Dees_In_October

3 Viney 2 Harmes 1 Jetta

I think as supporters we have to constantly remind ourselves (I do, anyway) that all the stuff we think and feel about the club is wrapped up in decades and decades of misery and missed opportunities and some very poor finals performances on the rare occasions we've made it - but it's not like that for the players. Rightly, they take the positive 'culture' stuff from the good times and understand where the fans come from, but apart from that, maybe except those who grew up as Dees fans, it's about the team here and now. The team here and now just made its first finals, won its first two finals and experienced its first devastating finals loss. That's a lot! They'll know how those first two games felt and how the last one felt and I think that puts the younger crew who'll be part of the ongoing push for a flag in good stead. No easy success, no guarantees. In some ways it's the same as at the start of this season: we'll see if they're up to the task of facing up to what went wrong yesterday or if they're content to be 'near enough'. Maybe we'll regress a few steps next year? Maybe we'll fall off the cliff completely and be wooden spooners? (That's the MFCSS talking) When it's all said and done though, I'd watch this team at their best over any team in (my) living memory. They'd have to serve up a lot more heartbreak to even get close to some previous teams! We're all used to having to look forward to next season, but it's in a different way this time.

Chins up, Demon fans. This hurts but we've hurt before and we'll hurt again. But our day is coming and we have more reason to hope than we've had for a very long time.

I love the videos they put out after the first two finals combining fan-made footage from the crowd with key moments in the games. Top shelf editing and a great understanding of the fan perspective.

In case anyone misses it in the other thread, another one for Sydney, organised by NSW Demons: Camelia Grove Hotel, 146 Henderson Road, Alexandria

UPDATED: Recommendations for good places to watch the Preliminary Final with other Demons. VICTORIA (All 11 Sporting Globe venues offer discounts for MFC members) Melbourne City Federation Square (arrive early, limited capacity available!) Duke of Wellington Sports Bar at Crown Casino Inner Suburbs Sporting Globe, Richmond (discounts for MFC members) Mountain View, Richmond Great Northern, North Carlton Outer Suburbs NOT the Bentleigh Club – No longer affiliated with MFC Sporting Globe, Fountain Gate (discounts for MFC members) Bunjil Place Plaza, Narre Warren https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/2018-afl-finals-series Great Ocean Road The Lorne Pub NSW/ACT Sydney Courthouse Hotel, Newtown Canberra/Queanbeyan Eastlake Demons Football Club TAS Hobart Irish Murphy’s, Salamanca Place WA At the ground, hopefully with vision from Fed Square on the big screen! Pre-match: Ticketed? brunch at the Burswood on Swan; Camfield Pub (expect queues) QLD Brisbane Pineapple Hotel in the Gabba (organised by Deb from Queensland Demons) Sunshine Coast Brightwater Hotel, 15 Freshwater St, Mountain Creek Gold Coast Broadbeach Cats Footy Club (organised by Deb from Queensland Demons) EUROPE UK Belushi’s, Shepherds Bush, London Germany Belushi’s Berlin? Italy @DaisyDeeciple’s place, Rome ? Still looking for recommendations: Mornington Peninsula South Australia Amsterdam Birmingham Ho Chi Minh City (can a Mod pin this please? @Demonland)

Having read your blog over the years, I felt oddly proud of your composure in that moment. So that's fairly random but also well done I guess?

Just threw this together so that people don’t have to scroll through and to hopefully bring some Demons together in random places. I’ll try to update if anyone has further advice. VICTORIA Melbourne City Federation Square Duke of Wellington Sports Bar at Crown Casino Inner Suburbs Sporting Globe, Richmond Mountain View, Richmond Great Northern, North Carlton Outer Suburbs Sporting Globe, Fountain Gate (discounts for MFC members) Bentleigh Club, Bentleigh NSW/ACT Sydney Courthouse Hotel, Newtown Canberra/Queanbeyan Eastlake Demons Football Club TAS Hobart Irish Murphy’s, Salamanca Place WA MFC change rooms, hopefully EUROPE Germany Belushi’s Berlin? Still looking for recommendations: Mornington Peninsula South Australia Sunshine Coast Amsterdam Birmingham Confirmation on Casey venue?

Heh I don't think our players who wear bras would appreciate that implication. But we should break out the second verse more often! And I like that we never updated it to more recent successes.

Plus: LAPTOP GUY AT THE BACK: "Whoo! Now, back to the stats!"

Thanks again for all the gif-work @david_neitz_is_my_dad

DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes I'm a little scared of him and he's on our team! And I'm safe in the grandstand!

Some signings: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-09-12/aflw-signing "MELBOURNE has landed Casey Sherriff as its replacement player for Daisy Pearce and secured Chantel Emonson as its final category B rookie player for the 2019 AFLW season." CASEY SHERRIFF "will come onto the list from the Casey Demons program. Casey is a 20-year old, highly athletic rebound defender, who showed great progression on our VFLW list this season and will provide some good speed in our defensive half." CHANTEL EMONSON “Coming from a cricket background where she played at representative level [for Victoria] from under 15 to under 18 level Chantel is very clean with the ball and is a strong technical kick of the footy." Also of note on the draft, list manager Todd Paterson says he hopes to read out more Casey names on draft day so that might be a clue about our intentions there.

I was glad to hear that they were at the game and also that Sam and Jim's daughter will be presenting the Jim Stynes Award at the Brownlow again this year - very special.

And what's their plan for 2019? 2020? I guess they'll probably make that up as they go along as well.

What a night. What a win! I loved that our players' response to mistakes and missed shots or free kicks seemed to be to go harder again. Never dropped their heads or lost their cool too much, even as the points piled up. That mindset seemed pervasive enough to have been coaching instruction and I think it really prevented us from collectively ever being too overawed by the occasion, which could easily have been a problem. What I'll always remember from this game though is the relentless pressure we put on, especially early: the smothers, tackles, bumps, niggle, chase-downs. Amazing. And just so proud of our supporters. We really brought it from the first bounce too. There were clearly heaps of nerves and so many of us have been scarred by the past, but the volume of support we brought from the get-go really matched and (I like to think) reinforced the players' intensity. So I guess what I'm saying is well done us! Sweet dreams, demonlanders ?

Me every day this week so far: Let's just enjoy it and see how it goes. Me today: AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IF WE DON'T WIN THE WORLD WILL END

It's been a big couple of weeks for Daisy! Now the VFLW B&F has been named for her, jointly with Helen Lambert. Lambert was the (VWFL) founding committee member and former president. Daisy is a six-time VWFL Lambert Medal (the VWFL B&F award) winner and the inaugural recipient of the VFL Women’s Medal in 2016. http://vfl.com.au/lambert-pearce-medal-announced/

Definitely agree about being back “Wanda we sing” with a vengeance! I’ve also always enjoyed “should auld acquaintance be forgot” because it sounds like a kind of polite marketing attempt. As in, “Oh and by the way, if you just happen to forget about your team and want to switch to another team for some reason, then why not the red and the blue?” Always makes me chuckle thinking about it like that.

All of them. Can’t choose, but I’m looking forward (hopefully) to reacquainting myself with my love for Viney. For the girls, it’s almost a boring answer but you just can’t go past Daisy. Legend.

It’s super special that he’s doing all this in the famous number 11 as well. When I see him wearing it, I always think of Jimmy presenting Max with his jumper and this photo, I think after Jimmy’s passing.

Kicked 2 in the second quarter today ?

Just watched Casey’s game on the VFLW live stream. It’s my first time watching them this year and I’m pleased to report that I was fairly impressed with our effort. Unfortunately, we went down to the Bulldogs in a tight one, 28-31. They tried their absolute guts out though. Tackling pressure was excellent. At times we dominated possession and really locked it in forward 50 but couldn’t put it on the scoreboard (sound familiar?). Bulldogs were down a couple of players in the last quarter, including Ellie Blackburn, and we came at them hard but couldn’t finish it off in the dying minutes. A bit on our AFLW-listed players: Smith was in everything, had some classy touches and kicked a great goal. Cordner took a couple of strong marks in the last quarter (after recovering from an epic face smother) Newman was unsighted for a lot of the game but kicked a beauty in the last. Zanker showed so much potential including great forward pressure. Has a beautiful long kick, nearly getting one from 45. Almost won the game with a flying shot on goal in the last quarter but missed. When she starts getting more shots on goal, look out. Shevlin (who was delisted from our AFLW list) had some good involvement. Wouldn't be surprised if we rookied her. I never got a handle on what number Jakobsson had so possibly was mistaking her for someone else the entire game… the distant camera work doesn't help! There were a bunch of ex-Dees playing for the Bulldogs (Berry, Jolly, Mifsud) who all contributed for them, Jolly the most.

People going to training doesn't matter. It's mainly the diehards that do that with any regularity (Although thank the gods for those on here who do and provide all the great reports!) Family Days, held at both Casey and our city training site, are what draws in families, kids, curious newcomers etc. and people are happy to make the extra effort for that - so long as they're held at a good time but that's another issue. I'd also love it if our women's team could play a true home game that wasn't a 3-hour commute for Dees fans in the northern suburbs. What we're looking for in a training ground is one that's got top-notch facilities, is centrally located for everyone, especially those who go there regularly - the players, coaches etc. - is connected to the administrative side of the club, and is a hub as the club's home in the city that bears our name. We want to grab people's interest where we can get it (including around Casey) and then convert that into memberships and game attendance. Who cares if those people watch training?