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Dees_In_October

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Everything posted by Dees_In_October

  1. Possible ins: West, Wilson, and tests pending, Colvin and Watt. Lampard would be an extreme outside chance and would be under done regardless. Realistically, Gall or Johnson aren't getting a go. I agree with others that we need West for physicality. Aside from that, I don't think changes are necessarily going to solve anything. It's smart to be reactive, a bit defensive and absorb pressure early in a final (though perhaps we were just flat). But it felt like took ages to get out of that mode against the Roos. What I really want is for us to control the footy and keep it in our hands, just for a few minutes here and there, without necessarily going all-out attack handball-chain-happy. But that very clearly doesn't mesh with the game plan we're trying to execute... Anyway, lots of players needing a big lift. Looking for Harris, Gay and Paxman to improve with some continuity after being in and out this season.
  2. 6. Hanks 5. Goldrick 4. Hore 3. Purcell 2. Heath 1. Chaplin That's what I can muster in a team that played like they'd never met each other before. On WCW's intel, I'm hoping that was the result of some kind of fever dream...
  3. I almost don’t feel like dignifying that performance with anything! I’ve never seen us so flat and that’s saying something after last week. Couldn’t take a trick and credit to North they did everything right and finally put it all together. So many dropped marks, half-hearted ground balls and lack of run. Then every small chance we mustered we butchered with poor skill execution and some absolutely shocking decisions with the footy. Consecutive performances like that is new territory for us. You could feel it coming a mile off. After what turned out to be a soft draw we’ve been battling complacency and haven’t prepared well for this phase of the season. Next week it’s back to basics and just absolute hunger for the contest. No passengers. Some desperation from the first siren please.
  4. Yeah, it is surprising. The two seasons in one year is deceptive as well. Bannan and McNamara are in their last season of eligibility. Gillard is still a teenager for a month!
  5. A bit of background to the QF. Seems like a long time since we played North, a few weeks back! Across the H&A season, Melbourne and North's top four teams played were the same (Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong and each other). In those games, Melbourne had 10 goalkickers for a total of 27 goals; North had 8 for 16. Melbourne conceded 148 points; North 135. Avg. games experience selected teams QF (and Round 8 for comparison): Melb 45.2 (42.8); North 42.4 (37.9) Avg. finals experience selected teams QF: Melb 5.7; Nth 4.0 From the Round 8 team that faced the Roos, Sherriff, West and Wilson are out, and Harris, Ivey and A.Mackin are in. Bit of a pre-game trivia question. Which two of Melbourne's players have the most finals experience?
  6. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1462644/22under22-squad-three-demons-feature?spMailingID=10200469&spUserID=Mjg4NTYxMjMzODA0S0&spJobID=1860190465&spReportId=MTg2MDE5MDQ2NQS2 Gillard, Bannan and McNamara have been named in the squad. Vote for them here: https://vote.22under22.com.au/ Voting closes November 15th, with the team announced November 22nd.
  7. Extended team: In: A.Mackin, P.Paxman, M.Gay, G.Campbell, C.Wilson, S.Johnson Out: R.Watt (concussion), C.Sherriff (arm), G.Gall (omitted) So what do we reckon? Can't fit everyone I want in. Just really hoping for no late outs.
  8. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1462275/qf-injury-report-sherriffs-season-ended Such bad luck for Casey! Two games away from her 50th as well.
  9. Match review lottery results: https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/1061934/match-review-brisbane-lion-dee-heslop-sent-to-tribunal-teammate-charlotte-mullins-also-banned Breath easy, Dees fans!
  10. Listening to the W Podcast and they're discussing this very thing (why no game fixtured for Friday night). Sam Lane's put this question to the AFL and their official line is that they didn't want to clash with the WBBL game, for which channel 7 is also the broadcaster. Of course, the memorial might have been an additional consideration, and I'm sure you might be in the know beyond the official justification! For Saturday, they reckon they'll get better live and TV audiences for Adelaide vs Brisbane in the arvo than at night, while they don't believe the timing will have impact #s either way for GC vs Sydney. And also prioritising Brisbane as the higher-finishing travelling team to be able to return home Saturday night. And while's we're at it, the reasoning for the Sunday fixturing being back-to-back (preventing people from attending both) is to give those four teams relatively equal rest. The AFL questions, reasonably I think, how many would actually do the GMHBA -> Ikon double.
  11. https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/1061949/dees-double-act-share-leading-goalkicker-award Had to post this just for the picture they chose for the article. Too bad, Zanks 😆
  12. I've got my ticket! This game is anxiety central. Like others, I feel that North is really on the brink of breaking through right now. We need a big effort. Soft fixture or otherwise, everything resets now and nothing is guaranteed, for us or anyone else. Hopefully we'll have the crowd behind us like we did last game against them. Every bit counts!
  13. * Racks brains * 6 Hore 5 Gillard 4 Purcell 3 Goldrick 2 Pearce 1 Hanks
  14. Noooooooooooo! Credit to Brisbane, they really brought it and we were simply not up to it. Negatives Outplayed all over and SO MANY MISTAKES. Frustrating. Need to find a way to wrest back momentum and own the ball when the pressure is up. Small sample, but we haven’t been able to do that against proper competition this season and it’s a worry. We started too reactive and weren’t switched on. Any chance we could come out all guns blazing sometime? Then again, the way the Lions were on…if we’d backed our game, they might’ve had 5 in the first. Too many were ineffective with the ball under pressure (count West, Mithen and Heath among those). Goalless in the second half. The forward line was starved and then when we found a bit of connection looked fairly toothless in the last quarter. We’ve struggled to get Bannan’s full impact against the top teams this season. A couple of our tackles will be looked at. All season players have been getting off for dangerous tackles so of course just watch Hanks and possibly Heath get weeks. Hate to see Watt who surely has limited chances left in her career have her season possibly ended like that. Positives The ball bounced, I guess. Not our way. But it did bounce. I thought the most likely way for us to lose that game would be through inaccurate kicking. Well, we did lose, but not in that way. I was also worried about their speed and they definitely broke us open a few times…wait, that’s not a positive. Hopefully that was about as bad as we can play and about as well as they can play. We’ve seen Adelaide and Brisbane’s tactics—do we have a response? Paxman as a late out set off a chain of shifts that were less than ideal and left things out of whack. A tough ask for Gall. We can field a better team than this, but no excuses. Thought it was a good return by Harris overall. Mackin the only player who had any real space. Goldie tried hard. Hore and Hanks tried to lead the way. The backline did about all it could under that level of attack before caving. People reacting in the gameday thread with vitriol and exaggeration. It’s Demonland code for "This hurts", which translates to “I care”. May the sting of losing send us into beast mode for finals. Our best beats anyone. Just need to do it.
  15. I reckon occasionally Tayla goes into a mode where she throws her body around even more than usual, but agree she's very controlled and usually plays with a sort of calm aggression. There are several more hot-headed players on our team and certainly a few more interested in the niggle than she's ever been. Speaking of hard at it, enjoyed this interview with Goldie. She talks about the switch between codes, moving to Australia this season, and the Jim Stynes connection. It's very obvious how Sinead's experiences at Dublin, failing many times then achieving success, made her a great asset for our team in taking the next step. Probably an underrated aspect of her contribution, aside from what we (and she, as it turns out!) describe as the "chaos" she brings on the field.
  16. Congrats to Libby Birch on 75 games! 🌈 And a happy Pride Round to all 🌈 Michael Voss Oval win-loss record: Brisbane 2-3; Melbourne 1-0 Melbourne's win-loss record against Brisbane: 6-2 (Melbourne last played Brisbane in the 2022B Grand Final, a 4-point win) Selected teams avg. games experience: Melb 46.4; Bris 43.3 2023 formline comparison: Brisbane 6 wins (2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 14th and 17th); 3 losses (9th, 10th and 12th) Melbourne 8 wins (3rd, 7th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th); 1 loss (2nd) Both played Adelaide (Melb -10; Bris +3); North (Melb +23; Bris +2); Collingwood (Melb +42; Bris -5) and Hawthorn (Melb +59; Bris +27) If we take the field as selected, the following 14 players will have played all 10 H&A games in 2023: Bannan, Birch, Goldrick, Gillard, Hanks, Heath, Hore, B.Mackin, McNamara, Mithen, Purcell, Sherriff, West and Zanker. Ivey's first game of 2023 means we'll have played 28 total from our list of 31.
  17. Thanks for kicking us off in such spooky style! Retro jumpers! https://www.melbournefc.com.au/albums/1459316/aflw-training-gallery-retro-jumpers?modal=true&type=gallery&playlistId=1459316&playlistSize=10 "Harris set for return" https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1459233/rd10-injury-report-harris-set-for-return
  18. Yeah doing a consistent Friday night game would make sense. Similarly, surely there's a weekend day early in the H&A season where they could book in Docklands and do two or even three games for a mini footy festival to advertise months in advance. Could sell some sections as one game only and others for the full day. Put the most skilled teams on, do group discounts tickets for community groups, create some buzz, and everyone leaves with a membership or a fixture in their hand so they know when to get along to "Princess" Park (hehe) or wherever. And on that, listening to the W Podcast, they were talking about what Sydney's done up at Henson Park, where they've had really strong crowds this season, even before the team's form got rolling. They went back to basics and did an old-school letter drop in the days leading up to each home game, and that's where their ticket sales came from. Proof that specific targeting is better than just the generic "it's AFLW season" advertising that's full of feel-good buzzwords but little in the way of actual information. It's just now occurring to me that the AFL is not used to advertising in the way that's needed for the AFLW because, let's face it, they've basically got a captive audience for the men's. The only other thing I can think of is that it might be cheaper for the AFL to run a game at Casey than at Princes Park? Especially if their expecting a small crowd (though clearly that's a bit of a chicken and egg situation).
  19. And just to put some figures behind the crowd comparisons for our home games in 2023, it's exactly as we'd expect: Avg. Casey attendance (3 games): 1,694 Avg. Princes Park attendance (2 games): 5,558 Avg. home attendance last H&A season: 1,288 (4 Casey games - not including the 17,851 MCG crowd for R2) We've done the most important thing in attracting crowds, which is to win games and be a consistent, competitive and enjoyable team to watch. Based on the above, the next obvious thing is not to play at Casey. Obvious but perhaps not easy contractually? Though that fastest-growing area thing only works if we've actually got a strategy for converting those people into supporters and members. Would love to know if there's any evidence of that happening and if it's enough to counter the number of existing members who would attend but will never set foot at Casey Fields.
  20. That's a fair effort! Kudos for putting in the hard yards. Casey is difficult enough to get to by car but public transport is ridiculous, especially if you're lugging a camp chair or wrangling kids or whatever, it's easy to see how it limits access.
  21. All the finals scenarios based on possible results next week here: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/aflw-2023-afl-womens-last-round-finals-scenarios-the-run-home-ladder-predictor-round-10-games-what-every-team-needs/news-story/d6060d2daf5fd9ec9dc0454f8df1df95 As mentioned by others, for us the equation is pretty simple: "Win: Finish 1st unless Adelaide wins by biggest margin in AFLW history, then finish 2nd Lose: Finish 2nd if Adelaide wins, 1st if Adelaide loses With the $1 million McClelland Trophy already theirs, the Demons are simply aiming for the minor premiership on Saturday night. But there’s something arguably even more important on the line - a very favourable qualifying final. We can’t imagine Adelaide losing to West Coast earlier in the evening, so if Melbourne loses to Brisbane they should drop into second, and very likely face North Melbourne in a tricky qualifying final. But a win over Brisbane will knock the Lions out of the four, and hand the Demons a qualifying final against fourth-placed Essendon or Gold Coast - who the reigning premiers would be heavily favoured against. Either way the Dees are one of the flag favourites but an easier qualifying final is quite the reward."
  22. 6. Paxman 5. B.Mackin 4. Goldrick 3. McNamara 2. West 1. Mithen
  23. They've called it: https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/1057726/brisbane-lions-surrender-1m-mcclelland-prize-in-costly-loss-to-st-kilda-saints "The result will see Melbourne claim the McClelland-Trophy treasure, with Collingwood one game and nearly 18 percentage points behind." Both our teams have contributed 64 points (with one game remaining for the women), so a nice and even contribution. Someday a club will win it with more of a contribution from one team over the other, but this ain't that.
  24. Agh, another classic Blusterdome game. I used to be all "both teams have to play in the conditions, so you take it as it is". But with the gap in skills this team has on most opponents it's more and more of a shame that we play so often in the football equivalent of a spin cycle. Yes, a bunch of those goals missed should have been slotted (and this is something we won't always get away with and need to tighten up). It's the around the ground stuff that I find frustrating, as the conditions don't reward skill or superior ball movement so much as "kick and hope" footy. We'll still typically rise above it, and play the conditions smart. And there'll always be games affected by the weather. But I hate that 90% of the time, playing at our home ground means our team won't get to practice its full potential. All that aside, we did what we needed to do, 4 points, no obvious injuries, and as it turns out, all but sealing $1 mil. That goal from B.Mack was all class and the highlight of the day for me. I want to watch the replay for a couple of Heater tackles I saw from a great distance but need to experience with a better view as a 50 game celebration. Liked Gall's game and look forward to seeing more of her. Fitzsimon had a real purple patch at one point putting on immense forward pressure with numerous repeat efforts. Matchday experience: Nearly lost a few camp chairs and I swear a half-full bag of potato chips I dropped blew a good 10m away before I could catch up to it. Everything was at the right volume (Dees Army loud, PA system reasonable), so that was a plus.
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