POST MATCH DISCUSSION - Round 11

[Maldonboy38 5,808]

I haven't had the guts to visit Demonland until this morning. I am livid at this loss. Don't get me wrong, I have become used to round 11 disappointments as another season drains away down the proverbial plug hole but I have rarely been angrier than I was last night.

We are actually starting to play some decent footy and players like Watts and Toumpas are finally demonstrating their talents, even if their flaws remain worrying. Hogan, Viney and Brayshaw are long-termers and hope is emerging.

And then those last 40 seconds....

Gutted, livid, p***ed off, enraged, disgusted, perplexed, astonished, gob-smacked, and absolutely @#$%ing deflated.

[Pirlo 518]

Still feel gutted today....this loss really shook to the bone.

Yep, just woken up and struggling to look on any footy sites but this one. Still absolutely devastated.

[Pirlo 518]

Bernie's comments on time left and Roos saying the coaches 'couldn't get it done' were to keep the media wolves at bay.

Last week was terrible to hear the media go on and on about 'the players didn't listen'.

This week it should die down quickly, I hope.

Nonetheless, I would like a week where the news isn't about the dumb things we did/didn't do to lose the game.

More lessons learnt this week. As long as they aren't repeated I can, reluctantly live with them.

I can only live with it if we go down to Kardinia and give the Cats a bloody big shake.

I can't stand another month of plugging away, only to build and play a big game and stuff it up.

[chook fowler 18,171]

Got home from the game and drank half a bottle of red to try and forget about it. Woke up at 4:15am still spewing!

Slowly getting over it now, but it still hurts!

We were poor bar the final 5min of the 2nd term, i put this as our worst performance of the year after the Hawthorn game and that actually helps.

If we can play that badly with 9 of our 22 out, loosing Pedersen and having both Hogan and Brayshaw on one leg and be in a position where we should have been able to close out a win against a team that only has 3 on the injury list. Well, then i guess we must be on the right track!

Last night still really sucked though! I've been with my st kilda supporting wife now since 2008, and am still yet to notch a win over her.

If you woke up spewing after half a bottle of red I'd change my bottle shop.

[Pirlo 518]

How we manage to so comprehensively lose the centre clearance when a 208cm ruckman is opposed to a 196cm forward is beyond me. Even if Gawn grabbed the ball out of the ruck and laid on top of it, we would have taken a decent amount of time off the clock. Instead he taps into open space, nowhere near our players.

Thought the same thing..."good Bruce is in the ruck". This was when I thought we would easily hold it, ala. Adelaide last year. That we would come through.

Watch Gawn in the ruck: he never jumps.

His only trick is to palm it behind him into space - EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Simpletons look at it and think how much it looks like Sandilands' deft-tapwork, I look at it and wonder why he's incapable of taking the contact and actually WINNING the tap.

To palm it back into space when he had more than a foot on the other ruck is unforgivable, because you have no idea where that ball is going.

[Mydee 288]

I am putting this on Roos. Where was the rubber telling them to get back. There should have been one Melbourne player forward of the centre. Hogan

Yes Using that rubber would have been a good precaution

[Melb16 458]

Can anyone explain to me why we spent the whole last quarter creating ways to put pressure on ourselves?

Can anyone explain why, when we have a clear one on one down the ground, we wait as long as possible and then turn it over by either going backwards or then trying to go to that one on which which has turned in to a 4 v 5?

This is the reason we lost yesterday.

[FireOath 290]

Toumpas still did some things that [censored] me. He is so frustrating at times.

[dazzledavey36 48,642]

Still gutted..

Am at work now and still trying to get a clear mind on how we blew. This time last year we were celebrating a good win against Essendon..

[chook fowler 18,171]

Toumpas still did some things that [censored] me. He is so frustrating at times.

Toumpas still has only played 30 games - he's a novice and will make mistakes. The good news is his game is improving rapidly, as is his confidence.

[jackaub 1,402]

Bernie's comments on time left and Roos saying the coaches 'couldn't get it done' were to keep the media wolves at bay.

Last week was terrible to hear the media go on and on about 'the players didn't listen'.

This week it should die down quickly, I hope.

Nonetheless, I would like a week where the news isn't about the dumb things we did/didn't do to lose the game.

More lessons learnt this week. As long as they aren't repeated I can, reluctantly live with them.

Trouble is we keep making the same stupid mistakes They either dont listen or cannot learn

This bunch will end up breaking PRs balls Gessus he must just shake his head in disbelief.

[13thFlagIsComing 522]

Had a great weekend leading up to the game, had a brilliant start of the game when my niece ran out with the players yesterday.

Yet this morning I just want to drive down to Swan Street, knock on the door of the MFC, ask to speak to the players and coaches and say "Hi guys, on behalf of all Melbourne Football Club members and supporters...WHAT THE [censored] WERE YOU THINKING!!!!

Haven't been this angry at a loss since that garbage we served up in Freo about 3-4 years ago.

And the funny part is..my wife and I knew we would lose it when Howe put us in front.

The tragic part as it has been mentioned before is that the majority of Melbourne supporters knew it as well.

[jackaub 1,402]

Yep I said exactly the same to my wife and she never used to believe me now she does

This bunch invents new ways to lose every week

[Dr. Gonzo 22,396]

I have come to the conclusion we are never going to be a good side.. I'm that far beyond angry im literally at peace with it. It's like a seeing a family member struggle with health until they die, and once you accept it, your at peace with it. I can't take it anymore. The players choose the wrong options time and time again. They go long when they should go short, they go short when they should go long, they play on when they should go back and take their kick, they take their kick when they should play on, they handball when they should kick, they kick when they should handball, they go fast when they should go slow, they go slow when they should go fast... They do everything wrong. There is only a handful of players on this list that isn't mentally F'd up.. It includes Nathan jones. The young players such as Hogan & Brayshaw then the older ones such as Vince & Cross, apart from that their all mental issues that will never be reversed. It will take us 10 years to rid ourselves of it

This is so true - they just continually take the wrong option.

There was one instance, may have been in the last quarter - we had the ball on the half back flank after finally working it out of defense. We had got a player with the footy to be able to take a clear possession. Instead of going to the loose man in the centre square which would have opened up the ground for us to launch a forward 50 entry we go back to a player on the boundary who is under pressure! WTF is with that! Of course he was subsequently tackled and the ball either turned over or resulted in a throw in.

Sometimes its seriously like they don't want to win or are the biggest bunch of idiots with the lowest footy IQ's going around. They never play the percentages and rarely play on instinct. They take the wrong option a vast majority of the time and its going to give me a bloody stroke. They switch into the middle when the player is under pressure and then ignore the loose man when he's on. It drives me bloody insane.

[binman 37,752]

This loss is like an episode of "Seconds From Disaster".

The problem wasn't that with 30 or 40 seconds (after Howe's goal) to go the message didn't make it to the players to get numbers back

The [censored] up came long before that. With 2 minutes to go the runner should have been telling every player so they had an idea. Surely they would have been smart enough to get numbers back on their own accord if they knew how much time was left. For Vince to say we thought there were a few more minutes when the Saints players knew exactly what the situation was beggars belief.

They left the message way too late. The moment the runner went out with a few minutes to go and told them every kind of useless crap other than what they needed to know was the moment we lost this.

Spot on. Vince said the players assumed there was 5-6 minutes to go and unfortunately the runner (Miller) was stuck out on the ground. Before running onto the ground surely Miler would have checked the time and therefore would have known that after Howe kcked his goal there was barely any time left. In which case he should have made sure players knew too and could get back.

I suspect however that he din't check the time and had no idea, perhaps also assuming there was 5 mins left. If this is the case it is a huge stuff up on the coaches behalf. If not (ie Miller knew aprox how much time was left) its on Miller.

Still even if the players guessed there was 5 mins to go they have gone super defensive given only 2 goals had been kicked that quarter.

Unbelievable. Well sadly not.

The way i deal with such a loss is by thinking we will end up with a higher draft pick that we otherwise would have and down the track when it really matters we wont be so stupid (a great learning experience for the young uns).

[jackaub 1,402]

Dr you need medication I think and I agree with all you say Its as though they do it on purpose.

Roos reckons that they dont listen sometimes It seems to me that a lot of them are incapable of implementing team plays and the basics

[Demon Dynasty 15,193]

Everybody knows that the security guards come out and circle the boundary with five minutes to go. For the players and / or coaches to say that they didn't how much time was remaining is bullsiht, or a sad indictment on their collective lack of awareness.

How we manage to so comprehensively lose the centre clearance when a 208cm ruckman is opposed to a 196cm forward is beyond me. Even if Gawn grabbed the ball out of the ruck and laid on top of it, we would have taken a decent amount of time off the clock. Instead he taps into open space, nowhere near our players.

We are the most boring, predictable, defensive side in the competition; yet the one time we need to throw players into defence and force stoppages, our players are nowhere to be seen.

Every time you start to think the club might be starting to turn things around and that there is a brighter future ahead, they manage to kick you in the nuts with a loss such as that.

Agree with everything said here except that Gawn didnt tap or palm the ball into open space. For all his height the boy cant leap over a cane toad. He jumped way too early and was on the way down when his opponent hit the contest (leaping higher than 2 cane toads...ie, one higher than Gawn) and managed to spike it into open territory and to the open side of Stevens.

But the point still remains, why did the forwards (excluding Jeffy who should have been running in from the square as the ball was bounced...might have even got a tackle or pressure act in on Stevens from behind!) not go back and flood as soon as Howe split the middle?

Dumbest club of all time. Should be renamed the Dumbell Demons

[drdrake 3,035]

Ok the day after. We lost the game in the last 40 seconds, but we didn't win the game in the third quarter. Hogan miss from the goal square, Jack Watts 35 m out directly in front, a clearance that we should have of won turnover Vince handball to Stevens Goal. Get three Goals up at 3 quarter time the match is ours. Our inability to put teams away when we have the opportunity to do so lost us this game, as it did last week, Port, GWS.

[nrc73 77]

Still feel gutted today....this loss really shook to the bone.

Dito, looks like a lot of others feel the same way.

[jane02 3,310]

I went to bed shattered last night but I am slightly more calm this morning. I am more upset about this loss than any other this season. I have never played football but was bought up going to VFA games in a pram watching Oakleigh then to VFL games from about the age of five watching the Dees. I also used to take my son to AusKick when he was a little tacker. This tactic was taught to them then and certainly enforced at VFA level.

I cannot believe that the message did not go out when Howe took that mark and was lining up for goal. He took his time about it as well so there was heaps of time for the runner to get out there or for someone to start screaming from the bench to flood back. Where were our leaders? I know our runner was out there but isn't he a runner who as a former player himself could have just make the decision to inform the players of the time? I remember a few years back the Geelong runner used to run out with a different colour cap on indicating there was less than a minute until siren time.

Our leaders and experienced players let us down. Its one that got away and shouldn't have.

Thank God I practice mindfulness - living in the present and not worrying about the past or future. As a Melbourne supporter, it certainly helps.

[Jaded No More 57,626]

Went to bed p!ssed, woke up p!ssed, now at work p!ssed

Just not good enough.

We are seriously hopeless at knowing how to win matches.

[Demon Dynasty 15,193]

Spot on.

Fear of failure runs deep amongst this lot, with fairly catastrophic results. It takes real guts to take the game on when a) you're losing and b) the last 10 times to take it on it resulted in a turnover. As Roos (and he's not the only one) commented, the players tend to go into their shells.

Lack of leadership not helping, but even there, hard to blame the leaders, it's not as if Nat Jones has been playing under sterling leaders himself for the last few years.

Mate they fear failure and go into their shells even when we are losing anyway like through much of the last quarter.

There was nothing to lose so play with daring abandon when you get the ball not like you're protecting a 2 or 3 goal lead with a few minutes to go!

Too many players in this team have serious mental issues with winning and shyte thier panties. They then start playing sideays/backwards footy with virtually no one willing to take the game or their opponents on, take risks/responsibility and go out an win the fricken thing through effort and attacking/daring play a la Geelong.

Club needs to employ a hypnotist pronto our it wont survive this lot.

[13thFlagIsComing 522]

Don't worry about watching 360, On the Couch etc. tonight.

Just watch this classic as I reckon it sums up how we are all feeling today...

[daisycutter 28,452]

To Mr Gawn & Watts

you're 208 & 194 cms

Please take a overhead mark

jack is actually 196cm

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Yes it sucked but I am pretty amazed at how much grown adults are having a sook about it. It's not like we are going to miss out on finals now. Our first year KPF kicked 5, could have been 7 or 8 - he is the biggest asset in the comp and he is ours. Toumpas, Watts and Grimes were all good. We already know Brayshaw, Kent and Salem will be good. Next year we get Petracca, Trengove and another high draft pick or import from another club. We have a huge injury list and a very hard draw so far. I still reckon we will win 5 more. Things are so much better than 2 years ago. Chill out everyone.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Curry & Beer