deejammin'

Sorry mate, Hawthorn lost to Geelong in round 5 in 2014 (Geelong 15.16.106 def Hawthorn 12.15.87). The last reigning premiership team to go 6-0 to start a season was Collingwood in 2011, they lost round 7. Only 3 reigning premiership teams apart from us have started 6-0 in the modern afl era (post 1990). Collingwood 2011 (lost at 6-0), Geelong 2008 (8-0) and West Coast 2007 (6-0), ominously none went back to back so if we do better than them next week we’ll hopefully become the first premiership team to start 6-0 + and win a back to back premiership. I’ve covered all this in the records we can be proud of thread. Edit: if you are referring to the Hawks of 2013 they weren’t the reigning premiers that year, Sydney were.

No, May’s handball was smothered in a good pressure act from a Richmond player. Smith handballed the ball straight to Lynch when he had multiple options and time to kick. Joel does some good things but also has some panicked moments and costs goals. He is replaced by the reigning AA back in Lever, as many have said he’d be playing regular footy at a lesser team, but compared to May, Petty and Lever he’s not there yet and goes out.

Ins: Lever, Viney Outs: Smith, Bedford (Dunstan to sub) Its easy to underestimate how good we’ve been without Lever these first 4/6 weeks. The conventional wisdom last year was that if you can stop Lever, either by making him accountable with a dangerous forward, or by tagging him (see Schache in the GF) then you go a long way to stopping MFC. Smith and Tomlinson have battled manfully to cover him but the reality is with Petty going to a whole new level this year they will be replaced by Lever anytime the three (Lever, May, Petty) are available. Dunstan very stiff but Viney has been exceptional this year, has added great ball use and goal kicking to his incredible contested stuff and while Dunstan was good Viney’s exceptional tackling puts the fear of god in our opposition in a way few players do. May has a corkie, but given he can play with half a hamstring I’d hate the be the medical staffer who tried to get him to have a week off. Interested in what happened to Harmes, hope he’s ok, if he’s hurt some kind of reshuffle with Dunstan staying in is the go. Rivers looks sore/out of form, with Brayshaw absolutely starting at HB I wonder if a move to the wing/midfield beckons for Riv in the future. His kicking through the middle would be an absolute asset and getting some touches might help his confidence. Only if Harmes is injured or JJ dropped off though. What a great dilemma to have.

I think you need to take Goody’s press conferences with a grain of salt. He’s honest but there’s no way he comes out and pots a confidence player like Smith after an easy win. Smith had some shockers tonight, coughed up the handball for Lynch’s goal, missed easy targets for terrible turnovers and repeatedly jumped into Gawny, May, Rivers and Petty when they had the mark covered. He’s an able backup and has some nice attributes, but he’s out for Lever as sure as day follows night. Brownlows go to the best player in a team with very few or no other great players. Do you honestly believe Wines was better than Clarry, Trac, Bont and co last year? No, he only had a Boak competing with him for votes so every time they won he got 2 or 3. Clarry is competing with Trac, Gawn, May, Jackson, Langdon for votes. He gets three tonight but each of the others takes 3 off him all of the previous 5 rounds. The problem with the Brownlow is it’s the antithesis of good footy. It rewards one-man teams, whereas a strong, unselfish team(although we went away from that up front last night) takes votes off each other, splitting it so none of them win. It’s a dumb award. All in all last night was frustrating, there was the obvious, the goalkicking, but also our field kicking was off, we kept hand balling one too many times into pressure, kicking forward to no-one, fumbling, dropping the ball, turning it over in our back half, all of it was very uncharacteristic. The good is we still won and would’ve won by a huge margin but for ANB x2 easy set shots, Spargo missing a snap he’d kick 99/100, Fritsch and Ed shanking lockable ones, Petracca, Harmes and Kozzie going for glory when there was a simple pass, BBB missing set shots he usually kicks. The bad was that was our worst performance this year, but we still won. The ugly was Lynch’s gimme goal for HTM that should’ve been HTB, he tried to kick in a tackle and missed, the same decision had already been accurately given 3 times to that point but then the umps had a mare and the HTB decisions disappeared from then on, sometimes to our advantage, sometimes not, how does Bowey not get HTB for his brilliant tackle? Time to turn is prior!!! On to next week, hopefully we’ve got our kicking boots on, I’m hoping we can end this mini Hawks resurgence and get back to having the media can Kennett and Mitchell for last years trade period and the Clarkson debacle.

Both in the first quarter! First ten minutes the former last ten, the latter. 😬😬

Interesting. Selection is tough at the moment. Tomlinson vs Smith is tough but clearly Smith is a little ahead for the FD at the moment. His marking has been better than Thommo and his athleticism makes him more versatile. TMac vs Brown vs Weid has finally changed. It’s very interesting to see the Weid /Brown combination, this is the one we’ve seen the least of with Tommy keeping his spot all of last year. I think it could work, Weid is a good athlete, clunks marks and generally plays better when not the number 1 target, Brown plays his best running long leading patterns and taking the number 1 defender. I hope they both have a day out. Tommy is stiff but he hasn’t turned it on yet this year. Dunstan is coming in for the exact reason he was brought to the club, one of our contested beasts goes down, he comes in. If he plays his role we’ll be fine, he doesn’t need to be Viney (who has been in career best form) he just needs to play his role at stoppage and get the ball to Clarry, Trac, Ed and co. If he brings his best it could put more pressure on some of the younger mids when Viney comes back as his best is very good. Should be interesting. Please [censored] those Tigers! Go Dees!

Exactly. After so much arm wringing about protecting umpires at lower leagues they will now have to deal with countless young footballers flopping around for frees or kicking each other with studs. If the AFL has such a direct impact on the lower leagues as the dissent rule is currently claiming then surely we need to stamp out violence and unsportsmanlike behaviour in the AFL also?

Unbelievable! Harry Mackay’s (deserved a fine) but was so much milder than that! Trent Cotchin has also gotten away with intentionally kicking Taylor Walker with the studs of his boots. Taylor Walker was on radio saying if he or Toby Greene did that it would be 4 weeks but for Trent ‘protected species’ Cotchin it’s only a fine. The MRP is a joke, a protectionist, uneven, totally unfair joke.

Bloody Adelaide, a clean sweep would’ve been even better. I hope Port pilfers their entire list so they can experience an iota of what Victorian AFLW clubs have. A Victorian club making the grand final with access to 1/8 of the states talent (soon to be 1/10 in a comp where players rarely move interstate) is remarkable compared to Adelaide having 100% of a football state. If the AFL were serious about an even AFLW comp they would’ve brought Port, WC and to a lesser extent Sydney in before expanding all the Vic clubs, but they never do the logical fair thing for AFLW unfortunately. Anyway rant over, remarkable year for the club nonetheless.

Tough selection this week. Ultimately I think BB comes in for Weed, although at half time I had him in for TMac. TMac seems to play a role the FD respects that has less to do with goals than the Weed/Brown one. Lever for Tomlinson if that ankle/foot is sore. Trac looked a lot less sore this week to me, no strapping on his knee and his explosiveness was back, very unlikely he gets a rest, especially with an 8 day break. Go Dees!

Essendon has 81 662 members, Fremantle has 50342 with 9000 Victorian members, their attendance today of 23935 means 26% of their combined and 29% of Essendon’s membership turned up. Far worse than us. Saint Kilda has 55802 and Gold Coast has 19460 with less than 3000 Victorian members, their attendance of 18724 means 32% of their combined memberships turned up and 33% of St Kilda total membership turned up. Far worse than us, again. The Kangaroos have 46357 the Dogs have 46 441 their attendance of 36162 means 39% of their combined memberships for two Victorian teams. Again, comparable to us, the dogs were the runners up, they also play good football, it doesn’t make a difference, this is the new post-COVID landscape for AFL crowds, not some terrible performance by MFC supporters. I agree this team deserves to play in front of 80000 plus every week, they are that good, but that isn’t reality. The reality is 35% of memberships turnout is solid this year, for all clubs, including the big ones. We have record membership, an undefeated premiership team, a grand finalist womens team, passionate supporters that are the loudest in the AFL, no debt, a well run club and better facilities on the horizon. You can get worked up about crowds that will never happen, not happening, or you can just enjoy the good things and accept the reality of crowds in 2022 being down, regardless of what the quality of footy our excellent team provides, deserves. I had a great time on Saturday, the Dees fans around me were plentiful and loud, I’m not going to get caught up in numbers that don’t exist, I think you shouldn’t either, but that’s your choice.

Carlton has 81,302 members, Port Adelaide has 61 687 members with approximately 12,000 Victorian members (from their 2021 data). Today’s attendance of 33,433 means 35% of Carlton and Ports Victorian combined membership showed up, or if everyone there was a Carlton supporter 41% rocked up. Melbourne has 56,841 members and GWS has 29341 members in 2022 with approximately 6500 Victorian members (from data in 2021). 20791 means 32% of the combined Melbourne and GWS, or 37% if it was all Melbourne supporters, which is far more likely than Carlton Port. It’s very comparable, only disappointing to a degree of 2-3%, not terrible. I’m wide awake, you are asking for 75% of Melbourne’s entire membership to show up, a figure that almost never happens outside finals and huge games, on a public holiday, in the middle of a long weekend, for a night game, post-covid, without walk up tickets, when public transport was out on a number of lines. You my friend are dreaming, but by all means, keep potting your fellow Melbourne supporters.

It’s worth noting that the COVID impact on crowds largely isn’t that people aren’t going out or going to events. It’s that they are prioritising more than ever before. What we’re seeing in the entertainment industry is where people might’ve used to go to three or four small events a week people now are cutting that down to only the one or two things they most want to see, or are willing to risk illness to see. The corresponding impact on AFL games isn’t that diehard supporters or members are not the ones attending, it’s the neutral AFL members who support other clubs that formerly would’ve come to a night game pre-COVID, but no longer want to risk it for a team that’s not theirs. I’d think that is the drop off between the higher numbers vs GWS in previous years.

Pretty similar really, maybe 2-3k more Carlton supporters than us but the difference was Port actually had a cheer squad and supporters there, you could actually hear them as opposed to the pathetic GWS turnout last night. Based on that number if the games were reversed Carlton vs GWS would’ve had 23k and Melb vs Port 31k. I would’ve loved more demons there last night, it’s a really great vibe at our games atm, but the 20k is 100% at the AFL’s feet, their two expansions aren’t working, they have no fans! That’s not on us.

I’m talking about how the reigning premiers started the next season (after their premiership). Geelong were the reigning premier in 2008, having won in 2007 and won the first 8 games, Collingwood 2011 and West Coast 2007 won the first 6-0 as reigning premiers. Ultimately they didn’t win the back to back flag those years, which is a hurdle we will hopefully jump over. But my point was about the record of how rare it is for reigning Premiers to back up the following year and win all the early games. Of all the 33 reigning premiers since 1990 only 6 (including us this year) started the season 4-0 (see my earlier post) now we join an even smaller group of 4 (including us) who went 5-0 or more. Win four more in a row and we have had the best start to a season of any reigning premiership team in the modern AFL era. Impressive stuff!!! As you will note, it doesn’t guarantee a flag, in fact the two teams that won the first 4-0 after their premiership but then lost the fifth game (Hawthorn 2014 and Brisbane 2002) both went back to back, so maybe statistically speaking, we should’ve thrown tonight’s game? Anyway, we’re doing something remarkably special to start this year was my point.

We just joined 3 other premiership teams in the modern AFL era (post 1990) beyond 5-0 Collingwood 6-0 2011 Geelong 8-0 2008 West coast 6-0 2007 Impressive stuff!

Ross Lyon giving advice on winning grand finals, Terry Wallace giving advice on nailing drafts, what a strange media landscape we have…. Anyway, great win! But for 3 incredibly dodgy goals from frees to GWS and Trac’s disallowed goal it was the perfect evening, smashed them all over the ground (with the exception of some clearances), kicked straight to put them at arms length early and then put them away after! Loved it! Loved being there! The complaints about Melbourne supporters not attending are overblown, there were 50 GWS supporters there tops, any other opposition team (except GC) and that’s easily a 30-35k crowd on an Easter weekend night game. It actually compares very well, especially given the suppressed crowd numbers across the comp post Covid. GO DEES!

I’d suggest it’s both. The latter is also an issue for the AFL, there was a comp wide blitz on umpire information sessions and umpires trainings and practise this pre-season to aid with all clubs understanding the rules better. If one club has enough information to manipulate this to an unprecedented extent then it’s on the AFL to provide info to the other 17 clubs on what they’re doing right and everyone else is doing wrong. There were AFL reviews into interstate bias and ‘free kick hawthorn’ champion bias the findings of which were released to every club and the media and which have aided in these issues becoming much more equal than they were. If the bulldogs play the rules better than 17 other teams to the point they earn 10 frees more a game then clarity should be provided to all other 17 teams and supporters to understand how they’re doing it. The rules aren’t meant to be gamed to the advantage of the few, they’re meant to be equal. As for the former, the bulldogs average 3.4 goals from a direct free kick a game, 2 goals higher than the nearest in Geelong. That’s a huge advantage, and many of these frees are just plain wrong, in a way very few other teams receive. Weightman vs Essendon EF and on the quarter time siren against us, those frees literally don’t get paid to anyone else, it’s the bulldogs jumper. There’s no fair play there, they’re just plain wrong. Naughton throws himself forward arms flailing to stage for free kicks, he gets them, Mackay gets a fine for staging. The bulldogs are better treated than any other team by the umpires, I think there should be a review into why. Or maybe we should wait until they hit +15 a game first?

Free kicks don’t win games of football, everything evens out etc. But this dogs thing is an established trend. Over the last ten years before 2019 the dogs were consistently in the top three in the AFL for frees for and differential. The other two were West Coast and Geelong, teams with strong home crowd advantages, large supporter groups, ‘noise of affirmation’ and clear reasons for the advantage. The dogs have none of those. This all went to a whole other level the last two years, they had an average differential of +7 on all other teams in 2021! That’s 7 extra contested marks a game! They get more frees for than the next team (Geelong) by a factor of 6! And give away less by a factor of 4! For what reason? The dogs have no home ground advantage, no Selwood, no clear reason to be so well treated for over a decade. The nice guys thing is just weird. At what point does the AFL look into why one team gets so much better treatment than every other team? It’s pretty weird right?

It would be 2021- MEL 2022- MEL The rest of the list is less interesting.. 👹👹👹

Brown in Weideman out TMac seems to play a role the FD likes, he doesn’t tear games apart or kick loads of goals but his run, contest and pressure seems to make him valuable. He’s also shown a bonus in the early part of this year in that he can swing back. Weid is unlucky, but he plays the same role as BB who is more consistent. I agree Riv looks sore but with 9 days off hopefully he’ll be feeling better.

Since 2001 only 6 out of 22 reigning premiers have started 4-0 (including us): Melbourne 4-0 2022* Hawthorn 4-0 2014 Collingwood 6-0 2011 Geelong 8-0 2008 West coast 6-0 2007 Brisbane 4-0 2002 If we win next week we join only 3 other premiership teams beyond 4-0 Collingwood 6-0 2011 Geelong 8-0 2008 West coast 6-0 2007 Ominously none of those teams won premierships, two made the GF one the SF (WC 2007). Nonetheless we’re in extremely rare air! For all the upset around how we’re playing in the post-game thread it’s worth remembering premierships are rarely won by teams flying in the first 6 rounds, what we did last year is an anomaly. You can’t win a premiership in the first four, but you can lose your shot at it (see Port, Essendon and co). Lets track this record, hopefully we join rare air next week at 5-0 and then we can try to tick off towards the modern record of 8-0 (from a cats team most consider one of the greatest of all time!). Incredible work from our Dees!!!

Great post. i think we clearly work very hard to make our defensive system work, but resting Ed Langdon the last 7 minutes when he usually plays 100% game time, playing Lever for 89% of the match when he also usually plays 95%+ (injury not withstanding), playing both May and Rivers less than 95%, we rested players we never rest. Also, doing nothing to break Trac’s tag, playing safe down the line for most of the last quarter when the game was done. That certainly wasn’t top gear, it’s not disrespectful to our defence, they were excellent, but even they got a rest they don’t get when we’re going for it. There were many things our side could’ve done to ratchet up the game but we chose to take a five goal win with no injuries in the last quarter coming off two 6 day breaks rather than going for broke. I’d call that second gear, sorry.

They’ll lose tonight..Chris Scott to collect Lachie Neale at quarter time. 🤪🤪

Clinical win. It’s a strange feeling after so many years of having to play our best or better to merely win a game to watch us win so comprehensively in second gear. The last Premiership team to go 4-0 to start a season was Hawthorn in 2014, ominous. Win next week and we’ve bettered them, haven’t gone back far enough to find the last premiership team to back up with 5-0. It can’t be underestimated how difficult it is for premiership teams to come back and win after a short break, what we’re doing is remarkable! Sure it’s ugly, we handball our way into trouble and our forward connection needs work, but we’re winning, without our FF, craftiest HB and with a few players looking underdone. Also, like last year, we’ve never been behind in the last quarter, hard to beat us without getting in front when it matters….Just keep winning, save the beautiful stuff for our next finals campaign. Bring on an AFLW Premiership and 5-0!!!! Edit: (I found it, Collingwood went 6-0 to start their 2011 season, that’s our next benchmark).