42 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Neither do I.

It is more feasible to imagine that Hannan adds a reinforcement to the fwd line through opportunities that he exploits so well. He must be guarded against by opponents, as well, thus releasing other forwards to have their way when the ball is on the ground or outside a pack mark moment. Therefore, his fwd presence to my eye is one of balance and 'reserve' firepower ... quite accurate, at that. 

Agree,

I also think he helps our team. and i think we are on the same page. I just think short term speed in the fwd line of Garlett and Hunt needs time to develop and could be dangerous.

You add some more quality like J Smith and Hannan as well as T Mac/Petracca as the keys and the Fwd line on paper seems more potent.

We still have a long way to go though - our disposal is shizen, and our ability to lock the ball forward is abysmal. But there were at least some signs yesterday

Edited May 5, 20196 yr by Unleash Hell

1 hour ago, FlashInThePan said:

There was a clear change in the game plan. We played a sweeper out the back and -1 in the forward press. It worked for us on multiple occasions and is a far safer way to play when team form is variable. We are still sending too many into the contest and not having anyone at the spread or minding opposition players ready to spread. 

What is going on with TMac? Was such a reliable mark last year but is struggling big time ATM. Can't seem to get himself into it or do anything right when he is the target. It is going to make . big difference for us when he finally starts firing again.

Reckon he is still carrying a niggle with that toe,  looks like a slight limp still, certainly not 100% fit and is not demanding the footy. 

He's playing out games and is improving each week but still a far cry from last year's form. If/when it  returns we will be a 3 goal better team minimum each week. 

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

There are times where i simply turn off the Melbourne Podcast because of him as co host (good lord...).

Struggles to put a sentence together and is very uninspiring.

Jake Lever is light years ahead and if he gets some good solid consistency in his football i would love to see him captain one day instrad of Viney.

It would be very helpful to him and  the club if his media work was better. Unfortunately it stinks, but I don't think that hasmuch bearing on his captaincy credentials around the club and on field.  I think that's why he's doing the podcast thing - to improve it and try and be more media savvy.

1 hour ago, hemingway said:

Fantastic team win. 

All players and coaches to be congratulated. 

Showed guts, determination and resilience.  

Summed up beautifully H.

So I have just watched the replay.  Umpiring generally good, but that missed 50m to us was a shocker.

Really liked trac’s game.  The goal kick was an absolute mongrel, but his work around contests  - particularly his strength and how he kept his feet - was a real upside today.  Harmes played the lights out, Oliver and Brayshaw solid in the midfield.

Fritsch had a shocker.  OMac had some really poor moments.  Lewis and a few horrors, but also did some valuable things.

Lockhart did a superb job.  I also thought Garlett was getting to he right places and doing the right things, just needs to trust himself to finish properly.

Was the the first mark this year to TMac?  It felt like it.

We still are poor with our movement and leading inside 50, but at least we won contests in there this week.

Kielty did enough good things.  I didnt notice it live, but he also laid a ripper tackle on Roughy in the middle at a critical stage.  Hore as another new player also did well.  Max had a good game, too.

Stretch did enough.

Hunt forward started to look an inspired move.

Playing the goalkeeper role and stopping Hawks getting outside us so easily made such a difference from Qtr time. Sitting Harmes on o’smearer was also a great piece of coaching.  

Some good signs of what we can play like.  Still need to clear up some possessions, and a few players need a little more form, but we were good enough to beat a mediocre team.  That was what we played.  Going to have to still be much better to take big scalps.

13 hours ago, Demonsone said:

Great win.....

Not sure why our players continue to want to go through the middle of the ground & turnover the ball so poorly, Gawn classic example late in the game up by 10 points play the % & go down the boundary FFS!

We were trying to change to being a genuine aggressive club... rather than being a conservative type of club.   The Bigger Picture...  not the little week to week picture.

 

Try to Win games from our collective positive efforts... rather than trying to go conservative and save games, from fear of the opponents....  Let  'them'  fear us for a change. 

Because one side is going to try to win from any position... and other sides are likely to try to conserve.

 

Let us be the aggressors... try to win.  Dare to win.

Edited May 5, 20196 yr by DV8

Great team win. Sat through rain, wind then brilliant sunshine but worth it in the end. I enjoyed giving Scully a big boo and it was great to see so many passionate Demon supporters compared to the last game against the Tigers.

Hats off to the BCNA - they do it very well each year.

i have been to all of the Melbourne games this year and have slowly seen tiny bits of improvement each week that has given me some confidence that the tide is turning.

I am just sitting back watching the replay this afternoon. 

Go Dees ❤️?

4 hours ago, McQueen said:

Do yourselves a favour and watch Clarkson’s post match press conference. Completely pragmatic compared to Goodwins rolling of a turd through some glitter.  

Probably the best I’ve listened to. 

Yeah I thought it was straightforward and honest, didn't feel offended like some. Didn't think Goodwin's was as bad as you suggest though, he has to manage the expectations.

23 hours ago, Forest Demon said:

Asking for a friend, but how do you un-microwave something?

Has anyone seen the movie Haggard, you need to get a hold of Falcone he invented a reverse microwave

On 5/4/2019 at 4:38 PM, Forest Demon said:

Asking for a friend, but how do you un-microwave something?

Contact the club, telling them how your friend dried they're pants in the microwave...  accidentally/? with the card inside ?

 ?

On 5/4/2019 at 4:22 PM, Mr Steve said:

That was for the true believers. 

 

On 5/4/2019 at 4:22 PM, Mr Steve said:

That was for the true believers. 

Yep and I thought we were GONE. Greatt gutsy effort 

POSITIVES  Clarry Choo Choo got Mojo Back, Max, Harmsy, Hore, Lockhart, Jones Hibberd all really good and Frosty becoming more and more capable and confident. Jeffy had some good moments

NEGATIVES  Turbo Mc Treacle , honestly how does he get a game, His brother not much better, Lewis IS cooked, Tracca, Neal Bullen, not much to write home about! 

Good win needs to be backed up next week.

6 hours ago, McQueen said:

Do yourselves a favour and watch Clarkson’s post match press conference. Completely pragmatic compared to Goodwins rolling of a turd through some glitter.  

Probably the best I’ve listened to. 

I reckon Alistair Clarkson and Buckley are the Best two Coaches in the business! 

Good onya Nathan Jones l have never seen you back pedal and elude three Hawks as you kick a timely goal which was the start of the comeback early in the third quarter. Just starting to hit his strides after a few possies in the first half and finishing the game off strongly with a handball to Harmesy who kicked the winning  goal. Nathan, you are still a valuable contributor.

I just got around to watching the replay.  I have to say I am very pleasantly surprised.  Not by the win, but by the manner in which we won.  What we saw here was many of the things we have been asking for implemented and actually working.  I'm fairly certain I saw four Shepherds by Melbourne players at various points.  One of them was unintentional, but that's still three better than in any match previously under Goodwin.  We saw players staying out of the contest so there was an outlet when we won the ball.  We defended a bit further back so that we weren't leaving a great gaping void for the opposition to run into and also creating a bit more space in our forward line.  We had crumbers at marking contests.  While I still saw far too many bombs to the hot spot, in general we were a bit more discerning in our f50 entries.  Honestly, if our players could kick basic set shots like the other teams, we would have won by five goals or more. 

Points of particular note:

The umpiring.  Contrary to Eddy's effusive praise, I felt that the umpiring was monumentally poor.  In particular the adjudication of Holding the Ball and Holding the Man was blatantly uneven.  We had several holding the man frees denied close to the goals, while the Hawks were paid constantly, often when they actually had the ball at the time they were tackled.  Of particular note were Garlett being pulled back when trying to crumb in the forward pocket and Hunt being held on the wing to prevent him getting a return handball and running into space.  Then there was Stretch trying to run on to the bouncing ball with nothing between him and the goals... 

I really like the look of Lockhart.  He made a few mistakes, but he just looks like he belongs.  I think we'll have a pretty good player on our hands in a year or two when he bulks up a little more. 

Fritsch needs to play wing and forward.  Enough of this crap playing him in defence. 

Jones needs to be in the guts.  Let the younger faster players do the outside running. 

Petracca may not be hitting the scoreboard directly, but he makes scores happen.  I think his contribution is being badly underrated.  He was indirectly responsible for our first two goals and a bunch of other scores during the match. 

How good is Gawn's positioning?  He reads the play so well and always seems to get himself in the right space to cut off attacks. 

How badly is Gawn treated by the Umpires?  I don't think there is another player in the competition who gets fouled as often without calls.  He was repeatedly bullrushed out of marking contests without a peep from the umpires.  They are alway squick to pay frees against him, but give him no protection at all. 

Harmes giving away those dumb 50s was shameful, especially the second one.  What's more shameful is that there were at least two obvious 50s NOT paid to us.  The one in the last where the Hawks kicked the ball away was as obvious as they get.  Better still was that the resulting kick into 50 saw Gawn once again taken out of the marking contest with a no call, then a Hawks player throw the ball through for a point.  No calls on any of them. 

At one point they showed a little graphic of where our goals and points had been scored (I think it was in Q3).  At that point there were nine points that could/should have been goals.  There were more in the last.  If we kicked straight, we won by a mile. 

56 minutes ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

 

Points of particular note:

The umpiring.  Contrary to Eddy's effusive praise, I felt that the umpiring was monumentally poor.  In particular the adjudication of Holding the Ball and Holding the Man was blatantly uneven.  We had several holding the man frees denied close to the goals, while the Hawks were paid constantly, often when they actually had the ball at the time they were tackled.  Of particular note were Garlett being pulled back when trying to crumb in the forward pocket and Hunt being held on the wing to prevent him getting a return handball and running into space.  Then there was Stretch trying to run on to the bouncing ball with nothing between him and the goals... 

 

I've just finished watching the replay and I agree, the umpiring was pure and utter bulldust,  and inconsistent. 

Andre Gianfagna should never umpire again.

I can’t understand Trac being bagged. It seems to me he has stayed playing a much more team oriented game. Has stopped the lairising and is doing a lot more one percenters. He still needs to improve his tank and set shot goal kicking but while not setting the world on fire has been a consistent contributor especially in applying forward pressure 

On 5/4/2019 at 4:28 PM, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Completely agree!!

Not the greatest skills but tank gets him to the contest 

Really good move making him the sweeper today

Oscar was the anchor.

10 hours ago, olisik said:

Lol we get a win and you come  into an online forum to say this? Nothing about the game or anything, higher priority is to comment about random people you don’t know. 

Since your so obsessed with me and my actions, I was out on this [censored] last night and just woke up to have a quick read of DL.

Haha of course you were..........

15 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Havent watched or listen to the game to due to myself also playing a game of footy. Gonna watch the replay now.

Would like to ask how did my boy Billy Stretch play? 18 disposals and 1 goal seems like a good game?

Ok.... watched the replay with an eye on Billy.  Apart from one coughed up ground hard ball get in the last quarter, couldn't really fault his game.

Played a fair amount of time off a wing on Smith & also running with $cullduggery inside at center bounces and pretty much halved most of those contests while doing some good work both inside (pressuring and competing for contested a little) and outside.

On review, my initial impressions that he coasted on one or two occasions when the opp had possession was incorrect, more likely taking space or in a rolling sweeper role (on a couple of occasions) defensive side of stoppages. 

Only my amature opp but a very serviceable solid game from Billy without hitting any heady heights.

Edited May 5, 20196 yr by Rusty Nails

2 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

Good onya Nathan Jones l have never seen you back pedal and elude three Hawks as you kick a timely goal which was the start of the comeback early in the third quarter. Just starting to hit his strides after a few possies in the first half and finishing the game off strongly with a handball to Harmesy who kicked the winning  goal. Nathan, you are still a valuable contributor.

Jones was quiet in the first half but certainly got going in the 2nd with some clutch pieces of play, tackles and reasonable finish with that goal which was the catalyst that sparked everyone into "we can win this mode".

Jones looks much more at home across HF but can still pinch hit inside in short bursts through the mid field also which is handy.  I've said this many times before though... play BOTH chunk & Viney through the middle in the same center bounce at your peril.  When Viney is out (albeit unfortunate for us / him) they can't both be in there which is a huge win for our mid field balance IMO.

The only correction with Jones at HF is if he marks anywhere near 50 he really needs to lay off to someone lateral (or handball) to somone who can roost it from the arc more effectively.  Either that or try and hit a short lead up target.

Is still lifting the team (at times) and leading by example.

True Grit personified!  Thanks again Cap!

17 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Ok.... watched the replay with an eye on Billy.  Apart from one coughed up ground hard ball get in the last quarter, couldn't really fault his game.

Played a fair amount of time off a wing on Smith & also running with $cullduggery inside at center bounces and pretty much halved most of those contests while doing some good work both inside (pressuring and competing for contested a little) and outside.

On review, my initial impressions that he coasted on one or two occasions when the opp had possession was incorrect, more likely taking space or in a rolling sweeper role (on a couple of occasions) defensive side of stoppages. 

Only my amature opp but a very serviceable solid game from Billy without hitting any heady heights.

Did you watch the 1st qtr when his opponent got 9 touches and ran riot?

7 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Did you watch the 1st qtr when his opponent got 9 touches and ran riot?

If you're referring to Smith, sure Billy got burnt on a few occasions but their was also some very ordinary turnovers when we were moving up the field off HB etc and Smith took advantage going the other way a few times.  After the first it was a pretty even contest and Billy made very few mistakes with ball in hand.

With our record of being the biggest 'turnover kings' in the AFL so far, i would take that performance anyday vs having someone who continually produces soul destroying turnovers gifting the opp easy goals.

20 hours ago, Skuit said:

Someone raised the question somewhere herein but I've been saying it for the past couple of years: Jeff is stuck in two minds. A forward pocket of his talent needs to be selfish and instinctive. He's had it coached out of him under Goodwin and always looks first for the assist - then gets caught between shooting and passing.

I'll see if I can dig it up but there was a perfect illustration I think from 2017; Garlett kicked a beautiful slow-running snap from the deep right pocket, but he only kicked for goal because he couldn't find another option after several moments. Unfortunately, I think he's now lost his touch - but contrary to most, I also think he's super valuable with his forward pressure and sets the tone.

That doesn’t explain why his general skills have become so poor, or maybe it’s tied into the same deal with his confidence in his own abilities. But that attempt at goal that ended up being a dribble kick was under 12 level and amazingly I don’t think he meant it to be a dribbler which almost makes it worse!

Great stuff here from Sir Marty Hore with the game in the balance.  Wins the one on one, and follows it up with a big tackle for which he earned a free kick. 

 

Edited May 5, 20196 yr by Petraccattack