Jon Ralph says Demons are effectively a basket-case team

[loges 6,767]

42 minutes ago, Sorry kids said:

Thanks for the character advice. I will take it onboard and to prove it i have shortened your name to dog.

You've proven something alright.

[loges 6,767]

4 hours ago, america de cali said:

And a proud member of......

I always think when this pops up , is it better to be a turd polisher or a turd spreader?

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

We have seen basket case teams and this MFC team is not one. 

Gawn and Oliver are as good as any player.  
Next level NEEDS to step up. 

our next 10 can all improve and get fit and on the park  

May. Trac. Brayshaw. Harmes.  Viney. Lever. Melksham.  Tmcd.  Salem. Hibberd.

Jetta will be back and makes a difference.  

Langdon and Tomlinson already will make us better 

Weidemans development is crucial.  If he FINALLY fulfills his promise and lifts his hunger and intensity, we will look very dangerous again.  

Vandenberg KK Jsmith are all needing to overcome injury issues and will be huge bonus if fit. 

Hore has the making of a very solid midsize defender. His marking reminds me of a Harry Taylor type  

Fritsch showed again that he is a very skilled and dangerous forward. Definitely a best 18 player now. 

Can Hunt and Hannan develop any more.  Both very good and important as goalkickers.  

Baker cwagner Spargo need to show more in 2020 to stay on the list 

we can see potential already in Petty, Sparrow, Lockhart, Jordan and Chandler. Bedford and Bradtke are still raw but likely  

list cloggers like Jkh, JWagner, Omcd need to go

It’s plenty of sunshine ahead with the right coaching, intensity, game strategy and importantly fit and healthy playing list. 

Hit most of it on the head NS.  Every club has them but the bolded are all raw imv and may or may not get there.

Lockhart, Petty & Baker have shown glimpses but still a fair way away.

Sparrow, Chandler, Bedford (0), Bradtke (0) and Jordan (0) are obviously untried quantities.

Alot needs to go right, especially up forward with T-Mac & Weid for us to have anything other than a mediocre bounce in 2020.

Including luck with AVB, KK (mostly unknown quantity as well) and May & Lever.

We STILL don't have genuine smalls or a genuine No.1 tall for T-mac to become the No.2 target, which i think is necessary if we are to go further than a mediocre bounce and make finals.

If either May and/or Hore go down i also think we are in a bit of trouble down back although Tomo might help here as long as Hannon is fit enough during this period to handle the other wing.  Langdon obviously a very handy pick up on the other.

Lever hasn't been there since he arrived (consistently) and plays a loose intercept role so cant be counted on to take a key tall forward anyways.  Hore not suffering from second year blues will help also as i see him as the most likely to become our best rebound defender from here.

Much will need to go right to make finals.  Maybe get someone down there to bless the club & players and to ask for a fit & healthy list for 2020.

[Sorry kids 635]

56 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

You can call me Unc if you want.

Might be the start of a beautiful friendship 

[Uncle Fester 2,848]

6 minutes ago, Sorry kids said:

Might be the start of a beautiful friendship 

You want that crazy uncle in the family... then ok

[Willmoy1947 4,098]

 I would have thought that the word "basket case" used in this context, would have been more reflective of the "state" of the competition.

The state of the competition has suffered various remedial action to bring back evenness for the last fifty. 

Ralph from the Bendigo, non footballing side, is just a messenger. The real culprit here is again the AFL "short for awful" League that has been derelict for years to equalize, probably because they have persisted with in bred fools......

[Uncle Fester 2,848]

The whole thing was trite, and a blow off. A couple of hundred words to satisfy the editor.

Sure. We do have problems. I'm 80% convinced that last year was a combination of injuries, no pre seasons and a bit of bathwater drinking.

The other 20%... dunno. but the off field moves may tell us a bit about that. But I really don't know.

 

We have talent. We have a pretty good team looking after us. We have a game that can scare the best on our day. What we don't have is belief. I expect us to [censored] it up. As do you. And that permeates into the club. Richmond had it for years, got it right, and now they don't believe that they can get it wrong. 

I don't know the answer but I do know basket case is not it

 

 

[Clayton van Oliver 1,823]

27 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

The whole thing was trite, and a blow off. A couple of hundred words to satisfy the editor.

Sure. We do have problems. I'm 80% convinced that last year was a combination of injuries, no pre seasons and a bit of bathwater drinking.

The other 20%... dunno. but the off field moves may tell us a bit about that. But I really don't know.

 

We have talent. We have a pretty good team looking after us. We have a game that can scare the best on our day. What we don't have is belief. I expect us to [censored] it up. As do you. And that permeates into the club. Richmond had it for years, got it right, and now they don't believe that they can get it wrong. 

I don't know the answer but I do know basket case is not it

 

 

Great post. 

[spirit of norm smith 16,469]

1 hour ago, Rusty Nails said:

Hit most of it on the head NS.  Every club has them but the bolded are all raw imv and may or may not get there.

Lockhart, Petty & Baker have shown glimpses but still a fair way away.

Sparrow, Chandler, Bedford (0), Bradtke (0) and Jordan (0) are obviously untried quantities.

Alot needs to go right, especially up forward with T-Mac & Weid for us to have anything other than a mediocre bounce in 2020.

Including luck with AVB, KK (mostly unknown quantity as well) and May & Lever.

We STILL don't have genuine smalls or a genuine No.1 tall for T-mac to become the No.2 target, which i think is necessary if we are to go further than a mediocre bounce and make finals.

If either May and/or Hore go down i also think we are in a bit of trouble down back although Tomo might help here as long as Hannon is fit enough during this period to handle the other wing.  Langdon obviously a very handy pick up on the other.

Lever hasn't been there since he arrived (consistently) and plays a loose intercept role so cant be counted on to take a key tall forward anyways.  Hore not suffering from second year blues will help also as i see him as the most likely to become our best rebound defender from here.

Much will need to go right to make finals.  Maybe get someone down there to bless the club & players and to ask for a fit & healthy list for 2020.

Thanks Rusty.  My last line was important.  Fit and healthy playing list will definitely make a difference.  

[grazman 7,436]

12 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph:-

“For all those people saying Tom Lynch has ruined free agency, we saw (Brandon) Ellis and (Adam) Tomlinson go from two teams in Grand Finals to effectively basket-case teams,” he said on Fox Footy’s Trading Day.

The AFL free agents still on the market and available for cheap

I know what he’s trying to say but if that doesn’t give the Melbourne Football Club the ammunition to attack the coming season then nothing will.

This time last year he was tweeting comments about how good our on-ball brigade were and picked us to finish top 5.  Fast forward 12 months and on Trading Day he said that we managed to 'fluke' a preliminary final last year.  

I'm glad David King didn't let the comment pass without rebuttal- He replied that side's don't fluke their way to a preliminary final. Quite frankly it was a ridiculous comment that reflects a superficial understanding and analysis of the game.  

I think Ralph  like a few of his media commentator fraternity are a little salty that we embarassed their season predictions. 

[Left Field 313]

Elite sporting competitions are about small percentages.

Our collective fitness at the start of last year was poor. Burgess must be pooping himself.

Our adaptation to 6-6-6 was poor (god I hope the focused recruiting of wingers is not seen as the silver bullet). 

Our team's on-field bond seemed stretched thin. Coaching or on field leadership?

Enough of the taggers in our forward line please - we need offensive small forwards to make the next step.

To win the comp, we need a lot going right.

Of our mid-range players, Petracca is the most obvious one who needs to become elite.

Make Max captain please MFC.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

43 minutes ago, Left Field said:

Elite sporting competitions are about small percentages.

Our collective fitness at the start of last year was poor. Burgess must be pooping himself.

Our adaptation to 6-6-6 was poor (god I hope the focused recruiting of wingers is not seen as the silver bullet). 

Our team's on-field bond seemed stretched thin. Coaching or on field leadership?

Enough of the taggers in our forward line please - we need offensive small forwards to make the next step.

To win the comp, we need a lot going right.

Of our mid-range players, Petracca is the most obvious one who needs to become elite.

Make Max captain please MFC.

The two captains are more "lead by example" types imv LF.  Not so good at the on field 'guidance & instructing/rallying the troops' side a la Hodge.

Both only managed half the programmed pre-season load meaning they were struggling to stay in the game much of the time at the level required to impact and lead by example.

Viney should be better with a full pre-season in this regard for 2020 but personally i would still have Max as sole captain and let Viney focus on his footy more as VC.

[mauriesy 7,299]

10 hours ago, Sorry kids said:

Actually a lesson in how good Clubs have a positive energy and a success culture. Repeated failure is not tolerated. 

Positive energy comes just as much from the members as it does from the club. We will never win a premiership when the members are always lamenting their misfortune and looking to everyone except themselves.

[Wiseblood 24,637]

4 pages for a nothing comment?  I guess it is the off season after all.

We stunk it up big time this season, but it doesn't make us a basket case.  GC getting a 'basket' load of picks and the Crows losing players and personnel by the bucket load are what you might call a basket case.  But having a shocker of a season isn't.

Ralphy isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, and while this season doesn't sit well with me, we should all take solace in the fact that we aren't even close to what we served up earlier in the decade.

[Ethan Tremblay 30,872]

An opinion piece written by someone on par with Toms Browne and Morris. I have no thoughts, feelings or opinions myself on the words of Ralph, I just don’t care. 

[Moonshadow 17,676]

The word 'Ralph' best describes his writing. 

[Young Blood 2,620]

I don't know about others but I feel so much more comfortable seeing this sort of press as apposed to last year.

The overhype of this team and supposed 'Best List' leading up to season 2019 was way overboard. We had a decent season and were able to knock of two weaker top 8 sides at the G before crumbling out west to a legitimate premiership team.

The jump from young developing list with nice pieces that can make the 8 and challenge top 4 sides to then being considered to have best list in the AFL and a premiership favourite was such a reach IMO. It made me super anxious as it set us up for disappointment. Not that I thought we would fall this far.

Bring on more articles like this I say. Give the good old Melbourne faithful something to whinge about and continue to doubt a team so they can prove muppets like Ralph wrong.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Yung Blood

[Jaded No More 68,965]

Adelaide and Freo are more of a basket case right now than us. Even if they finished higher on the ladder. 

[58er 6,458]

17 hours ago, Sorry kids said:

Doubt it will motivate. Different group of course but I well remember the first game after the tragic Troy Broadbridge death who I thought would end up a future Captain.Sadly we put up little effort in that game. And so the band plays on. The power Clubs dominate and we remain homeless, win less and unable to attract the best talent on and off the field. 

Incorrect  SK we win that game by about 5 goals in the opening round of 2005.

Please  get facts right at least when you make sweeping and general statements.

[58er 6,458]

12 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I hope the Reverend gives his account of the Rollercoaster years as Coach in his new book. It always infuriated me and intrigued me at the same time!!

Revs worst fault was his refusal to realise that Heff White needed support and let Jolly go snd he played in 2 flags!!!

[pitmaster 3,561]

4 hours ago, 58er said:

Revs worst fault was his refusal to realise that Heff White needed support and let Jolly go snd he played in 2 flags!!!

Good points. The centre bounce ruck rule changed, robbing White of the chance to use his leap. He should have been shifted to the forward line where his leap would have been a weapon and we should have gone to a beanpole first ruck.

[Sorry kids 635]

7 hours ago, 58er said:

Incorrect  SK we win that game by about 5 goals in the opening round of 2005.

Please  get facts right at least when you make sweeping and general statements.

Please read thread to see my apology before  you comment..

[Sorry kids 635]

12 hours ago, mauriesy said:

Positive energy comes just as much from the members as it does from the club. We will never win a premiership when the members are always lamenting their misfortune and looking to everyone except themselves.

Idiotic statement. 

[sue 9,107]

1 hour ago, Sorry kids said:

Idiotic statement. 

It is extremely rare that I agree with SK who is clearly in a competition to see who can be the most negative poster here, but he is pretty much right on this (except for his rude way of saying it).  What is posted here has very little effect on how the club performs, especially if the Club wisely tells players to avoid us.  But enthusiasm or its lack at actual matches does have an effect. However generating enthusiasm at a match is rather tied up with how the club is playing in that match, so on balance fans have little effect.

And SK, I'm afraid you can't expect people to start reading a thread at the point where you apologised for getting your facts wrong earlier.  You'll just have to keep pointing to your apology, or better, assume that posters will probably read that soon enough.   Or put your apology in as an edit to your original post. 

Edited October 13, 2019 by sue

[Sorry kids 635]

2 minutes ago, sue said:

It is extremely rare that I agree with SK who is clearly in a competition to see who can be the most negative poster here, but he is pretty much right on this (except for his rude way of saying it).  What is posted here has very little effect on how the club performs, especially if the Club wisely tells players to avoid us.  But enthusiasm or its lack at actual matches does have an effect. However generating enthusiasm at a match is rather tied up with how the club is playing in that match, so on balance fans have little effect.

And SK, I'm afraid you can't expect people to start reading a thread at the point where you apologised for getting your facts wrong earlier.  You'll just have to keep pointing to your apology, or better, assume that posters will probably read that soon enough.  

Thanks Sue. Yes my memory was wrong. 

Negative   No

Critical      Yes

Positive   Yes, at times, which is mostly ignored by the local council inspector types here who pounce on every comment where  Club decisions are opposed. However, just remember I have been correct like others here in saying the Club and playing list is not good enough to win a flag for the 55 years I have followed it, with one exception, 1964. Further, for the record, I have never voiced verbal criticism at a game, ever. Have I been disappointed, yes, heartbroken, yes, laughed out loud, yes. So i do not care what criticism I cop here until we have ultimate success or at the very least become a respected Club.