb, quick transition, incisive kicking etc) works well against our game plan. We have made some tweaks to our game plan, defensively and offensively. Offensively the tweaks involve faster ball movement, playing on from marks and more changes of lanes, particualry into the corridor. In many ways these tweaks are a direct response to the way the Swans and Pies are playing. We struggled to implement those tweaks last week, for whatever reason, until the resumption after the break. In this week's game we realy need to make sure we continue to implement the changes to our approach we worked on all preseason. For me that's part of the reason why this game will be a real test of where we're at, and one of the reasons why, as you say gator, this game is so critical. The weather will be perfect. We can plan for no Max. We will have a strong team on. No exuses. So i'm really hoping to see, right from the get go, fast ball movement, quick transition from the back half and aggessive kicks to the corridor.

I know I go on about it a bit, but the levels of sensationalist journalism around the AFL are a disgrace. A stupid non-story like this is given a blaring headline and all of a sudden it’s in the news. Same goes with Luke Jackson - whatever you think of his move, getting blasted by the AFL media after 2 games is disgusting. Of course, be critical after a poor performance, but some of the stuff that comes from supposed senior commentators like Kane Cornes, just to make a headline, is awful.

While this Reid kid sounds like a gun, it's not the first time a player has been considered a generational talent who will go pick 1 that would be worth selling the house for. In hindsight, if you have a good system (development, culture etc), it seems like 3 picks in the top 25 would be a more reliable bet - you could end up with the best player in the draft still and you may end up with 2-3 top 10 players in your team. E.g. here's a list of recent no.1 picks - there's hardly any that would now be considered the best of their draft. 2006 Bryce Gibbs Carlton Glenelg SANFL 2007 Matthew Kreuzer Carlton Northern Knights TAC Cup 2008 Jack Watts Melbourne Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 2009 Tom Scully Melbourne Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup 2010 David Swallow Gold Coast East Fremantle Football Club WAFL 2011 Jonathon Patton Greater Western Sydney Eastern Ranges TAC Cup 2012 Lachie Whitfield Greater Western Sydney Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup 2013 Tom Boyd Greater Western Sydney Eastern Ranges TAC Cup 2014 Paddy McCartin St Kilda Geelong Falcons TAC Cup 2015 Jacob Weitering Carlton Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup 2016 Andrew McGrath Essendon Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 2017 Cameron Rayner Brisbane Lions Western Jets TAC Cup 2018 Sam Walsh Carlton Geelong Falcons TAC Cup 2019 Matthew Rowell Gold Coast Oakleigh Chargers NAB League 2020 Jamarra Ugle-Hagan Western Bulldogs Oakleigh Chargers NAB League 2021 Jason Horne-Francis North Melbourne South Adelaide SANFL

We need Hibbo

we are finally about to get May Lever and Petty together for the first time and we move Petty fwd? No thanks you win flags off a solid defence

Ripper interview. Nice to get the real insights into what is going on. Particularly like the assessment that our medical and sports science teams are the best in the business, and also the caring nature of the players and staff is unique.

Unintentionally hilarious typo there.

Goodwin did what he thought was the right thing by not faking a sub. Of course Geelong had no such issues a year later and now the rule has changed. But JJ was a valued member of that side, he has nothing to worry about.

Said so casually like his kid plays Aus Kick on Sunday at 8am.

you know wcw i rarely get a good look at the banner and especially both sides you could start an ongoing thread that shows each week's banner (both sides). doesn't matter if you post a day later or whatever. that way we have an ongoing photographic record of all the dee army's creative work

Which makes last weeks loss even worse.

Well said McQueen. I doubt many here have ever been in a position where astronomical amounts of cash was offered for you to return home and do exactly what you want. I have nothing against what Jackson decided and won't even boo him when we play them. He'll still always have a special place in my memory for his efforts in 2021. I also have no doubts he would have been feeling incredible amounts of anxiety around his team mates last year which would have effected his performance and still would be impacting it now which isn't fair for a kid still finding his feet at this level. Do I feel sorry for him however? Goodness no. He still made the decision. This is always the risk players take in signing huge contracts before they're really earnt. His manager and Freo are the ones that need a good kick up the backside for filling his head with [censored].

Seems to be a lot of not so confident people here. I'm not so confident myself but surely there's some hope? We get a shot at this mob on our deck and hopefully we've seen how this team has beaten us in the past and will make the appropriate adjustments this time. If we don't win it won't be the end of the world but what will matter is how we lose.

If it's a points issue, it's possibly [censored] poor communication or, at worst, carelessness - I've done the same. Vic Roads or whatever they are called are borderline incompetents.

Apparently with a combined total of 2,844 games, we played our most experienced team ever last week in the game against the Lions. It's still a long way off the most experienced team ever, which was Geelong in last year's Grand Final, with a total of 3,855 games played. I'm surprised that it was our most experienced ever, given that there weren't that many "older" players in the team. Source: https://afltables.com/afl/stats/alltime/misc_players.html#12 (Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. If so, feel free to delete.)

Fabulous interview with great insights into an area where most of us know bugger all! Thanks to Andy for organising, Bin and of course all Demonlanders who contributed questions. I loved Selwyn’s frequent references to our holistic ‘team’ approach. The interview filled me with confidence that we are in excellent hands, and up with the very best in the AFL. Go Dees! ❤️💙

If Smith comes in over JVR I'll be pretty disappointed. The time is right for a debut and I'd rather be blooding now than later.

Go Redlegs.

He'll still kick a bag.

This is why I'm not optimistic. I don't get why on Friday night we couldn't make adjustments at half time when the game was on the line, but we could make adjustments after the lights went out. I don't think we're good at adjusting. We just pull out our big guns and try to blow them off the park. I don't think that works against Sydney.

The only thing better than a live ladder is a live draft order ladder..

5 years to the week that we beat North and broke that hoodoo, time to do it again.

Can we keep them all? Can't help but feel there will be some cap casualties down the track if not this year.

TRAINING AT CASEY TOMMORROW IM RELIABLY INFORMED!

With Gawn out and May returning, Goodwin has a few things to consider. Tomlinson has been pretty good this year and Petty has been a bit down compared to previous seasons. One option I think we should consider is throwing Petty forward. JVR could also come into the side to replace the out of form TMac, although this role would also include part time rucking.

Too early?

Let's keep it to Freo bashing.

I don’t 100% agree because I think Gawn and Pickett are 2 huge inclusions that both make us a lot better and help us play the way we want to play. That said, Sydney move it fast and spread teams out. If we look completely incapable of defending against that style of play as we did at times late last year it’s a bad sign. We also have to be able, or at least willing, to take the game on and move the ball. Funnily enough if we flame out playing the right way I’ll be more confident about our future than if we grind out a narrow loss.

i didn’t know that mate. love and best wishes your way. i’m having a beer for you and your late wife right now

I don't mind May accumulating points as long as he stops the goals.

Jackson will be laughing if Jeremy McGovern comes out to play on Sunday with a big padded bag on his back.

You’re only as good as your last Grand Final appearance.

I'd like to know his thoughts on nutrition. There's been a few different diets with players over the years How does it affect someone like BBB who is coeliac and vegan vs TMAC who eats a whole beast every week. What's his thoughts on players drinking alcohol, caffeine or junk food etc during the season. Do they monitor diets as part of players performance? Some good questions in this thread up above.

Their confidence is warranted. They've beaten us in 17 out of the past 20 encounters. Our record against them is the worst of any team and frankly it's embarrassing. We are absolutely their bunnies and I expect this weekend to be no different unfortunately. We love to beat them and get the monkey off our back. They have a mental hold over us and we need to break it.

Good player but needs to work on his consistency. We can’t afford to carry guys who go missing every 149 games and only get 37 possessions.

They are tanking. All we can hope for is that they ruin their culture and it gets rewarded with mediocrity for decades.