Skuit

Loved the look James gave Selwood after their initial scuffle on the boundary fence. It wasn't menace or hatred but some sort of emotionless fixation/concentration. Like a Blue Heeler locked on a sheep. Basically when I felt certain we had it in the bag.

Player ratings according to AFL.com (see the site for explanations): Angus Brayshaw – 8 Sam Frost – 7 Bayley Fritsch – 4 Max Gawn – 7 Mitch Hannan – 6 James Harmes – 9 Michael Hibberd – 7 Neville Jetta – 7 Nathan Jones – 6 Jordan Lewis – 7 Oscar McDonald – 6 Tom McDonald – 8 Jake Melksham – 6 Alex Neal-Bullen – 6 Clayton Oliver – 8 Christian Petracca – 4 Christian Salem – 7 Charlie Spargo – 5 Dom Tyson – 6 Aaron vandenBerg – 8 Jack Viney – 8 Sam Weideman – 9

History would lean in favour the the defeated qualification finalists over the winning elimination ones - but we're going to start as red-hot favourites next week vs. the Hawks.

Danger may be one of the best and most influential players in the league - but not up forward in Jetta territory. Take note AA selectors, next time you try to squeeze in extra players on the team-sheet out of position.

Exact same thing happened to me 20 years ago when my beloved Redlegs destroyed arch-nemesis Port Adelaide in the SANFL GF. Had to play a 21st gig in Port Adelaide redneck territory out in the sticks. They found out I was a Legs' supporter and refused to pay. Also threatened physical violence.

And hey @old dee, I've been a silent doubter as well, but how do you feel about Weideman now? Gave it everything.

I think James Harmes can now be spoken of in the same terms as Viney, Oliver and Brayshaw. Ironically, if he was selected with the Petracca pick rather than as a rookie he already would be. Instrumental.

Close the thread. As Clarkson basically said, no need to discuss tactics in finals. Team goes hardest wins.

So in the spirit of an emotion-free thread; we're doing okay I suppose.

From what I can recall, Viney started the match forward on his previous return from injury this year. Probably a directive from Workplace Victoria though.

And the personnel involved. Predicting both teams will start with a midfield star in the forward line for at least the first bounce.

ProperDee - just because aeroplanes didn't exist when you were born doesn't mean that anyone else thinks boarding one is worthy of boasting about.

Cheers London Demon. But it's not a matter of rejoining. I'm engaged as ever, but I've avoided the Gameday thread as best I could for the past three years. It's basically pointless but as an emotional outlet. I have bricks and TV at home for that.

Like the thread, don't like the team.

Done. And to think my current job title is Chief Editor. I've gone the early Hutchy on the nerves.

Didn't fly before and probably won't again. But . . . Myself, and probably a few others on here, kindly ask our fellow Demon/land supporters that this thread be reserved for an in-game discussion of tactics and so forth, as free as possible from emotion and dire statements or sweeping generalisations. I've deliberately chosen to not watch this game in public, as I'm not sure that I can control my emotions in such a domain, and if I'm arrested I will probably be banned by my girlfriend from watching any further finals football for now and into the future. Still, I like to dissect what's unfolding before me, and can at least keep a poker-face on paper, and I would happily watch with some informed fellow Melbourne fans but there's only four or so of us in Amsterdam. As such, you're my only community. Let's keep it rational but with a rebel yell. Go Dees!

Irregardless of the nail-biting finishes, and the timing of the fixtures, the two matches against the Cats this season are the two I've been most tense during from cover to cover. I think I usually get a fairly good read on how things will pan out early on - not necessarily the result but if it'll be close one or not and the potential for either team to make a comeback. The Geelong games not so. Both teams in both matches were close at times to breaking it wide open, but couldn't quite take that last step; a teetering balance throughout. We may have dominated larger swathes against them over the past two years, but we match up well, and have played well, and Geelong aren't as weak across the lines as many of us would like to hope. I expect this will be another nervous one. Whatever happens, I'm sure every Melbourne player will put in and make us proud. Go Deees!

Now that we're becoming more of a threat this notion that we're built on AFL hand-outs in beginning to resurface. Irks me no end. And I'm pretty sure these halfwits aren't referring to PJ. We received one priority pick nearly ten years ago - which has ultimately served us well but failed to have any direct impact. Hawks had two pp's running around in their flag years. Blues still have two. Other flag winners this century to have featured a pp player include West Coast and Collingwood and the Bulldogs and Richmond traded out the year prior. Saints had two during their failed attempts. Don't let these half-truths about the Dees become facts. We built this team from scratch.

Can't believe it's got to the point where I'm relieved we got Chamberlain.

Brad Green is the key prosecution witness and appears close to forsaking the footy omerta. If we snag a flag I think he could be turned, and then the dominoes will right up the ranks to Don Schwab.

A club's supporters are a part of its culture. Roos tried telling us that on more than one occasion. Abstract, but when a notion such as Goodwin can't coach and should be sacked for example picks up steam you can end up with idiotic administrative fixes like . . . Neeld. Everyone was saying we needed some tough love. So Schwab, Lyon and co. set that as a coaching parameter and selected whoever could pitch a tough act (and a rookie who could be controlled - but that's another story again). This fantastic post from JK below provides a brief example of the prevailing supporter-base thought at the time:

I'm starting to get the heebie-jeebies regarding the tactical build-up to this match and the respective coaching/playing experience. Geelong, even throughout their most dominant period, have been happy to concede the centre clearances - although they're capable if required (see last quarters v MFC 2017 and 2018). Now they're preparing to play a three-game rookie against Max, far and away the best tap-ruck in the league, and are expecting a hard tag from Harmes on Selwood. I can see the hours of centre footage in my mind and I don't like what they're cooking up. The centre is so crucial to what we do. Goodwin, however much I love him, has always been about playing the game on our terms (although I do think he tightened it up at crunch-time leading into the finals). I don't expect our message will change much leading into the game, and that leaves Scott to purely prep for us. We talk a bit on here about who we need to stop, but how do we counter how they're likely going to attempt to counter us?

I blame half of the posters here for Neeld. Schwab - our clueless former board - a Demonland representative supporter faction - and Lyon - in that order. Is Goodwin the right guy thread . . . Neeld. We were tracking as could be realistically expected in 2011 and not beyond repair. But - we have a soft underbelly and poor culture! Let's get a school teacher in to straighten em' out. Well done to whoever you are.

Worked a treat during the year.

Your notion that 'the elite player group ie top six, will fire in big games' - 'otherwise they would not be classed as elite' and 'basically cancel each other out' has so many logical flaws I'm not sure which one to highlight. P1: The top six players are elite (false premise) P2: a. Elite players perform in big games b. otherwise they wouldn't be elite and thus top six (a. assumption b. circular logic) P3: Any given club's elite are equal (false premise) C1: The top six players cancel each other out in big games Can you name three occasions where our top six have all fired in the same big game? Or, three recent matches when the top six players of each club have cancelled each other out in their performances? Who do you find it more important performs next Friday - Angus Brawshaw or Charlie Spargo?