2 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Oh well.  Disappointing loss but we are to expect that with this side until we mature and find that consistency.  We are just as likely to come out and roll GC next week.

One thing that this game does is show us all that we are still very much a middle of the road side who will win some and lose some.  Finals was always out of reach.

Hogan is a gun.  Those who, in the Hogan thread, tried to make a claim we would be okay without him are kidding themselves.

Onwards and upwards boys.  There is always next week.

Disagree that finals are out of reach. I maintain we will win 10-12 games this year. 12 games could well get us into the 8 with such an even competition. And as you say, we're just as likely to come out next week and beat Gold Coast. 

18 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

How did Petracca go? I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere with little reception and no tv. Literally climbed a tree to get reception for a few seconds. Thanks in advance. 

You were in the best place, believe me.

I got there about an hour early today and watched the saints warm up. Their kicking was low, sharp and precise. We don't have enough players who can do this. They cut us up from the backline to goal. Our kicks, in contrast were often down the line to a contest. I don't think i saw StKilda kick out from a point without targeting a player to advantage.

10 minutes ago, AdamFarr said:

I reckon our forwardline let our backline down in a big way though. Harmes, Kent and Frost's tackling pressure was pathetic. This game plan will leak goals like a sieve if we don't bring the right intensity. 

What, so you're suggesting that these players' earning $100,000's need to turn up and earn it every week? 

Some nerve you've got AF.

Just now, AdamFarr said:

Disagree that finals are out of reach. I maintain we will win 10-12 games this year. 12 games could well get us into the 8 with such an even competition. And as you say, we're just as likely to come out next week and beat Gold Coast. 

I see your point, and I'm still in a positive frame of mind about how many wins we might land, but we can't make finals unless we eradicate these games from our season.  We could very easily come out this week and roll GC, then beat the Bulldogs... and then lose to Brisbane.  Until we can string 3 wins together in a row and add the consistency of performance then finals will still be just out of our reach.

It's a point I'd love to be proved wrong about though.

Backline lacked accountability. Lots of finger pointing. Zone defence is bull sht when opponents have control and run the show. We lack a KPD. Dunn is done, massive brain fades, plays the percentages for himself. Throw big money at Hurley.

I would,love to know how many goals the Saints got directly from winning the ball in their defensive 50. It would have to be some sort of the record.

I keep making up reasons in my head why we could be, should be, umpires, effort and blah.

Over it.

Only care about the results now.

1 minute ago, Moonshadow said:

Backline lacked accountability. Lots of finger pointing. Zone defence is bull sht when opponents have control and run the show. We lack a KPD. Dunn is done, massive brain fades, plays the percentages for himself. Throw big money at Hurley.

I hate that we set-up in a zone defence. Then again, if we play one on one, it means that every player will need to be accountable...................yeah, i'd stick with a zone defence too.

I must say that after watching the entire game on Foxtel here in Adelaide, I am disturbingly calm 

I went in supremely confident that we would destroy them and yet I feel a sense of calm and belief that it was another blip on our inevitable upwards journey.

Petracca will be a lot better for the run and I have all faith that the selection committee will demote/promote as required based on certain performances.

Probably the most frustrating thing from today is that every time I type Petracca it autocorrects it to Patricia 

3 minutes ago, Sigil said:

I keep making up reasons in my head why we could be, should be, umpires, effort and blah.

Over it.

Only care about the results now.

Probably a few too many bevvies tho.

2 hours ago, Return to Glory said:

Thought Petracca was actually ok. If you separate deluded over expectation with the reality of a kid playing his first game, it was a fair effort.

Yeah, he wasn't our worst, but in the first half he had one effective disposal. Hopefully he now understands the step up in quality from VFL to AFL.

5 tackles is a pretty good return though. 

3 minutes ago, CHF said:

I would,love to know how many goals the Saints got directly from winning the ball in their defensive 50. It would have to be some sort of the record.

I agree, the amount of times they rebounded the ball from D50 to goal was criminal. At some stages it was 3 or 4 on one in our defensive 50 once the ball got out the back. I think our defensive pressure was well down & we werent able to run with the Saints for the whole game. Whilst the defending looked terrible at times our forward pressure was poor today & a big reason for the loss.

Dunn was poor last week, poor again . Are Hunt, Bugg and Harms better players than Brayshaw, Trengove and Oliver? There was a thread where does Dawes fit in?

ANB , Minchie ,Garland with a chance to prove themselves in the reserves.

Second game we've lost that we shouldn't have.

Key forward kicks 7 and we lose.

Reckon there should be at least three changes next week , perhaps even more.

 

 

 

 

Should comfortably be 3 changes. Oliver's a given, ANB depending on tomorrow, and the third...? Grimes back to defence?

A lot of players from today should be nervous about how tomorrow goes at Casey. 

The boys looked tired, there was no intensity on the ball mover like we have seen over the past couple of games which is how we got our selves back into the North game. 

I expected CP5 to be a more of a in and under player like Viney but he plays more like Pendelbrey.  You definitely see the basketballer in his game, Moves very well in traffic and in one play he tapped the ball out of a St.Kilda players hands instead of tackling which I thought was quite clever. He did a couple of special things which made me think his going to be a player in a few years.

Petracca was fine. There are about 21 guys that should take a good hard look in the mirror before him, particularly in the backline. 

Does Rievoldt have the plague? WTF was Jetta and Hunt directly (though very loosely) on him for much of the game? Makes no sense. Put TMac on him all game. Play the shut down role. Pretty simple really. He kills us every time and we learn jack sht every time.

Thanks to everyone, lots of great, generally level-headed commentary on here. We still have a way to go, and although we lost today folks comparing it in any way to the Essendon game need to have a cup of tea and a lie down.

My observation: when we did manage to score, it was frustrating how many times we allowed them to score back almost straight away, especially from centre clearances.

 

6 minutes ago, Chewie said:

Thanks to everyone, lots of great, generally level-headed commentary on here. We still have a way to go, and although we lost today folks comparing it in any way to the Essendon game need to have a cup of tea and a lie down.

My observation: when we did manage to score, it was frustrating how many times we allowed them to score back almost straight away, especially from centre clearances.

 

Great post!

8 minutes ago, Chewie said:

Thanks to everyone, lots of great, generally level-headed commentary on here. We still have a way to go, and although we lost today folks comparing it in any way to the Essendon game need to have a cup of tea and a lie down.

My observation: when we did manage to score, it was frustrating how many times we allowed them to score back almost straight away, especially from centre clearances.

 

Well done Chewie. You auditioning for Lloydie's job on Footy Classified? 

There was a passage in the third quarter which summed up the whole game.

The ball was on the outer wing, and was deftly passed to Riewoldt. As he turned to take his kick three or four Saints players ran past with not a Melbourne player in sight. The ball was passed off and a goal scored. Easy! And sitting in the stand just above I felt mortified and very angry. And just one of many p*ss poor efforts.

I feel sorry for Hunt and Wagner, they were out of their depth today, but I feel angry at Dunn and McDonald, and they were shocking. We've got a few good kids, but they're of the medium size variety, gee, I hope OMac makes it, we really need him. I haven't lost faith yet in TMac but Dunny and H may be nearing there use by dates.

Melbourne should NEVER have to play home games any but the MCG. But thats not the reason we lost. Our defence has not stood up all season. Still young teams are going to do this.

Disappointed but by no means concerned. As a team, we were still able to kick 15 goals and now appear to be doing that on a weekly basis. We have a good defence but it was beyond average today with Jetta the player who came close to breaking even.

Can't believe some posters who are already calling Petracca 'Toumpas 2.0'. Cut him some slack. Petracca's game was any that I would expect from a nervous kid playing his first game. Certainly had his moments and will be better for the run.

Would love to see Oliver, Neal-Bullen and maybe even Trengove in the team next week in place of Harmes (who looked cooked today), Frost and perhaps Salem (depending on how he recovers from his concussion).

Also, I believe Hogan is the first player to kick 7 goals for Melbourne since Robbo around 10 years ago.

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Chewie said:

Thanks to everyone, lots of great, generally level-headed commentary on here. We still have a way to go, and although we lost today folks comparing it in any way to the Essendon game need to have a cup of tea and a lie down.

My observation: when we did manage to score, it was frustrating how many times we allowed them to score back almost straight away, especially from centre clearances.

 

Easy Chewie. Sure you're relatively new here, but you're showing way too much intelligence for my liking. Hopefully Demonland will be able to iron it out of you.

2 hours ago, SaberFang said:

How the hell are we so inept as a club to have only one plan? There should always be a backup plan if the opposition have clearly negated your game plan IN QUARTER ONE.

That nothing changed through the entirety of the match is an indictment on our coaches. Especially when the Saints have had the wool on us for years now, it's pretty bloody obvious Richo has us worked out.

I reckon the coaching team and Roos in particular are sticking steadfastly to a plan that they believe in time will win us games. But even though Hawthorn don't necessarily go out to stop opposition sides, it's more about playing their brand, if things are going against them Clarkson still makes the right moves. Roosy seems too stubborn to make them.

I don't buy that our entire coaching box are unaware of the obvious moves, so perhaps there's a greater lesson the coaches are trying to teach the young player (ie. it's up to you to turn the game yourself)? Either way, it's not working and it also cost us the Essendon game. The coaching team do not want to change their game style. If opposition clubs had momentum going against them they might go one-on-one and try to lock the game up. We seem insistent on pursuing the A plan at all costs. It has me a little lost, I must say.

2 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

I agree this week Saber.  When things started going south we weren't reactive enough and it got out of hand too quickly.  The coaches should have done something to rectify that.

The players need to take some blame though, as I'm sure they could have worked harder to close up the gaps and put more pressure on.  We allowed them too much easy ball and they certainly worked harder than we did.

And see I wonder if this is the reason why Roos and co don't make moves. They demand that the players lift their work rates, instead of changing the game plan/style to suit the work rate of the team on that day.

2 hours ago, angrydee said:

The game plan is dependent on effort and hard work. The players didn't bring them and got the result they deserved.

With the exception of very few

And I agree entirely with this. It's probably a good conclusion to this entire post. In other words, without work rate it doesn't matter if we change our game style. We'll still get beaten if we don't work hard.