Go Lordie

Cleaning up an opponent front on is generally a shirt front and legal. Leaving the ground is generally illegal for a shirtfront but he had reason to leave the ground.

Fair enough. It was out of character, certainly.

Stop cutting your wrists, D-D. We weren't thrashed. We almost won. And we're still in it.

A Swans player would get Brownlow votes!

It was disappointing in Q4. We are the best-finishing team in the league, but we blew the Q4 chances we created.

So wrong, VC. Pies were faster to the ball, created more pressure. They also were better at ground level, while we two-grabbed ball pick-ups and marks. And still we were in with a chance in Q4. When we had the chance to win, we fluffed it in front of goal in Q4. I don't think choking was the issue. Skills were.

Hooray. Someone finally looked at the figures, not the injury list. 🔵🔴🔵

Hibbo is always a good in. 🔵🔴🔵

I'm excited! Go Dees! 🔵🔴🔵

Go Lordie meets Clarry! 🔵🔴🔵

Should we call the Pope? It has been a strife-ridden year in our Forward 50: Ben Brown, TMac, Fritter and Petty all go down at various times and, just when Melky steps up and looks like the answer, he goes down. Fortunately we had a sort of sliding door moment because Fritter stepped in just as Melky stepped out. But then it looked like Fritter had re-injured his foot and it all went pear-shaped for a moment or two. When you throw in the agonies surrounding Grundy in the forward line, and our period of goal-kicking yips, I think we all have to applaud the efforts of Greg Stafford this year. Despite all these problems in the Forward 50 we keep winning. Is he a miracle worker? Should he be beatified? How does Saint Gregory of the Forward Line sound? All we need now is a statue with weeping eyes.... Go Dees! 🔵🔴🔵

Hello gents. Thanks for the brilliant podcast. Your enthusiasm (and sometimes your MFCSS) is contagious and my football weekend is never complete until I hear the panel's dulcet tones analysing the latest game by the Mighty Dees. On the Sydney game, I was very impressed by our last quarter, but not surprised. We have been finishing well for some time. In the final quarters of the last five games we have scored 16g 18b to 7g 5b. Put another way, we have recorded 34 scoring shots to 12. Only the Crows have pantsed us in the last 2 months when they scored 7g 2b to 3g 6b - but at least we matched them for scoring shots. What I am getting at is that we probably are the fittest team in the finals. We should be confident. Go Dees! 🔵🔴🔵

Are we actually the fittest team, like Binman (or George?) says? 37 points to 3 from late in the 3rd. What a performance!

It was a terrific interview Andy, with a couple of questions that I - as a journalist of 40 years - might have squibbed on, like the one about Fritter coming back and TMac looming and will there be space in the forward line. I know you were just setting the scene with that long question, but I do notice that sometimes interviewers - especially footy commentators on TV - will put the highlights into their questions instead of trusting/hoping the interviewees will provide the highlights in their answer. You've got the research side of the interview art down pat. Don't let my observation put you off. I want to hear from plenty more Demon players on Demonland.

Just listened to the Melk interview. He is such a pleasure to listen to. He gives thoughtful answers and does try to answer the questions rather than just reach for a cliche. And I gave him points for not laughing when Andy posed a massively enthusiastic six-part question - or was it seven? - about that game-winning mark and goal. I might add I am thrilled that Melk is proving to be so valuable this year. I remember some deflating moments in our two 2022 finals when he had chances to score but his one wood - accurate kicking - seemed to desert him. He gets 10 out of 10 from me for persistence and for bouncing back strongly this year.

!!!!!!!!!!!

And he'll probably be a bit rusty. Best to get the first-up game out of the way, I think.

... and 96 per cent game time. The most in the team.

Hello to the panel and congratulations on the consistently excellent podcast you give us each week. I have been looking at our efficiency in front of goal and the stats show we are pretty average. From 61 entries, we scored 13 goals on Sunday or 21 per cent of the time. The Hawks achieved 23 per cent. In the game against Carlton and North, we were equal with the opposition at 17 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. Like the Hawks, the Tigers were more efficient than us - 33per cent versus our 27 per cent. The last time we were better than the opposition was in the Adelaide game - 27 to their 24 per cent efficiency. I'm not sure what to make of this except to draw the obvious conclusion - if we have more entries we can afford to be less efficient and still win. And, of course, if Melk had bagged those two set shots in the first half, our efficiency on the weekend would have jumped over Hawthorn to 25 per cent. Keep up the good work, chaps. Go Dees! 🔵🔴🔵

My comments about the window closing were based on concerns about Max's longevity. We got Grundy in to help extend Max's career, but he doesn't adequately fill in for Max when he plays. Who could? Max is amazing: ruckman, clearance specialist with his kicks from ruck contests, he's a mid-fielder who wins ground balls, he takes intercepting marks down back and his marks around the ground give us access to the forward line. There's no-one like him and I am worried about how long he can continue. It's my view that we can't win another premiership without Max in best form.

I hope you're right, ED. But I think Bowey, Rivers, Sparrow and Kozzie have already "come through". Not a lot more upside there, but several years more, certainly. JVR I think has upside. With a bit more meat on him he may be able to take more pack marks. Along with Melk and the resting ruckman, he doesn't seem to be mobile enough in the forward line. Am I delusional or should two or more forwards lead to the left, the right and up the centre when a kick is coming in? I know it gets crowded down there if it's a set-piece kick (a mark or a free), but people in N42 were calling on the forwards to "give him something" as players were about to kick it into the F50. It drives me mad when our three talls are all in the same pack with little or no chance of clunking it. Mind you, kicking to a leading player requires a certain level of foot skills...

I'm a big Salem fan but his ball handling seemed to be off this week. And some of his ki ks. We need him in top form for the finals. Here's a big picture question for the panel: Has our premiership window shut already? We ripped it up in 2018, but got embarassed in the Preliminary Final. Then we wasted two years until finally snatching the prize in 2021. Should we have had three by then? I am still confident about this year - I don't think Carlton's form can last - but we are not clearly superior like we were in the first half of 2022 before the troops started reporting to the infirmary.

Look at the stats. Harmesey was in the Dees' top 10.

Just checked the stats. Harmes was in our top 10. My apologies to Number 4.

Thanks. I'll watch again on Harmes Alert.