19 minutes ago, BAMF said:

A shame. There are a lot of times I disagree with him, but at least he articulates his thoughts clearly and makes you think a bit.

I assume he attacked one of the protected species again. 

 

It was a tongue in cheek remark on my behalf BAMF... but that's what happens when STJ acts like a lemon.

38 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

He was the only small who presented and applied pressure all game.

Also what's with Melksham, i know he loves a snap, but when you're 40 out directly in front you take it on yourself to kick a seemingly easy goal.

I reckon Melksham's still carrying something. His sideways/backwards pass from 35m directly in front to 40m almost a 45 degree angle to Jones was the clincher. 

And I thought Spargo was okay. He too dropped a simple mark, but he also laid some good tackles and created a bit from centre-wing-half forward.

1 hour ago, Wrecker45 said:

Just switch the [censored] footy.for some reason we kick down the line every time.

We have Brayshaw, Oliver and Viney who are more likely to win posseession and  get it more often than whoever they oppose.

But when we switch we create options.

keep them guessing.

Travelled from the west and must say was like stepping back 5 years. 

We might make the eight but I think the team look fragmented. Hope this changes.

 

Arrogant.  From the performance to Goodys presser.  It stunk.

we lost.  We gave up 4 points for no reason.  Every leader failed to show up.  We were outplayed.  It is completely despairing to see the way they played.  We can’t wait 4 weeks to find our mojo.

a number of senior players need a good hard look at themselves.  Where is ‘our brand?  Seriously troubled by that.

1 hour ago, dieter said:

As Maxwell Smart would have said about not playing Preuss ( in light of Lycett's form against Gawn, plus Ryder) : Very interesting, but STUPID.

Who does he come in for? Port killed us with run and spread, having another lumbering big man wouldn't have helped that.

36 minutes ago, Pirlo said:

Jack Viney ran like Jack Trengove today. I fear for his foot, I really do.

He jogged flat-footed all day. Useless.

I know it's a very early call, but this team is still not 100% mentally there. They seemed to be satisfied with the effort from last year and can't be stuffed repeating it for a whole year to again earn the right to qualify for finals.

I'd be furious if it eventuated this way, but this club needs a massive wake-up call (coaching department too), that last year's efforts mean SFA to this year's results. I hope that wake-up call doesn't come in the form of missing finals this year.

Do they think it's just going to happen for them? Our 22 that took the field in the QF and SF would've done an absolute number on us today.

Edited March 23, 20196 yr by Demon Disciple

Just when you thought it was safe to watch Melbourne again this game pops up. DISGRACEFUL.

Salem hold your head high mate the only one that tried. We have a lot soul searching to do and a lot of changes have to be made.

We got ahead of ourselves again you would think we would learn and our fitness is woeful Misson in his last year has dropped the ball and cost us dearly.

2 minutes ago, buck_nekkid said:

Arrogant.  From the performance to Goodys presser.  It stunk.

we lost.  We gave up 4 points for no reason.  Every leader failed to show up.  We were outplayed.  It is completely despairing to see the way they played.  We can’t wait 4 weeks to find our mojo.

a number of senior players need a good hard look at themselves.  Where is ‘our brand?  Seriously troubled by that.

Totally agree buck_nekkid.

If we wait 4 weeks, our season will be over. Would need to play way too much catch up.

Need to be ready right from the get-go. None of this 'we're working our way into the season' carp. The season will be lost with that attitude.

36 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Joel Smith out hurt us, he’s a dynamic forward while Weideman and McDonald are very one-dimensional.

Preuss needs to be playing, Gawn can’t compete against two ruckmen every week.

I was skeptical about getting May but Frost and O. McDonald proved me wrong today.

If Hore is the answer we are asking the wrong question.

Spargo has peaked and has no weapons.

Petracca can’t play midfield and needs to strip some muscle to improve his agility.

Once ANB missed that easy set shot Pirt Adelaide got on top.

Westhoff is a star yet we didn’t seem to plan for him.

Wagner tried but not recruiting a good crumbing forward in the off season will hurt us a lot.

3 word analysis Clint

Absolutely Correct Analysis!

1 hour ago, A F said:

I thought playing Jones and particularly Viney underdone was arrogant too.

I'm still not convinced it's a lack of pace. It's a lack of system and work rate IMO.

You look faster when you switch play and hit targets. You look slow when you bomb/hack it down the line and can't take a mark.

40 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Joel Smith out hurt us, he’s a dynamic forward while Weideman and McDonald are very one-dimensional.

Preuss needs to be playing, Gawn can’t compete against two ruckmen every week.

I was skeptical about getting May but Frost and O. McDonald proved me wrong today.

If Hore is the answer we are asking the wrong question.

Spargo has peaked and has no weapons.

Petracca can’t play midfield and needs to strip some muscle to improve his agility.

Once ANB missed that easy set shot Pirt Adelaide got on top.

Westhoff is a star yet we didn’t seem to plan for him.

Wagner tried but not recruiting a good crumbing forward in the off season will hurt us a lot.

Also have to say 

As bad a loss as any under Mark Neelds Coaching!

Edited March 23, 20196 yr by picket fence

1 hour ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

This is a laughable response to a game we lost by around 20 points.

Soo predictable, yet so expected.

Demonland, you've done it again!  Lol

The responses have been completely reasonable for the most part. It's not that we lost, we played like rubbish. Hardly looked like kicking a goal in the 2nd half and seemed to have no system in place. It could just be an off day but the it didn't look good.

20 minutes ago, A F said:

And I thought Spargo was okay. He too dropped a simple mark, but he also laid some good tackles

Sorry 'AF', can't agree and the stats show he had zero tackles.

He's a liability at the moment because he can't stick a tackle and the opposition know it and use him as a way out.

Also they just pop it in the air above his head, he has no aerial ability...

36 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

You look faster when you switch play and hit targets. You look slow when you bomb/hack it down the line and can't take a mark.

Indeed, mate. And we really suffered from a lack of contested marks today. I lost count of how many times Tommy Mac, Gawn or Weideman ran to the footy and the ball slipped straight through their hands. I'm guessing maybe sweat on the footy played apart, but I'm reluctant to give them an out such as that.

35 minutes ago, rjay said:

Sorry 'AF', can't agree and the stats show he had zero tackles.

He's a liability at the moment because he can't stick a tackle and the opposition know it and use him as a way out.

Also they just pop it in the air above his head, he has no aerial ability...

Interesting. I stand corrected, mate. I could have sworn he laid 2 or 3.

Well, then I'll say that he didn't do enough as this is one of the reasons he's in the team.

Jeffy Garlett's work rate and hardness is sometimes questioned, but you'd have to think he'd be a big chance to come in next week.

Edited March 23, 20196 yr by A F

20 minutes ago, buck_nekkid said:

Arrogant.  From the performance to Goodys presser.  It stunk.

we lost.  We gave up 4 points for no reason.  Every leader failed to show up.  We were outplayed.  It is completely despairing to see the way they played.  We can’t wait 4 weeks to find our mojo.

a number of senior players need a good hard look at themselves.  Where is ‘our brand?  Seriously troubled by that.

I didn’t think Goodwin’s post match was arrogant at all. He said all credit to Port but let’s not panic. What do you want him to say? The sky is falling, book your September holidays now?!

We we’re arrogant either out there. We were slow. We spread like cold butter on frozen pizza. We lack pace, but when you lack pace and you’re also not winning enough of the loose ball and enough clean clearances, you look even slower. Lots of guys looked severely underdone. The heat didn’t help either. 

I can’t remember a game when Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, TMac, Hibbo and Jetta all had absolute stinkers together. It was just a really bad day. 

I hope they are all better for the run and we get May next week, which means no Frost and suddenly our overall team’s IQ quatriples. 

Edited March 23, 20196 yr by Jaded

32 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I didn’t think Goodwin’s post match was arrogant at all. He said all credit to Port but let’s not panic. What do you want him to say? The sky is falling, book your September holidays now?!

We we’re arrogant either out there. We were slow. We spread like cold butter on frozen pizza. We lack pace, but when you lack pace and you’re also not winning enough of the loose ball and enough clean clearances, you look even slower. Lots of guys looked severely underdone. The heat didn’t help either. 

I can’t remember a game when Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, TMac, Hibbo and Jetta all had absolute stinkers together. It was just a really bad day. 

I hope they are all better for the run and we get May next week, which means no Frost and suddenly our overall team’s IQ quatriples. 

How about our prelim performance?  FWIW, I thought Oliver, Brayshaw and Jetta were okay. Gawn and Viney certainly had stinkers though.

2 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Well, that didn't go to plan.  Or maybe it did, when you consider our off season as a whole.  We started later than most, had more off season surgeries than any other team and have had to bring players back late into the run of practice games.  We were shown up brutally today after the first 15 minutes.  The fact that we couldn't score in the last term is evidence of that.  We just didn't have it in us, but disappointingly, I don't think we pushed ourselves hard enough either.

We didn't have the legs to work hard enough and, when we got a sniff, we couldn't stop them from kicking a few or we mucked something up.  You could almost smell the rust coming off the players.  Not to mention that Gawn and Oliver were pretty quiet and they took us right out of the contest.

Outside of a few, like Salem and Melksham, pretty much everyone was down on their normal output and it cost us the game.  I don't think it's a matter of leg speed or even the gameplan.  We just didn't have the willingness to run hard enough around the ground, while Port had the youth and the fitness to run us off our feet time and time again.

We'll be better for the run.  Some players, like Viney (who put in his worst performance in a Melbourne jumper), will have a game under their belt, while we will at the very least get Steven May back next weekend.

There is plenty to work on, but is the season over?  Of course not.  We lost in Round 1 last year as well.  Yep, the performance today was worse than that one last year, but my point still stands.

I also think Sparrow and Corey Wagner did okay today as well.

Always appreciate your posts as you don't take the typical, pessimistic MFC supporter approach and help put things into a bit more perspective. 

I was always a bit nervous going into this game and today's result justified that. But like you said, it is Round 1 and there is still a long season ahead. I think what we learnt from last year is that Goodwin is all about progress and looking at things from a holistic perspective. It is about bettering our game each round, and from that, the results will follow. 

This season is going to be tight and tough like last year so there are no guarantees but there is still a lot to play out this year. We have a tough few opening games to start the season, but I back the boys to come back and get the job done. 

My concern is our number of players that had post-season surgeries and how that will impact our consistency in the first half of the season, but I'm confident the trainers and doctors at the club have that all under control.

On top of the players you mentioned like Salem and Melkshem, I also think Fritsch showed us what a gun he is today. Other than that, everyone was down on their usual output, which explains why we lost. Port came out and played an impressive first game. It will be interesting to see how this season unfolds...

 

1 minute ago, A F said:

How about our prelim performance?  FWIW, I thought Oliver, Brayshaw and Jetta were okay. Gawn and Viney certainly had stinkers though.

Oliver and Brayshaw were very bad by their own standards. 

I can forgive the prelim game. We lost to the eventual premiers on their own turf. 

Today was just a disappointing day and lots of players barely went. Viney really didn’t deserve a game based on his fitness levels. 

2 hours ago, dieter said:

As Maxwell Smart would have said about not playing Preuss ( in light of Lycett's form against Gawn, plus Ryder) : Very interesting, but STUPID.

I don’t remember Max ever saying that Dieter. Didn’t the German soldier guy say that on Laugh In? But you maybe right although with Pruess in we would have been even slower. 

6 minutes ago, A F said:

Interesting. I stand corrected, mate. I could have sworn he laid 2 or 3.

Well, then I'll say that he didn't do enough as this is one of the reasons he's in the team.

Jeffy Garlett's work rate and hardness is sometimes questioned, but you'd have to think he'd be a big chance to come in next week.

Pretty sure tackles don't count in the stats sheet if the player gets a disposal away so he may have laid a couple of tackles that went unrecognised.

I also liked that someone waited until the last quarter to tell Hore that he was allowed to take his kick from outside the goal square. 

25 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Who does he come in for? Port killed us with run and spread, having another lumbering big man wouldn't have helped that.

They killed us from stoppages also.  Outscored us by 30 points from this source.  Exhibit 1 was Ryder uncontested out of the ruck against Weids to Boak in Q1.  Our stoppages, especially in the forward 50 were horrendous.