Nasher

Brian Wilson in the hospital bed 😭😭He was before my time but that was a swift blow to the feels.

‘00 us are thinking never mind, blue skies ahead! He’s only young, he’ll get plenty of opportunity for another crack! We went this well with a young team, imagine how good we’re going to be in 2-3 years time? Just reinforces the point about how bloody hard getting this far is. Even those invincible Bombers got knocked off the following year because another invincible team, Vossy’s Lions, popped out of the woodwork in ‘01. Can’t help but feel we will most probably never get another chance as good as this one. Goody of all people knows this - flag in his first two seasons as a player then no more grannies in an illustrious career. Bring it home boys.

It’s a hell of a forward line. Can anyone remember why Cam Bruce didn’t play? Injured in the PF? The inexperienced and undersized Ben Beams takes his place. The rest of the ground wasn’t that strong though. A good honest midfield with the likes of Rigoni, A.McDonald, Leoncelli and Powell, against an experienced, invincible Bombers outfit with a mix of good (Mercuri, Misiti etc) and great (Hird). The backline looks flimsy on paper in hindsight. Ingerson is the lynchpin but his support cast is Matthew Collins and big Nicho - again, honest competitors, but they’re no Lever and May. The running backs are Walsh, Ward and Woey - all capable footballers but won’t get near it if the mids and tall defenders get spanked (spoiler alert: that’s exactly what happened). I reckon the ‘21 Demons would spank the ‘00 team by a similar margin to what Essendon did.

Except you’ve gotta wait 12 fggng hours before opening your presents. Worst. Christmas. EVER.

Coined by @rpfc

And Demonland reader, obviously.

Absolutely. Yesterday I watched the Road to the Grand Final video the club put up. So many moments that I’d forgotten along the way. Just the right amount of non-play related footage. Packed MCG. Empty MCG. Jones being chaired off. Tommo’s injury. Brown’s first game. Bowey’s first game. Stuck on the tarmac in Brisbane. The whole picture was painted. I started bawling my eyes out. I haven’t had anywhere near enough sleep to cope with what’s to come today. My emotions heighten when I’m tired. Wish my tear ducts luck today, they’re going to need it either way I think.

Point bum at toilet, mouth at ground. Not the other way around. Definitely don’t get caught transitioning in between. Ideally have a bucket on the floor. Had a bit of gastro in my time. 4:15am here. We’re already talking bodily function in the first ever Demonland GF Match Day thread. This is going to be a LONG day.

🤢 *bolts to the bathroom*

12 months ago we couldn’t give TMac or ANB away and we picked up Ben Brown from the $2 bin. The footy world has no imagination. If the stock market was as volatile as football player value, the world would go in to a GFC every other day.

There used to be a poster on here called @Spirit of 26too! (Technically there still is but not active anymore.)

It’s forgotten because it’s awful. The Demons that no one can lick, lick, lick. I cringed so hard I broke a molar.

Didn’t even bother with the great get out of jail free card: “I hope I’m wrong, but…”

The club could have found Garry a shirt, surely!

But is he the ri… ah dang. Congratulations Goody, well deserved.

Secret admirer? Ooh la la!

I can’t help but wonder how things would have turned out if Jurrah was arriving on the scene now instead of when our culture was in the bin. Obviously a lot of his issues were of his own doing, but a strong team culture might have had more pull for him. We’ll never know now. Sounds like he’s got his life in order now though which is great.

Another one here who had a mild panic that I might not be able to watch the GF thanks to 7’s dumb streaming options, but I’m sorted. Phew. Can’t watch this though. Honestly, who actually owns an antenna in 2021? There hasn’t been one in my house for years.

Donlan, Meredith and Mollison. Other game was Rosebury, Stevic and Findlay. I wouldn’t know one ump from the other. Not exactly what I’m paying attention to when I’m watching footy.

*Williamson

W_J, you still owe yourself one uppercut for suggesting we should have taken Parish and Mathieson!

It is a great piece. The mother’s ongoing grief in the Sylvia bit at the end hit me square in the feels. It’s easy as footy fans to dehumanise football players a bit. To think of Colin Sylvia as that kid who never quite managed to reach the heights we thought he might. But at the heart of it, he was just a young man, with a close relationship with his mum and the best years of his life still ahead of him, who is gone too soon. We all felt a pang of sadness when we heard the news, but she still lives it daily. It’s all about the people and this article captures that. I highly doubt Brad Flower, Sam Ludbey-Stynes, Peggy Wight, the Broadbridges and Lynne Hatfield have anything in common whatsoever other than grieving men lost too soon, and the Melbourne footy club. They’re all our people, it will mean something to them, and they’ll be amongst like-minded friends if it happens, even if they don’t know it.

He’s gone up a gear in the last few months, that’s for sure. He’s hanging on to his marks again now, and his work rate is awesome. Funny how ridiculous perception of footy players are from the outside. For Brown, there was this perception that he got a favourable run from the umps. Having watched him a lot more closely since being one of our players, if he does draw frees it’s only because at his best he’s so hard to stop otherwise. He’s huge, he’s massively strong and he’s got a high leap. There aren’t going to be many defenders who could match him, so they resort to double teaming and arm chopping. We took a player who was injured and well below his best, for cheap, and gave him the time and resources to get back there. Great recruiting and great management that is now paying dividends.

I’ll put my hand up and say the Spargo bandwagon was standing room only when I jumped on. He’s a key ingredient to our forward line now though. He defends like a warrior and his possessions while low in numbers are high in value. The kid rarely wastes it. And I love his reactions to when he scores. It’s almost like “yeah so? It’s my job.” He’d be a massive blow if out. Sounds like it’s all good though.

Oh jeez. It’s way too early to be chopping onions.