Big Col

"You're not watching the Grand Final again, are you?" says my 9 year old, bemused. "Yep" I say, a tear in my eye, as my youngest wanders off. Ah, the wistfulness of youth! As excited as I would have been had we won when I was a 9 year old back in 1977, I would have convinced myself that premierships for the Demons were part of the natural order. The wisdom of the years has made me want to savour every single drop of this performance because I don't know when or if it will ever happen again. But I'm hungry too. My Richmond friend said that premierships were like cocaine. While the first hit is probably the best, it leaves you with a burning desire for more. One premiership is not enough. But in the meantime I'll be watching the replay again.

The Dr McLelland Trophy is hardly a high profile award, but I think it may have been in the past. I have a proposal. Nowadays it's awarded to the minor premier, but in the past it was awarded to a club based on the performance of the u19s, Reserves and Seniors. First the u19s were abolished and then, later, the reserves was merged with VFA/VFL and the introduction of interstate teams made counting the 2nds performances redundant. Back in the 1970's you'd get 8pts for a senior win, 4 points for a Reserves win and 2 points for an u/19 win. The Dr Mclelland Trophy was the only thing we'd ever have a shot at winning! So, my proposal is to return the trophy as a recognition of the performance of a club, rather than just a team. With the introduction of 1 womens' team per club from 2023 we have the opportunity to return the Dr McLelland Trophy to a club trophy. I'm not going to propose a scoring system, except to say that the Mens and Womens should be weighted equally for the purposes of this trophy. Maybe nobody cares, but I thought it was good idea.

why did stop at '95?

The first shot is Trac after scoring his 'Daicos' goal with 1 min to go in the 3rd. My God he looks determined, even angry. The crowd is going nuts but he knows the job isn't finished. 30 seconds of play later we see the look on Bont's face - total dejection after Clarry hits the third goal i 30 seconds for the Dees.

I want to suggest that Fritta's 4th goal (his 2nd one in the third Q where he flew for the mark and scored after keeping his feet) was the one that got us believing - and perhaps the one I was most excited about. The first goal was "OK, good, were still in it if we stay disciplined" The second was "game on" - and at that point my despair disappeared. The rest was crazy better than I could have imagined, but after 2 goals in 30 seconds I believed again.

For a good part of the season I thought Mitch might be a better option than Weeds and Benny. Before the VFL was shut down he played a ripper game and it really put the pressure on. Glad he's got another year.

Not at all, my friend.

Is anyone else fighting off nausea? I've been trying to distract myself all week and (thankfully and ironically) have had some full on stuff to deal with - but every time I 'relax' and think about Saturday night I feel like vomiting. Or crying. And then vomiting again. I'm going to be a mess on Saturday. No drinking before the first bounce!

This is what happens when they take Grand Final Week away from Victoria. Everyone knows that this week Melbourne (the city) is supposed to be the centre of all news. Yesterday - protests in the city. Today - an earthquake. Tomorrow?

Oliver still has 2 x BOG (rd 20 vs GC and rd23 vs Geel)

Bont will get max 1 vote in the last 4 rounds. Wines and Clarry come home with a sail.

We now hit Wines purple patch - maybe 12-15 out of the next 5 games. I think Parish will drop off. Oliver gets 3 votes in Rd23. Maybe Wines gets 2. Boak will get the 3. It's going to be close. Lets hope Wines doesn't get more than 12 in the next 5.

where is this from?

Oliver is a chance for 3in Rd 11 and maybe 1 in Rd12 but is then quiet for a few games

Oliver will be ahead of Trac by Rd10

Channel 7 are big fat ones I'm not gonna kick my wife off the TV so I can watch something that is as boring as counting beans to someone who's not as invested as I am.

If history were to repeat and we lost this one but went on to win 5 of the next 6 and snagged another 4 years after that, then I’d have no problems dropping this one. All of us Demons are conflicted now. Of course we want to win in 2 weeks and break our drought but it wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was overseas in 2000 and promised myself after that that I would never be in a position where I could have to miss a MFC GF again. I have dreamed about this all my life. I have planned GF week - going to training, seeing the parade, meeting up with family before and after the game and just being there! F… COVID C’Mon Dees

That Hannan bloke! What would it take to get him to the Dees?

It is a very grand grand old flag!

This is GLORIOUS

They're both very good players and would get a game ahead of TMac and Brown if they were in our side.

Do us proud and do us loud! Devastated not to be able to see us play but rapt for the WA Demons who I had the pleasure of meeting some back in 2014.

Oh Danny Boy... the pipes are playing

Benny!!!!