3183 Dee

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?! 😂

And yet they still can’t get to 186 😂

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

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

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

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.

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?!

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.

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

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

@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.

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.

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