3 hours ago, buck_nekkid said:

Sheesh!  I think I was going to get reported at the G for antisocial behaviour!

in fact, our team should have been.

They were flat all day.  Smashed in the middle, smashed by the maggots, second to contests.  How many times did Carlton intercept mark in our 50?  Such poor entry into 50.

they had their first goal in 50 seconds and we hadn't even touched it!

when we did show up for about 10 minutes, we couldn't convert the pressure into scores.

We are a young side, and maybe after the last few weeks we were out of puff.  We are much better than we were, but this was a simply [censored] performance that was difficult to swallow.  When Jack Watts missed that sitter, it was obvious we were screwed.

Jesse needs to work on his kicking.  If he was 3.1 rather than 1.3, things are very different.

P1ssweak, demons.  Instead of heading into the off-season with people lining up for memberships, you have reminded them that we are pretenders.  A shameful day at the home of football.

Ironic that during last week Roos said the boys hadn't hit the wall yet in his opinion.   

Obviously he was wrong very wrong unfortunately. 

2 hours ago, The Sailing Demon said:

Michie - Gone.
Dawes - Gone
Dunn - Gone
Lumumba - Gone
Grimes - Gone
Trengrove - Gone
Garland - Gone
ANB - Perhaps trade bait (I have always liked him but I think the writing may be on the wall)
Again proved that we are a better team with Pedo in.
Hogan - Slashing thousands off his contract with each week that goes by...No idea what the hell is going on with his goal kicking as a KPF not being able to slot it with confidence from 40+ is disgusting.
I don't mind losing (I still hate it and it upsets me) when we should lose, we can always take something from that...but when we lose to a team that has lost 9 on the trot with so much to play for is so bloody typical of this club it isn't funny.
I said yesterday that I didn't feel good about today and was proven right, just like both saints games, the first port game, and the Essendon game this stuff will always be sewn into the fabric of the club, it's just something that we have to accept in being a mediocre team.
I don't want to be the next Richmond, I want to be the next Hawthorn, Geelong, Swans.

This season is a success to me, I said 10 wins at the start of the year was a pass and we have achieved that, lets not let today dampen our triumphs this season over GWS, Hawks, port at home and another top 4 team being GWS.
 

If we can beat Geelong next week, we'll have beaten GWS, Hawthorn, Port, Geelong and was a kick away from beating West Coast and North. 2018 is going to be exciting. 2017 is the year to break that mental fragility.

2 hours ago, chook fowler said:

ANB I'm afraid is too slow to make it. In the same boat as Trenners, Michie and Newton. Vanders may be in the same category. 

Vanders is just a hopeless kick and an even worse handballer. Not sure leg speed is necessarily his weakness. But agree with the rest of your post.

2 hours ago, P-man said:

So basically gut our depth entirely. There goes a strong Casey side to maintain pressure for spots.

What happens if we get a few injuries? With no Dunn or Garland, who are the next in line KPDs?

Despite today's putrid effort, the list is in good shape now. A slash and burn of the list at the end of the season would be completely fuckng bonkers.

It's not depth, P, if none of them are good enough at AFL level.

It was incredible today how many times we slipped at crucial times and Carlton stayed on their feet morning .. Perhaps it just seemed so , because of their domination..

Why can't the Dees boot it off the deck when its wet and not try and pick it up all the time ? So disappointing today! And so Melbourne .

Dropping Pedersen was the wrong decision.

 

What a farkked way to end the season and go into a long summer. 

Fmd it's hard being a Dee's supporter. 

2 hours ago, Akum said:

The foolproof way to beat Melbourne:

Nullify Gawn and you'll win the clearances.

Put a spare man in defence and you'll totally stop their run through the middle.

We have yet to beat a team that does this.

I actually don't think they nullified Gawn in the stoppages. He simply tapped straight down the throat of the opposition because 1) he was poor and 2) his midfielders didn't work hard enough.

Just another opportunity lost, I look forward to the days that we can capitalize on these opportunities. Just too disappointing to dwell on. Too young to maintain the rage  maybe? 

Also I understand that good teams beat the umpires but today was something else. I think its is about time the AFL removed OPSM as a sponsor they are obviously not doing their job. The amount of frees they miss underneath their noses is extraordinary. Maybe bifocals should be issued across the board.

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, A F said:

Vanders is just a hopeless kick and an even worse handballer. Not sure leg speed is necessarily his weakness. But agree with the rest of your post.

It's not depth, P, if none of them are good enough at AFL level.

So now even Dunn and Garland aren't AFL standard. Honestly.

You can prefer a mass cull of the list of you like. I'm pretty happy with where we are sitting. Minimal changes necessary.

1 hour ago, Jesse Christ said:

Don't worry guys,  I dumped a Carlton supporer today,  so some kind of revenge there I guess! 

Pity you didn't dump on him!

52 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

For a 10 win side, we sure have plenty of ordinary and fringe type players according to you, AF.  I'm amazed we win games at all.

Some of the commentary on the fringe players borders on the absurd. Apparently we need a squad of 40 superstars.

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

For a 10 win side, we sure have plenty of ordinary and fringe type players according to you, AF.  I'm amazed we win games at all.

Bugg, Vanders, ANB and Michie are ordinary players. I don't think too many people would debate that.

We win games when our midfield performs, our forwardline functions and our backline provides rebound.

1 hour ago, barneymfc said:

is the avatar photo your wedding day

Yep. It was a terrific day.

2 minutes ago, P-man said:

So now even Dunn and Garland aren't AFL standard. Honestly.

You can prefer a mass cull of the list of you like. I'm pretty happy with where we are sitting. Minimal changes necessary.

All we need is more experience, mate.  I totally agree that minimal changes are necessary - another big summer on the track will help to improve us further.

And I'm in the same boat re: this discussion around 'fringe' or 'ordinary' players.  You don't need to be a star to be a best 22 player.  As long as they play their role for the side then I'm happy with that.

1 minute ago, A F said:

Bugg, Vanders, ANB and Michie are ordinary players. I don't think too many people would debate that.

We win games when our midfield performs, our forwardline functions and our backline provides rebound.

Yep. It was a terrific day.

Bugg and Vanders are not 'ordinary' players.  Dean Terlich is an 'ordinary' player.

Bugg and Vanders will be our foot soldiers in the years to come.  Vanders is coming from along way back from a season wrecked by injury, while Buggy has taken time to settle in a new side.  Both will be valuable contributors as the side improves.

You all realise we are all but certs now to beat Geelong !!! 

3 hours ago, Redleg said:

And you bring in a clearance mid, ANB and play him in a pocket, while you are getting smashed in the clearances.

You bring in a skinny kid, on a wet day, for his 2nd game and drop a bigstrong bloke, who can add some grunt in the contest.

You bring in another bloke who has been found wanting numerous times.

You get smashed in the clearances by Cripps and Gibbs and leave them unmanned.

We got what we deserved.

Agree completely. Oliver couldve spent more time in the middle I thought too when we were getting killed there. In the last when we need to win the ball and kick goals we had one of our best ball winners in Oliver stuck in the forward line and one of our best shots in Watts playing on a wing. Was a bad game by the whole club today.

3 hours ago, 4JacksandaKing said:

I think the umps have money on them.....0 in the first qtr. 2 up to half time ?

Actually 1 free kick at half time. 12-1.

3 hours ago, stuie said:

We lost it in the middle today, particularly with clearances, I honestly don't think having Pedo instead of Weed would have made any difference to the result.

 

We lost it with our poor delivery/decision making going forward - Pedersen definitely would've helped by contesting the balls that did come in and offering a chop out kick for those that didn't.

49 minutes ago, A F said:

If we can beat Geelong next week, we'll have beaten GWS, Hawthorn, Port, Geelong and was a kick away from beating West Coast and North. 2018 is going to be exciting. 2017 is the year to break that mental fragility.

IF.

We got ahead of ourselves today. Let's not do it again next week. 

18 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Pity you didn't dump on him!

Life will do that to him.  He dragged me to that stupid UFC [censored] today when I didn't want to go,  and then he had the audacity to rip into me when Carlton got up. That's all it took really. Should have seen the look on his stupid face. Priceless 

I just feel deflated. It feels like the essendon game again. I mean now the 8 is settled. It just would have been nice to go down to geelong and see what happened. Now im glad I couldnt get tickets.

We just over handballed as usual and in wet conditions that does not work. We slipped over far to eaily and misses simple set shots.

They did there homework on Maxy. Gibbs was just left alone and Cripps just played beautifully.

Pederson had to stay in because he is a good mark of the ball and helps Max in the ruck. Weiderman didnt need to be in. 

But hopefully this makes the boys realise what has to be done to make finals and they come out next year hungry for it. 

20 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Bugg and Vanders are not 'ordinary' players.  Dean Terlich is an 'ordinary' player.

Bugg and Vanders will be our foot soldiers in the years to come.  Vanders is coming from along way back from a season wrecked by injury, while Buggy has taken time to settle in a new side.  Both will be valuable contributors as the side improves.

Yes, agreed.

From chocolates to boiled lollies

I remember earlier this week I said that should we have made the finals (and that undoubtedly would have been a great thing for the club) that it may have given us a false impression of where we are really at. One person cited Hawthorn in 2008 as an example to rebut my argument.

If there were any illusions as to where we are really at, they were dispelled today.

Let's be honest. We were a long shot for the finals as it is and we weren't ready any way. It would have been akin to Essendon in 2009. They staggered into the 8 and were exposed the second they rocked up to Adelaide in the Elimination final. I would predict a fate similar to that should we have staggered in.

During pre season, someone needs to drum into these blokes the old Ron Barassi adage 'Natural ability is nothing to be proud of. It was given to you from the eye of your father's c0ck.' They really haven't achieved anything yet so they need to stop coming out against what they perceive as lesser opposition and just think it's going to happen. Learn to respect (not fear) the number opposite. When that happens, these losses will start to disappear.

We didn't really deserve to win today the way we played. Our selections were wrong (e.g. Weideman with 7 disposals), we had far too many turnovers and the team didn't play with the urgency of a team that needed to win by ten goals to mathematically scrape into the finals. Despite that, nor did Carlton deserve to win with twenty free kicks to our five, somewhat undermining the integrity (if there is such a word in AFL football) of their victory.