I'll preface this by saying I was only able to catch the last 10min of the third quarter and the final (nail in the the coffin) quarter. 

First I'll say is while our inside mids were able to win the ball last week from the stoppages, this week faced with Goldstein he was able to give the North players clear advantage. He can do this against the proper ruckmen of the competition, it stands to reason he'd easily be able to do it against our makeshift rucks. 

Secondly when last week everything was going right, this week a lot went wrong. Simple stuff. Bugg's kicking for goal, Oliver dropped mark in the last couple of minutes in the third, streaming out of defence kicks and handballs missed their mark. Maybe it was Norths pressure, maybe it was internal pressure, but either way things that worked last week didn't this week. 

Finally, and this is not the reason we lost, the umpires were biased. Can't say it any simpler. Frees that were given to North weren't for us. A CLEAR 50m penalty to Bugg was completely ignored. They were crap. 

The worst part about this loss is it doesn't surprise me. 

Went through the fixture. Think we are likely to win 9-10 for the season. Underwhelming. 

38 minutes ago, frankie_d said:

I'm walking

I'm catching the train.

And we drafted JKH ahead of Ben Brown. 

Garry Lyon is spot on. 

I know many on here do not like what he said, but it is correct. 

The MFC cannot handle "expectation"

and haven't done so for decades...

 

We didn't lose because of the umpiring, but there were critical decisions missed that impacted on the game and it didn't help us at all.

We know we are capable of playing finals level football. Last week showed that. But we started the game pathetically. Smashed in the middle, beaten in CPs and out-tackled. The work-rate was not good enough and that's the root problem of these losses after good wins - we don't work hard enough the following week.

I'm not sure what is worse - not starting the first quarter with the right intensity, or, after dominating the second quarter and starting the third only two points behind, not starting the third quarter with the right intensity. Just not good enough.

The leaders were down (Viney disappeared after HT, Jones was just sucking up cheap possessions and didn't even care about his turnovers, Lewis had no influence), some of the kids were down (Oliver, Petracca, Hunt), and our weaknesses were therefore exposed (Weideman, Kent, Wagner, no ruckman).

Need to drop Kent - inexcusable performance.

Hannan was good. Pedersen was great, the midfielders were the problem, not Goldstein.

Just so, so disappointing.

1 minute ago, Moonshadow said:

Went through the fixture. Think we are likely to win 9-10 for the season. Underwhelming. 

Maybe. But having both Gawn and Hogan out for big slabs of the season is the difference, and it's a big difference.

16 minutes ago, Redleg said:

He has been my worst for a few years.

Matt Nicholls is the absolute worst umpire in the game.

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Garry Lyon is spot on. 

I know many on here do not like what he said, but it is correct. 

The MFC cannot handle "expectation"

and haven't done so for decades...

 

Boys imitating men.

Out Bugg in Harmes

Melksham will probably get a run for Wagner too

Local footy type umpiring

Again losing to an average team, shattered

I cant understand why there isn't more urgency to dispose the ball. On 5 occasions  players were tackled from behind. 

When I played soccer, team mates 

would call "Man On" when a player was about to tackle you from behind. It frustrares me when a player thinks he has unlimited time to dispose of the ball. Only to be caught in posession.

3 minutes ago, Wizza said:

It's games like tonight that really highlight just how important Gawn is to our team. 

Goldstein was clearly the difference today, our mids are forced to work so much harder to win the ball when playing against a quality ruckman. 

I'm almost ready to call finals off for the year, but excited to know what the team is capable of when our key players are on the park.

Yea ....should have called it a day when Gawn went down and then Spencer....add Hogans problems and it was always going to be a bad year.  The good news is get rid of 4 or 5 list cloggers again (and we know who they are), recruit an experienced defender and another tall experienced STRONG forward or 2 and we should be fine. God I hate NORF as well as todays umps.

 

Oh yea can Goody just scream at them for the 10 mins before the first quarter to make sure they are awake just once

That cue ball umpire has gotta be a Norf supporter, right?

6 minutes ago, america de cali said:

And we drafted JKH ahead of Ben Brown. 

And they took Trent Dumont 27 spots ahead of Jayden Hunt that same day. 

If you want to look for negatives focus on the 4 quarters. There was enough to be [censored] off about without going back to a draft 4 years ago and arguing about who was taken with pick 47.

Just now, danielE288 said:

Out Bugg in Harmes

Melksham will probably get a run for Wagner too

Local footy type umpiring

Again losing to an average team, shattered

Bugg for Hrames doesnt improve us at all. 

Bugg is average, but Harmes is an absolute butcher of the ball.

I would prefer Weid out for anyone. Kid might eventually become a player (I actually see a genuine future footballer in him) but atm he is faeces.

Deckchairs tbh. Even if we win next week we are no closer to the big dance.

 

 

I've been calling Jones putrid with disposal for years but kept being howled down. Finally some have taken the rose glasses off.

Now come on!! The boys jolly well tried ... well, for some of the time.

And as for turnovers/skills errors, well, that's just bad luck!! Even guys on $200,000 - 500,000 are allowed to have an off day at work. Aren't we all? (Well, I guess I'm not, I'd get sacked.)

So, don't be mean about the chaps. Twas a fine honourable loss. Which can be catalogued with all the others this year.

Better luck next week young fellas!!

 

Yeah but Harmes is a goer at least, Bugg is a luxury player, if he's not kicking goals he's pretty useless.

Even with gawn back, we lack overhead marking power. It wasn't just Goldstein today. Imagine if we had a 6'5" we could use compete for the get out kick up the line. 

Hands Up anyone who thinks the team trusts Watts to win those? This is a big deal. He runs hard, but his team mates just don't trust him.

This isn't "Watts hate". He's tried really hard this year. But he can't tackle, can't mark and at best halves 1 on 1.  Are great skills enough to make up for that?  I say no

At this rate Hibberd will go close to Bluey.

47 minutes ago, bandicoot said:

We are a Premiership side with a ruckman... 

would have been 9-0 

No way, we have too many players that drink there own bathwater for a week then still intoxicated by it into the next game! Again and again

Headcases most all.

Need to draft another Key forward put a truckload of money into it . BROWN BURIED US!! 

I'll say it again Oscar Mc Donald is Bantha Foder! 

Personally i think it is all upstairs. Last week proved that. 

We have started slow in all games this year

WHY??

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Reamed. Absolutely reamed 

Betcha Brad Scott still had a "What's goin on here?" look all over his Chevy Chase whenever we did get a free. 

 

You could tell in the first minutes that we weren't on and that we'd lose. It really was that simple. We were fumbly, made poor decisions, refused to work for each other off the ball and refused to take the game on (except for Frost on a couple of occasions).

North's pressure was great and we had minimal answers on the ground or in the coaches box. And why the hell was Frost off the ground for close to 10 minutes at a crucial point in the game? It saw his man kick one and North kick away by 2 and a half. I can understand Oliver being off at that time, which he was, as a midfielder you expect that, but your most important defender? I dunno.

Oliver was really well held today, but it was easily his worst game. I can't recall so many of his disposals missing the target. And that dropped uncontested mark in the goalsquare. You just knew we weren't going to win it then. Likewise, Petracca and Hunt both being run down.

The captains were terrific last week, but made multiple stupid decisions, which cost us. Their form is emblematic of where we are at. Jones in particular. He's far too inconsistent for an experienced leader.

Goodwin was thoroughly outcoached today and the coaches box simply had no answers, but the players made his job pretty difficult when they refused to bring any work rate.

We had so many players down today, but kudos to @Redleg who picked Hannan's breakout game. He showed he can play in the midfield and up forward, can win the ball in the air and be dangerous once the ball hits the deck.

More negatively, I reckon Kent is just about on the trade table if anyone will take him. He was insipid again this week.

Teamwise, my hope is that these losses eventually start to burn in these players and they finally say enough is a [censored] enough and find that level of consistency that is required to be a good football side.

I still think we'll make finals and I still think we'll go on a run at some point this season, but as I've also said a few times, we'll win some we expect to lose and lose some we expect to win. This was a bad, bad day though.

Edited May 21, 20178 yr by A F

56 minutes ago, NaughtyButNeitz said:

I really enjoy hearing about how we're a developing team (for the last 10 years.....).

We are a developing side with a makeship forward line and ruck. 

Even the most developed sides would struggle