1 hour ago, faultydet said:

We were beaten by a mob of complete nobodies.

Don't agree with this. They've got a stack of players with grand final experience, a Brownlow winner, some great young talent.

We SHOULD have won today, but their team is not as bad as what everyone has tried to make out. Sure it's made up a lot of older blokes, but that's mainly because clubs have to keep the youth coming through, Essendon don't have to do that, they can get players who have one year left and it doesn't matter.

And the worst part is, we don't even have a first round draft pick to look forward to this year. Unless we trade a player... And who in our team is tradable and worth a first round pick?! 

Good times. 

7 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

We lack strong leaders who can hold teamates to account 

This 100%

Being on the payroll at the MFC is easy money,you don't have to do much. A pity it shows.

7 hours ago, Maple Demon said:

A fan of hyperbole, I see.

Not at all. If it wasn't for SC I wouldn't even know who some of the Essendon players are. If we then look at some of the excuses thrown up for our players over the years for far more trivial things then compare that to the situation the Bombers find them selves in. We are a mess, an absolute rabble. Yesterday's loss was inexcusable. 

just woke up.

Was it a dream?

Nope.

Aggggh!

Don't know how you judge these things, but if my feelings this morning are anything to go by, that was the most disappointing loss I've seen in the modern era.

And I'm still p'd off that the AFL gave them, without a syllable of explanation,  ten top up players, and the rest of us idiots who picked up the drug-taking scum, none. 

I didn't really expect to win so am not too upset.  The game plan is what is letting us down.  You can actually see the players instinctively go to do something and then stop - as if they remember instructions, then they do something else (which rarely works).

There was no team coherence today, it was strong in the NAB games, and last week, but this week it was each to their own.  I commented on it as they walked on to the ground - it was in the body language.  Speaking of body language - Hogan - needs to do more, if it is not working - change!   Last week there were always two options and players were backing each other up and making sure of options.  This week, I am not actually sure where anyone was.

 

Umpiring actually had a big impact on this game..  I am not one to blame umpiring - it normally sorts itself out over the course of a game but this week was awful.  Our players were consistently held and it was never given.  Gawn and Watts were both visibly held back often and it was never paid.

 

As some others have pointed out Ess. are not a VFL team.  Their list is reasonable and experienced, experience counts for a whole lot in a game.  Our most experienced player have mainly experienced losing, not so of all the players playing for the new look Ess. team.

 

I am still happy to support the Demons, games are won, games are lost - but I hope they are learning from the losses.

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by Bells

I'm furious. My level of rage was so high I needed to sleep on it before posting on demonland and having the mods ban me for life.

The tripe served up yesterday was inexcusable. There should be 4 changes made if the club is serious about competing. Heads must roll.

 

North Melbourne will win by over 12 goals if we play like that next week.

 

Does the term. Couldn't coach pigs to be dirty, ring any bells.

8 hours ago, Undeeterred said:

Funnily enough, for all the doom and gloom we are still 9th and none of the teams below us have a realistic chance of jumping us (including Hawthorn).

Wait until next week!

27 minutes ago, Adzman said:

I'm furious. My level of rage was so high I needed to sleep on it before posting on demonland and having the mods ban me for life.

The tripe served up yesterday was inexcusable. There should be 4 changes made if the club is serious about competing. Heads must roll.

 

North Melbourne will win by over 12 goals if we play like that next week.

 

Darkened room, good lie down, you will feel a whole lot better, you do realise it is just a game of footy, nobody died

All this toss about losing to a VFL team, they had some very experienced heads who steadied the ship and the young kids and chance graspers out enthused us, our leaders, apart from Nate Jones were down on the day, we are 1 and 1, we all woke up this morning

BTW, did anyone else notice that a number of times Bugg or Jetta were one out against Daniher and the obvious happened.

Garland or T Mac went forward with the flow of the ball, while Daniher would go into the middle and then be picked up by a mid and would then run back into the forward line, with a mid or Jetta or Bugg on him. You could see it happening. 

The two loose players on the wing, unmanned the whole day started the rot.

I'll say it again, the Coaching box was worse than the players yesterday.

10 minutes ago, Redleg said:

BTW, did anyone else notice that a number of times Bugg or Jetta were one out against Daniher and the obvious happened.

Garland or T Mac went forward with the flow of the ball, while Daniher would go into the middle and then be picked up by a mid and would then run back into the forward line, with a mid or Jetta or Bugg on him. You could see it happening. 

The two loose players on the wing, unmanned the whole day started the rot.

I'll say it again, the Coaching box was worse than the players yesterday.

This. They often started a four man back line with the two hbf pushed up to side of the centre square. Those two would then rush in and outnumber us at the bounce. We got smashed in there. If we did possession, and tried to llink up a chain of handballs out laterally, there was no space and enormous pressure. Our players didn't know how to respond at the set up... Lots of pointing.

I'm no expert, but it was as clear as the extra man behind the ball debacle last year

Roos is getting a very easy run here, and needs to be asked tough questions. 

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by frankie_d

16 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Darkened room, good lie down, you will feel a whole lot better, you do realise it is just a game of footy, nobody died

All this toss about losing to a VFL team, they had some very experienced heads who steadied the ship and the young kids and chance graspers out enthused us, our leaders, apart from Nate Jones were down on the day, we are 1 and 1, we all woke up this morning

Oh it's all so rosy isn't it Satyr...

you have absolutely no idea...

16 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

you do realise it is just a game of footy, nobody died

My absolute most hated line. Of course you are somewhat right, but it means a hell of a lot more to most people on here. Why on earth would we all spend time posting on an Internet forum if we didn't feel the highs of the wins and lows of the losses.

This team has learnt how it feels to win so I hope this loss burns deep and they hit the track hard with a eye on knocking off norf it's not all doom and gloom but I thought we could have been 4-1 by round 5 but 3-2 I can take

2 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Not at all. If it wasn't for SC I wouldn't even know who some of the Essendon players are. If we then look at some of the excuses thrown up for our players over the years for far more trivial things then compare that to the situation the Bombers find them selves in. We are a mess, an absolute rabble. Yesterday's loss was inexcusable. 

I think we should have won as well. I just thought the 'worst lost (meant to be loss ) in the history of the AFL' was a bit over the top.

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by Maple Demon
typo

23 minutes ago, Redleg said:

BTW, did anyone else notice that a number of times Bugg or Jetta were one out against Daniher and the obvious happened.

Garland or T Mac went forward with the flow of the ball, while Daniher would go into the middle and then be picked up by a mid and would then run back into the forward line, with a mid or Jetta or Bugg on him. You could see it happening. 

The two loose players on the wing, unmanned the whole day started the rot.

I'll say it again, the Coaching box was worse than the players yesterday.

It was happening throughout the preseason and against GWS as well. There'd be a turnover, and the tall forwards would be caught out of position. What baffles me is that neither Garland ot T Mac are skillful enough to influence the contest anyway, so why have them following the ball?

This tactic can work if you're an attacking team with a mantra of beating the opposition in a shootout (Dogs and GC). That's not Roos' philosophy, so the opposition are always in the game.

Sometimes sleeping on it helps sometimes it doesn't, this is the latter. What our team did yesterday (and for that matter what Essendon dished up) is so typical of the two teams. As soon as I heard this was going to be their "make a stand" round I was concerned. Our club has a history of responding poorly when the other team comes out with fire and brimstone, I thought we were past it but I was wrong. 

We were beaten by a sub par AFL team yesterday, but not nuffies. I knew that there would be times this year it clicked for them, they have brought in some very decent top ups and have some exciting young players. 

But leading into the game it was all about us and how the team responded. What they did, in fact what a lot of senior players did, was gift multiple early goals with pathetic turnovers. Tom McDonald, Col Garland, and Lumumba gave them their start and built their confidence. Then as we started getting on top there wasn't anyone who took the game by the scruff and said, "this is what we do". Our leaders went missing in a bad way, while their senior players, who over the years at respective clubs have given us collective hidings, lead from the front. 

Worst of this is I'm not surprised, we are Melbourne after all. 

Those who say Roos will take it easy on the player, really, you think he knows the quality of the Essendon side we played a team touted as not being able to win a game and would take it easy for our p@ss poor game. He and every other coach will be talking to the players individually and collectively about yesterdays disgrace.  If the players don't get enough of that they can just talk to their friends, families, work mates who will be rubbing it in hard as are the newspapers, support bulletin boards, etc.. The question is do they have what it takes to get up off the canvas and prove they are better than this, sadly after yesterdays outing I wonder if we do.

 

 

10 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

We lack strong leaders who can hold teamates to account 

I've been waiting for a post like this. 

I haven't seen the game and doubt I can put myself through the replay, but I'm guessing there was a real lack of on-field leadership.  Who marshaled the troops, who helped setup at the stoppages, who was our Hodge, Mitchell or Selwood ?  Who was vocal ?

Btw, I don't expect you to know these things, but this is an aspect of the club that needs to be addressed.  It's great when everybody is up and about, but that won't always happen and it's the good sides that have leaders to get things back on terms.  Obviously we hit the front, but looking at the disparity of possessions we weren't likely to prevail. 

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by ProDee

Okay now that I've had a good 15 hours to calm down after the loss I wanted to add my 2 cents....

I'm sorry but I don't buy the this is the worst lost in our history crap, yes it is an embarrassment and yes we will be laughed at, but I'm sorry the 186 point loss to Geelong is far, far worse than this.

I just think for the first time in years we had that much more talented players on our side compared to the opposition and "we did a GWS" and expected our talent to win the game rather than stick to team structures and work together.

This game could be a blessing in disguise showing our players showing anyone can beat you if you don't show up and do EXACTLY what's required. Let's hope the lesson has been learnt and we can carry on our season in a upward trajectory. 

Next week will be a big test and I look forward to the dees sticking it up to the Roos!! 

 

Go dees 

 

 

50 minutes ago, frankie_d said:

This. They often started a four man back line with the two hbf pushed up to side of the centre square. Those two would then rush in and outnumber us at the bounce. We got smashed in there. If we did possession, and tried to llink up a chain of handballs out laterally, there was no space and enormous pressure. Our players didn't know how to respond at the set up... Lots of pointing.

I'm no expert, but it was as clear as the extra man behind the ball debacle last year

Roos is getting a very easy run here, and needs to be asked tough questions. 

The problem is there's no point asking Roos the hard questions because he can't really be put under any pressure. His role all along has been quality builder  and heat taker. The problem we have now is we're ready to take the next step with our new coach, but for this season we've still got the coach whose brief basically allows him to ignore or shrug off poor performances. 

Goodwin should be in command of the side, but he's not so I think we're just going to have to live with it.