dee-tox

There was a petition circulating for Danners to present the cup. He politely declined saying he should not be given preferential treatment: https://www.96fm.com.au/newsroom/neale-daniher-responds-to-the-petition-to-get-him-to-perth-for-the-afl-grand-final/ As for Barass it would have been a big call for someone in their 80s who has been struggling healthwise to do a fortnight's quarantine in a motel...

I'm missing a few as well. Back: xxxxx (maybe Ingo), Nicholson, Neitz, Yze, Danners, Johnstone, Ward, Leoncelli, xxxxxx (maybe Powell?), xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxx. Front: Bizzell, Rigoni, Holland, AMac, XXXX

Superior fitness and confidence can be powerful things. But sometimes you need a moment. I still think the slinging of our captain to the ground triggered a moment of clarity among some of the players. It triggered that most primal of emotions, anger. It was an affront to the mateship that Gawn and others had worked hard to create. It was an affront to what we stood for as a team. An affront to our collective psyche that we were the best team in the comp. Viney's immediate remonstration and subsequent involvement in the next play ignited the fuel that had sat stagnant in the tank for 40 minutes. Fritta's second, an amazing bit of individual skill, gave the team back the belief they'd been missing. From there it was17 goals to one. Psychologically, I've always been fascinated at the various emotions that can help overcome or worsen sports performance anxiety. A moment of manufactured bravado by Caleb Daniel became the catalyst of perhaps the most dynamic 40 minutes of AFL history. Anger is one powerful emotion and that's the only logical explanation I have to explain what happened on that most surreal of days!

As far a AFL podcasts go this one had three or four genuine laugh out loud moments. Ray is great entertainment. Thanks for sharing.

You could even argue that Rivers has been more impressive than Anderson given the different positions they play...

Are you sure Grinter was involved? I would have sworn it was Danny Hughes...

Sliding Dawes?

We need to remember that Brown's management knocked back the 750K that was apparently offered to him midway through the season. Brown could have accepted and he'd still be at North. In doing so he forced North's hand who made a decision not to pay any more or make another offer. The ironic thing of course is that Brown is currently getting much less with us than he would have if he accepted North's first offer.

I find these type of lists a bit contrary to our modus operandi of last year. The performance of our so called role players (Petty, ANB, Spargo, Hibberd, Brayshaw, TMac, Jordon, Sparrow, Viney on occasions, Harmes, Rivers and Sparrow) are the major reason we did what we did. Stars are important of course but they can only be stars when the cogs in the wheel work for them. Lever can only play roaming backman when Petty is locking down on a dangerous tall. Salem can only play distributor when Rivers and Hibberd keep the opposition crumbers at bay. The star midfielders need Jordon, Sparrow, Viney, etc to play their roles. Block, shepherd, tackle, etc. Our supposed top 10 players are only as good their teammates around them allow them to be.

Couple of teams I understand. Plays and coaches in the Casey Basketball Association (Cavaliers) and South Sudanese Australian Basketball League.

I think you'll find Mac is also an excellent basketballer!

Was a revelation in the grand final. The Bulldogs paid no attention to him and paid the price. Great in the Qualifying Final as well. Can only get better. One of our most exciting prospects. Can kick like a mule, mark overhead, loves a tackle and getting down and dirty.

No doubt he is a better player than Baker, but we don't need flaky, 29-year-old, injury prone guys even if Norf was going to pay most of his wage!

I think he was in many ways the leader of the forward line. Always doing the talking when the group gathered after a goal. Always looking to bring teammates into the game. Showed great leadership and crucial member of the team.

In boxing parlance I think we'd win a nightclub brawl by 74 points as well! Lever, Melksham, Viney, Jetta, May, Salem, etc are all pretty handy with the gloves apparently! Doggies have Libba...? 😀

Reckon this bloke can be an All Australian in three or four years. Great contested mark. Tough. Great spoiler. Good disposal especially kicking. Will become a better handballer with more experience. Incredible talent identification by our recruiters.

Think it's difficult at this stage to replace any of these guys! If for instance, if you wanted to replace Denis Cordner with Max Gawn it would be hard to argue a three-time Premiership player should be replaced by a one-time premiership captain, albeit a five time All Australian. Maybe best to revisit in 79 years!

Lucky bar steward!

Overall umpires did a reasonable job. Didn't like the Hannan free kick in the third (soft as f***), non-free to Kozzie and the immediate holding the man afterwards to Martin. The two frees against Viney in the third were dubious as well. On the other side BBB was given four frees mainly for arm chops and Brayshaw crashing into the back of Schache was probably a free.

I think if we revisit half time of the grand final Gameday thread it will give us a better indication of what many Demonlanders thought about Daniel. Many lamented not putting a tag on him. He had nearly 30 possessions in a half which in itself is pretty incredible. He was a huge factor in the Dogs dominating the second quarter. It's always easier to criticise the guys who get the ball rather than those that don't. Sure he coughed it up a few times but so did many others.

Has lost a yard or two but in the lockdown role he did what he needed to do. Ramming Weightman into the goalpost early in the granny was a bonus!

Yep was aware of what Petracca said. But also interesting what Burgess said. Sometimes PR, positioning or framing play a part in these things as well. This is not the official line obviously, but if I was a player and saw my captain slung to the ground and then stood over by the smallest guy on the field I'd be a touch fired up! Sometimes in sport it just takes a spark. Maybe it wasn't a factor but Burgess thought it was significant enough to mention in his answer as to why Melbourne suddenly turned things around.

I don't agree. Just because he is 200cm doesn't mean he has to play first ruck. After one or two pre-seasons he could be played in a number of roles. He could be a great intercept defender given his pace and athleticism. He could do a Jackson and play as a third tall and ruck part-time in the forward 50. He could even make a great full back or full forward. Ultimately, like Jackson he will ruck at times. He is a very good basketballer which seems to be a good trait for ruckmen. While supporters tend to pigeonhole players into positions, AFL coaches are less inclined to do so. This three or four years waiting is nonsense.

Fascinating podcast. DeeSpencer summarised the main points very well. The interesting thing I found was that he mentioned the bench was pretty fired up over the Caleb Daniel and Gawn tackle and subsequent stand over. He intimates that this was a major factor in Melbourne coming back. First time anyone from the club has acknowledged this. I'm sure it has played a bigger role than what we've said publicly.

I for one was glad to see the back of Bruce. There was his 70 rhetorical questions a game. The sleezy sexual innuendo (yes, yes yes!). The ridiculous voice changes, the unnecessary player criticisms/judgements, the unprofessional nicknames (King for Carey, Lingy for Ling, Hodgey, etc). How people thought he was even decent is beyond comprehension. The sooner they dump Taylor too the better. What an embarrassment he is. DeeSpencer described him well in a previous post. Mistake after mistake. Unfinished sentences, obvious barracking, repetition of uninteresting facts, talking over people... Complete ignoramus. Brayshaw to his credit did an excellent job in the grand final. I'm generally not a fan but he refrained from the blokeyness in this game and came up with a couple of gems like the Bang... bang, bang, bang when Oliver scored the last before three-quarter time and 'It's falling the way of the Demons' after Bailey fumbled and Fritta goaled. Sport commentary in Australia is a sad state of affairs. In the AFL Jason Bennett, Adam Papalia and Anthony Hudson are about the best we can muster. Then there's Derwayne, Eddie, Hamish, Taylor, Underwood, etc.