3183 Dee

We were that banged up in finals, that we were going to fall short, regardless. That said, we took it to both Sydney and Brisbane, but were ultimately unable to last the games out. As Yze mentioned recently, the aim is Top 4 in the H&A season - then you get a chance to “knock on the door” (as his mentor, Al Clarkson said). Whatever happens after that, happens. You just have to give yourself the best chance.

Yet here we are, two games clear inside the Top 4…

A good list will only get you so far - Carlton are a case in point: they’ve had, I think, the most number 1 picks aside from the expansion clubs and have returned nothing for it over the past 20 years.

That’s incredible really - massive kudos to Goody and it puts everything into perspective when we, as a collective, are often keen to get on his back at the first sign of a defeat. As Yze said recently: the goal every year for the H/A season is Top 4. After that, whatever happens, happens. But if you can get that Top 4 finish AND build a model of footy that is geared towards finals then you give yourself the best chance. I realised recently that I was getting frustrated and disappointed by narrow victories: I wanted to think that the 2021 GF was the model going forward. I now realise that we just need to get the wins, whether or not they are perfect. With this change in mindset, I really enjoyed being at the game yesterday: my take was that we were challenged 3 or 4 times by a very good team and not once did we relinquish our lead. Yes, there were some clangers, yes there was some iffy disposal but watch the highlights and you’ll see some great free-flowing Melbourne footy (more than I realised) and a team of players that give everything. Which is what all supporters want at the end of the day, isn’t it?

My thoughts: - Glad to take the win: as supporters, we have to get over hoping that each game is going to be like the 2021 GF. - Adelaide are a good team, no mistake. Their field kicking and marking was first rate. No doubt they’ll be at the pointy end soon. - We desperately need some quality kicks in our front half. - Tommo was great today, Maysie was poor, looks hampered still. - Kozzie is finding form: some of his work today was sublime. - Poor BBB looks cooked. - Viney is having his best season. - I’d give Hunter a spell at Casey - his distribution has been pretty poor recently, especially as we recruited him for i50 delivery. - Some very ordinary umpiring decisions in that last quarter. - Glad to have shut up an increasingly obnoxious Crows fan next to us on 2A, who was getter louder with each drink 😂 Well done Dees - not perfect, but another win chalked off. We stayed the course.

They have a great team spirit…gosh, I’d like to smack them in finals.

It’s often referred to in match reports as a major, as in Petracca booted 10 majors in the 2023 Grand Final.

I reckon the Pies will roll Port tonight.

Was thinking the same - Pies look very relaxed, Port look nervous as anything.

“We are the danger” 😂

That had nothing to do with the game - he had his Roaming Brian mic on in the toilet.

That was the legendary Scottish defender Alan Hansen, wasn’t it Rab? 😂

Couldn’t agree more. I just watched the Ch. 7 highlights - the enthusiasm from commentary box could not have been more one-sided towards the Lions: it’s bizarre. I’m not usually too concerned with what those numpties say, but it’s starting to grind my gears.

Yes - they’re powering through the works. Caulfield is very accessible - was it also not once part of our metro zone (along with Elsternwick, Ormond, Bentleigh etc)? Plus, selfishly speaking, it’s only a short hop from the old 3183!

No - nothing was said: I guess the pod would have been done earlier this week.

I agree - and also love the @Demonland podcast for a more in depth look. It would be fun to hear some “cross pod” action: I think Naughtsie was once on the Demonland pod to talk about his Merger podcast, but how about @binman on the DeeBrief for a show?!

Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but the DeeBrief podcast has just done an interview with Aden Yze - I think it’s only on the Premium version. He was pretty candid with his info - some of the key take outs: - They definitely had a loading period over the past few rounds, with Yze likening it to a mini pre-season. He said they had targeted the consecutive 10 day breaks to put the load into players. - They are going to play Trac almost exclusively in the forward line, with Brayshaw coming up to midfield. He said that they trust Viney and Brayshaw to lead the midfield. They will also give Kozzie some centre bounces to get his hands on the ball. Apparently Kozzie had been sick after Alice Springs and so had not trained fully up to the Saints game. He was also tagged heavily during last week’s game. - The aim is to finish Top 4 every year, whilst we have this list. He described it as having a chance to knock on the door and whatever happens after that, happens. He explained that this was a theme that Clarko used at the Hawks. Yze also said that he thinks our finals series of 2021 was unbelievable and doubts whether it will ever be repeated (as in the total dominance of our opponents). - He also made mention of the fitness and medical team, saying that they are fantastic. He used the example of Salem being able to return to AFL level without having to come back through Casey.

I find it very stressful to watch on TV or listen to radio coverage, much more so than at the game. However, with the sound off, it’s weirdly less stressful. If they could give an option for just the crowd noise, it’d be perfect for me. The Ch7 commentary is largely moronic, it’s more like WWF than AFL.

By the way, fantastic turn out from Dees fans tonight: it felt like 50/50 on Tier 3 and the trains home. Also, well done to the Demon Army, who kept the noise going all game.

They’re a bloody good side - play with a lot of freedom and fun.

You gotta hope there is some kind of plan afoot….

Pretty sure I heard on the radio at 4pm that Oliver had failed the big fitness test - clearly he was gutted and doesn’t agree!

It’s hard, because the effort and endeavour are both there - no question. The defence is looking great - McVee has been a revelation and Salem is getting back to his best. The problem, as I see it is twofold: 1. Our bottom 6 aren’t good enough anymore. In 2021, we prided ourself on the evenness of our squad. Now, the likes of ANB, Chandler, Spargo, Harmes are busting a gut at the contest but offer very little else on a regular basis. (To be fair, Chandler had a great start to the season). There is no impact from them other than contest which means… 2…our forward line is an absolute mess: Kick to the top of the square, two of our blokes fly for the same ball with three of their guys, ball hits the deck, rugby maul, rugby maul, rugby maul, someone has a wild shot, ball goes out for a point. Rinse and repeat. Until we get players that can deliver better ball into 50, better quality forwards working to a smarter plan, all the huff and puff and 1%ers are meaningless.

You can’t fault the effort or the contested work BUT forward of centre is dreadful. Lumping the ball to a congested goal square will sometimes work IF you have the quality smalls to crumb and score. We don’t have those smalls. We have a serious problem with our forward personnel. We’re not a bottom 6 side as some on here would have it, but we are a fair way off the likes of Brisbane, Port and Collingwood this year. What’s the solution? With Fritsch likely out for some time, the coaches will need to radically change things up now. However, the seeming lack of creativity to fix the forward line woes, would suggest we will still keep bombing it in. On a positive note - Viney was great, McVee fantastic again and a very good first game back for Bowey.

We flick the switch or our lights go out?! 😂