Demon17

45 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

The dilemma for the Cats is whether to keep their chip-and-possession game, rack up the wins at Kardinia, and get walloped in finals again.

Or change to a more bruising finals-ready style and have their senior citizens beaten up every week, then get walloped in the finals.

Surety the whole prelim finals record would be a signal to them that change is needed. Cats and media see this as a badge of honour. Sen callback yeyerday had plenty of calls about not renewing a membership etc. Unless change comes. 

3 minutes ago, ignition. said:

Funny you mention that. Recently I was offered a lucrative contract, ~salary increase of ~35%, by a competing company. Without a doubt I ummed and arrhhed. I had ZOOM meetings with key figures in the USA and Germany along with the local GM. They seemed like a nice bunch of people to work with. However, this week I formally rejected the offer despite my current employer being unable to match it (they did provide some additional incentive but it was far far less lucrative).

In the end I chose to stay for several reasons. My current employer is far bigger with many more long-term career pathways. I also consider the products and services we sell to be some of the best in the market, so they better suit my values when working with customers and clients. In the end I figured I'd be happier with my current company and colleagues as opposed to going to a smaller name in the market with few career options and products not as well established. Call my stupid for turning down such an offer but I'm pleased with my decision.

On the note of Cerra, he was coming home regardless. I feel at the Dees he had guaranteed development, culture, and success in front of him. He opted to go for the larger salary and unsupported promises. I question if he has the ultimate drive to win a premiership or if he's merely looking to stretch out his high-paying career for as long as possible.

He opted for what he could get and the team he could get to for acceptable money and coming home.

Dees were never ever a chance. A deal is 2-way and we had nothing to offer.  Everyone's happy at Demonland (to quote Luke Dunstan and to watch the premiership celebrations)

But Cerra will always think what might have been I guess. Good luck to him though.

42 minutes ago, KingDingAling said:

. Cerra isn’t a dominant impactful player, he is more of a “nice” player. Hewitt is a good pick up, but he is what he was at Sydney - midfield depth. 

Good call.

Kane Cornes raised this issue yesterday.  Cerra and Hewitt can't simply go to thr Blues and be  nice players doing a role. They must become bona fide stars fro what they are on and what the Blues have given up.

. I think he referenced some melb players in comparison, Trac and another, but I may be wrong. I have never seen so many A-graders in the one Dees team as we have now. Its incredible to contemplate 2022.

5 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

I think our young midfielders should see this for exactly what it is.  The we are the premiers, trying to backup and go again and that just because they may potentially represent part of an ongoing sucessful future for us, it won't just be handed to them on a platter, they have to earn it.

At this point, I think the acquisition of Luke could be such a boon for the club.  Essentially he's replaced Jones and AVB on the list with a younger more reliable body.  With no disrespects, those guys probably wouldn't have competed for spots next season and would have been somewhat of a downgrade as depth.  Plenty of examples of quality players on the outer at their original club who became regular good contributors at another club.  Tom Rockcliff is just one recient one that comes to mind.  Brent Maloney to some extent is another.

Having this depth across all lines is such a valuable asset to our team and if players really value playing in another premiership, then having to compete for spots, spending substantial time in the VFL is something that they will need to accept or else go chase the money and an easy ride somewhere else. 

How good was it being able to replace Tomlinson with a ready made near elite young talent in Petty early in the season.  If we hadn't had Harry toiling away in the VFL learning his trade and ready to step up for action when Tommo went down, that could have put a serious dent in our finals, let alone premiership campaign.  Similarly Bowey who barely got a look-in all year senior selection wise, in for Hunt.  That's how all these up and commers like Jordon, Weid, Laurie, Bedford, Baker, Chandler  etc need to be looking at it.

At the end of the day the compeditive, selfless type of player we want values playing in a premiership team more than getting top dollar or easy game time.  That appears to be the judgement call that Luke has made here, along with the reassurance from Richo, Goody and Co, that they have some belief in what he can bring to the team and a willingness to give him a go if he plays the way the team needs him to.

Thanks. I feel better and your post should be compulsory reading.

1 hour ago, layzie said:

During the Brownlow an old friend messaged to say "Wines wins a Brownlow, you guys got Toumpas"

I'm not kidding when I say this was the first time I thought about this that night, it literally hadn't crossed my mind. I told him I'm sure Port and Wines would prefer to be playing in a GF that week. 

Wines actually said that in his brownlow interview.

Brownlow or norm smith. ?

No contest.

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Luke Dunstan this morning on SEN Breakfast 

"The chatter will probably be 'you're not going to get a game, you'll be in the twos' but I'm going to back myself in.

"Speaking to Goody, he really focused on my strengths... and I'm excited to be a part of a happy group that are playing good footy and winning games."

Thanks for this.

Imagine the difference in culture and , as he hinted, happiness, compared to the Saints locker room.

Got to be part of his thinking. The finals confirmed the potential dynasty next 4-5 years that everypne can see coming.

Why not try and be a part of that in the back end of a career?

11 hours ago, rpfc said:

Great. Luke is coming for his spot.

I trust Jason Taylor and the team for sure  but I wonder what the young midfielders (potentially) see in this given they have proven themselves already. Dunstan is walking into a superlative team and I can't see how this makes us better.

Depth is everything  and we are down one with Nathan Jones gone so maybe its just that. 

27 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Dunstan will have to be able to play a HFF role to be able to get games in the midfield rotation. He would back himself to be better than all mids we have outside of the holy trinity.

The desire to ‘play Sparrow over him’ holds no water with me. Why? You want to win? Or are we still gifting games?? Why can’t Tom win his spot against Luke.

He can and he will. Proven premiership standard contributor. 

1 hour ago, Dwight Schrute said:

the first goal from Petracca was super given the whole team was nervous and it felt like an "Okay, we're on" moment and i think it shook the dogs a bit

Fantastic call DS.

I felt that we needed to be 'on' from the start, being used to giving away big leads early in seasons past.

Trac's goal said ' here we go', who says we'll be lethargic after 1 game in 28 days crap.

  and my nerves settlled from then on. 

16 hours ago, monoccular said:

a Norm Smith!   why stop at one?

Sounds as if he has had a good apprenticeship - can one pick up enough in one year from the master?  Could he even outmaster the master? (No pressure, Selwyn)

Reasonable transition period and smart management by Pert and others to identify the successor so far out. Burgess was great but he had whole -of- team buy in also, so should work out OK.

19 hours ago, DubDee said:

Meanwhile at Bailey Smith’s Instagram page....

Not related to this thread but I was struck how poor a runner Bailey Smith was after half Time.   No chasing even in the forward line. Noticed these sort of minor details after a dozen or so watches.

Langdon, named by Kane Cornes today as the league's best gut runner, seemed to be on his own all last 1/4, and deep into 3rd.

11 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Im not so sure about Leigh Montagna, he was the first one along with Matt Rendell to realise the Demons potential stating that they could win the flag after round 2-3.

Can't believe Rendell jumped off in the completely after the Prelim, Montagna stayed the course.

 

Your'e right on Montagna 4th Ages.  but in analysis he was strong on the ' how to stop lever '  theory as if that was the solution to beating the Dees.  Not how good the talent was across the ground, and that nobody had really unlocked the ability to do it anyway.

19 hours ago, FritschyBusiness said:

Completely agree with you about LLoyd. He has become one of my favorite people to listen to over the last year or so. 

I didn't hear Kane serve Burgess earlier in the year but have heard him praise him very highly many a time this year.
Burgess was at Port when Kane was playing and when they won their flag in 04 

The theme of his earlier comments was that Burgess was good but won't add anything special that others can't. And mentioned the Blues fitness coach as the best around.  It was part of his commentary on the ' times up for delivery' and suspected they may not.

26 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Oliver's at the end of the third. Jackson runs in looking like he got that bike for Christmas that he asked Santa for but thought he wouldn't get. The Sparrow runs in looking like his lost puppy has come back home. Sheer joy!

Sparrow is an unbelievable cheerleader on the ground.  He jumps in the air and just loves seeing a team mate do something great. 

Watch his celebration after max's running goal in the Prelim I think.

3 hours ago, JTR said:

Fritschs 2nd from the run in 3rd quarter.

Snapped me back to the reality that the sky was not falling and we were still in it.

This one by JTR.  It had BT out of his tree and energised the team from any self-doubt. And it was fed of a Trac clearance signalling his intent to deliver. 

Then daylight.

But i can think of 4 or 5 you could argue.

13 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

One of the biggest fruit loops to ever manage a club list, just goes to show you how theses peanuts can make a living for so long.

Completely no idea whatsoever. The Premiership just goes to show it why he is not in clubland anymore.

The premiership was wrapped up with the recruitment of Jackson, Kosi and Rivers in 2019.

No club will be able to live with us for the next 5 years or until they can nullify our once in a lifetime 1-2 combination of Gawn and Jackson in the Ruck.

Now stick that in your pipe and smoke it Buccky.

I'd love to hear his evaluation of our list now the stupid fool.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

There are a number of media types now with seriously damaged analytical reputatiosn, or better known as wise-after-the-event types.

One is NOT Matthew Lloyd. He has been usually on us this year and consistent into all finals against others on various panels he's on. The boys on Kayo/Fox have been very good/accurate too - Healy, Brown, Reiwoldt (and Lyon obviously)

But those now on the fringe are IMO

Ross Lyon, Kane Cornes, David King, Leigh Montagna, Brownless, Brereton, 

Kane Cornes gave it to Darren Burgess earlier this year claiming he was over-rated as the best fitness guy around and doesn't do anything special (on SEN around Feb/March)

Sucked up nicely to him last week though.

1 hour ago, rjay said:

A lot of talk in the media (David King prime example) was about shutting down Lever & how by doing that the Dogs would well on the way to shutting down Melbourne.

Lever was serviceable, they put a lot of work into him but others stepped up...Salem for one, Petty, Rivers, Bowey.

It's been a balanced team defence all season, whole of ground...why would a so called expert come out with such dribble.

The GF defence was a very even contribution (Salem the standout) with great assistance as usual from Brayshaw & Langdon.

 

Good call on this. This is the key take-out from the season and the GF Rjay.

Just how do you stop the Dees now.  Sure, shutting down Lever seems obvious, anyone could tip this (even King), but then what happens next? Lever's great, but not THE key.

No-one is.  Its the team defence 'stupid', as they say, to paraphrase Bill Clinton. That's the key.

To your comments I would add how often do we see Neal-Bullen and even Spargo in the last line. Heaps.

Same goes for forwards. Up to 1/2 time in the Prelim we had 8 separate goalkickers for the 9 goals.

2022 will be fascinating to watch how other teams now try to address the new standard to defeat the Dees given the huge self-belief the team will now have and their drive to do it again at the 'G'

6 hours ago, CP38and3 said:

Evidently I've missed the mark here. I am not this Craig bloke tho.

Fair enough if you think it would be cringe, what is the reason for that? 

Is it too foreign? I too don't want AFL to become too americanised but you cant tell me that the AFL cheer squad chants are much chop (melbourne *clap clap clap*)

Welcome and first post sure ignited some interest. 

I have never undetstood the INXS thing at port games. They are a perth band originally and the lyrics just pander to power's inadequacy and outdated us against them mentality. IMO.

Leave it all down to the grand ol flag. And if the trumpeter ever resurfaces, as the great Terry Wallace said once  "...I'll spew up..." and take out a restraining order.

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Those long arms look superb when he takes a grab

4 frees for.  3 of those were for chopping the arms.

Keath was out of his depth.

11 hours ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Maybe covered already but...

From 1 min to go in 3rd until 18 min to go in 4th

3 mins of elapsed time. Stats:

MELB: 13 K, 11 HB, 2 Mk, 5 Goals

WB: 1 HB

 

Of all the stats on here, this is one of the best, and thinking about it seems almost impossible.

24 possessions and 5 goals?

BT mentioned another  short period during tha game that Oliver and Petracca combined stats equalled the whole dogs team.

16 hours ago, Swooper1987 said:

Absolute lock we'll get North once in Tassie; Geelong twice with a trip to Kardinia Park; Eagles once only but in Perth.  Premiership or not, that is our lot in life!

Quite possibly true Swooper, but nevertheless keep your Friday nights free for the upcoming 2022 season for our numerous prime time slots.

Not just because wer'e so good,  but its a great style of game to watch with superstars on every line.

Advertisers will love us.

Strange and unusual feeling. Especially now Kardinia Park and Optus are our fortresses.

8 hours ago, ANG13 said:

Not for me, it’s ground hog day here. Just turned the tv on and on Fox Footy Grand Final replay 11.10 to go in the third qtr. I think I might watch it. 

The most important 17 minutes in the club's history as BT described it.

Watched it twice today. Watch kossie. He tackles weightman and forces turnover to Bowey who kicks to Brayshaw. Then shepherds doggies no.5 to protect Trac when kicking his goal from the pocket.

Only multiple viewing helps pick out these little gems. 

1 hour ago, Wrecker46 said:

I have on very good authority his partner was very divisive. North wanted her out more than him.

We just won the premiership but that is why we got him in a fire sale. 

 

She had every right to be. Kangas behaviour was less than sympathetic.

4 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Professional sportspeople play to win the ultimate prize. Of course she was wrong. Journalists love to go off early and make ridiculous statements, more should be called out when incorrect. 

If she was genuine, rather than seeking a good headline, she would have referred to the breakdwon in the Brown/Kangas relationship due to unreasonable demands made re: brown and Hub life in 2020.

He was always leaving. Just to whom , and we got him.

10 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

 

I’d argue Gawn is the first A grade ruck to win a flag since Brad Ottens at the Cats a decade ago. 

 

Good call. I'm surprised Ottens doesnt get more air time on this. He was the differnece for the Cats in the 07 finals, prior to the GF. When off the ground they struggeld and he got them over the line in the Prelim.