Oscar & Frost both played well on a number of occasions last year ... we did win 16 games.  But in an ideal world both players are fighting for 1 (possible) spot this season.  Lever & May playing would mean that Oscar and/or Frost become surplus to needs... and Oscar & Frost would know that too.  And if we know that,  they would too.

Most of our good players (which doesn't include Oscar & Frost) are either terribly out of form or not available.  There's your reason for our below par performances in a nutshell.

Right now,  both Oscar & Frost are being played because the other alternatives aren't much better or they're possibly worse ... so they play by default and we just have to put up with it until May & Lever become available.  Replace them with who?  192cm types who aren't much chop anyway?  Shuffling deckchairs.

It is no different to any other year where we had any number of C & D graders being played because we had no other alternative but to play them.  Depth players can shine but that usually only happens when the best 15 or so are shining.  Paul Dear is a good example (Norm Smith medalist '91)

What we need is our good players being available and playing well. 

Edited April 7, 20196 yr by Macca

  On 06/04/2019 at 21:38, ProDee said:

It's certainly the wrong word.

It's not possible for sporting teams to overachieve.

Actually..you can. Hence the expression 'Hitting above your weight' 

It's a bit like an engine with nitro...only works for a limited period. Too long and all goes bang.

I think we were very lucky at times and also that we over-achieved.

 

  On 06/04/2019 at 10:36, Wiseblood said:

Well said, Clint.

What that, and the Hawks final,  also show that we really miss Hannan and AVB.  They were either kicking or setting up goals throughout both games and we are missing their hardness and versatility up forward.  Even Spargo was up and about in those games.  

But as you say, it does help to put things in perspective.

They can both take contested marks across half forward, something we desperately lack at the moment. Melksham and Petracca took a couple each in the 2nd quarter and we got on a bit of a roll.

Is it true that the  McDonald brothers combined for a grand total of 1 mark between them in perfectly dry conditions?

 

  On 07/04/2019 at 01:36, jnrmac said:

 dysfunctional backline without leadership is easy to exploit.

We miss Lewis more than people realise and of course it doesn't help having defenders that can't defend, or 3 of them fly for the same ball and leave Ess players out the back or have a brain in their head because they guard 'space' not players. Sure we don't have May and Lever but we didn't for most of last year as well.

Definitely, we are missing structure and marshalling in that area. We can argue Lewis’s playing ability for his age but there is no doubting we play better when he’s in the team. 

Off the top of my head the players that we are missing that were important during our final H&A games and finals are Hannan, AvB, and Lewis. While they aren’t brownlow medal contenders they each add something important in their respective areas that we are severely lacking in. 

Oscar and Frost are both very dumb players, they are one dimensional and panic when the heat is on them. Lewis being around them is a cool voice of leadership that lets them know what they might not be noticing. 

Taking a breathe and analysing all areas of the team it isn’t that hard to work out why we aren’t playing well. Key players have had interrupted pre-seasons and are underdone, average players such as Frost, and Oscar are not at their end of 2018 standard while Weiderman is struggling to recapture his break out form. ANB is also having a slow start not unlike how he was this time last year. 

We are down in form and quality in practically all aspects of the ground and in such a tight competition a drop of 5% means you’re already off the pace of the competition. 

Edited April 7, 20196 yr by Pates

No runners in general play exacerbates having Lewis our as an onfield organiser.

Anyway, we’re not going badly in the NRL -

  On 07/04/2019 at 01:36, jnrmac said:

 dysfunctional backline without leadership is easy to exploit.

We miss Lewis more than people realise and of course it doesn't help having defenders that can't defend, or 3 of them fly for the same ball and leave Ess players out the back or have a brain in their head because they guard 'space' not players. Sure we don't have May and Lever but we didn't for most of last year as well.

If our defensive structures and systems are that easily ruined (ie; with the removal of the main Marshall for a while in Lewis for a few weeks) then we either have many defenders with a learning problem or a very poor line coach.  Maybe a bit of both?

Someone on here also mentioned that numbers at the ball to overwhelm the opponent is a Goody coaching preference.  3 up in a marking contest, extra numbers attacking the loose ground ball (ie, more than one player contesting / going to ground etc).  Surely not!?

The other alternative ...not enough homework and prep being done on the Opp or the new 666 arrangement vs other clubs.   I find that hard to believe however, especially given the amount of resources available now.

  On 07/04/2019 at 11:55, Dr. Gonzo said:

No runners in general play exacerbates having Lewis our as an onfield organiser.

Good luck anyone organising Oscar and Frost 

  On 07/04/2019 at 23:20, chook fowler said:

Good luck anyone organising Oscar and Frost 

Like trying to herd cats.

 

Do we even have a Defensive structure ? Seriously...looks like a dog's breakfast at best.

Wouldn't surprise me if we didn't just walk up before games and hand opposition free tokens for goals !! We're just that good.

This is , and has to be as much about coaching as players.. surely.

  On 07/04/2019 at 11:31, Pates said:

Definitely, we are missing structure and marshalling in that area. We can argue Lewis’s playing ability for his age but there is no doubting we play better when he’s in the team. 

Off the top of my head the players that we are missing that were important during our final H&A games and finals are Hannan, AvB, and Lewis. While they aren’t brownlow medal contenders they each add something important in their respective areas that we are severely lacking in. 

Oscar and Frost are both very dumb players, they are one dimensional and panic when the heat is on them. Lewis being around them is a cool voice of leadership that lets them know what they might not be noticing. 

Taking a breathe and analysing all areas of the team it isn’t that hard to work out why we aren’t playing well. Key players have had interrupted pre-seasons and are underdone, average players such as Frost, and Oscar are not at their end of 2018 standard while Weiderman is struggling to recapture his break out form. ANB is also having a slow start not unlike how he was this time last year. 

We are down in form and quality in practically all aspects of the ground and in such a tight competition a drop of 5% means you’re already off the pace of the competition. 

Try about 20% Pates!  A stack of work to do plus the need for return of our better stock as you say.

  On 07/04/2019 at 23:34, ManDee said:

Like trying to herd cats.

 

Anything's possible. I've seen a few on a leash!  

We were not a quick team last year (or the year before) in terms of pure leg speed - what we did have (a lot of the times) was quick ball movement and superior skills.  You cannot win 16 games without being strong in certain areas.

When we lost games last year we often looked slow,  laboured and devoid of skill.  And we often had a fit of the fumbles and/or kicked poorly for goal (in those losses)

We'd then often bounce back as if those losses were aberration moments.  Again, 16 wins is 16 wins.

What we've seen this year is a repeat of those poor moments of last year but this time around,  it's happened 3 times in a row. 

As previously stated,  we need a big lift right across the board (FD included) from our more experienced players and our best players.  If that happens,  we'll bounce back and we might even get on a roll. 

I get the impression with this group that 1 win can change everything.  Previously,  we'd bob up and get a win (albeit with a less talented list) and that would be the end of it.

Edited April 8, 20196 yr by Macca

  On 08/04/2019 at 02:28, Macca said:

We were not a quick team last year (or the year before) in terms of pure leg speed - what we did have (a lot of the times) was quick ball movement and superior skills.  You cannot win 16 games without being strong in certain areas.

When we lost games last year we often looked slow,  laboured and devoid of skill.  And we often had a fit of the fumbles and/or kicked poorly for goal (in those losses)

We'd then often bounce back as if those losses were aberration moments.  Again, 16 wins is 16 wins.

What we've seen this year is a repeat of those poor moments of last year but this time around,  it's happened 3 times in a row. 

As previously stated,  we need a big lift right across the board (FD included) from our more experienced players and our best players.  If that happens,  we'll bounce back and we might even get on a roll. 

I get the impression with this group that 1 win can change everything.  Previously,  we'd bob up and get a win (albeit with a less talented list) and that would be the end of it.

And a good example of that was the St Kilda loss last year, which was very, very similar to this week's Essendon loss.

  On 08/04/2019 at 03:36, titan_uranus said:

And a good example of that was the St Kilda loss last year, which was very, very similar to this week's Essendon loss.

Yep ... and if we don't have a fit of the fumbles,  show good skills,  make good position and move the ball well to position and have our best players playing well,  we look good and we often win. 

We just haven't done the above so far this season ... the worst loss was against Essendon as they are not a very good team.  That loss could sting the team into action if I'm reading it right.

I'd like to believe we can bounce back and beat Sydney but in order for that to happen we need to play a lot better,  right across the board.  Mainly the better players too - ANB,  Oscar,  Frost,  KK,  the Wagners & Lockhart aren't very likely to lead the team to victory.

 

for those that don't subscribe.......... ( nail on head again ) 

Titus O'Reily 

extract from .  https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/the-monday-knee-jerk-reaction-afl-round-three

Melbourne (112) v Essendon (130)

A lot of people said to me that Melbourne were a sure thing in this game, but I’ve learnt the Demons can ruin my life in ways previously thought impossible.

This wasn’t even that innovative for them, although starting the season 0-3 after making a Prelim is certainly a new approach to making me wish I’d never been born.

Melbourne ran out through a banner filled with abusive tweets and going by the reaction online to this performance, they have enough to now cover every banner until the end of time.

All credit to Essendon, after looking like a team who hadn’t trained for years in the first two rounds, they were full of energy and responded to Melbourne’s strong second quarter by booting eight unanswered goals in 21 minutes. 

That’s quite a worrying amount of goals to give up in such a short period of time and can only really be achieved by an entire team switching off. I’d say it was time for some soul searching at Demonland, but this club has done more soul searching over the past decade than every new age retreat combined. 

Melbourne’s problem was their inability to stick to any sort of structure. 

I watched the vegan protest that shut down Melbourne’s CBD this morning and must admit, I was jealous of their ability to hold their structure under pressure. Perhaps those vegans would like a harder challenge than ending meat eating, and help the Dees’ learn some discipline.  

Nothing gets easier for either team next week, with Melbourne travelling to Sydney for their fourth loss and Essendon taking on Premiership favourites Brisbane at the MCG.

Love the "some soul searching at Demonland"  ....and I don't think he's expecting us to win this week either.

Here's a man who knows our pain...well he is one of us.... ( actually...I think he IS one of us !! )

  On 06/04/2019 at 01:41, Macca said:

This sort of reminds me of 1995

Me too.

After an exhilarating 1994 finals series, ending in a prelim loss to WCE (sound familiar!) we ended up losing our first 6 games. Then we rallied to win 9 of our next 11, only to bomb out in the final 5 weeks. Wouldn't be surprised if our 2019 season kind of follows that path.

  On 06/04/2019 at 05:15, Jack son 5 said:

Thanks for that. It looks like even GC are fitter and stronger than the MFC atm. 

Agree with posters claiming we need a department clean out from assistant coaches and fitness staff.

GC are miles fitter and miles more prepared for the season than us.

Went to both games this weekend (Melb V Ess & WB V GC) and  the comparison in fitness, determination and hunger was stark between GC and us.

Edited April 8, 20196 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

  On 08/04/2019 at 04:14, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Me too.

Testing the memory but we did have a lot of injuries to key personnel back then too.  KPP's too. 

And I included '96 & '97 as well as '95 so it was a 3 year stretch.  At the time,  it was hard to cop because we probably thought we should have been able to overcome those injuries.  But key personnel needs to be available and playing well for the wins to happen.

We do miss May,  Lever,  Lewis & to a lesser extent AVB but by far the biggest issue is the poor form of so many of our better players who are available. 

Goodwin would be putting the heat on the under-performers too as coaches tend to focus on the better players as a matter of course.

  On 08/04/2019 at 04:36, Macca said:

Testing the memory but we did have a lot of injuries to key personnel back then too.  KPP's too. 

And I included '96 & '97 as well as '95 so it was a 3 year stretch.  At the time,  it was hard to cop because we probably thought we should have been able to overcome those injuries.  But key personnel needs to be available and playing well for the wins to happen.

We do miss May,  Lever,  Lewis & to a lesser extent AVB but by far the biggest issue is the poor form of so many of our better players who are available. 

Goodwin would be putting the heat on the under-performers too as coaches tend to focus on the better players as a matter of course.

Not to mention Hannan who we miss as much as anyone. He’s a very hard matchup and has that X-factor.

  On 08/04/2019 at 04:27, Bring-Back-Powell said:

GC are miles fitter and miles more prepared for the season than us.

Went to both games this weekend (Melb V Ess & WB V GC) and  the comparison in fitness, determination and hunger was stark between GC and us.

You don't know that.

They might appear fitter or "more prepared" (what does that even mean, anyway?).

But the worst team we've played is probably better than the best team they've played - St Kilda, Fremantle and the Dogs is not exactly three games of top flight opposition.

It's easy to look fit or "prepared" (still don't know what you mean by that, do you just mean "in form"?) when you're winning.