Swooper1987

Best non MCG experiences following the Demons - definitely round 22 1987 at the Western Oval tops the lot. Was the most remarkable atmosphere I've ever been a part of at the footy. 31,000 standing shoulder to shoulder, it might as well have been 100,000. Many good games at VFL Park - the night GF wins in 87 and 89, the 1988 elim and prelim wins and in non -Melbourne games was lucky enough to be at the 1986 elim when Fitzroy knocked off Essendon to halt the bombers charge at a threepeat. Also lots of unhappy memories there, none moreso than the greatest Demon I've ever seen play his last game there in the 1987 prelim. Didn't mind Windy Hill, other than the old ladies with their umbrellas which they used like some sort of martial arts staff. Princes Park was ok, saw a few wins there, the most memorable being 1998 against Carlton. Beat Hawthorn there when we weren't expected to a couple of times as well. Love the AFLW out at Casey Fields. It's a ripper home ground advantage.

Back to Geelong again! 2 trips to Perth, away games against the Suns and Lions and both Adelaide sides away as well.

A resounding yes. I still have a bit to do with Cam occasionally. His favourite time in footy was his early days at the Demons in the early - mid 80's when he was instrumental in the recruitment of some outstanding players in the Barassi/Northey era. His heart beats true and he couldn't have been more pleased for the club.

Reminds me of Stephen Powell the way he moves. Might be the left side bias but I reckon he's got a bit of Powell about him. If he turns out as good as that I'll be pretty happy.

He's a good footballer, with excellent leadership qualities. Highly regarded by Richardson and Aaron Hamill. He'll be an excellent addition.

It was a horrible day. Lyon withdrew with injury after being cleaned up at training by Strawbs O'Dwyer. The real reason we missed top 3 that year was our 127 point thrashing at the hands of North Melbourne. It blew our percentage apart and despite 16 wins we finished 4th. That year we beat Hawthorn in consecutive weeks and beat top of the table Essendon twice. We beat the Eagles in Perth and as has been mentioned earlier defeated Collingwood in both the 88 and 89 finals series. Such a waste.

My top 10 most watchable: 1. Kozzy Pickett - magic happens! 2. Isaac Heeney - if he's injury free he'll be nearly the best player in the comp. 3. Liam Ryan - pace, leap, execution! 4. Charlie Cameron - the next Betts. 5. Harry McKay - reckon he's in for a 70 plus season. 6. Christian Petracca - who wouldn't want to see more of Norm? 7. Dustin Martin - legend of the game. 8. Shai Bolton - always exciting. Can mess it up but won't die wondering. 9. Toby Greene - mainly just enjoy watching him self-destruct. 10. Scott Pendlebury - my favourite non-demon

Absolute lock we'll get North once in Tassie; Geelong twice with a trip to Kardinia Park; Eagles once only but in Perth. Premiership or not, that is our lot in life!

65,000. Our growth will come from kids who can't yet afford memberships - that'll pay off into the future. If we can grow by around 12,000 with not much guarantee of being able to see a full season that would be a tremendous result.

I reckon Maxy is in the Terry Daniher/ Sticks Kernahan mould. Leads on and off the field. A real unifying force.

That 1987 finals run was something to behold. 199.5% and still sitting 5th on the list above. The Demons hold 2 of the top 5 spots.

Lever for me. But it's Max's for the next two to three years and rightly so. He's an outstanding leader who is just so relatable.

Bontempelli being off the ground when we took the initiative in the second half of the third quarter was massive. Our mids assumed control totally and we got at least three goals while he was sitting it out. Jackson didn't do anything special in terms of hitouts but his ability to follow up and either clear a path or get the quick handball out was instrumental.

Interesting interview post game with Jake Lever on Fox footy where Oliver was called out for not being tight enough on Bontempelli. Honesty seems to work for this side. Rewatching the third quarter now, Beveridge having Bont off certainly assisted in that momentum change. And Oliver definitely lifted.

6. Petracca 5. Fritsch 4. Brayshaw 3. Salem 2. Gawn 1. Viney Apologies to Jackson, Rivers and Oliver

Thanks Ash. Great to hear from you!

I think Hunt covers more contingencies and would be pleased to see him selected, but I'm not unhappy if Jordon keeps his spot.

Well done to Gawny, who was by far the highest polling non-midfielder. 17th overall I believe.

It's not Findlay - he found out last week.

A loyal servant, a very good footballer, a champion club man and rightly recognized as one of the pillars of the cultural change along with Roos, Jackson and Bartlett. I admired his commitment to the club when he always had other options. He leaves a significant legacy and was a worthy successor to another great number 2!

What a great player he was! Should be in the Hall of Fame.

Interesting vote spread. Obviously Gawn hit the two 5's, then Salem and Tracc went 4/2 and 3/3 one way or the other, Oliver got 4/0, Viney 2/1 and Pickett 1.

Decent people in my experience and one of the better supporter groups going around. They know what it's like to nearly lose their club, and had a wait longer than our current one for their 2016 flag. Small in number, big in voice. In 1987, when they would've been devastated after missing out on the five themselves, most were very happy for Robbie and the Demons. I remember a number of conversations after that game and on the train on the way home with Bulldog fans who really hoped we'd go deep into the finals. I've never had had any issues with them in the 34 years since.

This travel narrative around the dogs is wearing thin already. The fact is they finished 5th. That means that other than week 1 you are always going to be the "away" team. So in the first final they got the Bombers on neutral territory, then quite rightly as in any other year they got an away game at the Gabba and then an away game at Adelaide. Now they play at a neutral venue against Melbourne, who finished top and throughout the finals have had no home ground advantage either. The dogs in 2016 went Perth in round 23 and lost to Freo, flew back, had a bye as all finals teams did, went back to Perth for the elimination final against WC, flew back to Melbourne to play Hawthorn, then flew to Sydney to play GWS and then back to Melbourne for the GF against the Swans. The Sydney teams had it way harder this year. As to our chances, we comfortably beat them in round 11 on a nice dry deck. Our round 19 game was brought forward from round 20. It was terrible weather in the first quarter and despite multiple early chances we had some bad misses and finished 1.4 at QT to the dogs 3.2. You might recall Tim English kicking a goal out of his backside that he just sat up in the air and it got carried through the middle. A late rally saw us within 4 points midway through the last before Bontempelli, Ugle-Hagan and Hannan kicked three goals in three minutes to get up by 20 points. Our heaviest loss of the year, despite having the same number of scoring shots. The dogs kicked a crazy straight 13.7 in those conditions. We were 9.11. Macrae, Daniel, Smith and Bontempelli all caused us a lot of problems. Gawn had 56 hitouts but our mids were well beaten. That was our last loss for the season. Goodwin was quite positive post game believing that we had turned the corner after a bit of a flat patch. Notable changes will be Martin, Treloar and Dunkley in, with Josh Bruce the biggest out since that game (he kicked 2.1 that night). For us, Bowey has taken Hunt's place, and Sparrow in for Jordon. Our best is better than theirs and I expect that if we play at our best we will get the job done.

I loved Brayshaw's game last night. His work pushing back into defence was outstanding and he really has become the epitome of the complete team player. Having said that, Gawn delivered another outstanding performance in what has been a brilliant season, and Petracca was everything that Martin has been for the Tigers these past few seasons. 6. Gawn 5. Petracca 4. Viney 3. Brown 2. Brayshaw 1. Salem