Deemania since 56

It is really interesting about 'carnage' and our bad luck with the slow recoveries from 3-player injuries. It is, however, a great chance for us (not including other clubs in this) to assess with some realism the quality and truth of our acquired depth of players for the 2023 season. Selection and placements will need to be flexible; we actually have some genuinely multi-skilled practitioners within the lists at the moment so it is hoped that they can shine on Saturday night.

Feel free to add to your sightful selections, TRAB. Cannot disagree with you at this point.

Yep, a good thrashing by our two big boys across the Footiskry forward line could be beautifully 'finished off' with our new and rampant forward outcomes and potentials! However, I will miss Fritta but further readying will be to his - and the team - advantage. 'Carna mighty Dees! May is also mentioned to have 'calf troubles' at the present time - so Grundy and Gawn may well be required to take those 'intercept' marks in this particular game.

One must realise that the ol' Four'nTwenty has been a legend within the MCG across the years. For me, these started making me quite ill about an hour after eating (just) one. The second time I so did - years later and well into the 1980s - I was ill again. So the legend of the F&T pie has both good and bad aspects attached to it. I have never had one of these (sometime) treats again at the footy. Rumour has it that these pies that were on sale at the 'G were 3-week old stock that conventional retailing could not achieve - all gathered up from stores, warehouses, trucking companies at 'special' prices for the caterers (?) to maximise their profit margins with 'G-sales to the hungry and needy. Let the buyer beware, was the chant. Food and refreshments at the footy can only be suspect, I guess.

At the cricket, Bay 13 before 'modernisation', it was an esky each (ie: slab each with your own ice supply) and a few to start and finish the day at the 'Cricketers...' before and after the game. Usually, two packs of Marlboros per day were required, and home-made salad rolls aplenty. We contained ourselves, as we had to get back into the ground with the same regimen the next day - Stackie might get his ton, y'see.

Media coverage could well be an uptake by Demonland itself, in the future. It would 'exceed' what has been offered to date, no doubt. It may also stimulate change, greater commitment by the Club and set worthwhile precedents and less irrelevancies now that we are the 'talk of the town' amongst footy clubs.

Sparrow should be the man. Knee injuries are too risky to 'rush back' from reduced training capacities into the team. We should just wait ... both Viney and Sparrow in the one team performing similar roles would be awesome and worth waiting for - particularly now that Sparrow is displaying the skills, attributes and drive we previously expected and hoped for on a consistent basis. These two are going to be a tag-team of toughness, brutality and ascendency. We look for mongrels and now we have them.

Interestingly, this actually is the worst week of the season. In particular, this year, one has tolerated the increasing column inches to death where - outside of Demonland subscribers - we are being deceived and misled.

Going to the game, driving from Bendigo region. Booking a room in Lygon Street for Sat night at my favourite boutique hotel and close to the only restaurant where you can still get a fabulous carpetbagger steak done to perfection. After morning check-in, a city-stroll of the bookstores and the Vic market for cheese and a pleasant walk to the ground if the weather is good, perhaps a tram ride and a seat well away from Footiskry supporters under GA protocols. Picnic feed and snacks in the day-backpack with 'Bessie' (my old steel thermos) filled with brewed Brazil Santos coffee from Quists in Little Bourke Street obtained earlier. Ever the optimist, I feel confident that we can knock this one off by a considerable margin, so a good red after the game may well be in order. Returning to accommodation, it's replay time. It has been a long wait for the '23 season to begin.

Sums it all up.

And, they are always second to the water-hole.

Beautiful mental image from this - I suspect you are quite correct.

It's all scare tactics. We will play with 'mongrel' and take no prisoners. We will uphold Gawn's integrity across the game where 'talls' are concerned. Sparrow and Rivers have a job to do - the two of them have the fortitude to create mayhem, havoc and casualties and our midfield will get a really good shake of the sav against the Bulldogs. Mark my words, it is 'get nasty' time.

I thought, firstly, that in order to reinforce our forward line, somehow they re-recruited Weideman . This is a sigh of relief: SIGH! It was clickbait.

Yep, he was one of the stand-outs for the Dees against Richmond - very busy with teaming, possessions and forward movement, and very unlucky to miss a few. I watched him closely in the game warm-up at Casey and he really impressed with about six consecutive shots at goal going through the big sticks midway - from about 55m out, well beyond the forward arc. Distance, no problem. Accuracy, surprisingly good. Height through the goalposts, excellent. Confidence and encouragement to 'take the shot' is all that is required with this young bloke.

Give him a chance, he is more than mere depth ... and now he is in the player development university wearing the red 'n blue and, from all reports, is keen to improve to land a regular slot in the team ... and won't that illuminate his existing critics where the sun don't shine?

Yep, despite the all of the glamour of our pre-season positives including two significant wins in the practice matches, we must remain realistic - it is not yet a forgone conclusion that we will get to the GF (and win that one, too). There are so many umpires' decisions and strokes of foul play ahead - in reality, we must realise that 'anything could happen' in this modern AFL watch.

Flawed call from the MRC. Looking a many past incidents, the similarity of the behaviour is the same. Dirtbag.

Soy, Tan, Lee!

Have a go ... but it may ruffle some: 1. Gawn 2. May 3. Tracca 4. Rivers 5. AN-B

Sensible, too. Our excellent midfield three would otherwise be subject to injuries, small and team-destroying. Physical tiredness leads directly to an ability to get caught by opposition(s) and be hammered; or, such consequences aptly being avoided by finding that extra yard of space ... with contactless interferences.

Richmond could not find a way through defensive coverage and related defensive pressure, plus the extraordinary ground coverage by the Dees' backmen, the midfielders and the opportunistic hunger of the forwards (smaller blokes, in particular). By attempting to get 'dirty' in response, they exposed themselves as 'the not so tough' and mostly, were again brushed aside by the Dees' mix of mobile muscle and brawn. This was an absolute delight to watch at the ground; those who could not attend really missed some enigmatic moments of Dee-resolve. Phabulous!

His performances have risen and he is 'sought' by teammates for his vision, passing and innovative ball retention. Sparrow and Rivers are producing great contributions, as well. Both are now 'courageous' interceptors, 'beautiful' kicks and surprisingly adept distributors. ANB was impressive against the Tigers, producing nifty intercepts and multiple area tackles to interrupt the flow of ball-handling and distribution amongst the Tigers' best efforts. His ground coverage was extensive, rapid and highly valuable.

This action seems to be Cotchin's modus operandi in so many matches - certainly, many times against the Dees over the past few seasons. He is a strangler, attempting to damage the larynx and trachea of players with that forearm, elbow and full body weight driven vertically into the sensitive frontal neck area when a player is on the ground. Viney did get a reprimand for this action a while ago and learned his lesson - but Cochin never does. It is a seriously dangerous action poorly regulated by umpires from a number of exponents across the 'popular' clubs.

When the players are under increased pressure with the ball in their possession - and they have to move it on, positively to a teammate ASAP / immediately to avoid losing a possession no matter how brief it might have been - Angus is your man. Today, against Richmond, he read the tackles and the set-ups in such moments and nearly always, positioned himself to perfection - particularly in the second half - to achieve or gather the wanton pass/handball/tap and move it on for the team to better effect. Mr Fix-it.