1 minute ago, jumbo returns said:

I suppose we are all terrified by the 'flat spot' that may, or may not arrive

If it does, here's hoping that the best 28 can carry the team through

I think the Tiges really hit their straps from Round 16 or 17 last year - their belief was so high at that stage that they would have shirt fronted a steam roller!

From where they came from was extraordinary, IIRC they were choking and losing games unbelievably in the dying minutes, credit to them for turning it around. There’s no doubt our current wins are great for team confidence and belief, I’m just remaining level headed as I’ve been burnt before!!

I can see it now, we wipe the floor with the competition, win the GF, and the comments will be how easy the competition was this year.

4 minutes ago, SFebey said:

How about “they weren’t playing well back then”

My point is that maybe the team/s they played didn't allow them to play well.  Isn't that what the opponents role is?  Don't get me wrong I get both sides of the argument about where the team is at.  You can make a case for both.  I'm pretty in the middle as to where we fit at the moment.  Based on stats over the last 5 weeks we're flying.  If we bank this week and then QB,  will the doubters buy in or will we still not have played anyone of note?  Not sure.

8 minutes ago, DaisyDeeciple said:

I can see it now, we wipe the floor with the competition, win the GF, and the comments will be how easy the competition was this year.

Well if we did, every team we beat would have been below us.

There are probably two decent measures in football, improvement and success.

10 minutes ago, SFebey said:

From where they came from was extraordinary, IIRC they were choking and losing games unbelievably in the dying minutes, credit to them for turning it around. There’s no doubt our current wins are great for team confidence and belief, I’m just remaining level headed as I’ve been burnt before!!

So true - what they did avoid was a thrashing - their percentage remained intact that allowed a top 3 or 4 finish

The point I think the pundits miss is the fact the we haven’t just beaten teams below us, we have, in the past three weeks, wiped the floor with them.  Adelaide may have been undermanned, but were they undermanned to the point where a 91point drubbing could be shrugged off? Name any other team in the comp who has crushed Carlton by over 100points.  Name any other team who has an average combined winning margin over a three week period (that included travel) of something like 90points.  

They can play the weak/weakened opposition card all they like... it doesn’t change the fact that we are comprehensively doing away with opposition teams.

Edited May 30, 20186 yr by hardtack

3 hours ago, binman said:

The other thing about the who have we played palaver is its only swans, tigers and wc who are 'top sides'. We don't play tigers again so rhat leaves only our games against the other two to 'prove' ourselves.

I think Collingwood is the litmus test for us.

Don't get me wrong, I've been absolutely rapt with the way we've played recently.

...but I want to see how we go in a tight contest and the Pies play a solid, contested brand of footy.

They usually bring pressure.

Plus the Gawn/Grundy battle should be a beauty.

...and taking it one week at a time, I wouldn't discount the Dogs.

Saturday has danger all over it if we don't bring our A game...

 

Edited May 31, 20186 yr by rjay
see 'daisy' post

I really like Roo being part of the media this year.  His thoughts are always well measured and insightful without needing to make over the top and sensationalist comments.

As many have said, our form is good, our confidence is high and we are putting it all together on the field.  Obviously we aren't going to win every game for the rest of the year, but I am going in to each game with a belief that we can win, and even if we do get knocked off I believe that our game plan and the talent we have is enough for us to bounce back very quickly.

1 hour ago, DaisyDeeciple said:

I can see it now, we wipe the floor with the competition, win the GF, and the comments will be how easy the competition was this year.

Yes, they'll say we did a Bradbury, which is exactly what I said to my Richmond supporting mates last year

Edited May 31, 20186 yr by Moonshadow

i saw a graphic which showed Richmond and Essendon's form this year related to their opponents ladder position last year. Essendon have beaten all opponents who were in finals last year while losing to all non-finals opponents. Richmond have done the opposite...

1 hour ago, hardtack said:

Adelaide may have been undermanned, but were they undermanned to the point where a 91point drubbing could be shrugged off?

7 first choice players is a big chunk of a team but yes not many teams would stiil win by 90p. Its a big improvement compared to just 5 weeks ago where some of us thought making the 8 would be a bridge to far. Hence until beat a top side with a solid lineup its hard to gauge how good we are ie: premiership material.

Edited May 31, 20186 yr by Jibroni

1 hour ago, rjay said:

I think Collingwood is the litmus test for us.

Don't get me wrong, I've been absolutely rapped with the way we've played recently.

...but I want to see how we go in a tight contest and the Pies play a solid, contested brand of footy.

They usually bring pressure.

Plus the Gawn/Grundy battle should be a beauty.

...and taking it one week at a time, I wouldn't discount the Dogs.

Saturday has danger all over it if we don't bring our A game...

 

Not sure i agree. i think that ATM our pressure will be too much for all but WC, Swans and Tigers (and i think we will have WC's measure). That pressure combined with our how many forward entries we get will be too much for almost every side.

Yes our pressure might drop off - but it doesn't feel like it will. And yes the pies play some good contested footy. But i reckon at best they can only match our contested numbers and we have too much offensive power for them. 

Agree Grundy is a huge plus f them as he is one of the few rucks who will come close matching Maxy. But our mid field is much better so even that factor will be minimised. 

The problem with being 3rd on the ladder is that most sides that we play against at the moment, are below us on the ladder.

Does the media want us to drop to 6th, just so we can start playing against more sides above us to get a true idea where we are at?

And personally, I don't give a flying if we continue to beat up on poor or under-strengthed teams.  If we win a GF, the quality of the opposition will never be written in the history books.

Put it this way they belted the Bulldogs last week and was anyone talking about how undermanned they were then?

If anything they were strengthened against us as they added crouch.

1 hour ago, rjay said:

I think Collingwood is the litmus test for us.

Don't get me wrong, I've been absolutely rapped with the way we've played recently.

...but I want to see how we go in a tight contest and the Pies play a solid, contested brand of footy.

They usually bring pressure.

Plus the Gawn/Grundy battle should be a beauty.

...and taking it one week at a time, I wouldn't discount the Dogs.

Saturday has danger all over it if we don't bring our A game...

 

*rapt (as in rapture)

8 minutes ago, binman said:

Agree Grundy is a huge plus f them as he is one of the few rucks who will come close matching Maxy. But our mid field is much better so even that factor will be minimised. 

To me the QB game will be the match to decide the AA ruckman. 

48 minutes ago, Jibroni said:

7 first choice players is a big chunk of a team but yes not many teams would stiil win by 90p. Its a big improvement compared to just 5 weeks ago where some of us thought making the 8 would be a bridge to far. Hence until beat a top side with a solid lineup its hard to gauge how good we are ie: premiership material.

We can only play the teams we run out against each week (cliched, I know), but the ruthlessness with which we’re doing it would seem to indicate we are probably top 4 material if not Premiership material.

Edited May 31, 20186 yr by hardtack

4 hours ago, SFebey said:

North weren’t going very well at the time, can’t claim the high ground now they’re playing better.

In the same vein: Cats, Hawks and Tigers were all going better back then. Especially the first two. 

NR lost me when he said we racked up wins late last season... Which Season 2017 was he on about? We fell away terribly. 

Last season we would lose to bottom four rabble (Freo, Hawks, Roos x2) but this year is a wholly different mindset and physically developed(ing) team working for one another.

 

What about when we played cats tigers and hawks? We were undermanned too.

Missing two of our very best in Viney and Macdonald .

Its all relative 

19 minutes ago, binman said:

Not sure i agree. i think that ATM our pressure will be too much for all but WC, Swans and Tigers (and i think we will have WC's measure). That pressure combined with our how many forward entries we get will be too much for almost every side.

Yes our pressure might drop off - but it doesn't feel like it will. And yes the pies play some good contested footy. But i reckon at best they can only match our contested numbers and we have too much offensive power for them. 

Agree Grundy is a huge plus f them as he is one of the few rucks who will come close matching Maxy. But our mid field is much better so even that factor will be minimised. 

No sure what you are disagreeing with 'binman'.

I'm not saying the pies are better, just that they will be a good measure.

...but let me give you a few things to disagree with now.

With Wells coming back in their midfield does stack up well.

They, like us are unpredictable up forward.

Buckley is coaching well.

...but their kicking game is still the big weakness.

We will need to be at the top of our game to beat them.

If they get a good run with injury from here on in I think they are a good chance to play finals and who knows we might even end up with a classic Melbourne Collingwood GF.

8 hours ago, SFebey said:

We’ve beaten the bottom 4, a depleted Essendon and an injury riddled Crows after a slog in the wet. I remain excited but let’s not get too carried away

As Crawf and Hirdy mentioned on their pod. Wet games usually provide a great platform to attack from the week after. Look at Gold Coast and North at the start of the season and in Round 2.

Please remember that even though we were undermanned the Swannies last year bodied us on our coming out party. We can argue we would have done better with less injuries, but so will Adelaide this week. 

 

Real test is these next two weeks. Win both and the world can't ignore us, because the Pies are a finals contender and the Dogs are hot and cold depending on the week. A good scrap with the doggies will set us up for an 80k test against the side who put the final nails in our coffin last season. If we smash both of them then the argument stops being who have we beat and turns into who can beat us.

 

As a fan i'll take the each week as it comes and enjoy the reaction from the media every week. Let's not start talking premierships here okay.

Edited May 31, 20186 yr by MurDoc516

2 hours ago, rjay said:

I think Collingwood is the litmus test for us.

Don't get me wrong, I've been absolutely rapt with the way we've played recently.

...but I want to see how we go in a tight contest and the Pies play a solid, contested brand of footy.

They usually bring pressure.

Plus the Gawn/Grundy battle should be a beauty.

...and taking it one week at a time, I wouldn't discount the Dogs.

Saturday has danger all over it if we don't bring our A game...

 

I agree about the Gawn-Grundy contest against the Filth. Gawn would/will win, comfortably yet Grundy has been doing a few things around the ground and in general play - and feeds Treloar quite well. (Here we go again:) if we play Pedo, he might feel motivated to do 'the steamroll' on Grungedy, without any problems; he might also have a chance in the best interests of the game to roll/flatten Treloar should the latter come too close to the former (Pedo). After all, these are both representing the Filth. I am sure Hibberd will have his targets - more subtle, of course - to add that flash of colour to the Filth's jumper (notably, red for blood) and a smile or two to add to the irony of such terrible bad luck for a Filth player. 

Doggies are down and unsure - they do have talent - but not enough system just yet to dent the bonnet under the Dees. A win for us by about 50 pts, at least. 

4 hours ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

I thought last week Adelaide were supposed to be a “scalp” however we beat them so well and by so much that they looked putrid and now they’re not a team , but one out of form and riddled with injuries and we’re just still flat track bullies who haven’t beaten anyone yet

If we had won by 5 goals with Adelaide in the contest up to the end the narrative on Adelaide would be different , and then conversely the magnitude of our win (almost stupidly) would have been seen as greater in the eyes of some , as it would be seen as a real scalp ! FMD , just maybe Adelaide got beaten by a better side. Let’s see how Adelaide are now a magically a “top team “again when they have a redemptive win on the weekend . 

Like us as supporters the media has preconceived biases towards our team , we don’t fully trust them yet , and we see the reality of the incredible stats of the past month , yet we don’t believe it , it’s something of an outlier or an anomaly  , as this is simply just not Melbourne like , and the universe will surely correct itself shortly and we’ll go back to our old ways . Well that’s what I (and many others mind you) thought of Richmond last year , maybe (just maybe) we might now be finally proven wrong about our own club too

 

Adelaide were a ‘scalp’ but now expectations are getting higher.  The discussion has now shifted from ‘Will Melbourne make the finals?’ to ‘Can they win the premiership?’

This is a good thing and shows that we are now viewed as a genuine chance, albeit still with a few credentials to prove after dropping three early matches.

It’s a circular argument: we’ve beaten teams by this degree because they’re poor but they’re poor because we’ve been them by this degree. Adelaide are suddenly nobody because we thrashed them; before the game all the talk was that this game was our test.

It’s still all just noise, in Riewoldt’s case it’s just well measured and articulated noise. People can say whatever, as long as we keep winning I couldn’t care less.