bing181

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

Not sure it would have helped. Smith at least has the speed. Can't help but feel that some of these selections are for the long term, getting experience into the younger players.

Just gaslighting of the first order from Gladys, you don't have to look very far to see the reality of what she's proposing. e.g., I'm in France where we have 80% of the over-50's and 60% of the rest of the adult population fully vaxxed - currently running at just under 30,000 cases per day with over 100 deaths. The health services are running at their limit, including intensive care. Just don't have a serious car crash. That's what "living with Delta" means. Comparing relative populations, that 30K would translate to around 11 - 12K cases per day in Australia. (Also, there are still plenty of restrictions here as well, especially inside, large gatherings etc.).

Not if you're one of the 100 who gets seriously ill, suffers long-term effects, or dies.

Yes. Name-calling and abuse is but the tip of a deep but insidious iceberg.

Fatality rate from TTS is falling as doctors etc. become more aware of it and better able to treat it. Rates are approaching 10% from what I've seen: i.e. fatal in 1 in 10 people who get TTS post AZ vaccination. People with more time on their hands than me can compare that to the risk of death from lightning strikes, car accidents or daily aspirin use. Tragic of course, but Covid takes no prisoners.

Great win, but not good for anyone that the Suns were so poor. They had a few good wins early on, but have really dropped away.

Looking forward to seeing Jake Bowey out there. They say a first-gamer always perks a team up, so hope that's the case.

Messiah syndrome.

Max provides some great insights into match play and structures, especially around centre bounces and clearances.

This.