bing181

Didn't see that coming. This group has more fight and maturity than what I'd expected. One quarter to go, rather be in our position than their's.

May carrying his injury? Whatever it is, he isn't himself.

Nothing to do with Goodwin, all on the forwards who are actually out on the field. Forward pressure is supposed to be one of our strengths.

Neale-Bullen's job from what I can see. (could be wrong).

Bont for the Norm Smith at this rate.

Dogs didn't make it to the grand final by accident. Was always going to be a battle. May not right it seems, and that in itself is enough to swing it their way. But a few unsighted: Langdon not being Langdon is surprising, but Tom Mac might as well not be out there (except he takes their second defender, which isn't saying much.) Not sure here - they have not just the talent, but the experience.

I'm in Paris (south), and I know there are a few others around. Not sure I can face Belushi's or Café Oz, will just watch at home, though I think there's a bar/café somewhere that's doing something as well.

Belushi's also showing it in Paris (near Gare du Nord if anyone's around). Need to book apparently.

Know it well. And no, not getting any work done here either!

Would have preferred Port myself. Dogs' on-ball/midfield bats very deep.

Losing by a rushed behind - rough way to end the season.

Feel that people are underestimating this at their peril (though presumably not the players/club). Geelong have more to lose than us, it must be about their last crack at it with this Selwood-led group. They also have a lot more finals experience than us, and that's something that really counts. For me, this is a bigger danger game than Port in a GF - though there's a similar discourse around Port, but to a lesser extent.

Think people are underestimating the difference between finals and home and away. Whole new ball game, and is only going to get tougher from here on in.

Don't agree. There's not much between the top 4 or so teams, anything can happen on the day. Not to mention, some will cope better with finals than others. I don't think we'll choke, but at the end of the day, experience counts for a LOT at this end of the season, and we're still a comparatively young side, with comparatively young players in key positions.

Absolutely, has been a fantastic season. We're no longer the league whipping boys. Making the 8 and hopefully winning one final was about the mark for me, and we're way in front of that. Feel like this year we've learnt how to win home and away matches, learning to win finals and go all the way might take another season or two.

Absolutely. And you only have to look at many European countries where a mid-July increase plateaued and has now started to fall as it runs up against 80+% vaccination rates (amongst adults). Vaccines work. Here in France we have full crowds at the football again ... but they've all been vaccinated (or can show a negative test result for the few laggards). Next hurdle to get over is that schools return across Europe around now, and not all of those kids are fully vaxxed as 12 - 17 year olds have been last cab off the rank. Fingers crossed.

Agree - but we'll never know what he might have become had he landed at a stronger club with better leadership and development. Not excusing him, but it's clear that decisions and attitudes in the club at the time (e.g., moving on all the older players) around the Cameron Schwab era really set the club back. Those years in the wilderness weren't an accident.

"Former Melbourne Demons No. 1 draftee Jack Watts joins Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn on a special finals edition of the Inside 50 podcast, discussing his own tumultuous AFL career and the cultural revamp that has vaulted Melbourne into premiership favouritism. Watts was an extremely impressive junior athlete as both a footballer and a basketballer. Watts shared the court with the likes of Matthew Dellavedova and Andrew Bogut before ultimately choosing to pursue football, which led to him being the top selection for a success-starved Demons side. His first game against a red-hot Collingwood Magpies on the Queen's Birthday was one of the most anticipated debuts in AFL history. It was a baptism of fire for Watts, who was dropped the next week after a lacklustre showing against Essendon in the following round. Watts would go on to be a top-five finisher in the Demons' best and fairest award. He played 152 games for Melbourne before being traded to the Port Adelaide Power in 2018. Watts retired due to injuries following the COVID-affected 2020 season."

Really worth a listen. Depressing though what he - and others at the time - went through. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/inside-50-with-crawf-quinny/id1499492812

Fine if that's the case, but Bowey (I presume?) would be stiff.

Yes, keep up with them for speed ... but that's only half of "go with", and for the moment at least, Smith doesn't have the smarts.

Agree with your point, but Smith is a fringe player because of injuries, not necessarily because of ability. He just hasn't been able to play much footy over the last couple of years. The difference with Bowey, who has been able to put together a season's worth of matches (Covid notwithstanding) is fairly marked. Not a justification for playing Smith in the finals when both Hunt and Hibberd are available, but he's worth persevering with, at least for another season.

Not sure about Hibberd. He's out of the side for a reason, and it's Bowey who took Hibberd's place, not Smith - Smith came in for Hunt. From what we've heard, Hunt will probably be good to go, so presumably would come in for Smith. I do think we have the easier path to the Granny, would rather face Cats/GWS than either of the other two. Hard to see it not being a Port/Dees GF, whoever gets through next weekend is going to be cooked and coming up against a fresh/rested side. Port at home would be impassable I would have thought. And don't mind playing twice in the West, gives us a chance to build a temporary fan base. Need a few front page photos of the boys down at Scarborough beach, or posing with Dennis Lillee.

You''d think Hunt for Smith the only likely change (if Hunt ready). Though perhaps depends on whether Toby Green plays or not. Not sure about Tom Mac - Melksham has been a serial under-performer of late so not exactly banging the door down, and Weidemann would be a bit of a gamble I would have thought. Equally, got to think about who we might take into a grand final (yikes!), so would be the last chance to make changes. Speaking of grand final, if we make it suspect it will be against Port, so perhaps even that comes into play when thinking about lineups.

Decent player-by-player ratings here, hard to disagree. Tom Mac the only real non-performer, perhaps Smith but what do you do with Cameron? https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/melbourne-demons/afl-finals-2021-melbourne-demons-player-ratings-vs-brisbane-first-qualifying-final-reviews-stats-best-and-worst-players/news-story/2de934808b2d6d893f6d98f7e3b4d5d0?recommendedCount=0