Official Team Thread Mount Buller Demons | Season 30 Team Thread | B&F 17/12 19:30 AEDT

[manangatang]

Oddhawk , Proper Gander , sausageroll , amos , jmoo wan , sante , _Cayz_ , moginie , DemonJim , Yakker , Wise Guy Sam , Tarkyn_24 , Thetrader15 , manangatang , Quivorir , cooney , Callums_Guns , fancyscum , Deaneus! , Van_Dyke , lanky_wes , Headless , lion around , boncer34 , brucetiki , Dero , Toump Ass , Doctor Colossus

 

[manangatang]

_Cayz_ , amos , boncer34 , brucetiki , Callums_Guns , cooney , Deaneus! , DemonJim , Dero , Doctor Colossus , fancyscum , Headless , jmoo wan , lanky_wes , lion around , moginie , Oddhawk , Proper Gander , Quivorir , sante , sausageroll , Tarkyn_24 , Thetrader15 , Toump Ass , Van_Dyke , Wise Guy Sam , Yakker​

Hello everybody and welcome to this most prestigious occasion – the Season 30 Mt. Buller Demons Deestroy Medal count.

Season 29 was one of great hope but subsequent heartbreak for us, so thank qod for Season 30 being a s**t season from almost the very beginning. COVID-19 struck and really took its toll on all of us. I reckon the SIM got some COVID too because it was an a-hole to us this season.

In spite of our results being awful and our posting being a little flat compared to last season, I’m still incredibly proud of our club and our posters. You all showed up as much as circumstances would allow and I know that we remain the strongest and most enjoyable club in the whole comp.

Our spirit remains strong and we've got the best bunch of weirdos in this whole league.

This season, we welcomed a new face in Toump Ass , who in spite of his shy and retiring nature made a good impact with his posting when he was present. We also enjoyed strong match thread contributions from our experienced leaders, including Callums_Guns , cooney and Tarkyn_24 .

jmoo wan and Dero joined us from the Gumbies and brought an immediate positive impact for us.

A lot of work was contributed by the likes of DemonJim, Headless , Proper Gander and Yakker , while sausageroll continued his quest in earnest for that elusive EKA.

Season 30 was our 30th season in this league – a remarkable accomplishment. This longevity is in only made possible by the ongoing commitment of our club’s posters and leaders – past and present – so we did our best to recognise our history through the season.

We had some major player milestones along the way – Tarks hit his 450th game, Headless his 400th and Proper Gander notched up 100 games.

While it would have been a fairytale to snag a premiership in a milestone season, it doesn’t matter. I hate fairytales anyway – they’re full of false hope and bullshittery.

 

[manangatang]

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After our really unexpected 1-point Grand Final loss in Season 29, we took some time to soul-search over the off-season. By the time Round 1 came around we were ready to host the Bears and try to forget how gosh darned unlucky we were.

The Bears seemed to make up for a lack of S29 activity with a posting blitz in Round 1. It was a tad overwhelming at times, and I think _Cayz_ summed it up well…

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A 65-page match thread is a nightmare for Headless , and so the match proved to be. We coughed up a 22-point half time lead to end up losing by 8 points in a high-scoring battle. DemonJim, Van_Dyke and Tarkyn_24 started the year brightly, but it was clear that the rest of us were only knitting with one needle at that point.

Round 1 Votes:

3 - DemonJim [17 touches, 11 tackles, 2 goals]
2 - Van_Dyke [27 touches, 6 marks, 1 goal]
1 - Tarkyn_24 [5 goals 1 behind from 6 kicks]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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With a sense of early season foreboding, we packed our kit (except for Yakker – he still can’t find his bag) and took off for Gumbania.

Barrybran has managed to pull together a neat little list, and it was an enjoyable and non-spammy week of banter. cats2rise managed to post, while Genghis Tron and Riviat were good company to keep.

For us, cooney was up and about early, getting up in the grill of the questionably great Rodney Dangerfield …

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We again started the game brightly, leading the Gumbies by 2 goals at half time. Our defence was dour, but we were supported by strong midfield pressure from Dero and DemonJim. Meanwhile, Callums_Guns must have put on his Selwood mask, because he somehow received 8 free kicks for.

Anyway, we didn’t choke this time and held onto our two-goal lead all the way to the final siren. Our season was back on track. OR WAS IT?

Round 2 Votes

3 - Dero [30 touches and 8 marks, 124 DT]
2 - Callums_Guns [24 touches and 8 free kicks for]
1 - DemonJim [24 touches and 6 tackles]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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Feeling a little better about ourselves, we returned to the Snow Dome with a bit of extra pep in our step. Our next opponents, the Royals, were at that stage of the season unbeaten, and were enjoying some rare success. We would certainly have our work cut out for us.

It was another high-quality week, mingling with the likes of Marlowe, GreyCrow, Noobz0r and The Filth Wizard . The banter did get pretty tense at certain points, with a particularly nasty debate about the relative merits of Lacey and Alyssa. Turns out that Marlowe was considered more popular than both, so that settled that…

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After settling the above, our attention turned to the match itself. It was a horror start for us, with the Royals jumping out of the blocks to lead by 15 points at quarter time. While we fought desperately to not let this margin blow out through the second quarter, our inaccurate kicking never really got us back into it.

From there, all it took was a sharp Royals start to the third quarter and we were goneski. In the end, the Royals smashed us by 9 goals.

Round 3 Votes

3 - boncer34 [19 touches, 6 marks]
2 - Callums_Guns [19 touches, 7 tackles]
1 - DemonJim [18 touches, 5 tackles]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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The Furballs always make for an interesting opponent, and adding Elton Johns Wig and Norma Lee Ava to the mix gave them an even more interesting look.

But it was Bastyy who stepped up for the Furies during Round 4, providing some quality opposition banter. Things did get a little heated for a while there, and poor Headless was driven to having a decaf to calm his nerves…

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We eventually found our groove and enjoyed the week, and along rolled the match on Sunday arvo. We were desperate to make amends for our awful Round 3 showing against the Royals, so Richard_Cranium suggested we try starting well this time.

And that we did! Six first-quarter goals helped us to a 4-goal lead which was never eroded through the remainder of the match. Proper Gander and Van_Dyke were in great form on the day, and we eventually ran out 38-point winners.

We had squared our win-loss ledger after 4 rounds and it felt like we may have found some momentum.

Round 4 Votes

3 - Proper Gander [10 hitouts, 23 touches, 1 goal]
2 - DemonJim [14 touches, 6 tackles, 1 goal]
1 - Van_Dyke [19 touches, 2 goals]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

Let’s take quick look at the leaderboard after four rounds of voting…



Now we’re taking a little break from the vote count to present some important club awards…

 

[manangatang]

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So this season, we thought we’d try something a little bit different and play Tarkyn_24 at Full Forward. It can never be said that I’m not a forward-thinking and change-averse captain, nosiree.

I recall Hate doing some excellent media piece about whether or not Tarks could reach his 1,000th Sweet F.A. goal in Season 30, and of course held out hopes that he would notch up that momentous milestone. However, it became very clear about 8 rounds in that there would be no joy on this front.

Regardless, the great man kept pulling on his boots and putting his brave face on as we got routinely smashed in the latter half of the season, and still managed to kick the most goals of any of us this season, although Thetrader15 did challenge him. I mean, Tarks’ goal tally was actually lower than my much laughed-at tally from Season 28 or whenever it was.

But we won’t judge him because he’s gone and won the cats2rise medal again!

Congratulations Tarks!

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[manangatang]

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Our defence wasn’t quite as solid as it has been in the past few seasons, and I can’t quite put my finger on why.

Was it the consistent naming of very solid, experienced posters such as Oddhawk , Quivorir and boncer34 ? No, that wouldn’t be it.

Was it the move of our dashing midfielder Yakker and a new recruit Toump Ass as rebound defenders? No, they seemed to play well.

Could it instead have been the move of myself to the super-important full back position (which probably meant that our opposing full forwards kicked lots of shitty goals)? Yeah, that sounds about right. Sorry for that.

But when I looked at the ~ s t a t s ~ and the All-SFA team I did seem to be the only one of our defenders that managed to dominate their position, so in that vein (perhaps 'vain' is more fitting) I’m giving myself the stuffing award. I deserve it.

Congratulations Manang.

Yeah, thanks mate.

No worries.

Bit weird giving yourself an award isn't it?

Yep.

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[manangatang]

We finished off our first block of four games with an equal win-loss ratio, so we headed back to the Snow Dome to take on the Hawks keen to move into the top 8 and establish ourselves there.

We were fortunate enough to spend a lovely week with the likes of Agent93 , PMBangers , Loonerty (still shattered he’s stepping away) Chipmunk and eth-dog. They’ve built themselves a solid little list and are a good side to post against.

Between chats about Level 8 Aerodactyls, Toump Ass was getting acquainted with his opponents…



So what could we expect from the fickle old SIM this week? It was the ‘slow and awfully inaccurate start followed by a third quarter blitz’ form of the SIM, so that cheered us up no end. Trailing by 16 points at half-time, we smacked in 7 third quarter goals which set us up for our 12 point victory. Callums_Guns and Deaneus! were in sharp form, while Proper Gander and Toump Ass each enjoyed a solid game.

Round 5 Votes

3 - Callums_Guns [28 touches, 4 marks, 2 goals]
2 - Deaneus! [21 touches, 6 marks, 2 goals]
1 - Proper Gander [20 touches, 6 marks]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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Our start to the year was feeling pretty solid, so we met the Dragons in Round 6 with some confidence and hope that the SIM would continue to provide for us insatiable mountain-dwellers.

Dero got up and about early and set up a fun week for Tarks…

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I like how the Dragons have evolved over the course of the last two seasons, and it was nice to see contributions from A Swallow , T2B_ and Matt_352 , along with their leaders and stalwarts. For us, Tarks seemed to respond to every tag he was given, while Callums_Guns was up and about again.

The match was a bit of a shemozzle if I’m being honest. We’d kicked 4.13 to three quarter time, which is very similar to a scoreline from a Richmond Sunday afternoon game at Waverly from 1993. Anyway, needless to say the Dragons got on top early and held us off for the remainder of the game, eventually running over us by around 5 goals.

It was a fairly low stats game for most of us too, although Dero played reasonably well and cooney got his hands on the ball at Centre Half Forward.

Round 6 Votes

3 - Dero [18 touches, 1 goal]
2 - cooney [16 touches, 6 marks]
1 - DemonJim [15 touches, 1 tackle, 1 goal]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

We took the team bus up to Van Cortlandt Park to take on the Warriors. Until now, I’ve never truly reconciled the number of ‘ts’ in the word ‘Cortlandt’ and now I’m left wondering why someone did this.

The OP gave us a chess theme, and Callums_Guns set the scene of not only how I play chess, but of how our season was starting to turn out…



Anyway, the Warriors are probably shared some similarities with us in Season 30, in that match threads were a little less active than previously. However, they’re always fun to hang out with and have some real quality. Tonga Bob , TheInjuryFactory and Doctor Colossus chipped in through the week to keep things ticking over.

Unlike the previous round, we had our kicking boots adjusted correctly for this one, kicking 11.3 to Half Time. However, the Warriors fought back and kept us honest through the third and final quarters, and in the end we were relieved to hold onto a 19-point lead at the final siren.

Lots of our gun players stood up - Proper Gander was awesome in the ruck, while Callums_Guns , DemonJim and Tarkyn_24 all won their positions on the day.

Round 7 Votes

3 - Proper Gander [20 hitouts, 17 touches, 5 tackles]
2 - Callums_Guns [28 touches, 2 goals]
1 - DemonJim [22 touches, 11 tackles]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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We met the halfway point of the season in reasonably good shape, sitting squarely inside the top 8 and feeling pretty good about ourselves. We welcomed the Bombers, whose match threads had also really evolved in a positive way, to the Snow Dome.

Fresh Bomber faces, including Kilroy , Cadsky and kickthething brought a new look and format to the opposition posting through the week, and I was a fan of the quiz and music themed nights through the week. Resultantly it was our most active match thread of the season, as moginie summed up…



Now, as for the match, let’s start with the good news. We had EXACTLY the same number of scoring shots as our opposition. That’s gotta be a good sign, right? OK, now I’ve set it up, time for some less good news – with our 19 scoring shots we managed 6.13, while the Bombers kicked 11.8. That means we lost.

Anyway, Dero continued his imperious form and boncer34 had a cracking game as well. As we entered the mid-season break, it was time to bring Richard_Cranium in to deliver some of his renowned goal-kicking tuition.

Round 8 Votes

3 - Dero [24 touches, 6 tackles]
2 - Proper Gander [10 hitouts, 20 touches, 7 tackles]
1 - boncer34 [25 touches, 12 marks]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

Let’s take quick look at the leaderboard after eight rounds of voting (or exactly halfway through the season).

And we have a LITERAL JAM of logs.

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[manangatang]

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This was a tricky season for a whole number of reasons, related to both real life and the Sweet F.A.

Of course, COVID placed a significant amount of pressure on our real lives, and made us consider our priorities and try to find a pattern of life that fitted us best. And the washup of Season 29 I know made some of us a little jaded with the Sweet F.A. and how it’s run.

Regardless of this, I think we should be proud of ourselves in the way we turned up in match threads, looked out for one another and flew the flag for the club.

This next award seeks to recognise the best clubman for the season, and is awarded by our lovely, but very old and weird coach (paging Richard_Cranium).

He managed to actually attend last year’s count, but I heard he’s actually contracted COVID through the year and has come out the other side with the unusual superhero skill of chatting up old ladies in the RSL Buffet queue. That’s probably where he’ll be tonight, but I asked him to prepare some words for us and he’s set himself up to post them shortly.

So let’s flinch in anticipation of what the old guy has to say…

 

[manangatang]

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The Eth Award is named after one of the greatest captains, player and teammate of this great club. Introduced a number of seasons ago, the Eth Award is voted on by players and is an accolade to be incredibly proud of.

I’ve loved seeing the great man himself pop up in the occasional match thread this season, and would love to have him back more often.

Past winners of this award include Tarks, Van_Dyke, Callums_Guns, myself, Oddhawk and Yakker.

Once again, voting for this year’s award was done individually by PM. This season we had a really strong spread of votes across a number of posters, which again highlights just how many great contributors we have in our squad. Some of you even voted for me, which will be noted the next time I have to make a decision that directly affects your enjoyment of this board.

It was super-close in the end, but the winner of this esteemed award is none other than Headless .

I can’t believe he hasn’t won this award before if I’m honest (which I think I can be). He’s a loveable character and someone we all enjoy having around the place.

What’s probably seen less is the extent to which he supports me in my role as Captain – he’s always one of the first to offer help where he senses I may benefit from it, and is a dear friend of mine.

He also just so happens to be our all-time games record-holder and just a bloody good bloke.

Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition from your teammates, ‘Less.

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[manangatang]

A game against the Rats is always about as enjoyable as slamming your nuts in a chest freezer door, so we were all super-excited for this one. Callums_Guns did do his best (as usual, in spite of all the craziness of his real life at the time) to get us fired up…



Compounding the week’s theme was the fact that we got ‘that SIM’. You know, the one where we’re behind by a couple of goals for most of the day and it lets us take the lead midway through the last quarter? And then it allows the other team to get back in front sort of near the end and win by two points?

Yeah, that one.

Nothing better than sensing the smugness exude from Ant Bear’s no doubt overused keyboard; just really gets the senses tingling.

Anyway, Proper Gander did put in a pretty awesome shift, with support from DemonJim and Callums_Guns . Things were starting to turn a bit bad though, you could tell…

Round 9 Votes

3 - Proper Gander [8 hitouts, 35 touches, 2 goals]
2 - DemonJim [23 touches, 9 tackles, 1 goal]
1 - Callums_Guns [21 touches, 11 marks, 1 goal]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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There’s always something lovely about a week spent with the Roys. Sure, there’s the smell of mothballs and brandy, but you just know you’ll share in some rollicking anecdotes through the week. TedDougChris , Mobbs and the superb fitzroybowiedog were ably supported through the week by rookies RobR and BLUEALLTHRU and it was a really good week after the atrocities of Round 9.

Jum, on the other hand, was in NO MOOD for niceties…



Now, I can’t remember the last time the Mount Buller Demons beat the Roys FFC, so I guess it wasn’t surprising to me that we lost. We trailed by 20 points at half time and put the cue in the rack after that, eventually losing by 39 points. In truth, we were lucky to be that close in the end, after the Roys managed 24 scoring shots to our 15.

Anways, Qooty (as usual) was the real winner, with our fearless full back (me) actually getting the highest DT points for our team. Other than that (and in reality) we were all losers…

Round 10 Votes

3 - manangatang [18 touches, 8 marks]
2 - Proper Gander [11 hitouts, 21 touches]
1 - Callums_Guns [15 touches, 4 marks, 1 goal]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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So we headed back home to host the Furies (after playing them only 6 rounds earlier). The theme of the OP for this round was Hunger Games, and so it felt at this point of our Season 30 (not so much in the teen romancey sort of way but more the stabbing and the demonic acid fog sort of way).

In terms of the match thread, between hilarious posting of Blur YouTube clips, the exposure of Wacky Tiger as a Ukranian bot and Switch jokes, I think this sort of summed up the thread in essence…

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We probably shouldn’t talk about the match itself, because we lost by many points and it was s**t. It was our fourth loss in a row and we all just KNEW that our formline would turn around very quickly. It just HAD TO.

Anyway, Tarks got donuts for the match, which would be a fairly uncommon event, so that’s something to remember about the game I guess.

Round 11 Votes

3 - Callums_Guns [27 touches, 7 marks, 3 tackles]
2 - Dero [23 touches, 5 marks, 1 goal]
1 - jmoo wan [9 touches, 5 marks, 3 goals]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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Another loss, another nail in our Season 30 coffin, as we were starting to slide down the ladder faster than a roided-up Latvian Winter Olympics Skeleton event competitor.

We headed to the Stadium In The Sky with renewed cynicism and pessimism, so excitement was at an all time high. It seemed like our self-pity was also shared by our opponents at that point, so what better time for a pep talk from jmoo wan ?

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However, only one team could break their form slump, and of course it wasn’t us. The Bears basically led all day, and ended up saluting by 21 points. That was in spite of some strong midfield performances from Van_Dyke , Callums_Guns , Dero and Proper Gander. sausageroll also put in a good showing off half back.

But in the end, our mid-season misery continued unhindered.

Round 12 Votes

3 - Dero [27 touches, 8 marks, 1 goal]
2 - Van_Dyke [25 touches, 4 marks]
1 - Callums_Guns [21 touches, 2 goals]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

For the last time this evening prior to the final results being announced, let’s take a quick look at the leaderboard after twelve rounds of voting.

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[manangatang]

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It’s as though someone took the SIM out of its tape deck after Season 29, blew on it, reinserted it and it was playing backwards. Can you believe that, to Round 13, we’d lost 5 games in a row? FIVE? That’s pretty crazy isn’t it? It’s a lot of games to lose in a season let alone in a row.

So I’m SURE we were thinking about how amazing this was when we went back to the Snow Dome to take on the resurgent and uncharacteristically successful Gumbies in Round 13. I always love posting against the Gumbies as I think they’re subtle, smart and considered in their posting.

With such breeziness and space for creativity, it allows jmoo wan to produce content like this:

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So, did we manage to break our streak of losses? No. No we did not.

I guess if you’re a positive person you would say we competed hard all day, and that Dero , @boncer43 and Callums_Guns worked their arses off all day for us. But then the negative person would say that six losses in a row is just shithouse any way you look at it.

Me? I don’t know, I’m just here for the laffs.

Round 13 Votes

3 - Dero [23 touches, 5 marks, 2 goals]
2 - Callums_Guns [19 touches, 7 tackles, 2 goals]
1 - boncer34 [17 touches, 7 marks, 2 goals]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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Just like the punters enjoyed on Melbourne Cup Day, the shower curtain was being drawn around our season by Round 13, with the necessary subtlety employed to ensure its end did not overly shock and disturb the sensitivities of the onlookers. That came out a lot darker than I’d originally hoped, but I think I’ll keep it.

Anyway, the match thread was fairly quiet yet still fun, as Headless continued to fill up his ever-burgeoning calendar…

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The Royals were on an absolute tear, and were playing super-well, so it was little surprise to any of us that we got smashed. It ended up being a 41-point margin, but it truly felt like more than that (and it would have been if not for strong showings from Van_Dyke and Yakker).

Nevermind that these two same posters were the ones who were discussing a gory and violent coup of my leadership at the time – I think the SIM was trying to tell me something.

Round 14 Votes

3 - Van_Dyke [23 touches, 8 marks, 1 goal]
2 - Yakker [24 touches, 5 marks, 2 goals]
1 - moginie [15 touches, 5 marks, 1 goal]

Poster Of The Week:

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[manangatang]

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So, each year as Captain we sit down and think about whether there’s a strong case for long-time club servants to be inducted into our proud and highly respected club Hall of Fame.

The current Hall of Fame includes giants of not only our club but of the league, and we are very careful in selecting only those who have made a genuine contribution to our club in one way or another.

Here are the guidelines we must consider when selecting potential inductees to the Hall of Fame…

Spoiler: Induction Considerations

• There is no set limit on years of service or impact made, but it is trusted that those with extensive posting history and/or success will be considered.
• A mixture and balance of on-field awards and off-field club impact is to be considered. It is sought that Hall of Fame members have added to the fabric of the club.
• The decision maker on who to induct will not be a sole entity, but the leadership group as a whole with added opinions sought from those who have been on the playing list the longest regardless of whether they are within the official leadership group. Opinion can be sought from retired Mount Buller players still active on Bigfooty if their time at the club heavily overlaps with the player(s) in question.
• Not only is it deemed that being a Hall of Fame member suggests that a poster has been a loyal servant to the club, but they have conducted themselves in a fashion which promotes the club throughout the wider SFA.
• A player does not need to be retired to be considered.
• Only time at Mount Buller is considered, and not time spent at other clubs.

This season there were a few candidates for me to consider on the above basis, but there are two players I’d like to announce have been elevated to the Mount Buller Demons Hall of Fame in Season 30.

Yakker is an ex-Captain and current Vice Captain of Mt. Buller, and has been in no small way responsible for building the club as we see it today. His win rate as Captain is (famously) 74%, and he led our club to its second premiership in Season 27. He won the EKA in his first season and remains one of our best posters.

This is a much-deserved elevation for Yak and he sits comfortably alongside our other Hall of Fame members. Well done mate.

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The next inductee needs no introduction. However, because we’re on a text-based forum I probably should introduce him.

Tarkyn_24 is an absolute giant of our league and of course of Mt. Buller. He Captained the club back in Season 8, and while he’s spent a lot of time away from the club, he always comes back to us. He’s currently played 170 games for our club and is second place overall on our all-time goalkicking list.

His leadership and guidance over the many years of his career has been invaluable and has guided us through many challenging periods. He is another very worthy inductee into our club Hall of Fame and I congratulate and thank him for his contribution so far.

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Congratulations to both of you.

 

[manangatang]

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In addition to the above, there is one extra level of recognition for posters who have made an obvious and unmistakable contribution to our club over an extended period. Where we see fit, we are able to elevate an existing Hall of Famer to Legend status at the Mount Buller Demons.

This is not something we do lightly, as is evidenced by the fact that our only Legend before now is Eth . But this season, on reflecting over one player’s career at this club, it was obvious to us to elevate Headless to Club Legend status.

This is a guy who has played a gobsmacking 400 games as a one-club player. He has been a long-time servant of the club in its leadership group and has – almost more than any other player – formed a central point for our culture and posting style as a club.

He rarely seeks a premium position on the ground, and has been happy to sacrifice his personal stats/league awards for the betterment of the club and its playing list. He embodies who we are and why we’re here and he really cares deeply about the long-term strength of this proud club.

I would like to congratulate Headless on this recognition. It is one which is thoroughly well-deserved.

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