http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/footy-18-mark-robinson-and-david-king-preview-melbournes-2018-season/news-story/2a69509b047bebdaba0ce9164350342e

I'm so glad firewall has blocked me from watching this and spared me 5 minutes of my life I will never get back!

i know everyone here banks enormous import in the opinion of mark robinson........

/s

When you look at past sports football editors of the Herald Sun , Mike Sheehan, Alf Brown etc...and then there’s Robbo , who is a perfect example if the dumbing down of society 

 

I think a lot of people would have Melbourne outside top 8.  Even most supporters are hoping we make the finals rather have the expectation that we do.

I'm one of them, hoping we do with no real confidence that we will.  Ability wise we have the talent, mentally do we still have that mental fragility.

So he uses what happened last year as a basis for deciding what will happen this year?  There is nothing here about what we ARE doing relative to others.  "They did this, they did that, I don't trust them!".  Well, Get [censored] you [censored] polisher.  A quality analysis would have looked at our list, our game style, our fitness and injuries, even our draw.  But no, one bad game last season. 

And how well did he go tipping the Tigers to win last year? 

He can keep licking James Hird's taint and enjoy the high he gets off that.

Thank god...

Be more concerned if he rated us.

Cheers Slobbo

2 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Thank god...

Be more concerned if he rated us.

Cheers Slobbo

Spot on bb. My expectations just rose. Finals for sure.

devastated

I thought he was dead

 

That's it!!!

He's on ignore!

Pizz poor analysis.  He is right about one thing though, I don't trust them (yet) to win a game that really needs winning.  Really hope that changes this year.  If we lose to North in Rd 3 I'll be about as annoyed as I was in round 23 last year.

Not the most unfair reason to be honest and it's the reason why so many of us refuse to get too excited. A big part of me still doesn't trust the club and players to stand up when it counts. Where I think things are different this year as opposed to last year is that we are slowly eroding the players that were a part of the "mentally scarred" culture of Bailey and (more so) Neeld. 

We have genuine fighters and players that have a little bit of FIGJAM about them. Robbo reckons the players are too selfish I definitely disagree with that, even in the AFLX i think we could see that the players are together and play for each other. The instagram/twitter stuff might've been a little OTT but it still had an air of arrogance about them that I didn't mind. That said arrogance needs to be backed up so I'd much prefer they get the job done when they're bloody well should (cough cough, North Melbourne & Fremantle). This needs to be the year we win when we're meant to win. 

Missing finals would be a massive let down, we need it. We have the quality to match it with anyone and when we hit our straps I really rate us.

Robbo didn't offer many tangible reasons, just more a feeling.

5 minutes ago, Pates said:

Not the most unfair reason to be honest and it's the reason why so many of us refuse to get too excited. A big part of me still doesn't trust the club and players to stand up when it counts. Where I think things are different this year as opposed to last year is that we are slowly eroding the players that were a part of the "mentally scarred" culture of Bailey and (more so) Neeld. 

We have genuine fighters and players that have a little bit of FIGJAM about them. Robbo reckons the players are too selfish I definitely disagree with that, even in the AFLX i think we could see that the players are together and play for each other. The instagram/twitter stuff might've been a little OTT but it still had an air of arrogance about them that I didn't mind. That said arrogance needs to be backed up so I'd much prefer they get the job done when they're bloody well should (cough cough, North Melbourne & Fremantle). This needs to be the year we win when we're meant to win. 

Missing finals would be a massive let down, we need it. We have the quality to match it with anyone and when we hit our straps I really rate us.

Robbo didn't offer many tangible reasons, just more a feeling.

That qualifies for deep, analytical, thoughtful analysis in Robbo's world.

Am sure he had Essendon in the top 6 though.

It's just clickbait.  Sensationalise some headline to hope more people click it.  Last year on SEN he basically said the Dees were a shoe in to make finals this year.  

57 minutes ago, drdrake said:

I think a lot of people would have Melbourne outside top 8.  Even most supporters are hoping we make the finals rather have the expectation that we do.

I'm one of them, hoping we do with no real confidence that we will.  Ability wise we have the talent, mentally do we still have that mental fragility.

Disagree with this...

I think most supporters would expect us to make finals this year.

I most definitely expect that we will...anything less will be a fail.

I actually trust this club, they will lose every key game we should win. It’s a Monty. We were always going to lose to norf and then capitulate vs the filth in r23.

I think Robbo is a [censored] as much as anyone. But I didn't disagree with everything he said. I don't trust us yet either which is why I have to keep my hopes in check. They've let me down way too many times.

He was also very right about how we talked a big game last year and tried to be ruthless but we went too far re: suspensions and co. And then when it came to the time to be really ruthless and unrelenting - Round 23 - we failed abysmally.

So yeah, I can understand some people/commentators not picking us for the eight at this stage. 

Edited February 23, 20188 yr by Demon Spofforth

Dear Mark  'BRAIN FREEZE' Robbo,  

A fitter and determent Melbourne outfit and more so, free of major injuries  is a given making the 8. However the 4  is not such a mountain to climb as i first thought. Bring on an injury free Gawn, Jones  Viney and add Lever, the team is much better stronger with them in. The top 4 for us.

I agree with his reservations. He hasn't forgotten that woeful effort in the final round of last year, and I haven't either.

On paper, we should make the 8, but there is a lot more to it than that.

Pre-season predictions are pure guesswork, no one really has any idea. Who would have tipped the Bulldogs for 2016 premiers or the Tigers for 2017? Most pundits didn't even have them making finals in their respective years!

Edited February 23, 20188 yr by sisso

18 minutes ago, Forest Demon said:

I agree with his reservations. He hasn't forgotten that woeful effort in the final round of last year, and I haven't either.

On paper, we should make the 8, but there is a lot more to it than that.

It's not just the final round, we shouldn't have been in that position, in fact we win the games we should have won except the thing between our ears got in the way and we finish top 4.

We can get fitter, stronger, faster but if we haven't improve the mental side we are in for another roller coaster season.

Pl0nker

33 minutes ago, nosoupforme said:

Dear Mark  'BRAIN FREEZE' Robbo,  

A fitter and determent Melbourne outfit and more so, free of major injuries  is a given making the 8. However the 4  is not such a mountain to climb as i first thought. Bring on an injury free Gawn, Jones  Viney and add Lever, the team is much better stronger with them in. The top 4 for us.

Add Hogan to the list of injury free.  Huge names there.