Wells 11

1990 is the year that haunts me too Radar...way more than 88 or 2000. 1990 was anybodies and we beat arguably the best of the group 2 weeks in a row in Hawthorn. Losing Lyon ( concussed at training FFS! ) before the WC game at waverley hurt us. is that 28 years ago...goodness how time flies when you follow the dees. Theres precious few seasons in my frikn lifetime I can remember where Ive felt we're genuine contenders. Im hoping that Levers loss doesnt mean the end of that vibe in 18. We're gonna find out soon enough.

yeah agreed. Not quite in the schwartz bracket but not too far away.

personally I love this kind of stuff. Jusr remember that If you reveal that source it will printed in the Sun the next day.. I have a doubt about it though. Mainly because he's in a premiership contending team right now AND if he wins one with the eagles wouldnt it make more sense to him to be chasing $ rather than flags?. Can see him going to the saints if the eagles win this year.

I agree about not getting carried away as its a looong season and so many things can change between May and September. Remember the dees in 87. At one point that mega year we were 6 wins and 10 losses. That being said, the same " injury riddled" crows did the swans a couple of weeks ago and the same "depleted" Essendon didnt look too bad last week. The lions away are hard to beat for all sides this year and are one of the best bottom 4 sides I can remember and the blues have consistently given us big troubles over the years. We ourselves were missing Tmac and Jack at the start of the season ( arguably 2 of our top 5 ) but no one is saying the tigers , cats and the hawks beat a depleted Melbourne side are they. I think we have to keep out feet on the ground as theres such a long way to go...but this side is playing an outstanding brand of footy and we should fully celebrate it. we're coming of age. We're Tough, fast, skilled and well coached. No obvious weaknesses anywhere. Whoever beats us again this year is going to have an almighty fight...we're nobodies poodles anymore.

I think given its so early in the season, we have time to peak, come down and hit it our straps again in Sept if things go right for us. Whats happening now is that the whole club is starting to believe in themselves, the game plan and each other. We're a club that needs big doses of that to go further. I think We're starting to realise we're a real chance. Planting the seed of a dream in their hearts. It will keep everyone super focused and ticking all the little 1% boxes that need to be ticked in terms of physical conditioning .....( the type that Nathan Jones, and others of his ilk, tick whether winning or losing). So, if thats so, aside from anything else it builds great habits for the future.

we're not loved....not yet anyway. I think things may be different by seasons end.

Im late to this party today....my nervous system is totally confused. Game day...and where's the pain and angst?? whats going on?

I say keep playing him! it worked well for him and us in the JLX pre season comp and on top of that we have the history of Trengove and Viney to prove you can just play thru the pain of these things. No biggie.

I was there that day and honestly we were sooo lucky. In the last 2 mins I can count at least 4 massive errors we made either one taht should have cost us the game. As well as at least 3 massive errors from them that did. I remember even at teh game wondering how the hell we won. MFC Error 1. With 2 mins to go ( right at the start of the clip) theres a Free kick against grinter every day of the week....smashed Glemdinning in the face or around the neck.Pretty crude but Play on. got out of Jail. MFC Error 2. Spalding misses pretty straight forward shot ...should have cost us the game. WC error 1 and 2 Terrible kick out from our behind that didnt reach the WC on the full so he rushed and kicked it down the middle , not toward the boundary AND straight back to Johnson! MFC Error 3 Johnson kicked it right to the teeth of goals, instead of to the top of the square, and as such it should have been easily punched through for a point. instead WC defenders keep it in play....and a goal results. WC error 3. After the ball up teh footy ends up with Wrensted running into goal in the last 5 secs. He just HAS to step around a pannicking Danny Hughes and give it off to the solo WC player alone at 30. Rushes his shot. MFC error 4. Why hadnt we flooded back? and how could it be that a WC player WAS alone at that point at 30 metres out. I watched the replay back then and was sure we wouldnt win any more finals...and we ended up making the GF. So what the hell did I know. I guess in close finals everyone panics. Was great to see a glimpse of ( now deceased) Sean Wight at his peak there also. He was a dead set gun before injury.

Great news! Got to be aiming at 45 plus I think now that finals are being sniffed again.

Does anyone else feel pi$$ed off that there is all this talk about the crows fan who reached over the fence and slapped Easton wood on the weekend? Not annoyed that there is talk about it per say as its dangerous and needs to be stamped out. Im annoyed as when another fan reached over and grabbed Oliver earlier in the season ....Oliver had to frikn apologise to him. Ok so Oliver let him have it but imo at the time no where NEAR enough was made of the fan grabbing Clayton which is what initiated it all. Double standards. Dont feel theres enough love for Clarry atm somehow.....but in time theres going to be thats for sure.

Hunt could be this...could be anything I reckon. The future is his to make as his will and / or body allows. Ive been suprised he's fallen out of favour...but he'll be back. Stretch Im not so sure.

Hope your right. I think we'll be finding out as soon as this coming Sunday!

As I think others have commented on here...I think to keep McDonald ( given he's suddenly a sharp shooting, power forward with a massive tank .... a valuable commodity) may cost us having a crack at Gaff. We may have to develop an outside runner form inside the club

At the ground it looked great. I think Petracca does a lot of things that look normal when he does them but others would struggle to do. What stood out all day was how often we shared the ball around in our fwd 50. At first I was thinking geez just take the frikn shot...but by giving it off to others in better positions we kicked super accurately and everyone gets to feel good...not just the goal kicker. I wonder though, against really sharp high pressure opposition, how this tactic going to go. Time will tell.

You were lucky you were away. I happened to be living in Melb at the time and a bikes ride from the G. I went to almost every game in the era. And often went home at half time. Re his communication. its a body of work more than one individual thing. youd have to have sat through his post match media conferences and seen footage of his first address to the players. No one was playing for him from the get go. He lost the players in his first pre season

Neeld as coach. A few pointers as to why it all went pear shaped. The worst process re finding a coach ( ie give to one person to decide) , the worst recommendation by a standing coach ( Malthouse who was after a legacy...he never deserved) . Given to the worst, most reluctant coach seeker ( Mr Lyon) and brought into a club that handled fall out between schwab and Bailey in the worst possible way. He was perhaps the worst possible communicator I have ever seen, using the worst game day tactics I can ever remember. We got what we deserved as a club when we bought in Neeld. And Essendon no doubt got what they deserved when they did the same. Its true he may have taken the wrap for a slew of crappy issues at the dees then same same at the bombers. I just cant seem to feel ANY sympathy for him whatsoever. ...and IMO the notion he "quit" mid season would be utter rubbish. Fall on your sword before we slay you with it. Lets hope he's the first domino to fall and the bombers can keep us all amused all season as sack woosha talks grow in volume.

I havent read the whole thread so apologies if Im re stating things here. Gerard was very pro us in the tanking saga I thought ( one of the very few) so he gets a big, long lasting tick from me. He was also one of the few who was trying to call the drug saga for what it was. Im a fan...I dont care what he or anyone thinks of us this season. I just want to be playing finals ...the rest will take care of itself!

I know, that bit still really gets under my skin even now. Also Watson handed back his brownlow. Except he didnt actually hand the thing back...never wanted to and only did so under pressure. Just so the AFL didnt have to "take" it off him. Which they should have done every day of the week. It all looked so different when were being hounded for the apparantly much more grevious sin of "tanking" I often wonder what would have happened , if instead of Essendon that club had been us, A club so many see as unimportant and without all the media chums that the druggies had. Neeld invited that idiot into our club also ...so we dodged a fatal bullet there by a few cm's only.

wow. Im shattered. Was hoping hed stay on for a few more years and be there when we pull in a flag. He's been so good for us. A CEO the likes of which we've never had, or not in the 45 years since Ive been following anyway. I guess it gives us time to get out [censored] together and bring in someone else who's of similar callibre. Still, Its a sad day. Much gratitude to him though for helping steer us out of the dark wood we were in.

His career was at the crossroads post his concussions and his value probably at an all time low. By all reports he worked his arse off over the summer and didnt miss a single session. His form is in direct correlation to his efforts over many MANY months and he is re establishing himself as a potential A grader. He's right to be waiting to re sign atm.

I get and agree with the crackdown on diving....and think its good for the game in general that they do. And lets face it...it did look like Jessie played this up a little so I guess it is what it is...but still it WAS a hit to the throat. And would still have been a free every day of the week. Ironically jessie got suspended for 2 weeks for a throat hit against the blues last year didnt he?

no doubt about it. But, given how well the last one went, the AFL are about as likely to open an investigation into that as fly to the moon! Maybe we can bring back Brock Mclean and he can say...that "everyone knew the cats were on drugs. We used to buy them off the geelong players after the game" Would it be wrong of me to hope for a situation like that? lol.

Without doubt one of the all time worst decisions. He probably would have won another the next year as scott did, and retired a multi premiership super coach AND premiership player. Obviously his stance on drugs has been questionable personally and proffessionally. There just HAS to be question marks over the cats flags now surely. Man the bombers really just keep digging their hole deeper and deeper. Feels good to be able to watch another teams train wreck instead of ours for a change.

Anyone having a small dejavu with the crows run of soft tissue injuries? It was the first sign all those years ago that the bombers were in fact drug cheats and that that was the cause of it. Surely no club could ever repeat that mistake?? But it IS interesting. I'll keep watching that space.