Why are the Demons still so piss weak in 2018?

[Ozza]

Yeah I think it gets a bit lost on people, or they forget the historical context of us finishing 7th.

The reality of us finishing 7th was that;

- Only 2 wins separated 1st and 7th.
- We won 15 games.
- Going in to the finals we had beaten the teams placed 1st, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th (and went on to beat 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th in finals). During the season we had been well in the games against the teams we hadn't beaten, including running Hawthorn to 3 points.

We may have been 7th - but we were never miles off anyone.

Melbourne have been flogged by the two top 4 teams they've played Richmond and Hawthorn - and still have to play the other 2 top 4 teams, they were beaten comprehensively by the Pies, beaten by Sydney at the MCG, and lost in close ones to Port and Geelong twice.

[EasternWest]

Yeah I think it gets a bit lost on people, or they forget the historical context of us finishing 7th.

The reality of us finishing 7th was that;

- Only 2 wins separated 1st and 7th.
- We won 15 games.
- Going in to the finals we had beaten the teams placed 1st, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th (and went on to beat 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th in finals). During the season we had been well in the games against the teams we hadn't beaten, including running Hawthorn to 3 points.

We may have been 7th - but we were never miles off anyone.

Melbourne have been flogged by the two top 4 teams they've played Richmond and Hawthorn - and still have to play the other 2 top 4 teams, they were beaten comprehensively by the Pies, beaten by Sydney at the MCG, and lost in close ones to Port and Geelong twice.

�� good post Oz.

[Twodogs]

Yeah I think it gets a bit lost on people, or they forget the historical context of us finishing 7th.

The reality of us finishing 7th was that;

- Only 2 wins separated 1st and 7th.
- We won 15 games.
- Going in to the finals we had beaten the teams placed 1st, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th (and went on to beat 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th in finals). During the season we had been well in the games against the teams we hadn't beaten, including running Hawthorn to 3 points.

We may have been 7th - but we were never miles off anyone.

Melbourne have been flogged by the two top 4 teams they've played Richmond and Hawthorn - and still have to play the other 2 top 4 teams, they were beaten comprehensively by the Pies, beaten by Sydney at the MCG, and lost in close ones to Port and Geelong twice.

And we were never out of games. Even if we didn't play well for 2 and a half quarters we weren't getting blown away and managed to pinch a couple of wins in games where we had been comprehensively outplayed. That's what I take away from our premiership, that defence is more important than attack because defending well helps you stay in games.

[bornadog]

Yeah I think it gets a bit lost on people, or they forget the historical context of us finishing 7th.

The reality of us finishing 7th was that;

- Only 2 wins separated 1st and 7th.
- We won 15 games.
- Going in to the finals we had beaten the teams placed 1st, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th (and went on to beat 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th in finals). During the season we had been well in the games against the teams we hadn't beaten, including running Hawthorn to 3 points.

We may have been 7th - but we were never miles off anyone.

Melbourne have been flogged by the two top 4 teams they've played Richmond and Hawthorn - and still have to play the other 2 top 4 teams, they were beaten comprehensively by the Pies, beaten by Sydney at the MCG, and lost in close ones to Port and Geelong twice.

And we were never out of games. Even if we didn't play well for 2 and a half quarters we weren't getting blown away and managed to pinch a couple of wins in games where we had been comprehensively outplayed. That's what I take away from our premiership, that defence is more important than attack because defending well helps you stay in games.

The only game we were blown away was Geelong at ETihad, that was a poor effort

[Twodogs]

The only game we were blown away was Geelong at ETihad, that was a poor effort

Even then we had nearly as many scoring shots.

[ledge]

The only game we were blown away was Geelong at ETihad, that was a poor effort

Freo last game was horrific.

[bornadog]

Freo last game was horrific.

In the end it was 22 points and we left half the team at home.

The Cats game we got done by 57 points and were never in it.

[The bulldog tragician]

Melbourne’s example is a cautionary tale about tanking and why I never want us to do do. It rots a club’s culture. Their draft picks have that gws sense of entitlement that it will all just come to them.

[Go_Dogs]

Wasn't Heeney massive in the last ten minutes? If I was the Melbourne captain I would have called a count to see how the swans snuck all the Isaac *!*!*!*!ing Heeney lookalikes onto the ground with nobody noticing. There were four Isaac Heeneys at one stage because Heeney marked it then kicked it to Heeney who handballed to Heeney running past who got a solid block from Heeney to keep going.

Boy we're lucky they didn't let these 5 Heeneys play the grand final. And they let us have a week off while everyone else had to play.




Back on topic, the Melbourne story is a good reminder that finals are very difficult to make, natural improvement isn't a given and the injury/recuperation gods must smile on you at least a little.

[Twodogs]

Boy we're lucky they didn't let these 5 Heeneys play the grand final. And they let us have a week off while everyone else had to play.

Don't forget they instructed the umpires to pay us free kicks whenever possible.

It was just another of the long list of favours the AFL are always doing for us. It was only right they changed the rules to blunt our advantages after we won the flag. It wouldn't have been fair on the rest otherwise.

Back on topic, the Melbourne story is a good reminder that finals are very difficult to make, natural improvement isn't a given and the injury/recuperation gods must smile on you at least a little.

Yep a lot of things have to go right just to make the finals.

[Twodogs]

My uncle and his kids are Melbourne supporters.

I have absolutely no idea how the son of post WW2 Polish immigrants turned factory workers living in Fawkner ended up barracking for Melbourne. He doesn't ski either!

Melbourne won quite a few premierships in the post war era as well as being an already established power going into it/during it. They won a hatrick between 39-41 then 7 flags in the 20 year period after so if you wanted to get on the winning team back then it's Melbourne.

[Ghost Dog]

Yeah I think it gets a bit lost on people, or they forget the historical context of us finishing 7th.

The reality of us finishing 7th was that;

- Only 2 wins separated 1st and 7th.
- We won 15 games.
- Going in to the finals we had beaten the teams placed 1st, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th (and went on to beat 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th in finals). During the season we had been well in the games against the teams we hadn't beaten, including running Hawthorn to 3 points.

We may have been 7th - but we were never miles off anyone.

Melbourne have been flogged by the two top 4 teams they've played Richmond and Hawthorn - and still have to play the other 2 top 4 teams, they were beaten comprehensively by the Pies, beaten by Sydney at the MCG, and lost in close ones to Port and Geelong twice.

These are really good observations. Ladder position doesn't always give you an accurate picture.

[Twodogs]

These are really good observations. Ladder position doesn't always give you an accurate picture.

It's usually the team that plays best in September that wins the flag is my stunningly obvious observation. That's what I learned between 08-10, that finals are a completely different and new season and the best H&A team often isn't the best finals team.

[westdog54]

And out of nowhere they pull a win in Perth out of their arses and all but cement their spot in the 8. They'd have to shit the bed even worse than last year to miss out now.

[Testekill]

They'll end up making the finals but I can't see them going far.