Fushcia Demonatia

There has been a lot written on DL regarding our ability to score, i50 problems and delivery during 2022, and how this will impact on our upcoming finals campaign. Perhaps with one round to go it's a good time to look at some statistical facts on 2021 v 2022. 2021 2022 Position 1 3 Points 66 60 PF 1'807 1'821 PA 1'366 1'427 % 132.2 127.7 So in comparison to 2021, our offence has scored 14 extra points over 21 games (0.7% improvement - statistically no different), whereas our defence has conceded and additional 61 points (4.5% decline). Yet there are people on DL who have been very critical of our 'Forward Connection' and a number of the players in the forward line. IMO our problem this year has been our inability to prevent our opponents scoring, especially at crucial moments in a few games that could have gone either way. Surely this is due to injuries/ailments to our four key defenders, as well as a drop in form of some of the younger defenders playing around them (these are most likely connected). Have faith people, we are nowhere near as far of the mark as some on here believe.

Surely you could park at Cranbourne and catch the metro train if the Bairnsdale line is too expensive. As for why Yarra Park is closed. Pretty simple - you could park there but you'd need a tractor to pull you out at the end of the game. You'd be catching the train home anyway.

It's funny how history has these moments. The last minute of that game had three questionable decisions. Look back with ~50 seconds to play. How was Selwood's kick deemed to be NOT deliberate? Probably because Brad Close was nearby? The deliberate OOB by Gus was more questionable, as to me (a one eyed Demon supporter that tries to be objective) it appeared that Gus was trying to gain territory and not have the ball go OOB. Gus never even took possession but kicked the ball off the turf, unlike Selwood who had possession. The DOOB was paid by the umpire in the Demon forward line. The Umpire where the kick came from was the mid field umpire and didn't appear to be going to pay DOOB, it should have been his decision i.e. where the kick came from as he had a better perspective of Gus's intentions. When the ball went OOF from Guthrie's kick and Brad Close punched the ball into the empty stadium from outside the field of play, it seemed to me that the mid field umpire was trying to right the wrong of the previous decision and give Melbourne back the territory the other umpire had taken from us. Close could have easily argued he was only trying to touch the ball before it crossed the line. Good on Jake Lever for immediately pointing out Close's indiscretion (that said the umpire already had the whistle in his mouth). If Lever had taken the Geelong approach he would have run into Close's back while making his way to take his kick to try to gain a subsequent 50m penalty for obstruction, as Close was running in a straight line between Lever and the new mark. This is a tactic Geelong have perfected under Brad Scott (remember a couple of seasons ago Dangerfield running into Gus's back at a ruck contest to gain a free kick and kick a goal - Selwood smugly walking past Gus clapping after the goal). I'm so glad JL didn't as I think it was far more fitting for Max to do that and put to rest some of his own demons for misses in the past. The DOOB rule itself is fraught with subjectivity - did the player mean for the ball to go out etc. I don't think that this was the worst interpretation of this rule for the season. For me it was undoubtedly the DOOB that was not paid against Adelaide in the dying seconds of the Round 10 game. Had that been paid - whatever score Melbourne got from that, would have rendered the outcome of Round 23 irrelevant as the Dees would have ended 1st or 2nd regardless. It's funny how history has these moments.