Chook

Best rendition of the national anthem ever.

One team. One dream. Go demons!!!

Just be you. I suggest that starts with breathing.

Langdon's in the long sleeves. We'll win.

Well done to all of you ingesting solid food right now. A fully liquid diet for me tonight!

Not my thing, but as I get older I'm just embracing that the kids and younger folks love them.

All eyes on the Dees and Dogs tonight. How awesome is it for the MFC to be relevant again? Long may it continue, starting with a crushing victory tonight.

Mike Brady's singing. It's real now.

Just organising some last minute reinforcements of Chardonnay now, all set for what we all hope will be a historic next few hours.

Engage full nuffy mode. Go Demons!!!

Some fool is flying red white and blue balloons in the apartment across the way from me. Really harshing my buzz to be honest.

Well I’ve knocked out my daily run, it’s past 12 o’clock and the day is now in full swing. Beer number 1 has been cracked, and plenty more to come. I hope it ends with Champaign at about 10:30 tonight.

In the words of Max Gawn, “That’s news to me.”

The sun will come up in a few hours, just like it always does, but truly this day feels different.

If you can sleep any time before about 3am you'll be doing better than me. Happy Grand Final Eve one and all, and to all a "Go Dees".

It's the year 2000. A new era. I am an 11 year old boy in Melbourne town, just 3 years down from Brisbane. A rugby state. But footy or rugby I wasn't in a round ball state of mind. I didn't "get it". And so, there I was, a nominal Melbourne supporter ushered to Grand Final Day early in the morning to (now I understand) get some bloody tickets. Melbourne. I'm 11. It's a Grand Final. Nothing special, I think to myself. My Grandpa Jim has seen this before, and his calmness soothes me. And so I watched. And we lost. I didn't mind. I didn't really "get" the 2000 Grand Final. We lost. I didn't really care. I care now. I didn't understand how hard that one was to reach. It was just the 2nd in 43 years I now am able to calculate in the fulness of time. Now I get it. Fast forward from 2000. It's now mid-late 2004. Nathan Brown is killing it for the dees. I like this bloke. I like the Demons. My Grandfather's team. I might watch them on free-to-air and see how we go. We win. This is it my friends. A life-long passion is born. In 2004 - I listened to an entire Elimination Final on the radio. My god I could not do that now. It's 2005. Jeff White gets his head caved in. I remember nothing but pain, but I see this live. I hear it and feel it live. It's 2006. Nathan Jones debuts. In the finals, a kindly Saints fan gifts me a ticket and I watch the game from the wing live. We beat St Kilda, and Chook McLean stamps himself on my psyche in a way I'll never forget. No matter what happens afterward. It's 2007. Demonland seems like a nice place to vent after a pretty terrible year. I might sign up. 2008, 9, 10, 11 pass as years tend to do, and we seem not to want to win any longer. My grandpa, who took me to that 2000 grand final and instilled that love for Melbourne, passes away. And still the years press on: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Pain, pain pain. And I see it all in person. I cannot imagine the pain of those born in the 60s, or 70s, or 80, but I can fathom it. And then we get to experience 2018. What a joyous year it was, but ultimately one built on sand, and we know that now. But it was fun, and I see it to its bitter conclusion in Perth, in person. I had officially become a nuffy. And still time rolls on, and I roll with it, now completely pulled in, never to escape. 2019, 2020. Pain again, and I think this might be the lot of Melbourne forever, and me too (of course, because why should I be happy?) And then 2021comes. Just a joyous year in spite of everything non-football related that we all know about. I could talk forever about why this year means what it means from a football sense, but let me say this at least: Here is a chance for Melbourne to come full circle now. I think back to that kid who went to a grand final just a couple of years after coming down from Brisbane, and how little he "got" it. I get it now. I want it. I need it. Go dees. I'll have a beer for you Grandpa Jim, like I said I would, way back in 2011 when it looked bad for you and the club both. Melbourne recovered, and I'm Melbourne. I'm Melbourne, and I'm Melbourne through and through.

Also, this post is better read back to front. I can't bear living it all again in forward-tense.

I hope fate catches up to time.. The demons winning the flag is fate. Time is ahead, as it alway is.

Still better than my dream. The dogs were leading by 30 points at 3qt a couple of nights ago. I hope we make up the deficit by 3qt Saturday evening.

The cheapest possible AFL player is on 75k.

I won’t be surprised if research shows “mundane” (I.e. entirely physical) crises resolve mental episodes. The human brain is great but it’s a piece of work.

Hibberd is going to make a lot of people in this thread look foolish. Go Dees!

Melbourne has played 6 finals during Hunt’s career. He has played none, despite playing 26 of a possible 44 games during those finals years. I would be very frustrated if I were him.

I said a top 50 mid. Meaning in the top 50 midfielders. Not the top 50 players. Still rate him though.