We know Viney was missing injured in the last quarter against WC but I have noticed him and Jones have been pathetic in the last quarters of the past 3 games. When we need leaders to stand up they are the first MIA.

Edited July 28, 20195 yr by america de cali

Why go to an injured Saints player on the replay instead of showing a "very dubious free kick replay" just when said Team is getting onto a run on that may have squeezed us over the line??

Speaking of maggots appeared to be more celebrity maggots in the stands than on the ground...

11 hours ago, Die Hard Demon said:

Not totally sold on this theory.. Most people were saying the exact same thing about Carlton & Saints earlier this year. 

Look what a new coach has done to the ‘plodders’. I believe we’re just not being coached to our strengths & players are struggling to execute Goodwin’s game plan. 

There's a game plan? 

2 hours ago, beelzebub said:

And this describes everything  quite succinctly  as to why we're  crud.

Its not injuries  per se....its about being an athlete and not a footballer 

Stretch is no good at AFL level. Rabbit in the headlights..

1 hour ago, Gorgoroth said:

For those talking about injuries, missing games etc.

Lets agree that yes, we have, especially in the back 6.

 

We are missing at the moment  or have missed for large parts of the year almost the entire finals forward line notably Melksham, also TMac, Weideman, then you have AVB and Hannan.

12 hours ago, John Demonic said:

when Clarry is tagged

Agreed JD, but whilst Clarrie is tagged, he can and does overcome it with his sublime ball-getting skills, positioning, mobility and teamwork. He is just doing - or being asked to do - too much across a game to make up for the weaknesses in others. 

The one thing he cannot overcome is the illegal holding than he tolerates as a sportsman from all opposition midfielders; it is now endemic - every team does it to excess on him - yet the umpires have no sight for this - there seems to be an AFL directive that with Clarrie, illegal holding is acceptable to nullify the otherwise dominance of Clarrie. It ain't for any other key midfielder in the competition (Cripps comes to mind), just Clarrie. 

It is also allowable for an opposition team to do this to Brayshaw, as well,  these days. 

That is one 'hellava weekly disadvantage for our team demonstrated by the green snot goblins. 

Max mus endure continuous fouls (of many descriptions) as well - as we all see at all points of the ground where Max is located across a game. Few opposition rucks challenge him for the ball tap; rather, they opt for body slams, arm entanglement and knees to the ribs. Watch a few replays on this to count the number of times this is done to nullify the best ruck in the League. Open slather on the Dees' best three. NO problems!

To increase the level of disgust I hold for the umpires and their AFL directives, this kind of infringement has started to be used against Salem, if not a straight out belting before he gets the ball.

2 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Keeping Stretch also raises the issue of the 4 injured amigos... AVB, 2 Smiths and Stretch... can we afford as a list to have four NQR players who are injury prone. Add in KK and that's 5. Put's immediate strain on the list.

Delist them all. 

Rendered emotionless after last night, so were many others at Marvel after the 20 minute mark or so of the last. I think Jones undid some of his good work in the last month by constantly  burning teammates, could have easily given a quick handball to teammates running by on numerous occasions rather than just blazing. This game of hot potato has to stop. Basic skills have just vanished. Why?

The bad signs were evident half way through the second, they looked stuffed, hence those tired kicks forward from the wing to....no one really. We were smashed in inside 50s also, not much any defence can do when no one blocks the space in front of opposition forwards. Just my observations.

A couple of small pluses, Petty has quick hands and could turn out a very good player for us. Trac right up there with our most consistent and better players the last 6 weeks or so.

How Marvel got voted World stadium of the Year is beyond me. Pockets of Level 3 smelt like Port Melbourne Pier, seriously needs a clean up from birds.

Edited July 28, 20195 yr by Dee Zephyr

17 minutes ago, pitmaster said:

We are missing at the moment  or have missed for large parts of the year almost the entire finals forward line notably Melksham, also TMac, Weideman, then you have AVB and Hannan.

Last few games with tmac and Weid, yes, Melksham played half the season, Hannan sure, AVB never plays and didn’t last year so no loss as he wasn’t there for the whole season pretty much.

But for the first half the year we had a lot of our best players in and all play8ng skilless horrible football. Injuries are a factor but not even close to being THE factor of our shiteness for this year.

Edited July 28, 20195 yr by Gorgoroth

Get either Goodwin Pert or the President on the couch.  Put hard questions to them and demand frank answers.  This club just automatically think their membership base will renew next year.  I don’t think so!!  I wait for the apologists, however DO not underestimate the anger at this club.  There are more than enough supporters that have had enough of their winter weekends ruined.  Close the doors so we can all  just live without this mongrel of a club.

Yeah, Nah.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing that is so obvious is the sense of ‘panic’.  Chaos ball is one thing, but we are now simply playing ‘panic ball’.  This panic is leading to a number of significant problems in our game:

1.  Multiple defenders flying for a single ball, allowing easy over-the-back goals.

2. Defenders doing inexplicable passes straight to opposition players under no pressure.

3.  Ridiculous skills - simply poor disposal, option selection and selling team mates down the river.

4.  Terrible positioning, set ups and coverage.  The defence of the 40m to 80m out, and through the corridor, was non existent.  We panic and get sucked into thinking one step behind, rather than one step in front.

5. The panic around contests means we get sucked into the contest and allow opposition to set up outside and win the clearance.  With the dominance of Max, it is so surprising that we are so poor at getting quality exits.

6.  Panic means we bomb into the forward line, to predictable spots.  This means we have little chance of doing anything meaningful (except run around and panic)

7.  Our kicking for goal is completely overtaken by panic.  Set shots - too much adrenaline and overthinking.  In game play - we panic and do that extra handball that brings us undone (what an absolute farce that is!).

Whatever skills our players have is completely destroyed by this panic.  We go to water with any opposition pressure (notice what happened when Ratten picked up the phone after our first three goals and said ‘smash them in the contests’?).  We simply are too SCARED to be a decent football team.

55 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

The one thing he cannot overcome is the illegal holding than he tolerates as a sportsman from all opposition midfielders; it is now endemic - every team does it to excess on him - yet the umpires have no sight for this

I have noticed Clarrie playing with one arm all season. It happened again last night. It is a wonder he does what he does with the ball while being held by the arm by the opposition in nearly all passages of play. Umpires see nothing. ?

I witnessed something last night which confirms my belief football is played above the shoulders. A Melbourne player (who shall remain nameless) took possession of the ball, and was surrounded by opposition players. The Melbourne player was facing the way of the Melbourne goals, and behind the opposition players were several of his team mates. Split second decision to make. What does the Melbourne player do? He decides to deliver a long and high looping handball behind him over his head into empty space. St Kilda players pounced on it, said thank you very much and took it quickly to their forward line to kick an easy goal with no pressure.

Too many of these kind of decisions are being made. This team lacks footy smarts. They need to be taught some game intelligence, somehow, by somebody. Sick of watching dumb footy.

40 minutes ago, buck_nekkid said:

One thing that is so obvious is the sense of ‘panic’.  Chaos ball is one thing, but we are now simply playing ‘panic ball’.  This panic is leading to a number of significant problems in our game:

1.  Multiple defenders flying for a single ball, allowing easy over-the-back goals.

2. Defenders doing inexplicable passes straight to opposition players under no pressure.

3.  Ridiculous skills - simply poor disposal, option selection and selling team mates down the river.

4.  Terrible positioning, set ups and coverage.  The defence of the 40m to 80m out, and through the corridor, was non existent.  We panic and get sucked into thinking one step behind, rather than one step in front.

5. The panic around contests means we get sucked into the contest and allow opposition to set up outside and win the clearance.  With the dominance of Max, it is so surprising that we are so poor at getting quality exits.

6.  Panic means we bomb into the forward line, to predictable spots.  This means we have little chance of doing anything meaningful (except run around and panic)

7.  Our kicking for goal is completely overtaken by panic.  Set shots - too much adrenaline and overthinking.  In game play - we panic and do that extra handball that brings us undone (what an absolute farce that is!).

Whatever skills our players have is completely destroyed by this panic.  We go to water with any opposition pressure (notice what happened when Ratten picked up the phone after our first three goals and said ‘smash them in the contests’?).  We simply are too SCARED to be a decent football team.

Apart from the above, all seems to be going well ..

14 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Waiting for the usual suspects to defend this buck of lazy unskilled footballers. The coach can [censored] off as well

Looks like someone needs a break...

I didn't watch the game (saw bits and pieces)… And am feeling good today. last nights game was predictable, I am genuinely amused how upset you bunch get.  

I do enjoy a good overreaction though, keep up the good work.

Thanks for the morning lols

 

Edited July 28, 20195 yr by Unleash Hell

22 minutes ago, Dame Gaga said:

I witnessed something last night which confirms my belief football is played above the shoulders. A Melbourne player (who shall remain nameless) took possession of the ball, and was surrounded by opposition players. The Melbourne player was facing the way of the Melbourne goals, and behind the opposition players were several of his team mates. Split second decision to make. What does the Melbourne player do? He decides to deliver a long and high looping handball behind him over his head into empty space. St Kilda players pounced on it, said thank you very much and took it quickly to their forward line to kick an easy goal with no pressure.

Too many of these kind of decisions are being made. This team lacks footy smarts. They need to be taught some game intelligence, somehow, by somebody. Sick of watching dumb footy.

O, me O,my O, macMac

3 hours ago, praha said:

Sure, but at the same time, you're talking about a pretty significant change to the way the game is structured with 6-6-6, and a team that has seen both collective drop off across the boards, of perhaps among the greatest drop offs season-on-season after finals of all time. 

All year, we have looked more like a poorly coached team, than a poor team. Gold Coast are a poor team. Earlier in the season I remember someone here posting that they couldn't tell if we were playing bad or we were just trying really hard for no reward. Or if we were simply just a bad team. It is extremely difficult to put your finger on.

Goodwin's press conferences the past two weeks have been his most honest of his coaching career, but also his most damning: three years into his coaching career, his team's skill are getting progressively worse, they are being utterly smoked in final quarters, and there is zero -- ZERO -- mention of gameplan. Why? Because the actual fundamentals have gone missing.

How does a team lose grasp of the fundamentals to such a degree that it allows almost 100 points from turnovers, can barely score, can't transition, can't rebound, can't defend, can't tackle, and on and on? Skill errors are one thing. But I don't think skills are a catalyst here. They are very clearly a symptom of a complete systematic breakdown. That is down to the coach.

I'm not discounting what you're saying. If this continues into next year Goodwin will be on borrowed time.

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned we had most (14 or 16) of our prelim side in last night plus Lever and Fritsch.

However from that prelim side we were missing TMac, Weideman, Melksham & Vandenberg. Say what you will about those players individually or their seasons in 2019 but when you are missing basically all your forward/half forward marking targets is it any wonder you're constantly turning the ball over? That's not an excuse because even with most of those guys in earlier in the year we were terrible but I think we've changed things up since the bye being more patient moving forward rather than trying to blitzkrieg the opposition. It's just that that's coincided with most of our forward line being unavailable

18 minutes ago, Unleash Hell said:

Looks like someone needs a break...

I didn't watch the game (saw bits and pieces)… And am feeling good today. last nights game was predictable, I am genuinely amused how upset you bunch get.  

I do enjoy a good overreaction though, keep up the good work.

Thanks for the morning lols

 

So you didn't note that every time we got the ball we managed to butcher it? By hand, foot or simply running into trouble, or creating trouble where there was none?

Every time we got the ball out of congestion (always working our guts out to do it), within seconds we were under pressure again.

Meanwhile St Kilda found it relatively easy to make space, find teammates, take marks near goal, etc etc.

Our ability to [censored] up every possible game situation is unsurpassed.

That's why it was a devastating loss.

We weren't picked apart by a superior team.

We bumbled along against a lowly team, bad enough for us to be able to beat, and we self destructed.

Our entire season crystallised in one match.

It wasn't a bad day at the office, it was a spectacle. The bearded lady. The elephant man. An AFL team being utterly inept at their craft.

Beats me how anyone can feel good about seeing our complete collection of flaws exposed (on prime time TV to boot), with not much on the horizon to indicate improvement.

2 hours ago, america de cali said:

We know Viney was missing injured in the last quarter against WC but I have noticed him and Jones have been pathetic in the last quarters of the past 3 games. When we need leaders to stand up they are the first MIA.

Totally agree Jones has zero impact just jog around picking up soft kick. Never break a tackle alway falls to ground. Has been a passenger ever since he dropped that soda in the first game. Been a great servent but it time.

The only clip from the game that I've seen is that free against Petracca in the fourth quarter.

Seems like there isn't much point to watching the rest of it.

13 hours ago, Scoop Junior said:

In 7 of our last 10 games we have either been ahead or within one kick at 3/4 time. 8 games if you include Brisbane where we were level very late in the 3rd quarter.

Our record is 2 wins 6 losses in those 8 games. Of the 2 wins, one was against Freo with 2 players down, the other against Carlton where we still got overrun in the last quarter (although being 3 down was a significant factor). In the others, we've been regularly overrun in final quarters.

What is the cause? Are we not fit enough? Do we freeze up when the game is up for grabs?

We were very poor tonight for the majority of the game. But even still, we were within a kick at 3/4 time and got completely overrun yet again.

Hopefully we've added final quarter fadeouts right near the top of the ever-growing end-of-season to do list.

Agreed.

We might only have won one or two more games, but there's a clear pattern of fourth quarter fade outs that is hurting us significantly right now.

12 hours ago, binman said:

Omac is a better kick

Yes, he is.

But he's worse than Lever at everything else associated with football.

 

for those who love umpires.. (just one week back)

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-07-27/love-is-in-the-air-two-umpires-get-engaged-at-the-g

But in a heart-warming reminder of the human side to the game, boundary umpire Dillon Tee proposed to field umpire Eleni Glouftsis in the middle of the MCG.

4 hours ago, goodwindees said:

They’ve hit the post 3 times and missed several other easy ones.  If the Petty gift goal had happened to us, Demonland would be in meltdown. I also thought scoreboard flattered us to the tune of about 4 goals. They’re crap, in fact they asked for a Priority Pick 2 weeks ago and they were 7 goals better than us. 

They were 3 goals better than us but let's not let facts get in the way of emotional hyperbole

Just now, Dr. Gonzo said:

They were 3 goals better than us but let's not let facts get in the way of emotional hyperbole

When Melbourne plays well but doesn't score - we're crap, it doesn't matter how much you dominate general play if you miss/don't score.

When our opponent plays well but doesn't score - they were so much better than us, the scoreboard flattered us, we should have lost by 10 goals.

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

for those who love umpires.. (just one week back)

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-07-27/love-is-in-the-air-two-umpires-get-engaged-at-the-g

But in a heart-warming reminder of the human side to the game, boundary umpire Dillon Tee proposed to field umpire Eleni Glouftsis in the middle of the MCG.

"The ceremony had to be moved to the centre of the ground after Umpire Tee repeatedly tried to propose to the goal post. When told Umpire Glouftsis was behind him, he called for a video review. Eventually he managed to get out the words every girl wants hear: 'Is this Sam Lane? I'm trying to find Sam Lane.' Umpire Glouftsis, on hearing the proposal, tried to report Umpire Tee, but finally accepted when she was told the man proposing was really Gary Ablett. She then placed the ring on her thumb and immediately lost it. After the match, the happy couple headed to a reception at the Sheraton but got lost in the car park and were found next morning at Jolimont Station complaining that the buffet was cold."