3183 Dee

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.

6 hours ago, Big Col said:

I'm expecting this

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

14 minutes ago, YearOfTheDees said:

At least their seconds are flying the flag, a white flag but a flag never the less.

And yet they still can’t get to 186 😂

Good to see Aaron Francis getting another crack - playing quite well.

4 minutes ago, DubDee said:

[censored] i hate the Cats

There’s just something about them that screams [censored] blokes!

Swans slicing the Cats up, but kicking worse than us!

22 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

No club will pay a first rounder for him, he has barely been playing for Freo.

I still want him though.

Fact of the matter is, we need a shake up. We need a more dynamic and potent list and an injection of players who can finish their work.

I'd be showing Harmes, Jordan, T-Mac, Melksham, Hibberd, Smith and Tomlinson the door in order to get a couple of trades,host of new talent and keep exposing our kids.

We are completely vanilla  at the moment. Shut down Oliver or Trac and we wilt. Pressure us and we wilt.  

Whilst Collingwood treated their players the wrong way, their hard decisions look to be paying off. They are a list with realy X factor, excitement and they have such a great blend of attributes all over the field.

For me, this sums it up: apart from the odd game, we have been a bit ‘meh’ for some time. It’s good that we have shored the defence up again, but it would be nice to see a bit of swashbuckle to go with it.

4 minutes ago, kev martin said:

 My voice isn't what I'd call, harmonious dulcet tones.

I also get a bit tangled when speaking and thinking.

Fair enough, mate - your written work is spot on.

Thanks again @kev martin - what’s super impressive (apart from your fantasy dedication to providing your Demonland compadres with training reports) is how you notice the differences and tweaks in the training sessions over the weeks. Maybe a weekly spot on the @Demonland podcast - whaddya think?! 

9 hours ago, Fanatique Demon said:

When I entered the MCG on King’s Birthday wearing my Melbourne scarf, a Collingwood supporting lady asked me why I wasn’t at the snow. I just said, because my Range Rover has broken down. She looked at me with a mixture of surprise and jealousy. (Of course, I don’t have a Range Rover. Nor have I ever missed a game because I was at the snow.)

I always say that any true Melbourne supporter will go to the snow mid-week to avoid rubbing shoulders with the riff-raff on weekends.

1 hour ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

Not enough love for Lachie Hunter's hit on Hoskin-Elliot (3.54 left in the first quarter). Was awesome. Too bad Grundy couldn't finish the work off. 

 

 

An absolute highlight, especially as it was preceded by an incredible spoil by McVee.

10 minutes ago, FearTheBeard said:

no, those tickets that were identified by ticketek went on sale two weeks ago and could only be accessed with a Melbourne member barcode (essentially to allow GA members who missed out to buy a reserved seat amongst our reserved seat members. In theory there will be no Collingwood in the tridents/Redlegs/demon seats plus areas unless a Melbourne member brings a Collingwood guest. 

@FearTheBeard Ah, that’s great - thanks for clarifying. 

12 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

I have no feeling either way about the game today, just hoping for the best. It's a beautiful sunny winters day however so I'm going to make the most of it. Mussels and frites washed down by some of the dark stuff should fortify me for the battle ahead. 

Anyone sitting in Tridents territory on L2 of the Olympic Stand should remind the people checking our tickets to enter our area that it is their job to make sure no opposition fans get in as our seats are non transferrable. I'm sick of oppo scumbags ruining my day. It's the only way they will get the message and do their jobs. 

 @Rab D Nesbitt - sorry to tell you that there will be Pies fans amongst us - even in Trident and Redlegs: in advance of this game, I added an extra seat to our family membership in Trident as I knew there was a spare seat available next to ours (KB is the one day that all our family goes to the footy together). I then got a call from the club on Thursday apologising profusely that whilst this seat would be ours for the remainder of the season, it would not be available for the Collingwood game, as Ticketek had identified it as vacant and already sold it! Hopefully it’s a Dees supporter that has got it, but past experience tells me otherwise. By the way, the club found us a seat directly in front of us, so not all bad.

Thanks @kev martin for all your training reports: an invaluable service to Denonland! Much appreciated mate.

3 hours ago, binman said:

The clip doesn't show my favorite bit of play from the Judster against the blues. 

He had the ball right on the boundary line, feinted and everyone around him seemed to just stop, perhaps thinking the ball had gone over the boundary line - which i exactly what i thought had happened watching live.

It was weird - normally players with the sort of natural time the judster has is the one who appears to be standing still, but in this instance, it was everyone else who stopped!

(I think the bit of play i'm talking about is actually the very first clip of the Judster in that video - and if so, is cut off right before the good bit)

That little baulk that he does is becoming a trademark move now. What I love about his play is his composure with ball in hand: everything around him seems to slow down when he has the ball - this sort of thing you can’t learn.

6 minutes ago, Chook said:

When games like this Port/Hawks clobbering pop up, who else besides me spends the whole thing doing mental gymnastics to figure out how far off the pace of 186 the the game is?

Invariably the likelihood of that margin being surpassed goes from slim to none pretty quickly. Man that was an atrocious sporting performance.

Just had the same thought!

A dreadful game - we have no zip at all, absolutely flat. Freo are terrible also - the Pies would have put these guys to bed already. 
 

Not sure where our lift is going to come from, but it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the year.

We have an important day today - my 6 year old nephew (Dad: Kangas, Mum: Carlton) has insisted to his parents that he barracks for the Dees like his cousins. Today will be his first game.

I’m not a boo-er, but If it puts him off his game, then yes.

I get that he was part of the Premiership team, but he decided to leave for the $. Had he been edged out like Oskar Baker or Hunty, it would be different. He’s a Freo player now

23 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

I hope they have enough 'buffer' Dees only bays around them. I'm not going to any KB game that they host in the future. 

If it was my decision I would do as PSV Eindhoven do for visiting fans to the Philips Stadion. Have them all arrive on a special train to a railway platform adjacent to the ground, herd them out through a tunnel into an upper corner of the ground that is surrounded by netting. Then make them wait for 2 hours after the game until the home fans have gone home. 

With a net over them, to stop missiles being thrown!

@Rab D Nesbitt If the Dees put on another meek KB show, I may be forced to channel my inner Millwall and fly the flag in the Trident area 😂