The heart beats true

I still have a soft spot for ‘Big Sexy’ Weed. Him and Jayden Hunt are 2 players I’d like to see succeed.

I’d say it was 2:1 Dees to Tigers. The Melbourne supporters came, and they really brought the noise. The booing at the umpiring early was only out done by the cheering in the last. I thought we sounded great last night. Was a really proud night for the footy club and it’s supporters.

I’m not sure we can ask Clayton to go to another level. He’s one of the best players in the game, and I’d say he’s the best, hardest working Melbourne player I’ve ever seen (I’m 44). He was playing last night after having the flu last week. I’m not sure what more he can do. I agree with you about our forward line, but I reckon we need to persist with Max/Brodie, JVR and Petty. Last night was the first time they all played together. It sure got better as the game went on.

Totally agree with this. There were 84,000 people there, and we outnumbered Richmond supporters 2:1. I reckon the club would be thrilled with that - as they should be. The noise at 3/4 time was incredible.

I feel like the magical work of our Demonland track watchers will go a long way to helping discern the team this week. I’d say we are looking at 3 changes, based solely on the thinking that we didn’t rotate enough last year. Harmes and Laurie both seem ready to go. Disco looked really good again at Casey. Schache might come in if Grundy feels tired. Dunstan is in if any insiders need a rest. Either way I don’t mind any of the changes. We all felt like we needed to take a squad mentality into 2023. So let’s see it in operation.

I don’t mind it from the wingers when it’s boundary side. Seems like a low risk attempt at keeping the ball moving. At least we can’t be accused of not trying to evolve with the game. Sometimes it’s hard to notice in game, when I’m too busy abusing the umpires and fretting about the scoreboard. Credit to the coaching department for trying new things.

Agree Dazzle. I feel like in the first half in particular we looked very much like the Demons of 2017-20. Everyone right in at the coal face, no one outside with any speed. We couldn’t carry away from the contest, and I was surprised Koz wasn’t used.

Just got home. This is spot on. Richmond brought the heat tonight, and the umpires just added to it. That was an incredibly hard game, and we came from 25 points down to win. For those of you critical of that game give some credit to the competition, and acknowledge that on the whole teams have had 2 years of watching us and trying to figure out how to beat us. Our system is a known entity. That it holds up so well under pressure is a credit to the effort of the players.

Good energy at the ground. Clarry playing a bit of Fred Again. Good tune.

Be there for 6:50. Honestly it’s the most beautifully poignant moment. You don’t want to miss it.

Just read it. Trac seems like such an authentic guy. I loved how he said he over thinks everything and Clarry doesn’t think about anything at all. Hilarious.

At least we don’t overreact here at Demonland.

Yeah true. But in my defence it’s very hard to be humble when you look this good.

I always look at the bright side. It’s one of the reasons everybody loves me (the other 2 reasons are that I’m drop dead gorgeous, and that I’m very humble).

You are insufferably negative today.

It was a bad day for most. No need to stick the boots in, and write anyone off. We will need 3-4 of those guys to gain confidence and play a roll if we are going to go deep in 2023.

Harmes is too good for this level

If you get a chance go see David O’Doherty. He’s nuts.

I’ve been called worse.

Thought the same thing Jaded. Petty, JVR and Max must be the tall forwards. I like it. Lots of marking strength in that group.

I could be wrong, but they don’t usually award the premiership on Monday nights in April.

The delicious irony of Freo being up last year and then down this year is that there’s a really great recent example of this happening to another club and resulting in a huge positive, and it’s the absolute last story they want to tell.

Well you’d know mate, so that’s actually really good to hear. I only watch on the TV and get really frustrated by the lack of support for us given the investment. 👍

I’m on the record for never being a fan of this game, and it’s also on the record when I whinged about it a lot of Demonlanders shouted me down and said I was being short sighted. It’s worth noting that those that shouted me down were people who could afford the time and resources to travel to Alice Springs from Melbourne. For me it looks like a lot of back slapping and throwing around the term ‘community engagement’ - when all we do is literally show up for 72 hours and then don’t think about Alice Springs for another 12 months. It’s about money, and it always has been. Now it looks like theres no way that the AFL will schedule a game there next year, which just makes the whole exercise seem pretty pointless. If you’re following what’s going on there it’s deeply concerning. It’s probably not a place that should be encouraging tourists at the moment. The last thing that town needs is another bad headline. I hope things get better for the community in Alice, I’m just not at all convinced that us playing a game there has done much more than bring 1000 tourists in from Melbourne.

And they served up garbage, so I’m sure they’ve been reminded of that all week.