Traja Dee

It's available on the AFLW app at least. Watched it last night.

Hey Sam, As a fan who started watching Melbourne in 1976, I agree with all of the responses. I have two more points to add. Firstly, the period from 1977 to 1986 were dark days with two wooden spoons and nothing close to a finals appearance. It was tough being a Melbourne supporter of primary school age. One bright spot was that Robbie was a standout on the Handball competition on Channel 7's World of Sport. Each week, two footballers would come into the studio to compete in a knockout competition, aiming at a target with 5 handballs on one side of their body and then 5 on the other side. Robbie was a standout in that competition and won at least twice. One one hand, it was both consolation and affirmation for this young Melbourne fan. On the other hand, it represents his standout skills. Secondly, Robbie was my absolute idol as he displayed so many qualities. Unlike many footballers in the 1970s, he was totally fair and never went the biff. He was totally loyal to the Melbourne Football Club. And he was generous with this time and had no hesitation in posing for a photo with me at Federation Square at Melbourne's 150th Anniversary celebration in 2008. Of all of the celebrities who have died in my lifetime, his passing was the only one that made me shed a tear. When I grow up, I want to be like Robbie.

Another beautifully written report. One sight during the third quarter that I’ve never seen at the MCG before was the massive flock of red tailed, black cockatoos. There must have been at least 50. Surely there’s a metaphor there; just within my creative abilities. Thanks again!

I'm going out on a limb here to admit that I was surprised to see both coaches assign BOG to Max. As much as I love Max, and I now place him as my second favourite demon in my lifetime, behind Robbie, I thought that his game on Sunday, from Q1 to Q3, was only average and not the high standards that we've come to love and respect. Why I say this: He wasn't quite clunking his marks in the first 3 quarters, unlike the last quarter when he marked everything. I recall the commentators reporting that Melbourne was behind in the contested marks stat, which I put down to Max having an average game to that point and to Harry having a quiet game. The Brisbane midfield were doing an annoying good job at sharking his hit outs. In hindsight, I sensed a big momentum shift in the game around the middle of Q3, which may have coincided with Aiden having a run in the ruck. I sense that running Aiden in the ruck in the middle of Q3 was a key pivot to the game. It's as though his intensity and grunt was one of the factors that knocked the Lions over. And on that point, it's great that we have an alternative ruck like Aiden who contrasts as sharply as Max. Keen to hear other thoughts.

Eddie McGuire and Kochy are available. Maybe we could recruit either of them to negotiate the Caulfield training base with a megaphone.

@Demonland, Heads up that Lingers may be a bit offended by the confusion with Langford. That said, I love reading these match reports and marvel at the consistent high quality of analysis and prose, particularly the metaphors - thanks!

Loved the extension of the ER metaphor. Here’s hoping that the team’s form can rise to similar heights.

Hi @binman, can you please give the name of the stats podcast you replayed on this week's episode. The concept was fascinating and I'd like to hear it again. Thanks for the show - it's wonderful escapism for me and many other tragic Dees, particularly after a win.

Hey Demon Army, I’m loving the blue helmets. Well played!!

😀 Loving the banter. Hope that the post didn't touch a raw nerve with a Demon making do in Sydney. Personally, I'm fascinated by what goes into making a team perform. Even the 1s glimpse of the team walking across a busy road together to get to the training oval paints a picture of how they train, similar to the slope that Neale Daniher's Demons completed their pre-season training back in the 1990's. For example, I lapped up Selwyn Griffith's presentation in last week's info session and Darren Burgess and Peter Bruckner's podcast (Brukie and Burgo, which was last updated in Aug-22). The Swans' "Inside Sydney" video, IMO, was along the lines of the info session but in a far more engaging style. Others may prefer what the MFC serve up for comms, which I find bland and mostly opaque to varying degrees. (Last week's info session was interesting though rather dry).

This Swans video popped up on my YouTube feed last night. I normally couldn't care less about other clubs' business and wouldn't go out of my way but I watched this one as it was right there in my feed. I have to admit that it's very impressive. Things that I liked on a single viewing: It shows what the team is working on pre-Christmas. I was interested to see that the fitness drills are fairly general pre-Christmas to identify where individual players should focus post-Christmas. It has snippets of skill and agility drills, which is much more than the circle-work, match-sim and goal kicking that the MFC comms department offers to us. It showed drills inside their fitness facility. I'm not sure that I've ever seen what takes place inside these big gyms other than weights. It showed how the players move as a team from their training facility to their outside oval, which I presume is somewhere in Moore Park. It's akin to our boys having to walk from AAMI Park to Gosch's though the MFC comms team don't show that. It had some informative sound bites from some of the fitness coaches. Also interesting to see Brodie Grundy's high profile in the video - he's obviously a designated marketing tool and possibly portrayed as their white knight. That said, I also looked out for JJ though came away thinking that I'd struggle to recognise him if he's not wearing 23 on his back - poor me 🙃. I'm now wishing I had raised the issue of MFC Comms at last night's AGM; comms to supporters is such an important tool for clubs that trade on emotions. Watching this Swans video made me realise the significant marketing opportunity for our MFC.

BRING BACK MARK NEELD! Clearly catastrophising here. It’s so sad that such a talented team is struggling to take marks, hit targets, lay tackles, play footy.

What stood out to me was how much Adelaide dominated clearances in the second quarter and most of the third. I’m slack as I’ve only watched the AFLW team once live since the start of last season (last year’s QF), but I do enjoy watching most weeks on Kayo. My observation is that we usually smash opposition teams in clearances, getting the ball to the outside and then using run and carry through the middle third. That’s why I was amazed to see us so comprehensively beaten in the clearances for almost 2 consecutive quarters in which we only just scored once. As an avid football watcher, I’m fascinated by what makes one midfield better than another in clearances; I have theories but no definite answers. I made the mistake of telling friends that I thought after Round 1 that we’d go through the season undefeated. I suspect that I’ll cop it from those same friends. But it makes sense that history could repeat itself from last year when we responded so well from that one loss. Go Dees

I started following Melbourne in about 1976 when I was 8. One thing I appreciated about Robbie in particular was that he was a recurring champion of the Handball Competition on World of Sport on Sunday mornings. His accuracy on both sides was uncanny. it was one of the few times in that era when Melbourne entered a contest with genuine confidence. A huge thrill for this young lad.

Oops. I meant Chris Connolly. I remember that Melbourne launched 3 quality centre players in 3 years: 1. Brian Wilson in 1981 (Brownlow) 2. Tony Elshaug in 1982 3. Chris Connolly in 1983. I thought at the time that we were on a sure thing with Slug Jordan and the recruiters (Brian Wilson coming from North Melbourne).