by Darren Spence
Isn’t it fantastic to read copious amounts of articles (positive) about the Dees since last Sunday? I think I have read and watched every bit of information I could find (sometimes twice) about how our beloved boys won on Sunday locking in a finals spot for the first time since 2006!
2006 was a long time ago. I was living in the UK then and was listening to the game through the AFL site via a link to the footy radio stations (no AFL Live streaming back then!), in fact there wasn’t even an IPhone back then; which ironically many of you are probably reading this on. 2006 was a long time ago. I read that if you added the total number of games played by the 22 on Sunday it comes to 1964. What an omen that was!
It has been a tough road for long suffering supporters since we last played in September. Let’s look at all the coaches we have had since then. Daniher, Riley, Bailey, Viney, Neeld, Craig, Roos, Goodwin. And our ladder positions? 14th, 16th, 16th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, 17th, 13th, 11th, 9th. It doesn’t make for pleasant reading does it? All that was forgotten however on Sunday night as I sat amongst a group of Eagles supporters cheering for joy for the Mighty Dees!
In front of a parochial home crowd it was important we got a fast start and fast we did start as we had 26 on the board before the Eagles even scored. Much has been said about our failure to perform in big games, some even saying we are ‘mentally weak’ and I must admit that I did start to worry after the Eagles hit the front but the boys dug deep and skipped away again to win probably our most important game since the 2006 finals.
I never liked Melksham when he has at the Bombers (don’t like any of their players..period) but I do now. He is such a crucial player to our side and never more so than on the weekend with 4 goals and 2 of these after the Eagles hit the front. Harmes has improved out of sight this year and is in the form of his life and had the pill 28 times. Gawn was prolific with 39 hit outs and 20 disposals, Brayshaw was everywhere and TMac and Hannan were dangerous with 3 goals a piece. In fact every player played their role in a fantastic win. It was a grand old day for the Melbourne Football Club and let there be many more!
This Sunday (why do we always play Sunday?…It makes my Monday’s so much tougher!) we are at home versus the Giants. Whilst a finals berth is finally now guaranteed, now is not the time to go through the motions. We need to win this and have strong winning momentum going into September and win we will.
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