Going into this game, I heard all the lines. "Collingwood have nothing to play for it's ok" "No Pendles, De Goey, Reid etc". 

I will say this and only this. In my time of supporting this club none repeat NONE of that stuff means precisely jack. Absolutely none at all. As long as a team from wherever fronts up with 22 players we are always a chance to fluff a game we are supposed to win. Until we ever break through this psychological minefield I will never pay attention to players out or what the other side has to play for or ANYTHING TO DO with the other side for that matter! It's all elevator music to me. Focus on what we do.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:30, layzie said:

Going into this game, I heard all the lines. "Collingwood have nothing to play for it's ok" "No Pendles, De Goey, Reid etc". 

 

I've noticed that many Melbourne supporters don't learn from past mistakes. Remember how GWS had no Patton, Greene, Cameron? They'd struggle to kick a goal, they said!

Or all the talk about having huge percentage boosters against Brisbane, North Melbourne, Fremantle...

I don't know how many times this mindset has to be served a middle finger before people start realising that no win is guaranteed and no team should ever be taken for granted (just as teams didn't take us for granted with no Hogan, Gawn, Jones, etc.)

Upto my 3rd can of burboun this going to get fugly

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:33, SaberFang said:

I've noticed that many Melbourne supporters don't learn from past mistakes. Remember how GWS had no Patton, Greene, Cameron? They'd struggle to kick a goal, they said!

Or all the talk about having huge percentage boosters against Brisbane, North Melbourne, Fremantle...

I don't know how many times this mindset has to be served a middle finger before people start realising that no win is guaranteed and no team should ever be taken for granted (just as teams didn't take us for granted with no Hogan, Gawn, Jones, etc.)

Supporters attitudes do NOT matter. We do NOT influence the outcome, no matter how far ahead of ourselves we may get.

Agreed. We are just mere spectators in this charade that is professional football.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:36, Nasher said:

Supporters attitudes do NOT matter. We do NOT influence the outcome, no matter how far ahead of ourselves we may get.

My point is, if supporters can so easily let down their guard, who's to say similar attitudes aren't held at the club?

There is almost no explanation for that first quarter today, nor Q1 last week against Brisbane. How many times do we have to lose against bottom-rung teams after knocking off likely finalists in upsets?

The trend of losing games we're expected to win is undeniable. So if supporter expectations aren't to blame for the constant chokes, what is?

I'm surprisingly calm, possibly a newly learnt default setting.

An inept team game played today. When the cameras went into our rooms after the game they were sitting as per normal and exceptionally despondent. Then Petracca comes into the frame and he walks around giving his team mates one by one a pat of reassurance, he arrived at Max and Maxy accommodated but it was such a laboured attempt and his body language looked especially ordinary. They know how poorly they've played. Good on Petracca, that was great to see from a young player, trying to rally the boys but from that vision the rest of them looked mentally shot.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:33, SaberFang said:

I've noticed that many Melbourne supporters don't learn from past mistakes. Remember how GWS had no Patton, Greene, Cameron? They'd struggle to kick a goal, they said!

Or all the talk about having huge percentage boosters against Brisbane, North Melbourne, Fremantle...

I don't know how many times this mindset has to be served a middle finger before people start realising that no win is guaranteed and no team should ever be taken for granted (just as teams didn't take us for granted with no Hogan, Gawn, Jones, etc.)

Exactly. That thinking just never helps matters, it certainly doesn't put me at ease. We just need to be focusing on what we can do and make sure we front up and do our job.

As for the percentage boosters, before the Hobart North game I had a mate text me saying "We're gonna smash North by 100 points, I can feel it" ha.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:37, danielE288 said:

Agreed. We are just mere spectators in this charade that is professional football.

Unfortunately so were most of the players !!  hahaha

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:45, bingers said:

Unfortunately so were most of the players !!  hahaha

Haha sometimes I think we genuinely care more,  they still get paid WLD, what do we get? 

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:39, SaberFang said:

My point is, if supporters can so easily let down their guard, who's to say similar attitudes aren't held at the club?

There is almost no explanation for that first quarter today, nor Q1 last week against Brisbane. How many times do we have to see embarrassing chokes against bottom-rung teams the week after knocking off successful clubs in huge upsets? It's an undeniable trend.

I wasn't at the ground, but I didn't get the impression of players coasting. It was more that they looked immensely under pressure, and many players who fall back to poor 'habits' when under pressure, did. Brayshaw fumbles. T.McDonald shanks. Jones barges and hoofs. At least Bernie refrained from punching anyone.

It looked to me more that they fell apart under the pressure - probably because they were well aware of the stakes. It's still mental weakness, but it's a less contemptible version than the accusation that they just didn't GAF I think.

I know I'm late to the party, and I don't normally come on here and vent, but my God, that was probably the hardest loss I've had to get through for quite some time. 

I'll be hoping Eddie Betts kicks 10 tomorrow, and we know our fate by 3/4 time. A bigger part of me is pretty sure that the Weagles will show up and smash them, condemning us to the finish the season in Richmond, nobodies friend.

 

Tonight I wish we were really [censored] again, winning two games a season, at least we were consistent, as opposed to this season, the theme song for this year should be Tuckers Daughter. 

 

Go Dees

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:36, Nasher said:

Supporters attitudes do NOT matter. We do NOT influence the outcome, no matter how far ahead of ourselves we may get.

You're right Nasher but it affects the way you think about it. When too many people start talking like that it permeates through your skull and you start to 'taste the chocolate" and it makes this situation much harder to deal with when you crash back down to earth than if you'd just tempered your expectations.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:47, Nasher said:

It looked to me more that they fell apart under the pressure - probably because they were well aware of the stakes. It's still mental weakness, but it's a less contemptible version than the accusation that they just didn't GAF I think.

I feel like sometimes we play games trying not to lose; we rarely play to win. Examples of the latter are games against the teams nobody expects us to beat (Adelaide, West Coast, Hawthorn last year). Examples of the former? The last two weeks for starters.

That's a mental issue, IMO. Just one glance at the footy tonight -- only half time and Port Adelaide are up by 47 points against Gold Coast. They put away teams they're supposed to and they keep the foot down. We consistently blow these games or just barely crawl over the line. Is this because other clubs know we have a soft underbelly, or is this a mindset issue with players?

What an incredibly frustrating day. To come out as inept as we did in the first qtr is infuriating considering what was at stake. We were probably the better team for the rest of the day bar the first quarter.

We looked painfully slow at times and the lack of tackling pressure was clearly evident in the first quarter. Pies pressure was pretty good and we crumbled under it.

I am certainly not blaming the umpires on our loss, that was entirely our own doing, but some of the decisions and more notably non-decisions today were appalling.

This club has too many players who can't bring the required effort consistently from week to week, not only that but quarter to quarter each game. Until we sort that out we'll struggle to get up the ladder. No tackles in the first 11 minutes, what a disgrace.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:39, 1 red eye 1 blue eye said:

I'm surprisingly calm, possibly a newly learnt default setting.

An inept team game played today. When the cameras went into our rooms after the game they were sitting as per normal and exceptionally despondent. Then Petracca comes into the frame and he walks around giving his team mates one by one a pat of reassurance, he arrived at Max and Maxy accommodated but it was such a laboured attempt and his body language looked especially ordinary. They know how poorly they've played. Good on Petracca, that was great to see from a young player, trying to rally the boys but from that vision the rest of them looked mentally shot.

It was almost as if we had no leaders after the game. Everyone was thinking about their own dissapointing game. Petracca was still trying to say to the boys, there might still be finals - lets focus on the next game! Personally, I don't know where viney, jones, lewis etc were!!!

 

I dont care that they know how poor their effort was today ( and other days ) . I dont care about anything Goodwin has to offer up at pressers or such. His only job is to get the Dees happening.

I dont care. What i think doesn't matter squat, other than to me.

As a follower of this club i am interested as to what these lads and such care to do about these abjectly poor efforts. Again i dont care that they're dejected. If they are it's as a result of their own doing. 

I'll happily get on with whatever my plans are tomorrow and next week etc etc. Im not going to feel that gut wrenching emptiness that comes from failure. I'll leave that to the club, the coaches, the players. 

If at anytime they wish success all they need to do is change. I can't do it, they have to. 

Today was almost comical at times. Tmac and Cox Should probably share a beer and a giggle.

Over to you Melbourne.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:55, angryfijian said:

It was almost as if we had no leaders after the game. Everyone was thinking about their own dissapointing game. Petracca was still trying to say to the boys, there might still be finals - lets focus on the next game! Personally, I don't know where viney, jones, lewis etc were!!!

 

There's an old saying "Act like you've been there before". Well..

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:52, SaberFang said:

I feel like sometimes we play games trying not to lose; we rarely play to win. Examples of the latter are games against the teams nobody expects us to beat (Adelaide, West Coast, Hawthorn last year). Examples of the former? The last two weeks for starters.

That's a mental issue, IMO. Just one glance at the footy tonight -- only half time and Port Adelaide are up by 47 points against Gold Coast. They put away teams they're supposed to and they keep the foot down. We consistently blow these games or just barely crawl over the line. Is this because other clubs know we have a soft underbelly, or is this a mindset issue with players?

we have trouble putting away teams, we do not have big wins, not this year, its been awhile since we whooped anyone bad and stamped our authority on the game. We always fumble and loose to teams we should beat, loosing to the Essendon VFL team still haunts me to this day.  We have a team of immature individuals who do not take their job seriously, yes they see this as a job and a bit of fun, but they do not seem to want to commit the way other teams do, or emotionally the way the fans do. 

Yes Nasher we did fall apart under pressure.

There's much that can be surmised by that I'm suspecting.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:52, SaberFang said:

I feel like sometimes we play games trying not to lose; we rarely play to win. Examples of the latter are games against the teams nobody expects us to beat (Adelaide, West Coast, Hawthorn last year). Examples of the former? The last two weeks for starters.

That's a mental issue, IMO. Just one glance at the footy tonight -- only half time and Port Adelaide are up by 47 points against Gold Coast. They put away teams they're supposed to and they keep the foot down. We consistently blow these games or just barely crawl over the line. Is this because other clubs know we have a soft underbelly, or is this a mindset issue with players?

Or we're just a middle of the road side. As I said in a prior post, any team not in the upper echelon of the ladder are there because they drop games. Essendon lost to the eventual wooden spooners only recently.

Just on Port, I wouldn't be lording them as the all conquering mental superheroes of the comp. The only team currently in the 8 they've beaten this year are Sydney, and that was during the opening 6 rounds when the Swans thought they were still on holidays. That includes losing to Essendon by 70 and Adelaide by 81. They will wet the bed come finals.

I know he has played only 13 games this year but Big Max has only given us a grand total of

 4  goals for all of those games combined. Need a ruckman that kicks more than that.

As much as this club has improved this year, Gawn Im afraid has gone backwards.

Bernie is in the same boat.

Lewis is more interested about footy tv shows than winning.

So much for leadership.

  On 26/08/2017 at 10:59, Deecisive said:

we have trouble putting away teams, we do not have big wins, not this year, its been awhile since we whooped anyone bad and stamped our authority on the game. We always fumble and loose to teams we should beat, loosing to the Essendon VFL team still haunts me to this day.  We have a team of immature individuals who do not take their job seriously, yes they see this as a job and a bit of fun, but they do not seem to want to commit the way other teams do, or emotionally the way the fans do. 

You are so right. 

But loose refers to a woman you might like.

Lose is what you mean.

  On 26/08/2017 at 11:10, leave it to deever said:

I know he has played only 13 games this year but Big Max has only given us a grand total of

 4  goals for all of those games combined. Need a ruckman that kicks more than that.

As much as this club has improved this year, Gawn Im afraid has gone backwards.

Bernie is in the same boat.

Lewis is more interested about footy tv shows than winning.

So much for leadership.

Gawn needs a long rest to get over his injuries