Wells 11

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.

Strawbs suspension was a big moment. He won our b and f that year. But let’s face he wouldn’t have helped with the shalacking the following week.

Those are my memories as well. In the end I wasnt that disappointed we lost that elim to the bombers as it was suddenly obvious we werent going anywhere that year. I remember being at the G when we easily beat Port Adelaide in round 18? to go to the top of the ladder and at that stage I thought we were good. But by the time the final came around it was clear that injuries and form has killed us. North were on the top of the ladder a couple of years ago at 9-0 and they were just an av team ....similar story I think.

This is a misrepresentation of the truth I think, remember he chose Carlton of all places. So if " tanking" ( and lets not forget at the time it was accepted and industry wide) was his big issue then of all clubs Carlton would have been his least preferred. Brock was rejected for the captaincy, had lost pace and wasnt being offered the size of the contract he wanted.

It was a good win but it left me with a hollow feeling in the days after. The saints were set to smash us half way through the game and got crunched by injuries. We over ran an injury riddled side but it was clear we were never going far in 06 or in the years around it . We were like north, a good average side and no better. We had an aging list , well past its prime and in 2007 we lost our first 9 games and were off the cliff. Daniher was sacked at the end of the year and the era of Bailey , Neeld , Schwabb, tanking and Scully ( plus Trengove, Cook, Blease etc etc etc ) had begun. This win was the last ray of light at sunset hitting our faces and immediately after the dees headed deep into the darkest of dark nights.

It wasnt a disaster from a contested ball perspective , a fitness perspective or from a score perspective. Losing by 5 goals to the eagles in perth is no disaster. But the style they played with, the way they moved the ball forward and the fact that the game was over at qtr time was a disaster. I think we all felt let down because after the build up over the summer, precious little was different from the worst of 2019.

As long as that time is after a dees premiership and his norm smith medal then so be it!