Red But Mostly Blue

And that's why Melksham is there. Great vision, perfectly executed. Goal assist, huge.

Statement quarter - BOOM The pressure. Intensity. Tackling. Fritter's intercept and goal a joy. Long way to go, but we are ON Let's go! Do what the dogs have been doing to lesser opposition this year.

I'm a little worried tonight: - Playing at Marvel - Doggies red hot - We have had a tendency to start slow - The Doggies are the wrong team to start slow against, or give too much room (we've been guilty of that, too). - Years of letdowns, brittle psyche etc. BUT I've got to build faith from somewhere, and that's what this team is doing - so I'm going to keep faith. I think we'll come out firing. We might not win tonight. We certainly can, and I obviously hope we do, but all I really want is an honorable performance by a team who is the real deal, building towards something huge. The Tigers had heaps of losses as they built towards their flags. A loss is not the end. Whatever happens, we have to show up, bring hell and prove that no matter the result, this is only the beginning. Because it is, go Dees! Pumped!

Tonight we're the hunters again (which I kind of prefer). We need to bring fire from the first bounce to show the Doggies what they're in for. The game against the Blues shows that the Doggies can be exposed. The Blues couldn't finish the job, but we're not the Blues. So if we start early, we send the message and never let go. Kind of like bulldogs when they latch on to something.

This is a good point. It's been a very long time since we've been able to say we have someone of Brown's caliber as depth! Tmac must be feeling that he pretty much has to play out of his skin every week to keep the gig!

Completely agree with this, especially Weideman's role. All communication from the Club seems to indicate they are committing to Weid (he's currently fit, younger, 'the future' etc.), which I am ok with - he needs time to build momentum and confidence at this level. IMO certainly capable. I also think Jackson would make a great tall mid capable of forward stints. A real matchup headache. It causes problems, though. Because we have paid good money for Brown, and we will want a return on that at some point. There's no way we planned for TMac/Jackson's respective efforts this year. So with the push to focus on Weideman, I wonder how they will address Brown going forward.

Great article about the boys buying in. As stated, it was never really a talent issue (although recent recruits in Jackson, Kossie Rivers and Langdon etc. have certainly helped), but one of mindset. Given how long we've been in the wilderness, and associated with poor culture/mindset, it will take some time. We're only really seeing the beginning, which is really exciting! This is the birth of a new club, or at least a renewed club. Part of me was worried that the Crows loss might see us fall into bad habits, but I've seen so many positives this year that I am comfortable that we will come out swinging against the Doggies - they'll have to earn the W.

Ok I've had a good glass of red. Maybe two. I'm still bummed we lost to the Crows. But you know what, let them have it. They'll be nowhere near the action in September. And we'll exact revenge before then. I feel like we've been building up for this loss, maybe the boys have as well. It had to happen so it became a self fulfilling prophecy? Almost everyone looked way off. I'm kind of ok with losing to these guys... ... As long as we bring FIRE next week! Hopefully some important ins next week (Viney would be great, but at the least Salem, and BBB but I'm not sure they'll drop Weideman). Hope Maxxy finds himself soon, he's been pretty average. The Doggies will start favourites next week and rightly so, they haven't been as shakey as us this last month, but for once this year, I'd love us to come out breathing fire. They aren't the Roos, we likely won't be able to play catch-up. The boys need to turn up and play for each other, keep up with structures and avoid the fancy crap. Go Dees, we can beat the Doggies with our best.

It looks like the Demonland server is also disgusted by a loss to the Crows? ?

That was deliberate, not that it matters. We played like trash and deserved to lose that. We would have lost by more if not for Clarry. Fancy losing to those posers. 1v 16. And with Tex kicking the winning goal. I feel sick. No more 'we get the job done despite being sloppy', we need to fix things for next week as the Doggies, and then Lions will not be as forgiving. Maybe it's the loss we needed to have but gee we need to be a lot better.

Umm we need a goal? I don't think I can handle Tex winning the game for these posers.

May was nowhere near him, why!?

Clarry has been HUGE! The difference today, easily.

How did we balls up Clarry's good work!?

In one half, the crows have nearly kicked the average FT score against us this year... Defence has been woeful (Jetta poor, May having a mare, we are missing Salem big time), skills have been sloppy, we're giving too much room and generally look gassed. I know we have to lose at some point, but I'd rather it was not to these posers.

I know we keep 'getting the job done' this year when it counts, and that's great, but we're playing against a side who is on a 5 game losing streak. And we're getting shown up here. We'd better switch on fast, not only for this game, but the Doggies are watching for the next, and if we give the crows this much room, next week is going to be ugly.

And that's why Melksham is there. Great vision, beautiful kick.

I feel for Brown, it could have easily have been Weid dropped this week - but it'd be stiff to drop Weid after only one game given his Casey form and potential (much of it known based on some good work last year). Weid is young, has a lot of positives, but has been stunted by injury and a severe lack of delivery from the 'bomb it in' crew of 2019-2020. Our structure and delivery is much, much better this year, and he should benefit from that, especially with Jacko back in the team. This leads to the Melksham call-up. Look, is he the 'gruntiest', most visible stat gatherer on the ground? Nope. Not by a long shot. He sometimes looks a little indifferent and casual. BUT he is also one of the best marks and creative kicks in the team - so even if he only gets 10 touches a game, but creates a few goals from those, I'll take that. That makes a difference in tight games. We have enough ball winner types. What we also need is some creativity. It won't always work, but then again the FF types don't always kick bags or have much of a presence either. Good, but tough changes today - would love to see Sparrow get a gig at some point, and very much looking for Viney to return as he really does make a difference. But only when he is 100%. How good is this? We have depth - and our selection issue is that good players miss out, rather than having to continually rotate and recall spuds because nothing is working. What a time to be alive!

That's great! I wouldn't be surprised if we rested him another week given that we are facing Adelaide and should be ok. We'll need him for the Doggies though. Haha I don't blame you! That was a low moment for the club, one that it looks like we have finally learned from! We've had lots of highlights this year, the backline fortress, Kossie and Jacko, TMac, Trac, Langdon etc, but the best thing has been that they are all clearly playing for one another. The men, women and 2s, it's all finally a very unified vision. Everyone has bought in and working their guts out. What a time to be a Dee haha. I've been watching the games with my 2 year old, and so far it's easy selling the Dees as his club (although he really has no choice). 9 wins! There was a time not that long ago where that would have taken us 2-3 years to accumulate and we're not even halfway through this year!

I also really rated Kossie's sportsmanship. I would have loved the goal, too, as it was a great kick, but his act spoke volumes. The kid is going places. Fast.

Spot on with the highlights! Haha love the Wall of Demons! Looking forward to getting to a few more games to see it in action. Nice, I didn't realise Jack was back next week!

I 100% agree with this. Everybody wants a big scalp. With nothing to lose, they throw everything at us. That little bit extra turns these games into a genuine tussle. I'd love a quick start. Straight out of the blocks fire.

Completely agree. My favourite part is that I don't think I've seen us play anywhere near our best yet. I've got no doubt we'll tune into it soon. I reckon our best will be scary. Yeah Max looks gassed. Jacko would have been handy today. But the boys keep at it, and that really has set us apart from the others. We keep finding a way. Great to see, even in the less than glamorous wins. TMac is great to watch for so many reasons.

Relax, mate. We're coming up against the Doggies and the Lions, who are both flying right now. Chuffed we're 9-0, but that does not mean we rest on those numbers. We've been getting the job done so far, something that has really set us apart from others, and our past selves! But there will need to be a lift and we can't gift the Doggies those clearances.

I'm obviously happy we got the points, but it felt a little flat. Not even sure who our star was. Probably Tommy in the first half. And some of our smalls kicking goals when we needed, Spargo, Kosi, ANB etc. Will need to lift big time against the Doggies and lions.