There was not one second during that match that I thought Melbourne would win. Poor teams inevitably find a way to lose.

Very quiet on the iron horse on the way home. Just the normal third quarter induced depression permeating the carriage. Just who were our four 'occupying' the centre square during the first 15 minutes of this period and what were they thinking? Looked like a pretty fair job of opening the gate from where I sat. High quality match losing stuff.

IMO big Max was good and a real handful for them , but where was the blocking and necessary work ethic to get the pill and then use it properly. We really can fall down when it gets to the grit and getting your hands dirty stuff. Some sides have people like Mitchell , Judd, Ablett ,Fyffe , Kennedys and Swan who just love thrive on this sort of stuff. The tougher it is , the more they love it. Unfortunately when it gets really down and dirty for us, we find new ways of screwing this up.

Prior to this of course we played like millionaires and bombed away wildly ,but even so still were somehow in the game.

To the bombers credit they worked for one another, sharked Maxy's hit outs, blocked ,scratched and scraped , played with fierce determination and they were away.

Truly depressing stuff.

I wish Viney had been let off the chain to find his own ball rather than worrying about bloody Heppell and I wish big Max had been instructed to mix up his pattern of hit outs a little earlier than the last quarter when he began to knock the ball our way.

Whoever deals with coaching midfield blocking has some work to do, the four in the middle need to stay tuned in and toughen up and if one way of tapping the ball is not working , how about we get our sh.t together and capitalise on our advantage.

Appalling stuff from the coaches box today.

great post

Essendon were coming off a 110 point loss. We should have beaten them today and dig the hurt into them a little deeper.

Just like the doggies were suppose to [censored] us after we got thrashed by 105 points the week before against Hawthorn.

Its a myth

Oh, come on, mate. Now you're clutching at straws. Was Vince's shot in the third tough? Even Howe's earlier miss in the pocket. That's not a particularly difficult snap. McDonald kicked two on the full in the last. Viney misses his, Dawes kicks 3 or 4 points, Jones missed a carbon copy of the one he kicked at the top of the 4th down in Geelong etc etc. They were all very gettable and should have been.

Did I say ALL of them were difficult?

You really think McDonald is a high percentage to kick a goal from the boundary line? Talk about clutching at straws...

No, those same fans have not been happy with Roos coaching for quite a while and the losses are not the issue. The issue is the poor selections, the inability to motivate the players and the one dimensional game plan. Remember this guy is paid $1.5 AUD a year. He is supposed to be one of the best, that does not appear to be the case for the majority of this season. Tyson and Vandenberg were underdone and so was Jay Kennedy Harris. We would have been better with 3 fully fit alternatives this week.

again, when we lose, any hindsight hero can point at something and call it a negative. Who are you to suggest that JKH, Vandebnberg and Tyson omitted for Bail, MJones and geez.. Michie? Would have improved the result?

so very disappointed in so many players who did not do their job. Cross hardly tackled, Tyson lacks chase and defensive pressure. Mcdonald needs to learn how to kick, the look of the kid if he could kick he would make a sensational chf. our forwards just seemed to cluster together and spoil each other. I don't know how many times our players marked and stopped instead of taking the next first option, by the time they finished looking around everyone was covered. Too many kids, unfortunately most of us were calling to play them, well they played. Shows that more mature bodies may have been required on a cold wet day when it was more likely to turn into a rugby maul.

We missed the chances today that we took against Geelong. But overall it wasn't nearly the same level of quality forward entries.

The game was lost 3 different ways in 3 different quarters:

2nd - terrible forward entries

3rd - terrible lack of ball movement and control of the contest, poor one on one defending

4th - missed chances by McDonald, Viney etc to get the lead

Just got home from game.

Not sure why all the doom and gloom - we may not have walked away with 4 points but for once it was a game that we wasted in a true sense - we actually won the inside 50 count 58-45.

Obviously a lack of kicking skills and confidence when going for goals hurt big time and four posters was a factor as well.

Our key forwards really struggled and kept getting push under the ball - but part of that gets down to poor kicking from mids - Viney was probably the biggest offender in that department although his intensity was sensational as usual and he made Heppell work for almost everything.

Crossy also had a howler - very, very rare from him - don't start saying we should drop him or you are a nuffer.

Too often in the first half we lacked the ability to link up and be aware when we had no space or had space to deliver correctly.

All our kids had shockers as well - Stretch couldn't get free and when he was, he was ignored, Neal-Bullen couldn't win it and eventually was sent back to defence I think, Hoges needed to impose and kept getting beaten in air and did not seem to have the pace on a lead, Harmesy made Bail and Matt Jones look good as far as small forwards go, Angus seemed unusually timid and probably just gave Cripps the Rising Star award, while JKH only had a quarter and was just average - but that is what happens with kids, hot and cold.

Gawn was clearly our best, but then again he was up against a relative dwarf and in the third term our midfielders forgot how to rove to him.

Jonesy had a sensational second term, Vince was prolific as usual and Vandenberg made a terrific return - he could yet be one hell of a player.

T-Mac started with a couple of left foot clangers, kept presenting and looked good until Daniher got on a roll in the third term. He was then shifted to the forward line - swapped for Howey. He then showed our forwards how you do it with some nice leads and follow ups, but unfortunately messed it up shooting for goal. But the pleasing aspect is that T-Mac will now be tried a bit more up forward and it's an experiment that may allow Fitzy to get another game.

I was really pleased that Wattsy, after a quiet first half, really lifted and was a huge factor in the last term - almost got us across the line and looked strong at it (yes I know I'm talking about JW).

It certainly wasn't a game where you walk away down in the dumps - just one that got away.

We played their third string midfield. I wouldn't get too excited.

Field kicking remains a huge problem for the club. There were numerous times when we just couldn't spot up a target.

Goal kicking wasn't too flash either. Let's just call it the basics of the game. We also fail to do the team things far too regularly.

so very disappointed in so many players who did not do their job. Cross hardly tackled, Tyson lacks chase and defensive pressure. Mcdonald needs to learn how to kick, the look of the kid if he could kick he would make a sensational chf. our forwards just seemed to cluster together and spoil each other. I don't know how many times our players marked and stopped instead of taking the next first option, by the time they finished looking around everyone was covered. Too many kids, unfortunately most of us were calling to play them, well they played. Shows that more mature bodies may have been required on a cold wet day when it was more likely to turn into a rugby maul.

Rubbish. The 'mature bodies' we didn't play are all absolute battlers, hence why they never stay in the team. We have to play the kids, they are our future.

Dawes, Howe, Garland, McDonald, Tyson and many others are the reason we lost. Not the kids.

Look at the stats sheet, Essendon's kids did no better than ours. But enough of their senior players stood up.

It confounds me how, after a decade of pure crud, we can think, even for one second, that just turning up, would get us over the line.

We just bombed it forward and blazed away at goals.

Just when you think we're becoming a serious team, we pull our own pants down.

Effing joke of a club

We had no one behind the forwards marking pack to crumb. They always had a player there and rebounded time sand time again.

This, this and this and more of this.

They always had 1,2 or 3 over the back of the packs knowing it would spill behind. No12 Baguely had a feast! FMD

WAS at the G so appalling to watch What happened this week ? We should have smashed them and we found numerous ways not to win the game. I have watched this season closely The team is not a team yet

I agee with someone above. I knew we would not win this game five minutes in Just tragic!!

also I reckon we are missing Kent in our midfield.

Very true. Before he was injured he was the bloke who stopped the footy being waltzed out of the forward 50. We really hadn't had that since Aaron Davey

WE are a poorly copached side it stands out like dogs =====

My wife likes Roos. Tells me he's very handsome.

I've decided he's an overpaid dope.

Wish he'd sod off (and take Dawes with him)

As somebody else said back in an earlier post, why can't we shepherd? Seems like the easiest thing to do in football.

again, when we lose, any hindsight hero can point at something and call it a negative. Who are you to suggest that JKH, Vandebnberg and Tyson omitted for Bail, MJones and geez.. Michie? Would have improved the result?

Curry you are a joke, take the hit and move on Jeesssus you actually think this side is well coached and motivated . Really I thought better of you .

Goal kicking was poor but part of that was from essendon's defensive pressure.

1. We let them play on their terms for three quarters.

2. We couldnt take a mark to save us.

3. explain to me how gawn competing for taps against a bloke who got delisted by Adelaide and a midfield at full strength against half vfl quality mids results in numerous centre clearances to them in the first quarter and them out spreading us.

We just didnt turn up. Simple as that.

only really rated Gawn and Watts today.

I can't believe people think Gawn had a good game? What are they seeing that I'm not? Hardly any effective hitouts and too many taps either straight down to his feet or directly to an Essendon player. And this against a second string ruck.

They're looking at the hit outs and being stupidly wowed by them. Wake up, Demonland.

Probably the same game as Matthew Lloyd who gave Gawn our best player

Says it all, really.

If Salem has another injury riddled season I would consider trading him out.

We have all seen what happens to injury prone players...get what value you can

That's more like it, olisik. I completely disagree.

I sat there in the cold all day after getting satched in rain to watch the most dismal footy game of the season

Gawn was good around the ground and won most of the hit outs - which were nearly all ineffective i agree

Curry you are a joke, take the hit and move on Jeesssus you actually think this side is well coached and motivated . Really I thought better of you .

you're the effing joke who has never made a decent post ever. The other poster named 3 players that he reckons should not have played. I say the three that would have been instead would have made the result even worse. Its pretty bloody basic argument FFS.. unless you are a big fan of Bail, Michie and Matt Jones

If Salem has another injury riddled season I would consider trading him out.

We have all seen what happens to injury prone players...get what value you can

Can I have some of that stuff you are obviously on?

I thought Roos nailed it. We kicked 7.18.....not 11.14.....or 15.10......and so we lost. We kept the Bombers under 70, tick. We kicked 7.18, fail.

Their FF kicked 5.0, ours sulked about and was soundly beaten. Then our FB went forward, dominated, and kicked 1.2 plus out of bounds, so we lost.

On the day overall out midfield won the contest. But ours conversion was pathetic.

Make whatever changes we want next week, if we kick like that again we will lose, if we kick 18.5, we will win.

Simple game footy.

Hoges was pants-downed by Hurley but was limping from half time.

you're the effing joke who has never made a decent post ever. The other poster named 3 players that he reckons should not have played. I say the three that would have been instead would have made the result even worse. Its pretty bloody basic argument FFS.. unless you are a big fan of Bail, Michie and Matt Jones

AHHHHH that wasn't what I was saying Curry. Tell me in a few words what is wrong with this lot of players and footy department.

And by the way why immediately launch into personal abuse? At least wait until you have something to abuse me about