Reality was that Collingwood came to play. They ran with numbers, used handball effectively around the ball, ran into space all over the ground and took contested marks when it counted. They simply outplayed us all day.  And you would have to think that Buckley outcoached Goodwin. Same old bad habits by Melbourne. For me, the game pretty much depicted where MFC is at. All the warning signs were present in the Brisbane match. 

We will win the flag.....if  Adelaide beat West Coast 

Probably Tmac's worst performance of his career. 35 SuperCoach points for a full game of footy. Disgraceful 

Harmes, Gawn very poor.

Hannan doesn't hit the scoreboard enough.

Garlett's second half of the year has been horrific.

Disgusted. Luckily I have a slab of VBs.

For all that the stat is worth, DE% culprits sub-66%:

ANB 47.1%

Brayshaw 65%

Tyson 58.3%

Gawn 37.5%

Hannan 60%

Harmes 60%

And Tomald, Vince, and Hibberd with 6 clangers each.

Stat passes the eye-test in this instance (except for it being actually worse).

Story of the day.

 

How  would Viney be feeling?

Has Busted his rear end, coming back from injury & playing hurt etc

Players have let down their Co-Captain, themselves & suffering supporters!

5 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Dont know what's worse.  Travelling home on the Glen Waverley with a whole bunch of grumpy Demon supporters grumbling or listening to the Pies chant....COLL.   LING  WOOOOD in the last 5 minutes

What are Collingwood supporters doing on the Glen Waverley line? I'd rather Apex.

2 minutes ago, dee-tox said:

Notice a couple of posters potting Jones. Not deserved.  Too easy a target. Other so-called leaders like McDonald, Vince and Gawn were awful.

T Mac and Gawn have been atrocious last 3-4 weeks, Max been too concerned about his media career and TMac just a lazy sook

3 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Cheers Ralph.  That has certainly been a problem for us, especially in the second half of the year, and it looks as though it has reared it's ugly head again today which is disappointing.

We are doing most other things right, so hopefully Goodwin and co. can rectify this over the summer.

Disagree. Unless we trade/recruit contested marking ability, we're going nowhere. All the teams better than us have it as a key pillar to their game. It's horrible to see it, but we've been exposed in the second half of the season as a bit the emperor's new clothes, because we can't control or win enough ball in the air.

1 minute ago, Skuit said:

Stat passes the eye-test in this instance (except for it being actually worse).

Huh? 

Here is the thing most grating for me....

If this game had been nip and tuck, contest to contest from minute dot, I wouldn't be as upset as I am.

However, the fact that they came out breathing fire and we sat around playing pocket pool was the most grating thing of all.

We had 11 years of pain to overcome but we played that first quarter like it was NAB Cup.

I am sick of blokes who don't give a crap. I am sick of phallic looking footballers who need to hit the gym (or refrigerator). I am sick of this crap full stop.

Ross Oakley said in a recent Open Mike documentary that club's show their true personality when the pressure is on. He specifically stated that we were viewed as weak, private school boys who would go to water when pressure was on. When I reiterated this, the usual suspects came out with 'Who cares about Ross Oakley?' without actually rebutting the point. Who would say that he was incorrect now?

Goody isn't the bloke to do it. It's not in his nature. PJ needs to go down to the change rooms (George Harris style after the 73 Grand Final) and bake these blokes. 

 

Edited August 26, 20177 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

1 minute ago, Return to Glory said:

What are Collingwood supporters doing on the Glen Waverley line? I'd rather Apex.

Probably off to celebrate by robbing a few houses

4 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

We will win the flag.....if  Adelaide beat West Coast 

Yes, I see it clearly.

25 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The umpiring was reprehensible. Baffling call after baffling call. How was that a free against Pedersen after he got a clean handball away?? Ridiculous

the umpiring was disgusting. Some of the worst I've seen. 

5 minutes ago, Webber said:

Poor mental prep for the start of the game.....played like they had a lot to lose, which we did, and coughed up the win. The bigger problem, and sad to say it's going to stop us going much further in the coming years, is our contested marking. We are the worst in the AFL, and oppo teams are now exploiting it. That and the fact we've lost our clearance and stoppage domination due to who knows what, means the future's not so bright as it might have appeared, finals or no. 

Good assessment.  Viney out is a huge hole for us though.  Hulk going down also.

I disagree re future and also domination.  We have been better in the middle, last year In particular at times.  Thats the Gawn / Viney factor.  That will return but cant see it if we make finals as Maxy is so far off his best & Viney unlikely to get back or get back to his best.

Apart from that our other main problem as ive said so many times....is this nonsensical 8 man defence that Goody just wont give up and continues to play into the hands of our opponents.

If we get rid of that and replace a few of the lessor lights on the list next year we are a chance to actually go places and will start dominating the clearances and the middle once more. 

3 minutes ago, dee-tox said:

Notice a couple of posters potting Jones. Not deserved.  Too easy a target. Other so-called leaders like McDonald, Vince and Gawn were awful.

Agreed, I only saw the second half but when the game started turning it was being driven by Jones. He's a club champion and deserves better. Lewis also had a some telling passages of play in the second. 

The other three (from what I saw) deserve the criticism. Vince looks lost at times, I think he only seems effective when tagging someone out of the game. Gawn, I'm not sure if he's lost some confidence after the umpires umpired him out of the game against the Saints, but he was EASILY beaten by Grundy. And TMac, I've already said it, but I'll say it again. Made two ridiculously stupid errors at the end. 

At least if we limp into the 8 (go Crows), we might not play the Swans at the SCG.

That prospect was hardly a reward for winning this game.

 

14 minutes ago, dave said:

Eagles will beat Crows by more than 25 because they know they have to and they're not mentally weak(at home) like we are

You didn’t watch their game against us earlier in the year?

4 minutes ago, Return to Glory said:

What are Collingwood supporters doing on the Glen Waverley line? I'd rather Apex.

I meant at the ground 

14 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Special shout out to Bernie Vince for that putrid shot at goal in the last second that wouldve made West Coast's job that little bit harder.

I said at the time expect that goal will cost us a final. 

2 minutes ago, Webber said:

Disagree. Unless we trade/recruit contested marking ability, we're going nowhere. All the teams better than us have it as a key pillar to their game. It's horrible to see it, but we've been exposed in the second half of the season as a bit the emperor's new clothes, because we can't control or win enough ball in the air.

The contested marking has certainly been a problem.  Our two highest contested markers from last season, Hogan and Gawn, have dropped off for us this year due to their extended layoffs.  We've taken 207 contested marks this season, compared to 244 last season.

We also allow the opposition to take too many of them, particularly with kicks down their line where a player runs from the side or from behind the contest to fly and mark over the top of it.  Admittedly, we don't do that enough.

I still think it's something that we can address.  I don't see a huge problem with the gameplan, I'm just hopeful that we can make the necessary tweaks to improve it over the off season.

Just now, Chook said:

You didn’t watch their game against us earlier in the year?

I did, but you just know it's going to happen, Crows got nothing to play for, Eagles have

5 minutes ago, Return to Glory said:

What are Collingwood supporters doing on the Glen Waverley line? I'd rather Apex.

Gold!!!

Just now, Rusty Nails said:

I meant at the ground 

I'd prefer Apex at the ground as well.

3 minutes ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

Huh? 

Sorry - I meant the DE% stat can be misleading but those with a poor DE% for this match really were horrible.