10 minutes ago, Pulp Fritschon said:

 The Cats started 2-3 in 2007 

Don't give me hope, hope ends in heartache

Had our coaching panel not experimented with a short forward line we probably would have beaten Geelong (lost by 3 pts) and a lot closer to Richmond so have a better overall %.  In both games our DE i50 was 32.6%.

tbh I was surprised we experimented in a key part of the ground (fwd) and yet to get wins in the bank.

Those experiments may cost us finals.

On 7/9/2020 at 5:30 PM, chookrat said:

It's a good question BW511. I think we are in quite a different position to last season in that we have our best forward and backline finally playing, and we are much stronger around the ball, with one key problem that our ball use in the forward half from our midfield is deplorable.

If we look at the key offenders being Oliver, Viney and Brayshaw, we know that Oliver can kick well when he slows down a bit, Brayshaw is very skillful on both sides of his body and was massive in 2018 when he finished 3rd in the Brownlow largely due to his inside 50 entry. Viney isn't a great kick but his decision making has been the main problem. Bennell will be back in the sidevery soon to bring some outside class and Petracca will be more damaging if he can get on the outside and kick more often.

I feel this year is much different to last despite the same outcome of poor inside 50 entry and goal kicking. I reckon we will find out in the next 5 weeks.

Loving your work Chook rat.    Keep it coming. 

Put yourself right out on a limb mate!  Love the [censored] size.  

I'm an eternal optimist with this ridiculous club, so God love ya.  

Few of us can ever be remembered as legends, but you have put yourself in the frame.  

Edited July 13, 20204 yr by pinkshark

How is testicles a censored word? see above

Edited July 13, 20204 yr by pinkshark

There is no doubt that if ever Melbourne was going to win a flag again, it would be the one year where none of us long suffering paid up members can attend. And the world would probably end the next day because a meteoroid would hit it #MFCSSxCOVID19

On 7/9/2020 at 1:04 PM, tiers said:

Not impossible but on current exposed form not probable.

Happy to wear egg on face.

The season being the season that almost never was, showing signs of form slumps across the combatants and questionable form lapses, I'd see this not as a Premiers year for the beloved Dees let alone a finals year at all but moreso, a fantastic opportunity to blood all we can blood into a multi-strategic skills machine of thinking footballers. This is the time to maximise our participation and standards thereof for the game.

2 hours ago, Jaded said:

There is no doubt that if ever Melbourne was going to win a flag again, it would be the one year where none of us long suffering paid up members can attend. And the world would probably end the next day because a meteoroid would hit it #MFCSSxCOVID19

I'll take it

After the weekend I think we could give it a shake this season.

I have a few reasons for having some confidence.

I saw a lot of improvement in the games of Harmes and Hannan. Both look to be building back to good form. Hannan is running well and free of any restrictions and Harmes is being used better by the coaching staff which is giving him confidence.

Viney's game was excellent. I was hard on him last week but this game shows what he can do. his kick into the open for Pickett to run on to was very good.

Petracca's kicking was off but he was in everything kicked the one that counted.

OMac back in defence made a big difference to the structures and to the confidence of those around him.

I liked Wied's game and liked that he looked to be playing deeper than what TMac was in the lat couple of games. Would like to see him paired up with another tall in the forwards. Tmac first preference, after that Jackson or Brown depending on form, matchups and player development strategies.

Lat point.... I watched Petracca's interview after the game and saw a lot of maturity in the way he spoke and gave thoughtful answers.

I am a believer Chook.... for this week at least.

Edited July 13, 20204 yr by CHF

4 hours ago, pinkshark said:

How is testicles a censored word? see above

I believe you were censored for incorrect grammar PS with the words "love", "size" and "gonads" somewhat skewed.

Gotta be those russian bots

9 hours ago, Pulp Fritschon said:

 The Cats started 2-3 in 2007 

If we beat Hawthorn by 150 points this weekend then maybe we can start making that clear comparison.

15 hours ago, praha said:

If we beat Hawthorn by 150 points this weekend then maybe we can start making that clear comparison.

Praha very good that you adjusted for shorter quarters ?

16 hours ago, CHF said:

After the weekend I think we could give it a shake this season.

I have a few reasons for having some confidence.

I saw a lot of improvement in the games of Harmes and Hannan. Both look to be building back to good form. Hannan is running well and free of any restrictions and Harmes is being used better by the coaching staff which is giving him confidence.

Viney's game was excellent. I was hard on him last week but this game shows what he can do. his kick into the open for Pickett to run on to was very good.

Petracca's kicking was off but he was in everything kicked the one that counted.

OMac back in defence made a big difference to the structures and to the confidence of those around him.

I liked Wied's game and liked that he looked to be playing deeper than what TMac was in the lat couple of games. Would like to see him paired up with another tall in the forwards. Tmac first preference, after that Jackson or Brown depending on form, matchups and player development strategies.

Lat point.... I watched Petracca's interview after the game and saw a lot of maturity in the way he spoke and gave thoughtful answers.

I am a believer Chook.... for this week at least.

Very good. l also thought Lever while not prolific was very influential with some critical intercepts and contests that had he not marked/won would have almost certainly resulted in a goal.

Re Viney I reckon skill wise he is quite a good, creative kick inside our forward 50 when he doesn't blaze away. Have a look at his turn and right foot chip to Track for our first goal. There were probably 3-4 examples of him taking contact, breaking free and then using his agility to find some space and kick beautifully into our forward 50 resulting in a goal.

23 hours ago, praha said:

If we beat Hawthorn by 150 points this weekend then maybe we can start making that clear comparison.

There just ins't enough time in games to do that sort of damage anymore! 

I'm with you and I'd prefer this kind of youthful optimism than the usual wrist-slashing that goes on here.

We have a good list and if Weideman can emerge as a player, we'll be pretty strong across the ground.

We have no trouble winning the ball and in fact, we win most key stats week after week.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, we also have enough good kicks in the side - what needs to click is composure and decision-making. The weekend's game was a very small step in that direction.

On 7/9/2020 at 1:18 PM, chookrat said:

I reckon we are in good shape for a tilt at the flag this year and here are my reasons;

1. Eight matches into round 5 we are sitting at 1-3. Improve our composure in forward half and we are likely to find ourselves at 3-3 by the end of round 6.

2. Our list is fit, with no injuries to our best 33 players. The expected compressed fixture will work in our favour with ability to back up matches every 4-5 days through fitness and ability to rest and rotate players across all lines.

3. Our contest work is a real strength and much better than last season. Defensively we are holding up well and despite some poor discipline re being switched on we are keeping teams to a low score.

4. Our ball use can be addressed through our team playing together more, playing more than two matches in a row  tweaking game style and bringing in better ball users, e.g. Harley Bennell and Nathan Jones.

5. Goodwin's management style is very much process based, we saw this in 2018 where once we got going we were the most dominant team for decent parts of the season.

The next 4-5 weeks will tell us alot. I'm confident we can turn things around and be at 6-4 heading into the last 7 rounds.

I don’t think this is as demented as others do.

first, it was written last week. We’ve since scored a win. Secondly, we’ve played WC in Perth, Cats and Tigers at the G. Lost to Cats by 2 points. An extremely hard group of matches; we haven’t lost a match we were expected to win,. Our  position on ladder looks bad but it is deceiving because we have a game in hand.

something  which was not mentioned but which is important is that this is , largely, a new side.. These blokes have not played many matches together . It doesn’t matter if May has played 150games. How many has  he played with  Oscar,  Nev,  Christian, Lever, Lockhart ?If u look at the v successful Richmond and WC teams in the past 5/6 years they’ve had great player continuity. I am certain the second half if the season will be stronger than the first half.

it is now becoming plain that there are some poor teams and sooner or later we must play them. We could easily win a bunch of games in a row, and remember what happened in 2018. I think our list this year is stronger. I backed us for the flag pre season and at 80/1 the odds are ridiculous. Time to double up! Of course we may lose to the Hawks and Brisbane and you can all laugh at us 

On 7/9/2020 at 10:52 AM, Win4theAges said:

Anyone watch AFL 360 last night? apparently Melbourne is one of 5 clubs trialling a special stick on padding that goes over the laces of footy boots to improve accuracy and improve skills in wet conditions.

#bringbackvelcro

12 hours ago, FireInTheBennelly said:

#bringbackvelcro

It's working, we won on the weekend.?

Edited July 15, 20204 yr by Win4theAges

Hawks will come out hot early on given the criticism.

We will need to weather the storm and if we play to our strengths should get up by 4-5 goals.

 

21 minutes ago, Action Jackson said:

Hawks will come out hot early on given the criticism.

We will need to weather the storm and if we play to our strengths should get up by 4-5 goals.

We again gave up some easy goals around defensive stoppages and Holding the balls inside defensive 50.

We clean this up and continue our cleaner inside 50 entries, we should account for the Hawks easily.

It is as you say Imperative we stifle their ball movement early and handle the obvious heat they will come with early on.

On 7/13/2020 at 1:01 AM, ArtificialWisdom said:

Don't give me hope, hope ends in heartache

On 7/9/2020 at 1:18 PM, chookrat said:

I reckon we are in good shape for a tilt at the flag this year and here are my reasons;

1. Eight matches into round 5 we are sitting at 1-3. Improve our composure in forward half and we are likely to find ourselves at 3-3 by the end of round 6.

2. Our list is fit, with no injuries to our best 33 players. The expected compressed fixture will work in our favour with ability to back up matches every 4-5 days through fitness and ability to rest and rotate players across all lines.

3. Our contest work is a real strength and much better than last season. Defensively we are holding up well and despite some poor discipline re being switched on we are keeping teams to a low score.

4. Our ball use can be addressed through our team playing together more, playing more than two matches in a row  tweaking game style and bringing in better ball users, e.g. Harley Bennell and Nathan Jones.

5. Goodwin's management style is very much process based, we saw this in 2018 where once we got going we were the most dominant team for decent parts of the season.

The next 4-5 weeks will tell us alot. I'm confident we can turn things around and be at 6-4 heading into the last 7 rounds.

Thought I'd bump this back up. Were sitting at 6-5 and a healthy percentage and over the past 5 rounds (ignoring Port match which was horrible) we have improved game on game in how we move the ball out of the contest and convert in our forward half.

With big matches against Doggies and Saints I don't think we will be troubled too much by Sydney, Fremantle, GWS or Druggies, we could be playing for a top 4 spot. Also worth noting we were within a kick of Geelong and Brisbane. We need to keep healthy and if we keep building on the way we have been playing could have a dream run into finals. Dees!

On 7/9/2020 at 1:59 PM, spalding said:

I took the $81 early this week.

Eternal optimist, but I'm also not a bad punter - so I hoping that they can at least win this week, and then maybe the week after and possibly get on a bit of a roll.

I think the scheduling and lack of injuries could work for us as Chookrat does, but they have to get some confidence quickly. 

We do have issues, but confidence makes a massive difference (see the first 40 minutes of the Carlton game).

I have split my bet into numerous small ones, so that I have a cash out option if my theory plays out (ie if we are 5/5 by our 10th game and other teams are dropping off, I could see our odds coming back to 20/1 or 30/1 - as the Tiges, Pies and even WCE (before they get to Perth) appear vulnerable mentally because of isolation and not playing with huge home crowd support.

I’m with you chookrat!

We win the next 2 and anything is possible. Go Dees.

Deez into $29 tonight.