I actually don't think we were that bad. We controlled large chunks of the play at times but didn't enter the 50 anywhere as well as we could have. Salem was disappointing and it's for precisely that reason that I'd play him again. Dunn was great but someone needs to remind Dawesy that he needs to put his hands out in front. Viney will learn but I thought there were times where he was Parker like in his endeavour.

The 'harm minimisation' you speak of held them to 8 goals. It's a defensive basis to a developing game plan. The same one that Sydney and Fremantle use, but with years more familiarity, and a few more stars. Swan has been down on form recently, and Dan Cross played him tight and hard. Cloke was beaten by McDonald, and got some brilliant service in the second half from their midfielders.

To say we were meek is to disrespect the defensive effort that they couldn't match with confidence, speed and polish going inside 50.

Remember last year? Which version do you prefer? I know which one I do.

Considering the Pies have kicked 120 plus for the last 3 QB games it was an excellent effort to keep them to just 61 points this year. It shows how far we've come as a side. Yes, it's boring and yes it's not easy to watch sometimes but it's easy to forget where we have come from. Unfortunately not every game will be a good one this year and, even though we weren't good at all today, we were still in the game until the last quarter.

Roos has stated that he is giving the players the basic game plan and, once they know it, he can start to experiment a bit and add more of that attacking flair. Until then we have to accept that some weeks we will look terrific and others we won't.

The 'harm minimisation' you speak of held them to 8 goals. It's a defensive basis to a developing game plan. The same one that Sydney and Fremantle use, but with years more familiarity, and a few more stars. Swan has been down on form recently, and Dan Cross played him tight and hard. Cloke was beaten by McDonald, and got some brilliant service in the second half from their midfielders.

To say we were meek is to disrespect the defensive effort that they couldn't match with confidence, speed and polish going inside 50.

Remember last year? Which version do you prefer? I know which one I do.

Great effort by McDonald considering Dunn played on Cloke all day.

McDonald struggled today, especially with decision making and in one on one, not Robinson Crusoe there however.

The 'harm minimisation' you speak of held them to 8 goals. It's a defensive basis to a developing game plan. The same one that Sydney and Fremantle use, but with years more familiarity, and a few more stars. Swan has been down on form recently, and Dan Cross played him tight and hard. Cloke was beaten by McDonald, and got some brilliant service in the second half from their midfielders.

To say we were meek is to disrespect the defensive effort that they couldn't match with confidence, speed and polish going inside 50.

Remember last year? Which version do you prefer? I know which one I do.

I'm impatient for real effort and really hurting a top team.

Regardless of your glowing narrative, one team out there today was cruising....I'm sick of 'good efforts.'

Btw, I don't mind the way it's unfolding.

Great effort by McDonald considering Dunn played on Cloke all day.

McDonald struggled today, especially with decision making and in one on one, not Robinson Crusoe there however.

Tom McD needs to be instructed to get rid of the ball as soon as he gets it....not a carrier!

Can't help but wonder if the umpires are rubbishing us with free kicks because they hate the defensive game and it's their way of discouraging teams from using this game plan.

Free kicks are free kicks and should be paid in accordance with the rules regardless..

Tom McD needs to be instructed to get rid of the ball as soon as he gets it....not a carrier!

He cannot read the play and is too slow...Move him on ..

What you should be saying now is "Whoops! Ha ha, yeah but you know what I meant."

What you're actually doing is getting angry with other people because you are embarrassed that you made an error. We all know it and your anger is just causing mare embarrassment. Just accept the error (which I found funny in a 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' kind of way), laugh and get on with life.

Jesus christ who gives a crap?

We have to find a key back if/when Chip goes.

No point wasting time with him down there.

If he has plans to go back there he can sign a new contract.

He needs to go back.... NOW !!! He is not a genuine forward... So Obvious !!

5 free kicks for the whole game.

At least three times we caught their players that had bounced the ball and did not dispose of correctly - no free.

PLenty of our players got dragged to the ground in a spoil attempt. You are just not allowed to do that.

We got decent umps for this game which is a rarity but honestly some shockers they missed.

I'm impatient for real effort and really hurting a top team.

Regardless of your glowing narrative, one team out there today was cruising....I'm sick of 'good efforts.'

Btw, I don't mind the way it's unfolding.

We're all sick of just the 'good efforts', but how much can we realistically expect of this team right now? It's easy to forget where we have come from and, after such good improvement, be annoyed and disappointed at a loss like this. But we've come so far and even in defeat today we showed that. Can't argue that it's disappointing and frustrating but we are only 12 games into the 'new' era and it will still take us some time to learn not only how to match it with the best but how to win against them too.

He needs to go back.... NOW !!! He is not a genuine forward... So Obvious !!

And replace him with who? We're playing him forward for the long-term benefit. He'll likely leave the team at the end of the year, and Hogan will slot into his place. Meanwhile, we keep the structure of our back line in place without relying on a player that'll be gone in 2015.

Realistically this was the outcome I expected, and we should have lost by a bit less because we fluffed some easy shots in the last quarter, and were robbed of the Vince goal.

This was our 2nd worst effort for the year, but I think it was admirable that we fought the game our defensively. Our midfield was well beaten, and Tyson was really tagged out of the game which didn't help. Our forward movement was also woeful, and Dawes had an absolute stinker. We aren't at the stage where we can afford too many of our top players to be down on form.

Having said all that, we kept at it, we had a good first half, and our own errors were what really cost us. In the end if we used the ball better we would have gotten closer.

The improvement is still palpable, we are still very much on the up, and the lessons learnt today are valuable. We dust ourselves off and we move on, remembering that this time last year we were embarrassed, humiliated and destroyed in nearly every game we played. Today we lost to a far better team in far better form in a respectable manner.

we missed a small target up forward.

probably a game where Shannon Byrnes could have given us a small target up forward.he has been injured all week.

we missed a small target up forward.

probably a game where Shannon Byrnes could have given us a small target up forward.he has been injured all week.

Say what? What even is a small target? A crumber. Yeah we missed a crumber but without any ball movement good luck finding a crumber. It was always 1 on 3 deep forward because we didn't go fast enough through the middle of the ground.

We will never ever miss Byrnes. Salem played like Byrnes today, but at least he will learn from it.

we missed a target up front...thats all. small big other irrelelevant

We're all sick of just the 'good efforts', but how much can we realistically expect of this team right now? It's easy to forget where we have come from and, after such good improvement, be annoyed and disappointed at a loss like this. But we've come so far and even in defeat today we showed that. Can't argue that it's disappointing and frustrating but we are only 12 games into the 'new' era and it will still take us some time to learn not only how to match it with the best but how to win against them too.

You're right....I'm a tad impatient.

He cannot read the play and is too slow...Move him on ..

I don't think he's slow...he just cruises to look up!

Tommy, take off and give the ball off quickly!!

Was one of those games where the ball just didn't bounce our way.

A number of occasions we were able to pressure them into fumbles / turnovers but the spill seemed to favour them rather than us.

The Vince non-goal, Watts' easy miss (and others), the umpiring all seemed to conspire against us at critical times.

As Nasher said, many of our youngsters had a down day, which was bound to happen sooner or later.

In the end, we were outclassed by a better opponent with more poise and purpose going forward.

Onwards and upwards!

Apparently Jamar grabbed his calf just before he got subbed.. did anyone see it??

Didn't see it, and the match report lists the injuries as TBC, but I thought at the time that the only reason to sub Jamar off was an injury.

Say what? What even is a small target? A crumber. Yeah we missed a crumber but without any ball movement good luck finding a crumber. It was always 1 on 3 deep forward because we didn't go fast enough through the middle of the ground.

We will never ever miss Byrnes. Salem played like Byrnes today, but at least he will learn from it.

They needed to bring JKH on earlier to give us some zip inside 50

They gradually wore us down and at half time I thought they would win.

They were just too good on the day and too many of our players were below par.

We will get beter and we probably need to get a few more quality midfielders before we do.

Regarding the umpiring , can someone tell me when lying on your opponents back stopped becoming an in the back free kick. Feel it has a lot to do with the rolling malls we have to put up with these days. Stop penalising the player who can't possibly hit the ball out and pay in the back instead

Some of the negativity here is astonishing.

How quickly people forget what this team was like a mere 12 months ago. We were regularly losing games by over 100 points.

Isn't it nice to complain about losing to a top 4 team by 30 points for a change?!

Dawes being out of action for 3 weeks probably didn't help, useless MRP flogs.

But even then, it's become an obvious trend that he's being double tagged by most teams and becoming effectively useless (apart from drawing two players away from the rest of play). The umpires don't seem to give a [censored] about it either, despite him being pulled, poked, prodded and yanked in every direction whenever we try to get him the ball. His miss at the end of the first was a real buzz killer, too.

Edited June 9, 201411 yr by Lamashtu