4 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Attitude. We don’t work hard enough

never have in 55 years

Really, it's time you stopped playing this record. Between 1987 and 2006 we were regular finalists, played two GFs and usually won at least one final, so give it a break.

too many players did not contribute either through effort or lack of skill

May 6 disposals - 50% disposal efficiency, so essentially he probably turned it over or did nothing with half of his possessions.

frost 7 disposals at a healthy 85.7% efficiency

Oscar 8 possessions at 62.5%

lockhart 6 possessions at 50%

Kolodjashnij 5 possessions at 80%

Jetta 8 possessions but was trying all night

Sparrow 8 possessions at 25%

Neal-Bullen 9 possessions at 44%

while harmes racked up 24 possessions it was at 45.8% efficiency

Salem 23 possessions at 52.2% efficiency

i would be giving quite a few a rest next week with Casey to try to find some form, or guts.

- frost

- lockhart

- Kolodjashnij

- sparrow

- neal bullen

- petracca

- Jones

also tempted to leave Weiderman and Oscar out.

1 minute ago, Wiseblood said:

To be fair though, outside of a few poor games last year (Prelim, Pies on QB), the gameplan worked well.  Very well in fact.  So why would we make wholesale changes?

We added May to stiffen up the backline, KK for the outside run and looked to draft younger players in areas of need, like Bedford and Chandler to play as potential small forwards.  You can't do a whole lot more than that.

A poor pre-season and players down on form have been factors, but teams are now working us out.  It's up to Goody now to show what he's made of.

It all fell apart in the Prelim, and it looks exactly the same tonight. 

What was achieved over summer? Denial

Goodwin is under serious pressure now

1 minute ago, bing181 said:

Agree with much of what you say, but I don't know that it is. That "outnumbered 3 to 1" situation that we saw time and time again in the forward line should have left Melbourne players to swoop in and get the ball once it hit the deck - after all, it nearly always WAS being brought to ground. But we don't seem to have any small, running forwards to do the damage and finish off. For the moment.

True.  

I also think it is how we react to the situation.  When they win the footy, we don't seem to be quick enough to cover all the spaces and set up a 'wall' as it were.  It was Dean Bailey style stuff - you always knew, when the ball hit the deck, that they would run it around the opposite side and score.  Their ability to kick 6 goals from 8 inside 50s in the third term is proof positive of that.  They handball, handball, handball and run.  We have no answer to it at the minute.

4 minutes ago, pitmaster said:

Really, it's time you stopped playing this record. Between 1987 and 2006 we were regular finalists, played two GFs and usually won at least one final, so give it a break.

Was never good enough though was it? We always came up short in those years

and many times we didn’t make finals the following year. 

I will shut up when things change ok

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by Sir Why You Little

We lack a forward with presence - Hogan’s departure is going to hurt us cause I can’t see weideman or McDonald having the same presence for a few years, if at all - without that presence we don’t worry the oppositions backline

 

Our depth is so bad..we have given up 3 first rounders for May and Lever... let that sink in.

Geelong go and pluck a defender from the bush and already he is an All Australian defender by the name of Tom Stewart. 

We have overrated our list big time.

Spoke to @ding before the game. He was confident of a 60 point + loss.

We will turn it around, but you don't often finish top 4 with a start (and percentage) like this.

This will not be a premiership year, but still hold hope for finals.

10 minutes ago, Stormy Dee said:

It was a waste of time and money going to this game where our players had a poor game plan. At least we left at 3/4 time so we’ll be home soon.

So was it raining the whole time you were there? I am trying to make sense of our shapeless forward line. TMac and Weid hardly sighted airborne.

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

It all fell apart in the Prelim, and it looks exactly the same tonight. 

What was achieved over summer? Denial

Goodwin is under serious pressure now

It fell apart twice last year.  I would have expected minor changes in response to the new rules, but we got run over in the Prelim by the eventual premiers.  It was many things that day, not just the gameplan.

Denial isn't it.

We seem to play the game between the 50m arcs?

There is no one at either end of the ground when we attack or we defend. How can you play as a unit with positioning like that??

What a great club we are just fantastic, can't complain 1 good season in 14, 1 finals in 13 years, this side has no weakness they say, players are happy with themselves. You won't get another dollar from me you [censored] demons had enough of this club, welcome back to bottom 4 demons, where u belong the hawks back on top.  there is no way back. 70000 members never 15000 won't resign next year, watch all the finger pointing this club will exploded, president will be gone CEO sacked and Goodwin will be gone by seasons end.

5 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Can't wait for the lampooning in the media...

All totally deserved.

Fish rot from the head

There is a lot of ability.....poorly lead.

It's not just Goodwin

A club incredibly inept.

 

Totally agree it not just Goodwin. There is something inherently rotten about this club. The only time we have improved is when Roos and Jackson were imposed on the club by the AFL. Now they are gone we are slipping back to where we normally habituate the sewer. There are reason why there are successful clubs this club just doesn’t cut it and I am sorry to say never will.

15 minutes ago, Sigil said:

Getting the ball is great, but hacking it forward, always being under pressure, delivering slops to our (admittedly poor) Forward line is a problem. 

 

8 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

To be fair though, outside of a few poor games last year (Prelim, Pies on QB), the gameplan worked well.  Very well in fact.  So why would we make wholesale changes?

We added May to stiffen up the backline, KK for the outside run and looked to draft younger players in areas of need, like Bedford and Chandler to play as potential small forwards.  You can't do a whole lot more than that.

A poor pre-season and players down on form have been factors, but teams are now working us out.  It's up to Goody now to show what he's made of.

Until we get a system around the ball, we’ll struggle, as even when we halve contested possession we will get smashed as our disposal forward is rushed and hacked and we still just leave so much space on the outside.  It’s almost like players don’t know their roles, and all are trying to get contested numbers.  

I’m not convinced we’ll hit our straps until quite a few weeks from now.  I can just imagine the coaching group coming down on the players like a ton of bricks for losing the contest, and just compounding our disorganisation.

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by Watson11

Today's game was very similar to what happened v Hawthorn last year. We got smashed bombing it into our forward 50 and Geelong rebounding and getting us out the back.

Im confident we will sort out the problem, like we did last year and went on to win 20+ quarters in a row, but need to win at least two of Peptides, Sydney and Saints to keep in touch.

Positives for me were our engine room starting to work, Oliver, Brayshaw, Gawn and Harmes, along with Viney and Melksham working back into form, a game into May and KK, and that we are fielding one of the youngest sides.

Our system is clearly not working at the moment, bombing into our forward 50, losing crucial contests resulting in opposition goals and not applying enough pressure to create defensive stoppages.

Next few weeks will be important. 

22 minutes ago, faultydet said:

I agree.

Are we in a different training program from other sides due to our high finish last year?

I recall Horforn losing various pre-season/early games in their premiership years.

 

maybe we are targeting a later "peak"

maybe i'm, delusional.

You just compared Melbourne to Hawthorn...lol just slightly delusional 

Is it to late to get PJ back in and get rid of Pert? PJ seems to turn things into gold. He'd be asking himself what has happened. 

Seriously though after you walked out of the MCG last September with those great wins against geelong and hawthorn, if someone said to you then geelong will beat you by 80 points in r2 you wouldn't have believed it. 

I seriously thought those days were over. 

Admittedly id didn't see any of the game until the last quarter, but coming home and listening to it on the radio after 1/2 time and hearing how we dominated the inside 50's but kicked squat was frustrating. We had 23 inside more 50's. How does that happen? That we lose by so much? 

Next week is going to be the most nerve racking week. WE CANNOT LOSE TO THE SCUM. 

 

11 minutes ago, faultydet said:

This will not be a premiership year, but still hold hope for finals.

Suspect that the FD realised that. You don't send all those players in for (elective) surgery, thus compromising the pre-season for the whole team, if you're in a premiership year. I get the feeling that they realised that we still have some developing to do, so took the chance to sort out any potential longer term injuries so that they wouldn't impact the seasons ahead - when hopefully we really are premiership contenders.

Short term pain, long term gain?

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by bing181

7 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

It fell apart twice last year.  I would have expected minor changes in response to the new rules, but we got run over in the Prelim by the eventual premiers.  It was many things that day, not just the gameplan.

Denial isn't it.

At half time in last years Preliminary we were goalless, and we still look like rubbish tonight. 

I ask in all seriousness “What was addressed?”

West Coast anihalated the entire club Mojo. 

Players have got no fire ? 

changing the gameplan will do nothing if the attitude isn’t there

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by Sir Why You Little

Disappointed Tommy Mac didn't have any impact on the game. But the delivery into the forward line was woeful, so he didn't get many chances. Also I wish the umpires paid our forwards the frees they always gift the opposition, especially their favourites ( Ablett, Dangerfield, Hawkins etc). Same old story. 

What a weird game. Increased output from many of the guys we expected to lift from last week. But so many are so flat. Our gameplan is (on best view) non existent. It's a long season and there's still time, but we're going to need to fix whatever is going on, very quickly.

 

I'm not up for any of Goody's fluffy garbage at the presser either. I want to hear him say that his gameplan is stuffed and he's going to fix it. Oh and that backs and forwards are going to work out what is going on.

4 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Suspect that the FD realised that. You don't send all those players in for surgery, thus compromising the pre-season for the whole team, if you're in a premiership year. I get the feeling that they realised that we still have some developing to do, so took the chance to sort out any potential longer term injuries so that they wouldn't impact the seasons ahead - when hopefully we really are premiership contenders.

Short term pain, long term gain?

Better tank early than later. What a brilliant strategy.

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by america de cali

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Was never good enough though was it?

and many times we didn’t make finals the following year. 

I will shut up when things change ok

No it wasn't good enough but it was close several times. You make it sound like it's been 55 years of 1981 or 2013-14 revisited. Northey's teams were honest and gritty. Danihers' usually were. They were a million miles away from the past two weeks. 

8 minutes ago, pitmaster said:

So was it raining the whole time you were there? I am trying to make sense of our shapeless forward line. TMac and Weid hardly sighted airborne.

Rained the whole time. But I was in the Fred Flanagan room under cover behind glass. Food was very average. Place was full of cats supporters who just expect their team to win. Sickening people.  $90 per seat.

. Petracca needs to be our replacement for Hogan. He needs to be taught how to use his big body to lead out, crash packs. Even if it’s a feint sometimes, then the other forwards can be kicked to, etc, etc. 

There is far too much bombing it to packs or direct to the opposition.

Jones is a trier but has almost no footy smarts. He’s not a captain. Never really has been. Nice guy, great club man, middle of the road footy player.

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by Stormy Dee

4 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Suspect that the FD realised that. You don't send all those players in for surgery, thus compromising the pre-season for the whole team, if you're in a premiership year. I get the feeling that they realised that we still have some developing to do, so took the chance to sort out any potential longer term injuries so that they wouldn't impact the seasons ahead - when hopefully we really are premiership contenders.

Short term pain, long term gain?

I'd like that to be true!