2 minutes ago, Deemented Are Go! said:

Jeez, mate, thems some fucken dark thoughts right there

I’m laughing but wouldn’t it be so MELBOURNE! Brace yourself! Haha

Just now, SFebey said:

I’m laughing but wouldn’t it be so MELBOURNE! Brace yourself! Haha

FML. 

Btw, Steven Febey was my favourite player as a kid. Those were the days.

We won nearly every stat but got beat by 50 wtf is going on?

Anyone else think it was embarrassing to watch Martin run around and push of a lot of our players with contempt.

I know it's his thing and he does it to other teams but the times he just brushed a couple aside almost like they weren't there.

I would be embarrassed to call myself an AFL footballer with some of the half arsed tackling efforts.

1 minute ago, rjay said:

Anyone else think it was embarrassing to watch Martin run around and push of a lot of our players with contempt.

I know it's his thing and he does it to other teams but the times he just brushed a couple aside almost like they weren't there.

I would be embarrassed to call myself an AFL footballer with some of the half arsed tackling efforts.

Lucky we trained for that last week ?

Guys, the main problem in not on the field. Players divided. Not a happy place.

4 minutes ago, D4Life said:

I commented to the Tiger supporter sitting next to me in the first couple of minutes, watch our backline structure, in particular the goalsquare and how many players fly for the mark or punch. He said you don’t play footy and can see it,  stands out like dogs ....., why can’t your coaches see it?

Then you look at Tigers backline, almost someone always in the goalsquare and their players balance going up for the mark or punching the incoming ball, with keeping players down!

Doing this doesn’t seem to hard, why can’t we do it. Jetta, Hibberd, Lever & even OMac can all play, Hunt still seems a bit off, but why are we so bad letting easy goals through?

Why can't we get the balance between who's up and who's down right in the backline:

1. most of our defenders are proficient over head but we can't seem to turn that to an advantage. Houli, Ellis and Short don't bother flying with Rance, Grimes and Astbury around mainly because they know they'll spoil but also because they just aren't that big or strong in the air.

2. We like the zone. Which means different match ups for different defenders. It's not always small on small. 

3. Lack of trust in the talls. Oscar's only starting to win more than he loses now and Lever has been shaky. Eventually those guys will get stronger and more reliable.

But more than anything:

4. Lack of continuity. Lever is new. Hibberd 1 season at the club. Hunt and Wagner how many games together? Oscar how many games? The 2nd/3rd tall spot might take some rotating but overwhelmingly we hopefully have a backline that can keep most of the parts together over multiple seasons. That will be a huge help.

Just now, ding said:

Its fairly obvious that some in the club (and many supporters) thought we were in the window, hence giving up 2 first rounders for Lever. We may well come to regret selling the farm for an intercept marker, when we could have just kept Howe. It may turn out ok, but so far that trade has been a disaster.

So far.

It is a real worry, seems a major miscalculation. 

We probably won't be in our window until Oliver, Hogan and Petracca have 3 more seasons in them.

At this time, players such as Jones, Vince, Lewis, Jetta will be finished.

Unless we find a way to get back into the first round, we won't have had a first rounder in 2016, 2017 and 2018. This could really hurt in a few years time.

Our midfield depth is looking very poor. Drafting half forward flanks with our first picks in 2016 and 2017 was probably not what was needed.

We will have to hope for some midfielders through free agency or for the recruiters to actually nail a gem outside of the first round.

3 minutes ago, Deemented Are Go! said:

FML. 

Btw, Steven Febey was my favourite player as a kid. Those were the days.

Sadly most of my fondest memories were from the 1990’s, let that sink in for a bit. I think I need a holiday ?

2 minutes ago, ProperDee said:

Guys, the main problem in not on the field. Players divided. Not a happy place.

I agree, something stinks behind the scenes here. We can’t go backwards like this for no reason. 

26 minutes ago, layzie said:

We were never gonna win that game it doesn’t matter which way you slice it. Don’t tell me the weather played a massive part because while we were way too fumbly and not clean with our skills while Richmond seemed slick and composed whenever they had it. The Tigers are playing such smart footy right now and always find runners when they need them.

The night was summed up here: we had 2 goals to half time, kicked by our pinch hitting half forward, who kicked one from a dodgy free. Seriously, we never looked like kicking a goal in that first half. Run and carry was non existent, partially because Richmond don’t let you. They defend the G better than anyone.

I was at the Qualifying Final last year and what you describe is almost an exact replica of that game. Seeing them live tonight drilled home for me actually how good the Tigers are.

They aren't a team of champions but they are definitely well drilled. We kept going down the line because they had players set up perfectly to defend the switch into the middle. They read our centre work well. They had players in support so had the confidence to flick the ball around. They gang tackled us while our guys waited for the release but we couldn't get it to them.

We have issues with the game plan at the moment, our inability to score is baffling considering this was a strength last year. Either Goodwin has been figured out and needs to go back to the drawing board or there are some things that aren't working that can be fixed with tweaking.

Some of our players seem devoid of confidence at the moment and those "bottom 6" players who stepped last year are ALL struggling. ANB, Harmes, Stretch, Bugg etc all have gone backwards. Salem and Petracca need to find more of the footy in positions where they can use it and not just dish it out.

I thought out pressure tonight was very good. We need to take our opportunities when they present, Hogan's miss in the 3rd was unforgiveable. 3 men up and letting them get easy uncontested goals in the goal square is unacceptable. They ran away at the end but for the most part we matched their pressure and stayed with them until the last 10 or 15 minutes. I don't think things are as bad as they seem but the last 2 games have been a step backwards.

The crowd was also disappointing, 77k so 5-10k below expectation. Not sure how much that extra 5-10k cost us probably a couple hundred thousand

I wrote a long post but blargh.

Lever was alright.

38 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Well Goodwin seems happy with the effort, so I guess nothing to see here. Move along. Fake news. 

You weren't happy with the effort?

Just now, Dr. Gonzo said:

You weren't happy with the effort?

Not really, Fox Footy showed some damning footage.

Our players pressure within a 5m radius was good but players aren't willing to run 50 meters and put in the hard yards.

Dion Prestias goal, showed Jones just standing in the centre while Prestia streamed forward and put 40 meters on him. If that's what the captain of our football club is doing, you can see why we are a mediocre team.

1 hour ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

Well, it was an improvement on last week.  Honestly, we took it right to them for three quarters basically through raw effort.  I take that as a positive.  The shocking gameplan was still there,especially in the second quarter.  I also wonder if the chronic fumbles were due to the perceived pressure they felt they were under due to Richmond's reputation. 

Overall, I'm far happier with this than I was with last week's effort. 

It's also good to see a few players standing up who were looking cooked.  Lever had his best game for the club (all five of them), Jetta seems to have thrown off whatever was bothering him and someone gave Gus a good kicking at half time because he came out firing in the second half.  Also very nice to see Oliver nailing Dusty in a tackle, Jones playing like a leader and Gawn dominating.  Melksham kicking four was quite nice too.  Also, I don't get the bagging of the Weed tonight.  He shanked that shot on goal, but he also made his presence felt, laid tackles, took some marks and showed some really good hands. 

On the negative, THE UMPIRES! Holy Hell they were biased tonight.  That spear tackle into Jones' back?  How was that not called?  Is it only a push in the back if it's in a marking contest now?  The same umpire that paid multiple HTB against us in range of goals refused to pay any against them, even when Dusty took on three tacklers and then threw the ball to a teammate when he was caught.  Also agree with the comment previously that they throw the ball constantly.  And trip!  I saw at three trips not paid, at least one of which should be a suspension from previous cases. 

Wagner was shyte tonight.  Kent has done a Hammy again.  Stretch and ANB came to the club together and probably need to leave it together as well. 

Still, at least they looked like they gave a damn tonight.  Maybe if Goody can bring himself to admit his gameplan is shot and get someone who knows how to set forward structures properly we could see an improvement.  Oh, and we need to get a specialist kicking coach. 

100%. No doubting the effort.

The problem tonight however was structurally. Goodwin has had a terrible start to the year, really. It's going to be a huge lesson for him. Hopefully he benefits from it.

We've been worked out big style. We have limited pace on the outside of the contest, we are getting murdered on the outside, we have no one with pace on the outside of the contest, that's it in a nutshell.

Once other teams break even at the contest or start sharking gawny we are [censored] coz we are so [censored] down back.

As soon as the break from a stoppage situation they go long and find their targets with consummate ease. 

We have a dysfunctional forward line just playing on a whim, no cohesion what so ever, non existant backline who give up goals like a KrispyCreme bakery Give away.

We are like a 24 hour [censored] house open to anyone and everyone to come and do as they please.

These are dark times.

6 minutes ago, Watts the matter said:

Not really, Fox Footy showed some damning footage.

Our players pressure within a 5m radius was good but players aren't willing to run 50 meters and put in the hard yards.

Dion Prestias goal, showed Jones just standing in the centre while Prestia streamed forward and put 40 meters on him. If that's what the captain of our football club is doing, you can see why we are a mediocre team.

Fair enough I haven't analysed the game to that extent and we obviously dropped off at the end but for the most part it seemed our effort and pressure around the ball and around the ground was pretty good

Edited April 24, 20187 yr by Dr. Gonzo

We better win our next four games or I’m done

I'm actually finding myself missing Watts as a F50 target, he also used to use the footy beautifully around the ground. Noticed it more tonight where a bit of class and composure would have gone a long way.

[censored] it’s hard to keep supporting this club. The game was terrible to watch. 

Give it a couple of days and get back on it. 

If we lose to the cheats I’ll need a spell

54 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

God, how nice would it be to follow a decent team.

wonder what it feels like?

Felt pretty good in 1955,56,57,59,60 and 64. Used to be branded a 'premiership barracker' Lucky guy wasn't I? I am starting to feel that our window of opportunity has flown by. Well, mine anyway.

18 minutes ago, ding said:

Its fairly obvious that some in the club (and many supporters) thought we were in the window, hence giving up 2 first rounders for Lever. We may well come to regret selling the farm for an intercept marker, when we could have just kept Howe. It may turn out ok, but so far that trade has been a disaster.

So far.

We couldn't simply keep Howe. The clown thought he was a forward. Roos - one of the best defenders of all time and allegedly one of the best man management coaches of all time - couldn't convince him he was a defender. He was also very happy to pick and choose when to put in effort. We got Hibberd, a vital back flanker that we needed to fill one gap down back anyway.

We gave up two first round picks and got Lever and a 2nd rounder that became Harry Petty. If they turn out to be quality 3rd tall and CHB then no one will complain about the two first round picks. Lever's contract might be more troublesome but not if it's well structured.

Premiership windows are overrated. Richmond jumped right back in to one with 3 trades.

We can open a premiership window with good coaching, development of young top end talent in to genuine A graders, refining the role players and finding a couple of big upgrades in certain positions of weakness.

 

Tonight  l witnessed a very very good side in Richmond and did they do number on us !  Atleast we fought hard   to stay in the game However they cleaned us up abit I thought in the last 15 minutes of the last  Quarter. More so.

On the positive side Melksham with 4 goals Hibberd back to his running best,  Hogan in career best form, Gawn with another 56 hitouts will keep us in good stead for the upcoming matches. Tmac back this week and Viney not too far away will make us better. l am not giving  up on us yet. We were 2 and 3 this time last year as well. 

I must say l was impressed with Weideman as he played imo his best game . There are positives and we have the talent and are not far from putting it together. Stick with them. I am a bit gutted but who isn't after a loss.

6 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

We couldn't simply keep Howe. The clown thought he was a forward. Roos - one of the best defenders of all time and allegedly one of the best man management coaches of all time - couldn't convince him he was a defender. He was also very happy to pick and choose when to put in effort. We got Hibberd, a vital back flanker that we needed to fill one gap down back anyway.

We gave up two first round picks and got Lever and a 2nd rounder that became Harry Petty. If they turn out to be quality 3rd tall and CHB then no one will complain about the two first round picks. Lever's contract might be more troublesome but not if it's well structured.

Premiership windows are overrated. Richmond jumped right back in to one with 3 trades.

We can open a premiership window with good coaching, development of young top end talent in to genuine A graders, refining the role players and finding a couple of big upgrades in certain positions of weakness.

 

Problem is we will need all of that to happen before we are a realistic chance. Coaching and development seem to have gone backwards based on the only available evidence so far this year, and we have to hope that for some unknown reason, good players (read "upgrades") want to come to us on no more than market value coin or even a bit below, as we seem to have paid overs for someone who is currently not performing as hoped.

I have very little confidence MFC will miraculously find the answers to our premiership puzzle any time soon. 

 

50 minutes ago, rjay said:

Anyone else think it was embarrassing to watch Martin run around and push of a lot of our players with contempt.

I know it's his thing and he does it to other teams but the times he just brushed a couple aside almost like they weren't there.

I would be embarrassed to call myself an AFL footballer with some of the half arsed tackling efforts.

It is embarrassing but he literally does that every single match; the guys a freak.

Had a very quiet night tonight though.