The Panglossian

3 hours ago, demonstone said:

I'd just like to congratulate Jumping Jack Clennett for being the first to ever use that wonderful word "vicissitude" in a post.

Do you remember when I used the word "panegyric" in regard to Judd's retirement. Demonlanders liked that, too.

( I was saying how we should remember his eye gouging and chicken-winging, before praising him too much for his footy career)

4 hours ago, Jumping Jack Clennett said:

That game was the beginning of our resurgence, which lasted, with vicissitudes, until the early 2000s.

Northey could turn ordinary footballers into dedicated ,reliable members of the team.

(eg Chiron, Duursma,Koop.) He made Yeats, Bailey and Campbell into good league footballers.

Can you put up the second half?

I just found the 2nd half. Thanks!

That game was the beginning of our resurgence, which lasted, with vicissitudes, until the early 2000s.

Northey could turn ordinary footballers into dedicated ,reliable members of the team.

(eg Chiron, Duursma,Koop.) He made Yeats, Bailey and Campbell into good league footballers.

Can you put up the second half?

11 hours ago, MyFavouriteMartian said:

Dirty

David Williams,.......dammit...he should have been selected for the ‘87 prelim.

I reckon the. Players on less than $80000 shouldn’t have the same reductions as the others.

Darkie Rowarth

Tiger Ridley

If Gawn, Oliver and Bradshaw can get back to their usual form, we’ll kill this mob!

If we’d kicked straight, and they kicked crookedly, we’d be well in front, despite Gawn losing hit outs to Nicnat.

I’d get Sarah to stay at full forward in the next game... she’s a much better bet than Tegan Cunningham.
Tegan’s got the fumbles, and really is unlikely  to kick a goal from any more than 5m out.

Wasn’t it ridiculous when Sarah was called off the ground after her goal, ran 150m, then sent back.!?

She recovered quickly from this.

If I was a coach I would NEVER take a player off the ground straight after a goal. All clubs do it, and I think it could be worth 1-2 goals a game to a team gutsy enough to go against convention.

My only disappointment is that she isn’t no. 11 !

I'm worried we're a "tall short".

However....their backline is as slow as treacle(bar Jetta).

Perhaps we'll exploit that....I hope.

11 hours ago, Win4theAges said:

I reckon we can win this one with all the factors in our favour No Crowd, Fitter than last year by a country mile, full compliment of player except Salem, Strong back 6, Mobile Fwd line, Experienced strong running Wingmen.

Carn the Dees.

AND.....we were dead stiff not to beat them twice last season.

Optus Stadium could be empty of spectators if the virus situation doesn't improve.

Margetts will be totally confused without the advice of his mates in the stands.

7 hours ago, bingers said:

I was at the Footscray game in the last round + the 3 finals. Even if we had won the Prelim we would have been thumped by Carlton the following week (GF).

We beat the premiers(Carlton) three times in 1988, including in the Finals.

We were rank outsiders in all the three finals we played in ‘87, and surprised each tome.

We just might have surprised in the GF.

3 hours ago, reynolds46 said:

Alan Johnson was another who would have been handy that day 

I see Steven Icke in WJ’s photo.

j don’t think he played in the finals...did he?
I really admired that guy as one of the most gutsy players I’ve ever seen.

It would have been handy to have Lyon and Connolly in the finals, if they weren’t Injured.

Also, we should have played Dirty Dave Williams in the prelim.

Might have been handy to have Gerard Healy if he hadn’t defected the year before.

20 hours ago, Bendigo Demon said:

In his early days at MFC, Darren Bennett took a mark just inside the centre square at VFL Park. Man on the mark was inside the square. Bennett went back and lined up with a drop punt. I remember remarking to my Dad "This [censored] thinks he can kick a goal." It sailed through mid post high, drop punt, not a torp. He won me over very quickly. If you look at old footage of VFL Park you will see the distance between the edge of the centre square and the 50M line, and can quickly work out what a monster of a kick it was.

But Bennett missed some crucial goals from 20m out ,directly in front.

24 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I was always confused by Jesse Hogan's set shot kicking action. It always looked to me that he was holding the ball as if to kick it on his left (ie, non-preferred) foot. Nevertheless, it seemed to work (mostly) for him. It just made me more nervous than necessary each time he was running in to kick.

And a question for those who understand the mechanics of kicking. Why is it that natural left-foot kickers invariably seem worse on their right foot than right-footers are on their left?

But they're better on the left than rightfooters are on the right.

On 1/5/2020 at 10:12 AM, tiers said:

For sheer beauty and consistency, Phil Roden's drop kicks from full back in the reserves were without peer. Tassie Johnson and Bernie Massey were next best for drop kicks.

Post the drop kick era, for distance, Darren Bennett and Paul Wheatley were consistently long and good. Flower, Lyon, Hughes, Yze, Davey and many others were long and reliable kicks and Jackovich especially when shooting for goal.

But the greatest of all was Travis Johnstone who had the unique and innate ability to kick the ball so as to draw the player to the ball in the best position to take the mark. Unfortunately his team mates at the time could not adapt to his skill and did not anticipate his kicks and the coaching panel at the time seemingly ignored it. What a waste of a weapon.

I didn't think Massey was much of a kick. Always drop punts, with no follow through, and short travel. Couldn't mark either. Good spoiler.

I agree about Travis J.  So creative with his kicks. Sometimes Melksham can emulate those radar-like passes.

Tassie Bob was a legend for his drop kicks.  Top class, versatile player, too.

Remember when Darren Bennett kicked 4 in the last quarter from outside 50 (with the wind) at Windy Hill?  What a win that was!

4 hours ago, SPC said:

First to the ball, eyes on the ball generally get the frees. 

If only that was the case.

On 11/15/2019 at 12:18 PM, Lefty said:

He was one of our better forwards this year and he won us a game with that late goal against the Blues.

He's not damaging enough off half back despite his pace as his delivery lets him down. I'd prefer him on the wing then half back but I think he is better suited in the forward line.

He was also heavily involved in both the scores we needed  to win with 45 sec to go at Metricon.

On 10/29/2019 at 5:49 PM, Sir Why You Little said:

Agreed. 5 months to start planning. 
Win this one and the confidence grows. 
get them fit and angry....

Plan no. 1......

Wear boots with stops that minimise slipping over at Optus.   Find out what WCE players wear on their feet, and do the same.

I seem to remember Graham Pinfold (no.21)  playing back pocket after Johnnie Beckwith. He'd been tried as a rover  to follow Ian Ridley, but never quite made it . I  wonder if he still  goes for  the mighty Dees!

In regard to Spargo’s Casey form..... I agree, he doesn’t stand out.

I reckon it’s harder for small players to stand out In the  VFL  ,since there are more undersize players at that level.

The AFL has many tall players,like Cripps  and Fyfe at 6 ft 4 playing midfield.

When the ball hits the ground , players like a Caleb Daniel and Spargo have an advantage against the tall guys.Spargo showed this as a 19 yr old in the 2018 finals.

I’m hopeful he’ll return to that form in 2020.

He’s gone back to our old recruiting zone!