When did you genuinely start to believe that Melbourne could win the premiership?

[thetank]

Could win: Cats R23 match.

With "home" finals on the line, it felt almost like fate when such a large and unexpected comeback was achieved.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Looking back at that Geelong game I reckon Geelong definitely didn’t take it 100% seriously from their POV, but it also shows how dangerous flirting with your form is.

Also the danger of giving your rival a huge morale and momentum booster

 

[Topkent]

Coming into the season I thought we'd either finish Top 4 or sack Goodwin.

A few tweaks needed here and there but IMO our biggest problem was we were mentally soft- we'd consistently failed to get up for big games and drop games we should have won at critical moments. About ten minutes into the Round 11 game against the Dogs I thought we'd overcome that, and once the siren sounded I blew the lid right off.

Almost had a mental breakdown when Bont kicked his third in the granny tho, until then I just hadn't even conceived that losing was even possible. Honestly don't know how I would have coped if we'd lost lol.

It's hilarious how the sliding doors of our whole season would be different if they snagged 2 more and went on to win. Brayshaw and McDonald would be battlers we desperately need to replace. Our midfield full of one way runners who couldn't handle it when the dogs turned up the pressure.

Backline couldn't perform in the big game, May was selfish for playing etc etc.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

It's hilarious how the sliding doors of our whole season would be different if they snagged 2 more and went on to win. Brayshaw and McDonald would be battlers we desperately need to replace. Our midfield full of one way runners who couldn't handle it when the dogs turned up the pressure.

Backline couldn't perform in the big game, May was selfish for playing etc etc.

Similarly Dogs avoid a lot of heat because we couldn’t kick straight in the first and second quarters and let them back into the game, made it seem more competitive. Totally changed the complexion of their off-season.

 

[Toump Ass]

It's hilarious how the sliding doors of our whole season would be different if they snagged 2 more and went on to win. Brayshaw and McDonald would be battlers we desperately need to replace. Our midfield full of one way runners who couldn't handle it when the dogs turned up the pressure.

Backline couldn't perform in the big game, May was selfish for playing etc etc.

Yeah I thought we were pretty cooked at the time too, but I honestly don't think two goals would have broken us anymore.

If we were down 4 goals against the Lions it's maybe a different story.

 

[Generation X]

My earliest memory of football was watching Robbie Flower take a mark to win the game after the siren, against the doggies in 81 I think

So i have many years of heart ache and pain

For me it was with 5 minutes to go in the GF that I thought we could actually win

 

[jhong]

When the siren went in the final quarter to end the game .

 

[slackboy72]

After beating Richmond I thought we could make a serious dent in the finals.
After Dogs in rd 11 I thought we would be a prelim finalist.
After Collingwood loss I thought we were cooked.
After Geelong fightback at Kardinia I thought we were back.
After Bontempelli's 3rd I thought we were choking.
After ANB's goal I thought we were home.

 

[Hellbourne]

Definitely midway though the 4th, midway through the 3rd I thought the wheels had fallen off and it was 'business as usual'

 

[Johnny Karate]

It was a long way from believing we’d win the flag but in round one, I saw that we were better organised behind the ball than any other Melbourne team that I’d seen in 28 years of watching.

Still don’t think I truly believed we’d win it until Nibbler’s goal in the 4th of the granny. The round 23 Geelong game, the qualifying and prelim finals were solid evidence we were a really good chance of winning. Same as earlier season wins against Geelong, Richmond, Bulldogs and Lions. However, being a Melbourne supporter I’ve been conditioned to thinking a piano is about to fall out of the sky, on my head.

 

[deeco]

After losing to the Dogs, absolute danger game vs Suns where we would have bottled it in years past and we finally belted a team after just coasting all year gave me hope we could put sides away. The Eagles lightning game, where we would have folded like a deck chair in years past, we'd put the cue in the rack and let them try and beat our defense after Nic Nat got a breather and we held on made me believe we weren't the same mental short people of the past and we had the balls. R23 vs Geelong to cop top spot down in their cigar shaped ground where our game shouldn't ever work gave me belief that we'd absolutely pump anyone on a proper ground and the form slump was well and truly gone.

I was telling everyone at work every finals game that we would absolute tear the other team apart. Lions missing too many quality players. Dad's army too old to run with our boys for more than half a game of footy. Dogs mental short people, if you don't let them get their tails up early, Bevo can't coach that belief back into them mid game vs a quality opponent. They look like a million bucks til they get punched in the face.

New beast next year, let's see how the boys respond, one time wonders or want a seat at the big boy table.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Dogs mental short people, if you don't let them get their tails up early, Bevo can't coach that belief back into them mid game vs a quality opponent. They look like a million bucks til they get punched in the face.

If the Dogs want their own traditional clash maybe they can have the Mental short people Cup with GC

 

[Simon_Says]

To preface I knew or thought we could make a deep finals run in 21' circa April Watching us live when we beat the premiers Richmond.
To that point the only top 8 side we had beaten was a Starless Geelong 2 weeks prior, Richmond win pre ANZAC day convinced me

The most consistent win (actually playing 4 Quarters of footy) was i think against PA, Over there

Geelong R23, Minor premiers, rest of the comp on notice, that the demons of old were gone.

 

[Islanda22]

At the end of the 3rdQ of the GF

Being a Dees fan you learn to not get carried away because of the trolling that will happen if all goes pear shaped

I had a group of mates with me that night basically waiting for us to fold and bag me out

Was an emotional 4thQ realising we have finally done it and stopped being the laughing stock we was were

 

[Crusty Demon]

Watching Trac and how he improved in the 2020 season actually gave me more than just hope we could win it. May and Lever were starting to show what they could do together, and Langdon was a massive get for our outside run. So genuinely started to believe after we had that run last season where we smashed North/Coll/Adel. I know they weren't great teams, but it showed when we were on, we were nearly unstoppable.

The Richmond game this season made me feel we were a genuine top 4 side. But it was the Dogs win in Round 11 where I genuinely thought we were a shot at winning the premiership. Dogs were/are a bloody good side and the fact we pushed them aside quite convincingly gave me more than just hope. The way Trac had continued his dominance, and more importantly Oliver was starting to use his legs out of stoppages. Dogga's improve, Koz looking like Cyril, the way we were structured behind the ball was like nothing I'd seen from this club before. The culture and genuine feel of the club was totally different. So to topple the main challenger in the Dogs was probably the moment I genuinely believed we were a massive shot..

 

[Biffinator]

My paternal grandmother bought me a Demons wall-plaque when I was a kid. It is central to what I am about to say. It is an icon. It has accompanied me throughout life. I am actually renovating it as we speak with that hideous Demon icon from the Seventies.

I knew from about Round 8 or 9 that we would win the flag. Confirmation - as an Omen - came through on the morning of the GF - not that it abated my terror in any way. I will not tell you why or how because you'd all laugh at me - but I knew - fair dinkum.

"We are lived by powers that we pretend to understand."

 

[Fuchsia]

If I believed in omens, it was when the DOGS' ribbons on the cup slipped down the handle as the cup was being carried out into the centre of the ground just before the start of the game while the DEMONS' ribbons remained high.

 

[knackers29]

When TMac nailed that shot after the siren, I knew we'd win it...

 

[The Dr]

When TMac nailed that shot after the siren, I knew we'd win it...

I still assumed there’d be a head count just before the umpire signalled T Mac’s goal and we’d lose.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Proper Gander]

When TMac nailed that shot after the siren, I knew we'd win it...

I reckon I was at least 45 minutes off believing from there.

It was nice waking up the next day, albeit hungover. I must have broken a record saying “did that really happen” over and over again

 

[KickLongTackleHard]

When TMac nailed that shot after the siren, I knew we'd win it...

Yeah right, can I have yesterday’s lotto numbers then please

 

[knackers29]

Yeah right, can I have yesterday’s lotto numbers then please

Sure: