Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Big Maxy Gawn was a mid range pick 34 and the four picks before him we had who we selected on-ballers were flops. Sometimes it's all a little bit luck of the draw, but I'll happily back Taylor with whatever type of player he thinks is best value at any pick, 17, 37 or anything.

It had been 24 years since we'd last played off in the big dance and 10 yo me though we were on the verge of being the premiers again or sometime in the next few years. Bombers are up to 21, so maybe if they make a grand final sometime in the next few years, perhaps it could be a case of history repeating?

The one that probably had the most emotional and memorable impact for me was that one of Gus's. Game was somewhat in the ballance for a good period without a score after those Fritta & BBB goals put us back in it. Huge pressure moment. Mixture of a sense of relief and gratification for me when he kicked it as I'd internally back Gus to kick the goal in a pressure situation like this. As it sailed towards goal, straight through the middle, I rose up out of my seat, with a long slow fist pumping YEEEAAAHHHHEEEESSSSS. Hitting the front at that moment was huge. By the time Oliver kicked his goal, that 3 minute run of goals had just become an unbelievable blur and I was in a place of absolute ecstasy. Reactions of the players after kicking those goals in the third and fourth quarters was awsome. Asides from the already much mentioned Tommy Sparrow, Claret and Salem goals, I really loved Dogga's reaction after kicking his goal. Over the past couple of months I think Dogga's confidence and competence in front of goal gas gone through the roof. Where-as I would get nervous and doubtful about any of his set shots from anything muc further than 25m out from goal, over the past few months, he's more reliably slotted them through from the 30m - 50m range, which I think bodes very well for his future. Seeing Langdon slot that goal after practically running the length of the ground was so well deserved. Lingers ran his guts out for us all day and was one of the ones I thought really shone through for us in that third quarter when we most needed that extra effort to get us back in it.

Those bogan yuppie types of the late 80s, early 90s were the worst. Guaranteed to get around in one of those trendy leather jackets, beer in one hand and telling everyone in earshot what a great team the mighty Hawkers were. These zealots and instant experts in footy would evaporate any time Hawthorn weren't in form and they almost went extinct in the early 2000s, before that 2008 revival bought them back in record numbers. That Jeff Kennett was their president says it all. Just thinking of these creatures is enough to supress any inner arrogance I might have.

Not sure if it would count as arogant behavior to be telling Joel Selwood to go suck a big juicy lemon when he had his dummy spit in the PF after giving away that 50m. Our players reaction to that was priceless, as was my satisfaction watching everything unfold.

Don't worry, I'm already dreaming up that back to back, which morphs into a three peat. As much as part of me dispises them, I'm really still somewhat envious and in awe of what the Cats, Hawks and Tigers were able to achieve once their list build and system hit the sweet spot of sucess. Looking at the strength of our list, it's hard not to think we are on the cusp of greatness, but also knowing that we are also potentially just that key couple of injuries and patch of poor form off being back in the pack is keeping me humble ...for now!!

I guess another form of arrogance, that I am pretty guilty of is in the misery and wishing ill of others. I find this particularly the case with teams like Hawthorn, Essendon, Carlton and West Coast, who have had so good for so long realitively speaking in my lifetime as a supporter. I've known good and bad supporters from all these clubs, but some of them have been truly putrid in their arrogance and I guess the recollection of that is both the basis of my resentment of these teams, but probably also a good reminder of what not to become.

Good thread BoBo. I'm struggling a bit with this myself with respects to how to get the ballance right and how to go about it. I've always thought we have had some gun players on our list, some of which have been somewhat underrated until now. Also thought we'd have the potential in our team to go on and win the big one at some point. If I had expressed these things in any way to supporters of other clubs in the past, I think they would have just been dismissive, felt sorry for me to be one of those poor Melbourne supporters and not seen it as a sign of arrogance. But I feel like now that we have actually had the sucess, I might need to tone down some of that at risk of being seen to be arrogant. The other dimension to this is the expression of celebrating the sucess that we've just had. Again, I feel as if because of our torrid history, we have been forgiven for any over the top celebrations and I've certainly not held back on any public celebration of our premiership. I guess it's about walking that fine line of being proud, happy and celebrating sucess without rubbing others faces in it and putting them down.

Apparently being voted the best player in a GF and producing on the biggest stage of all isn't very watchable these days 😥.

As an individual player, Max has been an absolute gun and probably one of our few elite players for a period over that ~5years. This season was absolutely the making of Maxy the elite captain that discovered how to bring all his team mates along for the ride, with the GF and his surrendering of the main ruck role to an on-fire Jacko being the pinicle of that journey.

Yeah, I don't know. I have Kayo, so have been watching that on repeat for now and in no great hurry. As you suggest, I'm also kind of hanging out for something with exclusive content to be released in the future as well.

Yeah, who's kid is that Jake Bowey too? Might have premiership potential one day those kids. ...or Jack Viney as the literal take your kid to work on GF day!!! P.S. as a related asides, I loved that video of Jack Viney doing star fishes in the confetti. Great imagery of a bloke in a totally blissful moment, living out a life long dream.

I recall the scene that followed this, when Max got up and postured to the players and umpires as if he'd been awarded a free kick for rough play, which never came. I actually thought it was a powerful statement of how the MFC is always made the scape goat whenever the league wants to set the tone of acceptable physically and protecting the head etc, but rarely gets the same protection in return and how Max is perpetually alowed to be a punching bag for our opponents. Interested to know what result did Daniels get from the MRO on this one and weather that graze to the forehead that Max had after this incident was there before it or as a result of the that incident.

That ski goggle look from Nibbler was pure gold on so many levels. Going hard and early on his part of his mad Monday getup obviously.

Yep, sums up how I felt watched that goal and Clary's celebration/body language afterwards. Clarry, can be quite reserved and workman like in his celebrations at times, but on other occations he'll puff out his chest a bit and strut around brimming with confidence. This was definitely a moment of strutting ...and for good reason, that burst of goals we put on the Bullies destroyed their confidence and spirit.

I think my preference will be to order through the club, to keep the profits in house. I am however looking forward to seeing the AFL premiers DVD all over the shelves at JBHiFi, Kmart etc. Will be some gratifying moments looking at that shelf full of Demons premiers DVDs instead of another side like Hawthorn, Geelong, Brisbane, Richmond or West Coast for once in my life.

Yeah, that was me getting an early night last night at 2am after rewatching the second half.

Welcome aboard @CP38and3 . I'm not sure I'd personally go along with your suggestions, but just my take. Whatever pre game entertainment we get next season, hopefully it will be great just to get all the Demons supporters back at the G and unveil the flag on the first game of the season - now there is a traditional I'd like to start again!!

Yes, but the ACDC version please. I actually think the acoustics of this song reverberate around the MCG pretty well and that it builds the energy and sets the scene for the players to run out to pretty well, before it morphs into It's a Grand Old Flag. Really looking forward to this playing at our first home game next year at the MCG in front of a packed house, full of Demons supporters. Already has the hairs standing up on the back of my neck thinking about it!!

Agree with all this. I'd actually had a sneaky suspicion that we were poised to beat Hawthorn. I recall I'd posted on here for our first game that season (which we nearly won as well and would have attracted a good payout) that I'd considered putting a $50 bet on us to win, to which @Ethan Tremblay replied something to the effect that I'd have more fun burning the money 🤣. I'm not really a betting person, so I didn't end up putting money on either game. Harmesy was one of the ones I reacall that really stood up thay game that's still there. Oliver tough and brilliant, as was Track and Jaden Hunt. Another classic Max Gawn game, and if you listen to the highlights, was this the origins of the "That's it, I'm growing a beard this week!" call? All capped off with a classic Max off the side of the boot miss after the siren, which didn't matter, because we had the game stiched up anyway (gee, I hope he learns to kick those when we need one to win an important game!!). Was also the Weid's first game. Gee it has been a long build for him, but I'm still hopefully he can step up 2020 style and cement his place as an AFL footballer if he has a soild/uninterrupted preseason over this summer. If my memory serves me correctly, the big Peddo bear might also have kicked a few?

Thank you St Kilda for Trac!!

So much love for Roosy and what he did to turn our club around. Took us from a total basket case and set us on the path to sucess. Established the foundations of the premiership we are now basking in, by creating the start of the great team culture we now have. When you look at it too, he is one of the few (possibly only) coach that I can think of in the modern era that has executed a near seamless and sucessful coaching hand over that has led to premierships.

Agree. And some really important people that are part of the Melbourne story to the present involved in that game as well. Lyon, Stynes, Viney, Wight, Grinter, Stretch and pleant of my other old favorites from the time as well. For myself as a supporter, stitting there at the ground that day contributed to the mental scars and psyche of being a Melbourne supporter over the 3 decades since and as I suspect it has similarly for the MFC playing group over the years as well.

Agree Pates. It would be a difficult story to do justice to really. There are both the highlights of the onfeild performances, but also some really rich off feild personal stories over a long period of time. I think it would take really good team of documentary makers to put it all together in a quality way and that could also cost a fair bit, for which the market may not genuinely exist. Will be interesting to see what eventuates in this space.

On a segway from another thread, I think I've still got some of my favorite games from around 2016 - 2018 on an old Foxtel IQ that I'd play in this way. Now that we've nailed the big one, I can enjoy watching those games again as part of the journey that got us there. The 2018 elimination and semi finals against the Cats and Hawks would still be enjoyable to watch, particularly the joy clearly evident from Nathan Jones of playing in and winning finals and although by comparison to 2021 PF, it probably doesn't feel like we beat them by enough, the elimination of the Cats was a pretty good highlight. Probably also good to reinforce what the Weid could still offer us going forward!! Some of my other favorite games along the most recient part of the journey were: * That breakthrough win against the Hawks (2016? Or was it 2017?). Was memorable in it's own right as a Melbourne supporter, but I think I've heard him say things to the effect it was partly from how we shaped up to them that game that Jordan Lewis formed a view that we had the foundations of a quality side that convinced him to come and play for us. Incidently from the performance of Leiws that game, I'd made a somewhat rash conclusion that he was finished as a footballer, for which I'm glad I was wrong, as in retrospect, I think it's clear he bought alot to our team both in terms of onfeild performance and development from having his experience and leadership around; * That 2016 thrashing of the Gold Coast at Metricon. GC were travelling well at the time, but after a closely fought first half or so, we turned it on and it was the first time we'd truly thrashed a team for a number of years (perhaps a sign of things to come). Was an early game for Christian Patracca and from memory after a few quite debut performances, he started to find a bit of confidence and kicked a few good goals. Was also a real breakout game for both James Harmes and Jayden Hunt who have also been so important in 2021. Holds a special place in my memory bank, because the old man came up to visit from interstate and we got to share the elation together of not only winning, but thrashing a side by a big margin.