Post Match Discussion - Round 1

[titan_uranus 22,436]

6 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Viney and Tom McDonald are big outs which really hurt us. Both play key roles, and we don't really have anyone to replace them in those roles.

They were missing Dangerfield and Henderson, both of whom play equally big roles. They also lost Taylor early.

If we don't have the list depth to cover for a midfielder or a second tall forward, why are we being spoken of as a flag contender?

Obviously not having Viney or TMac hurts and makes us worse, but if we want to play finals this year, we can't use their absences as excuses.

[ShaneJ 88]

Great game! I was there and was enthralled throughout.

Cats had the muscle but we fought back to get into the contest. A straight kick from Gawn would have won us the game but it was not to be. A 3 point loss is a loss for sure, but Geelong are a first class team and coming up a little short in round 1 isn't the defining moment of our season. 

Looking forward to what's ahead, and am still appreciative that the dark days of 2013 are behind us.

[Dusty_Hill 184]

Sorry. 

Just watched the coach interview. Selection didn’t cost us this week. 

Okay then I was wrong...

 

 

[chook fowler 18,277]

2 minutes ago, ShaneJ said:

Great game! I was there and was enthralled throughout.

Cats had the muscle but we fought back to get into the contest. A straight kick from Gawn would have won us the game but it was not to be. A 3 point loss is a loss for sure, but Geelong are a first class team and coming up a little short in round 1 isn't the defining moment of our season. 

Looking forward to what's ahead, and am still appreciative that the dark days of 2013 are behind us.

Spoil sport. I feel the need to whinge.

[ding 5,126]

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

They were missing Dangerfield and Henderson, both of whom play equally big roles. They also lost Taylor early.

If we don't have the list depth to cover for a midfielder or a second tall forward, why are we being spoken of as a flag contender?

Obviously not having Viney or TMac hurts and makes us worse, but if we want to play finals this year, we can't use their absences as excuses.

Only complete nuffers have us as a flag chance.

We may well make finals, but will be out in the first game

Bookmark it

[Dr. Gonzo 22,483]

2 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

That is damning. Gotta find another avenue to goal when Hoges is up the ground.

Tmac 

[DaveyDee 421]

23 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

We do play some dumb football at times and it’s bloody frustrating. 

Today was very frustrating but it’s not going to dent my optimism 

One day I hope the MFC has 

1/ Geelong footy smarts / maturity

2/ Hawks ability to bounce back from adversity

3/ Tigers business ability to sell hope in the most hopeless of situations 

4/ GWS gameplan I think it’s perfectly suited for the game 

Yet most of all we are the Melbourne Football Club premiers of the AFL

Edited March 25, 2018 by DaveyDee

[Dusty_Hill 184]

Keeping em to 17 points in the second half was gold but they were full of injuries. 

Anyway next week.....

[DeeSpencer 23,179]

2 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Viney and Tom McDonald are big outs which really hurt us. Both play key roles, and we don't really have anyone to replace them in those roles.

Pedersen replaced Tommy Mc just fine and Maynard did an ok job at replacing Viney. I get that Viney combined with Oliver, Petracca etc creates a level of midfield dominance against most sides that can win games but that's not really what I want. I want a team that's proficient in all areas of the ground.

The guys we need to replace:
- Garlett with a crumber who can get front and centre and lay some tackles
- A proper key defender to free Lever up to the third man up role
- A pair of hard running, spreading midfielders to cut down opposition chains of play and create ours.

[Males 577]

3 minutes ago, Chris said:

I get your point on Garlett but out of the three you lost Garlett is first picked every single week. He is in a different class to Hannan and Fritzch. 

This is my quandary, when he's on, he's on. Fritsch and Hannan are better in the air though, and that seems to be the way we are going to deliver the ball. ?

We let the ball come out of our F50 to easily as well, I think Bugg's tackling pressure and mongrel would have been useful today.

It's only R1 though. ?

[titan_uranus 22,436]

Just now, DeeSpencer said:

Pedersen replaced Tommy Mc just fine and Maynard did an ok job at replacing Viney. I get that Viney combined with Oliver, Petracca etc creates a level of midfield dominance against most sides that can win games but that's not really what I want. I want a team that's proficient in all areas of the ground.

The guys we need to replace:
- Garlett with a crumber who can get front and centre and lay some tackles
- A proper key defender to free Lever up to the third man up role
- A pair of hard running, spreading midfielders to cut down opposition chains of play and create ours.

Ummm

No.

[Demon Dynasty 15,547]

2 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

Maynard to Ablett was not a smart move.

Really need to work on our hittinf of targets, especially into the F50.

I thought he actually put Ablett off his slick game when moved there which helped towards getting us back into the match.  I must have been at a different game or need new glasses ?

Some horrid clangers and looked out of it before the move but it is only his first handful of games.  Would like to see how he goes against the Lions before seeing  him thrown back to Casey for a long stint.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Rusty Nails

[Jaded No More 58,070]

ANB was another very disappointing player. Had such a good pre season and end to 2017 and was hardly sighted today. We had too many passengers today and again a costly bad quarter. I feel a sense of dejavu.

The most disappointing part of today was that it showed us that again we have not learnt to play 4 quarters. Again team selection and setup was poor. Again we had chances to win and we had no composure to do so. It’s this clear lack of change, despite all of last years’ learnings, that really hurts. 

They had big outs and 3 on the bench for the better part of 3 quarters, and yet we didn’t go in for the kill. We played a stinker second quarter and then chased our tail for the second half. Sounds so familiar doesn’t it? This was a massive missed opportunity. And it’s these missed opportunities that will cost us dearly, just as it did last year. 

 

By the way, I mustn’t have been the only one who saw Oliver at the 3/4 break on all four sticking his fingers down his throat and doing 3 massive projectile vomits. Pleasant stuff!

[Axis of Bob 10,229]

I'm not going to read the last 14 pages because ..... well I'm sure you know!

It was an interesting game of completely contrasting styles. We played a hard nosed contested style of footy, while Geelong played very uncontested footy. It shows that there is more than one way to skin a cat (not pun intended). They held possession and then counterattacked through the corridor, often successfully. This meant that they had a lot of easy goals and one on one opportunities, while we often scrambled the ball forward and held it in with pressure. 

Our game plan requires us to put pressure on and make the opposition's possessions messy. When that drops off we don't give our defenders much of a chance. I think our game style will be successful against good teams.

I think we were clearly the better team today. But in the times where Geelong had the ascendancy, we allowed them to score too heavily. 

I'm still bullish about the season, even though we lost a winnable game.

[Demon Dynasty 15,547]

43 minutes ago, olisik said:

I have always bench an Omac critique but I think his the least of our worries today. He is probably one of our only players who won there position.

 

i want to know who the hell was playing on Menzel.

Mostly Nev in the 2nd and last....not sure about the other 2 quarters as they were up the other end

[Earl Hood 5,789]

14 minutes ago, Males said:

I agree it didn't suit him, but that is part of my issue, where is his game B? I'm probably in the minority on this, but I believe Bugg's fwd defensive pressure and nagging would be better. Or give Spargo a crack, he tackles hard and has a bit of mongrel I believe? ?

I agree somewhat. Jeff may not have a game B but his A game is worth pursuing. How many goals last year for him?  42. Our coaches strategic group needs to work out how to get him one out to realise his talent and they can work on O Mac etc. 

[jnrmac 19,007]

They controlled the ball with possession kicks and their transition from defence killed us.

The defence was woeful but I won't heap all the blame on them as the mids didn't do their job properly.

OMac and Wagner were terrible. Lever in the first half was terrible.

Good sides don't let others control the ball like Geelong did. It was half time before we picked it up. They were effectively 2 men down on rotations and we still couldn't get over them

Lack of composure going fwd really hurt us as well.

A lot to like but so much to dislike.

[jnrmac 19,007]

1 hour ago, Left Field said:

Anyone commented on Jordan Lewis' ego yet. Shut up and make him kick from 55 out on an angle. Not the goal square.

You [censored].

Bad decision from a senior player  but Lewis in the third quarter was huge.

[monoccular 16,096]

I hope Lewis feels really bad, and ashamed, for talking back and allowing a gimmie goal from that 50. 

Totally undisciplined (yes it was a soft free to say the least) from a senior club leader. 

I said half jokingly at the time “I hope for his sake we don’t lose a close one”??

[jnrmac 19,007]

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

We were super efficient in terms of disposals to inside 50 ratio.  

As you say, we need to score and use it better forward of the centre.  Work that out and the rest is history.

Rubbish. Our ability to get the ball fwd was good but our efficiency inside was terrible. You can't have a crap shoot and hope to win, You have to stop oppositions scoring. They controlled the footy for a large part of the game.

[DeeZee 6,753]

In the end it was a tale of two defenses.

Ours was very poor and theirs was very good.

[jnrmac 19,007]

1 hour ago, the rolling fog said:

Goal or no goal the players were cooked in the 4th. Many struggled to run out the game

Geelong were effectively down 2 men for a lot of the game and you are feeling for our players being a bit weary??

 

[jnrmac 19,007]

2 hours ago, Deespicable said:

What a game - great to see we finally can play against a genuinely big opponent on a big stage with so much at stake for both sides and not be found wanting - we will be competitive with all the top sides based on that.

Ultimately we were smashed in the air - our outlet long kick down the line was picked off with ease by the Cats. They also were way smarter using the short kick out of defence than we were, particularly in the second term when it all came unstuck for a while.

Quite a few players down, although first game of the season, things don't always go right. But what I loved was that we had two of the best midfielders of the past decade - Selwood and Ablett - trying their darndest and having to work for almost every kick.

Yeah we really made them work for their 78 possessions. That'll teach 'em.

[sisso 2,388]

a) why do we always lose as favourites?

 

b) why are we crap at the MCG since Goodwin took over?

[Demon Dynasty 15,547]

55 minutes ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

To quote a well known figure, "You can not be serious!"

The umpires were a disgrace today and we certainly got the worst of it.  Of particular note was Ablett being held by one hand and tossing the ball with the other to a teammate in full view of the central umpire at the centre bounce.  This led directly to a score, one of many Umpire Assisted Scores Geelong were awarded.  On the other hand, I saw Hunt get clotheslined twice for no call, Pedersen was spear tackled in a marking contest for a no call and Oliver copped a few high shots.  Maybe I'll keep track of it when I look at the replay. 

On to the main game, a few things stood out to me. 

One, we allowed them to have unlimited uncontested marks.  At one point they had six before they got the ball out of our attacking 50 after a kick in.  They ended with 90 uncontested marks to our 44.  That's an absolute disgrace. 

Our mids still don't look before they kick.  How many times do we have to see them take the ball facing away from goal and do a quick turn and kick without looking for a target?  It kills us.  Same with the bomb to the hot spot.  We took two marks from that play all day and one of them was less a bomb and more a pass to Big Max (Who missed).  I'm assuming that there's some team rule/instruction/tactic that says that they are to play the percentages and put the ball there.  Sadly, whoever thinks that this is a viable tactic is a blithering idiot and needs to be sacked before they can do more damage.  Every team we play knows where the ball is going and they set up for it, wait for ALL of our forwards to jump at the ball and spoil each other, then run it out. 

On that note, how can these guys who have played the game for years and in theory have access to the best tactical minds in the country still play like ten year olds?  NOBODY EVER STAYS OUT!  If the ball is on the ground, everybody rushes in and tries to win it.  They crash into each other, they get in the way and prevent their teammates from getting the ball out.  None of them think to create space for a teammate.  And then when the ball does reach the outside of the maul, there are only opposition players waiting to take it away because all of ours are fighting each other for the inside ball. 

How about marking contests?  the ball is kicked to two Demons.  Do they talk?  Does one stay down for the spillage?  Hell No!  They both go for the mark and spoil each other!  EVERY TIME!  Kick it to the so-called Hot Spot and watch as every forward in the vicinity tries to mark it.  One or two defenders go up with them to make sure the ball spills, and the rest are positioned around the pack to pick up the spill and run it out. 

And now, for the grand finale.  We can't kick.  How many missed targets does it take?  How many scoring opportunities ruined because half of our side can't be trusted to hit an open target thirty metres away?  I don't know how many times I've said it, but if you can't kick, you can't play football.  It's that simple.  We need to get a specialist kicking coach and put some serious effort into fixing this. 

*swap she for he!