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dermott literally stomped on a former teammate's head

Leppich said something to the effect of 'you'd rather be in Melbourne's position (having beaten the top sides) rather than be in Port's position (downhill skiiers).'

Agreed. I reckon finishing 1st is vital, because first will likely play a home qualifying final against an injury hit Brisbane or flakey Port for a place in the prelim.

Rich coming from Dermie the sniping [censored]

I like that. In the past some teams have had to release assistant coaches during finals when they've won a senior coaching gig. I'd rather they stay then disrupt our playing group during September.

Williams has said time and time again he doesn’t want to be a senior coach anymore. He is also not the right personality for a senior coach these days. He’s not people manager which is exactly what a senior coach is in modern footy. Yze is another story but I think Pies and Blues have too much pressure from members to go down an unknown path. I’m still backing Clarkson and Lyon for these two jobs.

The rest of the world is going down paths that will absolutely be followed by us, since we are now so far back in the race. The French will only allow you into a restaurant or bar if vaccinated: Why vaccine-shy French are suddenly rushing to get jabbed | The Economist Wanted a ticket to the Wimbledon tennis finals, then you had to be vaccinated" COVID-19 Entry Requirements - The Championships, Wimbledon 2021 - Official Site by IBM Even in the USA, tickets to NBA games going to vaccinated people or getting access to vaccinated only sections: Knicks will only sell tickets to vaccinated fans if they advance to second round of NBA playoffs - CBSSports.com Vaccinated | Phoenix Suns (nba.com) This is what is happening in the rest of the world, it will happen here as well. If you want to see AFL games next year when the borders eventually open( which they will)....guess what? You will need to be vaccinated. Go and get it done!

That is not correct, he was keen but we didn’t want to meet his wage demand and contract triggers

Will our backline be able to contain that beast Ugly-Hogan?

If you hear the whole thing properly in context it doesn't say that at all. Worth listening to before panicking. Goody Presser 21/7

This is an excellent article. It might be behind a paywall (and it's quite long), but the fundamental point that it makes is in its first two sentences: "The deepening lockdown of 14 million Australians 1½ years into the pandemic exposes that the biggest public policy failure is overly cautious medical advice stopping millions of people receiving the effective and extremely low-risk AstraZeneca vaccine. Weak-kneed democratically elected lawmakers have outsourced difficult decisions and hidden behind narrow-minded public health officials." It also includes this line: "ATAGI’s failure was compounded by the political demonisation of AstraZeneca, which seemingly fuelled vaccine hesitancy among people of all ages." In summary, if AZ hadn't been "demonised", we probably wouldn't be in lockdown and we'd all be able to go to the footy this weekend (although if that were the case, the game might have been in Darwin.)

Pretty much all footy commentary is reactionary and short term. Gary is the epitome of this type of commentary and it's why I take little notice of what he says. I didn't hear Leppitsch this week but he usually has a better take. I do agree with '@JimmyGadson' above...if we bring the heat so far we've come out on top. Let's see what happens over the rest of the season. I'm not buying into mist...red or otherwise.

Since playing us the Dogs have played at Optus, GMHBA, Optus, Marvel, Marvel, Metricon - it's not the ideal preparation for a cold and rainy MCG night match.

It's funny because Derm used to straight up belt people in the head when he played, and now he's the patron saint of fair play? The irony is simply too much. The bloke is an absolute moron. Someone should ask him if, by extension, that means he was a "faux tough guy" in his days as well ...

His hatred of the MFC is just plain unprofessional and blindingly obvious. He's always making subtle or obvious digs at the Dees. An example being that the day after our finest win of the season against the Dogs at their joint, Huddo and King were rightly raving about our win on the Fox Footy Saturday midday show. Meanwhile this bloke who has a clear hatred of the MFC had the temerity to claim that the Bulldogs were pretty much the better side on the night aside from conceding a few goals in the first quarter. He labelled the 9-1 Bulldogs performance as 'brave' and that the MFC pretty much stopped to a halt after qtr time despite extending the lead to 41 points in the last quarter. It might be time for him to be replaced with some fresh/younger analysts.

With the talk of (just a few examples)... Hunt missing an opportunity to pull up and go lateral following his run through the middle on Sat evening Lever also ignoring / not seeing an option or two out wide to his left with a few minutes to go and maintain possession / try to ice the clock but instead taking the safe, but IMHO, incorrect down the line bail out which then turned over and came straight back for a goal. Tracc continually mucking so many entries and opportunities coming inside 50 and burning team mates / the team so often Viney, while i didn't pay much attention on Sat evening, appeared to have a couple of clean exits from center / stoppages and had opportunities to hit up players inside 50 or at least kick to their favoured side but failed badly; and Lingers constantly bombing to the hot zone without seemingly being aware or capable of hitting up anyone loose i50 or kicking to their favoured side very often or at best on rare occasions... I figured it was appropriate to re visit this analysis from a much more learned scribe in Gazza. While i've no doubt many players from other teams also suffer in this regard, especially when placed under serious pressure, is this yet again becoming an issue for some (or too many) Demons? When i re-read this analysis it still has some eerily similar examples to what we are seeing of late. Our ability to assess and select the correct play ie; slow (possession/momentum/icing the clock) vs go quick option, go lateral vs down the line from HB (Lever), take the shot from 45/50 instead of trying to thread the needle (Tracc) or taking the % option vs forcing a 45 kick etc. So is the red mist (inability to quickly assess but instead panic under perceived or genuine pressure, scoreboard pressure), still a default for some in our group when they feel the heat? If so, is this fixable or is it too ingrained in said players and they are doomed to rinse and repeat! Is the club aware of it? Does it matter or am i beating this up too much? Thoughts..... https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-melbourne-problems-analysis-demons-on-the-couch-garry-lyon-red-mist-bad-kicking-playing-too-fast/news-story/8350ba20fe8a6cdc618b51cae33c412f

Been mentioned in the media that Clarko had a falling out with Graham Wright about the time he left Hawthorn and Clarko being Clarko it's unlikely that he ends up working with Wright again.

fixed it for ya

I reckon they'll click next year. Need the pre season to get their defensive mechanism clicking. If they get that sorted, look out. Their midfield depth is still poor and bringing in guys like Williams on big coin to play there and then not, is a big list problem. They need at least two more decent mids.

Sometimes you have to take a deeper look. Who expected us to be where we are? They've had issues but a list that has Walsh in the middle, Weitering as a KPD and McKay as KPF is a pretty good start. They don't need to rely on Cripps any more. They're well set to really move next season, they could even play finals this year. Well ahead of Freo and I think better balance at the moment than EFC but EFC are also coming...I don't think Freo are.

I think changing certain things to be able to beat the bottom teams would be much easier than finding a way to beat the top teams. Not a bad situation to be in. It’s crazy that we’re half a game on top at round 18 and people are still so concerned.

Look in the mirror Brereton, you and your mate Dippa crossed the line many times, during your time as a player. Will never forgive Dippa smacking into Robbie Flower, and injuring his shoulder?

Bad news: 22 new local cases. Good news: all connected to known clusters. A few days ago I thought that if we play Darwin we would then fly straight to Perth and quarantine there for the required week. Given today's numbers there is almost zero chance of playing in Darwin. The club's view yesterday: how-covid-could-impact-demons-in-coming-weeks “We haven’t been told anything official yet, but based off what other teams in a similar situation have had to do, all things being equal you’d imagine that we’ll go to the Gold Coast next week,” McPherson said on The Talking Points. “Play up there then most probably fly across to Perth, quarantine for seven days, then play the Eagles before returning.” “If guys’ priorities are to stay home, with young families or whatever reason, we certainly won’t stand in the way of that and we’ll be fully supportive,” McPherson said". Depending what the Qld quarantine requirements are time away could be anything from 10 to 14 days. The players most likely to be affected are Lever, TMac who both have toddlers and new born babes and maybe Jack V as his bub is still young. Today's numbers may be enough for Qld and WA to further tighten the borders so who knows, we might get lucky and all teams move to Victoria....

Fritta is about the least likely on our list to cause physical pain to an opposition player - other than by accident Dermie is a fool of the highest order the sooner he is sent to pasture the better

If my memory serves me correctly, Fritta's been clocked in the head 3 or 4 times already this season, and they haven't always been paid free kicks. Duhmee must've missed those

Geez the media is having a bit of a crack at us at the moment. Kinda like they would love us to fall in a heap? Go shove it up their collective (orifices that produce bodily refuse), Dees

He really does trip over his own explanations with some frequency... Just like he tripped over Rayden Tallis' head that time

Hartigan is scum regardless

Boo [censored] hoo Dermott. It’s a contact sport (though it’s getting softer every week), what Fritsch did was fine. I was actually quite surprised he was so physical in that particular contest, as I reckon Bayley is a bit on the soft side.

To put all this Academy stuff into perspective - my nephew just got accepted into an AFL academy through the school he’s going to attend. He’s 11. He’s a ripping player for his age, but there’s a long way to go between now and 18, and it highlights the way the system works. The kids are babies when they get access to this stuff - hence why few of them actually come into the AFL. Nah, actually I just posted this to brag about my nephew. He’s a legend! We are definitely drinking our own bath water at my place tonight. ?

Without a finals Series, we haven’t won anything. it will be remembered as a “good” season

Given the speed of our National vaccine ‘stroll out’ 2022 might even be optimistic. Tried to make a booking for my first jab again yesterday (I’m in my 40’s). No appointments for 6 weeks, and not taking appointments after that. It’s a sham. We are being gaslit by the government about our willingness to vaccinate. There simply isn’t enough.

Luckily it has. They were last years stats. Helps explain missing the finals last year.

We are not even close to being like the Hawks 3-peat team. Hopefully we can get back to form this week by beating the dogs. Tough one. Strangely we are more confident of a win v the top teams than v the lower ranked teams. That’s life as a Demons supporter.

I reckon dermie has even James Joyce covered for describing mundane things to the nth degree I rate Bailey highly. He is a skinny bugger but still manages to use his body. We would be in strife without him

Maybe we could lobby the Coodabeens to change the lyrics of Dermott Brereton is a Hood to Bayley Fritsch is a hood?

The man who uses 2000 words to explain something that could be explained in 20. Apart from that, don’t mind Derm.

As dumb and poorly worded as Dermie put it, he has walked the line a few times, the one on North guy especially. But the point I think he was trying to get to (he always does ramble for ages) is that Fritta needs to be careful as the next one prob will be a suspension and that would hurt us. Especially if it occurs in a final.

The MRP adjudicated the North incident as no case to answer (looked accidental to me). I don’t recall the incident with Grainger-Barass he refers to. Nobody seriously questioned the Hind incident either Just more standard Dermie guff

from what i saw some of our players do not chase often enough or hard enough. players half heartedly change expecting the opposition to just get rid of the ball but when they run with it as some of those bottom sides do it throws us off our game. Collingwood, adelaide and hawthorn all ran with the ball and broke our lines. The created overlap with running players that we did not cover, our players especially in the collingwood game failed to man up allowing them to deliver to unmarked men in the forward line. All of our players need to tackle more and better. we had far less tackles than Hawthorn yet gave away a considerable number more frees in doing so. yes some of the umpiring was crap, uneven and possible even farcical but being on top of the ladder we still should have been able to win with that extra weight. The fact that we scraped a draw out such a crap performance is probably the only worthwhile stat from the game. Some of our players just do not kick well under pressure, which does not bode well if we have close finals. i had hoped that after the adelaide defeat the players learned not to take the opposition for granted. i hoped after the Collingwood defeat that the players learned not to take the opposition for granted. now after this i can see we are really not very good at learning from our mistakes. i still hope they can pull themselves up and win the flag, but its performances like this that sends a shudder through me as we watch perhaps the best chance in a long long time get wasted.

Brown's key responsibility is to be a good forward. That might mean kicking goals one week, but if he's not kicking goals he needs to be leading, making contests, being a threat, etc., to help release pressure on TMac/Fritsch and to bring our smalls into play. Given how we played vs Essendon and GWS, I remain of the view that we can't go into games with just TMac as the tall, and Fritsch/Jackson as support. We need, IMO, a second tall. Our options really are Brown or Weideman. Brown's now had five games, the same as Weideman, and his stats are now almost universally better than Weideman's for the season. Weideman averages more tackles per game and more defensive half pressure acts, but Brown otherwise is doing more: he gets more disposals, has more kicks, generates more inside 50s, has a higher disposal efficiency, gets the ball at ground level more (ground ball gets), takes more marks (contested and uncontested), kicks double the goals, and has more shots on goal per game. So in my view, we have two options, and the one currently in the side is outperforming the other one, and we need one of them in the side, so there shouldn't be any debate right now about Brown holding his spot, not unless/until his performances are inferior to what we'd expect from Weideman.

I'm torn on this. I don't mind the multiple talls jumping for the same ball. Obviously not spoiling each other ideally, but as strange as that sounds, it makes our ball movement even more predictable for our smalls. Ideally we get it 1v1 on a lead, but if not, it's not the worst result IMO. I think it's only a matter of time before BBB gets on the end of 3 or 4. I hope it's this week! If the Bulldogs still fail to get through us that bodes well for finals. I have a feeling we'll be playing Bulldogs the first week.

Don't tell me, I'm still in two minds about the matter; tell him, that's if he can settle down and behave for a change - just like I told her to do.

2017. The tigers win their first of three flags. By any measure a really good team. They lost seven games for the season. Three were against lower ranked teams - Dogs (finished 10th), Freo (14th) and the Saints (11th). The saints flogged the tigers in round 16, 138 to 71. 2019. Flag number two. They lost six games for the season. Three were against lower ranked teams - Dogs (8th), Crows (11th) and Roos (12th) 2020. Flag number 3. In a season they only played 17 home and away games, won 12 and lost 4. Half of those losses were against lower ranked teams - the hawks (15th) and GWS (10th)

Media are cranking up their 'we can't be trusted' story again which might be a good thing for this game. We should probably translate it into latin and add it to our club logo.

So this will make it 11 night games and 3 twilights. I reckon this has to be the record for Melbourne playing under lights in a season. With high chances our games against the Eagles and Cats will also be at night too. Amazing what being on top of the ladder does for scheduling.

Also set routines for kicking for goal, players should stop tossing the ball around as they walk in - just hold the damn thing steady and concentrate on kicking straight. So annoying professional footballers who can't kick straight

I've had the inside word on our preferred target and I can't believe it's not Butters.

I know he’s a good player, but having watched South Park, I have to force myself not to smile every time his name is mentioned.