On 01/04/2018 at 00:51, Cassiew said:

So he has finals experience too, non?

 Cass, please read my post properly. I didn’t say Lewis is the only one with finals experience. I said just about the only one.

Yeah Jones played two games 12 years ago and more recently Lever.

  On 01/04/2018 at 00:27, willmoy said:

Stopped reading after P6, don't think i missed anything.

Lever....second AFL game for us, not going to, or probably doesn't want to walk in, and take over the backline, and from my experience it is always expected.They, (the backline) were talking all game, It will happen gradually.

Loved seeing Garlett and Hogan interviews. Good humble MFC Players.

Great Fox commentating by three ex Brisbane players and someone else. Couldn't contain themselves in last qtr, but justice was done.

Looks like 50mtr infringements fixed at the moment, as well as Max's "nothings in it" in the middle. His game is "becoming a presence" now.

Three games i saw "they" tried to get C'wobbles and TWSNBN and B bags across the line. But missed out on all three...ha ha...

 

Brown  the leading culprit........but  pretty poor in my book.

  On 31/03/2018 at 13:12, binman said:

I don't get this comment. The 'same old feebleness' would have been a loss. Yet we won by 4 + goals. If that's feeble i'll take some more of that please.

The feebleness is the players disappearance, and not really reacting to stop opponents run on.  We sit back, and let them back in.  Speaking of a habitual trait.

The end result last night showed how far we are ahead of the Lions, at this stage, yet we let them come right back from 6 goals down, to level with us; instead of us keeping our foot on their necks.

 

We should have won by 10 goals last nigh,t with the 1st half play we had brought with us.

We should have buried that team last night, and the non-ability in our players heads, to not Fulfill that, is a REAL concern.

  On 01/04/2018 at 00:02, small but forward said:

Oh - before I forget

i hope the spud that rolled Bayley Fritsch onto his neck in the 3Q tackle that saw him leave the field is cited and given weeks for that. It could have been seriously dangerous and was completely unwarranted.

Happened right in front of where we were sitting.  I couldn't believe it wasn't 50m and reported on the spot.  Completely unnecessary, just a cheap follow through after Bailey already had full contolers of the ball and had dangerous written all over it.  Gardner was the Brisbane player I think, cold have so easily avoided doing what he did as it was a very intentional act to pummel into Fritsch.

As it turned out, I think it was the knees to the guts/ribs that did the actual damage, but could have so easily done serious damage to the neck/head.  If the AFL had half a brain, they would suspend this tool based on neglecting his duty of care and as a warning to other players... sorry, I forgot, this is the AFL we are talking about.  Also couldn't believe how blasé the Fox Footy comentators were about it all as soon as they could see it was the knees that contacted on the replay, they completely ignored how close his head came to being pile driven into the ground.

Oh yeah and we are up to 7th with a 113% and Essendon LOST and are 10th....sorry couldnt help myself.

  On 01/04/2018 at 00:32, jnrmac said:

Comedy gold.

Merely countering your similarly hyperbolic point about every team thinking they can beat us with pressure, and that we fold. If that were the case, we wouldn’t come back from any deficit, respond to any adversity or win any games of footy.

Irksome flaws in our game still persist but at least they are being shown up now and not later in the season. There is time to fix things up. Killer instinct is an attribute sorely lacking and may cost us in the end like last season.

  On 01/04/2018 at 00:54, DV8 said:

I agree we show the ability to fightback now, compared to the post 2010 era, but even in the early 2000's we weren't all that good at lifting, against a team that was keeping its foot on our neck.

 

This is a habit of Melbourne teams that have tended to be front runners. good in the easy going.  bad against Real Pressure teams. found out in finals.

Yesterday we played a team of kids.  We have a few years on them.

 

This is what I want to see from this club/team. a club team that will maintain the pressure on oppositions sides until they break.

What worries me is that even tho we might rebuild the list, we still might have those traditional Melbourne flaws of being too soft to bury opponents. (individuals and teams).

TMac and Viney; we cannot keep making excuses when a couple of senior players are out.  2 out of 22 .

 

Its just that we HAVE to Expect More,,,,  if we are to ever do better. 

This club has done very well at making many players wealthy, and they didn't achieve, or perform at their absolute possible best, most professional, for us.

 

Yet we still herald them as champs.   champs of what?  nice boys club.

 

It has to change, or we will continue putting out more, and more, of the same as in our past. 

All negative every team has bad games, 

  On 31/03/2018 at 22:32, stevethemanjordan said:

What an utterly irrelevant point.

Improved immensely on the road?

We are at completely different stages of development as clubs. 

We won on the road yesterday and lost at home last week to a depleted Geelong? What on earth does it have to do with our single quarter meltdowns?

In this case the second half of the third and first half of the fourth. 42 points against the wooden spooners. 37 points against Geelong last week. 30-odd points against the Saints in JLT 2.

And last year, 8 times we conceded 30 points or more in a single quarter.

How do supporters keep overlooking this? 

You sure are happy-go-lucky talking up a win on the road against the wooden spooners of last year.

Unbelievable, the positives posters try to churn out.

 What a shame you are trapped behind a keyboard. If only we had you out there playing...

Even though we were 7 goals in front, it wasn’t flash footy and was expecting us to ‘unleash’ hell after half time. And against a ‘crap’ team, we should have. To witness another capitulation in that third quarter, was an all too familiar sight and this has to stop!!!!

  On 01/04/2018 at 00:02, small but forward said:

Oh - before I forget

i hope the spud that rolled Bayley Fritsch onto his neck in the 3Q tackle that saw him leave the field is cited and given weeks for that. It could have been seriously dangerous and was completely unwarranted.

 

  On 01/04/2018 at 00:43, DaisyDeeciple said:

ANB was ok, Fritsch is super clean, i actually thought it was a spear takle/suplex on him that was mega dangerous and reportable, he kept the arm around his throat when he wàs upside down.

Seemed to purposefully tuck his knees into Fritsch's chest as well. Pretty dirty considering the only 2 real options were Fritsch had either taken the mark or not taken control of the ball. 

But he won't get anything, nor will that idiot that pushed Jetts into an oncoming Cameron.

We are vulnerable to pacy small forwards.They seem to open us up too easily. The backline is a work in progress. Jetta is slow, Hunt doesn’t get enough ball and while Wagner has improved there will always be a question mark about his disposal. 

  On 01/04/2018 at 00:17, Hot as Hell said:

Ummm. That would be both teams, not just us. 

Obviously but Brisbane are more used to it than us H A H. 

  On 31/03/2018 at 13:46, bing181 said:

Brisbane may have been bottom last year, but they won’t be this year. Adding Hodge and Cameron, Christianson back ... makes a big difference. They already improved over the course of last season, and will continue. Most importantly though, with away teams having to travel, plus the humidity, they’re never going to be walkovers at home. Bottom 4, maybe, but they’re a mid-table team at the Gabba. Happy with the win, though as always, work to do. 

This. Plus a starting midfield if SME, Beams (absolute star), Zorko and some young up and comers filtering through. 

They are well coached and no push overs. Very happy to bank the 4 points.

  On 31/03/2018 at 23:26, Rusty Nails said:

Frost in to cover Brown is a no brainer this week.  I would sacrifice a small in Hunt and give him a breather for this one.  Sometimes a week off can do wonders for a young body and legs, especially given his break neck style.

Brayshaw for Bugg.  Sorry but Bugg just can't be played forward near the sticks.  Complete waste of an entry inside 50 if he gets near it.  Back pocket or hard tag role only please.

Personally I think with his performances so far this year, I'd back in Oscar to get the job done on Brown, though I'm certainlty not averse to having Frost back in the side if his form and hunger for the contest are there.  If nothing else Frost would be a good insurance policy in the instance Oscar has a bad day.  I do know Brown is a super mobile and smart footballer and that we haven't done so week to contain him an times gone by.  Regardless, the real key, as  always will be starving him of opertunities.

Agree Re Bugg, though I'd say that his best is good enough, but his consistency isn't there and he probably isn't good enough to survive too many bad games as others perhaps are.

  On 31/03/2018 at 13:27, RickyJ45 said:

I agree... our first win in brisbane since 2010 is also another monkey off our back

We beat GC there in 2011 too. And, to be fair, since 2011 we only played there twice, both times in the Neeld era (2012 and 2013).

Something is a miss and I can't put my finger on it. The drop off continues problem long term means opposition know they are never out of it.

Mid field looks at times to lack experience.

Didn't understand Vince off Zorko in the third.

Rarely play four quarters, would like to have seen the personal stats for 2nd quarter last week and third this week, just poor not to mention Lewis is costing us two goals a game.

 

 

One (small) pleasing thing from our first two games: something we struggled with last year, and I know @jnrmac in particular was big on, was our first quarters.

Already in 2018 we've had more first quarters with 5+ goals than for the entire 2017 season.

At least we've started our games a bit better so far this year.

  On 31/03/2018 at 23:24, Dr. Gonzo said:

I wanted Hogan pushed up around the ball, he did well early when pushing into the midfield and I thought he was wasted deep forward when we struggled getting the ball down there.

Have to agree he was "wasted" down forward.  But, only because we failed to get the ball out and down to him in quick time to take advantage of the one-out situation.  So, I reckon the theory's fine -- just the execution that's lacking...

  On 01/04/2018 at 01:49, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Personally I think with his performances so far this year, I'd back in Oscar to get the job done on Brown, though I'm certainlty not averse to having Frost back in the side if his form and hunger for the contest are there.  If nothing else Frost would be a good insurance policy in the instance Oscar has a bad day.  I do know Brown is a super mobile and smart footballer and that we haven't done so week to contain him an times gone by.  Regardless, the real key, as  always will be starving him of opertunities.

Agree Re Bugg, though I'd say that his best is good enough, but his consistency isn't there and he probably isn't good enough to survive too many bad games as others perhaps are.

We’ve also got Waite to worry about.

  On 01/04/2018 at 01:49, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Personally I think with his performances so far this year, I'd back in Oscar to get the job done on Brown, though I'm certainlty not averse to having Frost back in the side if his form and hunger for the contest are there.  If nothing else Frost would be a good insurance policy in the instance Oscar has a bad day.  I do know Brown is a super mobile and smart footballer and that we haven't done so week to contain him an times gone by.  Regardless, the real key, as  always will be starving him of opertunities.

Rodney, I will simply say that we see the speed and strength of young Oscar matched against Brown very, very differently. 

If that's the way the coach plays it l have no problems with that. Although clearly l would use Frost to cover Brown and allow Lever to play his natural game. 

At the moment Lever is all at sea playing one on ones and trying to plug holes simultaneously. He ends up doing neither well and is copping a bath on this site. 

Positives: one kick from a 2 nothing start. Negatives: relentless sledging from "OP" know-nothings on this site.

  On 01/04/2018 at 01:15, america de cali said:

Irksome flaws in our game still persist but at least they are being shown up now and not later in the season. There is time to fix things up. Killer instinct is an attribute sorely lacking and may cost us in the end like last season.

Are there flaws in the team? I thought we'd won the last 4 flags.

Talk about stating the obvious

  On 01/04/2018 at 01:59, Hot as Hell said:

Rodney, I will simply say that we see the speed and strength of young Oscar matched against Brown very, very differently. 

If that's the way the coach plays it l have no problems with that. Although clearly l would use Frost to cover Brown and allow Lever to play his natural game. 

At the moment Lever is all at sea playing one on ones and trying to plug holes simultaneously. He ends up doing neither well and is copping a bath on this site. 

You might be right and I'm quite happy if you are.  I think most would struggle to match it with Frost athletically,  but that's not all there is to playing footy.  At the moment Oscar is getting the job done.  Hipwood for Brissy is pretty quick/mobile, yet we held him pretty well.  Granted Hipwood is not at the same level as Brown yet.

Big fan of what Frosty can do as well, so like I said more than happy to have him back in the side.  My comment was to some extent as much a vote of confidence in Oscar and that we shouldn't underrate the job he's doing.  Has been pretty solid down back this year so far and if that continues, it can only be a good thing.

Lever is a big boy and just needs to find his grove in the team and the way it plays around him.  All this bring back Frost for the sake of Lever talk is making me sick.

We are a slow team ... but not always.  Our ball movement is treacle-slow at times and when that happens,  we're vulnerable against any opposition. 

 We are a 10-12 win team ... no better,  no worse.  We can get to 12 wins based on the footy talent that we have.  If we strike a few of the better teams that might have a rash of injuries we could perhaps get to 14 wins. 

Our strengths are winning the ball,  tackling & pressure,  contested ball and numbers at the contest.  And our ball movement is often slick.  But we are often a slow team within games and that's why a lot of teams can get a run-on against us.  Our lack of pace is often exposed when the other mob have the ball.