Its officially been 48 hours since that 1st quarter noose hanging. In some ways it is still fresh, in some ways it feels like an eternity since then.

19 minutes ago, Bates Mate said:

The words will have no meaning whatever is said. Only our ladder position after rnd 23 next year will matter

Exactly. He must be stepping back from the captaincy.  I don't want to hear anything resembling that the players are hurting or that a line in the sand has been drawn, I've heard it all before. Just 100% effort each and every game next year.  If we win...great, if not then it wasn't for want of trying.  Just shutup and show us on the field how you intend to go about it....words are cheap .

You don't make a decision like stepping down from the captaincy role a day after missing out on the finals. Just a half baked apology before mad Monday. 

Jones was just on SEN talking about how disappointed everyone at the club was with the finish to the year. Good on him for fronting up, but there was no news.

I would like to hear from the players and coaches specifically why they think we always lose the "easy" ones, and what's going to be done to address this next year. Won't happen though, all you get is the PC garbage it's a tough competition, anyone can win if we don't bring it, we are preparing for their best etc etc

 

2 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

Soft cheese only no doubt. Nothing hard. Like us

The Cheese platters idea  is pretty funny I reckon. I'm kinda hoping there is some out there...possibly with a carafe of Red to wash it down...might go for a walk down the shops in a minute

Anyone listening to SEN at the moment? Theo X sounds as flat as the rest of us 

Alright, I have got through a days work & been for a long run (I suggest those who are capable do the same, it helps). 

Now, on my run I cleared my mind & put everything into perspective and thought of the year as a whole. We obviously made some improvements & adopted a more attacking, hard edge, contested game style which when applied for long periods of time & on the rare occasion this year for 4 quarters, we looked like a real contender. The problem is like I suggested in a post following the GWS game we are still such a young side, and I think we forget that & yes some will say "so were the dogs last year" but history suggests that you need to get to that 70-80 game mark before you really stamp yourself on the competition. We also have a coach who was in his first year with full reins, Goodwin will take a lot out of this year and will only be better for the experience. Add into this the fact we lost for the a lot of the season our:

All Australian ruckmen (3rd B&F)

Full forward (2016 leading goal kicker),

Both co-captains (1st & 2nd B&F)

3rd tall forward (2016 2nd leading goal kicker)

You take that out of any side & they will struggle, let alone be in the race for a finals spot with 3 minutes left in the season & miss out by the smallest margin in AFL history.... Yes, I know all these things happen and we were still in a position to make the 8 & shot ourselves in the foot on Saturday but I believe considering the age of the list, experience of the coach, injuries to key players we did a great job in actually being in that position in the first place. You look at the sides around us who didn't make it such as St. Kilda, they had their best side for majority of the year and with a coach whos in his 4th year and still couldn't get the job done. We are in such a better position than our rivals around us. I take solace from the Giants of 2015, where they were 7-3 at round 10 before injuries took ahold and a young side tired... They missed the 8 and finished 11th and then rocketed to the prelim last year. The key to this will be that the pain & disappointment of this is used in the right way, the coaching staff, players & leadership group need to make sure this is the end of all this S#it, that this is the turning point of this club & group and that this will burn away at them all preseason and redemption wont be had until we are there at the pointy end next September. 

"You will never ever be successful until you turn your pain into greatness, until you allow your pain to push you from where you are to where you want to be. Stop running from your pain and embrace your pain. Your pain is going to be apart of your prize, apart of your product. I challenge you to push yourself." 

 

 

My Post Mortem revolves around the Assistant Coaches.

Jade the Blade has been coaching our backline since Adam was a pup. What have they learned in 6 years????

I think he is now qualified as a grade 4 coach. Time he went somewhere else and stuffed their backline up.

Ben Mathews coaching Mid Field and Stoppages our biggest failing against good sides ( and also bad sides)

Our side is only as good as they are coached.

13 minutes ago, JV7 said:

Alright, I have got through a days work & been for a long run (I suggest those who are capable do the same, it helps). 

Now, on my run I cleared my mind & put everything into perspective and thought of the year as a whole. We obviously made some improvements & adopted a more attacking, hard edge, contested game style which when applied for long periods of time & on the rare occasion this year for 4 quarters, we looked like a real contender. The problem is like I suggested in a post following the GWS game we are still such a young side, and I think we forget that & yes some will say "so were the dogs last year" but history suggests that you need to get to that 70-80 game mark before you really stamp yourself on the competition. We also have a coach who was in his first year with full reins, Goodwin will take a lot out of this year and will only be better for the experience. Add into this the fact we lost for the a lot of the season our:

All Australian ruckmen (3rd B&F)

Full forward (2016 leading goal kicker),

Both co-captains (1st & 2nd B&F)

3rd tall forward (2016 2nd leading goal kicker)

You take that out of any side & they will struggle, let alone be in the race for a finals spot with 3 minutes left in the season & miss out by the smallest margin in AFL history.... Yes, I know all these things happen and we were still in a position to make the 8 & shot ourselves in the foot on Saturday but I believe considering the age of the list, experience of the coach, injuries to key players we did a great job in actually being in that position in the first place. You look at the sides around us who didn't make it such as St. Kilda, they had their best side for majority of the year and with a coach whos in his 4th year and still couldn't get the job done. We are in such a better position than our rivals around us. I take solace from the Giants of 2015, where they were 7-3 at round 10 before injuries took ahold and a young side tired... They missed the 8 and finished 11th and then rocketed to the prelim last year. The key to this will be that the pain & disappointment of this is used in the right way, the coaching staff, players & leadership group need to make sure this is the end of all this S#it, that this is the turning point of this club & group and that this will burn away at them all preseason and redemption wont be had until we are there at the pointy end next September. 

"You will never ever be successful until you turn your pain into greatness, until you allow your pain to push you from where you are to where you want to be. Stop running from your pain and embrace your pain. Your pain is going to be apart of your prize, apart of your product. I challenge you to push yourself." 

 

 

Well said. Might still be hard for some to read it but there is plenty of truth to it

30 minutes ago, Barney Rubble said:

My Post Mortem revolves around the Assistant Coaches.

Jade the Blade has been coaching our backline since Adam was a pup. What have they learned in 6 years????

I think he is now qualified as a grade 4 coach. Time he went somewhere else and stuffed their backline up.

Ben Mathews coaching Mid Field and Stoppages our biggest failing against good sides ( and also bad sides)

Our side is only as good as they are coached.

Troy Chaplin should be in the firing line as well , not sure if our inability to convert inside 50's down to coaching , strategy/positioning , horrible skills probably a combination of all but  I would rather a experienced forward line coach teaching our young forwards (hogan and Weids in particular) than a guy who spent his career as a backman

53 minutes ago, Barney Rubble said:

My Post Mortem revolves around the Assistant Coaches.

Jade the Blade has been coaching our backline since Adam was a pup. What have they learned in 6 years????

I think he is now qualified as a grade 4 coach. Time he went somewhere else and stuffed their backline up.

Ben Mathews coaching Mid Field and Stoppages our biggest failing against good sides ( and also bad sides)

Our side is only as good as they are coached.

Id agree with this.  Also think Goody has some way to go ..but hes a noob ( sorta )  Still it was HIS job to have a team fit to play  ( mentally ) Sat....anyone see one turn up ?.  He's the boy in charge and there seems quite a few occasions when lessons were NOT learnt and the same idiocy repeated.

I think we need some new blood in here for sure Barney !!

34 minutes ago, Bates Mate said:

Troy Chaplin should be in the firing line as well , not sure if our inability to convert inside 50's down to coaching , strategy/positioning , horrible skills probably a combination of all but  I would rather a experienced forward line coach teaching our young forwards (hogan and Weids in particular) than a guy who spent his career as a backman

This

4 hours ago, Redleg said:

It's not rubbish at all. The only run we had out of the backline was Hunt who did in fact turn it over mostly.

Hunt had 1 possession in the first quarter, It wasn't him turning it over.

FAARK I am still so gutted!! the season is just done. finished.

 

maybe I need a new hobby or a girlfriend

not sure the wife would agree though!

ah-thank-you

22 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Hunt had 1 possession in the first quarter, It wasn't him turning it over.

I meant the whole game. 

1 hour ago, Barney Rubble said:

My Post Mortem revolves around the Assistant Coaches.

Jade the Blade has been coaching our backline since Adam was a pup. What have they learned in 6 years????

I think he is now qualified as a grade 4 coach. Time he went somewhere else and stuffed their backline up.

Ben Mathews coaching Mid Field and Stoppages our biggest failing against good sides ( and also bad sides)

Our side is only as good as they are coached.

I would go after Hodge.

I was listening to the Ox on SEN talk about our lack of a hard edge against Collingwood. In particular he talked about Bugg as a player who would have added some intensity to the Collingwood clash. It led me to a theory on our psyche over the season.

I feel like we started the year with a fairly hard edge. Things weren't always going perfectly but we were winning contested ball and were hammering the opposition when we got the opportunity. Impressively this hard edge continued throughout the mid point of the season despite a difficult fixture and injuries to key players. Skills weren't always perfect but we were defined by our work at the contest. We were a tough team to play against.

I feel like the Sydney game saw a significant shift in our psyche which in the short term adversely affected our attack on the footy and the man and in the long term meant we lost our way. Now I don't blame Bugg. I've been around footy long enough to know that several of those look away punches are thrown every week and the fact his landed square on the jaw with devastating impact was pretty unlucky. But I think that brutal strike, the resulting six week suspension combined with earlier suspensions to Hogan, Lewis and Vince meant everyone at the Club including Goodwin felt suddenly compelled to defend the team as fair sports. I think in turn players felt subconsciously obliged to show that they were decent people on the field. All of a sudden they lost what had defined and galvanised them as a team. The hard edge, the mongrel, the intensity. I don't imagine this doubt lased more than a couple of weeks, but it seemed to lead to a mental shift from which the group couldn't recover.

I'd be interested to hear what others think of my theory. Obviously it could be a load of cheap pop psychology but having a way of explaining what I saw over the last 3rd of the season has helped me pick myself up this arvo.

 

19 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

The club is very wise to not say anything, the players will be even wiser if they do the same for the next month.

So right Clint

Supporters, even those able to acknowledge our progress, would be hurting.

Our expectations were lifted from the results against better sides (Adelaide etc). To play so poorly against North Brisbane and Pies when so much was on the line was beyond disappointing.

I still think that we should use the squad more fully and be more professional in our match ups.

To soon for nything other than consider finals with Esondon and James Hird and how that will work out. Maybe better to go skiing

4 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Probably going to announce that he's put a bounty on Tex Walkers head. That's my guess. 

No 'Likes' for this Ethan...

...it seems Demonlanders have lost their sense of humour today.

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

FAARK I am still so gutted!! the season is just done. finished.

 

maybe I need a new hobby or a girlfriend

not sure the wife would agree though!

ah-thank-you

Well don't tell her Dub!

21 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

No 'Likes' for this Ethan...

...it seems Demonlanders have lost their sense of humour today.

I think humour is the best way to deal with this situation. I'd break things otherwise. 

I planned on bidding on his creepy ear and wearing it as a necklace. 

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

I would go after Hodge.

Jordan should go have a beer with him

I'll keep this short. The Melbourne Football Club need to learn how to become RUTHLESS!!

They had numerous chances to run up big scoring margins but decided to ease up.

This really cost us.

The coach and the match committee must take some responsibility....should have had players returning from injury etc come through Casey.