I would go as far now as suggestion that far from being a contender we won't even be a finalist. 

Richmond, you're safe we've got dibs on 9th...maybe 

5 hours ago, Forest Demon said:

Don't worry, I agree. My tip is we will get a spray this week, come out and win. And then roll out thinking we are gods gift to footy on queens birthday and get rolled.

And then rinse and repeat, it's the Melbourne way.

Put some money on it, at least you'll have a full wallet if nothing else

5 hours ago, Watts Jurrah Dunn? said:

What garbage. Big difference between visualising success and drinking your own bath water. Petracca, Oliver, Watts are guilty of the latter. 

Oh please

55 minutes ago, ding said:

i thought the Adelaide game was our line-in-the-sand game... turns out it was nothing more than an aberration.

maybe next year or the year after..... or the year after that...... maybe..................

That's a problem with your perception/expectation rather than the team's performance. "Line in the sand" games make for good narratives for the talk shows and journos but in reality things are not so black and white. It's the trajectory that matters and we are still on the right path with a good group of young competitive beasts. Hopefully they pay no heed to bipolar emotions of the support base who are mentally scarred from decades of following the club.

Edited May 21, 20178 yr by Dr. Gonzo

37 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

That's a problem with your perception/expectation rather than the team's performance. "Line in the sand" games make for good narratives for the talk shows and journos but in reality things are not so black and white. It's the trajectory that matters and we are still on the right path with a good group of young competitive beasts. Hopefully they pay no heed to bipolar emotions of the support base who are mentally scarred from decades of following the club.

Yeah, blah blah blah....

Win against rubbish teams like Norf. Until we do nobody will take us seriously. Competitive beasts ? Only one week out of 2. We lost Gonzo, against a rubbish team that wont figure in the finals. More than 10 years and our players are still mentally soft. No wonder our supporter base cant trust the team to perform consistently. I dont care what Goodwin says, the team is NOT ignoring the past yet. We keep repeating it every second week. 

Like i said, maybe next year we can play finals.................................................... maybe...........................

 

9 minutes ago, ding said:

Yeah, blah blah blah....

Win against rubbish teams like Norf.

Ding. Do you think North were rubbish today? Sincerely? Freo, Hawthorn and Richmond were all rubbish when we lost to them. But North's performance today? Rubbish teams can play good games. Many here would cite us against Adelaide as an example.

The competition is so close this year that anything can happen, I think we will still manage to get to the finals this year but I don't think we are any chance to win it all but who knows

36 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Ding. Do you think North were rubbish today? Sincerely? Freo, Hawthorn and Richmond were all rubbish when we lost to them. But North's performance today? Rubbish teams can play good games. Many here would cite us against Adelaide as an example.

yep, they were rubbish, yet we still lost to them.

MFC will remain a joke until we can consistently beat teams like the Roos. No amount of excuses will make up for losses like this one. 16 in a row?........ give me a damn break.

12 minutes ago, ding said:

yep, they were rubbish, yet we still lost to them.

MFC will remain a joke until we can consistently beat teams like the Roos. No amount of excuses will make up for losses like this one. 16 in a row?........ give me a damn break.

Okay. You seem to have a fairly balanced perspective. Nice chatting.

6 hours ago, ding said:

Yeah, blah blah blah....

Win against rubbish teams like Norf. Until we do nobody will take us seriously. Competitive beasts ? Only one week out of 2. We lost Gonzo, against a rubbish team that wont figure in the finals. More than 10 years and our players are still mentally soft. No wonder our supporter base cant trust the team to perform consistently. I dont care what Goodwin says, the team is NOT ignoring the past yet. We keep repeating it every second week. 

Like i said, maybe next year we can play finals.................................................... maybe...........................

 

North aren't rubbish, they're good when on their game and had a distinct advantage in the ruck/midfield today as well as in the key forward positions. They put 10 goals on the Crows in one quarter, you reckon that's rubbish?

There's only one rubbish team in the comp at the moment and that's the Lions. Even then they can put it together in patches like their game against the Dogs (which they ultimately lost)

Edit - North lost to the Cats by 1 point, to the Dogs by 3 points - they're not rubbish.

Edited May 21, 20178 yr by Dr. Gonzo

Just as with 2014, 2015, 2016, we have a good win and appear set to "turn the corner", but then the ball drops and that important win is found out for what it really is: an anomaly.

Still think we're in a good position considering out personalle issues but these losses are really hurting.

Our good wins show ( on those days ) we've improved and heading in right direction.

Our insipid losses and perpetual desire to play catch upfooty after turning up late for work ( time and time again ) then call into question that very first suggestion that we're improved.

All i can now surmise is that we're a different team that finds ways to get the same results.

If they were a crew working on my jobs id sack most if them.

Its footy i know....but its also their jobs. Many cant do it properly.

Goody has his work cut out. He and his staff need to step up.

 

Were.

I still think we are a chance.

We have improved no doubt about it, we haven't been smashed yet and have been in every game we have played in the final quarter with a chance to win, I can't see us make finals this year there is not much room for error with such an even comp and if we can't string wins together we have no chance, we might make a run once gawn and hogan are back but could be too late 

There is no doubt that overall we have improved from last year, but we still have too many ordinary players, and too many who go missing far too often. Few teams have their best 22 available each week, so the loss of Gawn & Hogan is not really an excuse. Our list is horribly unbalanced, and we don't have depth in key areas, which is an indictment on our list management staff.

The real concern is that we haven't achieved the results that we should have from the first nine games, which means we will be playing catch up for the rest of the year. Our percentage suggests we should be in the top 8, but we haven't had the consistency and the composure in the big moments.

There were signs yesterday that our younger players, who have generally led the way this year, are either getting tired or found out by the opposition (Oliver, Hunt, Petracca, etc). When they drop off, who is going to fill the void? It is unlikely to be the likes of Lewis & Vince, on what we have seen to date.