Dr. Gonzo

I hate west coast, probably my 3rd most hated team. Chris Lewis biting Todd Viney was a dog act but he copped so much during his career I'm willing to forgive.

Yep we should belt them but remember this time last year West coast played the Pies at Docklands with a WAFL squad and did the number on them. Can't take any game lightly and hopefully we display our ruthless edge this week.

One of the other influences is the old zoning areas. Before the draft was introduced in the late 80s each club had an allocated metro zone and a country zone. I grew up in the north east suburbs which was a Collingwood zone and there was large support for the Pies out there. Even in country areas there was large support for the clubs who zoned players from those leagues, for example Fitzroy had decent support in western Victoria because of it. I think the zones came in in the late 50s or 60s. Now I live in the north west suburbs and it is a real mix although Essendon and Footscray (Bulldogs) are heavily supported. There are quite a few Demons out this way too though, demographics have changed so it is more a mix now than ever before as people move from one side of town to the other. The biggest factor remains who their parents supported.

Yep they've also knocked us out of finals 4 times so every chance we get to sink the boot in should be relished.

Perhaps. We also lost to Sydney, Collingwood (x2) and Geelong during the season before those injuries took hold. We had been fading in games all year and didn't cope with the faster ball movement teams. Our defense was solid but our forward line was lacking and couldn't take advantage of our midfield dominance in many games.

Because they draft who they want then get the others via go home factor a year or two later (Horne-Francis, Rankine, Jackson etc)

From the point where they got to within 6 pts late in the 3rd we piled on 11 goals - I assume that's what they're referring to.

Petty up forward was a great decision. I'd been calling for it without thinking there was any chance it would happen, especially when Tomlinson was dropped. Makes us look so much more dangerous with another mobile marking forward up there.

Unbelievable response from the team, got off to a flyer then were challenged by a well drilled team but finished off the stronger of the two to win by 50 points! Spewing I couldn't be there to revel in the performance, be there for Clarrys milestone and witness JVR's debut, this kid is gonna be something 😍

Elliott can play as a FF if required he is a natural lead up forward in the traditional sense, just undersized.

Pies will smack them

Yeah Cats defense was very good, more pointing out we had Lever, Petty, May in defense last year and it didn't get us a flag because our forward line wasn't up to scratch.

Not in 2022

Nah he would be contracted this year and next (he would've already been contracted to end of last year when he signed) so his contract won't be up until October 2024 for the 2025 season. Of course he may decide to say he wants out a year early.

Didn't King just sign an extension last year?

True but those number 1 picks generally go into rubbish teams where they're expected to drive the resurgence from day dot. If the reigning premier gets a pick 1 it could be a different story. Look at Ashcroft or Daicos as better examples (althiugh not pick 1).

If only they'd kept their pick 5 way back when they could've had Ben King and we never get May who probably goes to the Pies as a FA the following year. No idea what happens to Hogan probably still ends up at GWS.

Freo have "greats"? Who, Clive Waterhouse?

Just like pre round 1 if there is even the slightest chance May is underdone rest him and make sure he's right long term. We have coverage in defence and if we lose to the Swans I don't think it will be because of their key forwards.

The purveyor of optimism as always DS 🤣

More fun though 😁

Interesting you mention the Anzac day 1986 game - this game was actually a rare MCG "double header" with the Melb/Sydney 2pm game followed by the North/Geelong 5pm game. Both crowds were listed as 40,117 so you can assume about a 20k split for both games. I've been looking at some old 80s games recently and the crowds in that era were terrible for the competition as a whole. It wasn't solely due to the suburban grounds though that would have definitely played a part. Some games reached the 60-70k mark but even a lot of "big 4" games only hit about 40-50k (at either MCG or Waverley) which would have been considered a great crowd in those days. Many games got the standard 10k-25k which are dwarfed by today's crowds (look at round 1 with back to back high 80k crowds and ours almost 50k with an average of 43.5k across the round including a paltry 8k for the gws game. Compared to the corresponding round in 1986 which drew an average crowd of 27.4k across the 6 games 5 played in Melbourne and 1 Geelong all at 2pm).

10% seems slightly high for a Melb/Syd crowd - surely most F1 followers are Richmond, Collingwood or Footscray supporters 🤣

I agree with this other than your comment we're not winning the flag if we don't win Sunday. I think we still can and not just because Gawn and Pickett are out but it is a long season and I'd rather we hit our straps in Aug/Sept than round 3. Swans are the bogiest of all bogey sides for us! I still remember losing to them in 92 or 93 after they'd lost 26 on the trot, and losing to them at the G with Dermie leading the way in 94. They've had our measure for too long, I would love to see a win on Sunday but I don't think it will happen. They are a smart team and a smartly coached team, they love crowding and harassing us then getting us on the rebound. I would be more confident playing them at the SCG rather than the MCG, I have a feeling their small mid/forwards like Papley, Gulden and Mills will get us but if we bring the heat we have more than enough firepower in the middle to do the job. I still think we can win the flag this year regardless of Sunday's result though.

Death, taxes and losing to the Swans Prove me wrong Demons 🤞