Dees_In_October

Injury report https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1045950 Colvin (Covid protocols) - available Goldrick (Covid protocols) - available Magee (Covid protocols) - available McNamara (Covid protocols) - available Gillard (Covid protocols) - 1 week Chaplin (Covid protocols) - 1 week Purcell (knee) - 4-6 weeks Simmons (foot) - season All four available must at least be in the conversation, creating a bit of a selection headache seeing as (apparently!) no injuries ended up arising from the Round 1 game. Of course, more could easily end up out at the last minute due to exposure. Personally, I'd want Colvin in and at least one of McNamara or Goldie, but then who to leave out?

Confession time, I had his dad's footy card stuck inside my locker door one year in high school 🤣 He had "the look" of that time down pat.

We all have someone in our life who we worry about in this regard. But we also all have people who seem "all good", who are the ones always helping others, who are thought to be too successful, too happy or whatever to be struggling. Let's not forget to check in on that person too, the one who's probably never asked, "Are you ok?"

Yep, Mithen did return. She's had syndesmosis issues in the past so perhaps they were being extra careful there.

The Dees own ex-player now coach Shae Sloane is one doing research into this, looking at all factors and devising prevention for Aussie Rules that's based on women's bodies.

Thanks for getting this going. May as well chip in mine from the match report...although on reflection I've switched Birch and Zanker; perhaps I over-compensated in trying to avoid over-rewarding my favourite player. 5. Zanker - As mentioned I've been on board the Zanker train since it departed the station. Especially glad to see her hit the scoreboard. 4. Birch - Saved some goals (and nearly cost a shocker!) but clearly had a big impact in a somewhat depleted backline. 3. Hanks - I always feel like I gloss over her performances, but she's that consistent I feel like I'm just repeating myself. So good in traffic, so balanced. Hope we're saying T.Hanks on W Award night. 2. Sherriff - Glad to see some love for Sherriff above too. She's come a long way. Desperate and courageous. 1. Hore - Wasn't a prolific lead-up game by any means, but when her shots were there, she took them. Which as we know, is kinda important!

I think she's actually good below the knees for her height BUT I think her reaction was off and bit fumbly compared to last season in similar situations. Agree we can forgive that in a young player in in round one and in a new role. She's definitely got some good talls to learn from in that regard so she can get the most out of that athleticism.

Yeah, I feel this way as well. Not sure if it's confirmation bias! There's no real reason why the teams should play a similar way given the vast difference in personnel, resources, game styles in the respective leagues, etc., etc. But there should be some things that are "Melbourne" things that are valued at our club and can be encouraged in all teams in red and blue.

Goldie and McNamara both played in the practice match, so I'm thinking injury or something Covid-related since then. A bit of pace missing... Colvin and Magee are the other two regulars from last season missing from tomorrow's team. Glad to see Caris get a run!

My MFCSS is probably more AFLWSS in the sense that things can go very wrong structurally in the season, as we've been victims of in the past! Let's just say I'm thinking a lot more about our depth players and wondering what random train-ons we have than I was a month ago. As for the praccy match, hard to say. Our team played the unpredictable Casey conditions better and overall I'd say they looked sharper. But it's all meaningless when the real stuff starts.

I'm with you on Tarrant. Underrated player who took some big steps last season. Maybe in the future we'll see her up forward, as her VFLW form suggests she can be very damaging there, but for now the greater need is that sometimes shaky backline!

She's also kicked the equal 8th most goals (29) in the all-time goalkickers list for the league, which is kind of impressive given she didn't exactly fire last season. For context, Melbourne's next best are Cunningham (25), Scott and Hore (24). All that said, she isn't coming in expected to be the saviour or anything. Pressure's off and hopefully play with some freedom and fun.

It seems inevitable that at some point COVID will take out teams and impact the season. There are whispers that Collingwood has players isolating as contacts this week in the lead up to Round 1. Read this interesting article by our own Libby Birch about the voluntary actions some players are taking to try to avoid missing games. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/part-time-players-full-time-responsibility-covid-19-is-stretching-aflw-20220103-p59lih.html?btis Obviously as part-timers, the clubs can't ban activities or force players into hubs but it seems like some are taking the initiative to create their own social bubbles and reduce risks as much as possible. Will be really hard for those in public-facing jobs such as teachers, retail, hospitality and healthcare workers to find a balance (i.e., basically impossible!). Here are the policies for match re-scheduling if players become close contacts or test positive: https://www.womens.afl/news/78420/afl-releases-covid-match-rescheduling-guidelines Basically, of the list of 30 (plus train-on players), the minimum availability for a match to go ahead is 16 AFLW primary list players and 5 train-on players. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where half the team gets sidelined the day before a match, so I'd expect more re-scheduling than what has already taken place due to borders.

The thing about West is she's basically a freebie as a rookie. As we all know, if you can get good quality players that way, it can really help with depth, and if the player can become a regular in the team, more the better (see: Goldrick and hopefully Magee). I do wonder if perhaps she played footy prior to focusing on basketball. Either way, I like what I've seen on a 2-game sample. Any player that comes from the US college system brings a certain standard for training etc. as well. Like George, I can see a bit of synergy across the club. Just hope they can put the promise into action when it counts, which is always the hard part. I'm excited to see what plays out with Harris and I'm hoping for a big season from Zanker too, loved her progress in the midfield last season. Even in her breakthrough games, she didn't quite put it all together at the same time - when that happens, watch out!

Current average is 56% so 66.66% ain't too shabby. Also an appropriate number 👹

Happy New Year, Demonlanders! In celebration, here's my quiz about the 2021 Grand Final. It's a long one at 57 questions, so make sure you're in the zone when you have a go. I've given the maximum allowable time of 20 minutes. Enjoy! https://www.sporcle.com/games/dees_in_october/2021-grand-final-quiz---demons-premiership

After over 300 attempts, here are some quiz results. Average score: 44% Not surprisingly given it was a trick question, the one that tripped people up the most was "Which two Geelong players collide at a crucial moment?", with many (58.7%) selecting "Cameron and Henderson", which didn't happen in the last 2 minutes, instead of "Dangerfield and Simpson" (14.2%). An impressive number (22.8%) were able to name the order of players in a key handball chain - I thought this would be much lower! The highest scoring questions were "Which two people are shown chatting as Gawn prepares to take his kick?" (91.4%) followed by "What does May say to Gawn after he takes the mark?" (88.4%). I'm putting together an epic Grand Final quiz, which I'll post shortly.

Weirdly I actually saw this occurring on the day (unless there were multiple punch-ups between various children...) I think it was Jones that I saw 'breaking it up' by taking the footy, at which point the wrestle, which was really just a ball up situation, was abandoned! Just like in the big time. I remember mainly because I thought this was a smart tactic worth keeping up my sleeve for similar situations!

I can't remember if I've said on here before, but I'm gonna say it again, so glad someone thought to go with the jumper point during the many goal celebrations in the game. Such a classic but you can really only bring it out in big moments, otherwise it's cheapened. So to very legitimately do this in a GF and actually remember to do it among the chaos was great.

Bah humbug! Well, enjoy not getting sales from the many spend-happy Dees fans looking to buy up after a premiership??? Great business decision.

Sounds like a challenge 😉 Maybe I'll make one for early next year and see who's been keeping up their re-watching!

Yeah that was a deliberate trick question on my part. Had to celebrate the fact that there were two almost comical collisions like that in the quarter!

In the aftermath of Round 23 and trying to distract myself from the nerves of the impending finals series, I put together this quiz. At the time, I was thinking, "This will surely be the highlight of the season, what could possibly top this?" (I wasn't allowing myself to think too far ahead). I was also thinking, come the end of the year, if we'd been bundled out of the finals in some devastating fashion, it would be nice to reflect on this great comeback. And I thought people would have good chance at some tricky questions after likely dozens of viewings - of course, some of that may have been erased by hundreds of viewings of another pivotal few minutes since then! So, for your entertainment, a 21-question quiz about the minutia of the last two minutes of Round 23. Test yourself, test you relatives on Christmas. Post your score here! NOTE: Questions refer to the Channel 7 broadcast and widely circulated information post-match. https://www.sporcle.com/games/dees_in_october/round-23-quiz

Don't forget to celebrate the anniversary of the Grand Final on the 25th, Demonlanders. Clearly the biggest thing happening that day! Remind any friends and relatives you're catching up with that it's been 3 months since the Dees' triumph. Perhaps a celebratory viewing of the last minute of the third before present unwrapping? A toast to Max Gawn? Break out the premiership cheeseboard?

Yep I'd say so, though it might have just been an experiment for Plan B scenarios. I can see them both chipping in depending on the opposition. And, yes, Caris is just as you describe. I thought she showed good presence and held her own. If we were to lose L.Pearce, I'd expect them to play her. Fun fact I heard on a podcast called "Footy, Actually", much recommended for AFLW analysis. Top two tallest in the league are at the Dees: Caris and Gillard both at 190cm. Midfield struggled a bit to get their hands on it in the first, but came good after that. Hanks and Mithen were their usual selves. I felt Hanks was a little rusty, but the longer the game went on, the more she got into it and by the last she was everywhere. Mithen - you know what you get with her and that was her game on Saturday - tackling pressure, lots of setting up teammates by hand. Would love her to really nail her disposal by foot and even hit the scoreboard a bit. Probably the notable thing in the midfield was how they went without Paxy. She's so dominant and such a fixture, it's actually hard to remember a game where she hasn't had a big say. But it wasn't the gaping hole it would have been a few years back, so that was interesting (obviously would prefer her out there!).