Dees_In_October

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.

Always good to have a stepladder around with Fritsch lurking!

We've come out of this pretty well, especially if the rules mean we can't have anyone else poached? Rocky is a big loss but it was always going to be someone. To be honest I'd prefer to keep Mithen and she's done well with a hard decision. Hickey, as much as I respect what she's done in our team (I reckon she would have been the difference in the last round), at this stage I think we're well placed to cover that with someone younger. As for the AFL's machinations, I won't even get started, but their apparent disinterest in doing what it takes to keep the best coach in the league around speaks volumes... Anyway, what does everyone think we should be looking for by trade or draft? I think the forward line's the main issue.

I don't worry about Clayton. In the scheme of things, he's due some delayed 'second year blues'. Any downturn from him learning to deal with the extra attention, either due to his performance last year or the absence of other players, is just part of the process.

Here's where our 2018 listed players will be for the VFLW season at least, starting this weekend. Casey Demons Newman, Jakobsson, Hore, Duryea, Smith, Scott, Grierson, Whitfort, Cordner, Shevlin, Zanker, Phillips Darebin Paxman, Guerin, Patterson, O’Dea, L. Pearce Geelong Cranston, Hoare, Teague Western Bulldogs Guest, Mifsud Not VFLW listed/Doing something else this winter? Humphries, Downie, Cunningham, Lampard, Kemp Daisy and Mithen are taking VFLW off, Hickey injured

Always gives a consistent effort, regardless of form. He's come a long way. Of all the players of the really bad times, you wouldn't necessarily have expected that he'd be one of the survivors. But he ended up out-lasting some much more skilled players just through his tenacity.

1. Going up a gear and getting the job done when we had to. 2. Hogan's epic tackle. 3. Fritsch's hands.

Well done to the 'Big 3' but especially well done by Downie. Showed great improvement from last season, and even within this season itself. Also Daisy was again named Best Captain at the MVP awards, with Paxman taking 2nd place behind Gum for the MVP.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-03-21/aflw-pies-and-dees-dominate-aa-squad We have 7 players in the 40-player long list, which will be whittled down to 21 at the W awards on Tuesday. Melbourne Meg Downie Bianca Jakobsson Richelle Cranston Tegan Cunningham Karen Paxman Daisy Pearce Elise O'Dea

That'll keep us guessing longer. No need for silhouettes!

It looks amazing! Really livens the page up. I love how Oliver's in his trademark handball pose! Makes me wonder what next year's banner could be? Surrealist? Post-modern? Heidelburg School of Australian Impressionism?

I don't quite get his thinking, putting it off to attend training. Why not get it done and dusted ASAP to recover better for round 1? Hope his recovery is as speedy as he thought it would be!

Round 7 Team of the Week Smith in the backline. Paxman in the midfield. Our players who featured most regularly in the Team of the Week in 2018 were: O'Dea, Paxman (4), Cunningham, Daisy (3). Coaches Association Votes Carlton v Melbourne, Sunday March 11 10 Elise O'Dea (Melb) 7 Lauren Pearce (Melb) 6 Shelley Scott (Melb) 5 Tegan Cunningham (Melb) 2 Kate Hore (Melb) Western Bulldogs v Melbourne, Saturday March 17 10 Emma Kearney (WB) 8 Karen Paxman (Melb) 5 Jenna Burton (WB) 4 Lauren Spark (WB) 3 Daisy Pearce (Melb) Final Leaderboard 42 Emma Kearney (WB) 42 Chelsea Randall (Adel) 35 Ellie Blackburn (WB) 34 Kate Lutkins (BL) 32 Dana Hooker (Frem) 31 Daisy Pearce (Melb) 30 Courtney Gum (GWS) 26 Kara Donnellan (Frem) 26 Elise O’Dea (Melb) 24 Ebony Antonio (Frem)

I don't agree with the seeming rigidity within our game plan. It's all well and good to 'stick to the process' because our best is very good, but there must be some flexibility to respond to conditions, match ups, the general vibe of the day. Arguably sticking to the game plan is good for player and team development but short games and a short season don't always lend themselves to long-term thinking. The idea that our weaknesses are somehow a 'Melbourne' trait though is questionable ... is it something in the water because the teams seem quite separate entities, except I guess Garland. Not saying similar problems aren't there, just that they're unhappy coincidences. It'll be a very different competition next season and onwards - more time for form fluctuations and building team synergy within seasons. We'll look back at these first two as ones that got away and it won't get easier from here. And now the teams go their separate ways for another, what, 8-9 months? Then back to square one. I definitely felt that some of what we'd built by the last round of 2017 understandably didn't carry over into 2018. Same boat as all teams though. We'll lose some good players to expansion, but that's inevitable and I think the players going would have mostly decided anyway. As part-timers, being close to family support and having continuity with VFLW are among the biggest selling points. On a positive, some of the 18-year-olds who've come in this year for other teams have been very impressive, so (dare I say it!) I hope we look to the draft for some more natural footballers - in the style of Katherine Smith, who I thought played a great game last night.