Melbourne v Essendon @ Etihad Stadium - 20th March, 2015

[Leoncelli_36 2,264]

Negatives:

Matt jones

Rohan Bail

Dom Tyson being caught with it all night

Hogan looking like he is way off, fumbling, dropping marks and falling over

Positives:

Lumumba

Garlett

Watts.

That's about it

[Bobby McKenzie 2,407]

Strangely enough a narrow win would have met with the same criticism as the narrow loss.

[Garbo 1,561]

Just a few points.

Not sure why people are bagging Grimes for tonight's game, he was actually one of our better players.

Watts on the other hand even with 2 goals was very average, he was playing the extra man back for part of the night and added nothing, he may as well not even been on the field for all he added at times.

I don't understand our fwd setup, the players in the 50 before one ball up were hogan, dawes, frost and watts. To me this feels too tall and makes it easy for the opposition to run the ball out if we don't mark it. I'd like to see one less tall and and extra mid who could rotate through the middle. Maybe put frost back drop garland and bring the next best small fwd / mid in ie jkh or kent. Vince if fit would be ideal

[rufus 1,162]

Opposition coaches whiteboard before playing MFC:-

PHYSICALLY PRESSURE THEM

That is literally all they ever need to say. Our players are physically and mentally weak and do not have the stomach for a real professional competition. Any side that loses to us this year (as with pretty much any other season historically) simply did not turn up to play and really should be quite embarassed with themselves.

I must have reached some kind of level of acceptance now though as I managed to burst into a few chuckles at times while reading here on Demonland. There are actually STILL some people who think we're going fine and find excuses for this lot!

And the articles last week on the 'eye catching Demons' and the new found attacking style....ahahaha. Do those people even watch the games??!

[DemonOX 8,837]

Why didn't Pedersen play?

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Let's just bring on round one, I am usually a bit of a panic merchant but I am honestly not that fussed by last night.

When I saw Essendon's team I thought they looked stronger than people were making out. Still expected a win but hardly the earth shattering loss people are making out.

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Why didn't Pedersen play?

I thought this as well. It seems to me they are grooming Frost to play forward while Dawes is suspended and given many of GCs talls missing. I would rather settle Frost down back and play Pedersen personally.

[beelzebub 23,390]

Strangely enough a narrow win would have met with the same criticism as the narrow loss.

No..not quite the same. Would have been relieved of the embarrassment. A healthy scepticism would have remained but here we are staring down the start of another season with absolutely NO confidence on or off the field.

Call it knee jerk but I immediately revised my expectations from 9-12 to bottom 2.

If thats what we are we've hardly budged off scared and inept.

A win might have told me we wanted to. Vineys kick ( unfortunately to highlight ) shows we are as dumb as they come.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,460]

Opposition coaches whiteboard before playing MFC:-

PHYSICALLY PRESSURE THEM

That is literally all they ever need to say. Our players are physically and mentally weak and do not have the stomach for a real professional competition. Any side that loses to us this year (as with pretty much any other season historically) simply did not turn up to play and really should be quite embarassed with themselves.

I must have reached some kind of level of acceptance now though as I managed to burst into a few chuckles at times while reading here on Demonland. There are actually STILL some people who think we're going fine and find excuses for this lot!

And the articles last week on the 'eye catching Demons' and the new found attacking style....ahahaha. Do those people even watch the games??!

Yep still bruise free.

[Pates 9,691]

I reckon this probably sums up most Melbourne fans feelings this pre-season.

[Lucifers Hero 40,623]

Our leadership group is failing us during games!

No, I don’t mean their respective performance, effort or skill in games; most of them had good games last night. I mean their seeming inability to manage the team on the field.

Surely at training, we have practiced and practiced and practiced what to do when the momentum starts to shift. But our leadership group go into ‘brain-freeze’ mode and by the time they snap out of it the game is all but gone. It happened vs WB and vs EFC. Our younger plays sense it then they freeze up. Then it looks like the whole team is mentally fragile. (It makes me wonder whether we have runners going out during games with ‘snap out of it’ words).

Where was the encouragement to young guys when they made a mistake or looked uncertain? Tyson, Toumpas, Hogan, Viney, Bail looked like they needed some help last night and could have done with a pat on the back or a few confidence building words. I cannot criticise the games of these 19 to 21 year olds when our leaders are not mentally supporting them on the field.

Where are the on-field ‘Line Generals’ who call their troops together or help them take correct positions when needed? Where is the ‘talk’?

We have 6 players in the Leadership Group but no one seemed to call the shots out there last week or last night. We need them to find their ‘voice’, to support the young guys, to quickly recognise momentum shifts and then implement the practiced strategies. Leaders need to stay vigilant and alert to what is happening around them and harness their troops quickly. Until these happens, I fear that no matter how good or how skilled we are we won’t win many games.

[Gorgoroth 13,190]

Not quite true. Lamumba and Garlett are very much the real deal too. Thought both were great tonight.

True, but they have not been around long enough yet to get "Melbourne-ised"

It took us a year to kill Tyson...

[Mad_Melbourne 877]

Upon reflection I have decided the thing that annoyed me most about this game was the amount of times that we were in congestion and pushed towards the back of the contest only to have no sweeper or back flanks pushing up. This is and was a staple of the Roos gameplan from last year and we continued to go towards the back of the contest yet there was no one there, which meant players would have to give it over their shoulder or back into trouble (Cross consistently)

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,344]

We looked dangerous last week with two small forwards. Why was JKH not playing?

Frost whilst laying good pressure and some marks is not a forward or ruck. Get him back or out if match ups don't allow.

The Hogan expectations are alarming. A 19 year old got out-bodied and looks rusty after not playing all last year and at all with this team. WTF.

I know we don't want to play kids but Bail, M Jones and Garland need to go. Grimes game whilst not a stinker still doesn't see him in a best 18 for us when we are a good side.

No disrespect to Viney as he gives his all but he needs to work on his kicking or become a handball first player. Its not just his final kick last night, for all his hard work he has been a liability the last two weeks.

If that was MFC with 2 way running I would love to see MFC without it.

Someone needs to tell Gawn he is tall, very tall. There is no need to crouch or hang on to try and balance his advantage.

I don't know if its a positive or negative that our three best players last night in H, Jeffy and Vanders weren't there last year.

I've said that the most important part of NAB is no injuries but tripe like last night is hard to swallow.

[Demonsone 2,052]

Honestly.... We forget how far back we r coming from

We wr a complete basket case in 2013 both on & off the field... Our development & culture were deplorable... Around 18 players turned over...

Roos & PJ are building the foundations & setting the right culture ... Whilst we have all suffered we need to be patient....

[Bossdog 2,002]

Just to put it in to perspective

Haw lost to Nth and Coll....then had a big win against StKilda who played kids

Gold coast beat Geel ...Lost to GWS.....and then drew with the lions and watched a bit of their game last night and the mistakes from both sides were just as bad as ours.

Richmond thrashed Pt Adelaide....I don't think you will see that in the season proper.

It's NAB Cup.........No one will remember once the season startsl

[Gator 18,050]

Agreed, Red.

There's a soft underbelly at this club that still radiates through the playing group. In stark contrast, Lumumba, who has pleasantly surprised me, noticeably digs in when needed. There's a vacuum within the leadership that starts in the midfield. If we'd won by 20 points I wouldn't feel any different, so it's not the loss, more-so the effort. They under-performed against a less talented outfit, and that's an unacceptable benchmark.

Melbourne have quarantined their brand, which may render some supporters customised to their efforts, but I refused to be institutionalised, notwithstanding the near decade of disaster. I won't alter my expectations and have no doubt the collective talent is far greater than what we're presently seeing.

[Demonsone 2,052]

These posts are simply unbelievable.

He is 20 years old FFS! Wouldn't have got drafted? My god. You really are a [censored] idiot.

Well said ...FFS as Roos said these kids will not be the saviour of the footy club....

[Gorgoroth 13,190]

these kids will not be the saviour of the footy club....

They have to be, no one else (jones excluded) is [censored] good enough!

[Demonland 73,992]

Moving on to the MATCH REVIEW THREAD - Here (includes The Oracle's match report).