AFLW: Rnd 7 V W Bulldogs @ Whitten Oval

[Deemented Are Go! 3,677]

17 minutes ago, Brownie said:

The thing that has been carried over from mens to womens so well is the art of ducking into tackles. 

The rolling of shoulders to pull the contact high. Dropping to your knees when you know your going to get caught. I watched a bulldogs player fall on her arse and get paid a high contact free.

Making an effort to dispose of the ball properly goes out the window if you can just drop to you knees. Worst result for the player is a ball up.

It's a blight on our game.

We get to watch the master next Sunday.

Yep the umpiring was bad and we also blew it again.

Snap. We were writing simultaneously..

[Cassiew 1,903]

1 hour ago, Clintosaurus said:

Storm losing is never a bad thing. Hope your head is not too bad when you wake up.

No it’s not. I go for all Melbourne teams, except soccer because it sucks. 

Am very sick right now

[Demonland 71,624]

A TOUCH OF MADNESS by Ruby Tuesday 

There is a quote that is often misattributed to Albert Einstein which goes along these lines: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” meaning that if you always follow an unsuccessful pattern, you will inevitably always fail.

It turns out that Einstein never said it but whoever did, perfectly encapsulated the 2018 campaign of the Melbourne women's team. Since after the opening round, the Demons have been shooting themselves in the foot with strong starting quarters followed by poor kicking for goal and performances that were punctuated by hesitancy and indecisive play, some absolute howlers (missing after running into open goals has been a special) that ultimately cost them a grand final place.

Against the Bulldogs, the same mad pattern was there for all to see although this time, they had first use of the breeze after captain Daisy Pearce won the toss so they were always likely to hold a lead at the end of the opening term. 

And so it was, that Melbourne controlled the ball for much of the term when kicking to the southern end. As usual they had a lopsided inside 50 advantage of 11 to 2, but all they had to show for the dominance was a seven point lead thanks to a solitary Richelle Cranston goal.

After the break, the Bulldogs showed the Demons how things should be done properly by going on the attack and, after a couple of early behinds, the goals came regularly - they snagged three goals in the first 12 minutes and though the visitors came back with a goal to Karen Paxman in a rare foray forward, it would have taken a genius like Einstein to get them across the line from there.

Katherine Smith’s snapped goal just three minutes into the the third term offered some hope but those insane Demons lapsed into their pattern of wastefulness. They kept the Doggies scoreless for what is often known as “the premiership quarter” but they managed only one goal from seven scoring shots with their second use of the breeze.

It was the old familiar pattern from that game in Fremantle. No urgency and no desire to go in for the kill but rather, a slow approach that gave opposition defenders the chance to apply that little bit of extra pressure when going for goal. 

They tried hard to stem the flow in the last and even tantalised the fans by regaining the lead with Kate Hore’s diving mark and goal but, as fate would have it, the Bulldogs’ Brooke Lochland kicked accurately for the winning goal with less than a minute and a half left to play. 

The pattern had been followed: the season was over.

Melbourne  1.1.7 2.1.13 3.7.25 4.7.31

Western Bulldogs  0.0.0 3.2.20 3.2.20 5.3.33

Goals

Melbourne Cranston Hore Paxman Smith

Western Bulldogs  Berry Brennan Conti Kearney Lochland

Best

Melbourne Paxman Smith L Pearce Downie O'Dea, Jakobsson

Western Bulldogs Kearney Blackburn Bruton Spark, Conti Birch

Injuries

Melbourne Lampard (knee)

Western Bulldogs Nil

Umpires Mirable, Dore, Johanson

Official crowd 7,593 at VU Whitten Oval

[Cassiew 1,903]

12 hours ago, Clintosaurus said:

You probably caused a few heart attacks with the first line. Sounds like you have drunk a shitload.

Uh I see what you mean with that now. I’m just going through all these and I can’t believe some of the things I wrote. I didn’t really think how someone would read that at the time. Shame I can’t edit or delete that post. It’s there for everyone to see now. Hopefully people will ignore it or see it as a post by a very drunk woman who was upset and had no one to comfort her and was venting online. At that moment I would have paid for someone to give me a hug.

Edited March 17, 2018 by Cassiew

[Ungarie boy 233]

I've said it before; the player responsible for initiating the high contact should be penalised; so if your ducking, dropping to the knee's or rolling the shoulders and it creates high contact you get penalised.  A couple free kicks when in possession of the ball would very very quickly kill this practice (coaches would not stand for it at all, rather than encouraging it or at least turning a blind eye).

* note benefit of the doubt goes to the ball carrier unless they have a history (a weekly review could name players who lose the benefit of the doubt)

[whatwhat say what 22,700]

hard questions need to be asked about our team set-up and structure

whilst we ostensibly have a very strong midfield, we regularly got smashed for contested ball all season

our conversion was nothing short of appalling either

aleisha newman kicked the goal of the season but the point she kicked from point blank range last night should haunt her all off season

[McQueen 17,864]

This top two teams playing off is going to fail miserably with 10 or more teams.

 

[david_neitz_is_my_dad 4,083]

 

[Redleg 40,843]

Not a fan of the women's game but having watched it on replay, will make a couple of comments, the free kick was a lucky one but our girl did put her arm across the WB girl's neck, yes the throw in should have been recalled, but what about manning up in defence, our tall forward never touched the ball all game and our kicking for goal again was poor and highlighted by a miss from 3 metres out that would have won us the game.

We lost it.

Edited March 18, 2018 by Redleg

[Dees2014 2,377]

Mystifying is how Melbourne teams (men and women) can have such a big disparity between best and worst. Our women’s team is largely a class act around the ground but has real difficulty converting inside fifty. That was the case last night and their road trip to Perth. The less said about the brain fade in the NT against the pies the better. 

This should have been our flag. We had the team to do it. Yet another lost demon opportunity.

[layzie 33,752]

Would have been nice to see a Melbourne side win some silverware 

[whatwhat say what 22,700]

42 minutes ago, layzie said:

Would have been nice to see a Melbourne side win some silverware 

would you settle for some mdf painted and glued together?

[layzie 33,752]

Ah I already settled for that

[old dee 23,781]

Thirdbourne again!!!!!

[beelzebub 23,313]

From what ive watched of this series we certainly did not lack ( in the main ) for endeavour and application. There are certainly those with some skill and footy prowess. 

That said there was a hell of a lot of fiddle-faht footy and the goalposts were a pretty safe spot to stand !!

Melbourne...the glamour side.

Not sure the coach has a clue tttt

[chook fowler 19,446]

The problem, pure and simple, was inaccuracy In front of goal. Not just last night but all season. Conversion rate has been terrible and cost dearly.

[Whispering_Jack 29,807]

Extraordinary parallel between our men’s team (2017) and our women’s team (2018).

Both missed out on final’s action by about 2 goals, both had ample opportunity to boost their percentage in their second last game and failed to do so, and both lost their last game.

[McQueen 17,864]

I hope we go hard in the off season for that Hannah Mounsey chick.

[D4Life 2,458]

45 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

The problem, pure and simple, was inaccuracy In front of goal. Not just last night but all season. Conversion rate has been terrible and cost dearly.

Totally agree, we blew yesterday’s game and Freo game with poor kicking for goal a fifty fifty conversion rate would have led to wins and a 6-1 winning season!

[DV8 2,271]

2 hours ago, beelzebub said:

From what ive watched of this series we certainly did not lack ( in the main ) for endeavour and application. There are certainly those with some skill and footy prowess. 

That said there was a hell of a lot of fiddle-faht footy and the goalposts were a pretty safe spot to stand !!

Melbourne...the glamour side.

Not sure the coach has a clue tttt

fiddle-faht footy.

 

This is an issue for the whole club imo, because it seems that when pressure is on us, applied, or sometimes when we just feel pressured, we do exactly this.   fiddle-faht footy.

We have to stop over thinking things and play with instinct, & with some level of spontaneity.  Waiting for something to happen, when we hold the footy, is the ultimate of not-taking responsibility.

 

If you do not hold the initiative, then the opposition must have it.

[DaveyDee 421]

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Extraordinary parallel between our men’s team (2017) and our women’s team (2018).

Both missed out on final’s action by about 2 goals, both had ample opportunity to boost their percentage in their second last game and failed to do so, and both lost their last game.

This result could set our club back 30 years !!!!! 

How many memberships do you think it’s going to cost us?

Is it in anyway possible this result could bring us one step closer to the end of the world as we know it?

Should I inform Lord Vader? Or Can I blame Jack Watts?

[Dees_In_October 3,374]

I don't agree with the seeming rigidity within our game plan. It's all well and good to 'stick to the process' because our best is very good, but there must be some flexibility to respond to conditions, match ups, the general vibe of the day. Arguably sticking to the game plan is good for player and team development but short games and a short season don't always lend themselves to long-term thinking. The idea that our weaknesses are somehow a 'Melbourne' trait though is questionable ... is it something in the water because the teams seem quite separate entities, except I guess Garland. Not saying similar problems aren't there, just that they're unhappy coincidences.

It'll be a very different competition next season and onwards - more time for form fluctuations and building team synergy within seasons. We'll look back at these first two as ones that got away and it won't get easier from here. And now the teams go their separate ways for another, what, 8-9 months?  Then back to square one. I definitely felt that some of what we'd built by the last round of 2017 understandably didn't carry over into 2018. Same boat as all teams though.

We'll lose some good players to expansion, but that's inevitable and I think the players going would have mostly decided anyway. As part-timers, being close to family support and having continuity with VFLW are among the biggest selling points. On a positive, some of the 18-year-olds who've come in this year for other teams have been very impressive, so (dare I say it!) I hope we look to the draft for some more natural footballers - in the style of Katherine Smith, who I thought played a great game last night.

[chook fowler 19,446]

Another ACL injury. There is obviously a big bio mechanical issue that needs to be addressed in this competition.

[Bitter but optimistic 22,220]

3 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

Another ACL injury. There is obviously a big bio mechanical issue that needs to be addressed in this competition.

Sheilas playing a bloke's game - it goes against biblical precepts!

[beelzebub 23,313]

1 hour ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Sheilas playing a bloke's game - it goes against biblical precepts!

Boudicca and Joan say hello