Dees_In_October

PART TWO ARTICLES AFLW Round Table: What was the moment of the AFLW Grand Final? (ESPN) Precision, pace, power: How the Demons won the Grand Final (womens.afl) The funnest day in the history of Springfield (Demonblog) IMAGES AFL Media's Full Grand Final Gallery Including the other angle (umpire's view?) of THAT chase-down tackle – you be the judge VIDEOS Roaming Lily Post-Grand Final Edition In the Rooms Post-Grand Final Edition Daisy on SEN 1116 December 1st MERCH Housewarming from Hell tshirt League Tees AUDIO/PODCASTS AFLW Premiers S7 ‘22 – The Deebrief Roffey’s Relief - SEN

Oh yeah for sure, I just meant that I'm sure there's someone who has won a men's AFL premiership & men's All Ireland. Tadhg Kennelly?

2022 SEASON 7 AFLW PREMIERSHIP LINK ROUNDUP I guess it’s a premiership tradition for me to do a link roundup. Seriously? Melbourne fans have premiership traditions now?! ARTICLES Grand New Flag (Demonland, by the amazing Meggs) Daisy Pearce revels in AFLW premiership (ABC) Dee-light as Melbourne claims maiden AFLW flag (AFL Media) – match report Stick or twist (AFL) – article from early 2022 that summarises our list build AFLW Grand Final Review (Mongrel Punt) – good summary of key matchups ‘They invited the wrong team!’ Daisy Pearce’s priceless interview (Fox Footy) ‘Do anything for her teammates’: Dees captain on false perceptions of Harris (The Age) The Mebourne Mosh (The Age) – match preview Blaithin Mackin helps Melbourne Demons to a famous victory (Irish Times) Grateful Dees pair reflects on it all (Rookie Central) Inaugural Dee plays through gruesome injury (womens.afl) Not now, not ever: Gillard’s shutdown job key to GF glory (womens.afl) The moment: Blaithin brilliance turns the tide in extraordinary win (womens.afl) TWEETS - I’ve quoted here and screengrabbed the visual ones in case the MFC outlasts Twitter—at one point that seemed much less likely! “Blaithin Mackin wasn't even in the country three months ago, and now she's just kicked Melbourne's first goal in a Grand Final.” – Gemma Bastiani “They actually robbed Eliza West in broad daylight.” – Demonland “Demons first VFL / AFL premiership def Lions by 4 points in GF (1990) Demons first AFLW premiership def lions by 4 pts in GF (2022)” – Joshua Kay “Melbourne wins its first Grand Final by four points. The Demons have not conceded a final quarter goal since round 4 v Brisbane” – Gemma Bastiani “After 64 AFLW matches, Melbourne has won its first premiership! Karen Paxman has played in every one of those games! She’s been through it all!” – Melbourne Footy “The reigning AFL premiership captains Men's Joel Selwood - born 26th May 1988 Women's DAISY PEARCE - born 27th May 1988” – Swamp “Libby Birch the first AFLW player to win a flag at two different clubs” – Gemma Bastiani “Sinead Goldrick the first person to win an AFL Premiership and an All Ireland final.” – Andy Feeney (Have not fact-checked, but pretty sure this refers to AFLW Premiership and Ladies’ All Ireland Final) IMAGES MFC Grand Final gallery Pre-game team photo Banner – by the official league-best supporter group, the Demon Army Harris goal celebration Premiership poster Podium premiership poster – full squad Darebin Falcons – post celebrating their many past players/coaches at the MFC Daisy receives her medal from Auskicker The five original AFLW Demons The Demon Army and Daisy Collection of Grand Final GIFS such as: https://media.giphy.com/media/s8bef1aWp4hN3xHrir/giphy.gif VIDEOS Full match replay Last two minutes Jake Lever white-knuckling it through the last minute Last minute and post-siren celebrations More post-siren celebrations Even more post-siren celebrations Daisy and Mick hoist the cup Zanker phones home Song in the rooms West post-game interview Paxman and D.Pearce post-game interview Full post-game press conference (Mick and Daisy) Champagne showers Celebrations of Mackin and Goldrick President Roffey interview (ABC) PREMIERSHIP MERCHANDISE Demonshop League Tees – Daisy tshirt Daisy Pearce 2022 AFLW Premiers Signed Icon Series PODCASTS The W with Sharni and Sam Dee-light – Outer Sanctum Daisy Pearce’s win is football’s win – ABC Sports Daily Bad housewarming guests – The ESPN Footy Podcast AFLW star Daisy Pearce on finding fulfillment outside flag dream – Good Weekend Talks (pre-Grand Final)

A funny thing about the last couple of seasons - I don't bother with these people any more. I'm too busy enjoying our team and this league (and now our premiership) to give them a second thought. I appreciate when others jump in to defend and explain, etc. I'm at the point now where I think, if you're not along for the ride, that's up to you. I'll be over here having fun. Informed critiques of the league are welcome, god knows I have enough of them. But stuff like that? Whatever. Having now watched the replay, Zanker was absolutely spent by the end, and she wasn't alone. Super effort. I have the lowest of low expectations for AFLW umpiring, and this game was a real showcase. The West one drove me absolutely spare! A real WTF moment. It's not her fault she was strong enough to advance the ball like that. Grrr. Tayla definitely saw red and I worried for the safely of everyone at "Springers", teammates included. She's one that just loses her (already pretty non-existent) inhibitions when injured. Another fave moment:

Just as she's always done on the field, in this instance, Paxy can do as she pleases as far as I'm concerned. Of course I'd love to see her finish her career as a Demon, but she's given everything and deserves to do what's best for her. Easier to say this now given we've got the cup and that we'll never be in a better position to replace her. And taking a league-wide perspective, this would be good for WA footy which is obviously not our main concern here, but as benevolent leaders of the competition, we can make such gestures. My one stipulation is that if she doesn't continue with us, the bandage goes. If she stays, the bandage stays.

Long post incoming... I’ve finally calmed down from those hectic last few minutes! And now I’ve gone all reflective in my post-premiership thoughts… As a kid, I dreamed of a Melbourne flag. Normal stuff. After the siren heroics and all that. But at some point, an early one, as I learned a bit more about the world as it was, I stopped being the central figure in those fantasies. It became Jimmy Stynes, Garry Lyon, David Neitz, and later, the Wiz and Yze. I couldn’t conceptualise a team like this AFLW one—that was so far beyond the realms of my world, that its simply didn’t enter my imagination. During the Dees' darkest years, my love of the club grew into a greater appreciation and love of the game, of seeing players grow and learn. A love that nevertheless felt incomplete. I thought it was a flag missing, and it was mostly that. But there was also a little hole in my red and blue heart that I didn’t even know was there until that first exhibition series.. All that to say, I’ll be forever grateful for this team, this club, for making a reality of an impossible dream. The Dees jumped on board when it wasn’t remotely trendy. We took the hits that come from going early. But during those agonising close calls, wind-battered days at Casey, a global pandemic and some truly ridiculous circumstances caused by the AFL (never forget the conference system!), we’ve been quietly, with little fuss, building a foundation that will last long beyond this premiership. Even though Melbourne came into the competition as hot favourites and have contended every season, the club and this special group of members and fans, has done the hard yards. Now it’s all there to see in the way the players speak about the club, their coaches, the staff and each other. So, it’s fitting that Melbourne, the writers of the rules, is the first club since the AFLW’s inception in 2017 to win a men’s and women’s premiership, in a unique and unprecedented kind of back-to-back. It's also fitting that this AFLW premiership comes in a year of two seasons, with 18 teams involved, that taken together creates the first proper, full-length season of AFLW (25 games for us). And as we all know, a premiership earnt through struggle that takes some time to come is one that’s truly savoured. This one took seven seasons, but also 150 years and a slow build over a decade of commitment to the women’s game. Naturally we’re all channelling a lot of our joy about this towards Daisy. It's not just the player, but what she represents. For Daisy, unlike many of her peers, it was footy or nothing, even when the future in that was just passion alone. For her, the AFLW came just in time, but in some ways just too late. Now she’s done what only the best leaders do: raised up those around her to take the next steps themselves—to do it not for her, but for themselves and each other. The scene on the siren told a story: Daisy, at the top of the mountain, and Gillard, an 18-year-old reaping the rewards of the trail her leader’s blazed, with so much ahead of her. Gillard would have been 13 years old when the AFLW started, the age when so many girls of the past have had to give the game away. Obviously, I could wax lyrical forever, so I’ll finish my ramblings with praise for and reflections on this PREMIERSHIP team. Our team didn’t play its best, but just REFUSED TO LOSE, and that’s what matters in a Grand Final: Paxman—a warrior who after an already decorated career, has been able to bring her best in the national league, adapting season on season to stay in the top tier of a fast-developing league. She’s played all 64 (yes, that famous MFC number) of the Dees’ AFLW games and run her heart out in every one of them. The originals: Daisy, Paxy, Mithen, L.Pearce and Lampard. Survival of the fittest! The list managers made tough choices to trade away original players to build the list. Those that remain are so very deserving; as a battler at times, Lampard should be especially proud. The recruits: Purcell, Gay, Birch, Harris—all players out of favour or want-aways at their former club, lured to the Dees over the years by culture (not cars!) to go on to thrive. Irish legends: Goldie, the fan favourite, perhaps didn’t find her best this season but always inspired the right attitude in teammates, not to die wondering. Mackin, just an incredible story that is somehow glossed over outside the club. Four months ago, had never played an Aussie Rules game. Fought her way into the best team in the league, held her position, improved every game and is now a premiership player. There’s something about the Dees, the Irish and amazing sporting stories. The backline/team defensive structure: I was worried about this aspect at the start of and during the season, yet it became the stingiest in the league and the basis for our most important victories. Heath gets her own category for that desperate one-handed tackle in the GF alone! I’d pick her first every week. VFLW: Fitzsimon, Sherriff, Chaplin, West, Gillard—just some of many players who’ve benefited from our strong VFLW program, which has made depth and the evenness of the team a major weapon. This can’t be said of all clubs’ commitment to the women’s game at that level. For us it’s created an environment where Gillard, over the course of a year, can develop to the point that she dominates one of the best forwards in the league in a Grand Final. That doesn’t just happen on talent alone. The mids: In the early seasons we had the league’s gold standard midfield, the Darebin crew of D. Pearce, Paxman, Hickey and O’Dea. To see the evolution of that line to what it is today—led by young guns Hanks, Purcell and West—has been a real pleasure and like a microcosm of the growth of the league. Grand Final actual BOGs: West or Gay. Seriously robbed, particularly West. The future: Hore, Zanker and Bannan. Admittedly, many of our players could fit in here, but I feel like each of these showed a bit of something this season that represents the next stage for our team—leadership, belief and harnessing the X-factor. A thought for McNamara and Colvin, both a part of this, and Caris, Campbell, Brown, Johnson, Ivey, Wilson and Duffy who all contributed in games this season. And special congrats to our clearly beloved and now hopefully industry-wide respected premiership coach, Mick, plus the rest of the coaching panel, particularly Jane Lange, ex-player Shae Sloane, and AFL premiership player/AFLW premiership coach Ben Brown, plus everyone else behind the scenes. They’ve set the standard. One last thought with an eye to 2023. Nine of our 21 premiership players are aged 23 or under. GO DEES!

Second this and also @WalkingCivilWar and @Katrina Dee Fan please keep those tid bits coming from the celebrations 😉 I want to know who's best on! Let's be real, it's going to be Chaplin, right? Enjoy it all!

I love every single one of them!

Update to our club's 2022 win record at the conclusion of all seasons. An impressive 80%, two premierships and all teams making finals: AFL Men's = 16/22 Semi Finalist AFL Women's = 10/12 Grand Finalist; 12/13 Premiers VFL Men's = 19/20 Premiers VFL Women's = 12/17 Prelim Finalist Our record over the last five years: 2018 = 61% (67 games) 2019 = 39% (61) 2020* = 58% (24) 2021 = 72% (60) 2022 = 80% (86)

*** Runs in, breathless *** YEAH THE GIRLS! GO THE MIGHTY DEMONS! (coherent thoughts to come)

It's head and heart stuff, tbh. Would never be happier to be proven wrong! To win, I reckon it'd have to be in a close one. We've got what it takes, just have to put it out there when it matters. Re: the surface, apparently the team's official groundskeeper in Zanker has been telling teammates for a while that Springfield could be ready in time. Hopefully she's given it the tick of approval.

On the membership numbers, obviously a lot of our attention is elsewhere at the moment, but it's one of several topics about our team & club's future with AFLW that I'd really like to hear others' thoughts on, especially since this site is the main hub of men's members. I suspect that's an area where we're perhaps not getting as much conversion as other clubs. Will try to remember to re-visit this after we've all finished celebrating/commiserating!! This time in 48 hours... I've already got butterflies 😬

This might answer your question, or just raise more questions because even this is an incomplete calculation because it doesn't factor in in-season improvement of teams: https://www.womens.afl/news/110449/fixture-difficulty-how-does-your-team-rank-under-our-special-formula- Overall, I wouldn't say that either team had a significantly easier/harder draw, though the timing of when certain teams were faced might say something.

Yeah, there were some truly wild results from the count last night! Looking forward to blonde tips and fluro boots for Garner next season, absolutely robbed of at least a top 5 finish. As for us, Purcell got closer than I'd expected. Some more stats of interest to us:

MFC leading vote winners: PURCELL 16 PAXMAN 7 HARRIS 7 WEST 6 HORE 5 L.PEARCE 2 HANKS 2 D.PEARCE 1 MITHEN 1 BANNAN 1

Final leaderboard. Congrats to Purcell AKA "The Purse" for an incredible season and to all our players who polled. A.ANDERSON (BRIS) 21 M.CONTI (RICH) 19 E.MARINOFF (ADEL) 18 M.PRESPAKIS (ESS) 17 O.PURCELL (MELB) 16 A.PARKER (GWS) 15 C.ROWBOTTOM (GC) 15

Leaderboard after Round 7