Wells 11

or his match winning goal against the bombers in the dark years.

That feeling you get when you realise that BOTH St Kilda and Carlton are more exciting, playing a better brand of footy and probably closer to a flag than we are. Man have we gone backwards. I see a bad moon rising.

After the game I switched off everything as the loss cut deep. Perhaps the losses feel harder in covid now? Whats been on my mind, and please forgive if this has been mentioned as Im not going back to re read the thread. We should have won...easily. Our game style isnt that bad but simple errors were. These goals against plus not goals for stand out from BASIC errors. 1. Kozzie misses from 15 metres out on the run under little pressure. FFS, that is a goal 999 times out of a thousand. 2. Fritsch drops an absolute uncontested dolly from a bullet pass from Melksham 20 metres out direct in front. 3. Its a free everyday of the week to Melksham in the last minute on the 50. If that isnt in the back then nothing is. Melks kicks those. 3. Ratagolia kicks a set shot goal from outside 50 that goes through about head height without us getting a hand to the ball. Terrible error. 4. Dangerfield gets a 50 for diving which leads to a goal . If that was oliver that want to report him or suspend him. Shocking decison. 5 Hunt and Langdon cant get the ball out of bounds in the dying second of the 3rd. Leading to a goal . WTAF. Thats FIVE goals and I think , on even just a regular day, prob 3 or 4 out of the 5 are reversed. On a good day all 5. We're not that bad.

i’ve been staggered by how affected the lack of crowd has been fr me. I always thought i watched as a footy purist. But I realise now my enjoyment and engagement in a large way was feeling the crowd as a part of the game. Im trying but i def can’t engage or care like i used to. Watching footy atm feels like talking to an ex or something.

Some truth in this I think as we all saw what Weid could do when his focus was fierce. he's just not good enough to be able to play at this level without it. So the message may be, demonstrate you can bring that focus and energy as a regular part of your game ....or we dont pick you. Still makes me angry that both Mc Kay and Curnow for the blues were picked after him in that draft and both are seriously good. Im sure he'll get his chance as Jackson doesnt look quite ready yet. But if Weid gets a chance and he blows it we may just put a line through him and stick with getting games into jackson.

Getting 35 and 47 back never seems to be mentioned here. “ 2 first rounders”:is all most want to say. I’m a lever fan and believe he will be worth it.

Interesting re weid. Im not a fan but Id love t see him step up and at least make Jackson work really hard to keep his spot. The trouble is that these scratch matches really give very little real indication of how a player would fare in 18 a side games. So the step up will be huge for players between the levels. Strange times.

I like the thought. Little doubt that a fit Tmac is a fwd weapon. But lets face facts he isnt "fit".... and he may never be again re his foot. So, at some point I think we have to put away our memories of 2018 and think about where his best position is, with the body he has now. May would have at least brought a lot of those high balls to ground and stopped that fast transition that was killing us in the second half. I think we need to start playing with this. We just cant go in with Tmac and Jackson again.

Big test for Gawn as Captain. The fact they sang the song without him may mean quite a bit. Questions for him to address. Is he too playful / likeable? Do the players not really respect or look up to him? . Where was the voice of Viney and Jones? are they not backing him up? Could also have been simply post lockdown , no crowd, weirdness of course. But 1 game into his tenure he’s got questions to confront.

Well I’m relieved. All that work in summer on fitness and ball movement really paid dividends. Clean, purposeful, kicking to advantage. Sigh. We looked quite a bit worse than we were last year w almost zero injuries .

i hate this frikn club

when they’re bad they’re really awful. if we get opened up and closed down by the blues god help us against the top sides.

Ive read a few saying it was dull and I have to say I agree. That was a match between arguably the best two vic teams ( at least at this stage) with the most fanatical supporters and it was a draw. It should have been at least a fun, enthralling game to watch. It wasnt. I was channel surfing from midway through the 2nd and even fell asleep for a few minutes in the 3rd. The long break at qtr and 3 qtr time was just annoying and having no crowds is going to make ours a very strange game to watch. If Im being honest I felt like an unattached stranger to the game....A first for me. I wonder how it will be to watch the dees

fully agree. This is a now or never year for us. Next year I think the situation will entirely and darkly different.

We should have gone for BOTH Andrew and Darren and we might have got them. Such a shame.

Yep. Hated them both. Although I was partly pleased to see Alves play in premiership side. Wells was pushed out the door....traded without him even knowing. Real culture killing moments for two greats of the club.

Me too. Although I thought it was 10k and at the time I vaguely remember him in line for the captaincy? Anyway he didnt get that or a big contract and the rest is history. He left a gigantic knife in the clubs back and I hope he is never welcome back.

Yep. Easy to forget just how good and how tough this guy was. I know Rodney was tough too, but he would never win a B&F. Im going with Fowler. I also would have had Barry Bourke down back instead of Yze.

Im not sure they are SWYL or that 186 does stand alone. Less than a year later we were beaten by close to 150 against the bombers. The players were a part of it yes, but the ineptitude, lack of resources, poor planning and loss of trust around the club at that time had several expressions. Pains me to even remember those days.

Unfortunately not fully complete. A shambles yes, agreed, job completed. But the embarrassment was only half completed. Neeld, tanking saga, Caroline Wilson, Jurrah and Scully finished the job. Jesus what horrible years they were

Watching that Id forgotten what a powerful and accurate kick he was...this on top of all his other extraordinary attributes. I agree with previous posters. After Robbie he's the best Ive seen play for the dees. Could do it all.

11 goals , nine behinds. 20 shots at goal is mind blowing really. And a lot of them on one of the best lockdown defenders of the time in Martyn. Hard to fully enjoy it without feeling how tragic it was that his career was cut so short.

salt never tasted better ?

and what a zenith it was. Losing schwartz remains one of my big demon griefs. Losing Jakovich and Charles all around the same time was rubbing raw salt into the wound. Has to be the unluckiest period of time with injuries to stars we've ever had

waay back in 71 or 72 me and a friend went to see the dees train at the MCG ...and to try and get some autographs. From memory that day I got Greg Parkes and Max walkers (which was as swirly and colourful a signature as the man himself) Somehow we hung around for long enough so that, as we were walking back to the tram, Paul was also walking the same direction... training bag in hand. He was so open and friendly and we talked for maybe 10 mins, which for an 11 yr old was like a small meeting with God. I remember him asking us lots of questions and the memory of it still lingers. Despite the lack of success the team of that time had, the names from those days remain my absolute favourite.