Traja Dee

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).

Thanks so much for sharing; it brought back so many memories. Things I enjoyed seeing included some of my favorite childhood players: Robbie F, Gerard Healy, Alan Jarrott, Brian Wilson, Alan Johnson, Stephen Icke, Kelly O’Donnell, Steven Smith, Rohan Connolly I have to admit to spending 10 minutes thinking that 33 was Greg Healy. Of course, being 1983, it was Tony Elshaug, who ended up at Essendon. Other players who changed clubs include Gerard Healy and Glen McLean It was fun to see the MCG with the old Southern Stand with the wooden benches, the standing room behind the city goal and Vic Police as security. I don’t remember that game but I do remember a great win later in the season against the fancied Hawks in the sun at Princes Park, despite Steven Smith getting king hit and knocked out cold in the first quarter (no prizes for guessing the culprit). That win against Hawthorn put us in the top 5 for the first time in my life. Sadly, we fell away from the very next round. My favorite memory from this video was see Doug Haywood interview Robbie in the rooms after the game. Robbie seemed so formal compared to modern players. It made me reflect on what it would have been like to be coached by Ron Barrassi; I can imagine that even supremely talented, conscientious and loyal players like Robbie would have been under the thumb. Thanks for sharing.

I'm halfway listening to Gus and Gawny's interview with Jeff Farmer, who is idolised by almost all Demon supporters yet he made the same move to Freo in 2002 for similar sorts of reasons as Dogga. It's unfathomable that Dee supporters would boo Jeff and, for related reasons, I think that it would be a shame if Dee supporters boo Dogga. I'm no angel (maybe that's why I'm a Demon 😀) and I'll confess to premeditated booing of Shane Woewodin when he played for Collingwood from 2003 (even though he was nudged out of Melbourne, who actually paid part of his package at Collingwood). It didn't make me feel any better at the time; I'm actually rather ashamed of it now that I look back on it. I can't recall booing any ex-Melbourne players since. That's my view - each to their own.

Let’s give Petty a huge cheer with every touch

I’m expecting that they’ll skip the fireworks, at least, when the players run out. i think it would be fitting to play God Save the King in addition to Advance Australia Fair. (Embarrassed that I had to recall if it’s Fare or Fair)

Hey hells bells - I've just sent your a PM

OK, my understanding is that it is similar to the "deliberate out of bounds rule" in the mens' competition though the following differences: Basically, it is awarded against the team who had a clean kick, even if only slightly missed an obvious target. This is even if the ball is kicked under pressure. It only applies between the 50m arcs. If the ball spills off the pack or is touched, then it's merely a throw-in. If the ball goes out of bounds inside a 50m arc, it's a throw-in (unless it's deliberate out of bounds). The field umpire signals a free kick by waving his/her arm above his head, as though winding a lasso - hence the "lasso" rule reference. The intention is to help the game to flow and to reduce stoppages by reducing the number of throw-ins. I'm not sure if that covers all of the technical aspects but that's my understanding at a high level.

Thanks Bobby and Lord. I don't see how you get to 81.8% when dividing 12 into 19 (i.e. (19-7)/19 = 63%). Maybe I'm misunderstanding the definition of Disposal Efficiency. As a sweeper, Saad just didn't feel anywhere near as potent as Salem, Rich or Caleb Daniel.

2 things I've been thinking about since Saturday night. Adam Saad got many possessions as a sweeper though he rarely seemed to find a target. I saw one DL post criticizing Nibbler for not containing Saad better though, whether by accident or not, Saad didn't do much damage (IIRC). Secondly, having watched the last 2 minutes a few times, I can't help but feel that Carlton botched not 1, not 2 but 3 contested marks. (1 on our HBF when 2 Blues spoiled each other, 1 on our HFF when 3 Blues and BBB resulted in the ball over the boundary line, and Melky's mark in the goal square when he just read the flight better than 3 tall Blues who outnumbered Melky and Lingers and only had to spoil). For the Blues to get 0/3 from these plays was a lucky break for us. Then again, you can say that they lost their nerve under pressure. These are just 3 of numerous plays during a 4Q game and I wish I had the time and equipment to study a whole game play by play. If only we had statistics on this sort of thing. Talking of statistics, I went looking for Saad's disposal efficiency but found none. Does anyone have access to this and back up my first statement?

Sean Wight kicked one of the most spectacular goals I've ever seen in AFL / VFL football. In this play on a grey day at the MCG, he was one-out with his opponent in the goal square when a Melbourne player kicked to the top of the square from about 45m out from the forward flank. The ball was sailing over the heads of Sean and his opponent, heading for a behind, when Sean stuck his foot out and volleyed the ball through for a goal! 🤪 Amazing. The fans erupted, as you'd imagine. Unfortunately, the game wasn't televised so the highlight wasn't recorded and kept for posterity. A great shame. I've since watched a bit of soccer and seen one or 2 of these volleys from long-range passes; take Tim Cahill's goal against the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup as an example. Maybe Sean's soccer background sowed the seeds for his audacious play though it was mind-blowingly novel to us footy fans in the 1980's.

This was compelling reason for someone like me, who started following Melbourne in 1976. Thank you! Apart from saying thanks, I'm making a comment to ensure that it remains on the front page of Demonland so that others don't miss it, like I nearly did. While these rankings are always subjective, I can't say that I vehemently disagree with any so far. I'll be interested in the top 20 as I feel that our best 22 in 2021 was almost our best 22 since 1976. In other words, any other retired player (ex-1976) would struggle to get a game in 2021 by playing in their true position; for example, I rate Max a better player than Jim Stynes. My exceptions up front are Robbie Flower (in for Gus Brayshaw), Garry Lyon (at his prime in for BBB), David Neitz (c.f. Tom McDonald) and maybe the 1994 version of David Schwartz.

... that can’t be unseen!

The absence of opposition fans baying for tiggy-touch free kicks was refreshing. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed watching last night's game, which possibly reflects my preference for high-level skills, athleticism and game plans over crowd atmosphere. Mind you, I was bored after 3 quarters of Richmond getting away with slapping the ball upwards (against the rules back in the day) and their flukey goal kicking.

Mark and Trevor are working for the Demons this year, dealing with elite mindset. They’ve created a company called SALT, which stands for Speaking and Leading Truth. i for one was unaware of this until I saw the photos. Indicates that plenty of stuff occurs in the background that we fans don’t get to see, not that we should expect anywhere near 100% transparency anyway.

My one reservation about appointing Max to the skipper-gig is that he's also often our most important player on the field, hence the double Bluey's. I agree that, from the outside, he comes across as a strong leader and great example on and off the field for the team. On the other hand, he's the player other teams are most likely to target. The ideal candidate, IMHO, is a dependable role player who connects well with the team and set a good example but only needs to play a role on the field. Good examples include Tom Harley (rather than Gary Jnr or Jimmy Bartel in that Geelong team) and Nick Maxwell (rather than Dane Swan). Based on this logic, I'd probably lean toward Jack Viney though admit that his on-field performance in 2019 was disappointing along with his media skills.