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Winners at last

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Posts posted by Winners at last

    PREGAME: Rd 20 vs GWS

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    1 hour ago, binman said:

    That and form.

    They have won all of one more game than us.

    And like us have won three of their last four. 

    Punters assess games more objectively and strip out emotion than fans of participating teams.

    I wish that were true. Sadly we haven't won three of our last four ...

    Round 16  v Brisbane  - loss

    Round 17 v WC -  win

    Round 18 v Essendon - win

    Round 19 v Freo  - loss

     

    • Like 1

    POSTGAME: Rd 19 vs Fremantle

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted · Edited by Winners at last

    51 minutes ago, forever demons said:

    so true. I was shocked when John got the flick

    The Northey teams had mainly 'no names' ... Jamie Duursma, Dean Chiron, Doug Koop to name a few.

    No disrespect to them; those guys (and the others) had a RHG and I loved watching them. 

    • Love 2

    POSTGAME: Rd 19 vs Fremantle

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted · Edited by Winners at last

    2 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

    Why wouldn’t we have praised his selection and coaching decisions this week? His selection and coaching decisions resulted in three consecutive wins before today.

    Hashtag you need to park your hindsight. 

    Hmm ... not sure if you meant Rounds 16/17/18 ... or earlier rounds in the season. In any event, we won v Essendon and WC in Rounds 17 & 18, but lost v Brisbane in Round 16. 

    I feel for you and others who made the effort and expense of the trip to WA to watch what apparently a pretty one sided match. As Americans say to their vets "thank you for your service". 

    It's kinda amusing to read posts on here post bad losses. It's a battle between the Negative Nancies and the Pollyannas. FWIW I'm somewhere in between. 

    I couldn't see any real possibility of our boys winning this match, and slapped a fair bit of cash on Freo. But from all accounts (mainly on DL) it was a pretty poor performance, especially from the more experienced (older) players. I couldn't watch the match, and certainly won't be watching the replay.

    The outcome presents a good opportunity to use the quote "Things are never as bad as they seem." (From To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.)

    Somewhat surprisingly, Sportsbet have the Dees as favourites v GWS on the Sat-dy. I know it's at the G, but it seems odd. 

    Anyhoo, enough of my ramblings ... or at least for now.

     

    • Like 1

    Robbie and the run to the finals

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Flower Magic said:

     

    What has the late great Robert Flower to do with our current position? This article appeared on Facebook today, clearly written by a Dees fan. I have to agree with every word, but the article reminded me of the events of 1987. To round 17 that season, we had won just six games. Six wins, not ten as we have now, yet we didn't just make the finals, we then won six in a row through to round 22, then won two finals by a combined 186 points and very nearly made the Grand Final (which many believe we would have won). 
    So here we are again, six rounds to go and a Robbie doppelgänger playing on a wing for us (could this be an omen?). If you believe that history can and does repeat, let's believe that we can still go deep into September as many of our competitors are faltering around us, just as in 1987.
    .................
    Robbie Flower - Everyone loved Robbie. 272 Games 315 goals. 2 time All Australian. Melbourne captain 81-87. One of the great wingers of all time.
    Robbie had the respect of many opposition fans, in the 80’s this was unique but the way Robbie went about it it was hard to dislike him. 
    Few had the elegance and classy skills like Robbie, he was clean by hand and foot but also was strong in the one on one battles on the wing. He played at just 67KG. 
    Robbie made his debut at Melbourne in 1973 and amazingly was given #2 in his first year, a number he would wear for the rest of his career. 
    There’s no escaping the fact Melbourne were a struggling team in this time and Robbie won 6 of his first 31 games, but was a shining light. 
    1975 was somewhat of a breakout year for Robbie with the Dees winning 8 games and Robbie playing some great games including 28 disposals and 2 goals in round 2. 
    In 76 Robbie averaged just on 20 disposals a game as the Dees went on to win 11 games and miss out on the finals by half a game. 
    The Dees struggled in 77,78,79 Robbie had consistent years and in 79 he kicked 33 goals from the wing and in 77 won the Melbourne best and fairest. 
    1980 was arguably Robbie’s best individually. 
    He averaged 22 disposals a game was named all Australian and kicked 21 goals. 
    In 81 Robbie had a injury interrupted season 
    In 83 Robbie was all Australian once again and kicked 40 goals. 
    Robbie’s ability to outrun his opponent meant he was dangerous to get into good positions in front of goal. He was an extremely fast and intelligent player.
    1987 rolled around and Robbie was yet to play a final. Entering 1987 on 252 games things were not looking good for the Dees early in the season. They had only won only 6 games to round 17 before going on a 6 game winning streak and snuck into the top 5 and to make the finals. 
    They smashed north by 110 points in the elimination final then beat Sydney by 76 points before coming up against hawthorn. The Dees lead by 3 goals at 3QT before the hawks came back and Bucky kicked a goal after the siren to give hawthorn the win.
    It would be Robbie’s last game. He got to play finals but many have no doubt that Melbourne would have beaten Carlton in 87 if they went through.
    Robbie retired and went on to be a passionate fan of the club, he was inducted into the AFL hall of fame in 1996 and was named on the wing in Melbourne’s team of the century. 
    Sadly Robbie passed away at just 59 after a brief illness. Paul Kelly played at Robbie’s funeral playing his favourite song called how to make gravy. 
    The memories will live on forever and some will never forget everyone cheering on the Dees in 87 hoping Robbie would go out a premiership player.
    Thank you for all you gave to footy Robbie.

    Good read. Everyone loved Robbie. My favourite player .... by a huge margin.

    I don't however agree that had Melbourne won the 1987 PF, we would have gone on to beat Carlton the following week. We were totally banged up, and would have suffered the same fate as Hawthorn in the GF.

     

    • Like 1

    This week’s match preview - the people speak

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    18 hours ago, The Third Eye said:

    It’s true that Melbourne is faced with a monumental challenge but it’s not about turning around a negative 15½ goal outcome against Fremantle which is where it finished in Alice Springs early last month.

    It’s all about winning a game where both sides start with the score at 0.0.0 each, play under different conditions, on a different ground in a different city (albeit the home of the Dockers), with different players and with many of the same players of differing physical freshness and mental attitudes.

    There’s been an outcry and a lot of tears about the fact that the Demons have been forced to soldier on without two AFL top liners in Max Gawn and Christian Petracca but when you compare the makeup of the Melbourne team of round 12 with the team of round 18, there are some significant changes for the better even if you can never replace Max and Christian. These are the changes between the two games -

    Out Max Gawn, Lachie Hunter, Christian Petracca, Shane McAdam, Adam Tomlinson

    In Jake Lever, Jake Melksham, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Koltyn Tholstrup, Jacob van Rooyen.

    That’s a mixed bag of players coming in which includes two experienced players in Lever and  Melksham. One adds cohesion to the defence, the other adds steel to the attack which was not functioning properly on 2 June 2024 when Melbourne flopped badly to the purple people. 

    The other three are JvR who is in massive form as a forward and relief ruckman, and two youngsters playing with great enthusiasm. They replace McAdam who was held scoreless, Hunter who was ineffective before he was subbed off at half time with a calf injury and Adam Tomlinson who worked hard but he doesn’t compare with Lever. 

    There are a number of Melbourne players who have lifted several notches including wingers Ed Langdon and Caleb Windsor. Their current form is uplifting and their attacking mindset is setting a different tone to the team’s performance.

    The last time they met, it was said that the Dockers were completely switched on and primed to beat the Demons. They had an extra two days to prepare themselves for the game and this time they are coming off a shattering loss to Hawthorn.

    Certainly, Freo will have an advantage in the ruck if Max isn’t ruled fit to play but in every other respect, the goalposts have been removed 360 degrees over the past six or seven weeks. Even Optus Stadium is Melbourne’s home away from home. 

    I'd prefer 180 degrees !!

     

     

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