1 hour ago, Rod Grinter Riot Squad said:

If ever there was a club that has had a history in the last 30 years, that has been guilty of drinking our own bath water, it is ours.

 

That said, the club right now and the team, seem to be to be made of very different stuff, the place has changed.

You’re  right there Rodney 

In my supporting memory there has been a lot of bath water consumed , so I never take anything for granted 

1994 > 1995 prelim to missing finals 

1998 > 1999 prelim to bottom 4 

2000 > 2001 grand final to missing finals 

2002 > 2003 semi final to bottom 4 

2006 > 2007/17 semi final to 12 years of misery 

but I really do think this is a group that is mature and has a core now entering their prime and ready to take the next step , for once we just need a bit of bloody luck too and these boys might go out and make some history 

 

 

Edited January 13, 20196 yr by Delusional demon 82

As @Rod Grinter Riot Squad said, if any club has gotten ahead of itself based on a decent season, it would be us. Look at our '95, '99, '01 and '11 seasons for further reference.

What impressed me after the preliminary final loss was that the image we got wasn't of back slapping and talk of 'how it's all before us'. It was of a devastated Angus Brayshaw crying over how they had let their captain down and Gawny talking of how a season can be wasted in a preseason in his B&F speech.

If they do finally double up this year, maybe the corner has been turned culturally.

Edited January 13, 20196 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

I don't think Goodwin has a complacency gene within his DNA, a trait he will pass this down to the current MFC team as his football decedents.

With some commentators, injuries, holes in game plan, club disruption, form, etc is diguised as complacency. It's easier this way. Generally speaking, Dal Santo has very little idea about most things. Montana and Reiwoldt on the other hand provide excellent analysis in modern game and football clubs.

5 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

I not sure if "complacency" is the appropriate word but we have a history of losing games that we should have won ……………….. and paying the consequences.

We at our club have a repeating history of getting comfortable, to easily, and too often. 

Del is right in what he says...  and the rest of the competition perennially do not respect us, for this very reason.

Sometimes we are just not hungry enough.  this is the attitude the past AFL opposition players know about us.

 

We are at a time now, thanks to AFL support...  that we have been guided back to health and strength, and the additions off field know the caper... and we have made many correct decisions since the support.

 

Let us Not shoot ourselves in the feet again, Via a desire to be arrogant and entitled.

 

It will be bloody hard work, just to make the top 8...  let alone top 4, or higher.   With hard work and some luck.

This is the way to success.  Anticipating the slog... and relishing that.

Edited January 13, 20196 yr by DV8

5 hours ago, Demon Dude said:

some of the loses we had last year were sort of the loses we had to have really. Goody was still working out what our best team looked like and suitable game plans. I think loses like the ones to the Hawks, Port, Saints and Cats were mostly down to bad team balance/ player selection and/or an unsuitable gameplan. sometimes we got beat by the better team and sometimes I think we pushed it too far, but I can understand why it was done, as the coaches have to learn more about the group and themselves. its all part of the learning curve, and I think we learnt a lot from last year.

 

this is true DD. but now we have arrived and in our window of opportunity.

Excuses stop end of last season now, and we make all posts winners.

... kicking for goal, hitting targets by foot. etc...  hard running work for Petacca.

 

The buck stops with the players now... as we stride for that line. amongst many other clubs

5 hours ago, Rod Grinter Riot Squad said:

If ever there was a club that has had a history in the last 30 years, that has been guilty of drinking our own bath water, it is ours.

 

That said, the club right now and the team, seem to be to be made of very different stuff, the place has changed.

Yes, exactly.. 

But I think the difference is... we aren't castrated anymore. not choirboys anymore.   We are hard, tough, competitors, who won't take any carp from any on-comers.

 

And this attitude frees our boys to be like men... and hit hard to intimidate, and be ruthless. 

Taking away this aggression IMO,  is what has left us as choirboy types...   and a case of sad sacks,  of castrated  'old boys'.

Edited January 13, 20196 yr by DV8

13 hours ago, buck_nekkid said:

One thing they must avoid....

really? Der!

no evidence this is remotely in play.

we should also avoid playing with funnel web spiders, drinking bleach and dwarf burning.  

Idiotic piece of summer filler journalism.

Correct...we should be following in Nigel Smart’s pre season footsteps..

3 hours ago, Beetle said:

Correct...we should be following in Nigel Smart’s pre season footsteps..

That was one of the stranger pre-season injuries for sure.  Beats knocking yourself out with a brick from your pack.

Will be interesting to see if there are any media beat-ups about preseason camp revolts or camps gone wrong this year?

20 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

we will stop the leaking in our backline

OMac not playing this year? 

7 hours ago, Beetle said:

Correct...we should be following in Nigel Smart’s pre season footsteps..

Two things:

Firstly, he should have used that as part of his election campaign back in the day when he was running for the Tories. 'Vote 1 Nigel Smart: I'll walk over hot coals for you!'

Secondly, before people crucify Don Pyke for Collective Minds, they should remember pre season foolishness is in the Crows' DNA.

 

I heard Mick Malthouse on Abc grandstand late last year say the same sort of thing.

We win big matches and then take it too easy. He had a real dig at us saying we pat ourselves on the back too often.

I think we're definitely heading in the right direction but its a fair comment to make and question to ask.

The next level is for us to be ruthless 4 quarters every game every round.

On 1/13/2019 at 9:31 AM, big_red_fire_engine said:

I don't think its about complacency, particularly with the personalities we have and the spark from the way we finished the year. It will be can we handle true expectation. We are expected to make finals and expected to be a contender. We will be the hunted most weeks, one of those teams the opposition set themselves for. 

Completely agreed.

We have a very competitive team, our younger players are desperate to succeed, and guys like Jones surely know their chances of winning premierships are diminishing with each passing year.

However this will be the first year in a decade where we will be the hunted, rather than the hunters. Teams will be out to get us, they will put significant time into planning their matches against us. Suddenly we will be one of "the teams to beat". With that comes a lot of pressure, a lot more expectations, and harder matches. 

If our boys can handle this pressure, then there is nothing to stop us from going all the way (injuries aside!). Last year the pressure was to make finals. We nearly failed under that pressure. However when finals came around, nobody expected much from us and we delivered. This year the expectations will be that we make a Grand Final, if not win one. That is a lot of pressure. We know how hard it is for teams to continuously stay successful. 

It's going to be a fascinating season I reckon!

3 hours ago, Brownie said:

I heard Mick Malthouse on Abc grandstand late last year say the same sort of thing.

We win big matches and then take it too easy. He had a real dig at us saying we pat ourselves on the back too often.

I think we're definitely heading in the right direction but its a fair comment to make and question to ask.

The next level is for us to be ruthless 4 quarters every game every round.

In a way, Jwatts is the Exaggerated epitome of our past soft ways.

Showing something...  then resting on those laurels, until the hunger returns through the scorn of the rest of the competition.

 

We seem to have a boom and bust mentality... when our culture goes soft.   Like  famous play boys on a high, at the club scenes.

3 hours ago, DV8 said:

In a way, Jwatts is the Exaggerated epitome of our past soft ways.

Showing something...  then resting on those laurels, until the hunger returns through the scorn of the rest of the competition.

 

We seem to have a boom and bust mentality... when our culture goes soft.   Like  famous play boys on a high, at the club scenes.

Those soft culture days are slowly being totally wiped out of MFC.  The last 5 years, it seems everyone at the club is on the same page and building a hard culture both on and off the field.  It pervades everything, all the way down to list management, drafting, and selection.  In the past I doubt we would have traded former number 1 draft picks or dropped obvious walk up selections.  It came together in the elimination final where you could see exactly the hard edged culture MFC has been trying to build.  Any setbacks won’t be because of a soft culture.

7 hours ago, Brownie said:

I heard Mick Malthouse on Abc grandstand late last year say the same sort of thing.

We win big matches and then take it too easy. He had a real dig at us saying we pat ourselves on the back too often.

I think we're definitely heading in the right direction but its a fair comment to make and question to ask.

The next level is for us to be ruthless 4 quarters every game every round.

Malthouse can be an astute judge at times, and at others he just goes for the headline.

This was the later, going for the headline, appearing relevant, making the big statement.

An astute judge would have talked about the age and experience of the team and how good teams learn to be more consistent when they get more games under their belts.

I could be wrong, but I believe Complacency is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era. 

Edited January 14, 20196 yr by Ethan Tremblay

I think this year we have come along way, similar to West Coast in 2015.

The players seem to have the drive and mongrel for sustained success, injuries permitted and a touch of luck we should be top 4 next year.

24 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I could be wrong, but I believe Complacency is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era. 

I reckon you're wrong Ethan. The Civil War one was ' the good ship Venus'  ( If I'm not very much mistaken ) 

How can a footy club be complacent after scoring 0.6 in the first half of its most recent game of football?

You’re only as good as your last game and in Melbourne’s case, the team didn’t score a goal until the third quarter of that game.

How on earth could you be complacent with that at the back of your mind?

4 hours ago, Watson11 said:

Those soft culture days are slowly being totally wiped out of MFC.  The last 5 years, it seems everyone at the club is on the same page and building a hard culture both on and off the field.  It pervades everything, all the way down to list management, drafting, and selection.  In the past I doubt we would have traded former number 1 draft picks or dropped obvious walk up selections.  It came together in the elimination final where you could see exactly the hard edged culture MFC has been trying to build.  Any setbacks won’t be because of a soft culture.

Yes, we've been there and done that before my dear Watson.

Last time a change of culture was in the 80's, and into early 90's... before our players became distracted by their own brilliance once again.

The 90's we had more collective talent than I can remember in a team,  and we managed to fluff it all. 

I believe the boys were kings out on the town tho...  Premiers of the night life.

2 hours ago, Demon Head said:

You’re only as good as your last game and in Melbourne’s case, the team didn’t score a goal until the third quarter of that game.

How on earth could you be complacent with that at the back of your mind?

This is the way to look at the season in-front of us... and to get mean, nasty, and Hungry.

You can bet that young Viney will doing just that, mean nasty and hungry for 2019.

Now that almost 4 months have passed and the Rose colored glasses are off, it would be complacent to think we didn't get lucky against WCE with injuries to Darling and Kennedy and the scheduling of a r23 Brisbane match to solidify 2nd. As well as the missed shots on goal from Hawthorn all night that came as a result of the smothering Clarko press that Goody still has a few issues with.

We still have a lot of work to do to improve on last years issues and the "r22 was a turning point" idea has not reached fruition until it's sustained for the full season this year (obviously)

The positives of the year go without saying

 

Edited January 15, 20196 yr by John Demonic

On 1/13/2019 at 10:00 AM, rjay said:

Will Demonland meltdown if we drop back this year
 

Does the Pope [censored] in the woods?