Dees_In_October

Well said. I never thought I'd be so enamoured with the object itself, just expected it to feel like a mere symbol, a fun photo op and that's it. But when I touched it, there was something electric about it. Probably was more impactful than otherwise in making it feel real since so much of the experience was virtual to that point.

Round 9 With AFLW over, now turning my attention more strongly to our Casey players, and what a season they're having! Actually got to watch this game in full, which was enjoyable as got the chance to watch lots of players I haven't seen much of yet this season. Easily the most decorated AFLW-listed player on the field was ex-Adelaide premiership player turned Cat, Chloe Scheer, who was well held. For the Demons in terms of AFLW, it was Gillard and Chaplin. After beating Geelong by 11 points in Round 5, the re-match was a much more dominant affair to Casey's favour. General game thoughts A couple of times early we really threatened to score but just couldn’t quite get that last clean possession or went one handball too many - we could have easily been further ahead by quarter time. My impression of this team is that they’re really focused and hard working, and really committed to playing out quarters strongly regardless of the score. On the stream you could hear a lot of the Casey coaches’ instructions to players on the field, which is always interesting. A lot of focus on positioning. There was good pressure up field and Casey were well in control for the majority of the game. My favourite passage of play was the last minute of the third. The ball had been camped at half forward for Geelong for several minutes before they got it deep. Some excellent evasion and a neat kick from a player whose number I couldn’t quite see (could have been Grant) set up a clean transition out of the backline. A huge steal ensued when McCrossan stripped it from a Cats player after a dropped mark and dodged some opponents, bringing the ball almost to the goal square before losing it. At that point it was five on two in Geelong’s favour, but Casey worked hard to get numbers to the contest and just managed to keep the ball in the area by sheer will. This opened the door for Hogg to lay a great last-second tackle to earn a free and after-the-siren goal. Excellent team effort against some demoralised opposition. That put Casey up 36 points up going into the last quarter, essentially sealing the win. CASEY 1.1.7 5.3.33 7.3.45 8.4.52 GEELONG 0.2.2 0.2.2 1.3.9 1.3.9 Casey goalkickers: Conroy Fellows Hogg 2 Fairchild Macdonald 1 Stats leaders O’Connor – 19 disposals, 5 tackles, 6 clearances Horne – 17 disposals, 2 marks, 5 tackles Fellows – 14 disposals, 2 goals, 4 marks, 2 tackles Hogg – 14 disposals, 2 goals, 2 tackles, 3 clearances L.Wales – 14 disposals, 3 marks, 24 hit outs Gillard – 8 disposals, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 10 hit outs Fellows is having a really great season. A genuine crumber, something we’ve lacked in AFLW. Quick and reads it well. Loves to go straight to goal, which came off to great effect in the third when she found a paddock for a great running goal (after being denied a similar one in the first quarter after a wayward running bounce). I also liked Conroy’s game – two good goals out of the ruck, crashed some packs, good lead-up play at times. Continued to be impressed by Gillard and really hope we can keep her at the Dees. Always makes a contest, good positioning, some clean hit outs, second efforts. Rucks being such a hot commodity, hopefully she’ll be pleased with the game time she got in AFLW this year and can build into being our next ruck after L.Pearce—surely a good player to learn from. That's Casey's ninth straight win. The key will be how we play against some of the better teams that can apply more pressure. NEXT: 3rd-placed (soon to enter AFLW) Hawthorn at 11:35AM on Sunday May 1 at Box Hill City Oval

No idea if this is a record, but at the Demons (MFC and Casey) for Season 2022 we currently have a 93% win rate: AFL Men's = 5/5 AFL Women's = 11/13 (season completed) VFL Men's = 4/4 VFL Women's = 8/8

Round 8 Another stats-based summary. WILLIAMSTOWN 0.0.0 2.4.16 4.5.29 4.6.30 CASEY DEMONS 3.0.18 4.0.24 7.2.44 8.3.51 Casey goalkickers: Johnson McCrossan 2 Dowler Fellows Hogg Wales Casey disposal leaders: Johnson 22 Hogg 20 Dowler 18 Grant 17 Borchard 15 VFLW stand-outs: Johnson - 22 disposals, 2 goals, 4 clearances Hogg - 20 disposals, 1 goal, 5 clearances Wales - 17 hit outs, 1 goal, 11 disposals, 8 tackles Dowler - 18 disposals, 1 goal, 5 tackles O'Connor - 12 disposals, 4 marks, 4 tackles Harasimiuk - 7 disposals, 7 tackles, 3 clearances Horne - 14 disposals, 7 tackles, 6 clearances Swain - 29 hit outs AFLW-listed players: None played! Casey now have eight straight wins. Next: 4th-placed Geelong at 12PM on Saturday April 23 at Casey Fields

Pearce & Pearce and Tayla & Tyla! Quite an even count, represents the season fairly I think. We had different contributors across the season and also several games where there were several who could have made the votes. Amazing effort by Westy to make the leaderboard in her debut season and good to see Bannan and Goldie rewarded too. Of course, I'm a big fan of Heath getting recognition. Definitely a trademark player.

Just going to re-post this here. I think it encapsulates a lot about where this competition is at and what I love about it:

A disappointing end to a great season. It was always going to take our absolute best today and we got nowhere near it. But I'm still proud of their fight. Adelaide are a juggernaut! All credit to them.

Current Dees' All-Australians: Paxman - 2017 (c), 2018, 2019, 2020 (c), 2021 Harris - 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022 D Pearce - 2017, 2018, 2022 L Pearce - 2019, 2022 Birch - 2020, 2022 Hore - 2020 Purcell - 2020

Round 7 Well, it only took until Round 7 for me to figure out where the live stream replays are: https://vflw.tv/ No time for viewing this week, but here's a stats-based summary. COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES 0.1.1 1.4.10 1.7.13 3.11.29 CASEY DEMONS 3.1.19 3.1.19 4.5.29 5.6.36 Casey goalkickers: Borchard Campbell Caris Dowler Parry Casey disposal leaders: Tarrant 26 Hogg 22 Caris 18 Magee 16 Dowler 15 VFLW stand-outs: Hogg - 22 disposals, 2 clearances Dowler - 1 goal, 15 disposals, 4 tackles, 3 clearances Grant - 14 disposals, 2 tackles Fairchild - 10 disposals, 8 tackles Kirkwood - 8 disposals, 5 tackles, 3 clearances AFLW-listed players: Brown - 8 disposals, 2 marks Caris - 18 disposals, 4 marks, 28 hit-outs, 4 clearances Campbell - 7 disposals, 3 marks, 3 tackles Magee - 16 disposals, 2 marks, 6 tackles Parry - 1 goal, 6 disposals, 3 marks Petrevski - 10 disposals, 7 tackles Tarrant - 26 disposals, 3 marks Casey now have seven straight wins at the mid-way point of season 2022. The run home and opponent's current ladder position: Williamstown (8th), Geelong (6th), Hawthorn (3rd), Collingwood (7th), Port Melbourne (10th), Carlton (9th), Essendon (2nd).

Melbourne’s 2022 AFLPA MVP Awards nominees - MVP: Tayla Harris, Lauren Pearce, Tyla Hanks Best First-Year Player: Eliza West Most Courageous: Shelley Heath Best Captain: Daisy Pearce To be announced on The Front Bar, Wednesday 6 April.

5. Bannan (3 goals, electric. Celebrations also A+) 4. Paxman (Glad we didn't drop her early in the season...haha as if that was every going to happen!) 3. McNamara (Went up a level in the second half. Did the defensive stuff, hit the scoreboard) 2. L.Pearce (Just keeps on keeping on, clearance stats, chef's kiss goal out of the ruck) 1. Colvin (Stepped up, left her player decisively for crucial moments) Apologies to Gay, Heath, Hanks, Goldie, D.Pearce... really, most players except about two or three.

Still flying high, go Dees! Some incredible efforts in this game and a nailbiting finish - although, of course, never in doubt! I moved on from the poor umpire about three seasons ago but understand why it annoys newcomers. And like many decisions in AFLW, the MCG venue for today was short-term pain for long-term gain. Sweet Grand Final dreams, Demonlanders!

And while we're on the podcasts, Karen Paxman joins Lil & Ben ahead of her 50th AFLW game: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1089471/listen-lil-ben-with-karen-paxman

Came here to say the same. Super glad to see her recognised. Maybe won't suffer the same 'underrated' tag Jetta did for so long! Note that this is the extended squad, final team of 21 to be announced at the W Awards. It'll be the first AFLW AA without Paxman, a great feat by her. Kearney from North who is the only other to have featured every year is still in the hunt. Congrats to Irishwoman Cora Staunton who makes the extended team at age 40 - she's an absolute force.

Still wouldn't bet on it but hope I'm wrong. Zanker was also the guest on Gus & Gawny this week...live from the Cranbourne Turf club!

Harris and Bannan have made the Top 3 for the AFLW Mark and Goal of the Year: https://www.womens.afl/video/91629/aflw-mark-of-the-year-top-3-finalists https://www.womens.afl/video/91631/aflw-goal-of-the-year-top-3-finalists Winners to be announced at the W Awards.

Was just thinking today she might be a bit underdone anyway...

I know you guys will cover it, but can we put a big call-out to Dees fans to get along to the G on Saturday for the AFLW prelim? Heard ANB interviewed and he says the men's team will be along to support as well.

Definitely 🤞 Still kinda can't believe it's happening at the G!

Your question piqued my interest, so I googled and up pops a 2017 demonland thread, haha! According to that

AFLW-listed players who played in Casey's 89-point win over the Southern Saints in the VFLW: Brown - 13 disposals, 2 marks Campbell - 1 goal, 7 disposals, 5 hit-outs Caris - 10 disposals, 25 hit-outs Gay - 17 disposals, 9 inside-50s Gillard - 15 disposals, 4 tackles Lampard - 1 goal, 15 disposals Magee - 15 disposals, 3 tackles Parry - 4 goals, 18 disposals, 7 marks Petrevski - 1 goal, 16 disposals, 6 inside-50s Tarrant - 20 disposals, 6 marks West - 19 disposals, 6 clearances, 6 tackles

ROUND 6 Apparently there was a stream of the game but not one that I could find - maybe it was live only. So, relying on the stats alone: CASEY DEMONS 2.4.16 6.8.44 8.10.58 14.13.97 SOUTHERN SAINTS 0.0.0 1.2.8 1.2.8 1.2.8 Casey goalkickers: Parry 4 Hogg McCrossan 2 Campbell Fellows Kirkwood Lampard O'Connor Petrevski Casey disposal leaders: Fellows 20 Tarrant 20 West 19 Parry 18 Gay 17 VFLW stand-outs: Fellows - 20 disposals, 1 goal McCrossan - 15 disposals, 2 goals Grant - 14 disposals, 4 marks Hogg - 11 disposals, 2 goals, 4 clearances Fairchild - 12 disposals, 8 tackles AFLW-listed players: Brown - 13 disposals, 2 marks Campbell - 1 goal, 7 disposals, 5 hit-outs Caris - 10 disposals, 25 hit-outs Gay - 17 disposals, 9 inside-50s Gillard - 15 disposals, 4 tackles Lampard - 1 goal, 15 disposals Magee - 15 disposals, 3 tackles Parry - 4 goals, 18 disposals, 7 marks Petrevski - 1 goal, 16 disposals, 6 inside-50s Tarrant - 20 disposals, 6 marks West - 19 disposals, 6 clearances, 6 tackles Casey now sit two points clear atop the ladder, undefeated.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1084994 "Captain Daisy Pearce and key forward Tayla Harris will be among only few to have played at the venue, being part of two Exhibition Series matches at the MCG (2013 and 2015)."

It's the stuff dreams are made of!