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Good luck to Brodie Grundy in his Kardinia Park debut 😄

I just want to enjoy an entire weekend. Is that too much to ask? Get it done Dees.

Heading down the highway again where I hold a 2-11-1 record in terms of MFC success. What's the definition where you keep doing something and expect a different result? Highlights include watching us kick 4 goals in an entire game of footy in 2013 in pouring rain, Getting beaten after the siren, getting beaten by 80 points the following year where we all thought we were flag contenders and fare-welling the coach that got us back to AFL relevance with an 111 point belting. (by some sheer stroke of luck or destiny I pulled out of 186) Other than that I'm supremely confident.

Seems like a lot of over confidence on this page?! Im expecting a tough tight contest.

I’m posting this and locking this thread as the final word on the topic for the moment. Please Do NOT start threads or post about these rumours in other threads. Posts will be deleted and further actions may be taken. If you see any posts referencing this please report. Do not quote the posts as that will make more work for the moderation team. Thank you.

The most disappointing thing for me was the start of the last quarter. Everyone knew their season was on the line at 3/4 time and for us to come out flat footed and allow them to monster us and get the first two goals was very poor. That got their crowd going and the rest is history, once momentum starts it’s hard to stop.

This is the longest shortest day of the year ever!

Confident about this one. Kat Park doesnt worry us, although we have been worse on the road this year. If Tomlinson was any stiffer, hed be dead.

At least fox footy called out Stewart and what he did

On criticisms of our selection this week, I think it's worth noting that at this point in the season last year, there were MANY posters who were strident in their criticism of our selection policy. The key criticisms were that goody was too rigid, too stubborn, should be taking a squad mentality, should pick a team for the conditions and opposition and should be more creative. Seems to me those criticisms are not valid this season, and certainly not this week. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Geelong flogging us in the tackle count.. most of their tackles don’t count however as they are off the ball.

The beginning of a beautiful story I will never forget lying on the floor in my living room, refusing to watch him kick that goal and my husband just screaming “he’s done it” and I started ugly crying like a complete psycho.

Geez that was disappointing . We are better than that.

Just made a mercy dash to the Romsey IGA to pick up a couple of "just in case" bottles of Shiraz. I couldn't resist a quaffer called "squealing pig " - I figured it might be appropriate to a post game Chris Scott.

Hope we haven't used all of our win for the ages tickets out at Kardinia Park but if we have I will still be content with this one.

Couldn’t hit a target but couldn’t find a spot for Bowey in the side. I literally do not understand why we are being so cute with the team setup All bloody season Goodwin said we wanted Petty tried forward. He has a great game against the Hawks and gets injured. Tomlinson comes in and plays a pivotal role and we have our best defensive fortnight of the season. Petty is declared fit and is immediately sent back at the expense of Tomlinson, leaving Joel Smith and a fetus to play on Tom Stewart. The mind boggles.

No words for how badly we performed tonight. Cats without Dangerfield and Guthrie and lose Cameron in the first few minutes, and we just go on to play some of the dumbest, softest football we’ve dished up all year. We absolutely should not have dropped Tomlinson for Petty who was totally underdone. We needed someone to drag Stewart away from the contest, but instead we went too small and nobody was able to stop him intercepting. Spargo was a terrible choice of sub, not to mention that subbing him off for Jordon was just idiotic. Infuriating garbage.

Lost a scrappy dog fight. Not usually one to pot ANB but his fumble was a real sliding doors moment.

Death, taxes and Alex Neal Bullen fumbling in crucial moments of the game

How good is Salem, just finds an option when there isn’t any.

Petracca has lost it. Being scragged non stop without a free. Gawn also being pushed grabbed and blocked. No front on for Smith in goal square, was blatant.

Smith the best forward for us

How was that not front on to Smith???

Hoping for a lift from Chandler, he was kicking some rippers earlier on, c'mon Kade hit the goals with some X factor. I feel the same about Kossie. Given it his "special outing" in the Alice next week, tonight wouldn't be a bad time to turn it on and create some consistency. Tracc to keep going, I can see him frequently breaking the lines. Over handballing and balls to players under pressure have been a problem. Hoping for some smart footy and not getting lost for space on those shallow wings. Go Dees.

I hate Geelong.

Just landed after delays/cancellations in the US west coast. I am cooked but will take a long nap and be ready to support the boys tonight! Go Dees!!! 🔴🔵

This is one game in which I have no hesitation admitting that viewing from the comfort of The Manor is far preferable to live attendance. However, I must also pass on my admiration to those hardy Demonlanders who are making the trek. I'm feeling very upbeat about this game and foresee a comfortable win. The ****ty weather won't help their key forwards and May, Petty , Lever etc will finish the job. I'm predicting a tense first half and then the Dees to runaway by 4 or 5 goals. The Manorial staff will be busy refilling my shiraz.

It actually doesn't matter who the [censored] is in our forward line at the moment with the way the ball comes in. It's been happening for years and we lose in the same way and have for two years. Even in our flag year, the games we lost were just the same.

158 handballs to their 103 on a wet night. Game lost there.

Any chance of Gawn doing anything positive this year? There's more to being a leader than doing media appearances. Viney is putting him to shame at the moment.

Hawkins is allowed to have a go at every umpire for no free. It’s really ludicrous

Seriously Viney is just a work horse. My god you just love him

My pregame post said tight to half time ..... and then away we go I'm sticking with that prediction

If there are any demonlanders at the ground, we can here you there and you're doing a fantastic job. One small favour to ask. Can you please boo and heckle that [censored] [censored] of a dog player in Stewart everytime he is near the ball. You may not have seen it live but he pushed viney to the ground as he was cradling his shoulder, for all he knew he could've had a dislocation or fractured collar bone. Bloke is a dog.

This game.

You're lucky you only had sons and no teenage girls. Would take 1000 dirty nappies over a day with 13 year old girl.

Once over the shock of a player being dropped after a best-for-the-club performance, I’ve come to like the selections. Always going to be hard to play Tomo, Petty and Smith and in wet conditions it’s unnecessary. If match fit, Petty has to play AFL. He’s the better defender and can play forward. From a small sample size, Smith has shown as much promise as a forward as Petty. Moreover, he has a transformative effect on the forward line with his ability to play tall and small. He must be given more opportunity. This leaves us with the option of swinging Petty forward or back depending on matchups, conditions and how the game is unfolding. I like this flexibility for September.

The only thing certain about tonight is that 21,000 people will still make enough noise to create some very questionable umpiring decisions.

You can't bury a club like Geelong in a preliminary final - they'll only get stronger. The only way to truly get the job done is to kill 'em on a cold winter night on their home deck, far from the spotlight of September, when there are no witnesses and nothing on the line but their own pride and dreams - crushed at last.

7 goal win. 🔴🔵💪

Elvis and I were just discussing this very topic as we were browsing Demonland.

I thought Grundy was pretty good tonight. Held his marks better than most

Really pathetic performance right from the moment our captain kicked the ball backwards off the side of the boot on the first kick of the night. Unfortunately this wasn’t Max’s worst moment, not getting to the first kick in and then dropping an easy chest mark. Langdon spent the night slipping over or getting beaten to the ball. He needs a pair of screw ins. Brayshaw was terrible by foot. Petracca needs to be more aggressive when getting scragged. Spargo is too small and slow. ANB needs to stop being Hershell Gibbs. Rivers, Viney, McVee, Hunter and Pig can hold their heads up. Goodwin got destroyed with our poor preparation and tactics on the skinny ground. The umpiring was terrible. I give the performance 2/10.

Gawn 1 mark for the game in the last minute of play. Worst game from him in a long time.

If I was the president I’d be asking our football department what experienced forward line coach we need to bring in. Things have to change in the footy department I think. Our forward line connection has been a problem in 4 of the last 5 seasons - yet we have one of the best midfields. We need someone who values skill and forward craft, as it’ll put pressure on the rest of the football department to buy into the value of execution. We have to compete way too hard to score.

Lol I have no idea why I come on here during losses… some of the negativity is so over the top. Incredible. Putrid 1Q and 4Q though. But the 4Q is all about us pressing too high and fumbling/losing contests when we’re all goal side. To say the cats blew us away is to suggest it’s because they were so dynamic, it was all our positioning and skill in dangerous areas. Agree on ANB. Just grab the ball man.. so frustrating. Shocker from Gawn

Held? he got full on tackled without the ball

We are now very much on top. The wet ground and the poor excuse for an AFL standard oval kept Geeling in it. Stop the 3-4 small in close handballs. We don't crumb packs well at all. Bruhn, Close and Miers are a cut above our crumbing players. Salem, Hibberd, Grundy, Smith and Rivers playing well. Please stop kicking it straight to Stewart and Guthrie.

Let’s just get the job done. Win this and we consolidate our grip on a top four spot and go a long way towards damaging the Cats’ finals hopes. Go Dees.

I reckon the 'bring injured players back through the vfl' is old school thinking especially when a player has worked through 5+ preseasons as have Salem and Petty. Sports science has come a long way since the days when players were readied for AFL match conditions through the reserves. Very few clubs go that way these days.