1 hour ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Christ we have some weak-minded supporters who absolutely typify the stereotype that is bandied about.

If we lose to Port at the G with the outs they have, it will be nothing short of embarrassing. 

This is the lack of ruthlessness that is consistently associated with the MFC.

We should account for Port easily in round 1.

I agree.  If we don't call it the ''Malthouse Theory''.

Players missing from their 2018 best 22: Wingard, Polec, Wines, Hartlett (only played 5 games) and Dixon.  With a big query over Ryder.

This is a game we shouldn't be dropping at the G.

 

1 hour ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Christ we have some weak-minded supporters who absolutely typify the stereotype that is bandied about.

If we lose to Port at the G with the outs they have, it will be nothing short of embarrassing. 

This is the lack of ruthlessness that is consistently associated with the MFC.

We should account for Port easily in round 1.

I think that people are concerned about the injuries and experience of team play and co-ordination, which includes a youthful brigade but I do not think it is cynicism, chicken-livered, scardy-cat sentiment; I think it is legitimate concern and recent histories have largely proven that is a concern at the start of a season that has some merit. We should win, yes; so much has to go in our favour to so do, in reality. 

13 hours ago, DemonOX said:

We need to play 4 quarters at 100% and not stop until the final siren which is something we haven’t been able to do consistently. 

Fully agree, this is the key to this game.

9 hours ago, 58er said:

My point which you seem not too get  DV8 is that we have moved on from these soft efforts and therefore we don't keep bringing up about it.

You seem to want to keep bringing it up to somehow believe it will ensure we don't go back.

Forget the old past (as Roosy found was hard for some) but it's irrelevant completely from 2016 as we started our real development as a serious team.

You think we've moved on.   What you don't seem to get is,  that I do not think we've moved forward.

I think we,  'the club'  still have the same habits of sweeping our bad habits under the carpet...  not dealing with the why's of our failings.  This only perpetuates the same mistakes to reappear,  from time to time.

 

Avoidance of our failings,  is not learning from our mistakes.  And this IS why we continue to slip back into bruise-free  'but-happy'  uncommitted footballing...  every 10 or so years.    Wrecking all the hard work done,  'EXorcising'  these issues, at an earlier time.

7 hours ago, Deemania since 56 said:

That loss to Port was heavily assisted by the umpires - it is something that won't necessarily go away until we are consistently in the top 4 across a season. 

I recollect that night it was just as much about our delivery and skill (Jesse was limping) on the forward line that cost us as the umpires. We had approx 20 more entries into the For 50.

Thise four final marks by Port along the Members side absolutely signalled our submission. The boys tried so hard but skill (and pressure) and lack of conversion killed our hopes.

Later in the year the Swans game was very similar and I thought after that we had blown our chances of finals.

No as our penultimate 4 games proved we were worthy of finals ironically without Jesse who again was injured.

Those wins  go with the Geelong 2015 Hawks 2016 Adelaide 2017 also Jesse less which makes us confident that the future is in good hands on the forward line.

 

5 hours ago, faultydet said:

Of course we should win. Jones/Viney/melksham in will certainly help.

Our defensive game during pre-season was quite ordinary at times. Need to lift significantly in the real stuff.

 

4 hours ago, DV8 said:

You think we've moved on.   What you don't seem to get is,  that I do not think we've moved forward.

I think we,  'the club'  still have the same habits of sweeping our bad habits under the carpet...  not dealing with the why's of our failings.  This only perpetuates the same mistakes to reappear,  from time to time.

 

Avoidance of our failings,  is not learning from our mistakes.  And this IS why we continue to slip back into bruise-free  'but-happy'  uncommitted footballing...  every 10 or so years.    Wrecking all the hard work done,  'EXorcising'  these issues, at an earlier time.

You going for some sort of a (most non agreeable) record DV8.....

14 minutes ago, 58er said:

I recollect that night it was just as much about our delivery and skill (Jesse was limping) on the forward line that cost us as the umpires. We had approx 20 more entries into the For 50.

Thise four final marks by Port along the Members side absolutely signalled our submission. The boys tried so hard but skill (and pressure) and lack of conversion killed our hopes.

Later in the year the Swans game was very similar and I thought after that we had blown our chances of finals.

No as our penultimate 4 games proved we were worthy of finals ironically without Jesse who again was injured.

Those wins  go with the Geelong 2015 Hawks 2016 Adelaide 2017 also Jesse less which makes us confident that the future is in good hands on the forward line.

 

 

Yes, those penultimate 4 games really showed what we could do !!!!  OMG ? 

We should win based on where we both ended up last year, but this is a new year.  Our entry into 50 has been average at best, and our best defence is not on the park, and we have lacked man on man pressure.  Hopefully the JLT was us testing little things and doesnt represent our real game play.  The scratch match against Collingwood was a better overall style of play.

My big concerns:  Hore doing kickout duties. Preuss?? Ability to man on man in the 666 setup in defence.  Viney  being cherry ripe. 

Port should be average, particularly with their injuries.  Its up to us to blow it by not having our head in the game siren to siren.

8 hours ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Christ we have some weak-minded supporters who absolutely typify the stereotype that is bandied about.

If we lose to Port at the G with the outs they have, it will be nothing short of embarrassing. 

This is the lack of ruthlessness that is consistently associated with the MFC.

We should account for Port easily in round 1.

Our JLT form or lack there of would suggest that the nervous nellies should be indeed nervous. And make no mistake our JLT form was near disgraceful with the lack of cohesiveness (hopefully can be fixed) and a lack of interest and desire (hopefully will be fixed)

Throw in our absurd amount of surgeries, an un Melbourne like late start to pre season and the accumulation of injuries would suggest it’s a massive bannana skin game. Plus Port will have a massive chip on their shoulder and could be re-juvenated by their numerous debutants.

JLT form means little.  Last season Gold Coast and Carlton won both of their JLT games, and we know how their season ended.  Hawthorn, Geelong and North lost all of theirs, and two of them made finals and one just missed out.  

The negative ones will find a reason to be negative regardless, but if you're sensible, then you don't put too much credence on the results.  I'm just as confident as I was prior to the JLT series of the year ahead, and I'm super confident we'll knock off the Power and start the year in positive fashion.

20 hours ago, DV8 said:

you speak indirectly sku...   that's not what English is.   it is something else that's its become.   something different to the words meanings.

this is what the world has become crooked corrupted, and cloaked.

Think of all the little children that would have been saved, if people would only talk straight,  and not play word games with innuendo's.

Okay. While I can't tell how much of your post is intended as ironic, I'll speak as directly as possible. In what I personally consider could be an otherwise valuable thread - saving me and others from having to trawl through alternative news sources for information on Port's progress  -  I instead have to dig through post after post of people's anxieties in relation to Melbourne, their issues with our past performances, the supposed overconfidence of the Demons' players and supporters etc. to simply find out how Ryder might be tracking - when there are many other more appropriate threads for posters to repeat themselves in - literally, every other thread on Demonland.

I hope this frank contribution will help save the lives of some small children somewhere.

25 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Our JLT form or lack there of would suggest that the nervous nellies should be indeed nervous. And make no mistake our JLT form was near disgraceful with the lack of cohesiveness (hopefully can be fixed) and a lack of interest and desire (hopefully will be fixed)

Throw in our absurd amount of surgeries, an un Melbourne like late start to pre season and the accumulation of injuries would suggest it’s a massive bannana skin game. Plus Port will have a massive chip on their shoulder and could be re-juvenated by their numerous debutants.

As wiseblood rightly says jlt form means very little. This has been rge case for a few years, in part i suspect as a function of how aerobicaly challenging foory now is and how hard it is to get through a full season. And this year the new rules have thrown an extra curve ball in.

And for rhe dees, for the first time in a long time we are coming off finals which is another factor to consider.

The other thing about jlt is that from a win loss perspective they are only really relevant for teams outside say the top 10 teams. Bottom teams need wins to build up supporter faith. Top team don't need to worry about that, particularly the top 4 sides. We are one of those sides. And played accordingly.

I'm fine with how we played. My bead is the last 15 minutes of the first q against the tigers. We looked every inch the top 4 side we are. We will be ready for port.

The bookies have got it right. We deserve to be very short favorites. A loss would be a massive kick in the guts. But it won't happen. For punters jump on the over 39 bet and dees to have the highest score of the round.

16 minutes ago, binman said:

The bookies have got it right. We deserve to be very short favorites. A loss would be a massive kick in the guts. But it won't happen. For punters jump on the over 39 bet and dees to have the highest score of the round.

And in the end, even if we do somehow lose that first game, it's not the end of the world.  We did that to kick off last season and we ended up being fine.

The AFL season is a marathon, not a sprint, which is how some supporters treat it.  Even if we start a little slowly due to the new rules in place and our adjustment to it, there will be plenty of time to make it up in the wins column.  We have the talent to beat anyone in the competition.

Having said that, I'm backing us in to be 3-1 after the first 4 games, and us using this as a good springboard into the rest of the season ahead,

I am already on the record as expecting a slow beginning to the year.

Late pre-season start because of 2018 finals.

May new to the club and like Lever, will take several games to gel with the rest of the backline. ( Hope to be wrong here ofc)

No Hogan, and Weid still learning the craft.

Several key players having off-season surgery.

Etc, etc.

 

 

We should still beat Port by 5+ goals 

 

This round one match is bringing back bad memories of 2013, watching the boy stand side by side for Jimmy at the start of the game then copping an absolute smashing by Port. Our season was over by the end of round one that year. ?

Edited March 17, 20196 yr by ILLDieADemon

4 hours ago, Skuit said:

Okay. While I can't tell how much of your post is intended as ironic, I'll speak as directly as possible. In what I personally consider could be an otherwise valuable thread - saving me and others from having to trawl through alternative news sources for information on Port's progress  -  I instead have to dig through post after post of people's anxieties in relation to Melbourne, their issues with our past performances, the supposed overconfidence of the Demons' players and supporters etc. to simply find out how Ryder might be tracking - when there are many other more appropriate threads for posters to repeat themselves in - literally, every other thread on Demonland.

I hope this frank contribution will help save the lives of some small children somewhere.

You were honest, right up til your last line, which broke down into rubbish...   couldn't help yourself, I suppose.

And for your interest, there isn't any new-news,  on Ports injury list, to this point...   so stop your anxious trawling, you will find out, in time.

9 hours ago, ILLDieADemon said:

This round one match is bringing back bad memories of 2013, watching the boy stand side by side for Jimmy at the start of the game then copping an absolute smashing by Port. Our season was over by the end of round one that year. ?

That was against brisbane in 2012.

7 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

That was against brisbane in 2012.

Lol I thought he was talking about jimmy toumpas!

The game for Jimmy was 2012, I didn’t have any expectations that season however 2013 was different. I thought we were a chance to beat Port and go on to have a decent season. We all know what happened from there.  We’ll get them back this Saturday. I can smell a thumping in the air. 

Edited March 17, 20196 yr by Ethan Tremblay

8 hours ago, DV8 said:

You were honest, right up til your last line, which broke down into rubbish...   couldn't help yourself, I suppose.

And for your interest, there isn't any new-news,  on Ports injury list, to this point...   so stop your anxious trawling, you will find out, in time.

Please don't quote me for a little while DV8. Thanks.

4 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Please don't quote me for a little while DV8. Thanks.

?

Could already see where that conversation was heading....

15 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Our JLT form or lack there of would suggest that the nervous nellies should be indeed nervous. And make no mistake our JLT form was near disgraceful with the lack of cohesiveness (hopefully can be fixed) and a lack of interest and desire (hopefully will be fixed)

Throw in our absurd amount of surgeries, an un Melbourne like late start to pre season and the accumulation of injuries would suggest it’s a massive bannana skin game. Plus Port will have a massive chip on their shoulder and could be re-juvenated by their numerous debutants.

 

I've always been the first to criticise our form during JLT, but you're completely wrong. 

We lost JLT one by a few points against a pretty much full-strength Richmond side and how many important players did we have out? We performed well given the outs we had and most of our first half was outstanding.

Against Brisbane, we lowered our colours and I agree that overall we were poor in a number of areas. Individually we had some players who stank it up also.

What's important to remember however is that JLT is the only time in which coaches experiment with set-plays, team structure and positional changes. How much of that unsettled us and influenced the result? We don't know.

What we do know is that Port's JLT form has hardly been awe inspiring and they'll be missing a big part of their core and are traveling to the G to play against us. Why some of our supporters still have this scaredy-cat syndrome I have no idea.

As a club, we need to move past this way of thinking. Players and supporters alike. 

We should beat Port by no less than 30 points on Saturday if we play the way that Goody and the team consistently preach.

Ruthlessness should be the cringe word for us this year.

Edited March 18, 20196 yr by stevethemanjordan

Also, losing games to teams like Port at our home is infact a big deal. I don't know why some don't think it is.

Last year should have proved that to all. We travelled to West Coast and got smacked in a prelim and we were one win away from finishing top four and avoiding that disastrous day. And who knows what would have happened had we taken Hawthorn's place and played Richmond at the G first week of the finals.

We should be absolutely taking care of teams like Port at our home ground.

[censored].

 

 

Edited March 18, 20196 yr by stevethemanjordan

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

That was against brisbane in 2012.

Yep, for some of us, it was a pretty bad event - Port or Brizzy. Self de-sensitisation affects us all, at times. 

1 hour ago, stevethemanjordan said:

 

I've always been the first to criticise our form during JLT, but you're completely wrong. 

We lost JLT one by a few points against a pretty much full-strength Richmond side and how many important players did we have out? We performed well given the outs we had and most of our first half was outstanding.

Against Brisbane, we lowered our colours and I agree that overall we were poor in a number of areas. Individually we had some players who stank it up also.

What's important to remember however is that JLT is the only time in which coaches experiment with set-plays, team structure and positional changes. How much of that unsettled us and influenced the result? We don't know.

What we do know is that Port's JLT form has hardly been awe inspiring and they'll be missing a big part of their core and are traveling to the G to play against us. Why some of our supporters still have this scaredy-cat syndrome I have no idea.

As a club, we need to move past this way of thinking. Players and supporters alike. 

We should beat Port by no less than 30 points on Saturday if we play the way that Goody and the team consistently preach.

Ruthlessness should be the cringe word for us this year.

Fair call with the Richmond game. Played very good footy in the first half and were missing half of our best 22. It was the ease of which Richmond cleared the ball out of our forward 50 in the second half that annoyed me about that game. If that's a feature of 2019, we're losing more games than we're winning.

Sounds like we're in agreement with the Brisbane loss. Just a poor day overall in terms of performance, discipline, injuries and injury mangement (ie - Smith hobbling on one leg for most of a meaningless game) Lucky the game counted for nothing.

Agree that we should be beating Port Adelaide by 30 points if all things are equal. However, given that we've had a heavily interrupted and later than normal pre-season, Port are a month ahead of us in preparation and round 1 always throws up upsets, i see this as a danger game. 

Edited March 18, 20196 yr by Bring-Back-Powell