spirit of norm smith

Here you go. The timing. A recent QB Memory to make us smile.

No 23 2017 Round 12 v Collingwood at MCG Another big Queens Birthday clash. This was huge. The Dees were now under Goodwin and Buckley was facing some heat on his coaching performance. We’d beaten them in 2016, we were the team to watch and were now capable of rising up the ladder. But 2017 started slowly with 5 wins 5 losses and had come off the mid year bye. The Pies also had 5 wins, and on a roll with 3 straight wins. We needed this. With Hogan missing, the converted Tom McDonald was our key forward amongst a few midsized options in Hannan, Melksham and Petracca. Pedersen was our makeshift ruckman. It was going to be a challenge. The game opened evenly in a spirited contest. Then the Pies got in top, taking advantage of some poor turnovers and kicked 6 in a row before Petracca magic saw us get two goals back. At half time the Pies had a 4-goal lead and momentum. Questions were being asked. We were pretenders. The Pies were on top. Howe had taken another huge speccy but this time unfortunately he was wearing black and white. But it was to be an emotional second half. Some unlikely hero’s in the third. Bugg stepped up to kick two goals in the third quarter. Frost controlled the back half and rebounded with pace. A goal from 50 metres out from Watts brought us back. It was game on. Finals atmosphere. The Pies wouldn’t stop either and by 3/4 time it was even. We were screaming in the last as we got on top. Viney and Petracca was unstoppable in the contest. The Pies get a goal to be within 4 points. 5 minutes to play. The lasting memory will be the last goal. The sealer. Dees defend in the back 50 and Oscar McDonald squirts a kick out of the pack to Harmes. Harmes gathers on half back and kicks over Watts ahead. Watts is 10 metres clear of an opponent. He gathers on the 50 arc and runs, bounces and nails the goal from 25 metres out. The roar was absolutely deafening. We were all jumping around like excited school kids. One minute to play. We held on to win by 4 points. We were hoarse. I think I lost my voice singing Its A Grand Old Flag. A great victory. (post script - the Pies got their revenge with a victory over us in round 23 by 16 points to deny us a finals spot with us missing out by a hundredth of a percentage point).

This was obvious after he’d played a dozen games. Can hurt teams more and get “advantage “ from his contested footy. He’s little 2 metre handballs do nothing but get a stat or put pressure onto a teammate. He’s a star and his kicking can cover territory. It could elevate him to be a true A grader

6 Viney by daylight 5 May 4 Langdon 3 Petracca 2 Pickett 1 Lockhart

Agree. We have to look back and agree Watts was our number 1 choice. He had a good career. Not great but good. There’s been plenty of other low draft picks that failed completely. I’d be more concerned why we selected Blease and Strauss. Should have picked Shuey and Sloane. Two standout mids at the time. Shuey to West Coast was ridiculous. Sloane to the Crows was a shocker. He missed him 3 times. He’d told him and his parents we would draft him only to pass him. We picked Blease, Strauss and Bennell ahead of Sloane. He’s never forgotten it.

Agree. Amazing he’s not in. Adams was a true A grader

At least it’s not Aaron Vdberger or Joeeeel Smith. They’d break several bones and miss the season.

You don’t bite the hand that feeds you ! It’s all political.

That’s the crew of the titanic (perhaps harsh on Joe G)

Jesse Hogan was our messiah and unfortunately he had injury and personal issues. It’s the curse around our team. We need a strong key forward. Tmcd is good but not in the class of the real key forwards. Weid is still a boy who has the talent but not the intensity or aggression needed. He’s a really nice kid who needs 2000 volts to make him “want it “.

He is a Legend. Great bloke too.

2003. What a shocker of a year. In fact it mirrors the disappointment of 2019. We failed with only 5 wins. Perhaps this game showed the vulnerability early. After a finals campaign of 2002, we were expected to challenge. The losses of the Wiz and Woey hit the supporter base hard. This win wasn’t a great memory. We were 6 goals up only to see them kick 6 goals into the breeze. We almost through the game away!!!

It’s faster now and more handballing than ever. But the foot skills are not any better and the goalkicking skills today is actually declining. It’s actually amazing given today’s footballers are Professional Full Time and have countless high performance specialist coaches.

Hutchy is spot on. Gawns hair is a key issue and may impact our season. Another great piece of journalism from Hutchy. NOT !!!!!!!!! Hutchy is a f&)(#n tool !!!!

I remember a game in the EPL of Etihad v Emirates. Cannot actually remember the teams. !

Maybe add sponsors on socks and have them focussed on when the players are lining up for goal. It’s a material world ... unfortunately

Another shocker. Stick to RED and NAVY blue. Ok with the MFC LOGO

We hung on ... just. It was a worry that we let them get close and they may consider their trajectory is now ahead of us !!

Spargo and Brown are outs. Salem and Jones are ins. But need the Weid back in as a key forward. So for team balance , I have Bedford as the unlucky out. Blues are missing tall forwards in Curnow and McKay so perhaps Hore could replace Omcd for balance Jetta may omcd (Hore) salem Lever Hibberd Tomlinson Viney Langdon Petracca Tmcd Melksham Fritsch Weid kozzzy Gawn Brayshaw oliver Lockhart jones Harmes Anb emerg - Bedford Hore Hunt

So they steal Scully, Ward, Davis etc then complain when it comes back to other clubs looking at GWS Talent. Sheedy = A grade tool And GWS gets a recruiting zone. So it’s already imbalance towards them

No.24 1991 Round 20 v North Melbourne at MCG This match ultimately saw the Phoenix of Allen Jakovich rise. It was an amazing day that saw the Dees have a player with such charisma arrive once the football scene. The background to the match is worth noting. We had been stung by a 20-game loss to the Kangas in 1990 yet recover the make finals and almost go all the way. Then we played them and got revenge through a 10-goal win in round 5 1991. So we were confident but were battling it out with North to make the finals (Dees in 7th place on 10 wins 8 losses and Kangas in 4th place in 11 wins 5 losses). North had just beaten the top of the table Eagles and had young gun forwards in Carey and Longmire. A loss here would probably make it very tough to make the final 6. The Dees opened on fire but inaccurate kicking for goal was proving costly. Jakovich has kicked all our goals (6) but we were behind 8.4 to 6.12. North’s full back Mick Martyn was unable to stop Jako who 6.4 up to half time. Longmire also was proving hard to match as Dees defender Paul Bryce struggled for pace. The third quarter was the story of the day. The Dees finally got on top with a 10-goal quarter. It was highlighted by Jakovich’s soccer style goal over his head from 15 metres out. We were in shock. We knew he was a talent. But that was ridiculous. By 3/4 time, Jakovich had 10 goals. Goal number 10 coming with a tight angle banana kick on the boundary line after the season. North were in disarray as Sholl and Brayshaw were tried on him. The Dees had marched to a 38 point lead. Through the amazing work of Stynes both in the ruck and around the ground, the midfield of Obst, Dyson, Stretch and Steven Clark has now got on top and were giving our forwards good supply. The last quarter saw us calling for more Jako goals. But instead he nearly exploded. A very very soft free kick was awarded against him and he let the ump know. Unfortunately despite a warning his temper and his mouth (and the Dees runner trying to stop him) led to a report for abusive language. Jako missed a few chances but finally got goal 11 and our 20th goal. We won by 52 points and our season was alive. Stynes and Jakovich were clearly our best, but Peter Rohde’s job to shutdown Carey also was very crucial to the victory. We enjoyed the win but couldn’t stop talking about the soccer scissor goal. Surely goal of the year was the common talking point. Jako had the spotlight and we had a new star in the team. Melbourne 20.20.140 defeated North Melbourne 13.10.88

Fair enough

1990. 16 wins 6 losses. Finished 4th on percentage but could and should have finished second. We had our best chances in the “even years”. 1988, 1990, 94,98. 2000, 04, 06, 18.

Interested in getting some opinions. I didn’t have the 2008 come from behind win versus Freo as a top 50. I was overseas in 2008 and 2009. I heard mixed opinions from mates about the game. The Captains Club crew. Was it a fabulous moment to celebrate being 8-9 goals behind to win it ? With some Wona magic?? or a moment where one of the worst Dees teams in the last 50 years simply clicked for a half against an equally pathetic dockers team that kicked themselves out of the game.

No.25 2016 Round 12 v Collingwood at MCG Queens Birthday. It’s unfortunate that’s it become our “Grand Final”. But the rivalry is the magic that connects us. The Dees had been starved of Queens Birthday celebrations since our previous win in 2007. So we were very keen to turn it around. We had beaten the Pies in a 2015 late season round (after 8 years of losing) so we were confident we could finally win a QB game. 60,000 fans created a great atmosphere. The late afternoon start meant a few relaxing drinks and an enjoyable “Big Freeze” event pre game but we were on edge. The Demons started on fire as we got a goal within a minute. But the Pies got on top and were two goals up. Enter big Max Gawn. Against Brodie Grundy, Gawn got our midfield into the game and we drove the ball forward. Ben Kennedy (recruited from the Pies) was electric, creating havoc on the ball or forward. Some Petracca magic got us excited, and a Gawny goal put us in front. The Dees fans were going crazy. We piled on 7 goals to 1 for the quarter to take a 26 point lead into halftime. What a turnaround. The 3rd quarter saw a tight arm wrestle but we kept a 5-goal buffer. We were nervous but needn’t have. Goals were added by the Dees before Watts got two goals to seal the game (as the Pies crowd headed for the exits) before Gawn fittingly got the last goal. It ended with the Dees getting a 46 point victory. Maxy was our BOG with strong performances from Viney, Kennedy and Bernie Vince. It was great to see Paul Roos celebrate the win as he had grown the team and this win confirmed our positive direction. After many years of despair, we were able to celebrate at a Queens Birthday game. Melbourne 16.8.104 defeated Collingwood 8.10.58