'Tis the season to sell some hope apparently...

“I think Melbourne are going to bounce back and be the Cinderella story,” Mooney told foxsports.com.au on Tuesday afternoon.

“They remind me so much of what happened in Geelong in ’06 and ’07. We were supposed to have this great year in ’06 and we absolutely fell apart and everyone nearly got sacked after a review.

“We came back and got super fit, super strong and it all clicked for us. Talking to a lot of Melbourne people who were at Geelong at the time said it reminds them of Geelong in ’06. I think that’s going to happen again.”

Geelong great Cameron Mooney believes Melbourne can win the 2020 premiership after nightmare 2019

 

Here, here!

Couldn't have said it better myself. Or did I.....

?

Seems every year we remind someone of some team. Time for us to make our own story and for it not to end up a sad or tragic one. 

Yes 2006 we finished above Geelong.

Since that time we have gone consistently in the opposite direction 

Go figure!

A lot of people liken Melbourne's 2019 to Richmond of 2016 and Geelong of 2006.

I reckon we were nothing like either of those sides.

Richmond won 8 games and beat the sides they were supposed to beat below them, and had a win over a grand finalist in Sydney. They disgraced themselves in the final round, but 8 wins is a ton better than 5.

Geelong won 10.5 games had a percentage of 100, thrashed bottom teams, and beat 4 top eight sides that year.

We on the other hand won a lousy 5 games, and none of those wins we were convincing aside from perhaps the Sydney win.

On a side note, we haven't played finals in an odd year since 1991.

2007 was the year that it all fell into place for cats. The squad was mostly 5+ years into their careers (many had been drafted in the early 00s) and they had played together as a team for three to four seasons. They were primed.

Should apply to us.

2020

Go dees.

 

Back in January Jordan Lewis likened our 2019 season to Hawthorn in 2009. However the Hawks won the Premiership in 2008 and our 2018 ending was a disaster. They did pick themselves off the floor eventually to win 3 in a row so ...

I think we should be good for the next 5

11 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A lot of people liken Melbourne's 2019 to Richmond of 2016 and Geelong of 2006.

I reckon we were nothing like either of those sides.

Richmond won 8 games and beat the sides they were supposed to beat below them, and had a win over a grand finalist in Sydney. They disgraced themselves in the final round, but 8 wins is a ton better than 5.

Geelong won 10.5 games had a percentage of 100, thrashed bottom teams, and beat 4 top eight sides that year.

We on the other hand won a lousy 5 games, and none of those wins we were convincing aside from perhaps the Sydney win.

On a side note, we haven't played finals in an odd year since 1991.

Every year is an odd year for a Melbourne supporter.

1 hour ago, Moonshadow said:

Here, here!

Couldn't have said it better myself. Or did I.....

?

Stop hating on the club. You are constantly potting the dees.

1 hour ago, Moonshadow said:

Here, here!

Couldn't have said it better myself. Or did I.....

?

Strictly speaking it’s “Hear, hear!”  
 

Ok, the grammar-slammer is outta here. ✌️

39 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A lot of people liken Melbourne's 2019 to Richmond of 2016 and Geelong of 2006.

I reckon we were nothing like either of those sides.

Richmond won 8 games and beat the sides they were supposed to beat below them, and had a win over a grand finalist in Sydney. They disgraced themselves in the final round, but 8 wins is a ton better than 5.

Geelong won 10.5 games had a percentage of 100, thrashed bottom teams, and beat 4 top eight sides that year.

We on the other hand won a lousy 5 games, and none of those wins we were convincing aside from perhaps the Sydney win.

On a side note, we haven't played finals in an odd year since 1991.

In many ways Geelong's year was worse in 06.  They played in the preliminary final on 04, then the semi in 05, won the preseason cup in 06 at a canter, were one of the flag favourites... then collapsed.  They picked up some games later in the season, but there was not big injury issues, they just completely fell apart, lost all confidence and couldn't recover.

We completely fell apart and lost all confidence, but we were also missing key personal for the entire season and never got close to our best team on the field.

I see the similarities in the narrative, but it's pretty optimistic to think things could work out the same for us,.

 

Ps. We played finals in 05 FWIW.

18 minutes ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

Ps. We played finals in 05 FWIW.

Yes you are spot on. A loss to Geelong in 2005.

Wasn't it 2006 Bomber Thompson faced the chopping block? I am pretty sure there were calls out for his head.

5 minutes ago, Youngwilliam said:

Wasn't it 2006 Bomber Thompson faced the chopping block? I am pretty sure there were calls out for his head.

Many premiership coaches have had this happen.  Hardwick has been on the chopping block, Thompson was, Clarkson was... there is certainly a theme there.

Edit - I'm certainly not saying that is the trajectory for Goodwin, but there is a precedent there, and why I'm happy to give him at least another 12 months in charge to see what he can do.  If we miss finals it will be hard to argue for him to continue in the position though.

Edited February 19, 20205 yr by Wiseblood

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

If we miss finals it will be hard to argue for him to continue in the position though.

Just my opinion but I think he survives if we win as little as 9 or 10 games and finish as low as 13th. 

Sadly, it's an improvement on 2019 and he'll still have 2 years left on his contract. 

I clearly have my blinkers on re: Goodwin, I rate him.

For those that don't - help me understand what doesn't float your boat about him?

Is it no plan b?

Is it he gives nothing at press conferences, therefore must act like that day to day?

 

6 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Just my opinion but I think he survives if we win as little as 9 or 10 games and finish as low as 13th. 

Sadly, it's an improvement on 2019 and he'll still have 2 years left on his contract. 

I wouldn't necessarily mind him sticking around if we just missed finals, as we would have shown improvement from 2019, but I could understand why others would want him gone.  Finals should be the minimum for us.  There always other circumstances which contribute to a club missing finals, so we'll have to wait and see.  But I do rate Goodwin and hope he is the man who can lead us to the ultimate glory.

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A lot of people liken Melbourne's 2019 to Richmond of 2016 and Geelong of 2006.

I reckon we were nothing like either of those sides.

Richmond won 8 games and beat the sides they were supposed to beat below them, and had a win over a grand finalist in Sydney. They disgraced themselves in the final round, but 8 wins is a ton better than 5.

Geelong won 10.5 games had a percentage of 100, thrashed bottom teams, and beat 4 top eight sides that year.

We on the other hand won a lousy 5 games, and none of those wins we were convincing aside from perhaps the Sydney win.

On a side note, we haven't played finals in an odd year since 1991.

Agreed we are nothing like those sides. They strayed off course slightly as a one off before returning to finals and becoming powerhouses. We have been off course for the better part of decades and haven’t shown consistent form like those sides did. 

BTW we have played finals in an odd year since 91 - we played finals in 2005 and got smashed by Geelong in elimination final at the G.

I was sure we would have an interrupted pre-season due to Corona virus.......but hey, maybe we will be ok

3 hours ago, binman said:

Stop hating on the club. You are constantly potting the dees.

According to some, anything could be construed as MFCSS, so maybe this too!

3 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Strictly speaking it’s “Hear, hear!”  
 

Ok, the grammar-slammer is outta here. ✌️

Thank you Principal Skinner  

Not for the first time FIRST time i wished this topic had have stayed on topic.

We could do with this bloke's hardness at CHF....

2 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Many premiership coaches have had this happen.  Hardwick has been on the chopping block, Thompson was, Clarkson was... there is certainly a theme there.

You could also argue the same for Buckley, even though he hasn't won a Premiership. He was on the chopping block after years of mediocrity and then went on to playing in a Grand Final (which they should of won) and a Prelim last year. What I noticed with all these coaches is that they realised that over coaching was taking away from their players natural abilities. Let the players play on instinct while having a clear game-plan and you'll win Premierships. 

Personally, I think we'll play off in a Grand Final this year. The time is right!

4 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A lot of people liken Melbourne's 2019 to Richmond of 2016 and Geelong of 2006.

I reckon we were nothing like either of those sides.

Richmond won 8 games and beat the sides they were supposed to beat below them, and had a win over a grand finalist in Sydney. They disgraced themselves in the final round, but 8 wins is a ton better than 5.

 

Yes Richmond lost by 113 in R23, can we just ignore their other losses by 88, 70, 70, 68 and 46?

By contrast last year our biggest losses in this range were by 80, 53, 43, 41 and 40.

At 3 quarter time we were in front or within a goal of our opposition in 12 matches for only 5 wins.  It's well documented that our poor pre-season and injuries meant we weren't able to run out games.

Edited February 19, 20205 yr by Fifty-5