Dees_In_October

A frustrating loss in stupid conditions - of course, both teams have to deal with it, by why schedule it during the hottest part of the day?? Wish we could have taken advantage of the breeze in the first and being down a player for the second half didn't help - super bad luck for Sloane in her first game. Unfortunately, as we well know, one loss can break a season. Especially since we seem to be in the stronger conference. That third quarter was something to behold though and I hope we can continue to put that kind of score on more consistently. (Incidentally, the difference in Round 1 average scores and Round 7 average scores in both seasons definitely trends upwards, so it's unfortunate when people latch onto a couple of low-scoring games in the first round). Anyway, I liked our spread of goals, some other teams are quite reliant on 1 or 2 forwards. Zanker and Gay stood out. Hanks did a few nice things too. Overall defense was a shambles though, far too many players looked lost out there. Jakobsson is one of our best for intercept marking and positioning so with Sloane potentially out she might go back. The other players that stood out to me were L.Pearce who dominated the hit outs and Mithen who was in everything and probably cleanest by hand from my vantage point. I agree with DeeSpencer that Scott and Smith need to spend most of their time in their natural HF and HB positions. Looking forward to a more pleasant watching experience at Vic Park next week ( hopefully the result is more pleasant too!)

Same. Wouldn't miss it! Jakobsson forward? I like it.

It's also not as though the consequence of injuries like these are only felt by the 'employers'. Players at this level (mostly) are super competitive - they hate being on the sidelines. Anything they choose to do is with this risk in mind, there's really no greater deterrent that could be imposed on them than the idea of missing a season or having a career-ending injury.

I chose my name during the period when there were more frequent October Grand Finals. Now I think of it as, if I'm still celebrating in October, it's a good year for the Dees.

It's like having Knickers the cow X2

We should really re-analyse the fixture after each season, to see if what we thought was 'hard' the previous November really turns out to be. But we never care by then. One positive is I used to look at the fixture, clutching for any straw that might give us a sliver of hope, whereas now I figure we either stand up to the challenge or we don't. Most likely, sometimes we will and sometimes we won't. The stuff around the NT games annoys me because we're doing the AFL a service in promoting the game there (not just lining our pockets, although that's obviously part of it). So when there are clear solutions that would give us a slightly longer break, it's frustrating that they don't. I kind of wish they'd just have everyone play each other once and be done with it but then it would be much harder for them to disguise the inequality I guess. Also the $$$ factor.

Just posting to move us along off 186.

I can't remember if we knew this already, but Bartlett mentioned in his B&F speech that this had been 2 or 3 years in the planning so far.

An excellent role model to our young players - wherever you are told to play on the field or at whichever level, give it your all and you'll end up much loved and well-respected. All the best, Cam.

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 ?

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.

Can't un-see that now! I wouldn't want that demon now either. Something more like the 80s one but in contrasting colours, sort of silhouetted where the monogram is now.

As a kid I loved what I think of as the 'hair on fire' version. Not so much now. I can see our current one but with a demon instead of the monogram. That way it has the best of both worlds, with the demon, and also the word 'Melbourne' being in there.

Was desperate as always during some really crucial plays late.

Tonight, it was me, but in a proud way. So courageous.

Credit where it's due. It's no Leo Barry, but enjoyable nonetheless.

2016 Brownlow count, Round 19. Gawn is 11 votes behind the leader and gets the 3 votes against Gold Coast. (With some lip-reading) he can be seen confidently telling his teammates, "This is it, I'm coming!" What a legend.

Gosh. Now I feel like we didn't celebrate it enough!

Seems like a good time to revisit: