7 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Maxy been doing all year. Clubs have worked him out now.

He was our best tonight by a long way. 

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

So I'm starting this before the end of the game, as I'm so angry and disappointed and let down that I need to write something down to get it off my chest.  

That game was lost from the moment Salem was pinged for holding the ball in the first five seconds.  We played lazy, selfish, arrogant football and we were taught a football lesson by a team that has been distinctly average all season.  They came in with a plan - to get a man behind the ball to either pick off the long kick, or to help with mopping up when it hits ground level.  They did it all night.  Have a think about how many times we crumbed a goal, or truly put some forward pressure on?  It was rare, at best.

We also lost this at selection.  Losing Hibberd hurt, and you could understand the reasoning behind Hannan and AVB going out, but the ins made no sense.  Joel Smith?  Yeah, he was okay in patches, but we know he doesn't work down there.  And what about Oscar.  Sheesh.  I hate to be that supporter, but this bloke can't play another senior game for us.  He was God awful.  But that's on Goodwin - why is he playing him?  What has Lockhart done to be dropped and left in the wilderness?  And as above - what of our forward pressure?  I thought Spargo did okay here and there, but others like Fritta, Melksham (outside of some good kicks in the first term), ANB etc provided little to no pressure and they did as they pleased.

But the concern, again, is through the midfield.  We are a contested ball winning, clearance team... and we were getting beat by one of the worst clearance sides in the comp.  What is going on here?  We are built for that sort of footy, yet we can't get our hands on it enough.  

We can't even use the 'tired' excuse - the Swans were coming off the same break, they made less changes and looked far fresher than us.  They hounded us, got numbers around the ball and we looked helpless to do anything about it.  

But I'm hurting after that.  Not just from the result, but from getting my hopes up yet again.  This is just the sort of game we lose, but I thought to myself that surely we have matured since then.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

And he has been a warrior for us, but Nathan Jones summed up our effort tonight in the second term.  With a chance of turning the momentum a little with a shot on goal, he lazily turns and kicks on his left, straight into the bloke on the mark.  Just unforgivable.  He is a wonderful Melbourne man, but he should never play for us again.  Stuff the 300.  We can't have experienced players in the side setting that sort of example.  It's just not on.

Lastly - because I need to say something positive - Ed Langdon is a ripper.  Yeah, he missed a few shots on goal, but his two way running and effort is something that all our players should watch.

If I could, I've give everyone here a hug.  I can't, so I'll send an e-hug instead.

Yikes. You know we are troubled times when Wiseblood is no longer able to muster any positives. A hug right back at you!

16 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Max didn't help our centre clearances/stoppages by putting the ball in front of Sydney's mids or no where near the path of our mids so they were always scrambling/chasing.

Not blaming Max for the loss but it was a poor game both playing his role and as a leader.

He rarely jumps at centre bounces at the best of times but even less so since the injury which is understandable. But he's just not a good centre square ruckman because he seems too keen to win the hit out even if it's to no one and then struggles to follow up.

We desperately need pace, skill and team work at the centre bounces but I don't see us making those changes now, this side has taken us too far and the best guys on the list to mix things up are:

1. Harmes - struggling, doesn't really fix the issues aside from some more speed
2. Salem - needed at half back
3. Rivers - just a kid trying to find his feet at half back.
4. Sparrow - injured
5. JJ - more injured

And Luke Jackson - injured.

 

2 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Maxy been doing all year. Clubs have worked him out now.

I know.  That is what makes his performance worse.  That he can't correct his technique from one game to the next.  It highlights there is no talk between him and the midfielders.  They have no idea where he is going to tap the ball. 

We continually lose the clearance count with the best ruckman and a top 3 midfield which include our cap and vice cap.  Completely baffling. 

Max and Jack need to fix that.  And someone needs to tell Jack play his role and just his role.

 

One thing I can tell you, the images on the 'Big Screen' at Cazaly are smaller than the actual players

6 minutes ago, Roger Mellie said:

the Swans game plan - great idea to keep running the ball out of bounds and restart play when we need to play attacking footy and narrow the gap.

This has been the way the Swans have played for years. They play around the boundary line and are very clever about it. Any fan could have told the team this is how they play. But no. Melbourne had no answers. I guess someone didn't do their homework.

20 minutes ago, Deesprate said:

this.

THe Dees need to keep building around draft pick and simply offload players who are just not AFL standrad how do they get on our list it just keeps happening. Build a forward line around Jackson; Weideman; Pickett but go all out in the draft for the best key defender we can find. I can hack losing if I see a future but cant abide watching some of the absolute talent less footballers that run around for us. 

We cant rely upon Jackson and Weid. What if one is injured again? What if one has  a tmac slump? Weid isnt a sure thing yet and Jackson hasnt played enough. We have no proven goalsneak and Melk is woeful and fritta shaky. Rather than chasing another defender please lets get a gun ff and score some goals. We can afford one if we dump the 10 players that dont contribute.

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by leave it to deever

28 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Had multiple defenders around him and blocking him, not to mention the disgraceful delivery. Could have been better for sure, but there's also a fair bit of blame for the mids and the coaches in not playing their parts.

 

33 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Surprised no one is pointing out the massive 2 disp by Weiderman. I know he's shown reasonable form over the last month, but whatever way we look at it that was a pathetic game. Simply terrible. 

The poor part of TV coverage is you cannot see what is happening in the big picture - or off the ball.

However, you do see who is near the ball, or at the contest. Sadly didn't see much at all of Weid. 

Had a decent season but played a shocker today.

3 minutes ago, Vineytime said:

He was our best tonight by a long way. 

Didn't say he wasn't....

 

Max was a warrior again today, but geez his forward entries need to get better. Shallow and often not to the advantage of the forward. Either pass it to a runner or kick it deep to help us lock the ball in.

28 minutes ago, roy11 said:

Seemed like we were just kicking it to Aliir Aliir most of the time aha

Repeat of a sydney game in years gone past (can’t recall if 2018 or 19). Our f50 entries were woeful and looked nothing like the weeks since the Port game. There wasn’t a massive amount of pressure on the mids but they didn’t put to our advantage at all, and often there was a Sydney loose right in the drop zone. 

Skills

It's skills

It's always been skills

34 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Had multiple defenders around him and blocking him, not to mention the disgraceful delivery. Could have been better for sure, but there's also a fair bit of blame for the mids and the coaches in not playing their parts.

Do not quote me. If you haven't already, put me on ignore. You know why

6 minutes ago, Vineytime said:

He was our best tonight by a long way. 

Max tried hard and took a lot of marks but he missed a captain's goal at a critical time.  And his tap work was poor.  His kicking into the fwd line was poor.

No way he was our best.

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by Lucifer's Hero

12 minutes ago, Deesprate said:

Weed can play but seriously who would want to play in our forward line where there is never space and delivery is absolutely woeful. It would be soul destroying.

Nope. Too easy let off. Zero tackles sums it up Im afraid. Same as Melksham. Zip bw the 2 of them.?

Just now, Lucifer's Hero said:

Max took a lot of marks but he missed a captain's goal at a critical time.  And his tap work was poor.

No way he was our best.

Agreed.

Ed Langdon was our best by some way, regardless of his missed shot on goal and kick out error at the end of the game.

Langdon best. Worked to genuine exhauastion. By next year he will become a Melb type player.

32 minutes ago, Elegt said:

Where do you hide a tall lumbering slow man who can't play backline?

Suburbs

3 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Max tried hard and took a lot of marks but he missed a captain's goal at a critical time.  And his tap work was poor.  His kicking into the fwd line was poor.

No way he was our best.

I thought Maxy smashed Sinclair, agree with other posters also Langdon good, he has been a great pick up. 

13 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Max was a warrior again today, but geez his forward entries need to get better. Shallow and often not to the advantage of the forward. Either pass it to a runner or kick it deep to help us lock the ball in.

And still a poor said shot on goal. And gee we had our chances...frittas spray and poster. Jones passing at the 35m mark. 

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by leave it to deever

59 minutes ago, Roger Mellie said:

I can tell you what Allan Richardson brings to the team. He brings insight on how to beat St Kilda. That's about it. Suddenly we had a team with a plan.

I said this in the game day thread as well. 
When Buckley was struggling, Pert brought him an elite support group. 
He needs to do that now for Goodwin 

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by KLV

Ahead of ourselves again, how many times did we contest the ball against one another? Went for the flashy / lazy play ?

Forward line absolutely stunk it up. Need a Hannan / Pickett type, Melksham no longer has it. 

Goodwin "where can we stick Oscar where he will cause minimum damage" that was brutal. 

We missed Hibbo.

Swans got away with dropping the ball and holding the man a heap which was mildly infuriating, still not the difference.

Please win Carlton.

This is why we are an average club and will never have big membership numbers.

 

Time and time again must win games we just 'don't turn up', then say we'll 'learn from it', blah blah blah.

 

Sick of hearing the dribble, spend more time with your families folks.

 

 

1 hour ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Another season of these young mens' careers squandered

What about my years? 

Have been watching this crap for 54yrs

29 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Jack Viney is the most selfish footballer in our side. It pains me to admit it. He makes us worse in the middle. He does nothing to support teammates, but constantly rams into packs, even at times where a teammate is in a position to take the ball. His possessions are all grubby. That’s the only word I can use to describe it. The hack kicks, the missed handballs, the spin back into the traffic to prove his strength in breaking a tackle. I’m sick of it. Pull him out of the middle.

He learned it from Jones.