POSTGAME: Rd 08 vs Gold Coast

[loges 6,002]

6 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

The last 2 mins were a comedy of errors that show we make hard work of everything.

The last 2 minutes? How easy did you expect it to be. Gold Coast were trying to win too you realise.

[hardtack 10,126]

I don’t know who first said it, but never a truer word was spoken: “One point’ll get you four!”.

At the risk of be accused of accepting mediocrity, I’ll take that win any day of the week.  We need to get wins any way we can until a few important players are recovered and available for selection.

[Dr. Gonzo 22,398]

12 hours ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

You know it’s a big celebration in the coaches box when “stone cold” Craig Jennings loses his [censored] ... 

 

That's what we were saying too

[Dr. Gonzo 22,398]

4 hours ago, GCDee said:

A wins a win... 

But Goody saying the conditions were slippery was just and out and out lie. My 4 year old was cleaner with her kicks, marks and handballs on the ground after the game than all of our team bar Salem.

It was great to see ANB out and about with the people having a kick after the gane.

I was gonna ask anyone who was there, had it been raining? Humidity? Both teams seemed to be handling a bar of soap out there but it looked like perfect t conditions.

[waynewussell 4,081]

First up, an admission... I've never sworn at the TV screen more than I did yesterday... I reckon it is because we are such a frustrated mob in 2019... Second, yep, there were some terrible handling and disposal bloopers that players will not want to see replayed -> ever!

Having said that, I thought the final minutes were fantastic! We refused to die! Hunt was great in those last 5 - 10 minutes... not just for the handball to Hore. He was one who seemed determined not to capitulate. The final thrust forward in the last 18 seconds was sensational... A surge toward victory that this club has rarely witnessed. To condemn those involved, and to complain about the chaotic nature of it, is to totally miss the point! These are exactly the moments that inject a steely resolve in the group going forward.

Lets consider our opponents... GC have now played in five games that have been decided by less than a goal. Up until yesterday they had only lost one of these! They have wins over the Dockers and Carlton (two teams that look competitive after yesterdays events). They went down to WC in Perth by 23... We will be aiming to better that next week.

It was slippery... it almost always is on a Gold Coast evening at this time of the year. Try handling a relatively new Sherrin after wiping it with a wet rag! And before you shoot me down on this... yes, I grew up in Brisbane and will be within 10 kilometers of Metricon this coming weekend... so I have some first hand experience!

A note on Lockhart. He had 19 disposals, including 9 marks and 4 tackles. The radio station I was listening to post-game named him best Rookie in the match... Hasn't dropped away at all. Jones was very good for us in game 272. On that form he will be here in 2020, without any doubt. Wagner was good... I mention him because he cops so much! His willingness to put his body on the line is admirable. He holds his place as others go down!

Ok, enough of the positivity!

Brayshaw was weird! Often opted out of the contest, may have been worst offender with slippery ball. Led me to have a bet with my son that he was playing injured and would probably miss the WC game. We'll see! Billy was ordinary... takes too long to transfer ball from hands to foot... running a curve is becoming very predictable for oppo. 

Edited May 12, 2019 by waynewussell

[Sir Why You Little 34,407]

4 hours ago, Deesprate said:

A horrible game to watch live but crowd got fired up in the last five. Hard to get enthused but a win a win. There were positives first time I have seen Lockhart and Hore they really are very good. I also thought T Mac was good and Salem is a class act. Beyond that this was a shocker of a game. The Dees will improve as season moves on and we get players back as seriously we can’t get much worse. The last two week were must win but we are going to be hammered in next four week Eagles; GWS; Crows and Pies. Will turn at the bye 3 and 9 with a % south of 70%. If we had not won the last two it would have been 1 and 11 so will take these win even though they have been ordinary. Clarkson a xxxx but he assessed us accurately. It going to be a long season I am afraid.

Said it last week and yesterday during the game. This side will click soon and get back its Mojo

we won’t be 3-9 at the bye

next week in Perth will be close. Redemption time i hope, if this club has any inner strength

[Giles 179]

Surely it must be official now that we are the ‘inside 50 second stoppage specialists’. Ranked as No.1 in the Comp for 2018 and 2019.

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Giles

[dazzledavey36 48,642]

Wagner was good. I noted a few desperation acts that that helpeenour way going forward.

[Nasher 33,047]

51 minutes ago, hardtack said:

I don’t know who first said it, but never a truer word was spoken: “One point’ll get you four!”.

At the risk of be accused of accepting mediocrity, I’ll take that win any day of the week.  We need to get wins any way we can until a few important players are recovered and available for selection.

I’m in the same camp. The other thing is that both teams contribute to the overall standard of the game. Gold Coast are at a stage of development where they’re heavily focused on building their defensive and contested systems, and are using those to keep themselves in the contest until the end. The games will of theirs I’ve seen have all ended up gritty and hard to watch. Add slippery conditions (notwithstanding accusations of Goodwin and McDonald lying about that), you get last night’s game. Which we won, I might add.

I think the game next will be played at a much higher standard, and I think we’ll rise to it. We may not win, but I reckon it’s skewed logic to claim that because the game against Gold Coast was played at a low skill standard, we’ll play exactly the same against West Coast and get beaten by heaps.

[Graeme Yeats' Mullet 6,267]

3 hours ago, Nasher said:

TMac said post game that it was dewy and slippery. Another filthy liar too I suppose.

What is he? An Orchid?

[Vagg 2,422]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I was gonna ask anyone who was there, had it been raining? Humidity? Both teams seemed to be handling a bar of soap out there but it looked like perfect t conditions.

I live on the GC (have done so for 37 years).  Yesterday was a perfect, sunny day with little or no cloud.  Such days at this time of the year invariably end with lots of dew falling once the sun sets.  I didn't walk on the ground after the game, so can't claim there was definitely dew there.  But, would be amazed if there wasn't.  That said, really don't think most of the horrible ball handling can be put down to the dew, although some, and in particular dropped marks, probably can.

As others have said, was a horrible game to watch, apart from the final, chaotic and glorious finale (in spite of it, too, being error-riddled!)

[drysdale demon 4,143]

2 hours ago, A F said:

Gee, Goodwin's an arrogant coach.

WTF did we revert to our system from the Richmond game when we finally sorted our game style out last week?

I was really hoping we'd gain some confidence from that. Instead, the game style this week sapped any confidence we had. 

Were we tired? Our decision making was terrible and our skill level managed to become worse as the game went on. I'm beginning to think we're in trouble with Goodwin. I just don't understand why we'd be arrogant enough to think we could beat Gold Coast with the bomb game when we'd failed to beat an ordinary Port, Essendon and St Kilda with the same style.

And watch a replay of the last 2 to 3 minutes and Jones was simply horrible defensively. As a leader it simply wasn't good enough.

I reckon we can put a line through a couple of players too: Hore, Stretch and Oscar McDonald. Not good enough I'm afraid.

I don't think you have a clue

[Deemania since 56 6,119]

16 hours ago, President Dee Trump said:

Dean Kent is starring for the Saints tonight.

Dean Kent is a valuable asset. 

[Mickey 4,172]

Sometimes I think people see Trac miss and easy goal and assume the rest of his game was rubbish.

His work up the field has been very good this year. I said last week that when he has time and space he often seems to over think it, but when it's close and tough he does some great stuff. Edit: just checked his stats. 22 disposals at 70%, 11 contested, 5 inside 50s and 5 score involvements.

Speaking of which, how good were Hunt's last 2 plays? A slippery ball, he picked it up cleanly at full tilt and had the nous to hold it and choose the right option. Then followed up the next clearance with a massive hit to spill the ball to Harmes. 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Good Lord George

[Fork 'em 6,507]

21 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Dean Kent is a valuable asset. 

 

[Winners at last 4,685]

9 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

 

Brown and Lyon don't sound any different than usual ...

[binman 37,763]

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

I’m in the same camp. The other thing is that both teams contribute to the overall standard of the game. Gold Coast are at a stage of development where they’re heavily focused on building their defensive and contested systems, and are using those to keep themselves in the contest until the end. The games will of theirs I’ve seen have all ended up gritty and hard to watch. Add slippery conditions (notwithstanding accusations of Goodwin and McDonald lying about that), you get last night’s game. Which we won, I might add.

I think the game next will be played at a much higher standard, and I think we’ll rise to it. We may not win, but I reckon it’s skewed logic to claim that because the game against Gold Coast was played at a low skill standard, we’ll play exactly the same against West Coast and get beaten by heaps.

Dew studied st the school.of roos did he not. Employing exactly the defence first, minimise the damage, man behind the ball model goody employed in just first 2 years at the dees 

[Tarax Club 2,857]

5 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Sam Collins from the Suns will be a very good player for them over the next fee years.

A poor man's Steven May? ?

Edited May 12, 2019 by Tarax Club
emoji

[binman 37,763]

12 minutes ago, Tarax Club said:

A poor man's Steven May? ?

Drinks pots not pints

[buck_nekkid 5,458]

Looking at the game again this morning, some thoughts:

A win is a win.  It was a poor one, but we needed it.  Sometimes this can be the making of a team, and their emotion after was a clear sign that it meant something to them.

Hore and Lockhart were really composed and are showing up as great additions to the team.

Our back 6 is now non-existent.  Teams can waltz into 50 and score almost at will.  The suns were something like 3 goals for 5 entries at one point in the last quarter.  Our systems are rubbish and our personnel down there second rate.  Without the first-choice defence, and without the ability to structure up in a meaningful way, our D50 is awful.  Oscar MacDonald is not a spud, but he is struggling to understand his role (when does he leave an opponent, when does he stay?  Is he a sweeper, or is he a zone defender?)  He has no confidence, and too much is expected of him when there is nothing but pain regardless of what he does.  Frost seems to have turned the corner - he still makes headless chook moves, but seems to at least have some confidence in what he is trying to do.

We are doing really well to make contests, especially between the arcs.  Our skill level from contests and general play is appalling.  The number of bad skill errors and bad choices when in possession was off the charts.  If we could only think we had 120 ‘last minutes’ of the game, we would get over 700 points per game!  When Gawn was caught on the pine, we were at a disadvantage and this speaks to Preuss coming back in fairly quickly.

We were particularly poor at contested marking.  This was evident in both arcs.

Jones was in really good form and used well.  In the middle he still has grunt in bursts.

Viney was actually pretty good.  Worked hard at the coalface and justified his inclusion.  Oliver was prolific, and he is so fast sometimes that I think he catches people out. He made a few glaring bloopers, too, but certainly was not alone.

Our delivery into 50 and our inside 50 setups are simply appalling.  We have no speed through the middle of the ground, allowing opposition teams to set up behind the ball and make it so hard for us to score.  When we don’t take contested marks, and our disposal is terrible, all the work up the field is wasted.  We stop and prop, we turn it over.  All we seem to want to do is to make a contest.

I worry for Kielty, Stretch, OMac (confidence), Garlett (maybe the conditions didn’t suit him?), Lewis.

We will miss Hibbard, who looked like he rediscovered some form.  Melksham will be missed - he wasn’t very accurate by foot, but he was really getting involved.  He provides something up forward.

We turned a few corners last night, and TMAC started to show progress.  

Without much depth at Casey, we are really going to have to slug things out for the next few weeks.  

We might have re-established the ‘brand’ of contested footy, but this has to be built on to actually mean anything.  We have so much that is not going right at the moment, that we can scrape through.  Against better sides, we will be torn apart (like the Cats game where we got pantsed by 80 points), unless we rapidly improve.

However, I love the fact that we won a tough one, one we would have given up so easily in the past.  Go Dees.

 

[DV8 2,271]

11 hours ago, bing181 said:

Apart from the fact that this is all hindsight (bias), it's not even accurate.

OMc was tackled by Holman, after Frost dumped him in it (this after Frost's first handball dumped Fritsch in it as well). In the tackle, Oscar's leg/ankle was caught under him, and in the immediate aftermath OMc was on the ground, unable to get up - which is one of the reason GC tried to play on. Play was called back and eventually he gets up, but if you watch on the full video replay, not the edit, OMc could hardly walk at that point. In fact, if you look at him standing on the mark, not only can he not walk and is limping badly, he can hardly stand. And *that's* why Holman took off and ran forward in the first place, he knew that Oscar wouldn't be able to go with him.

The person who *should* have gone with Holman as he ran on was Oliver. As Holman was running through after taking the first handball receive, Oliver was in a position to tackle him. Holman handpassed - but then ran around Oliver and kept running to take the receive. Oliver stopped for a second, and it was just enough - he started chasing again, but by that stage, Holman had 10 metres on him.

(And re the above, as someone else pointed out in the Changes thread, Oscar was limping at the end of the game.)

IF Oscar couldn't chase for injury,  then he has a reason.

So then it comes back down the chain (Oli)...  or for someone in our forwardline out of View,  to get up on Holman.

It's obvious that Oli didn't think of blocking in time...  so focused on offence.

[GCDee 3,004]

6 hours ago, Nasher said:

TMac said post game that it was dewy and slippery. Another filthy liar too I suppose.

It definitely was not a normal QLD afternoon match. The conditions were absolutely perfect 

[DemonOX 8,529]

16 hours ago, rjay said:

Not with that dropped mark he's not, it was an absolute soda. Harmes put it right down his throat, no defender on him & Tommy dropped it like a hot spud. Lucky he got a boot to it.

When/if Tommy starts holding his grabs he will start to show some form.

To me it looked like Harmes miss-kicked the ball amd was actually going for goal. Looks like it came off the side of the boot slightly when watching on tv. 

[DemonOX 8,529]

9 minutes ago, GCDee said:

It definitely was not a normal QLD afternoon match. The conditions were absolutely perfect 

Agree was a perfect winters day. Sunny and not a cloud in the sky. It may have got a bit dewy as night fell though. But they can’t use that as an excuse at the start of the game. 

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 10,568]

7 hours ago, praha said:

Because it is an awful 2 minutes of football. Not only do we gift the Suns easy transition after multiple fumbles, hospital handpasses and the standard Melbourne 2019 crap, our key forward drops an uncontested mark and ends up with a consolation prize behind by just throwing his leg into the air.

Make no mistake if any 2 minute period epitomizes where we are at, it is those 2 minutes. Only Melbourne could make a win look so bad. We are far and away the worst team in the comp atm that is scrapping together wins. Our % is a reflection of this. The amount of ball we won vs our scoring output shows how far we have regressed. And the last two minutes had it all on show.

I agree with what you are saying in a sense, but my reflection on that last play of the game isn't quite so negative.

Some have criticized Harmes for not making the distance, but I actually think he was trying to be unselfish by hitting T Mac at the top of the square in enough space that he could have marke, gone back from 15m out and absolutely sealed the game.  Harmes execution was perfect and T Mac should have absolutely gobbled up that mark every other day of the week, then could have taken up another 30 seconds before slotting through a goal.

As disappointing as it was that T Mac dropped the mark, his decision making and realitive composure having dropped the mark was perfect and literally won us the game.  In seasons gone by, maybe someone tries to pick up the ball it gets held up, siren sounds and we tie the game instead of getting the full 4 points and us MFC supporters are left spewing about another win that got away.  In another season when we are in a more compeditive win/loss position, maybe that win gets us a ladder position 2 - 4 instead of 5 - 8.

I'm not suggesting there are not major problems with how we are presently playing, but let's take those victories when they come.

Edited May 12, 2019 by Rodney (Balls) Grinter