titan_uranus

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 all go to the club. But if we need to do it: 6 - Petracca 5 - Oliver 4 - Jackson 3 - Fritsch 2 - Brayshaw 1 - Salem

The analysis will come (there is so much reading and re-watching to come), but I'm coming around to the thought now that when all is said and done, the 2021 Melbourne season will go down as one of the greatest seasons of AFL football in recent memory. Only 4 losses, blowing three of the next four best sides in it off the park in our finals, and doing it all through a pandemic away from home.

I can't believe it. I can't believe this has happened. Not ashamed at all to say I cried after the final siren. We've been through so much here on Demonland, as all Melbourne supporters have. To finally do it, is just unreal. A quick shout out to @Wiseblood, who I hope still kicks around here, as well as @Rogue and @45HG, two of the posters who were constants on here during the terrible eras. Hope you guys are lapping this up wherever you are now. GO YOU MIGHTY DEMONS!!!!

To be fair I think Melksham was in the front row too.

All four emergencies are in their training gear.

You'd expect that we'd need at least one emergency other than the sub to warm up, in case of a late emergency, so even if Jordon is the sub, Hunt would have to be ready just in case.

First goal: TMac Norm Smith: Petracca Most goals: Fritsch (3) Margin: 18 points to us

The wait is intolerable. My mind keeps drifting to what should be happening right now in a "normal" year. It'd be close to half time. We'd all mostly either be at the G, at an MFC arranged event, or with family/friends somewhere. But it is what it is. If we lose, I know there will be certain posters who will be upset and their posts will reflect that. But a loss today doesn't erase the joy the club gave us throughout an enormously difficult year. Yes it will hurt, but I hope that Demonland doesn't flip from being the positive, supportive and embracing community it is right now, to a forum clogged with bitterness and anger.

The Dogs have won 20 out of 25 first quarters this year. In the five games they didn't win the first quarter, they are 2-3. The two wins were vs Gold Coast and the semi final vs Brisbane. The Dogs have been in front at half time 19 out of 25 times. In the six games they were behind at half time, they are 1-5. The only win was vs Carlton. (By comparison, we were in front at half time 15 times from our 24 games. In the other 9 games, we had a 5-4 record)

I'm trying to think of games where we've built up a lead and had it reeled back by our opponent. I reckon there are only three: Hawthorn in Round 18: we had a 27 point lead in the second quarter but they reeled it back, took the lead, and ended with a draw; Adelaide in Round 10: we had an early 18 point lead, and had a 15 point lead late, but lost both of those; Sydney in Round 8: we had a 22 point lead in time on in the third, but they cut it back to 3 points (There was West Coast in Round 21, who brought our 34 point lead back to 9 points, but that was in exceptional circumstances with the lightning so I say it doesn't count) Pretty much any other time we've had a lead brought back by an opponent, we've ended up kicking away in the end: Otherwise, Adelaide in Round 22 brought a 28 point lead back to 3 points, but we then kicked away to win by 41 Port in Round 17 brought our 26 point lead back to 9, but we kicked away to win by 31. Geelong in Round 4 brought our 30 point lead back to 12, but we kicked away to win by 25

Yeah it's pretty annoying. They've played one more game than us, the semi final three weeks ago when we had the week off.

Two things I don't understand: Why this thread is high up on the first page of Demonland the night before our first Grand Final in this board's existence Why anyone would suggest trading Luke Jackson, ever, for any player or any price

Do: Melbourne wins premiership Don't: Bulldogs win premiership

I was thinking about how I'll be feeling tomorrow if we drop 3 or 5 goals behind early on. Notable comebacks for us: Round 2, we fell 3 goals behind in the second quarter St Kilda; Round 3, we fell 3 goals behind in the first quarter against GWS; Round 6, Richmond jumped us early, only two goals but were all over us pressure-wise; Round 7, we were 20 points down to North at half time; Round 8, Sydney kicked the first two goals; Round 12, we were 20 points down to Brisbane at half time; Round 23, the big Geelong comeback Four of these were against finals sides, too. I've been looking through the Dogs' season to see how often they fell behind but won: Round 2, they came back from 3 goals down in the last quarter to beat West Coast; Round 8, they came back from 27 points down against Carlton late in the third quarter; Round 18, they conceded the first three goals to Gold Coast Semi final, they were 3 goals behind Brisbane in the third quarter So the semi final really is the only time they've fought back from a deficit. That really comes from their strong first quarter record, they've won almost all of them this year. I suppose the confidence I want to draw from this is that even if the Dogs jump us early, we should feel like we're capable of bringing it back. But would they feel the same way if we get an early lead...?

Ravens, Cardinals, Buccaneers.

Meanwhile, Chandler an emergency because...we're worried about Spargo?

One of Jordon and Hunt is going to be a hard luck story. Jordon hasn't missed a game all year (whether in the 22 or starting as the sub). Hunt was a mainstay of the side for the first 20 weeks, wouldn't ever have been dropped but was one of our rare injuries this year.

The more the Dogs try to change to adapt to us, the better IMO. They can beat us by just playing their regular game, so I doubt they are going to mix it up. Their path to victory comes from taking territory away from us, which they will achieve if they dominate CPs and clearances. That means they put their best mids in the middle for as much of the game as possible, in the hope of taking Oliver/Petracca/Viney's grunt away from us and forcing us to play too much of the game in our back half.

Bont 23, Macrae 22, Libba 20, Martin 19, Dunkley 14, English 8, Treloar 2.

What a blast from the past it is to see you, Ash. Thanks for the support!

Nothing wrong with Wines winning the medal. Would have loved Clarry to win it, but it's about the 10th most important thing happening for our club this week.

Far out, Seedsman and Keays the two best players on the ground in our 7 goal win?!

Wines will get 3 in Round 23 (at least), so that's 35. Oliver would need to get 8 or 9 out of the last 9 votes to win. Bont will struggle in the final three games given the Dogs lost them all. Walsh keeps polling when his side loses so he could get there. But looks likely to be Wines. In the end, Petracca and Gawn took too many votes of Oliver, whereas Wines soaked up most of the Power votes.

I was there - there were about 10 Sydney players who were better than any Eagle. They've just handed votes out to someone who collected a whole lot of touches. He had no influence, at all, because no West Coast player did.