Dees_In_October

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?

Since we're going deep dive on this, here's the Victorian heritage database report on Yarra Park, for some light reading. http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/114751/download-report As you can tell just by walking through there, the physical heritage listed (scarred trees, substation etc.) would not be (directly) impacted by the proposed site.

Here's hoping one might follow the other!

I was just about to say that was my favourite part! "As a Melbourne supporter" or something to that effect. Great interview, thanks.

This weekend marks the first time Melbourne and Melbourne-affiliated teams have had victories in AFL, VFL and VFLW in one weekend. We must have had similar with the Development League at some point (maybe?), but this is a new one. Our women kicked very straight today to notch up their first win. Bulldogs 7.9.51 Melbourne 15.10.100 Williamstown 5.7.37 Casey 8.1.49 Williamstown 6.10.46 Casey 11.18.84 Go Dees!

The Casey Demons have won their first VFLW game! Williamstown 5.7.37 Casey 8.1.49 Looks like we finally brought our kicking boots. Goalkickers: Kaila Bentvelzen 3, Brooke Struylaart 2, Marlee Tatham 1, plus a couple to everyone's favourite, 'Unknown'. As a VFLW sidenote - the main takeaway I've had from the little I've caught of Darebin, L. Pearce is dominating.

Sorry to see these two go, but both will thrive with more/different opportunities. From twitter: Add Paxman and that's everyone accounted for? And Daisy, obviously. Loved the "us" that snuck into her commentary in the Alice ?

I gave up making gifs of Oliver's best handballs this year due to the sheer weight of numbers and how 'blink and you'll miss it' the best ones are.

Who knew 3rd on the ladder even existed this far into a season?

I guess Daisy kind of goes without saying. Clearly one of the best leaders the Dees have ever had. Completely agree on Downie though, loved the way she went about it last season. Marinoff would be a great acquisition!

It's a good day when there's no clear-cut out for Viney! But yeah, it probably has to be Tyson or maybe a rest for Spargo?

It boggles the mind that they hadn't established the rules for compensation before the poaching began. Amateur hour. Most charitably, it suggests they were taking a 'wait and see' approach to see what kind of poaching happened, before deciding what compensation they deemed to be warranted. Which sounds like a really fair and unbiased way of doing it, not. Finger's crossed for some high draft picks, I guess... Anyway, the talent landscape is interesting, in the sense that, an 18 (maybe 19) year old can come in and come second in the comp B&F. Maybe that was a one-off, but the development gap between what the players in their mid-20s experienced compared to the new draftees is pronounced. On the other hand, football IQ is kind of a hot commodity to balance out the cross-coders. I wouldn't say no to picking up some of the older players who fell out of favour last season, seemingly due to a lack of athleticism or speed, despite having football IQ.

Of course he would exit gracefully. Shouldn't have been surprised.