2014: Pass or Fail?

[praha 11,220]

How would you grade the year overall on an A-F grading scale?

I said at the start of the year that 6 wins was my pass mark: anything less and the season would be a failure. But there have certainly been some positives despite not having reached my win benchmark:

1. Blooding of JKH and Riley

2. Rise of Jetta

3. Howe is becoming a more consistent performer

4. Tyson acquisition and performance

5. Adelaide win

6. Essendon win

7. Near-double win in Adelaide

The things that frustrated me the most:

1. Brisbane loss

2. GWS loss (both of them)

3. St Kilda loss

4. West Coast loss in Round 2

5. Losing so many games by so few points

Overall, I give the season a D overall: Didn't meet expectations, but still areas of promise

[beelzebub 23,254]

D for me also

[jackaub 1,402]

Bad fail

Senior players i.e. the future of the club failed completely in leadership and attitude even with arguably the best coach in the league

At the very least we know exactly where we are at with the club and the personel

[Ted Lasso 18,914]

B for me, 4 wins, another 7 ish games we were in front in the last quarter

Considering the retirement of Clark and injuries to trengove and Hogan I think it's been pretty good, if we had even one more of our forwards I reckon we'd have 6-8 wins

-40 points against per game, no 100 point losses,

Keeping in mind where we were last year coming from 2 wins at 52% it's a good result

[rjay 24,687]

The first game against St Kilda set the tone for the year, we had a little insight to how things would pan out with the preseason game against the Hawks. It was a fail but maybe the fail we had to have, at least Roos and Jackson now know where the list is really at and the full extent of the job at hand.

[Demon_JB 1,359]

We should have beaten:

• St Kilda
• Bulldogs (Twice)
• Port Adelaide (Twice)
• Gold Coast (Questionable)
• Brisbane

That's 7 extra games we could have won if we learn to close out last quarters and turn our attitude into a winning one, in total that's 11 games that could have been won - for us we would have been very happy with that.

Unfortunately for us as demon supporters and in life in general, the negatives stick out more than the positives. And when it pours, it rains for the Melbourne FC. I strongly believe with another strong drafting period & pre season those winnable games that could have been this year, will be won next year.

[Dee Dee 1,103]

I've given it a D.

At the beginning of the year I thought we would probably win 7 or 8 games, that we won only 4 was very dissapointing.

The output of Jack Watts and the injuries to Clark, Hogan and Trengove were my lowlights, as were the disgraceful performances against Brisbane and GWS!

Howeve the canny recruitment of Vince, Cross and Tyson is to be applauded.

As for Salem, Michie, JKH, Riley et al, we shall see!

The saying that 90% of the game is played above the neck is probably correct, unfortunately too many Melbourne players appear to lack neck or head! The image of headless chooks comes to mind!!!

I await the of season with interest. P. Roos has said it will be tough: I hope it's bloody tough.

[hardtack 10,434]

D from me.

[Pates 9,626]

It's a fail with improvement, and a little bit of hope. Dom Tyson has given me a lot of hope for actually landing a future star and with him and Jones leading the group, and Salem coming through maybe we might just a have midfield to compete in the future.

We've had a fair bit of luck go against us, particularly with our forwards. It's been said many times but you throw Clark and Hogan in with Dawes, all of a sudden you have a forward structure that would worry the best defenders. But Dawes was the only one we could get out on the park and although he started well, the second half from him was average (although he was constantly double/triple teamed).

Really disappointed with the way we finished though and angry with the idea that the players were tired. If that really was the case, get ready for a tough pre-season because we are still so far off the pace.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

First half a pass, second half a dreadful fail.

[Pipefitter 2,144]

D. 6 wins was my pass mark.

I would have taken 4 but the last month or so was back to below afl level garbage. It was like Neeld had taken the reigns again.

[beelzebub 23,254]

Finally....the Dees are winning !!!

[nutbean 8,838]

Sitting back and looking at where we are in relation to all other teams - F

Judging the club on expectation for this year, the past and current list, the past and current coaching and admin. Measuring the club against itself and where it has come from - C. Improvement in lots of areas both on and off the field.

The reality is though - we have to measure others against others - it is a competition.

[beelzebub 23,254]

The reality is though - we have to measure others against others - it is a competition.

Yep

[Sir Why You Little 36,747]

Gets an F from me.

Any of the early gains were obliterated in the last 9 rounds.

Bring on the draft & get some players with some steel in their attitude.

[rpfc 28,084]

The reality is though - we have to measure others against others - it is a competition.

Is it?

And we had another failure of a season - we lost 18 games...

BUT we have improved (relatively) immensely, and only the demented few will say we are no better off than we were 12 months ago or 18 months ago.

The trajectory is up, we are just coming from 6 feet under the ground...

[jabberwocky 2,301]

With the list we have it's a C.

As others have stated in relation to the rest of the comp it is an F.

We are just nowhere near good enough with too many players failing to achieve average standards.

We need to be built...again.

EDIT: re-reading the criteria it is an E, it can never be an F.

Edited September 2, 2014 by jabberwocky

[CityDee 738]

If we double our wins again next season its 8 and then probably halve that the year after with

12 and its finals . We were everything this year at times. dissapointed to see us beaten badly by teams with heart -gws-

Edited September 2, 2014 by CityDee

[beelzebub 23,254]

Is it?

I think it is ..."The reality is though - we have to measure others against others - it is a competition. "

Its a competition where you compete against another. Outcomes are determined by how you fare in that regard. What you do against yourselves is all but meaningless in the overall washup..

You are better or worse in reality only as much as your standing against your competition. I.e last year we were 17th, this year we are 17th.. We have changed, dare we suggest improved ( in areas ) but when we look to the raison d'etre as per the AFL we have'nt budged. AS we may improve in areas so undoubtedly will our adversaries.

To only gauge a change by referencing ourselves gives a false result. its only ever how we go against other clubs that will offer up anything meaningful in terms of progress.. What you may think as opposed to what IS are often two very different things in , well, everything.

[drdrake 3,135]

Fail for me.

You can't give them a pass, our skills just doesn't allow me to give them a pass. Take win loss and our defensive acts out, we can not as a club execute the skills to the standard that is required to play the game. That is the biggest disappointing fact, yes we competed, yes we stopped teams scoring, but to not be able to hit targets by hand or foot means all that is undone and when we hit targets the fumbles and drop marks killed us.

[nutbean 8,838]

Is it?

And we had another failure of a season - we lost 18 games...

BUT we have improved (relatively) immensely, and only the demented few will say we are no better off than we were 12 months ago or 18 months ago.

The trajectory is up, we are just coming from 6 feet under the ground...

The exact reason why I divided the measurements against the competition and against ourselves. We are undoubtedly better off then where we were 12 months ago -that is why I gave us a C measuring against where we were - we did fall away in our endeavors later in the season or it could have been higher.

But yes - we do have to measure ourselves against the competition or we might as well not play for points or a premiership.

Edited September 2, 2014 by nutbean

[poita 3,879]

The big question for me is whether we are a better team now than we were 12 months ago. Finishing the season on a ten game losing streak would suggest that we are at best exactly where we were last season, and possibly slightly worse. Our 0-6 record against the sides around us on the ladder makes me question whether we deserved our 4 wins, or whether we just got lucky with teams kicking inaccurately against us. Whilst we have improved in certain areas, other teams are moving forward at a greater rate. I can't possibly rate this season as anything other than a fail.

From a player perspective, Tyson was a massive win. Cross and Vince have been good, but neither is likely to be part of our next finals side. JKH shows promise, but none of Salem, Michie, Barry or our other youngsters have done anything of note to date. The lack of improvement from our middle ranking players has been a damning indictment of them and the coaching staff. Despite his poor season, Frawley is one of the few top liners on our list, and losing him will be a massive blow. We also haven't come close to replacing Clark and now have the competition's worst midfield, as well as big holes at either end. Whilst there will be a purge of NQRs at year end, we have already given out new contracts to a bunch of very average footballers this year, so have a number of years of pain to come.

F

[nutbean 8,838]

Finishing the season on a ten game losing streak would suggest that we are at best exactly where we were last season, and possibly slightly worse.

Go back and relive last season - we are worse than last year ? I fear you have a very short memory.

[whatwhat say what 22,321]

D, bordering on E.

Wanted minimum four wins, and ideally a percentage in the 80-90 mark.

Just scraped into the former, failed dismally in the latter, but perhaps it was too much to expect a team to average that high with a meagre 4 wins.

Last nine weeks following pipping the Peptides was disastrous.

Huge off-season coming up. Setting the bar at 6-8 and 80-90% next year.

[beelzebub 23,254]

The Dees are increasing their lead ...go Dees !!