2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Nah it was the Blues, we beat them in the Qualifying Final though not the Prelim

 

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Nah it was the Blues, we beat them in the Qualifying Final though not the Prelim

Thanks for that Dr G. Yes, it was the qualifying final with recruits Green and Bruce winning the game for us.  My Carlton supporting neighbour still hasn't got over the defeat.

7 minutes ago, Bobby McKenzie said:

 

Thanks for that Dr G. Yes, it was the qualifying final with recruits Green and Bruce winning the game for us.  My Carlton supporting neighbour still hasn't got over the defeat.

I was there !!!

1 hour ago, bingers said:

I was there !!!

Marvellous Day!!

9 hours ago, Bobby McKenzie said:

In 2000 Melbourne lose to Carlton at the G by 96 points mid season.

We play Carlton again that year in Preliminary final and beat them to make the Grand Final. Don't these memories bring some form of hope?

Those teams including the Melbourne 2000 team had runs on the board. 

We knew that those loses would be merely a blimp on the radar for those teams. Carlton lost to St Kilda and Sydney in 1995 -- two perennial loses at the time -- by 10+ goals, their only two loses for the year on the way to the flag.

Melbourne has yet to demonstrate that big loses are just that: a bad day at the office.

The reality is that these loses have proven to be part of and are arguably the catalyst towards the wheels falling off for an entire year.

We have got to stop finding a means to justify these loses until they became just as they are for the aforemention teams: aberrations. There is absolutely nothing to suggest last week's loss was just a bump in the road.

Much has been said of this playing group just "expecting" things to happen. If we fall into the trap of saying, "Oh well richmond lost by 80 points last year and won the flag, no stress!" then we're feeding into what is already a soft culture.

I fully expect them to bounce back this week if we're any hope of playing finals. 

 Hawthorn were a good contrast yesterday. They were a complete rabble in the first half. But they came back to give themselves half a chance.  What could have been a 100  point loss was only about 20. They managed to save their percentage. Will come in handy if they are finals contenders. 

27 minutes ago, america de cali said:

 Hawthorn were a good contrast yesterday. They were a complete rabble in the first half. But they came back to give themselves half a chance.  What could have been a 100  point loss was only about 20. They managed to save their percentage. Will come in handy if they are finals contenders. 

Oh you mean like how in round 1 we went into halftime 5 goals down and lost by 3 points at the death knell

Get a grip you knee jerkers a weeks a long time in footy 2 weeks ago collingwood where no good essendon where no good now they are good, collingwood beat a very average Carlton played well against GWS who just don't play well in Melbourne, beat a undermanned Adelaide who played a unfit Sloane, which made them even more undermanned, now everyone says they are finals bound. After 3 weeks the dees had the best score for, after 1 poor week where we could not kick straight and everyone says we can't kick goals, knee jerkers!! after Wednesday either collingwood is finals bound or essendon are,  after three rounds  how much has changed in 2 weeks later heaps has changed, now I am not saying we don't have problems we do, but it is never as good as it seems, and never as bad as it seems, every team has moments of metal weakness, good and bad weeks, many make out that we are the only ones.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Oh you mean like how in round 1 we went into halftime 5 goals down and lost by 3 points at the death knell

We didn’t start like a rabble. We had a 20  minute disaster. Round one performances mean little anyway. If we played like Hawthorn did, I don’t believe  we would have the stomach to fight it out after the game was almost lost beyond hope in the second half.

Edited April 22, 20186 yr by america de cali

19 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

Include North ... can’t believe we beat them by 6 goals & lost to Hawks by 11goals!

And what happened to Hawthorn on Sunday... lost to North by a tad under 5 goals... I suppose the Hawks' season is done now and North are premiership contenders.

The point I'm making is that the first 5 rounds have been so lacking in consistency for just about every team, that it's nigh on impossible to judge where any team will end up the season on the ladder.  We lost to the Cats by less than a kick, we beat the Lions reasonably comfortably despite falling asleep, we break a 17 match hoodoo comfortably beating North by approx 6 goals, then we stumble against the Hawks (who, let's face it, we have a history of stumbling against) and all of a sudden our season is over... knee jerk reaction is an understatement!

Let's look at a couple of examples of teams who, by the standards expected by some posters in this thread, will be joining us at the bottom of the ladder: 

The Swans lose to both Port and Adelaide at home, beat the Eagles in Perth, comfortably beat expected premiership contenders the Giants and only just get over the line against the Bulldogs. 

Port... destroy the Dockers in Perth, beat Sydney in Sydney, only just beat the Lions in Adelaide, get comfortably beaten by the Bombers in Melbourne and get comfortably beaten by the Cats in Adelaide.

 

Edited April 23, 20186 yr by hardtack

So there have been some topsy turvey results this season.

That doesn't change a goddamn thing for the MFC.

We squibbed it against HFC

We are repeat offenders for squibbing

We need to show backbone against RFC, win or lose

We need to show backbone the week after that. And keep showing backbone every week, win or lose

Doesn't matter what other clubs are succeeding at or failing at

We need to give fight, 4 quarters, week in, week out. That's our issue, it's on us and no one else.

1 minute ago, Mazer Rackham said:

So there have been some topsy turvey results this season.

That doesn't change a goddamn thing for the MFC.

We squibbed it against HFC

We are repeat offenders for squibbing

We need to show backbone against RFC, win or lose

We need to show backbone the week after that. And keep showing backbone every week, win or lose

Doesn't matter what other clubs are succeeding at or failing at

We need to give fight, 4 quarters, week in, week out. That's our issue, it's on us and no one else.

Exactly. What other clubs do is of no interest to me

we have been losing games for years, not just this year

46 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

So there have been some topsy turvey results this season.

That doesn't change a goddamn thing for the MFC.

We squibbed it against HFC

We are repeat offenders for squibbing

We need to show backbone against RFC, win or lose

We need to show backbone the week after that. And keep showing backbone every week, win or lose

Doesn't matter what other clubs are succeeding at or failing at

We need to give fight, 4 quarters, week in, week out. That's our issue, it's on us and no one else.

I don't disagree with any of that... however, we don't need to start slashing our wrists the moment the team puts in a poor performance.  I like to believe that this current team is big enough to take a lesson from that performance and turn it around.  I feel that tomorrow's game is one that we can win.

1 hour ago, hardtack said:

I don't disagree with any of that... however, we don't need to start slashing our wrists the moment the team puts in a poor performance.  I like to believe that this current team is big enough to take a lesson from that performance and turn it around.  I feel that tomorrow's game is one that we can win.

Are folk slashing wrists ? 

I'm certainly not. I'm just a bit over the way we turn it up. Especially as we seem to become rooted to the quagmire at times.

At times the Coaching box reminds me of the bridge of the Californian !!

Completely pointless comparing Hawthorn's or anyone else's performances to ours. Lool at the context.

1. It's not that we lost, but rather how we lost.

2. We've beaten Hawthorn once in a decade.

3. We should be well beyond those sorts of performances.

There's nothing wrong with losing. It's how we lost.

34 minutes ago, praha said:

Completely pointless comparing Hawthorn's or anyone else's performances to ours. Lool at the context.

1. It's not that we lost, but rather how we lost.

2. We've beaten Hawthorn once in a decade.

3. We should be well beyond those sorts of performances.

There's nothing wrong with losing. It's how we lost.

There was also a lot of bad luck with small errors in front of goals at both ends, missed goals which could have kept the momentum going our way and there was some blatant cheating by Hawthorn. The momentum swung to Hawthorn and it was game over. The pushing the man off the mark may be (barely) legal under the laws of the game but interesting that this week the umpires are calling out to players not to do it whereas last week when Hawthorn  were doing it all the time, it was allowed. By the last quarter it was clear that we were not going to win. It’s a shame that the players felt that it wasn’t worth trying at that stage but they were probably right. It’d be pretty hard to throw your body on the line, risk injury and  get totally exhausted when the game is clearly over. Yes, percentage is important and I know many on here think players should just try, try, try regardless but they’re only human. (Unlike some Demonlanders -LOL)!!

Edited April 23, 20186 yr by Stormy Dee
.

17 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

There was also a lot of bad luck with small errors in front of goals at both ends, missed goals which could have kept the momentum going our way and there was some blatant cheating by Hawthorn. The momentum swung to Hawthorn and it was game over. The pushing the man off the mark may be (barely) legal under the laws of the game but interesting that this week the umpires are calling out to players not to do it whereas last week when Hawthorn  were doing it all the time, it was allowed. By the last quarter it was clear that we were not going to win. It’s a shame that the players felt that it wasn’t worth trying at that stage but they were probably right. It’d be pretty hard to throw your body on the line, risk injury and  get totally exhausted when the game is clearly over. Yes, percentage is important and I know many on here think players should just try, try, try regardless but they’re only human. (Unlike some Demonlanders -LOL)!!

Yeah it was all just too hard for these softcoques against the Kokoda trekkers who had no concern  of risking their bodies and ran the game out. Not satisfied with a regulation four goal win it seems. The Hawks also were 2 and half men down in the last half and we still could not extract a minor advantage. Rioli and Puopolo arguably their best small men for the conditions were out and an injured benched Frawley had to make the numbers in the last. We failed this test badly. 

Edited April 23, 20186 yr by america de cali

25 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

There was also a lot of bad luck with small errors in front of goals at both ends, missed goals which could have kept the momentum going our way and there was some blatant cheating by Hawthorn. The momentum swung to Hawthorn and it was game over. The pushing the man off the mark may be (barely) legal under the laws of the game but interesting that this week the umpires are calling out to players not to do it whereas last week when Hawthorn  were doing it all the time, it was allowed. By the last quarter it was clear that we were not going to win. It’s a shame that the players felt that it wasn’t worth trying at that stage but they were probably right. It’d be pretty hard to throw your body on the line, risk injury and  get totally exhausted when the game is clearly over. Yes, percentage is important and I know many on here think players should just try, try, try regardless but they’re only human. (Unlike some Demonlanders -LOL)!!

Don't disagree with any of these posts, but it was mainly the way in which they gave up from midway through the 3rd that really worried me.

Sorry Stormy, I have some problems with what you say. (How's Don by the way?)

18 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

There was also a lot of bad luck with small errors in front of goals at both ends, missed goals which could have kept the momentum going our way

The small errors are egregious faults for AFL-standard footballers

18 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

there was some blatant cheating by Hawthorn. The momentum swung to Hawthorn and it was game over. The pushing the man off the mark may be (barely) legal under the laws of the game but interesting that this week the umpires are calling out to players not to do it

[censored] happens

20 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

By the last quarter it was clear that we were not going to win. It’s a shame that the players felt that it wasn’t worth trying at that stage but they were probably right.

So it's ok to put the cue in the rack when you've realised you're going to lose?

Danger is, you do that at 3/4 time. Next week you might decide to do it at 1/2 time.

In no time at all you might be doing it at 1/4 time and it's Neeld all over again.

It's crucial to fight the whole way for a few reasons.

1, so your opponent knows they're in for a battle next time. If you're pushovers they will treat you like it. It can become self fulfilling. But if they're worried about the fight, they will play differently.

2, it is essential to be in the habit of going full on the whole time. If you are picking and choosing when to turn it on, you will find that your bad habits have a way of letting you down.

This is Bernard Tomic's issue. He thinks he can turn it on at will, without cultivating the habit of fighting out every point. Compare with Hewitt, Nadal, countless other tennis stars.

21 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

It’d be pretty hard to throw your body on the line, risk injury and  get totally exhausted when the game is clearly over.

Yes it is. I've heard that competitive scrabble is less taxing for those not cut out to be AFL footballers. And you can represent your country.

21 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

Yes, percentage is important

So percentage is important? I wish the players had that insight before the last two rounds of 2017. Or before letting 10 in a row sail over their heads last week (while kicking 1 in 3 quarters).

 

Finally, we have the talent and the list to make finals. For chrissake, why are the players squandering that???

Yeah well I said as much in my pre season topic "Fenceology predicts" But go right ahead .... Glad to see another realist.

I'll still be putting $50 on the nose for a Dees Win!

Not sure why ! Just looking at other upsets this round!

50 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

There was also a lot of bad luck with small errors in front of goals at both ends, missed goals which could have kept the momentum going our way and there was some blatant cheating by Hawthorn. The momentum swung to Hawthorn and it was game over. The pushing the man off the mark may be (barely) legal under the laws of the game but interesting that this week the umpires are calling out to players not to do it whereas last week when Hawthorn  were doing it all the time, it was allowed. By the last quarter it was clear that we were not going to win. It’s a shame that the players felt that it wasn’t worth trying at that stage but they were probably right. It’d be pretty hard to throw your body on the line, risk injury and  get totally exhausted when the game is clearly over. Yes, percentage is important and I know many on here think players should just try, try, try regardless but they’re only human. (Unlike some Demonlanders -LOL)!!

Are you for real?

the white flag is ok for you, even after 54 years of nothing?

Wow....

We were sold HOPE

We were sold PROMISE

We were sold FINALS DREAM

all are looking so distant now

barely a whimper

Honestly, I thought this thread was an overreaction.

As of right now I'm starting to think this is actually reality.

After tonights performance im gonna have to agree.

 

What a gutless last quarter. When its all on the line we fold like a deck of cards.

 

100+ total point loss in 2 games on the trot. Neeld esque.

 

PATHETIC.

PATHETIC

HOPELESS

HORRIBLE

GUTLESS

DISGRACEFUL

RABBLE

UNSKILLED

UNSTRUCTURED

I feel we're on the cusp of another rebuild, except we don't have any early picks thanks to the Lever deal. Hogan will surely be out the door this season.