OUR SEASON

[WERRIDEE 5,597]

TOP 5 POSITIVES:

BURGESS: Hardly any injuries compare that to Misson and it's chalk and cheese.

LANGDON: Recruit of the year was awesome on the wing we need another one like him maybe Baker is the answer should promise in  the last 2 games or another recruit.

MAY: After the shocker he had last year he stood up and become what we thought he could be the best full back in the comp.

PETRACCA: Stepped up to the plate when added to the midfield. All Australian beckons.

GAWN: A captain that hits form is something that hasn't happened at Melbourne for some time but it finally happened with Gawn should be All Australian again and is undeniably the best ruckman in the league.

 

TOP 5 NEGATIVES:

GOODWIN: Selection debacle not playing Weideman and Brown earlier. Having quarters where we just wouldn't show up. Losses to bottom teams in Sydney and Freo good teams don't do that.

HARMES: Goodwin ruined him by playing him half back and ended up in the reserves.

BRAYSHAW: We didn't see the best of Brayshaw due to lack of opportunity and confidence. Butchered the ball on occasions and didn't give us a whole lot of flexibility.

MELKSHAM: Too many games where he had little impact expected more from him.

TOM.MCDONALD: Nowhere near his 2018 form and seemed hampered for most of the year so much so he was dropped on several occasions to where Brown was the much preferred option.

[BDA 23,031]

8 hours ago, Bobby McKenzie said:

Well, as expected its all over but lets look at the positives, 

1. We rose from 17th to 9th; Quite a rise and a big percentage improvement .

2, We beat old rivals,  Carlton, Collingwood , Essendon and Hawthorn all in one season. WHEN DID WE LAST ACHIEVE SUCH A FEAT? Long, long time ago me thinks. We also nearly took the honours against Geelong with a missed gettable goal after the siren and had a real chance to beat Brisbane losing by 4 points. We took care of St Kilda and North Melbourne, teams that have had the wood on us for many years. Finishing higher than Sydney and GWS too must be noted as positives.

3. Our two early draft picks showed that they will be stars of the future and Ed Langdon was a wonderful addition to our list. Young Rivers too gives hope for the future.

Individually, we had positives with the potential AA selection of Petracca, Stephen May and Max Gawn.

We are nowhere near perfect yet but heading in the right direction. Go DEMONS 2021 and beyond.

Thanks for pointing these out Bobby. Not easy to acknowledge when the red mist has descended.

To those positives I would add Burgess. The team have looked fit and primed. I think we won a number of games in the 4^th quarter off the back of his fitness program.

Ultimately I think this season is a failure. We are not getting the best from this group of players and I lay the blame at Goodwin’s feet.

My wish list for the summer:

1.       A new coach preferably Clarkson

2.       A KPF (Hogan, Brown or Cameron)

3.       Another Langdon type for the opposite wing

[Deesprate 1,324]

The biggest plus for me is for the first time in years we have a genuine superstar in Petracca. He make the game worth watching. Rising the ladder in the AFL is hard if not nigh on impossible. With a draft it should be equal but how since 1987 does West Coast miss the finals 8 times and Geelong in the last 15 years only miss top 4 four times. They have thing we don’t like large memberships; permanent home base. They also have stability.

As dfficult as it is now is not the time for instability. We need to support the CEO in the search for new home this issue alone is a massive impediment.

Goodwin should see out his contract but the football Department turned upside down. If contractually possible Mahoney and Richardson should go. Bring in coaches managers with association with winning cultures. It is critical the football manager take a long term view of success and not let Goody make decisions for short term self interest. Get Goody a mentor.
 

Be ruthless with player turnover. T Mac is finished let not waste another yeear with him. Will add nothing. If he contacted see if a deal can be brokered. D list as many F graders as possible and look to the draft. Speculation is better than players who are not up to it.

Target the best available tall forward an be bold with trading. Off load a midfielder if necessary. We have plenty of them. Swap Weed for Mihocek. Weed is as soft as butter but maybe the sentiment factor could get this done.

 

[Redlagged 813]

8 hours ago, A F said:

Nowhere near it, but Oliver should be in the conversation IMV. Had an excellent and underrated season again. Will definitely finish top 3 in the BnF.

Agree with the rest of it, but not good enough.

Right about Oliver. Petracca's rise has obscured how consistently good he was this year. Will go close to B&F.

[ProperDee 1,698]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, will.....The bottom line is, we didn’t.  Every team can draw some positives from the season which are exacerbated by rose coloured glasses. Not making the finals is a fail. For me, only a top 4 finish is a good season.

i take on board that we potentially have a very good best 22. We do. Potentially. Living up to that potential is a different thing.

As for the “positives” May and Langdon played as we expected them to do when we brought them into the team. No surprises there. Petracca had a very good season overall and looked brilliant at times but we all knew that ability was there so again, no surprise.  I reckon a true midfield coach (maybe a Voss) could take Trac, Oliver and others to their full and consistent potential.
 

Pickett, Rivers and Jackson were the standouts. IF we can hang onto them AND manage them properly, they will be very, very good.

Goodwin?  I confess I am not a fan but we are stuck with him for the moment so he needs to shake things up a bit in his support team and be a lot more aggressive in his tactical changes.

 

[Half forward flank 1,022]

Finished at the top end of where I had us, 9-14. Forget all the talk, that is where we are as a Football Club. Not a good enough playing list, game plan or coching structure. Great years work to Langdon, May, Petracca. Three recruits passed their first hurdle, well done Pickett, Jackson, Rivers. Big tick for Burgess.

[Redlagged 813]

3 minutes ago, Half forward flank said:

Finished at the top end of where I had us, 9-14. Forget all the talk, that is where we are as a Football Club. Not a good enough playing list, game plan or coching structure. Great years work to Langdon, May, Petracca. Three recruits passed their first hurdle, well done Pickett, Jackson, Rivers. Big tick for Burgess.

Others with good seasons: Oliver, Salem, Gawn, Viney (reasonably), Hibberd (reasonably), Lever (reasonably). Significantly, no forwards, other than Petracca.

[Bring-Back-Powell 15,345]

8 hours ago, Dame Gaga said:

Were they all just happy to have the season over and done with so they can p off from the hub and enjoy a holiday in sunny COVID free Queensland?

Can't get this nagging suspicion out of my head.?

A ruthless club would order the entire club to join Bennel on the first flight out to Melbourne today. They can enjoy their holidays in lockdown.

[rufus 1,162]

Our players looked good for the few weeks we applied high level pressure to the oppo. Funnily the skills looked a lot better those weeks too. Then it got a bit hard and we gave it up.

Every year the flag is won by the team that applies the most pressure for longer...our guys either don't get it or just don't want to do it.

Had we made it to Perth next weekit would have been a s^%# show. We could just as easily have turned up with the white flag raised.

[—coach— 3,496]

8 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A ruthless club would order the entire club to join Bennel on the first flight out to Melbourne today. They can enjoy their holidays in lockdown.

haha just said that to my wife, surely every AFL player/person/wife/child etc should be sent home to Melbourne if they aren’t involved in finals. Think it would be pretty unfair if they all get to party it up for the next few weeks in QLD. Send them back to Melbourne, then they can follow the rules that the rest of the country has to if they want to travel anywhere outside of Melbourne.

[Pates 9,686]

2 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

TOP 5 POSITIVES:

BURGESS: Hardly any injuries compare that to Misson and it's chalk and cheese.

LANGDON: Recruit of the year was awesome on the wing we need another one like him maybe Baker is the answer should promise in  the last 2 games or another recruit.

MAY: After the shocker he had last year he stood up and become what we thought he could be the best full back in the comp.

PETRACCA: Stepped up to the plate when added to the midfield. All Australian beckons.

GAWN: A captain that hits form is something that hasn't happened at Melbourne for some time but it finally happened with Gawn should be All Australian again and is undeniably the best ruckman in the league.

 

TOP 5 NEGATIVES:

GOODWIN: Selection debacle not playing Weideman and Brown earlier. Having quarters where we just wouldn't show up. Losses to bottom teams in Sydney and Freo good teams don't do that.

HARMES: Goodwin ruined him by playing him half back and ended up in the reserves.

BRAYSHAW: We didn't see the best of Brayshaw due to lack of opportunity and confidence. Butchered the ball on occasions and didn't give us a whole lot of flexibility.

MELKSHAM: Too many games where he had little impact expected more from him.

TOM.MCDONALD: Nowhere near his 2018 form and seemed hampered for most of the year so much so he was dropped on several occasions to where Brown was the much preferred option.

Spot on with everything you said, whatever plans Goodwin and the match committee had going into the season for the forward line they were way too slow to change it and I really think we lost games because of it. 

Well summed up @WERRIDEE  

[Half forward flank 1,022]

16 minutes ago, Redlagged said:

Others with good seasons: Oliver, Salem, Gawn, Viney (reasonably), Hibberd (reasonably), Lever (reasonably). Significantly, no forwards, other than Petracca.

I intentionally phrased it as great work,.....  Yes, there were others with very good, Oliver and Gawn, good, Viney, Salem.

[Engorged Onion 10,224]

Player Positives

• Langdon, Petracca, May, Rivers

Player Positives with Inconsistency

•  Weiderman, Fritsch Oliver, Pickett, Lever

Need Help With

• Forward Line Pressure
• Forward Line Entries
• New line coaches
• Different mix in Midfield 

Mitigating Factors (for those who are pessimistic about Goodwin, these are 'reasons' to add to the understanding of finishing 9th and not 'excuses'.)

• Most Travel of any team (flights, transfers)
• Most fly in on game day(s)
• Most change of hubs
• Team least likely to stay put in one spot (unlike Brisbane, Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, Richmond)
• 12 games in 60 days 
• No bye in that stretch of time.

Edited September 20, 2020 by Engorged Onion

[Redlagged 813]

Improvements in several areas - notably the strong backline, Petracca's development, and the coming of an excellent winger. (Need another one.) But we were buggered by the almost inexplicable collapse in the form of McDonald and Melksham, our two best forwards in 2018. 

[Clintosaurus 7,935]

Normally a season where we beat Collingwood, Essendon, St Kilda, North Melbourne and Hawthorn would be considered fantastic.

Also, who would have thought a dodgy score review in Round 16 would completely shape the season for us, West Coast and the Dogs. Eagles finish 3rd and we finish 8th. This is when the Dogs became the favourites of the umpires, if they were not already - https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/western-bulldogs-coach-luke-beveridge-labels-criticism-of-umpires-disgusting-20160510-goqugd.html

What we need for next season is a quality key forward, and outside mid and replacing all the assistant coaches. goody and Richo stay.

[Hogan2014 390]

Most of the footy experts are not surprised & expected us to not play finals as we can’t be trusted, we lack the grit, we lack steel, we lack leadership, we lack culture and we lack a coach who just can’t fix the same issues after 4 seasons. Perennial losers & what will the next video be of achieving zero again. 

[Half forward flank 1,022]

Its a D for the Club.

Nineth place

No progress on home base

Coach under pressure.

 

[Billy 2,563]

10 hours ago, Vineytime said:

A lame sporting organisation with a weak inner lining. 
Mentally fragile. 
 

When is enough of this under performing enough..

Always disappointing following the MFC. 

Correct, mentally weak as soon as they get into a positions to have an impact they fall apart 

Classic example is Hunt & Tracc carrying on and laughing at 3/4 time, what happens Essendon kick the next 4 goals and we fall in 

Totally unprofessional

Fail

Edited September 20, 2020 by Billy

[Kent 2,920]

13 minutes ago, Billy said:

Correct, mentally weak as soon as they get into a positions to have an impact they fall apart 

Classic example is Hunt & Tracc carrying on and laughing at 3/4 time, what happens Essendon kick the next 4 goals and we fall in 

Totally unprofessional

Fail

yes  says it all really

Our players in the main appear to just want to participate 

They are not really there professionally or emotionally invested in the win

If the coach cannot address this then it will fail

Its been going on for a long time and nothing has been done about it

Really is a very poor look

[spirit of norm smith 16,651]

2 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

TOP 5 POSITIVES:

BURGESS: Hardly any injuries compare that to Misson and it's chalk and cheese.

LANGDON: Recruit of the year was awesome on the wing we need another one like him maybe Baker is the answer should promise in  the last 2 games or another recruit.

MAY: After the shocker he had last year he stood up and become what we thought he could be the best full back in the comp.

PETRACCA: Stepped up to the plate when added to the midfield. All Australian beckons.

GAWN: A captain that hits form is something that hasn't happened at Melbourne for some time but it finally happened with Gawn should be All Australian again and is undeniably the best ruckman in the league.

 

TOP 5 NEGATIVES:

GOODWIN: Selection debacle not playing Weideman and Brown earlier. Having quarters where we just wouldn't show up. Losses to bottom teams in Sydney and Freo good teams don't do that.

HARMES: Goodwin ruined him by playing him half back and ended up in the reserves.

BRAYSHAW: We didn't see the best of Brayshaw due to lack of opportunity and confidence. Butchered the ball on occasions and didn't give us a whole lot of flexibility.

MELKSHAM: Too many games where he had little impact expected more from him.

TOM.MCDONALD: Nowhere near his 2018 form and seemed hampered for most of the year so much so he was dropped on several occasions to where Brown was the much preferred option.

Great work and support every word. Further retrospectives-

POSITIVE - Rivers, Jackson and Pickett (in that order) showed us their potential and hopefully will have a good preseason to start 2021 in good shape. All three are 10 year players. Jacko and Kozzy need smarter footy IQ but that will come.  

POSITIVES -  wins versus better teams like Pies, Saints, Giants and should have beaten Cats and Lions.  We have huge improvements to make and need to really switch on and match intensity for 100% to match Tigers, Eagles and Power. 
 

NEGATIVE - Jonesy not making it to 300. I know the year was fu&&$)d but I thought it would be his final year and he get 14 games to get to 300. Now he wants to go on and the club may decide otherwise. It could end badly.
 

NEGATIVE -  AFL draw.  Hardly even and Dees got shafted with the excess travel much more than others like Saints and Bulldogs.  In the end, it was a difference imo. 
 

... and finally a positive and a negative.  
Harley Bennell. ???????

[leave it to deever 17,598]

10 hours ago, kallangurdemon said:

If I returned here after being out of contact with the outside world for 6 months and was told that trac max may oliver are all in lt m x for AA selection  that we picked up a cracker in Langdon and good young guns in rivers and jackson  I might assume that we would be up to our necks in the finals series . But that sadly is not the case .the reason i believe is that the  list falls away too quickly .WE  need 6 to 8 b and c graders to replace the d graders on the list . .North made headlines by sacking 11 and I see no reason  not to trade/delist a similar number.

 

This. Thanks. 

Time to go.... so very many.

Maybe Hunt redeemed himself so there are about 10 to let go.

[monoccular 17,697]

10 hours ago, Rednblueriseing said:

Comments by King after the bulldog game were spot on, we are happy being competitive in most games, said the list is better then dogs and should be in finals but we don't have a killer instinct 

I don’t really know, but is there any way to inculcate a killer instinct in a group?  

Does it come naturally to some?

is it on field leadership?

Is it off field leadership?

Is it hardship?

Any shrinks or psychiatrists here??

[titan_uranus 25,205]

10 hours ago, Rednblueriseing said:

Comments by King after the bulldog game were spot on, we are happy being competitive in most games, said the list is better then dogs and should be in finals but we don't have a killer instinct 

Nope. The Dogs have a far stronger list than us and the real truth is that the Dogs should be a top 4 side, not barely scraping into the 8.

The Dogs have Bontempelli, Macrae, Hunter, Libba, B Smith, Dunkley, Wood, Johannisen, Naughton, Wallis and Daniel. Those 11 players are not just the equal of our top 11, they're significantly better IMO. Their midfield depth is enormous, allowing them to run Hunter off a wing and having Bont/Dunkley rotating forward. 

We might shade them down the spine (Weid, Brown, Gawn, Lever, May vs Naughton, Bruce, English, Gardner and Keath) but it's not like their spine is uncompetitive.

King's fast becoming an irrelevant sensationalist. To suggest we've made no progress at all, coming off a 2019 season record of 5-17 with a percentage of 78.6% to a 9-8 record with a percentage of 107.8%, is stupid. There have been a number of signs this year that we've developed our gameplan to be capable of producing wins without needing to rely solely on clearances, CPs and inside 50s (look at our four most recent wins over Essendon, GWS, St Kilda and Collingwood and you'll see we didn't win games like we were doing in 2018).

That doesn't mean our 2020 is a success, by the way. Making progress and failing are not mutually exclusive. Both happened in 2020.

[Engorged Onion 10,224]

24 minutes ago, monoccular said:

I don’t really know, but is there any way to inculcate a killer instinct in a group?  

Does it come naturally to some?

is it on field leadership?

Is it off field leadership?

Is it hardship?

Any shrinks or psychiatrists here??

Friend of mine Daniel Gucciardi has written numerous peer reviewed articles on 'mental toughness'.

Essentially the construct is too difficult to measure 

http://www.danielgucciardi.com.au/publications.html

 

Personally I could bore you with the process of 'stress inoculation' or 'building resilience' (jargon, jargon)... but essentially its exposure to your own emotional discomfort and 'getting on with things' irrespective of how you feel... that's the learnt behaviour - til such time as the emotional response in of itself is no longer perceived or related to as an issue.

[Half forward flank 1,022]

7 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Friend of mine Daniel Gucciardi has written numerous peer reviewed articles on 'mental toughness'.

Essentially the construct is too difficult to measure 

http://www.danielgucciardi.com.au/publications.html

 

Personally I could bore you with the process of 'stress inoculation' or 'building resilience' (jargon, jargon)... but essentially its exposure to your own emotional discomfort and 'getting on with things' irrespective of how you feel... that's the learnt behaviour - til such time as the emotional response in of itself is no longer perceived or related to as an issue.

Sure, this is all important stuff, but Goody has said all year our problems are easily fixed.