Travel.....big body bullies.....loose tags..... constant tripping ( O'mac,Max, calf stripping)...... .watch the previous bloody Prelim, nothing was going to be paid unless the bloke was dead!!

And then think about why slipping/ moisture on the ground!!

  On 22/09/2018 at 10:13, Deecisive said:

a disappointing end to a reasonably good year. I had hoped we could win to then have a show down with Collingwood for the Granny. Unfortunately the A team decided to stay at home.  Our poor kicking for goal in the first half did not help. So many passengers, Eagles chipped it around all day long then went long and our guys could not keep their feet or lay proper tackles.  Very disappointed that a lot of players just could not get themselves up for today.

Time to talk trade, I really dont know if Tyson is worth keeping, too many mistakes and turn overs. Lewis had a mare and a half, turn over after turn over. Max was well held and our midfield in the first half was virtually unsighted.  Thankfully the westcoast took their foot off the pedal so we could get a little respectability into an insipid performance.

 

 

So you think we should get rid of Tyson, Lewis and Gawn.

  On 22/09/2018 at 11:12, willmoy said:

Travel.....big body bullies.....loose tags..... constant tripping ( O'mac,Max, calf stripping)...... .watch the previous bloody Prelim, nothing was going to be paid unless the bloke was dead!!

And then think about why slipping/ moisture on the ground!!

The staff at the Perth football grounds been known to overwater the grounds to increase slipping.

  On 22/09/2018 at 09:13, titan_uranus said:

Absolutely gutted. It's not that we lost, it's how.

We lost the CP count once all year, but we were hammered in CPs from the opening bounce. We laid at least 50 tackles in every game this year, but today just 34. We haven't played like that all year. It was just so un-Melbourne and that is what is so demoralising, we didn't even put our best foot forward.

During the first quarter we were trying so hard to keep our head above water and stay close to them, but all four of their goals came from appalling turnovers. We were missing targets under their pressure and we just never settled. Then in the second quarter we couldn't even get our hands on the ball.

It was one of those days where everything went right for them (smothers would end up in their hands, the bounce of the ball seemed to always go their way, Nicholls doesn't reverse the 50 when McGovern throat-punches Viney), but that largely happens when one side works harder than the other.

Trying to work out why this happened is the harder bit. I'm sure part of it is fatigue. Not just the fact that it's the end of a long season and we're fielding a young side, but as has been mentioned we've been playing finals effectively for 6 weeks, since the first West Coast game. We won 4 in a row but to win 5 or 6 in a row is hard enough at the best of times, let alone all against finals sides. 

There's nothing we can do now but learn from our mistakes and focus on what needs to be improved: not just based on today's loss, but based on the entire season.

I think the throat punch reaction by Viney was considered a dive by the umpires.

Lewis set the tone early for a young side with his stupidity and unprofessional brain fades and Jones had 8 touches to 3/4 time and laid 0 tackles for the game and he’s a captain. I’ll leave it at that, but those two did not lead from the front one bit, the rest followed badly.

I have already moved on.

We gave it everything in the last month but came up short. Great foundation for next year and the ones following. Only a couple of pieces short of the right team for a flag. Maybe we get them this trade period, maybe we dont.

Still very proud of what the whole club achieved this year. We are no longer a sick joke. far from it, teams (supporters at least) did not want to play us.

Respect earned.

Fingers crossed we improve again next season.

  On 22/09/2018 at 08:02, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Big gains this year, plenty of potential, but we're not Top 4 stuff yet

We lack real class and polish, as well as pace, and we need to bring this in.

Without picks this year we'll need to trade, so get ready, I'm tipping a few tough calls

A FEW TOUGH CALLS ?? PLENTY! GOOD!

A little side point, did Smith kick his first AFL goal today? If he did good on the young bloke, came in today and to be honest was thrown to the lions covered in BBQ sauce given the ease in which the Eagle sent the ball forward. 

Was thrown forward I think just because Goodwin wanted to change things up and he had a few really good leaps at it. 

We lost the plot in the first half and  looked disorientated, couldn't take a trick  Some decision went against us and the the ball seemed to follow the Eagles. You make your own luck and good luck to them.

However we have improved and there is this light at the end of the tunnel that is shinning so bright and i can't wait for the Guys to come back positive with the way they performed during the year and the first two Finals. Not forgetting  our team playing in front of two 90 thousand  crowd cheering at the G and the majority for the Dees!

I am so proud of them and l feel that we will be challenging if not for a top 4 position most certainly for a top 2 spot. The belief is there now. The Guys will be better for the journey.  2019 can't come quick enough.  

 

 

  On 22/09/2018 at 10:26, President Dee Trump said:

This was not a close game

It was the close games during the year that cost us the double chance.

 

Goalless at 1/2 time in a VFL / #AFLFinal

 

1897 Essendon

1897 Melbourne 

1901 Collingwood 

1903 Geelong

1905 Collingwood

1908 St Kilda

1913 St Kilda

1927 Richmond

2018 Melbourne

I hope the lesson the team takes away from this is exactly that: you blow easy wins during the season proper, then you throw away a double chance in the finals and risk outcomes like today. All season long (actually for two seasons now) we've decided to do everything the hard way when we could've avoided it with more effort.

Win one more game and we finish top 4, then the world is our oyster. Hopefully we make amends next year, just as the team made amends for missing finals last year in such heartbreaking fashion.

Extraordinary whatever happened to the midfield today. Our strengths this year were contested possession, hit outs to advantages, centre clearances, inside 50’s, scoring more than any other side. Great statistical indicators but everyone of those were smashed today in the first half. Take away our control of the midfield contest and we, similar to most other sides, struggle. But again what the hell happened with our midfield, Max was down but still won the hit outs but the Weagles invariably pounced on the ball and worked it out to their advantage. 

Edited September 22, 20186 yr by Earl Hood

Overall I'm very happy with the season, it's just a massive shame we saved our worst game for last.

My summary from today's game:

• Bringing in Smith was good but as I expressed many times dropping Fritsch (one of our best kicks) and keeping Tyson (slow and always looks to handball) didn't sit well for me and was a sign of things to come
• When the game was there to be won early we constantly overused the ball by hand which directly contributed to West Coast's early goals, even the commentators picked up on this and sadly didn't change during the game
• Our lack of tackling and pressure was simply baffling, I simply do not understand how it could drop away so easily
• Our lack of attack on the ball when it was in contested situations was baffling
• Lewis' ill discipline and turnovers (too many handballs) killed us, his worst game for the club by a mile and the antithesis of why we got him in the first place
• We desperately need crumbing forwards, West Coast just walked the ball out of our backline with Hannan and Melksham being next to useless
• Kennedy and Darling destroyed us, again lack of pressure from our defenders was simply baffling
• The play that summed up or game was when ANB was 30 metres out directly in front and he kicked to Weideman who was in the pocket and had two opponents, we somehow kicked a goal but only through pot luck, we didn't pull the trigger or look to kick as the first option at all during the game
• Viney, Oliver, Harmes and vandenBerg tried hard

 

Edited September 22, 20186 yr by Clint Bizkit

Awful end to the season.   

I am just thankful we didn't play like that against Geelong.  Imagine going out like that in week 1.

  On 22/09/2018 at 11:11, DeeSpencer said:

I have no issue with Joel Smith in. They just got the wrong out.

Interestingly though when Smith went forward despite some moments of poor skill and getting in the way he looked like our most athletic forward.

That shows you how much work we need to do in upping our forward pressure and really just getting some speed and real pressure in to the mix.

Melksham does absolutely nothing at ground level, he's awful in that regard. Petracca runs out of puff. ANB doesn't have great agility or power to stick tackles. Hannan has poor agility for a modern foward. Spargo has a bit of movement but is only small and young. We need to get guys who can really bend, twist and lay tackles.

The focus on forward pressure this year was excellent. The execution of that focus was poor.

Yes but in the first two finals our forward pressure was ridiculously good.

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Melksham's last month and first two finals were immense, Petracca this week and last week actually played well, Hannan was one of the few forwards who actually showed some pace and made some space today.

Forward pressure was not our biggest problem today, by far. Our biggest problem was our midfield being belted at contested ball. We lost that count once all year, and our last four wins (and indeed all our wins) were based on winning contested ball and going from there. Losing it today put the pressure on our young side to work out what to do and how to turn it around, and we failed. Whilst we were failing to turn it around, we were unable to play the game at either end the way we are used to, and both ends failed - the defence failed to zone properly and were caught out too often because West Coast took the ball from clearances too easily and won all of the important contests, and the forwards weren't able to make an impact because the delivery to them was poor and was on West Coast's terms.

Our game starts and ends with contested ball. When we're at our best (see the last four weeks) we dominate in that area and we put our opponent on the back foot. Everything flows from that. We need to be able to turn momentum through the middle within a game, and we also need to be able to adjust around the ground when we're not able to dominate at contested ball. 

I counted at least 10 times Melbourne players slipped over when not being tackled and the WC didn’t. Was ther an issue with the Dees boots or what ..?

  On 22/09/2018 at 11:03, Good Lord George said:

No you won't, he deleted it quick smart

Internet doesn’t forget..

  On 22/09/2018 at 13:03, Acrossplanet said:

I counted at least 10 times Melbourne players slipped over when not being tackled and the WC didn’t. Was ther an issue with the Dees boots or what ..?

That was odd wasn't it.

The whole game was perplexing to me, not saying it happened but it was as if they all got food poisoning or something.

The slipping over was comical at times, and it's not just isolated to this game. There's definitely something NQR about the surface of Optus. Mind you, we really made ourselves look like a right bunch of clowns out there. Was soul destroying. And my god was it hot? Sweltering. I noticed a lot of fumbling and dropped marks, wayward kicks (probably from loose ball drops) in the warm up and it carried over to the game proper. Lewis, Tracc and Jetta were particularly noticeable for their poor handling and skills in the warm up. 

Anyway, time to cancel the Foxtel and get on with other things. It was a fun ride while it lasted this past month and a bit. Nothing I hate more than watching grand finals with other teams playing. Interest level for me: zero.

 

 

Edited September 22, 20186 yr by leucopogon

  On 22/09/2018 at 13:30, leucopogon said:

The slipping over was comical at times, and it's not just isolated to this game. There's definitely something NQR about the surface of Optus. Mind you, we really made ourselves look like a right bunch of clowns out there. Was soul destroying. And my god was it hot? Sweltering. I noticed a lot of fumbling and dropped marks, wayward kicks (probably from loose ball drops) in the warm up and it carried over to the game proper. Lewis, Tracc and Jetta were particularly noticeable for their poor handling and skills in the warm up. 

Anyway, time to cancel the Foxtel and get on with other things. It was a fun ride while it lasted this past month and a bit. Nothing I hate more than watching grand finals with other teams playing. Interest level for me: zero.

 

 

I feel like a lot of the slips were the result of the handballs being behind the players, I know the fast sharp hands have been a staple of our success this year but today those quick hands were horrendous. And from people who’s hands are usually very good. Oliver included. 

It was just a really dirty day. 

Gotta look at the season as an overall positive although just 2013 dees like today. 

Thanks to all those who've posted training and match reports etc throughout the year.

Being an interstate supporter I really appreciate everyone's contributions and general positivity and humour.

I've invested way too much time on this forum and it's time to catch some waves and some muddies.

Have a great Xmas and new year everyone.

Show em how it's done tomorrow Casey.

And f@#$k you both west coast and pies right in the eye.

 Hope you both lose next week.....somehow.

Go Dees

 

  On 22/09/2018 at 09:28, Moonshadow said:

I've been out all day at a silent meditation retreat. Just got back.

So did we win?

You're F'd

  On 22/09/2018 at 13:00, titan_uranus said:

Yes but in the first two finals our forward pressure was ridiculously good.

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Melksham's last month and first two finals were immense, Petracca this week and last week actually played well, Hannan was one of the few forwards who actually showed some pace and made some space today.

Forward pressure was not our biggest problem today, by far. Our biggest problem was our midfield being belted at contested ball. We lost that count once all year, and our last four wins (and indeed all our wins) were based on winning contested ball and going from there. Losing it today put the pressure on our young side to work out what to do and how to turn it around, and we failed. Whilst we were failing to turn it around, we were unable to play the game at either end the way we are used to, and both ends failed - the defence failed to zone properly and were caught out too often because West Coast took the ball from clearances too easily and won all of the important contests, and the forwards weren't able to make an impact because the delivery to them was poor and was on West Coast's terms.

Our game starts and ends with contested ball. When we're at our best (see the last four weeks) we dominate in that area and we put our opponent on the back foot. Everything flows from that. We need to be able to turn momentum through the middle within a game, and we also need to be able to adjust around the ground when we're not able to dominate at contested ball. 

Whilst I agree the failures were in winning the contested ball I thought for the first 10 minutes or so of the game we weren't terrible around the ball and got it forward a few times but were unable to lock it in. Just locking it in our half for a while would've stalled the Eagles momentum. The Eagles nailed kick after kick across from the middle of the field to the fat side forward flanker, some of that is midfield related and bad defending but a lot of times we couldn't get them slowed at half back. 

The Eagles were nailing their skills at a really quick pace. The kind of pace only Richmond, Collingwood and the Eagles have been able to sustain this year. 

Smith looked like a guy who could disrupt that more than a lot of our forwards.

Awful first half should not detract from good year. As Richmond also found out, in prelim week you are always one bad game from disaster.

A good mate who's a Swans supporter says he envies our list - i reckon he's right.

Now, if only we could add a solid key defender...