Did anyone post "relax we've got this"? I felt very uncomfortable about this game during the week. There was too much confidence on D'Land. It mirrored the attitude of the players. We are so good at losing the few games where we actually go in favourites. This has been a problem at Melbourne going back even before Dean Bailey's time. Sometimes I think our players believe the hype that is out there in football opinion world.

Of course Essendon were going to put in a 'backs to the wall' performance its just that we were too pathetic to snuff it out early.

PS why the f*** didn't TMac pass it off to someone who can kick????

No but with about 7 to go we were down by 2 and had just kicked a goal when David King said 'Demons should go on and win this now'. I almost turned the fuckin TV off right there.

are you serious you totally attacked me first. Anyway I was making a point about another posters' criticism of selection. For the third time, Tyson/JKH/Vandenburg in place of Bail/MJones/Michie obviously haad no bearing on the result so the criticism is unwarranted. That is all.

Curry i havent mentioned selection today you have obviously confused me with some other T*^%er

• but there is an 'inability to win games' Well surely thats the point of going out on the ground Bloody hell what spin is this?

Roosy have another look at what you just said Geesus!!

Looks like I've picked the wrong week to give up crack cocaine.

Unfortunately, we're gonna be served this sort of stuff semi-regularly, with so many inexperienced players on our list and indeed in our best 22. Even the blokes who are considered a little more experienced are under 22 years of age.

I wonder if Howe's general attitude and unwillingness to work hard is rubbing off on Hogan? He was pretty petulant today.

DONT PLAY HOWE HE DOESNT CARE GET IT??

Hey lets draw another line the sand Right? What a joke of a club!

someone should remind Howe that he is greatly devaluing his asking price for next year from what ever club wants him....

Maybe have a read of a few of the posts that lead to that one mate, it didn't come from nowhere.

Turn the other cheek. Love thy neighbour.

Hey lets draw another line the sand Right? What a joke of a club!

Remember 4 weeks ago when that Saints loss was the latest line in the sand, after we beat Geelong?

Yeah, either.

I thought one of the biggest factors in the loss,was after winning a stoppage, we tried a little handball, instead of a kick forward, which multiple times was turned over and led to Bomber goals.

Last quarter, AFL Members wing. I think it was Brayshaw that screamed at Jones "Use the first [censored] option!"

What's very obvious is that so often, almost at every stoppage, we over-possess and normally lose possession. Comically, the best option is rarely used, which is worrying. Jones, Lumumba and Dunn are the biggest culprits here. When we were down by 2, Jones had the ball on the wing and had Harmes or maybe Viney standing right there, open, waiting for the handball. Jones completely ignored him and got gang tackled. The ball spilled free and they regained possession at a pivotal moment. Sums up the day.

That "individual" thing Roos was talking about. There's a handful of footballers who don't seem to trust others with the ball under pressure. It ruins the team dynamic and we always lose when that's the case.

I don't think any team breaks down on team fundamentals as efficiently as Melbourne does.

There are major psychological issues still with this team, and I sense an egotistical element as well. I don't think any player at the club has the right to claim to know what's best for the team, especially the players that epitomise the losing culture and have been at the club throughout this era (Dunn, Garland, Jones).

Some of these players are so used to losing, they seem to have lost faith in what it takes to be a good team. It's quite evident.

It's just puzzling to me that a team can be so wildly different from week to week. We looked amazing against Geelong but look so pedestrian today.

The conditions are surely partly to blame for the poor accuracy on goal? To think the weather of all things may have dictated the game.

Forget the skills have a look at the effort. If they bought the same effort today as they did against the Dogs we would've smashed the Bombers by 50 points.

I don't know what the [censored] it's gonna take to get through these players heads that you can't pick and choose when you want to have a real crack. You need to bring the same intensity every single week in this comp - if you're off by even 5% like we were today you'll lose to anyone.

Melbourne teams in the past from Northey to Balme to Daniher teams have ALL been allowed to pick and choose which games theyll turn up for. Hopefully this group will turn the g's around but things don't seem to have changed as yet.

A question:

Playing Howe week after week and knowing he's not going to have much of a crack - is that just taking the pi55?

We may as well go in with one less player, with all this unaccountable, occasionally flashy bollocks.

I'm just not sure what sort of message it sends to other players, knowing they've got to carry some one with chronic passengeritis.

I mentioned during the game that the tackle he laid that caused the concussion might earn him a week or so break, and was called an idiot for it by Hardtack. I'm a fan of Howe, when he's on, but surely any logical mind can see his output has been substandard and he needs to sit out. He can't be dropped as that potentially hurts his value if he were to leave, so I'd suggest a suspension might be a bonus.

Looks like I've picked the wrong week to give up crack cocaine.

And apparently old Biffen gave up the [censored] this week as well. Poor sod.

That "individual" thing Roos was talking about. There's a handful of footballers who don't seem to trust others with the ball under pressure. It ruins the team dynamic and we always lose when that's the case.

I agree with this, and I also think there is an element of 'I don't want to be the one to stuff it up' and therefore they look for an easy option that is too often not there. They either need to take that first option or get it forward to a 1 on 1 contest.

Not only does the indecision hurt but it also means that we are allowing them to get back quicker and get numbers around our forward line too easily. When we move it quickly we look sensational. When we are too indecisive we go back into old habits and look very, very average.

Hey lets draw another line the sand Right? What a joke of a club!

Let's get together and have some 'honest conversations.'

Seems to work for Essendon.

Let's get together and have some 'honest conversations.'

Seems to work for Essendon.

Player 1: "Did you dope as well?"

Player 2: "Yep. But nobody can prove it!"

Is it just me or do all our mids setup way to close a stoppage, especially defensive side? If one of ours wins the ball we dish off a handball of about 1.5 mtrs, then another, then another, all under pressure from multiple opponents because we've gone nowhere and they're all so bunched. Stand back a bit further and those handballs might buy enough time for a decent disposal. Is that logical or am I missing something?

Do players still get fines for staging? If so cale hooker will be up for more than essendons legal fees! Bloke couldn't stop diving

Do players still get fines for staging? If so cale hooker will be up for more than essendons legal fees! Bloke couldn't stop diving

And the essendon fans kept falling for it!

TMAC fwd worked , he provided a contest and even kicked a miracle goal

7.18

like Cloke weeks earlier, Danihers kicks a straight bag..

nothing went right..

posters..

so frustrated

clearly outplayed them despite horrendous 3/4

ungh

http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/32509-training-monday-7th-january-2013-casey-fields/page-2#entry682397

http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/32509-training-monday-7th-january-2013-casey-fields/page-5#entry684093

Always thought that eventually TMac could play forward at CHF leading up, with his aerobic capacity.

Thought the match was pretty depressing, but was nothing compared to reading a few pages of this thread. Plenty here are just kidding themselves.

While we're counting on a bunch of under 21 year olds, some of whom have only a handful of games, performances are always going to be all over the shop. You look at some of the players who we're having to count: Viney, 40 games, Tyson 45, Gawn 31, without even starting on Brayshaw, Hogan etc. Maybe when there's a 1 before all those numbers we'll be able to start going into melt-down for losing "must-win" matches, but until then ...

It takes years, there's no way around it. It takes years to get the personnel in place, but then it takes more years for them to learn to play as a team. Just the way it is.

T'Mac forward? Really? It's not even a left-field speculative suggestion as we saw the evidence first-hand today. How about we teach our forwards how to mark a ball before we try to teach our backs how to kick straight in the forward line?

Thought the match was pretty depressing, but was nothing compared to reading a few pages of this thread. Plenty here are just kidding themselves.

While we're counting on a bunch of under 21 year olds, some of whom have only a handful of games, performances are always going to be all over the shop. You look at some of the players who we're having to count: Viney, 40 games, Tyson 45, Gawn 31, without even starting on Brayshaw, Hogan etc. Maybe when there's a 1 before all those numbers we'll be able to start going into melt-down for losing "must-win" matches, but until then ...

It takes years, there's no way around it. It takes years to get the personnel in place, but then it takes more years for them to learn to play as a team. Just the way it is.

Good point. Also, some posters were too caught up with St.Kilda flogging them last week and setting themselves up for disappointment. "The Saints flogged them, so we will too!" Footy is way more complex than that. For instance we beat Geelong, who beat Essendon, who beat us!

When you put 22 blokes up against 22 other blokes in wet and blustery conditions, anything can happen unless there is a clear gulf in class.

Very disappointed to let 4 gettable points slip from our grasp, but we'll learn.

I wonder how Dog fans were feeling when we beat them by 39 points a few days after getting belted by 100. I bet they're feeling better now!

While this is up there for our worst loss of the year.... if we look at a bigger picture then there might be some good that comes out of it...

The heat will come off essendon and hird, so they will not be forced to make a decision on him, and hopefully start new contract discussions...

everyone knows essendon will never move forward will hird is still in charge so the longer they delay in the quagmire of indecisiveness (bit like our coaches today) the better...

IMO, hird is a deadman walking, & always was since before the 2015 season.

but since WADA entered the fray, deals with the AFLPA become much much more difficult, if not extinct.

& no amount of tanking for picks, will quicken the bummers rise again, from their own ashes.

Thought the match was pretty depressing, but was nothing compared to reading a few pages of this thread. Plenty here are just kidding themselves.

While we're counting on a bunch of under 21 year olds, some of whom have only a handful of games, performances are always going to be all over the shop. You look at some of the players who we're having to count: Viney, 40 games, Tyson 45, Gawn 31, without even starting on Brayshaw, Hogan etc. Maybe when there's a 1 before all those numbers we'll be able to start going into melt-down for losing "must-win" matches, but until then ...

It takes years, there's no way around it. It takes years to get the personnel in place, but then it takes more years for them to learn to play as a team. Just the way it is.

Don't agree and think this is becoming an excuse up there with interrupted pre-season. Watch the bulldogs today they have 8 or so teenagers but don't appear to know that they should be all over he shop. If a player is picked they are should be up to the task. No excuses. We should have won today. The dons had 10 of their first 22 out. It was a third rate side and we lost. No sugar coating "inability to win" and " fear of favoritism" etc is sheer drivel.