On 9/20/2020 at 9:06 PM, Supreme_Demon said:

Yet another frustrating and disappointing season which was a waste.

Could of beaten Geelong and Brisbane in those close games. Should of beaten Sydney and Fremantle.

Still mentally weak and always getting disappointed.

Bot the football department and the players need to be told in no uncertain terms that this type of inconsistency is not good enough.

A lot of players need to take a good hard look at themselves. If they aren't willing to bleed for the Demons jumper then we don't want them.

In the end we sadly finish on the ladder where we deserve which is 9th.

We are already getting trolled as "Ninthbourne" after the results in 2017 and now in 2020.

Simon Goodwin is hanging onto his job as Melbourne coach by the skin of his teeth.

Time to actually get ruthless Melbourne and not just talk about it.

I remember another team who wore yellow and black known as the ninth place specialists. Look at them now and the last few seasons.

8 hours ago, bing181 said:

Confirmed. You can't back up your claim.

No one ever explained to you the difference between, cannt or  will not. 

14 hours ago, Jack7 said:

After 6 months of Covid,hubs,3 games in 9 days,we miss the finals by a Solitary kick of the Football.

 

Against the Cats,we had a set shot with 15 seconds to go in the match,ball slides left of the Goalpost for a point and we lose by 3.

 

1 Kick,that's how close we came!!!

 

We have a better list than the Bulldogs,but they beat us and Freo

 

Considering from 2010-20,only the Suns have won less games than us,not surprising.

The Dogs list is unquestionably superior to ours. Much more balanced team. 

They have us covered for talent and on almost every line they either break even with them or are outright better. 

They also have the heart and grit that we lack and desperately need to find. 

The Dees need not to trade players who have the ability. Aka. Tom McDonald.

I believe with a change in coach and football department. These players can reset and thrive in a new environment, game plan, structure set up. 
 

Don’t rid the players when the coaching is a prime concern. 

It's leadership on the field.

If you look at the three areas, forward, mid and back, it explains quite simply our problems. It also would suggest we are a couple of years away from fixing it. On field leaders are very, very important.

We only have one area sorted. The backline. Clearly May and Lever are in charge. May is so angry when things don't go right, he points and scowls and sorts things out. There was one comment that Rivers said after his great game against GWS. he praised May for telling him what to do. That is so important. 

The midfield has problems. We had the Viney/Brayshaw issue. Oliver and Petracca are still too young to be leaders yet, they are all about give it to me. Look at the run ons sides like Port, Richmond and Dogs got against us. Even GWS fought back into the game with multiple goals, turning what should have been a comfortable win into tight fought. I must say I'm dissapointed with Max in this space. Viney is probably our best chance and important we keep him. Think Boac and Grey at Port, Cotchin at Richmond, Danger and Sellwood at Geelong. Bont at Dogs. Even Fyfe at Freo. All these players insert themselves into the game when needed and intuitively know when to act to either get away from your opponent with a couple of goals or keep the game in the balance if its slipping away. Petracca and Viney are probably our versions and may come on in the next year or two. For some of the posters wanting it to come along this year and getting all upset and impatient and branding the year a fail are fools or delusional or both.

Finally on the midfield leadership issue, you cannot import it. If you look at the teams above and their midfield leaders they are generally developed from within. This is the area Goodwin has to get right, the development of our mids leadership skills.

The forward-line lost its main leader in Tom McDonald. This is a serious blow. Our forward-line is now devoid of leadership. Melksham was the only one who had leadership qualities and the main reason he kept his position in the team. Its funny coz I think ANB struts around like hes a leader of men out there and hes so far from it. Weidemann shows no skill in this area and really needs a leader to help him out down there. We need a Reiwoldt or a Tom Hawkins (obviously not but his leadership skills yes).

I'm not sure if you can import leadership into the forward line but it is a serious problem for us.

So finally I don't think next year will be our year either unless those midfield boys mature into a much better unit. Given Jackson, Kozzie and Weids are the forward line we will probably build around I would suggest they are at least a couple of years away as well. We may not get all three areas of the ground sorted properly and never get there. But to think we had all the pieces in place to get further than we did this year is pure folly, I think we had a good year and am hoping for top four next year.

58 minutes ago, Dee tention said:

The Dees need not to trade players who have the ability. Aka. Tom McDonald.

I believe with a change in coach and football department. These players can reset and thrive in a new environment, game plan, structure set up. 
 

Don’t rid the players when the coaching is a prime concern. 

I am approaching 50 and have more mobility than Tom.  No amount of coaching is going to fix his body.  We have the ability in our list, we need to get the best out of them.  We will likely be stuck with him for few more years as no team in their right mind will be interested in him.  We are likely stuck with Simon also fwiw! We will change his assistants no doubt but i am not confident with Simon at the helm we will see the best of many of our players. His idea of a system or brand is shonky beyond belief!

6 hours ago, Half forward flank said:

No one ever explained to you the difference between, cannt or  will not. 

Sorry but I cannot help myself.

cannt is not a word and will not are.

Not having the bye later in season cost us . If the season was normal with 5,67 day turn arounds  for everyone fair enough but we didnt get a chance to recharge  . essendon were in same boat . Our players probably racked up the most number of velocity points

Last year the club started an information and review night for members which was run by Pert. I found it interesting and informative. 

Will there be one this year. My main question would be. What is wrong with Tmac? 

I wonder will we have one this year? 

Might be shelved with a virus excuse? 

Edited September 23, 20204 yr by old dee

If we had of beaten Sydney we would be playing St Kilda in a final next week.  god that is hard to stomach,  and the pies would have been knocked out of finals

5 weeks to go into season.  St Kilda, Sydney, Freo, GWS, Bombers

how Melbourne is it to win the hard ones and lose the easy ones.  We are so mentally soft, it's always been the same old story

Max's assessment:  2020-a-fail-but-not-a-waste

Can't disagree with that.

I like that he is frank without corp speak or spin.

Edited September 23, 20204 yr by Lucifer's Hero

4 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Max's assessment:  2020-a-fail-but-not-a-waste

Can't disagree with that.

I really like Gawn's quotes in that article.

I'm sure the usual suspects will say "talk is cheap" or "too little too late" etc., but I like Gawn's attitude here and I think what he says is fair.

25 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I really like Gawn's quotes in that article.

I'm sure the usual suspects will say "talk is cheap" or "too little too late" etc., but I like Gawn's attitude here and I think what he says is fair.

I think that may be the most honest assessment I have ever hear from a player when discussing the season. Very little if any "club Speak". Thanks Max.

PS read the "Ruthless" comment near the end with interest.

Edited September 23, 20204 yr by old dee

I just noticed that Qantas has cut completely their sponsorship of Ruby Australia leaving a huge hole. On that basis our retaining our two major sponsors looks an even bigger success.