Dees_In_October

Hearing whispers (or perhaps just speculation) linking Mick Stinear to Geelong, after they parted ways with Dan Lowther this morning. Puts a bit of a different spin on that video with all the mentions of it being a different team next season and his emotion after the game last week... Of course, there might be nothing in it. Regardless, three teams now on the hunt for a senior coach for 2026.

Avg. games experience of selected teams (median): Melb: 55.2 (59.0) North: 66.1 (63.0) (This is our most experienced team of the season, the lowest was 37.3 in Round 3) The Roos have 2 players with 35 games and under, the Dees have 7. Premiership players selected teams: Melb: 14 North: 18 Median 2025 avg. fantasy score selected teams: Melb: 54.1 North: 58.2 After having 1-5 players available outside the selected 21 all season, we've hit peak availibility this week, with 8 fit players left out of the team. Congrats to Goldrick on her 8th All Ireland All Star team selection (possibly 9th based on EMac's fact check in the insta comments!) https://www.instagram.com/p/DRIw8VKEokK/ Some light reading: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-20/blaithin-mackin-double-life-of-an-irish-aflw-player/106017896

I've never felt more relaxed in the lead-up to a Prelim! It's quite bizarre really. It's fun to be the underdog. It's fun to have this challenge. It's fun to have the opportunity to give it a crack and see what happens with no expectations just belief that we're building something special.

Yes, it felt quite pointed. I imagine it's hard when you're in the thick of it to remember how quickly things change post-season. Certainly there'll be some retirements and inevitable de-listings, maybe some movement in the coaching ranks as well. I've seen Shae Sloane, for example, mentioned as a possibility for some of the vacant senior coach jobs.

For your veins (couldn't fit in all the lead-up, but to me the into space handball was the highlight of the highlight): And had to do this:

I reckon it would be that huge effort on the wing where she laid a big tackle (not rewarded) then another (not rewarded) and eventually just mopped it up and cleared the ball herself before turning to the umpire in disbelief.

Thoughts on the game: Very proud. Wish we could bottle some of that Demon Spirit! Turned around a lot of the negatives of last week and owned the big moments. Kate was a force, but this week she had a lot of friends and, crucially, not just the usual suspects. How good to see Mahony and Wotherspoon stepping up in a big game! Generally, the team seemed better prepared to ride the momentum, when to up the ante but also when to hold things up and conserve at the right times. To win that with Hanks’ impact very limited is particularly well done. We asked for a more even effort across the team and for longer in the game, and that's what we got. Credit to the umpires as well, they really did their best to turn the game, but our players wouldn't have it. I’m sure they’ll be back bigger and better next week 🙄 It's our second win of the season against a more experienced side (the other was against Richmond, which probably says more about them). In fact, in pretty much all our wins we’ve had a relatively large experience advantage. So, even if Adelaide might be on the slide, and were certainly wasteful in this game, it’s a step forward, especially to come back from a shaky second quarter and then play out the last quarter with that ruthless intensity. Now we’re officially in “surpassing my expectations” territory. It’s all a bonus from here and a great opportunity ahead! Meanwhile I'll just watch that Gillard tackle on repeat.

I really hope we get to see this next season, plus another pre-season into the youngsters. Not that I'm writing us off for next week, but the future is bright if we can continue on this trajectory. So true, a bit of a changing of the guard moment. Huge respect for Randall, especially in how she handled that pre-Grand Final concussion situation. Brave on the field but was an important role model off it during that time. I'm not going to lie, I think I would enjoy this as much as beating them.

Speaking of which I spotted Marnie as well with BBB. I'm not sure if he's in the country ATM but Broden must be pumped wherever he is!

I'll second that!

The Friday training thread is currently in Latin. Some might say we've become a parody of ourselves, but I'm all for it. Now, back to my cheeseboard.

I always notice how good our banners are against... pretty much every other team, often even when we're the away team! Some might see it as a small thing, but I think it's all part of setting a standard as "one club", which has a flow-on effect and as a fan I really appreciate the effort. If you don't mind sharing, what advice did you give to the other clubs? For a while we were probably ahead due to being in the comp for longer, but it can't be that at this point, and I don't think our supporters are any more progressive in this space than others or anything like that. It's certainly not due to venue convenience! Club support? Cross-over from men's and sharing of funds? Or just lucky that we've had a particularly committed bunch of people and that's been reinforced by a rewarding experience for those involved?

Avg. games experience of teams as selected: Melb: 50.5 Adel: 57.7 The Crows have 7 players aged 23 and under, the Dees have 10. Top 3 Fantasy Points 2025: Melb: Hanks (7th), Hore (8th), McNamara (22nd) Adel: Marinoff (1st), Hatchard (25th), Newman (36th) Top 3 Marks i50 2025: Melb: Zanker (3rd), Hore (=14th), Harris (=26th), Bannan (=49th) Adel: Ponter (=9th), Hatchard, Jones (=11th) Top 3 Intercept Marks 2025 (total): Melb: Chaplin (100), Hanks (65), McNamara (64), Gillard (58) Adel: Biddell, Marinoff, Prowse (71) Congrats to Mick Stinear on his 100th game as coach!

MELBOURNE In: S.Goldrick, L.Ebert Out: E.Zanker (concussion), J.Rigoni (omitted) ADELAIDE In: Nil Out: Nil

MARK OF THE YEAR: VOTE FOR TAYLA Tayla's Round 1 mark is one of the finalists for MOTY! She's up against a couple of Tigers, so could be a chance if they split the vote. Finalist voting closes 10am Monday 17th of November (AEST).

Saturday November 151.05pmIkon Park

I figured it must have been something like this because Edo seems to love being at the Demons and you'd think would be well positioned in terms of progressing up the team's pay hierarchy, plus she's firing on-field and such a key player now. Hopefully she's having a quiet day and feeling better!

6 Hore 5 Gillard 4 Hanks 3 McNamara 2 Wotherspoon 1 O'Hehir (can I give a vote mostly based on a tackle I really liked? Well, I guess I am!)

We'd have to be seriously considering Beasley, particularly if one or both of Goldrick and Chaplin don't get up in time (though sounds promising).

The forgotten one! Will be interesting to see what happens there. Two plus years without playing Aussie Rules and will be 29 by the start of next season...

I agree and actually accuracy has been a problem since pretty much day dot. It's just that for many years we got away with it through sheer weight of i50s.

This is it for me. It went about as expected (from my point of view, actually better!) given where I see the team currently. Too reliant on a few players at the top (Kate, a huge game). The "bottom 6", despite having some really encouraging shining moments (that O'Hehir tackle, Wotherspoon's increasing impact, Mahony's first goal, pressure from Rigoni), a lot couldn't sustain for the whole game. Meanwhile, too many others with more experience went missing or let themselves down in big moments - Paxman, Lampard, McNamara, Bannan, Harris, to name a few. Still, it's not often you get to measure against the same opposition in such quick succession. And if you look at the team we had two weeks and ago compared to this week, and the team they had, Brisbane stacked on plenty more experience, while we lost heaps (that's the technical phrasing). And yet, a similar result. Of course, injury becomes a worn-out excuse, and great teams can play through the loss of a few. We're just not there yet. Where we are this year (a roughly 5-6 ranked team on a proper ladder), is where I thought we'd get to last year, if not for the injury plague then. The finals experience is really valuable for those 6 players of ours in their first final. Despite all that, the result and the path it leads us on in this campaign is disappointing. Our players need to be more ruthless, better able to own the big moments and bounce back from adversity (umpire lottery included). On the plus side, the continued push into the last quarter was a good sign, I thought, and if there'd been more players with enough left, especially to tighten up down back, who knows. The deficiencies aren't going to go away overnight, but we can hope for a lift from several players and another step forward for the young brigade. Time to fire up now and give it a red hot crack!

Avg. games experience of teams as selected (Round 11 comparison): Melb: 49.9 (46.1) Bris: 67.0 (59.3) Brisbane have 1 player aged 23 and under, the Dees have 10. Ins and outs compared with R11: Melb: IN - Gall, D.Taylor, OUT - Chaplin, Ebert Bris: IN - Hampson, Koenen OUT - Boltz, Wright First finals game: Melb: Gall, Mahony, O'Hehir, Rigoni, S.Taylor, Wotherspoon Bris: Davison, Dooley Things look a little dire on paper. But we throw all of that out the window at the first ball-up! Go Dees!

Snuck in with 6 wins, one of which was against the top 8. Though I guess we can hardly talk in that regard!

Catching up on this thread. That was a rollercoaster! 😥 Based on @Harvey Wallbanger intel, I did suspect we were probably playing selection games even naming her in the first place, sadly.