On 12/08/2019 at 00:01, poita said:

Less than 32K to a game on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG against our oldest rival. A week after 38K against the competition's most popular and in form team. We could fall short of 20K this week if the weather forecast is poor.

The appalling performances of the coaches and players this year has now gone far beyond simply writing off 2019. This season will take us years to recover from, both on and off the field. Gate receipts, memberships, sponsorships - the financial cost will be horrendous.

The club simply has to give members some hope for next season if it wants people to rejoin. The same ordinary players making the same basic errors under the same highly flawed game plan week after week is serving no purpose. I could perhaps cop some end of year pain if there was some promising young talent coming through, or signs of a more sustainable game plan emerging, but there is nothing to get enthused about.

The less said about the game the better, but the thing that summed up the match (and the season) better than anything else was the regular sight of Steele Sidebottom at centre bounces with the entire Southern Stand wing to himself whilst Nathan Jones pushed back to defence with zero impact. Even more comical was when we copped a warning for not starting with 6/6/6 because Dunkley wandered across to Sidebottom at one point whilst Jones was still covering grass on the point of the square. A clear sign that coaches and players either have no idea or don't care (or probably both).

Well said. Some on here think we just write the year off due to injury and we will see everything come good with a few changes to assistant coaches and so on. And from there we should be back to Top 4 like 2008.  Well I think we will have to fight tooth and nail against every side currently above us to do any better next year. Coach is lost and lonely, players are shattered in body and spirit, Club remains homeless and leaderless with no likely hood of a flag with this average list. After 55 years I would be happy to get together with GCS, watch home games at the G and a few on sunny gold Coast during Melbournes winter. 

  On 12/08/2019 at 00:01, poita said:

Less than 32K to a game on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG against our oldest rival. A week after 38K against the competition's most popular and in form team. We could fall short of 20K this week if the weather forecast is poor.

The appalling performances of the coaches and players this year has now gone far beyond simply writing off 2019. This season will take us years to recover from, both on and off the field. Gate receipts, memberships, sponsorships - the financial cost will be horrendous.

The club simply has to give members some hope for next season if it wants people to rejoin. The same ordinary players making the same basic errors under the same highly flawed game plan week after week is serving no purpose. I could perhaps cop some end of year pain if there was some promising young talent coming through, or signs of a more sustainable game plan emerging, but there is nothing to get enthused about.

The less said about the game the better, but the thing that summed up the match (and the season) better than anything else was the regular sight of Steele Sidebottom at centre bounces with the entire Southern Stand wing to himself whilst Nathan Jones pushed back to defence with zero impact. Even more comical was when we copped a warning for not starting with 6/6/6 because Dunkley wandered across to Sidebottom at one point whilst Jones was still covering grass on the point of the square. A clear sign that coaches and players either have no idea or don't care (or probably both).

Well said Poita and very relevant re Jones. This aside I have watched last 2 games on the idiot box up here in Qld and must admit being disappointed in the crowd and in particular the lack of Melbourne supporters. Understand season has been one to forget but I just hope all you Melbourne folk turn up Friday and give the team some support. THEY NEED IT.

  On 12/08/2019 at 00:01, poita said:

Less than 32K to a game on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG against our oldest rival. A week after 38K against the competition's most popular and in form team. We could fall short of 20K this week if the weather forecast is poor.

The appalling performances of the coaches and players this year has now gone far beyond simply writing off 2019. This season will take us years to recover from, both on and off the field. Gate receipts, memberships, sponsorships - the financial cost will be horrendous.

The club simply has to give members some hope for next season if it wants people to rejoin. The same ordinary players making the same basic errors under the same highly flawed game plan week after week is serving no purpose. I could perhaps cop some end of year pain if there was some promising young talent coming through, or signs of a more sustainable game plan emerging, but there is nothing to get enthused about.

The less said about the game the better, but the thing that summed up the match (and the season) better than anything else was the regular sight of Steele Sidebottom at centre bounces with the entire Southern Stand wing to himself whilst Nathan Jones pushed back to defence with zero impact. Even more comical was when we copped a warning for not starting with 6/6/6 because Dunkley wandered across to Sidebottom at one point whilst Jones was still covering grass on the point of the square. A clear sign that coaches and players either have no idea or don't care (or probably both).

I agree, but on SEN this morning they were reviewing the match, maybe somebody else heard it as well, and King was saying Salem was on Sidebottom and seemed to just wonder around doing his own thing. Also Gawn was tagging Grundy. If true this seems very odd indeed. Gawn is our No1 player and clearly stitched up Grundy in the past. One of the only ways we can win is with him dominating and taking marks around the ground.

  On 12/08/2019 at 01:16, Wadda We Sing said:

I agree, but on SEN this morning they were reviewing the match, maybe somebody else heard it as well, and King was saying Salem was on Sidebottom and seemed to just wonder around doing his own thing. Also Gawn was tagging Grundy. If true this seems very odd indeed. Gawn is our No1 player and clearly stitched up Grundy in the past. One of the only ways we can win is with him dominating and taking marks around the ground.

Interesting Wadda, if Salem was tagging Sidebottom like it’s being suggested elsewhere, it must have been only on Facebook because I didn’t see Salem anywhere near him during the game. Maybe others saw it at the game because i missed it if that was the case.

  On 12/08/2019 at 01:40, Dee Zephyr said:

Interesting Wadda, if Salem was tagging Sidebottom like it’s being suggested elsewhere, it must have been only on Facebook because I didn’t see Salem anywhere near him during the game. Maybe others saw it at the game because i missed it if that was the case.

Yeah i only had radio coverage so thanks for the clarification.

  On 12/08/2019 at 00:01, poita said:

Less than 32K to a game on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG against our oldest rival. A week after 38K against the competition's most popular and in form team. We could fall short of 20K this week if the weather forecast is poor.

The appalling performances of the coaches and players this year has now gone far beyond simply writing off 2019. This season will take us years to recover from, both on and off the field. Gate receipts, memberships, sponsorships - the financial cost will be horrendous.

The club simply has to give members some hope for next season if it wants people to rejoin. The same ordinary players making the same basic errors under the same highly flawed game plan week after week is serving no purpose. I could perhaps cop some end of year pain if there was some promising young talent coming through, or signs of a more sustainable game plan emerging, but there is nothing to get enthused about.

The less said about the game the better, but the thing that summed up the match (and the season) better than anything else was the regular sight of Steele Sidebottom at centre bounces with the entire Southern Stand wing to himself whilst Nathan Jones pushed back to defence with zero impact. Even more comical was when we copped a warning for not starting with 6/6/6 because Dunkley wandered across to Sidebottom at one point whilst Jones was still covering grass on the point of the square. A clear sign that coaches and players either have no idea or don't care (or probably both).

No one covers grass better than we do.

It's clearly an explicit instruction not to get too close to your man. F****** madness how our players think they can close down the 'space' when time and time again Oppo players chip it to each other.

  On 11/08/2019 at 04:56, Kent said:

The coach works for the board

So they hear the same claptrap from the coach that we do.

And they put up with it seemingly.

Goodys end will come quickly and without notice in my opinion.

It doesn’t really work like that. The Board is quite removed from the coaching panel. They don’t drive the coaching moves. They drive the general direction of the club and manage the finances, etc.  Yes they could sack him like a board once sacked Norm Smith. I doubt they’ll sack him any time soon given that they’ll have to pay out his contract. Sacking coaches doesn’t always lead to good outcomes.

The Pies supporters love a drubbing, the reason they didn't turn up was because of the atrocious weather conditions, not sure why we didn't turn up? although plenty of snow on the peaks, conditions may have contributed to our poor display of skills particularly our set shot -shots on goal where we kicked 5.7 to their 5.2. so we had ample opportunities to actually win the game but just not up to it on the day.

After watching several other games over the weekend I found the skills of all teams in those conditions were hideously deplorable, missed targets missed kicks, poor handballs, fumbles, dropped easy marks, balls slewing off boots, etc. Sidebottom is one player that handles all conditions with aplomb, we need a Sidebottom type in our side. Unfortunately they are few and far between, always finds the ball and space to move in, we do not have one player of his calibre.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Salem was not tagging Sidebottom. He marked him whenever he was alone across the flanks at centre balances but Salem's role was as always: to provide a roving flank and drive out of defense. Jones or maybe even Harmes should have been alternating on Sidebottom.

Gawn was clearly running side by side with Grundy it appeared to frustrate him. At every bounce or throw in Gawn was overly cautious of Grundy's positioning. I haven't seen Gawn's body language appear so defeated as it seemed on Saturday. It was a clear directive, maybe the intent was to make Gawn more accountable and work on his defensive game. But Grundy is the worst player to do this against because he will smoke Gawn on the run and with body work, 9 times out of 10. Gawn's strength is in the air whereas Grundy is a superb ground work player for his size and this is ultimately where Gawn lost the contest. 

Like I said, this was an effort in margin minimisation. Goodwin has completely thrown the towel in for 2019. 

Not sure if it’s been posted anywhere so far but I found this interview on ABC with Gary Pert to be extremely informative:

https://m.melbournefc.com.au/video/2019-08-12/on-the-radio-gary-pert

  On 12/08/2019 at 03:11, praha said:

I haven't seen Gawn's body language appear so defeated as it seemed on Saturday.

Sorry to part quote Praha, probably the most upsetting thing from the game for me and kids. Max looked genuinely gutted and hurt after some of the Pies’ goals. The boy spotted him shaking his head a few times and pointed it out. 

Sidebottom is past his best but is still dangerous.  He's got the most hurt factor of their midfielders. Gets his hands on it all over the ground and hits the scoreboard too. Whereas Treloar gets plenty of it but is wasteful.

So why wouldn't you want to shut down one of their weapons? Harmes had success earlier in the season as a tagger, shutting down his opponent and getting lots of ball himself.

But it's not just Goodwin. There is this strange belief amongst coaches generally that taggers are as old fashioned as the flat punt. Let Dusty do his thing, we'll do ours better. Let Danger run wild, we'll run wilder. This line of thinking is borne out time and time again, except for the times when a tagger is actually used.

  On 12/08/2019 at 03:23, Dee Zephyr said:

Sorry to part quote Praha, probably the most upsetting thing from the game for me and kids. Max looked genuinely gutted and hurt after some of the Pies’ goals. The boy spotted him shaking his head a few times and pointed it out. 

I hope that opposition football operations managers have not noticed that.

  On 12/08/2019 at 03:25, Mazer Rackham said:

Sidebottom is past his best but is still dangerous.  He's got the most hurt factor of their midfielders. Gets his hands on it all over the ground and hits the scoreboard too. Whereas Treloar gets plenty of it but is wasteful.

So why wouldn't you want to shut down one of their weapons? Harmes had success earlier in the season as a tagger, shutting down his opponent and getting lots of ball himself.

But it's not just Goodwin. There is this strange belief amongst coaches generally that taggers are as old fashioned as the flat punt. Let Dusty do his thing, we'll do ours better. Let Danger run wild, we'll run wilder. This line of thinking is borne out time and time again, except for the times when a tagger is actually used.

Sidebottom is only 28. He is peaking right now and could go even higher. Most definitely is not past his best

 

  On 12/08/2019 at 03:11, praha said:

Salem was not tagging Sidebottom. He marked him whenever he was alone across the flanks at centre balances but Salem's role was as always: to provide a roving flank and drive out of defense. Jones or maybe even Harmes should have been alternating on Sidebottom.

Gawn was clearly running side by side with Grundy it appeared to frustrate him. At every bounce or throw in Gawn was overly cautious of Grundy's positioning. I haven't seen Gawn's body language appear so defeated as it seemed on Saturday. It was a clear directive, maybe the intent was to make Gawn more accountable and work on his defensive game. But Grundy is the worst player to do this against because he will smoke Gawn on the run and with body work, 9 times out of 10. Gawn's strength is in the air whereas Grundy is a superb ground work player for his size and this is ultimately where Gawn lost the contest. 

Like I said, this was an effort in margin minimisation. Goodwin has completely thrown the towel in for 2019. 

Completely agree, praha. Gawn's body language was really sad to see; this guy is our star, and on several occasions after PIes' goals,  he was shaking his head in a really resigned manner - not angry, just over it.

Goodwin is just so pig headed. Hardwick, Bucks were the same in the early stage sof their careers.. he needs to hand some control over, be more flexible in play.

Getting Gawn to run with Grundy was crazy. it was a tanking move.

  On 11/08/2019 at 01:59, Dee Zephyr said:

JKH is certainly trying his hardest to stay on the list. We were hearing ‘close’ for an ANB extension two months ago only to be replaced by the sound of crickets now. 

Probably because ANB has made some absolute school boy errors over the last couple of months, and continued mistakes that can't be tolerated at AFL level. He's probably right on the border line of delisting.

I would keep JFK if it's a matter of delisting one or the other.

 

  On 12/08/2019 at 00:01, poita said:

Less than 32K to a game on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG against our oldest rival. A week after 38K against the competition's most popular and in form team. We could fall short of 20K this week if the weather forecast is poor.

The appalling performances of the coaches and players this year has now gone far beyond simply writing off 2019. This season will take us years to recover from, both on and off the field. Gate receipts, memberships, sponsorships - the financial cost will be horrendous.

The club simply has to give members some hope for next season if it wants people to rejoin. The same ordinary players making the same basic errors under the same highly flawed game plan week after week is serving no purpose. I could perhaps cop some end of year pain if there was some promising young talent coming through, or signs of a more sustainable game plan emerging, but there is nothing to get enthused about.

The less said about the game the better, but the thing that summed up the match (and the season) better than anything else was the regular sight of Steele Sidebottom at centre bounces with the entire Southern Stand wing to himself whilst Nathan Jones pushed back to defence with zero impact. Even more comical was when we copped a warning for not starting with 6/6/6 because Dunkley wandered across to Sidebottom at one point whilst Jones was still covering grass on the point of the square. A clear sign that coaches and players either have no idea or don't care (or probably both).

Brilliant post.

2 of the 3 MFC members i know have sworn to me they arent renewing. Ive been to 3 games this year and can barely muster watching on kayo.... So im not far behind.

Its been such a horrendous season.

 

Edited August 12, 20195 yr by DSP

Attendance was as bad as I can remember it even in the Neeld era on the weekend....here is the Redlegs (premium membership) 10 mins before the opening bounce

 

  On 12/08/2019 at 01:44, Wadda We Sing said:

Yeah i only had radio coverage so thanks for the clarification.

Was at the game 

Nobody was anywhere Sidebottom for the whole game.

Our wingers including Jones started on the corner of the square and no matter what the outcome ran back into space.

Very strange set up.

  On 12/08/2019 at 05:57, Kent said:

Was at the game 

Nobody was anywhere Sidebottom for the whole game.

Our wingers including Jones started on the corner of the square and no matter what the outcome ran back into space.

Very strange set up.

Not strange, inept.

Some issues :

• Steele Sidebottom summed things up in his halftime interview, when he stated that they were confident that all they had to do was maintain/improve their pressure and we would make mistakes (make him an assistant (playing) coach straight away.
• at one point Melbourne had 5 bloks going for 1 ball. Collingwood had three areas covered outside. We got ball gave to outside and Collingwood outnumbered us EASILY and just marched down the ground. I thought we got out of that 3 years ago.
• I feel Hore would be cheaper than Lever ,....and more effective. Lever cannot seem to be able to man up when required. and once he gets the ball it is a big kick dwon the line .......to nowhere.
• SImple mistakes after a passage of good play leads to rebounds that we do not handle well

Some positives

• I know he is a whipping boy, but Oscar's efforts were impressive. There was one post during the game criticising him for not beating Grundy in a ruck contest.. Get real even Sir Maximus with all his ruck craft does not win every hitout against Grundy. Oscar provided a competive big body in the forward line contests, and Fritsch took a good grab after Oscar provided the space.  A team thing !!
• Patience is a virtue (too much is .........) but : Dunkley (19 yo) first year, late entrant to AFL training , Petty( big with a bit of aggro) is going to be a beauty because he contests. Hore is a terrific first year player although he has not done much for a few weeks.. Wagner is still really a first year player so has not picked up the tempo like Carlton's Walsh, but has a red hot go. Lockart is competitive and also a first year player who arrived into this years system a bit late. Baker  also shows promise. All is not lost. 2020 roll on with May ,Weidemann, McDonald all having full preseasons.
• Fritsch is only a second year player. and plays above his height.
• Oliver is too good a player not be able to be more effective. i.e. get more positive yardage out of his contributions.
• Guss has worked his way back into some good areas in the last few weeks. Increased Tackles, Breaking lines with good disposals ,etc
• Believe it or not I am more positive about next year than what I was about this year (at the same time last year