1 minute ago, SPC said:

Lever, May, Lockhart, Sparrow, Trac.. the rest [censored] off!! 

Agree with this. 

You can sometimes forgive a lack of planning, strategy, structure and even talent if you have the intensity and emotional investment from a team, but when you have absolutely none of those things it's more than just a slap in the face of supporters it's a genuine indictment on a club and a sign that things are deeply wrong.

 

The lack of fresh players injected into the side off a 4 day break was a moronic decision. 

The dark days arn't over?

Being a Melbourne supporter for so long I expect these results. Would take years of good performances to have any confidence. 

There has to be a ramification or two following that uncompetitive performance.

We stink. No other way to put it. That was a dog's breakfast of the highest order, I would rather stick thumb tacks through my eyes than watch a second of that game again. Just an unmitigated pile of crap.

Just now, Fat Tony said:

The lack of fresh players injected into the side off a 4 day break was a moronic decision. 

You mean bringing in a slow tall and a third gamer that is surplus to our needs wasn’t a great master stroke? 

Just now, Lord Nev said:

You can sometimes forgive a lack of planning, strategy, structure and even talent if you have the intensity and emotional investment from a team, but when you have absolutely none of those things it's more than just a slap in the face of supporters it's a genuine indictment on a club and a sign that things are deeply wrong.

 

Im pretty sure it was defibrate too.

I reckon they said [censored] the supporters before the game, well shot them

An absolute disgrace.

Stripped all the enjoyment from the two wins and the half-decent game vs Brisbane, and replaced it with that feeling of dread and anger that we're all too familiar with.

But somehow my anger at the club is being rivalled by my anger at some of the posting here. People getting stuck into Jackson and Pickett, who have played like 11 games between them, or calling out Lever when we was probably our best, or asking Goodwin to make changes on the field.

The problems on show tonight are long-standing deep seated problems that we all know about, and they're not drafting, nor are they kids.

The way we play is wholly dependent on winning CPs and clearances. When we don't win them, we cannot win. We require high level intensity at the coalface and across the ground. If it falls apart, we have nothing else. We want to play an aggressive forward half game but that doesn't work when you turn it over, and we turn it over an unacceptable amount. And we have a crop of leaders who disappear when we need them and fail to lift or improve us.

So let's stop potting our first year players and put the blowtorch where it belongs: on Gawn, Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney, Harmes, Salem, Jones, TMac and Melksham. And on Goodwin, for his continued inability to stem the tide or make any permanent inroads into our failures.

I'm not one for going over the top.  I like to think I'm relatively measured in my responses.

But there was something deeply, deeply concerning about tonight's game.  It was almost like a car crash that you couldn't look away from.  Every time I went to turn it off I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I had to keep watching.  Just what in the world was going on here?

While we can blame the players and their skills and decision making, this one was lost in the box more than anything.  Goody is a very stubborn bugger and tonight it showed.

Example one - why, in such slippery conditions, would you play three tall forwards?  What was he hoping to achieve?  Was he trying to keep Tom happy by playing him?  Did he just think our bombing tactics would work no matter what?  By playing three talls, two of which are awful at ground level, he took away our pressure game somewhat and we got smashed when the ball hit the deck.  Too often Port waltzed it out and made us look silly going the other way.  It was a dumb, dumb decision.  

Example two - favourtism.  While I think some players get a run over others sometimes based on their skills and what they can bring to the side, he has stuck by too many for too long and I can't work out why.  Melksham stunk it up again.  Brayshaw had just 11 touches. Hannan had no influence again.  Jones looks absolutely cooked.  By playing a few of these guys our team is totally out of whack.  He is happy to cut someone like Tomlinson, who was no worse than those mentioned above, but he sticks by others who are in the same boat or worse.  Why?  What does he have to gain from it?  It sends a horrible message.

Example three - the gameplan.  Now, our players can take some responsibility here.  Their skills and decision making under pressure can be catastrophic.  But good sides work us out and we have no comeback for it.  For not the first time in Goodwin's time as coach, we went goalless in a quarter while having an absolute bucket load of inside 50s.  We had heaps and didn't look like scoring from one.  We kick to the wrong places, our forwards don't lead enough and we don't get enough numbers around the ball to keep it in there.  He might have changed the personnel a little, but the game plan remains the same.  It looks poor and we are our own worst enemy.

I'm hurting, like you all are, tonight.  I'm not going to call for Goodwin to be sacked, or to fling [censored] everywhere, but tonight was one of the worst performances we have put in for a long time.  Some might say the four day break hurt, but Port had one extra day plus travel and they had to deal with injuries.  We had to do neither.

I'm really worried right now about the direction of the club under Goodwin, and for the first time under his coaching, I'm not sure he can get us out of it.

At no point during that entire game, did Melbourne ever look in the slightest bit like they had a plan or tactic...

Watching turnover after turnover turn into a Port Adelaide kick to kick training drill resulting in a F50 mark and goal crushed me... I want to cry it’s that hard to keep watching this team fail with the absolute basics, and doing it for 4 quarters...

Let’s never play a 3 tall forward structure again.. TMAC needs another week off 

1 minute ago, rufus said:

That was easily the softest physical display by any team this year...and possibly other than some of our own performances it may have been one of the softest across the league for the last 5 years.

Beaten physically and no f*&ks given. Multiple players $hat themselves at the physical contact and flicked the ball away. An absolutely disgusting performance by every single player who took the field tonight.

I honestly think that was the worst performance Melbourne have put in since I can remember (some 68 years ago ). Too many palyers flatfooted

The quality of decision making was definitely not AFL standard .

Unfortunately our most prolific ball getters are among our worst disposal / decision making.  Therein lies our problem. I am not denying Viney & Oliver efforts, but tonight they fumbled & wentt back into dinky handball/bombs. That is when we are at our worst.

Tom McDonald may have just played the worst individual game of professional sport I have ever seen someone play. Not sure we can carry him anymore. His brother isn't good enough either.

Langdon's positioning on the wing was some of the most putrid I've ever seen. Yeah let's continually stand 25 metres from a defender running out of the back line while our opponent stands a further 20 metres behind us with no other player between him and their 50...f%&k me.

Skills abysmal mostly caused by the continual fright from the physical pressure. Unfortunately for the players who played physically scared tonight and gave the panic handballs they're all on the video for everyone to see (not that anyone would want to watch that again).

To think I'd been looking forward to this evening.

We move like treacle, our kicking us terrible, their pressure around the contest squeezed us into so many unusable handpasses. Can't believe this is basically the same team that we saw not two weeks ago.

Hopefully AvB is fit next week. Maybe him in for Hannan or Jones? They probably won't drop TMac after one game, but we just looked hopeless up forward with him back. Get Bennell back in we need his smarts. Rest Harmes for Rivers maybe.

Who was supposed to be playing on Boak? He would be the first one l would drop.

After that effort why should I care and bother. Port are on top of the ladder and we are so far off the mark it isn't funny. You could not train a team to be that inept, souls and lacking in skill. Beaten in every aspect of the game and humiliated by a team that is proud and has a go. 

2 minutes ago, deebug said:

The dark days arn't over?

Hello darkness, my old friend

5 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I thought T Mac built into the game nicely.

He did really well to respond following the 4 day break

Edited July 30, 20204 yr by Giles

1 minute ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

There has to be a ramification or two following that uncompetitive performance.

Oh, there will be. The membership and sales departments can cut back on staff coz no one will be calling.

A Neeld like embarrassment - disgraceful. Port players chuckling on the bench. Slow, inept, dumb football. Maggots queueing up to penalise anything in red and blue - and that was just the good parts of a wonderful two hours in front of the telly on a Thursday night. Cannot wait for the time this circus comes around.

Port Adelaide fans [censored] me off so much (bar richmond fans, they are easily my second most hated fan base), and as for the umpires, fmd. lopsised free kick count as usual with no consistency. 

I'll stay away from the negatives because i'd be writing an essay, but lets acknowledge the ripper efforts. Jay Lockhart was [censored] monumental, he didn't stop trying he just didnt, hibbo was immense and put himself on the line as usual. Steve May absolutely shut down dixon which is a great effort on his part. Sparrow tried really hard and viney put it all on the line. Not sure what i could say about the others. I know he'll get crucified by other demonlanders on here but oscar wasn't bad either, he was far from our worst.

Heads up, onto next week. 

 

Sorry!

 That was an embarrassment ......DEES!   It would be better off not turning up. You would make my week a bit easier that way..

We need to make some changes and bring in the ones that will play for the jumper and not embarrass it.

This is soul destroying. We won't come back from this. We need to get rid of the coach and start again. Get rid of some big names. Jones must have played his last game. Retire immediately. Salem, the McDonald's, Brayshaw, Weideman and even Oliver has to be on the trade table. We must go for Daniher Weideman is not up to it.