Hatchman

In all of my 45 years 2021 was, by a very long way, the best Melbourne team I have ever seen. Which i know is easy to say because we won the flag, but it just is. There have certainly been times throughout the decades where I have seen us play amazingly well. The QF against Carlton in 2000, times during 1990/91 before we [censored] the bed in the finals to the Eagles etc...we all can recall certain games or weekly periods where we were just "on" - only for the wheels to fall off But in 2021 we just got absolutely everything right and everyone peaked in terms of skills, fitness and mental strength right at the time of the season when they had to. Every player just went to another level as they all pushed each other there. That has never happened before and may never again. The way we dismantled Geelong and then the Bulldogs was utterly merciless and brutal. It was the most perfect, relentless football I have ever seen in my life. And as for Max, his game against Geelong was the best game I have ever seen a ruckman play. Like ever. And I am old enough to remember the individual brilliance of Stynes, Madden et al. It was just extraordinary.

Does anyone know if this will be live streamed? I'm currently based in the US so would like to be able to watch!

Should be retired in my view. Much like 31 and 11 when Max retires Number 2 has earned that prestige with Flower and Jones

I remember it all. I was at those two Hawthorn games, if I remember rightly wasn't one of them Michael Tucks 400th game or something like that? I think the previous one was a milestone game for Ricky Jackson. It is so good to be able to recall these memories with the premiership now in our hands. It doesn't feel so wasted or painful like it used to. This team will be remembered forever, they gave us back our dignity as supporters

I was at that game and remember being reduced to tears. I honestly could not believe that we lost that game

After the Geelong game then I totally lost my excrement in the last quarter of the GF seeing the players celebrate and run around the ground

Rendall has had bits of toilet paper on his chin for over a decade - ignore it, he's just trying to be "controversial" to keep his job https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-20/rendell-racist-comment-throw-away-line/3900240

Still in that corner? 😀

I would personally be disgusted if our team instigated or planned to take players out of the game to win dirty. Leave that crap to the Hawks, Bombers etc clubs. No-one has forgotten the acts of Wallis and Long in 2000 and I would not want that kind of cloud having over a premiership win for us. Play hard, play on the edge, but play fair

Watching from Los Gatos, California! Brought over all my supporter gear and will be zooming with the family Have already procured ingredients for a nice cheeseboard from a Whole Foods Market in San Jose and selected a nice Napa Valley Red to go with it. I don't give a stuff if it's on at 02:30 in the morning - 21 years is a long enough gap to do something a bit out of the ordinary!

Bloody hell we are going to win the Grand Final.

I moved to California over a year ago which means the bounce will be at 02:15 on Saturday morning! But our family will be getting up for it and I will ensure that an appropriate cheese board is ordered through Amazon Whole Foods to go with a nice bottle of red from the Napa Valley I picked up in March! I'm nervous but mostly I am just happy that we made it to a Grand Final. I shed enough tears at the end of the Geelong game from 20+ years of sticking by this club, so come what may I'm just grateful that we made it to the big dance. Hopefully we can make it again in future years and I will be able to fly back for the game

I have a $400 bottle of red that I picked up in the Napa Valley in March. I don't care if the bounce is at 03:00 in the morning over here for me in California, it's going to go down with a bloody nice cheese board to boot

This is the best team I have seen in 45 years. Easily.

-12 My mother was 14, my dad had already left school

Be prepared for either the Eagles or the Dockers to throw the absolute kitchen sink of all kitchen sinks at him. Mark my words, it's going to happen

Yep the AFL is a business, it doesn't run on sentiment alone. There is no money in Tasmania, relative to SE QLD.

1) Open an Incognito window in Chrome 2) Search for the title of the article in double quotes "Max Gawn credits Demons MCG fortress to outer-Melbourne training base" 3) Right click on the links and select open in new tab It doesn't always work but sometimes it will. This is because the web server assumes this request is from Google directly, trying to index the site so it lets you thorough. It's also worth setting up a browser VPN like SurfShark or Bullet and hopping around different countries when you do this - I think by default it will not work if it detects the request originates in Australia. Those are paid VPN's by the way but they are dirt cheap and worth it so Scummo, via his corporate and business masters, can't watch everything you do

Yep still around. I joined Ology in 2003 I think. Was very active on there as I loved the discussion and banter for about 5 or so years. Conversation was definitely better than here back then, but DL is a great site now Looking back I probably went a bit too far at times, put it down to maturity and the petulance of youth, but it was fun and there were some great posters Like a lot of things life got in the way, had kids, moved house, got better jobs that were more demanding etc... something had to give and our beloved team was hardly something to enjoy taking about for a long time so I faded away. Always kept my membership though even if I hardly ever went to a game. I moved to California last year, got an amazing job opportunity that I couldn't say no to. The irony that the moment I moved away our team is doing better than it ever has in my lifetime doesn't escape me but I haven't missed a game and don't plan to!

Non-MFC: Luke Breust - beautiful action and usually very accurate MFC: Fritsch - same reason

Me either, I think she is the best football journalist by the length of the Nullabor Plain and has been for decades. The hatred stems from lingering misogynist tendencies by the consuming public and because she doesn't pull any punches, it tends to ruffle some fragile egos. I've heard her speak several times at private functions and I have all the time in the world for her, highly intelligent, sharp-witted and not afraid to call anything out.

I remember that season well, and Sheahans comments in the paper that we were "flaky". He wasn't wrong. I think we have been through enough of the proverbial to not get ahead of ourselves, I am still expecting the wheels to fall off at some point

I would take him back. Great player, still has a couple of years left to run and I think it's reasonable to think that if we end up in the situation with Lever and May out at the same time we would be struggling with Tomlinson. Tomlinson is doing well right now but I'd argue so would Oscar McDonald or Sam Frost with the way the team is playing. Knowing we had Howe down there would give me more comfort. He would be good for depth and would increase the competitiveness for players to get a spot, and keep it. Very nice problem to have Really don't care about the past, he was younger, more arrogant and could see way more upside with the Pies. Thought his comments for Jones' 300th were very nice and says a lot about him as a person.

He gets the job because he has been a loyal News Ltd man for a long time and is well protected by the power brokers upstairs. I know people that have been in and out of News Ltd and he’s largely considered to be an 80's misogynist relic that trades on his “blokey, bloke” image, and [censored] kissing to make up for his lazy journalism and poor presentation skills. Basically he is widely despised by those below him while those upstairs keep him around because he is still seen as having broad appeal to the Herald-Sun/Fox Footy demographics - most of which are white males Journalism is not an equitable or equal trade and never has been.

So if we were light on forwards due to injuries, but we have this rookie guy called Majak Daw running around in the magoos who apparently is quite tall and strong why wasn't he playing?????