Demon Dynasty

I'm glad you said to 3/4 time. Even the US Stock market recovered after the great depression within about 3 to 4 years. Unfortunately we've been stuck in our own depression for 9 years now.

Jetta "in" was a poor option. As was retaining Fitzy. Doesn't add any value to our mid field and made us too top heavy (with the addition of an extra "tall" spud). Riley and Viney were a much needed addition to the rotations through the mid field. Even Newton would have been a decent option over Jetta. Our defence is not the issue it's the mid field and too many talls versus a Port who has so many solid extractors through the middle.

Start of Match.... Port - Very Low in confidence coming off 3 losses Demons - solid win against an in form club, some confidence building. Now Port - Confidence oozing, back on the winning list (most likely) Demons - Confidence/Execution shot (most likely another loss...yet again unable to string 2 wins together)

You mean he got near a contest? Usually allows his opponents to just take the ball away. Only at the MFC do sub par footballers like this clock up 100+ games...and keep getting them . Just isn't enough talent to push them out of the team/list.

Grimes doing ok this quarter

Wow a free. When was the last freee for us i wonder?

Boak is killing us in the air

If we didn't have so many spud pea hearts in the team i would be quietly confident we would give it a decent go chook and not let this game slip. But this is the MFC and we always have at least half a dozen or so running around every week. No different this week to the last 8 seasons really. And also one of the worst teams ever playing interstate/away.

I agree the timing and decision was woeful and not sure why he does it, except if the game is beyond losing and he can spot a 2 on 1 advantage or something up the middle. But.... our midfield is the problem yet again. Just can't get their hands on the footy and hang onto it once the momentum shifts. Nothing out of the middle for us in the second half of that 2nd quarter to help stop their momentum. The mechano man does the odd torp too but he doesn't get lambasted for it as Essendrug's midfield rarely allows such massive momentum shifts (by losing the midfield contest so abysmally for 10 minutes plus at a time). Apart from Viney, who is mostly always injured or coming back from injury, and Jonesy (our only player ranked in the top 100 in the AFL ratings) we just don't have enough quality/animal extractors (yet) to prevent a turnaround massacre in the midfield. Not saying some wont become that (Vanders/Vince/Brayshaw) but at this point we are way off most teams (outside of the bottom 4) in this critical part of the ground.

Sorry i forgot about this bloke..... played 1 half decent game for this club so far and IMO we've gone in with too many talls. Leave Fitzy Bail out for Newton and Riley. At least they can be rotated through the middle where we are getting smashed. The old wines for toump debacle raises its ugly head yet again

Are Bail/Matt Jones/Watts/Howe even on the ground? Barely heard a peep from any of them on the call Viney on straight away for whoever is the most hopeless of those 4.....gonna be a hard decision!

Playing a completely out of form team into form....yet again

I'm not THAT confident I just hope the boys weren't satisfied with 1 in a row WYL

They actually showed some spirit and played with a bit of flair and banged in for a change. The contrast between Mick's record breaking Friday night debacle and last night's "effort", couldn't have been greater. I heard during the week, via a "this one is the brother of that one who works with the Pies" that the contrast between Mick's coaching "man management" style and Bucks was also massive. Mick allegedly playing only his annointed favs most weeks vs Bucks who just wants to give the opportunity to whoever can show they perform the best in that particular role. If there is any truth to this and this style carried over to the Blues (eg Daisy!??, leaving other draft picks to rot in the VFL), then one could quite easily consider the effect it may have had within the playing group. IF so, i would predict we will see a much more competitive Blues line up most weeks from here, at least from an "effort" aspect now that Mick has departed and also a change in the style in which the team plays it's brand of footy.

Carlton (no doubt with the assistance of Gill) was probably hoping to cement itself as one of the "preferred" options for the bulk of Friday night matches at the G with this year's Gill lead entre'. They've gone from 6 home matches at Etihad last year and 5 at the G to 5 and 6 (at the G) this year. By getting the crowd numbers (ratings) it would have helped their cause to increase their G home match bias next year. Probably to our detriment. It's not like they were flying along last year so they really have to thank Gill for what they've been given so far. Had we gotten our act together years ago and been a decent competitive outfit i doubt the Blues would have been given such a leg up on the Friday night side or even looked at for more G home games. So in many ways our poor results since 2007 are part of the problem here. We can hardly crow about anything given our poor record since then. It's also beholden upon other less favoured AFL clubs, like the Doggies, Norf, the Saints and us to pressure the AFL and push for more Friday night exposure. Norf in particular should be getting the exposure that the Blues are having as they were the club that lead the way in early Friday night footy and have also been much more competitive (watchable) in recent years. The 4 least favoured Vic clubs (above) need to start voicing their concern and push for better outcomes. Can you imagine how much more exposure and preferred fixtures at the G the Blues will get WHEN the Blues get their act together on the field! We've already lost the bulk of our "home" ground at the G advantages we had to the Pies since they left Pie park. Winning and success will give us more leverage to avoid another club muscling in. Now is a good time to find that success and edge a weakening (competing) club, like the Blues, out. Their loss should be our gain. But we need to start winning to be able to do so.

Agree it starts in the midfield. Just hope it ends with our forwards kicking accurately.Do this and we win methinks. Confidence/Belief is growing nicely amongst this lot and the injection of Viney is another boost. We should give a good account of ourselves. 2 in a row beckons. My main concern is their experience. Have many more games on average (across their 22) than we do and we have a few more sub 50 gamers as well. If we win we will have pulled off a decent victory here.

While the PF result was agony at its worst I also recall the Night premiership with very fond memories, including jumping the fence in disbelief after the siren. Mustve looked like a lame ass but i do recall seeing swooper up there with a goggled eyed flower accepting the cup along with Danny Hughes. I couldn't help but think "Hey... we've actually won some silverware". Even if it was just an NAB cup or wateva it was. I usually went with bro to almost every home match back then as well but u know I cant recall who I was with that night. Hec It might have only been me myself and I which would have been a tad sad on reflection. To think thats the sum of all our efforts over so many decades of sweat, toil and committment (by some anyway) It's bloody frightening really. I still recall to this day heading to a training session in 95 at the junction (a few volunteer mums were still serving soup in the rooms for the boys after training lol). I remember chatting to one of the doormen/trainers there one particular night and I asked him what he thought our chances were for the coming season. He said "I'm not sure how we will do but I think we missed our best opportunity for a premiership last year. I fear the moment has passed us by". His words were certainly prophetic given the merger debacle a year later.

A compound of Bombers?

I wouldnt touch this line up other than Viney for Bail, assuming Viney is ready to go

It's in the RED centre. We win

If there's no changes to either team (which i realise is highly unlikely)..... Players with over 100 Games Demons 7 / Port 10 Players with less than 50 Games Demons 10 / Port 4 Team Averages Games Played Demons 77 / Port 104 Height Demons 189 / Port 187 Weight Demons 88.5 / Port 85.5 Age Demons 25.5 / Port 25.6

6. Vanders 5. Mr. Vince 4. Jones Boy 3. Grubby (Grimes) 2. the Toump 1. Crossy

I really can't see them making such a blunder. Unless they end up with a Mr G Lyon on their selection committee!

Is that even possible! Lovin' that swagger. Mr Vince also scored a berth in the team of the week! Nice

Not laughable at all. That's to be expected given the AFL's deliberate agenda to push start ups, interstate clubs, clubs with shittyhad as their home base/the big 4 in Vic. Expect more of the same unless Hulk has a blinder that cant be ignored.