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What a win!!! The Demons ground out a hard fought victory on the road against the Power from Port at the Adelaide Oval in Jack Viney's 200th Game.

I think Selwyn deserves some credit after the Adelaide Sojourn He was able to prepare the side for 2 games in 5 days in hostile conditions. Burgess taught him well Well Played Mr Griffiths

It didn't take long for them to lose 'The Edge' Decided to check out bf! Thought I wold drop by and share their comments: Gather round sucks! This team is trash. Make a statement at selection. Embarrassing. I ******* hate being a fan of the most pathetic club in the competition. And now hopefully people see why Scott said it’s an 8 year plan and not 3 or whatever. Essendon Edge? More like Essendon lay down and die. Amazing example of an arrogant upstart team coming in and thinking ‘if we do what we do, we don’t have to worry about the opposition’, and the getting absolutely ****ing smashed for their hubris and naivety. absolutely owned. outworked and outclassed. Finally, it feels like a normal season again. Was feeling a bit weird there for a hot minute. Every year it's the same s**t. We knock off dawks, norf, etc Maybe have a "breakout" win against 'aints or whoever, have a chance to make a statement (even if we don't win) and what happens. We s**t the bed. No composure when we had the ball and no pressure when we didn’t. Is draper undroppable ? The hype around this bloke is ******* hysterical Parish … 6 years for a bloke we don’t need. Fair to say its the same stuff with this group - against the big clubs/games & adversity(interstate away games) we are soft, weak & unskillful. There are no positives to that game. None. Zero. … Need to burn the entire list and start again post Dodo. We have no speed, no skills, no grunt, no winners …Same s**t, different year. Kinda tempted to have an all time melt but don’t have the energy for this s**t anymore. We undid every positive from the first 3 rounds. Lots of work to even cement ourselves as a mid table team. Get someone from the Melbourne Storm to teach those soft pretty boys how to tackle for a start. Our style is flat track bullies. Calling it, season over. Huge% loss tonight. Now an uncompetitive 82%. i am essenDONE Need more AFL lifestyle The Understatement A bit s**t A hint of optimism: Need to put this behind us as quick as possible and use it as a reality check. My Favourite: Oh well, where was the Edge? They lied, we were on the Edge of a cliff! Can't agree with this comment: Cats V Power GF, calling it now. I had the Dees in the GF before the season even started. Stand by that. Don't care who we play, probably GWS. My wish for Ess is not to be stuck at the bottom of the ladder as they would reap early draft picks. My wish is for them to be forever stuck in the wilderness of a mid tier team. Hoping like hell that Collingwood join them there for a long time to come!! Enjoy the season D'landers. It will be a very good one.

They are out for a run just as it starts raining. It didn't last long, ended up a reasonable session weather wise. Light duties, BBB, rehab Farris-White, Melky, Salem and Spargo, all with private trainers. They are all playing soccer, huge amount of noise. 36-40 (difficult to get a count) in the main squad, biggest I've seen it in ages. Choco is barking out the orders. Goody has intense body language as he observes. Bowey in a lime green cap, and in the sims. Oliver is ball handling, required some re-taping after the first drill. McVee, McAdam, and AMW step away from the main squad, and are now with the trainers (light duries, goal kicking and easy laps). Melky joins the main squad. They are now into full field drills. Precise kicking, hard calls, drive the ball through the centre, and run. They rotate through the whole area, goal to goal, and both wings. Structured sims now. 9 against 18. Woey in the backline. Sims finish, and McVee, McAdam, AMW, join the group again. Salem, Spargo do easy, repetitive 200 metres runs. McQualter has them in the middle, chatting away, Chaplin then does some demonstrations. May and Goody chip in. They appear to be getting into the nitty gritty. They break, some continue talking, some off to kick goals (16 of them), others leave the field, the low ball getters as well (Laurie, Vines, River, Howes, Sestan, Woey, Hore). Goody one on one talk with Langdon. Choco with the goal kickers, mainly Fullaton. Then Tracc goes over for some tips but Choco stays with Tom. Oliver on the boundary by himself, sprinting. Now hard running laps. Choco now with Sparrow for some 45 metre goal kicking. Last out there is Petty and over walks Choco to help with his goal style kicking. Takes them from all the angles. Hits most of them. Just noticed Viney, still working with a trainer, as well as Melky and Salem. Oliver still lapping.

That was a super game! And an absolute super win - we are are fair dinkum top contender. Have no doubt about that! ANB - what a game !

Until 2029. Huge signing and shores up our forward stocks. Roo-signed | Young Demon locked in

Though I know not your name, lone Demon, nor from whence you come, I salute thee....

Benny Brown winds back the clock. He ain't done

ANB the underrated king of football Windsor is fire

Tom McDonald is looking a beauty

The entire team came to run along the boundary high-fiving after the match. Ricky Lever though! He went rogue, ran ahead of the others, let loose with a guttural scream that lasted for ages, excitedly waving his arms, absolutely whipping us into a frenzy. It was nuts!!!

T-Mac won't go in the best on field. But he was just brilliant I thought. Kept Dixon to 1 goal, made life difficult for Charlie all night. He had 7 intercept possessions and went at 100% disposal efficiency.

Thanks for the feedback. I worry i don't talk enough, so throw in lots of umms to get my word count up. For the same reason i often repeat words, like brilliant, curious and incredible. A heads up. If I'm honest I'm unlikely to fix my speech patterns or affectations by next week. In fact I'm unlikely to fix them full stop. By the by, in the spirit of mutual constructive criticism, you don’t capitalise the word um. And, for future reference, binman is not capitalised either. Cheers

How good is Windsor? Blown away by his poise, footy IQ, and ability to win the contest. 10/10 drafting again.

If anyone is feeling a little down, go the Big Footy Hawthorn page reviewing the game. They are a mite unhappy. And if that doesnt cheer you up, todays was Hawthorns lowest score against Melbourne since 1960.

Ben Brown makes a huge difference to our team Having a big fwd who will mark above his head takes a lot of attention away from Fritta and JvR and splits the defence

Congratulations to Jack Viney on 200 games bleeding Red & Blue for the Demons. From arriving at a club in crisis to raging like a bull to help lead us to a flag. A true club champion & the player you want right beside you in the trenches. Jack’s heart beats true ❤️💙 Here’s to 100 more Vines 🔴🔵😈

ANB the most underrated player in the league right now..

Clayton Oliver 9 possessions, 4 contested and 2 clearances in the last quarter.

Well done to the Demon Army, helping get our boys over the line 💪

I'm proud to say that today's match was the first Melbourne game I've attended interstate. What a bloody win. Couldn't be prouder of the boys.

What’s tonight’s banner like WCW, I don’t hear you ask. 😁 Sneak peek but don’t tell anyone… JACK VINEY 200 GAMES SIMPLY UNSTOPPABLE Now if you’ll excuse me, those coffees and Red Bulls ain’t gonna drink themselves… YEAH THE DEES! Us by a goal after the siren, kicked by Chinny Chin Chandler!

I’ve now heard from three separate people that AMW is this far *holds thumb and forefinger half a millimeter apart* from getting a call -up. He’s working so hard and has been for ages. Really happy for him.

It was pick 13 + Mcadam. 13 pushed out to pick 19 on the night. Was not some monster offer that seems to be insinuated. Petty has already proven himself to be a fantastic backman, if he’s not a forward that’s where he will play for us for the rest of his career and he’ll be a brilliant Steven May replacement.

Ben Brown. What a bloke 💪

Does anyone remember Hinkley doing a victory dance after they beat us last year? Suck if Ken. Suck it filthy port fans.

It was two wins from two games on the road for the Demons as they easily cruised past the Crows before the 5 day break took it's toll in the last eventually downing Adelaide by 15 points.

Demons 4, Adelaide Umpires 0.

Strong team win from a tough scrambly game ... on top of a short break. Class does show through ! Two wins in Adelaide - who else has done that? Inexplicable umpiring at times! Bring on Brisvegas!

That was one of the great wins. Made more remarkable by watching some sort of mirror footy game. One team dominated territory, clearnces and inside 50s. But often entering into a crowded fifty and missing key chances. Not taking full advantage of momentum. The other team staying in the game absorbing pressure in the back half,entering into an open forward line and taking key chances. Taking full advantage of momentum. Go redlegs.

We are seeing the confluence of events that is demanding a change in how we play that I hope lasts for the rest of the decade; a change that leads to attractive football as well as winning football. Transition x2 With McQualter coming in there seems to be a real emphasis on something that we have never had a real emphasis on; transitioning the ball from the backline with speed and purpose. (I wrote about this mid last season - that you can read about below - bumped post) Where the ‘confluence’ comes in is the emergence of McVee, Howes, Bowey, and Rivers as the engine of the team. This is where we need to ‘transition’ to this engine, which I will dub - The Transition, and away from the May and Lever driven Defence Only mindset. Now this is already happening and that is great, but it doesn’t mean we are not a contest driven or Defence First team - we will be until further notice, but with this strong in the bow we can now win games in more ways, and avoid being out of games. For the neophytes - last two seasons we have been ‘forward half’ or ‘contest/stoppage driven’ to avoid as much exposure to our backline as possible. This means we kicked long to the boundary (May’s infamous kick out from FB) and progressive movement down the field through stoppage and rushed kick. This means that our forward pressure could kick in and we ‘won territory’ and we ‘won the I50 count’ and we ‘won the expected score’ but we didn’t win the games that matter… Having a transition game and a comfortability with our defence getting footy kicked their way has opened up the ground and has allowed McVee and Rivers in particular to show their value and for our forwards to have space to exploit. Suddenly Fritsch has 1-1s and Brown is leading at the footy in dangerous spots. As an aside, this will aide in JVRs development… So I for one thank Goodwin for his ability to adapt and I welcome… … The Transition. (Demon emoji)

Steven May take an absolute bow. What a star!!! A great team performance, against the umps, off a 5 day break, against a team that desperately needed a win at their home ground. So proud of this club, after all the garbage we had thrown at us this off season, we didn’t let it impact us instead we said “watch this” 🫡

Super fine morning / early arvo at Gosch's for the boys to blow out some cobwebs. Choco initially had the light duties / rehab group consisting of Chandler, BBB, Lever & Spargo. The boys started on their own. Then Choco joined the fray, initially as an observer. He wasn't happy with their frivolity & banter and told them so ..."stop talking you blokes & watch what you're doing!" They were initially doing HB drills then 15 - 20 meter stab passes where Choco asked them to place their kicking foot down after the kick and toward the target. Everyone followed instructions except Chandler (knee issue? Or just didn't listen lol). The main group (as listed by Kev earlier) went off too the boundary to do their bungy stretchy thingies before blowing some webs out with some half oval runs They then split into approx 3 diff forward focussed drills. Much of it connection boased with kicks coming inside and / or shooting for goal on the run after transversing obstacles etc. Choco was overseeing much of it including the short 30 meter (ish) passing drills into 50. His main emphasis was on accuracy with one instruction "Perfect kicks! Every one of them is a potential goal assist. Perfect kicks!" Choco always driving and asking for high standards never grows old 👏🏼 All in all, outside the light duties group and Bowey (on his own program), all involved in the main group looked to be in tip top shape albeit some were no doubt carrying the usual bumps / bruises from previous encounters. Smacca looks super fit to me and suggested such mentioning he is roughly two weeks away. First time i've seen him live and looks alot rangier than i figured. His reels suggest he can play tall on the lead which makes sense. How is he at ground level i wonder? Hunter is one more week away and then a likely starter for Casey the following week apparently (all going well). Melk is in fine shape and very happy with his progress so far and according to WCW on track for a second half appearance (touch wood) As already noted, BBB while obviously on a light program, appeared to be moving / kicking (short passes) without hindrance. Lever same and no way he is continuing through the high knee lift stepping drills if he was uncomfortable in any way imho. Spargo & Chandler restricted to light stuff and probably safe to assume Chin may not make the cut although there's another four full days before Saturday so who knows. Sestan doing alot of work both with the main group, then the lap work after plus additional stuff after everyone except Bowey had left. The FD must have high hopes for the young fella and see something special here. Sparrow very happy with Saturday and playing back in the middle. Lovely fella to speak to is Tom. Windsor said he pulled up fine after Saturday also and is right to go. Had the pleasure of meeting WCW (bonus hugs!). Great gal who i'm sure has red & blue running through her veins. Fingers crossed for Saturday. Carn the Mighty Demons!

Another win, another enjoying Sunday. A pies fan ( I never thought I could hate anything this much) said to me last night you fell in with that one. My answer yep like the ten games you fell in last year including the GF and we didn’t have to end a players career to do it. [censored]! Enough. I am enjoying this win till at least Wednesday.

Where are all the whingers who had a go at the club for retaining Tmac and BB 🙄 We are a genuinely good club and we have a genuinely good team, and we need to stop taking that for granted. A brilliant result considering we were definitely not always on top. We hung on during the momentum swings against us and were able to grind out a win in the last. Kudos to Clarry for lifting in the last. He was clearly hampered by his hand but when the game was on the line, he pushed through. Sensational game from ANB, and Windsor just shows elite glimpses. Knowing we got him from the Jackson compo picks makes losing Jackson hurt less. Howes also quickly becoming a solid defender. Overall a fantastic performance and a big FU to all the pathetic disgruntled ex employees trying to bring our club down. Suck a big one!

ANB is a freak, he’s gone to an A grader this year

Slap yourself twice for saying that beating Hawthorn by over 50 points is nothing to get satisfied about. Need I remind you that it wasn’t long ago that they were smashing us and we were the dreadful side? Never take success for granted.

5 days 8 points 100k very disappointed Adelaide football enthusiasts Mission accomplished

He’s absolutely the greatest ruckman since Cox. The debate is really how he compares with Cox. This is from a Hawks supporter on Bigfooty. I echo these sentiments: ‘Gawn is the best ruckman ever.... Up there with Polly. Definitely the best in my time of watching the footy. Better than Madden. Better than Stynes. Better than Cox. It's just incredible to see someone 209cm tall who thinks so quickly on his feet and uses his hands so skilfully to win the contested ball and get it over to Petracca, Oliver, Viney, etc with clever handballs and tap ons. He is a unicorn. Weird thing to say about a 6-time All Australian & premiership captain, but I still don't think people really appreciate just how good he is. Taken for granted, I think. His brilliant play isn't eye-popping like a Naitanui. He is just a natural footballer who provides a steady stream of excellence for the Dees. Great endurance running too, to get up and down the ground like he does. Works his [censored] off. You don't notice his running like the quick 198cm-200cm guys, but he is a hell of an athlete. Fit as f**k. 32 years old and still blowing up his younger adversaries. Runs up and down the ground and racks up the disposals like Dean Cox Always get the first hand to the ball for the hitout and provides his mids with an armchair ride... just like Aaron Sandilands. Gives his team a 4th midfielder in the centre square clearance battles... just like Nick Naitanui Controls games with big pack marks across half back line.... just like Jimmy Stynes Goes forward and takes huge marks inside fifty and kicks goals... just like Simon Madden He's got the lot! Just always involved in the action like no ruckman I've ever seen.‘

And here’s me 3 weeks ago saying Brown and TMac are dead and cooked. I bow before thee in great apology. That goal from Ben on 50 when the crowd’s meth had really kicked in……awesome

Windsor was very impressive in the last, cool head on young shoulders. Fav moment was Fritta telling their fans to Faark Off after his brilliant goal at the death.

What an amazing win by this magnificent football club!

How is Ricky Lever going? This is how Ricky Lever’s going… in his hand is the scrunched up ball of tape that was on his knee and is about to be drop-kicked into the nearest bin. 😃

Lovely morning for the captain's run. The bonding appears to be high, they are supportive and encouraging towards each other. A good family club is not just words. At one time a mini number 25 ran to the boundary from the tent and gave Max a note, he read it (smiled) and tucked it into his shorts. Such nice interactions. Joy reigns supreme at the moment for the club. McAdams was down before the squad. He was wearing his normal training top (blue one with his number) and gear. Being put through a more intense training regime than previous. He appears to be moving freely, as smooth a gait as I have seen. I can imagine, he gets a test at the next session, and will join the main squad if he passes. The main squad came out in drips and drabs. All the emergencies were with the team, 25 altogether. Partnered up for and kick to kick, until all were on, and then the whistle. BBB in runners, probably will be managed the entire season with his personal program. They went straight into drills with two stations. One, short kicks and runs, the other, handballs, quick step evasive moves, and low ball gets. Then all the squad drilled together, kick and run in a large square area to the four corners. They ran structural sims that had fast down the corridor plays. Finished the session with some goal kicking. Choco spent time with Fritsch, Chandler, and Tracc as they snapped. Plenty were getting it right. Petty was also trying to hit some from outside the 50 arc, not too successful, though when he brought it in closer he was nailing them. Kossie was the standout, with Windsor not far behind in the 'beauty of kicking'. Goody is standing back a bit today, seems it is Choco's time to take it. Yells out "precision", or was that Lever (loud all session). Goody runs off to AAMI immediately the session finishes. The atmosphere feels special. A trainer mentioned that a Captain's run from the Casey Squad, will be there tomorrow Saturday about 9.45am on Gosch's. We had a lovely group of 6 D/Landers, shooting the breeze, chita chatting. Thanks for that, I'm feeling part of something big. Go Dees. Addit: The Victory had a practice match on the other side of the paddock. A great morning for me, fully entertained, Woo-Hoo.

This is great. It's only a small thing, but it shows how far Clarry has come. Last year he was arguing with the fitness staff, now he is helping pick up the equipment after training. Doing all the team things. Well done to him!

Tom McDonald going along very nicely right now.

Anyone a little confused by comments coming out of Sydney (Tom Papley in particular) about Essendon and their behind the ball hits on their players? I'm confused by some in the media discussing this too. Two words. "Max Gawn" If you are so concerned Tom, call out the players that took hits at Max behind the play as he's going from contest to contest. Knocking him over, bumping off the ball 30-40m away from play. Sydney and Port Adelaide constantly bump, and knock Gawn to the ground. Some media condone it, and saying that because Max is such a good player that every team should do it, even calling out MFC players for not doing to opposition teams or defending Gawn. Can't remember who it was, but someone actually called out the Dogs, and why they didn't do it, yet others are saying it should be stamped out, and I agree. Umpires need to be aware of it, and call frees. Tom Papley, you can't have it both ways, either you are happy with bumping players off the ball, or the tummy taps, or you aren't, but then don't do it to other teams, or target players like Gawn.

Commentary just said May has been released from hospital with a suspected broken rib, 1-2 weeks. Lever got good results on the scan his knee and pending some more follow up could be available to play this week.

Their start proves to me once again that I was right all along, and they are a middle of the road side who snatched a flag via umpiring bias, AFL help, vile fans and a piece of [censored] thug who took out a key opponent in a final. They did not deserve that flag and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. There were at least 3 sides last year who were better and deserved that premiership more. Steven May, YOU WERE RIGHT!