Demonised

Our goals are hard, hard work.

Whenever we start to look like we're getting a bit of momentum there's a skill error or a free kick against us ...

Should have been Kozzie's free kick and shot at goal.

Three goals in a winning GF team. A pretty good peg to hang your hat on.

As soon as any article says it lists 'the Greatest in History' or 'All-time' I know they're going to be flawed, captured by the Cult of Recency. Why pretend that they're looking analytically at players across 150 years? Why not just say 'of the last 20 years'? Yep, click bait.

Schadenfreude and looking forward to the draft. It's just like old times.

His rib issue wouldn't have been helped by all the gut punches he kept getting from Port players last Saturday.

He's getting the sort of frees he should get every week.

His hand. Tentative going for a rolling ground ball. So unlike him.

"Silky skills", yes please.

I have a feeling that Clayton's hand is still causing him problems. His normal one touch surety and approach to loose balls looks less than it was.

Good kicking is good football. Liked (most of) the set shots.

Still in it.

Symphonic Smoke on the Water FTW.

Classic big utility player.

The drizzle looks enchanting under the lights.

Optimistic view: this might be the way Max gets a rest so he's super fit and fresh for our finals domination.

Put simply, if the umpires are going to be bad, I want us to be consistently favoured by the terrible decisions, maybe winning a few close games due to their egregious errors.

He's at the centre of everything.

I was thinking about Quantum Theory and the Multiverse, as I do after a loss, and according to the Many Worlds Interpretation the universe branches all the time. Just like Schrödinger's Cat is both alive and dead, for every umpire decision it either goes against the Dees or for the Dees, the universe branching at each decision point. Likewise with each shot at goal - the Dees kicked a goal and they didn't, all at the same time. Which means that there is a universe where the Dees got all the free kicks against Brisbane. And not just that, every free kick all year, just as for goal kicking, where there is a universe where the Dees haven't missed a single shot. It stands to reason that in this universe we won every game. I want to go there.

The situation after the half time siren. For accuracy's sake, would the panel describe it as: a melee a donnybrook a line in the sand a contretemps a brawl or a fracas?

Weird how only four goals were scored at the city end and seventeen at the Punt Rd end.

Good goal kicking accuracy.

What happened after the siren? Max very angry with a North player.

The time will come, be it soon or years from now, when the lost and lonely will sigh about how the MFC is a mediocre team, winning rarely, offering false hope occasionally, dashing that hope perennially. Pundits everywhere will nod sagely and agree that the Demons are pitiable and always have been. But some among us will step forward, hand on heart, and say, ‘No! We won’t have it!’ because we few, we happy few, remember when our players strode the MCG like gods, fair of face and clean of limb, outshining all others and grasping the ultimate prize through skill, heart and grace. We’ll remember Max the colossus, peerless in his craft. We’ll remember sunny Christian, relentless Clayton and dogged Jack, never giving in, never surrendering. We’ll never forget Steven, the Jakes, the other Christian, Kossie, Bayley of the unrivalled hair, Ed the running man and others, for we all had our favourites. We were part of it. Through our commitment and love we were part of it and we will remember though times be dark, though times may grow dark for we know that when the times lighten, they lighten with fire. Go Dees.