Maldonboy38

Maxxy!!! Stuff me dead.

Trac, Clarry, Side Show Bob. Brilliant.

Viney - epic. Lat 5 minutes - tired May - get him off Danger - should be fined for staging Gawn is continually being held - no frees Me - loving this but nervous.

Kicks off the ground, ball bouncing around uncontrolled, ends up in as chaos ball goal to Cats. Pure [censored]. Their basic method has been ineffective.

Loving it so far, so many highlights. Harmes' gut work has been amazing. And the Trac - wow!

Been slaving away over a crowbar, rake, shovel and mattock for a whole heap of today. Shower - done, and now... the wait. I actually feel really pumped. At this time of year I'm usually reading carp about Demonlanders wanting to trade some other club gun for 2 Skyhoooks vinyls and a discount voucher at the Salvo stores. This year, I get to watch a really good Dees unit give the finals a crack. Nervous, yes, but it feels goooood! We're playing in a prelim and we are a dead set chance or winning. Don't get me wrong, there will soon be plenty of moaning, hands thrown in the air, angry spittle flying at 360 degrees, Geelong abuse and many other standard behaviours of a Dees fan, but I'm loving this. Carna Dees - rip 'em apart. .... is it game time yet?

Great game of footy, some tough desperate football in the last 5 minutes. But I can't see either of them beating Port. As for the Lions, they seem to lose games in the same way. Cameron gets off the leash in the first quarter, the other team changes their defensive mindset in the midfield denying Cameron time and space to roam freely, and he shows the limits of his game. Other team comes over the top. Dogs very good in a tight game. The umpires seemed to be rewarding incidental contact, but I have to admit, on most of those occasions, the Dogs were first to the ball.

If we play our best, and Geelong play theirs, it's a 4 goal win to the Dees. To put it simply, in 2021 we are a better side. The issue for me is that Selwood, Hawkins and Tuohy can be magnificent end-of-game players. They stank it up big time in our Round 22 match but I can't accept they will be that bad twice. With Duncan, Eva and Tuohy in, it does change the nature of their ball movement. We will win the midfield, and our defence should be good enough to cover their forwards. It comes down to our forward team pressure and goal kicking accuracy. Get this right, we win. This week is going to be interminable....

In the short term, I see Tomlinson returning to the 3rd tall, and Petty taking TMac's place. Petty trained as a forward before Tomlinson went down and I reckon he has a huge upside when returning there. We have a huge amount of Casey players who are backmen who are in form or showing potential but aren't currently getting a game, and our midfield stocks look strong with the rise of Sparrow and Jordon. We will probably lose Weideman so we probably need to trade or recruit another tall forward, and a medium marking forward if anything happens to Fritsch. Can't see what our list actually needs apart from these 2 things.

I usually hate media conferences, and rarely watch the post-game media conference with Goodwin. So little is said that actually matters. This one with Gus was just so different. A footballer who actually thinks before answering a question and doesn't excessively mention "the boys" is a rare thing.

All the free kicks have been there, the last one a bit iffy. He is playing in front or first to the ball in the wet. Of course he will get free kicks. Dumb defence of a small forward by the Bombers.

Devon Smith is a hyper-whinging sniper. A deep loathing is quickly emerging.

Bont and Libba starting to light up.

Bulldogs defensive running is appalling!

Essendon dominating, about 65% time ball in hand = 1 goal 4 behinds. Dogs looking pretty much all at sea for most of it = 2 goals 1 behind. If Dogs get their game going (no guarantees) they will romp home. Bombers re sprinting and kicking and doing all the stuff but look unable to captalise.

TMac had a poor game, but we won a Qualifying final by 33 points, and the forward line as a unit looked as potent as it has all year. No way he gets dropped.

Re Ross Lyon - "I doubt you're getting traded to Carlton any time soon". That gave me a good chuckle.

Have to edit my opinion about TMac. For most of the night I thought he was with Harris Andrews, trying to keep him from intercepting. Having re-watched a lot of the game, it turns out that Andrews was on Brown, and he simply had a shocker. Brown had his measure in almost every contest, and Andrews was struggling to figure out where to stand or what to guard. This also means that simply put, TMac had a shocker. No way do we drop him though.

1. Robbie Flower coming onto the ground in his first final v Swans 1987. This is still the loudest moment I have witnessed as a Dees supporter. "Robbiiiieeee!". It was my first time seeing the Dees in a final, and my ears are still ringing. 2. Mitch Hannan goal 2018 Elimination Final. I couldn't talk for 2 days. 3. 2000 Qualifying final versus Carlton. 4. Gawn's goal after the siren round 22 2021. Epic.

Now THERE'S a reference to the past that was unexpected. Dean Terlich! One of Paul Roos' first decisions was to delist him, from memory. Boy, have we come a fair way since those days.

Viney talked about role-playing being at the heart of the 2021 Dees gameplan, giving specific praise to Brayshaw. TMac was being manned by Harris Andrews, who is the Jake Lever of the Lions, and he had zero impact. I'm not sure Andrews took 1 intercept mark. He didn't come across once in front of B Brown, Fritsch etc... So as far as role playing goes, that is a win. I admit, TMac is looking a bit like a spoon pouring treacle and might lose his spot if we meet GWS. But for me, we have settled on a Brown /TMac / Jackson rotation of tall forwards and we won a final. Can't see it needing to be changed.

Not yet, no. Win the Grand Final - yes.

6. Gawn 5. Oliver 4. Neal Bullen 3. Brayshaw 2. Petracca 1. Langdon Many others could have received votes

Loved Sparrow's game. Can see him becoming something quite special, which I wouldn't have said 10 weeks ago.

Rivers recovered well. Bowey got better and better. Langdon and Brayshaw were HUGE. TMac was unsighted, but so was Harris Andrews. That is a win.