Mazer Rackham

Apart from getting in players to shore up specific weaknesses (May, Lever, Langdon, etc), I think the biggest change I have seen from 2018 is trust. You always expect that players such as Clarry and Tracc will "do good things" when they get the ball. But when ANB gets the ball, and you have confidence that he will do the right thing/make the good choice, that's when you know the wheel has turned and we are the real deal as a team. Not just ANB, but he's the poster boy for that turnaround. Smith's about the only one now where you get the jitters when he's near it. Compare to not that long ago when we had a jitter-studded team. Great work by the coaching panel, and the players.

Let me help: WE ARE VERY GOOD

This was on bigfoty from a WCE supporter: "The thing about this Melbourne team is they always seem to find a way to win, even if they appear flat (when they've lost to bottom 10 sides they don't seem to be trying. Even vs the Bulldogs I felt they didn't mind letting that one slip). In games where they've been behind or where it's been close all match they gradually chip away or surge late. Reminiscent of Hawthorn and Richmond during their dynasty and imo shows the mentality of a champion side. It's no guarantee, but makes them very hard to beat. If Geelong can't beat them after being 44 points up in Geelong what kind of psychological effect will that have? Brisbane threw the kitchen sink at them but they held a firm as the rock of Gibraltar. Be amazed if Geelong or Brisbane get past them. Port would have to play an absolute blinder. Sydney were actually their biggest threat imo and they're out."

I believe Greene tried to walk through an umpire. A disgrace if he gets away with that, regardless of what the umpire says. I believe the umpires are cowed into not clamping down as they should because they aren't supported properly by the AFL I believe Stevic might well give a statement favourable to Greene, for the above reason ... "he did put away the knuckledusters before punching my jaw, so I felt he wasn't trying to hospitalise me." I believe the most import thing about this matter is that players in all levels of competition must get the message loud and clear that contact (or attempted contact) with umpires is taboo. "Sacrosanct" if you like, but the AFL don't know the meaning of that word.

Pop legend and style icon but what's that got to do with football?

Sparrow was devised and grown in a laboratory specifically for the purpose of playing finals football

Mazer's two word player ratings May - finals winner Salem - finals winner Harmes - finals winner Petracca - finals winner Jackson - finals winner Viney - finals winner (you get the picture!) GO DEMONS!!!!!

And ... THANK YOU S.A. SUPPORTERS!!! GO DEMONS!!!!

Too much pressure. Too much star quality. GO DEMONS!!!!

This team is built for finals. GO DEMONS!!!!!!

Should be 12.7 or 13.6 and game over

Rules don't mention anything about what the umpire says

Finals football. Good game so far. GO DEMONS!!!

22.2 REPORTABLE OFFENCES 22.2.2 Specific Offences Any of the following types of conduct is a Reportable Offence: (d) intentionally making contact with, or striking, an Umpire; (e) attempting to strike an Umpire; (f) spitting on or at an Umpire; (g) behaving in an abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene manner towards or in relation to an Umpire; (h) using abusive, insulting or obscene language towards or in relation to an Umpire; (i) unreasonable or unnecessary contact with an Umpire; (j) carelessly making contact with an Umpire; (k) disputing a decision of an Umpire;

So a fine then. If the AFL are a fair dinkum comp, it's automatic suspension. Multiple weeks. But it's well established they are corrupt and disinterested in the rules of the game they are custodian of, so play on, Toby. What Stevic says is completely irrelevant. No contact with umps. It's not just the rules, it's the effect on the game at lower levels.

Body contact, careless, low impact. That's a fine for Stevic.

Just saw the Greene/umpire incident. If the AFL have any integrity whatsoever regarding the refereeing of the game, that should be automatic suspension. One of the big problems the game has lack of umpires at lower levels. If the AFL green light as acceptable, they're going to have some of this sh*t in junior football. Did the ump report him? He should have. Unbelievable if he didn't. Are the umps cowed by the AFL into not doing their jobs properly?

22.2 REPORTABLE OFFENCES 22.2.2 Specific Offences Any of the following types of conduct is a Reportable Offence: (d) intentionally making contact with, or striking, an Umpire; (e) attempting to strike an Umpire; (f) spitting on or at an Umpire; (g) behaving in an abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene manner towards or in relation to an Umpire; (h) using abusive, insulting or obscene language towards or in relation to an Umpire; (i) unreasonable or unnecessary contact with an Umpire; (j) carelessly making contact with an Umpire; (k) disputing a decision of an Umpire;

Jesus. I don't think I want to know what this means.

First two finals in 87. Finals were something that happened to other clubs. Demons never made finals, were never going to. You followed your mates' teams in September, or North because of Barassi, or whatever. Demons playing in finals was so abstract, so impossible, that you didn't spend time thinking about it. And then! And with the Robbie factor. We'd rattled the tins to try to ensure (ha ha!) that Robbie could stay and play finals. The sheer euphoria of an impossible situation becoming reality, of blowing North and South off the park with no possibility of nail-biting finishes. Two and a half hours each week of orgasmic bliss. Basking in the joy of it. Goddamn that was good.

So pink, which is a kind of red, and slurpee blue, which is a kind of blue .... it's an omen!! Thank you for your service, WCW!

Choco Williams is our not-so-secret weapon here

What They're Saying Down At Moorabool Street (reprise) Slow and steady hasn't won us a damn thing in 10 years, has it - not sure our players are capable of throwing off the self-administered shackles and playing with the type of dare that might yield different results, not for a full game anyway. What's that? Controlling our way to another embarrassing qualifying final loss? So unlucky this immaculate game plan falls apart in finals every year. What are the odds of that? I got caned on here a few weeks ago for suggesting our biggest issue was inability to handle serious pressure - Exhibit A tonight. The club now looks like a bunch of absolute [censored] after all the trading sh*t and talking up premiership chances etc, absolute frauds This is depressing. What a bunch of pretenders. Those 3 first round picks we gave off for Cameron looking mighty good for a rebuild about now. We've gone from near premiership favourites 2 weeks ago to... the edge of a cliff. I'll support the boys boys all the way, through thick and thin but THIS is a stinker, a demoralising effort that could end up having huge ramifications in the not-too-distant future... or maybe not. Miracles do happen but not often. Maybe we can get to the grand final the long road, but the mountaintop is a long way away just now As if we were going to look good after last weeks fail. 8 of our last 9 first finals. and the one win only occurred cos Smith missed a sitter after the siren. We then recruited smith. I hate to say it..... Were not made to play finals.... id rather us fall out of the 8 for a couple of years than seeing us being pretenders in playing finals every year in gettour hopes ups... It’s hard to believe a team that is coached to play an uncontested style of football [censored] the bed in finals when the pressure is turned up. Hard to believe for the coaching staff anyway. Chipping the ball, unable to handle pressure and composure as we are not skilled enough. The game plan is flawed in a pressure situation. It is clear to everybody except our coach. We are becoming a laughing stock of the league. It’s just ******* stupid, Scott can not remain as the Geelong coach. It’s the same thing every ******* year. I don’t give a sh*t about H and A record, it doesn’t matter if you lose every year when it actually matters. Out of all these finals losses over the last 10 years this is the most deflating! The realisation this team is done! ain't winning sh*t with Scott at the helm, he is done as our coach! Time to move on Geelong! Our heavy training-load at 3 quarter time last week must be still effecting us. Well that was truly garbage guys looked flat from the start and didn't even look like it tonight, thats our last 6 quarters by nearly 90 points clearly a problem. No point throwing the toys out of the cot tonight, save em for next week. It won't be a melt, it'll be reality.

I remember reading years ago about a rugby team. Can't remember which one or even if it was in Oz. At the start of the year the coach said "I will let you choose. We can play a fast attractive style that will win lots of games, will probably make finals, but may not hold up under finals pressure. Or we can play a more resilient style where we might not make finals, but if we do, we will go all the way." The players chose the second way. And they won the big one. We are that team. Demons by 30.

Surely ... Osibisa?