Coming off yet another terribly deflating loss last week means yet another chance at redemption. Will this club finally draw a line in the sand?

And this week we face our bogey side North who have dominated us for a decade.  You could take that from a power club, but when its North owning you for so long its bloody frustrating.

Last nights massive win by Casey means pressure for spots in the seniors is heating up with players such as Weideman, Hunt, Petracca, ANB. O Mac and Brayshaw are all knocking at the door of selection.

Perform today or lose your spot in the team is the simple scenario for our players.  

 

Edit - WJ i know you usually make the game day thread, feel free to make the official one if you want and merge mine over, . Im just  a minion

Edited April 9, 20169 yr by Petraccattack

Not a good feeling coming in to today. My feeling, outside of having any facts whatsoever to back it up, is that Roos defensive mindset will still be running for a few weeks....until he, with Goodwins push,  really get how much the interchange change has altered the game. I don't expect big changes to how we are playing today and think North will cut us up in the way they do so well. We will tackle hard but be outsmarted in much the same way we have been for a while.

If this pays out as I expect I wont despair as I think soon Goodwin will get the Dees playing the type of footy soon that can compete and will soon have Roos's full backing to do so.  Roos is an unusual character for a high profile coach and I just dont see hs ego getting in the way of a transformed game plan if he really sees his isn't working. Today may be the the day that fact gets underlined.  Soon enough back comes Trangove, Petracca, Brayshaw and we could yet see a Dee rebirth...but, while I hope Im worng, I don't see it today.

Edited April 9, 20169 yr by Wells 11

Will be at the game and have a good feeling about this. So we will probably lose by 10 goals. Either way cannot wait to get to the ground and see the boys in action.

16 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

Will be at the game and have a good feeling about this. So we will probably lose by 10 goals. Either way cannot wait to get to the ground and see the boys in action.

Let us know the ground conditions please Clint, when you get there?

 

Seems like Matthew Lloyd has been talking to some demon supporters* during the week.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-season-2016-melbourne-a-club-in-search-of-a-heart-20160409-go2h29.html

If the club wants to redeem itself it will apply the same sort of intensity and pressure it did against Geelong last year. 

 

* I deliberately left out the adjectives 'long-suffering' because it is synonymous with following the Dees. 

9 minutes ago, grazman said:

Seems like Matthew Lloyd has been talking to some demon supporters* during the week.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-season-2016-melbourne-a-club-in-search-of-a-heart-20160409-go2h29.html

If the club wants to redeem itself it will apply the same sort of intensity and pressure it did against Geelong last year. 

 

* I deliberately left out the adjectives 'long-suffering' because it is synonymous with following the Dees. 

 

 

"I am looking forward to the response shown by the Melbourne playing group on Sunday. It should tell us if they really have made any strides towards a brighter future."

 

 

Yes it will, Lloydy. Yes it will.

 

 

I always hope we will win. 

North is a team that in the past drops the games it should win (except for when they play us). They played really well to beat the Crows in round 1, did enough against the Lions armed with the knowledge they had consecutive road trips, regardless of opponent traveling can be taxing. I think North may have finally turned the corner, they still won't beat the Hawks but they will push us aside as they look forward to a slugfest next with Freo.

Flown down to Hobart and spent a nice few day here. Now ready for game day. I was a bit surprised watching the news last night and they said melbourne arrived in the afternoon and chose not to have a training session. I found this a bit strange as we have never been to the ground. Thought they would want to have a run on it.

Anyway I hope we put in a good performance and I just hope we aren't to short down the back trying to stop Waite, Petriea and Brown.

For some reason I am feeling good about today's game. Without Garlett our out of form forwards might struggle for goals, but North win by being hard at the contest and this is also our strength at present. 

My main concern is can we stop Waite and Petrie? If we restrict th3m to four goals between them, I reckon we win. 

I think it will be a really good contest, GAWN vs Goldstein should be awesome, i think this game will be won and lost in each teams forward lines, can Hogan/WATTS/ Kennedy/Kent/ Vanders kick as many as Petrie/Brown/Waite/Thomas

6 minutes ago, Maldonboy38 said:

For some reason I am feeling good about today's game. Without Garlett our out of form forwards might struggle for goals, but North win by being hard at the contest and this is also our strength at present. 

My main concern is can we stop Waite and Petrie? If we restrict th3m to four goals between them, I reckon we win. 

I wouldn't have thought a current strength of ours is being hard at the contest after last week.

10 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

I wouldn't have thought a current strength of ours is being hard at the contest after last week.

It's a tactic. Go in soft at the start of the season while the rest of the comp injures itself out of contention. Cruise into the finals off a back-end 12 game winning streak.

1 hour ago, jumbo returns said:

Let us know the ground conditions please Clint, when you get there?

 

Still at home 10k or so south of Boot Park and it's a bit grim - cloudy, windy and a little on the cool side. Probably won't rain as it's a bit drought like here at the moment but every chance of a few drops.

Further update when I get there around 12-12.30.

Attack the ball, apply pressure and tackle hard. When we don't do any of these things we lose. Do these, and we're in with a chance. 

I think the big question that needs to be answered is, does Drew Petrie have the biggest melon in the AFL? 

Edited April 9, 20169 yr by Ethan Tremblay

1 hour ago, Petraccattack said:

 

 

"I am looking forward to the response shown by the Melbourne playing group on Sunday. It should tell us if they really have made any strides towards a brighter future."

 

 

Yes it will, Lloydy. Yes it will.

 

 

100% spot on... We'll see what this group is made of today and see if they can back up all the talk about the improvement we've made and change of culture around the club. As typical Melbourne we should know within in the first 5 minutes which Melbournes shown up.. (Hells Bells just came on in the gym as I'm writing this.. Has to be sign )

If we don't bounce back and win or lose by max 30 points, this club is utterly hopeless. 

Just now, Moneider96 said:

If we don't bounce back and win or lose by max 30 points, this club is utterly hopeless. 

No, only a win will suffice. The Honorable loss days are gone

On 4/10/2016 at 10:00 AM, Moneider96 said:

If we don't bounce back and win or lose by max 30 points, this club is utterly hopeless. 

Stuff that, if we go into any game this year hoping for anything that isn't a win, we're wasting our time

We'll win today.....

10 minutes ago, JV7 said:

No, only a win will suffice. The Honorable loss days are gone

Not that losing today will be a win in some way. All I was saying is that if we aren't at least competitive today (given last weeks display) then our current crop of players are utterly hopeless (at least between the ears). 

Edited April 10, 20169 yr by Moneider96

6 minutes ago, jumbo returns said:

We'll win today.....

[censored]

4 minutes ago, Moneider96 said:

Not that losing today will be a win in some way. All I was saying is that if we aren't at least competitive today (given last weeks display) then our current crop of players are utterly hopeless (at least between the ears). 

I get where your coming from. I had this mentality during the Bailey/Neeld/early Roos era but for me not anymore, nothing but a win is good enough especially after last week... 

Edited April 10, 20169 yr by JV7

A win today is just more of the same from this club.

 

A win today, followed up by wins over the filth and ninthmond and I may start to think things are changing

17 minutes ago, Moneider96 said:

If we don't bounce back and win or lose by max 30 points, this club is utterly hopeless. 

Should we burst out of the blocks today and allow them to overhaul us (2011) or let them jump us early and then run parity thereafter for a sweet 30 point loss (2014)? I doubt the media and masses will sing our praises with a five goal defeat.