DARKNESS COMES EARLY

[deestar 159]

Pretty disappointed today. I wittnessed some different tactics at the intra club 8 minute halves. I had hoped that some of those may have been employed in the real season !

We just can not continue kicking the ball to contest to contest when we don't have the ability to win it when it hits the ground.

I did think we looked alot harder over the ball but we seriously need to start possessing the ball. I don't even want to think what out un contested possession count would have been today.

This game style does not give us the ability to score quick goals (especially when every goal comes from moving it out of our defensive 50 ).

I cant recall one decent passage today .... We have wasted our draft choices, we nailed a few but with 3 years of good picks. Not good enough. Our list is really lacking depth and run and carry types.

And after today it's obvious why new leaders were inducted. The old spines broke and never gave a whelp.

[BangkokDemon 96]

The game plan can absolutely be blamed, because the Brisbane players knew exactly what was going to happen.......so they set up numbers for the contested spill from the long bomb, or the boundary line hug, shot the ball out to space, connected possessions and goal after goal resulted. Watch a replay if you can bear it, because it became woefully hilarious how obviously they were able to do that every time.

I saw the entire game - don't need any replays to see how bad it was.

But, you miss my point.

I am suggesting that such a predictable plan is presently the only way this team can do it 0 they are not good enough to vary the style, tempo etc.

If you watched Hawthorn last night - and even Collingwood - they played a very structured plan, which has been drilled into them for some time.

Prior to this season there was no real "game plan" being enacted by the Demons (under Bailey).

So the Hawks and the Maggies have had a long time to get it right.

But, more, they have players who are creative and just when you think they are going to do "move A" they do "move B" or "C" instead.

Then they've got guys like Buddy, Cyril and Jordan Lewis to crash through.

Do we have that sort of creativity and crash through ability in our current playing group ?

[Face Your Demons 175]

Okay putting it down to Emotional Fatigue and we will bounce back for a good win in the west. It's that or get the razorblades.

[DeeVoted 582]

I have watched a lot of MFC and local games of footy and played the game.I sat through the 70's watched us get flogged and NEVER left before the final siren went. Today...... today broke new ground. I left when the siren went to end the 3rd quarter. Just disgusted and what hurt most was there isnt any sign its going to get better. Neeld better prove me wrong, but I always thought the best way home is straight down the guts,or at least clear it along the boundary from the backline,until you hit the middle, then straighten it up. get it quickly and directly. I cant see that working for us anyway there isnt anyone capable in the forward line or anywhere else for that matter,Just the odd glimpse, then nothing.

[Mydee 288]

to think that after 30 odd years I actually fell for the offseason bs and upgraded my membership. What a gutless patheticplaying effort what an insipid unispired coaching effort So one more year of the same. Never again

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Three things I learned.

1/ Magner is a magnet

2/ We were second to the ball the whole game

3/ Lions were prepared to run and spread - we werent.

4/ The long bombing or 2012 is the chipping the ball backwards of 2011. If we are not prepared to work hard and present options you only have two choices - bomb long or chip backwards. Until we are prepared to gut run and keep presenting and giving options, we will continue to disappoint

We were stagnant we almost broke out in a algae bloom.

I cant recall one piece of clean ball movement the whole day.

Our senior players seemed as poor as our game plan appeared.

We got destroyed in the clearances in the middle.

Really poor showing all around. Very poor signs indeed particularly after half time.

For all our glorious pre season we seemed unfit, immobile and unable to keep up with Brisbane.

[Rollo2 64]

Haven't been so depressed by a game of footy in a while. Very hard to see a way forward with this playing group and game plan. Agree wholeheartedly that our inability to spread, create options and hit up targets means we need to almost start again. Bloody hard to watch our team get torn apart by an average side like Brisbane on our home ground.

[jumbo returns 6,619]

Simon Black continues to amaze me - what a player......

[Face Your Demons 175]

Has there been a post match press conference yet. Like to hear what Neeld has to say

[BIG JIM 508]

This so called game plan of kick and hope is shocking and we look like we have taken 2 steps back from bailey. The players should hang there head in shame coming out after this week and playing like a bunch of pea hearts and being belted by a team like brisbane. I hate to say it but our tanking was the worst thing this club ever did we have no leadership and no culture with a bunch of kids trying to play like men. And our older players are the worst in the AFL. Im sick of this crap melbourne stop with the bull s*&^ and clean out this club Green,Rivers,Davey, they and our old football department have set this club back another 10 years. NOT HAPPY we have just been over taken by another crap team first richmond then port and now brisbane. How we let this happen again? This will hurt membership and sponsership SHAME on you all melbourne players.

[nutbean 8,837]

We were stagnant we almost broke out in a algae bloom.

First time I have smiled all afternoon

[red_and_blue 6]

Going to be a long year. One dimensional game plan. Perhaps we cannot cope with anything more complex.

Jimmy got to enjoy the pre-season hype. Looks like there won't be much else than pre-season hype for a long, long time. We just don't have the cattle. Sad after so many early draft picks in recent years.

[jumbo returns 6,619]

Going to be a long year. One dimensional game plan. Perhaps we cannot cope with anything more complex.

Jimmy got to enjoy the pre-season hype. Looks like there won't be much else than pre-season hype for a long, long time. We just don't have the cattle. Sad after so many early draft picks in recent years.

'Early Draft picks.....' - therein might be the problem. But, we've covered this ground.

[Jaded No More 59,765]

Simon Black continues to amaze me - what a player......

Champion. What a senior player should be like.

[timD 994]

We looked disorganised at the cleareances. They always had free players. They used where their free man wuold be flexibly. Given the clean hands at the contest it looked like they had 5 more players out there. WE used the ball so badly - with poor skill and made poor decisions. I think game plan. We bombed long at every opportunity. That has got to be instruction. I wish the club would repalce macdonland and bartrum so they never play again. Put it in davis and bennell or strauss. Play grimes in the guts. Play trengove forward and rotating up. Blease to casey unitl he learns to put in and develops a tank.

[Lord Travis 10,310]

Champion. What a senior player should be like.

Except when he's throwing the ball and conning umpires. But yeah if only we had players like him to show the kids how to play and the effort required.

[DeeZee 6,905]

.

Compo picks and draft picks mean nothing now...our club will be dead unless we improve in a hurry.

We dont have a hope in hell of getting to 40,000 members after that performance by the way.

[P-man 13,309]

I am actually worried about where we go from here as a club. Never felt this deeply concerned.

Wholsesale changes need to made for next week to send out a message that this kind of performance is in no way, shape or form acceptable.

Plus if we persist with this gameplan we are sealing our fate to be bottom 3 this season.

Mark this one down as Wake Up Call #57 from the past 4 years.

Edited March 31, 2012 by P_Man

[waynewussell 4,223]

I was there. So were my kids. Son (16yo) says we have no forward strategy other than bomb long to a one on two. He also says we were killed at the centre clearances. Daughter (14yo) says we suck! I say they are right, given the final score (2nd half). However, we were in the game at half-time. If I were a coach I would dismiss all of the game analysis, other than the 3rd Qtr. I would go over the third Qtr with a fine tooth comb and leave it at that (one step at a time for toddlers!).

Centre clearance problem... Jamar hits it too close to himself for our set-up. Brisvegas read him better than MFC! He needs to have 3 options... 'at his feet' 'outside right' clearing pack... and 'pump it' 20M. Today he had one gear... PREDICTABLE!!!! Note: He scored 104 Supercoach points to oppositon 100. If we are not prepared to get the ball inside 50 into the hands of Watts, Green, Howe... we are STUPID!!!! They are finishers. The 'bomb it long' to a one on two option is so flawed that the players should simply ignore the coaches (every now and then). The coaching staff will soon forgive transgressions when goals ARE SCORED!!!! Umpiring followed its usual pattern for us. Marks that touched the ground... free kicks for Hollywood dives... play on for blatant run downs and incorrect disposal. IN Gysberts, Tapscott, Petterd OUT Moloney, Green, .... whoever!

[Scoop Junior 3,100]

It does take time to learn and adjust to a new game plan and I'm willing to accept that early in the season there will be times when we get caught out of position or players run to the wrong spot etc.

But the basics of footy are the same no matter what your game plan.

Winning the footy at the stoppages is a basic - every game plan relies on that. And keeping possession when you have the footy is another.

Those two areas we were absolutely horrible at today. And to be honest I expected more in these areas, as winning the footy and keeping possession are not concepts that purely rely on learning a new game plan - it is something that footballers have known about their whole careers.

I lost count of the number of times we'd get first hands on the footy but get caught, while the Lions would then pick it up and run away. And those were the few times we actually got first hands on the ball at a stoppage, as most of the time Black and Rich just did what they liked. They were just so much better at getting a quick possession out to a running player, while we seemed quite stationary at the stoppages.

Then when we did get the ball, we couldn't string together any chains or passages of play. The Lions on the other hand were able to move the ball with speed and generally used it pretty well.

If you can't get the basics of footy right then you have no chance. Absolutely shocking display of footy from the players today.

[stormndemon 1]

Pathetic - Jimmy would be ashamed - absolutley no mongrel in this lot - 16th is about right!

[Face Your Demons 175]

Question Will the same 22 travel to Perth

Neeld Not on your life.

Should have added that 22 will never play together as a team again.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,000]

Well, I haven't had a chance to watch the game yet, and only caught a few minutes on the radio, so in general I don't have a huge amount to add. I can say that the comments attacking the gameplan may be a bit premature. Last year (and the years before that) we saw our midfielders opting for blind bombs forwards whenever they were under pressure. This resulted in small packs of opposition mids and halfbacks congregating around 40m ahead of the play and waiting for the ball to land in their laps. I don't think you can blame the current coach for the players repeating the pattern of the last few years under the previous coach. This one has to be put squarely on the players forgetting their instructions and reverting to their default "panic" mode of play.

I am very curious to know what changed in the third quarter. We went into half time basically level, then were blown away, seemingly in a matter of minutes. Can anyone tell me what changed?

Once again, I have not seen the footage yet, but it sounds like Magner had a great debut. Not only did he top our posession count, but he snared a couple of goals. Hell of a good start to his career.

I am also a little puzzled by some of the comments about Watts. He had 18 disposals, 5 marks and a goal. Surely after his form in the NAB we should be happy to see that sort of output?

Overall, I am not nearly as bothered as many of you who saw the game. I know that Neeld was reluctant to delist players when he first arrived because he had not seen them play and train. I also know that he is set to trade or delist a lot of players at the end or this year. It seems pretty clear to me that he is looking at our list to see who can play the way he wants them to and who isn't up to it. There is a very good reason I started asking who will be sacked at the end of this season before the pre-season had started. That is when the clean-out begins, and I think a lot of people will be shocked by how harsh it is. Until then everyone on the list is auditioning. Today a lot of guys gave a lemon.

[BIG JIM 508]

Only round one but i hope mark neeld knows what he is doing because i played like this in under 10s kick and hope. We are ment to be fit from dave mission from all the pre season hype well brisbane out ran us all day. This could really hurt the club in a big way lets pray im wrong but we look weak and as bad as the Gold coast with less upside.

[Micky Dee 11]

One week into the semester and I think we just flunked out of football university.