PLAYING TEAMS INTO FORM

[titan_uranus 25,020]

Wah wah wah get your chins up you babies

No matter how stupid you are you can (hopefully) count, we have matched our opponent for 7 of the last 12 quarters. These are obviously small joys but clearly we have improved since the start of the year. 3 weeks ago we lost by 148, today by 28. Obviously some of you are so pathetic that this rate of improvement is not enough for you.

Today at 3:40 into the last qtr, a shot on goal from Sylvia would have reduced the margin to 13 points, he just missed. We matched them for goals in the 1st,2nd and 4th quarters, only losing by the 3 extra goals we conceded in the third. Obviously they kept fighting for most of the game unlike lying down they did for large periods of the first 3 rounds.

This was an interstate game without Clark or Dawes, I think it is fair to say those 2 are worth the 3 goals we lost by. Clearly the likes of Jones, McDonald, Trengove and Grimes were well below their best today. We KNOW they are better than that. We have Viney, Toumpas and Hogan to come into the side over the next few... and I don't know wtf is wrong with some people but Byrnes and Rodan were OK today. Just because you hate losing doesn't give you the right to blatently lie in order to slag off Neeld.

We are coming from a long way back, these needs to occur gradually, you can't just expect to improve 1000% from week to the next. Stop your bloody whingeing FCS.

This thread ought to close. Delete all posts other than this one.

Thank you, C&B. Seriously, thank you.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,221]

Colin we will not win another game this year so you will have ample opportunity to be pragmatic.

Oh! and the reason the rebuild and the rebuild of the rebuild failed/will fail is because we continue to select the wrong payers at the draft and until we correct this we will wallow.

We need an independent recruiting department that will pick the best players available, to build a side that's best for the club in the long and short term not just for the current coach who may be there for one or two seasons.

Wouldn't you call sacrificing a high draft pick now for Hogan who can't play til next year as being in the long term interests of the club?

[titan_uranus 25,020]

A few disjointed thoughts:

- There were so many occasions that Brisbane would get the ball and you'd just see their blokes running in all directions. I'm definitely no guru on footy tactics, but I thought, "why the heck don't you see our guys doing that?". Even when we had the ball in our hands, our running did not match theirs. This happens a lot, and I don't understand it.

- When chasing an "in dispute" ball, I lost count of the number of times I'd see one of our players hesitate and let the opposition get the ball first, then lay a half-arsed tackle. I won't pick on anyone in particular because it happened a *lot*, and from players who I'd not expect it from. These two points seem completely psychological to me. How come when we got on a roll last week, suddenly there were MFC players running at the ball like bulls all over the place?

- We had no reliable marking targets in our forward 50. Gawn and Jamar are good for a cameo mark here and there, but they are not primary focal points. We were all high fiving each other over our tiny injury list during the week, but I think we may have forgotten to look at who was on it. I'd rather have 8 of our average mediums injured than our two best marking forwards. Dawes should be in next week anyway, thank heavens.

- Jamar looks a much better player with proper support. Perhaps he just doesn't have the engine for 90% ruck duties? I really like big Max. He moves well for someone so damn big, and does the hard stuff like chasing.

- Due to the above two points, Pedersen is redundant. At the moment he adds very little.

- Byrnes is finding his place in our side and has looked good in the last two weeks. That kick in to the man on the mark was dreadful, sure, but other than that I thought he was a positive. He has guts for a little bloke. I thought Rodan lifted after being anonymous in the first quarter too.

- I don't think we can go in to a game with both Blease and Davey - low possession "flash in the pan" players with small tanks. It looks to me like we're trying to add two half-players together to make one whole one. We can carry one as the sub, but not both. They're both only good for a quarter of football each.

All in all I didn't think it was suicide inducing stuff (unlike the Essendon game). Gee I would like to watch a game where we don't take 10 minutes off here and there though.

I would have thought the two points above your 'Pedersen is redundant' line explain Pedersen's situation.

He's no good as anything other than the third tall, but today he was asked to be the focal point. He's just not that player. With Clark and Dawes in the side he doesn't have to be the focal point and he can stick to his job, which will be to make space for the big boys to lead into and be a link up mark. He's not good enough to be the main forward.

Rodan was terrible early. Didn't see the second half, but heard bits, and he didn't sound good.

Agree re: Blease and Davey. I don't know why Blease got a game, I don't think he earned it, not kept his spot. He doesn't do anywhere near enough.

Agree re: Byrnes.

As for the last point - we're always going to be out of games for 10 minute periods, that's the type of club we are at the moment. At least today we went interstate and matched a team that isn't GWS or GC when we weren't sleeping.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

This thread ought to close. Delete all posts other than this one.

Thank you, C&B. Seriously, thank you.

So you were happy with the players performance today, being beaten by a very ordinary side and having 116 possessions less than them?

You reckon that's ok and we're on track?

Perhaps we should take off our blinkers and accept that some of the players we have are not really all that good.

[jnrmac 20,089]

For a slight change of tone, I would like to say I was thrilled with one piece of play from Watts today that didn't result in anything much. He actually crashed a pack. Didn't hold the mark, but he also didn't hold back or flinch. He came in full tilt and hurled himself into the pack and damn near had the mark. I've never seen him try it before and it's something I would love to see from him more in the future.

Doesn't that show you just how much some peoples expectations have been lowered.

Not mine.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Wouldn't you call sacrificing a high draft pick now for Hogan who can't play til next year as being in the long term interests of the club?

don't worry, the self-loathing will eventually find a way to make the recruitment of Hogan another blunder by the club

he better hope he does a few things early because Toumpas got until week 3 of being at this club to get the treatment

[jnrmac 20,089]

This thread ought to close. Delete all posts other than this one.

Thank you, C&B. Seriously, thank you.

Really???? I repeat this earlier post just in case you didn't see it the first time:

For those that think we did OK I give you this:

The Lions finished with 418 disposals – their fifth-most disposals ever recorded in a game.

This is not the Lions of triple premiership fame but the Lions with 6 teenagers in their side compared to our ----------- none.

Zero pressure on them all day. F'n hopeless.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Wouldn't you call sacrificing a high draft pick now for Hogan who can't play til next year as being in the long term interests of the club?

I have no problem with Hogan and hopefully he'll be a long term player at the club, but you know the old saying about one swallow etc.

I would love to have had Darling and Wines out there and half a dozen other players we've overlooked, so we could recruit tall skinny kids that remain just that after 5 years, tall skinny kids. And now we don't even have most of them any more, Gysberts, Cook and Morton, one look at the frames of these kids would tell you they were never going to bulk up.

We've got Hogan, but how many have we lost because they were simply not good enough.

[McQueen 17,864]

Work rate was [censored] poor once again. Whether it has to do with Neeld's game plan or we're just seriously lazy or still not fit enough I don't know. It just doesn't make sense to see our players just plodding around in comparison to the opposition.

Clark, Dawes, Viney, Toumpass, Kent and a few of the others provide some hope but it's going to be a long way off.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Really???? I repeat this earlier post just in case you didn't see it the first time:

For those that think we did OK I give you this:

The Lions finished with 418 disposals – their fifth-most disposals ever recorded in a game.

This is not the Lions of triple premiership fame but the Lions with 6 teenagers in their side compared to our ----------- none.

Zero pressure on them all day. F'n hopeless.

Says it all really.

Shows how far our expectations have dropped when the highlight of the game was Jack Watts almost taking a mark, bugger I missed that bit.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Really???? I repeat this earlier post just in case you didn't see it the first time:

For those that think we did OK I give you this:

The Lions finished with 418 disposals – their fifth-most disposals ever recorded in a game.

This is not the Lions of triple premiership fame but the Lions with 6 teenagers in their side compared to our ----------- none.

Zero pressure on them all day. F'n hopeless.

geez it sounds like they must have won by about 200 points then did they? all those possessions must have added to up way more than 3 goals more than us huh?

no, they didn't, which makes that stat about as useful as a 2nd a-hole

I am not the slightest bit interested in how many disposals the opposition got, i'm not interested in stats nor am I a brisbane lion fan

he liked the post because it represents the minority of us on this site who have common sense, patience and support for our club

it is harder to get appreciation from content like yours and every dime-a-dozen armchair critic here, which is largely unjustified, erroneous, petulant, unconstructive, club-bashing WHINGEING

how about you lot show a bit of spine, like you are asking the club to do

[Dee Fan 3,247]

don't worry, the self-loathing will eventually find a way to make the recruitment of Hogan another blunder by the club

he better hope he does a few things early because Toumpas got until week 3 of being at this club to get the treatment

You do realise that this thread is about the MFC v Brisbane game and not the Casey v Williamstown game, don't you?

[titan_uranus 25,020]

So you were happy with the players performance today, being beaten by a very ordinary side and having 116 possessions less than them?

You reckon that's ok and we're on track?

Perhaps we should take off our blinkers and accept that some of the players we have are not really all that good.

Where did I say I thought all our players are good? I didn't.

We have a bunch of hopeless players. Happy to admit it.

We were beaten by an ordinary side. We didn't play well. Correct. But that is where this club is at at the moment. Two weeks ago we lost to West Coast, a side with one win to Brisbane's two. We lost to them at home, not away, and we lost by 94, not 28. Two weeks later, I see improvement, clear improvement, and right now, given where we are at, that is something I can at least look at and take as a positive.

Instead, the majority of people on this board are wrist-slashing.

Really???? I repeat this earlier post just in case you didn't see it the first time:

For those that think we did OK I give you this:

The Lions finished with 418 disposals – their fifth-most disposals ever recorded in a game.

This is not the Lions of triple premiership fame but the Lions with 6 teenagers in their side compared to our ----------- none.

Zero pressure on them all day. F'n hopeless.

This is why I said I didn't want other posts in the thread.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

You do realise that this thread is about the MFC v Brisbane game and not the Casey v Williamstown game, don't you?

I do realise that 12 months from now you will be leading the torchbearers if JHogan is not immediately having an impact at AFL level

on that I am 100% certain because you have done it with every young draft pick for years

[dee-luded 2,959]

I would have thought the two points above your 'Pedersen is redundant' line explain Pedersen's situation.

He's no good as anything other than the third tall, but today he was asked to be the focal point. He's just not that player. With Clark and Dawes in the side he doesn't have to be the focal point and he can stick to his job, which will be to make space for the big boys to lead into and be a link up mark. He's not good enough to be the main forward.

Rodan was terrible early. Didn't see the second half, but heard bits, and he didn't sound good.

Agree re: Blease and Davey. I don't know why Blease got a game, I don't think he earned it, not kept his spot. He doesn't do anywhere near enough.

Agree re: Byrnes.

As for the last point - we're always going to be out of games for 10 minute periods, that's the type of club we are at the moment. At least today we went interstate and matched a team that isn't GWS or GC when we weren't sleeping.

I agree with you totally re Pederson, he's on the list to give us depth in our tall forward division, & some versatility. Not to be the No 1 forward..

Blease lacks composure only because he's missed so much footy, we need to give him as much game time as we can afford, he's Not the biggest worry.

Byrnes is fine.

Rodan is trying to make up for the others who don't know what they're doin. that make any player look 'off'.

# we have to get our defence back into structure,,, & don't let watts anywhere near it... then we may get some spring board going. & then some run may appear through the Middle.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Where did I say I thought all our players are good? I didn't.

We have a bunch of hopeless players. Happy to admit it.

We were beaten by an ordinary side. We didn't play well. Correct. But that is where this club is at at the moment. Two weeks ago we lost to West Coast, a side with one win to Brisbane's two. We lost to them at home, not away, and we lost by 94, not 28. Two weeks later, I see improvement, clear improvement, and right now, given where we are at, that is something I can at least look at and take as a positive.

Instead, the majority of people on this board are wrist-slashing.

This is why I said I didn't want other posts in the thread.

Why it's the truth why should we avoid that?

What's the point of doing a curry and beer and pretending we are all ok and on track, we are out in the bush and don't even know where the railway line is we are that far off track.

I guess we can all sit around and wait for the cub to fold due to lack of interest.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

I do realise that 12 months from now you will be leading the torchbearers if JHogan is not immediately having an impact at AFL level

on that I am 100% certain because you have done it with every young draft pick for years

I won't for Hogan because I think he's the right man for the job; but let me tell you I've been right on the rest, and you know it.

Still think i was wrong, now that they've all been given the flick?

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Why it's the truth why should we avoid that?

What's the point of doing a curry and beer and pretending we are all ok and on track, we are out in the bush and don't even know where the railway line is we are that far off track.

I guess we can all sit around and wait for the cub to fold due to lack of interest.

no because we are discussing the recent improvement of the MFC, not how many disposals brissy had today

i prefer to look at the scoreboard and the fact that 3 minutes into the last qtr we were directly in the hunt for the win

it's a little bit more of an intelligent way to assess a game of football rather than looking at a stat which obviously was not particularly important to the outcome

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

I won't for Hogan because I think he's the right man for the job; but let me tell you I've been right on the rest, and you know it.

Still think i was wrong, now that they've all been given the flick?

we picked everyone exactly where they were supposed to be picked, give or take a couple of positions

perhaps they never made it because of the disadvantages of being on the MFC list, perhaps they never would have made it at any club, we'll never know

whatver the deal is, there is no excuse ever for supporters of the club to have the knives out so early in their journey

have you ever stopped to think that maybe this hypercritical clubbashing attitude of you and many here actually permeates onto the team and makes things worse?

[praha 11,240]

Curry & Beer, I admire your optimism and positivity in regards to the team and club.

Good luck with that.

[dee-luded 2,959]

no because we are discussing the recent improvement of the MFC, not how many disposals brissy had today

i prefer to look at the scoreboard and the fact that 3 minutes into the last qtr we were directly in the hunt for the win

it's a little bit more of an intelligent way to assess a game of football rather than looking at a stat which obviously was not particularly important to the outcome

your spot on C&B..

we played shytefull footy with passengers yet we were still in a winning position... that says we aren't too far off, but just need to get the right balance into the sides structures to make it function better.

experience into defence, 1...

Dawes in even if we crucify him for a couple of weeks, & if we play poor I can here them calling it another mistake... when a team is low, we have to get our ducks in order to get belief & confidence..

[Dee Fan 3,247]

no because we are discussing the recent improvement of the MFC, not how many disposals brissy had today

i prefer to look at the scoreboard and the fact that 3 minutes into the last qtr we were directly in the hunt for the win

it's a little bit more of an intelligent way to assess a game of football rather than looking at a stat which obviously was not particularly important to the outcome

You certainly set the bar low.

How can you possibly say that the number of possessions a club has has no bearing on the result , don't you think that if we had control of the ball a little more it would have increased our chances of winning and decreased theirs?

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

You certainly set the bar low.

How can you possibly say that the number of possessions a club has has no bearing on the result , don't you think that if we had control of the ball a little more it would have increased our chances of winning and decreased theirs?

why did we only lose by 28 then

if having a huge number of disposals is so damn important why did we only lose by 28

why why why robbie

[dee-luded 2,959]

You certainly set the bar low.

How can you possibly say that the number of possessions a club has has no bearing on the result , don't you think that if we had control of the ball a little more it would have increased our chances of winning and decreased theirs?

its a matter of getting all the bits working together, to function well as a team. when some are doing their own thing withoiut considering the others it breaks down... lacking urgency is one of these parts.

the name of the game has always been to try to get the ball to the forwards as quickly as we can..... this goes for the mids to.

being too conservative & taking so much time, because your not sure, just transfers the pressure down field to the next link.. its a copout.

Edited April 28, 2013 by dee-luded

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Dawes in even if we crucify him for a couple of weeks, & if we play poor I can here them calling it another mistake... when a team is low, we have to get our ducks in order to get belief & confidence..

can't wait for that, we'll lose comfortably next week, and in his first game back Dawes will get limited, poor quality service from the midfield

watch all the selfloathing clubbashers get their teeth stuck into that one

just like the mistake of recruiting Byrnes, who has probably been our best player in the last 3 weeks