27 touches and 12 tackles whilst being tagged, Oliver is elite. I lost count how many times he was held at a ball up or stoppage and was being held without a free paid. 

Edited August 12, 20186 yr by Ethan Tremblay

4 minutes ago, Drunkn167 said:

People may disagree with me because it would have made us very tall but how about PICKING PLAYERS THAT ARE IN FORM

Keilty would have been risky, but you know what he brings, FORM AND ACTUALLY ATTACKS THE CONTEST

And if him down back wasn't working, you know what would have? THROWING HIM FORWARD WHERE HE AN ACTUALLY KICK A GOAL

Yes, probably a bad decision and I'm a little drunk and emotional but damn. Pick players that are in form. Wagner would've been better then Hunt.

Hunt was a strange selection and Pederson is probably too slow to play down back at AFL level.

It was our bad kicking that cost us the game but the questionable selections didn't help.

We won the hitouts decisively but only broke even in clearances which also didn't help.

A very disappointing day and almost the end of what has been a very underwhelming season.

This was on paper the easiest of the three games so I hold out little hope for the next few weeks. Perhaps they will surprise us all.

 

8 minutes ago, SaberFang said:

Yep, we've been in the exact same position the last two years and blew it both times, spectacularly last year. 

 

The North loss today effectively gave us a triple chance. We just blew the first one.

If we lose all 3 it will make Round 23 last season look like nothing.

19 minutes ago, Dirts said:

I honestly believe and said it last year , we should put hogan up for sale. I understand he has had his issues but he goes missing when it gets hard. 

Many clubs especially freo would give a lot for him and I think we cash in now while he has some value. 

Agree! He should return his match payment today.

9 minutes ago, Drunkn167 said:

People may disagree with me because it would have made us very tall but how about PICKING PLAYERS THAT ARE IN FORM

Keilty would have been risky, but you know what he brings, FORM AND ACTUALLY ATTACKS THE CONTEST

And if him down back wasn't working, you know what would have? THROWING HIM FORWARD WHERE HE AN ACTUALLY KICK A GOAL

Yes, probably a bad decision and I'm a little drunk and emotional but damn. Pick players that are in form. Wagner would've been better then Hunt.

He's not quite ready yet. He'll get his chance hopefully next year.

The biggest thing we lack is quality experienced players. 

 

 

Yet another 1st gamer, would have done nothing for our composure under pressure.

14 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I’ve heard this before. We could be second on the ladder. Instead we may not make the 8. It’s as simple as that. 

I don’t care for should haves and could haves. I deal in facts. The fact is we are staring at 2 wasted seasons under Goodwin. This was the “easiest” of the next 3 matches and we blew it. Forget bad goal kicking, we shat our pants under pressure. We fell apart. There are no more excuses. 

I did say this in my first post earlier in the thread.  We lacked composure when it counted and our skills dropped, which meant we wasted the ball in front of goal and it cost us the game.

I'm not making excuses either.  I readily admit the above and know as much as anyone that it cost us the game.  

1 minute ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

27 touches and 12 tackles whilst being tagged, Oliver is elite. I lost count how many times he was held at ball up or stoppage and was being held without a free paid. 

If you had told me two and a bit years ago that Oliver would be our smartest footballer I would have laughed. Unfortunately he's the dux in a class of dumb arses.

4 minutes ago, stranga said:

Similar to but Way worse than jack Watts. At least Jack  would finish occasionally.

I'd give Petracca one more season to shape into a Pro footy player,,,  before shipping out.

12 minutes ago, Drunkn167 said:

People may disagree with me because it would have made us very tall but how about PICKING PLAYERS THAT ARE IN FORM

Keilty would have been risky, but you know what he brings, FORM AND ACTUALLY ATTACKS THE CONTEST

And if him down back wasn't working, you know what would have? THROWING HIM FORWARD WHERE HE AN ACTUALLY KICK A GOAL

Yes, probably a bad decision and I'm a little drunk and emotional but damn. Pick players that are in form. Wagner would've been better then Hunt.

Pedersen has been killing it at Casey and has runs on the board.  It's why he was picked.  I don't doubt that Dec would have given a contest, but after the Petty debacle I can't see the club going with him this season.

The Hunt selection, however, didn't par dividends, although you could argue a few of the other options like Wagner weren't setting Casey alight in the last month either.

Thankfully Hibberd and Melksham will both be back for the Eagles game to add some much needed experience and class.

Just now, DV8 said:

I'd give Petracca one more season to shape into a Pro footy player,,,  before shipping out.

Thought he was good today and has been for a while.

1 minute ago, Return to Glory said:

If you had told me two and a bit years ago that Oliver would be our smartest footballer I would have laughed. Unfortunately he's the dux in a class of dumb arses.

It’s the hunger to win and be the best that drives him, you can see it on his face. It’s a shame his colleagues don’t share the same drive. 

Like several other games this year we should have won it, but failed to deliver, we choked.  I did not expect melbourne to go far this year in the finals i had hope but did not expect a lot. we are now on the verge of missing out in playing finals. So many poor kicks for goal, so many poor passes, no chasing, etc..

 

Players now know they have two weeks to salvage their season. We have the talent but do we have the heart. hopefully we will get a couple of players back next week. i think we can beat the eagles , but its the players who need that belief and know that to achieve that outcome they need to fight every minute of the game. it would be good if they could also pick a more balanced team.

5 minutes ago, loges said:

Just can't win when we most need to.

We are maturing but its slowly.   One year at a time across the list.

 

But so is the fear of losing the big ones. 

This cultural fear,,, loss of composure has to be put out before we can move on.

.

And its time for the trade table this trade period, as well.

.

Are people for real about Hogan?

All Australian contention until 6 weeks ago when he did his ankle. Is playing on one leg now and still kicked bags of 4 twice. It's not his fault we don't have good enough Fs in the wings to take his spot when he's lame.

I know everyone's upset and everything, and rightly so.... but is this what Demonland has come to? Whining about trading Hogan in his best season yet?

Fair dinkim the stupidity in this place is a joke sometimes.

Was anyone really surprised with today's debacle? I certainly wasn't.

I had money of the Swans. Money for old rope. I would rather have lost my money.

Clueless, inept, heartless performance.

 

Those wanting a rebuild (trade Hogan, Petracca, Jones, Hunt) are letting their emotions control their clear thinking.  I'm as gutted and frustrated as anyone, but please, let's be sensible about this.

6 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

The North loss today effectively gave us a triple chance. We just blew the first one.

If we lose all 3 it will make Round 23 last season look like nothing.

I hate to admit it but Mark Robinson’s assessment of MFC is spot on. We can’t be trusted!

v Geelong 13.16 to 14.13

v Port 9.11 to 11.9

v Geelong 14.14 to 16.4

v Syd 10.18 to 13.9

Why don’t we simply spend more time on learning to kick straight and less time on frantic handball practice? We could be on 16 wins right now.

45 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

I'm dirty on this loss, but I'll let the rest of the usual suspects lose the plot, slash their wrists and do the usual ranting and raving.  Seriously, go right ahead.

We lost this game today in front of goal.  Sure, they cut us up during periods of the game with their use by foot and our willingness to allow them space.  But we should never have let them win this game of footy.  When Hogan goaled and we were 3.7 it should have been 7.3, as we missed a slew of easy shots.  If we were 6 goals up then they would have been dead and buried.  But they weren't, they got a sniff and, as experienced sides do, they made their chances count when we didn't and we couldn't haul them back.

I must admit that I was bemused at times by some of our decision making, and the implied pressure of the Swans meant that we rushed things at times when we didn't need to.  We had every opportunity to win this game of footy, but we didn't make it count, and that's down to composure and skill execution under pressure.  It's not down to leadership and all that stuff.  We just didn't execute well under pressure.

We certainly lacked some class at times and too many players went missing, but this isn't the end of the world.  Seriously, it's not.  We've got two games to go - win one and we're in.  Simple as that.

Poor kicking for goal is not why we lost!  Thinking like that is an easy out for those who want to play ostrich or just make excuses. 

We lost the game in the 2nd quarter.  Early in they kicked 3 or 4 goals because we had no-one guarding the goal square and the ball just bounced through.  Don't know leaving the goal square open was a coaching decision or poor on field leadership but it cost us big time.  They should not have got such easy goals. 

Those easy goals got their tails up and they started to play 'tempo' football brilliantly controlling the ball.  Time and Time again they would get the ball in their back 50 and with precision short kicks they had uncontested marks all they way to goal.  We didn't even touch it or get close to laying a tackle.  They got a few more goals that way.  Before we knew it they had 7 unanswered goals.  Note the # of marks:  Syd: 120.  Melb: 82.  I can't find how many were uncontested but it would be a large percentage for them.  They laid 77 tackles to our 69.  Poor kicking has little to do with those stats and a lot to do with work rate, game sense and back up plans.

We were comprehensively outplayed in the 2nd and 3rd quarter when our structures broke down.  Our forward structures broke down as badly as our defensive structures. 

The big issue for me was that we were not even come close to countering their 'tempo' game.  They wouldn't let us play 'our way' and we were lost and flat footed.  That is why they won.

Edited August 12, 20186 yr by Lucifer's Hero

Just now, Ethan Tremblay said:

It’s the hunger to win and be the best that drives him, you can see it on his face. It’s a shame his colleagues don’t share the same drive. 

It's innate with Oliver. If I'm completely honest, Trac doesn't have it and I suspect he may never do. Hope I'm wrong. I may have similar thoughts about Hogan but keep it to yourself.

Gee we have very few (3) players with footy IQ. Sydney had 22

5 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

27 touches and 12 tackles whilst being tagged, Oliver is elite. I lost count how many times he was held at a ball up or stoppage and was being held without a free paid. 

It was amazing watching sydneys midfield identify who the tap was intended for and block and scrag brayshaw and oliver before the tap was even contended.

 

We didnt wake up to it and were out coached on every line. Like the team the coaches will learn from it. I would like some new assistants for an outside perspective. Sydney forwards consistently dragged oscar up the ground and left him in no mans land.

Aliir wouldnt allow tom mcdonald to drag him up the ground after johnson went off. As soon as he could he swapped over to vandenberg. Jimmy Bartel noticed a lot of these things in the first half yet we didnt seem to counter this.

 

Our mids are just all out attack. Even in defensive 50.

2 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Poor kicking for goal is not why we lost!

We had more scoring shots, and plenty of those were easy misses.  Kick those and we win.

Cool our jets eh demonland , 

we had our chances to win - wasted too many and I won’t name names but the boys will learn from this . They are hurting. 

Polish and dare I say it a player or two Milkshake and Hibbo we win that .

lose three in a row and finish 8 th .

huge chance. 

17 minutes ago, Dappa Dan said:

Are people for real about Hogan?

All Australian contention until 6 weeks ago when he did his ankle. Is playing on one leg now and still kicked bags of 4 twice. It's not his fault we don't have good enough Fs in the wings to take his spot when he's lame.

I know everyone's upset and everything, and rightly so.... but is this what Demonland has come to? Whining about trading Hogan in his best season yet?

Fair dinkim the stupidity in this place is a joke sometimes.

Yes... DD.

We needy in other areas and Hoges has value.  He and TMc want the same part of the ground now.

Weide is a tall deep player.  with little current value.  but will be a beaut.

 

Hoges, its time.  Eagles or Dockers. 

Or Suns for that matter.

 

17 minutes ago, Deeoldfart said:

Those wanting a rebuild (trade Hogan, Petracca, Jones, Hunt) are letting their emotions control their clear thinking.  I'm as gutted and frustrated as anyone, but please, let's be sensible about this.

Not emotional DOF...    I'm as calm as can be.

 

But we MUST find some class midfield players and runners.

We cannot get them without collateral.

 

Our midfield is very B grade.

Edited August 12, 20186 yr by DV8