11 minutes ago, Youngwilliam said:

Yes we shouldn't be playing finals football now but the team shouldn't be going into a game against someone lower on the ladder thinking they only need to turn up.

We didn’t just turn up expecting to win. GWS came out all guns blazing, tackled like tigers and were dead eye in front of goal. Sometimes you have to credit the other team. They have quality players, their 0-3 start doesn’t reflect this.

That’s a game we’ve lost in the past. Twice now against the saints and GWS we’ve been challenged and twice we’ve responded. The maturity we hoped this group would display is finally apparent. Very positive development and bodes well for our Top 4 chances.

12 hours ago, Cards13 said:

B.... mate... you’re harking back to “honesty sessions” from a playing group that has now all retired?

Also the Dees have had plenty of “honesty sessions” and “reality bus” moments over the last 15 years (Leading Teams was one of the groups we had onboard if I recall)... we’re 3-0 and still have a lot of improvement in us, would you prefer us to be 0-3 and playing like legends but just missing out?

Retired? This is the same group that lost consecutive games to Freo and Sydney last season when finals were on the line.
 

Yes we’ve had plenty of honesty sessions before but if there isn’t a noticeable shift maybe the club needs to explore different ways of getting the message across.

44 minutes ago, Youngwilliam said:

It was the 1 percenters that worried me most and why I said GWS wanted it more. The smothers, the hard ball gets, GWS were just better with 75 to 40. Yes we shouldn't be playing finals football now but the team shouldn't be going into a game against someone lower on the ladder thinking they only need to turn up.

I don’t think the MFC turned up to the game lethargic at all. 
you underestimate GW$ having a serious red hot crack. 
10.2 deadly accurate 

but only 12 shots

We did ok in April 

49 minutes ago, Youngwilliam said:

It was the 1 percenters that worried me most and why I said GWS wanted it more. The smothers, the hard ball gets, GWS were just better with 75 to 40. Yes we shouldn't be playing finals football now but the team shouldn't be going into a game against someone lower on the ladder thinking they only need to turn up.

Any break down on what those 1%ers actually are though? Because we had 18 more inside 50's and 12 more intercept possessions. 

I'm happy for a team to have 35 more spoils if it means we are dominating the inside 50's and marking everything at the other end.

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but I thought Hunts running game on Sunday was his best since his break out year under Roos.  The speed he brings off half back is so great to watch and I thought he used it better than I’ve seen for a long time.  I think as his confidence grows, he is going to be so important to our chances this year.  

GWS had a very simple game plan, stop us scoring and get us on the rebound.  They basically played a 2 man forward line with every other player behind or around the ball.  Once they won the ball it was a mad dash forward.  Worked well in the 1st qtr with fresh legs but then tired.  The lose of players didn't help.

It meant our forward 50m arc was always congested, we adjusted to move the ball through our spare players.

A win is a win, wasn't pretty but we grinded this one out.

35 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

10.2 deadly accurate 

but only 12 shots

Agree... quite an aberration

If we had a little more accuracy and they kicked say 7.5 the margin would have been 60+

 

11 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Agree... quite an aberration

If we had a little more accuracy and they kicked say 7.5 the margin would have been 60+

 

yep. that’s 3 weeks in a row i think we could have won by 10 goals plus. It’s a happy complaint to have fr sure though isn’t it. we’re 3-0 and  I still feel they have another whole level they can get to.  

Its not just our 4 outright guns of gawn, petracca, oliver, May anymore.  lever is bk on, Langdon must be close to AA, Salem and hunt have both been a revelation to me so far, Kozzi and i could keep going. plus the contested ball stats and new found leadership from the box. 

Starting to get genuinely excited but the game on Sunday will reveal a lot re fantasy vs reality fr me . 

14 hours ago, DubDee said:

Agree OD. T Mac has been in my votes the last two games. The Giants flooded back and made it very hard for him to get a touch. 

hopefully he bounces back as we need him over the next month especially 

Well called

 Andre the giant could not have marked in those conditions. I think gws had 14 players inside our fwd 50 in the first.

He improved later on in other parts of the ground. Im not convinced we would have won the other games without him.

I also think Tommy is a confidence player and needs to get involved early on to keep him going mentally.

I may be wrong but he appeared down on himself after the game.

He has the skills and has proved beyond doubt in the 1st 2 games he has not lost them.

Perhaps start him on the wing and move him to full fwd in the 2nd.

38 minutes ago, drdrake said:

and get us on the rebound.  They basically played a 2 man forward line with every other player behind or around the ball.  Once they won the ball it was a mad dash forward

And it was clever as it suited toby g style of play...especially againsy May.

 

13 hours ago, rpfc said:

epithet that rings around the members; ‘kick it!1!!!1!’

Now to be replaced with the joyful exclamation of....

PICKETT!

23 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Yeah I liked the play-by-play commentary last night. Kelli Underwood's voice is no more or less grating than Brian Taylor's or James Brayshaw's. She called the game fine. So did Leigh Montagna, by the way.

The special comments, though, were no good. Brereton is awful, just genuinely a terrible commentator. I've never been a Healy fan either.

He is a fu$%ing [censored].  Talks a load of absolute [censored].  Clown.  He pondered at one point with regards to Kozzie: "he reminds me a lot of...was it.., was it, Aaron Davey?'  Pretended to be some old [censored] bloke with no memory.  He remembers Aaron Davey.  

My 11 year old threw his hands in the air at another point and shouted "Dermot Brereton would you just shut the hell up.  You're talking absolute rubbish mate."

Kossie is just getting wound up. 1 goal in round 1, 2 goals in round 2, 4 goals in round 3

I look forward to him continuing the pattern and kicking 8 this week. 

Being undefeated and as is generally acknowledged we have a lot of improvement to do then it bodes well that we may get better as the season progresses. Consistent winning is always confidence building and obvious defects can be addressed without panic. Better than flying out of the blocks and to fizzle out come finals time. 

Edited April 6, 20214 yr by John Crow Batty

4 minutes ago, In Harmes Way said:

Kossie is just getting wound up. 1 goal in round 1, 2 goals in round 2, 4 goals in round 3

I look forward to him continuing the pattern and kicking 8 this week. 

I am looking forward to his 16 vs Hawthorn then!!!

14 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Nope, haven't missed your point at all.

I completely understand what you're saying.

You are just saying something ridiculous.

Again: signing the song does not stop us from having "brutally honest conversations", nor does it stop us from analysing our performance, critiquing it, learning from it, demanding improvement.

You are arguing that we shouldn't sing the song so that we can focus instead on getting better. The necessary implication is that we can't improve on that performance if we choose to sing the song.

It's ridiculous.

Demand improvement, sure, but don't do it in a ridiculous way like this.

You along with a lot of other people disagree with my point, that doesn’t make it ridiculous. What ever has happened before hasn’t worked so I’m open to exploring all possible options. For me being a good team isn’t enough, I’m expecting great things from this list. 

34 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

You along with a lot of other people disagree with my point, that doesn’t make it ridiculous. What ever has happened before hasn’t worked so I’m open to exploring all possible options. For me being a good team isn’t enough, I’m expecting great things from this list. 

A wise person once told me.

Pursue your dreams vigorously, and hold them lightly.

Deep tantric..ommmmmmmmmmmm

Jingly jangly music

"For one to have happiness as a football supporter, once must let go of expectations, and become one with the acceptance that they have no control over what the football department does, for one is merely an observer to bare witness to what 22 random people they've never met does on a week to week basis whilst chasing an inflated object around"

14 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

Mate, all  teams for years have been doing those conversations, its not revolutionary, week in, week out, disectting your errors, looking at 'vision' - they're all versions of honesty...brutal or otherwise, and they don't always create change.

By the way...what aren't the players getting?

Fun fact... AFL coaching staff often ask a player in front of others in his group when reviewing vision, 'why did you do that x behaviour'... player will then clam up and not want to embarrass oneself, or shame oneself when not following 'team rules'.

So brutally honest conversations, aren't always of benefit... 

I saw a meme the other day online about 'what seems ridiculous as an adult, looking back at your school'

One of the responses was, -  Getting hot and sweaty, running a cross country in your PE clothes, with all your mates cheering you on...and then 5 minutes after its finished...going back to the class room to learn about algebra in sweaty clothes.

Ostensibly, I'm saying that the best time to do a post hoc analysis on your performance, isn't directly after you've worked your [censored] off and fatigued when playing a match for 2 hours...

 

My best mate is a Collingwood supporter , he once said to me that every game is a big game for them, I asked him what he meant by that, he went on to explain....We already have long standing rivalries against other big four Melbourne clubs like Richmond, Carlton and Essendon. Then every other Melbourne based club wants (lobbies the AFL) to play Collingwood as their home game, this as we know from our Queens Birthday clash brings a massive gate taking plus for perennial battlers ie us, North, Bulldogs (until late), Saints it’s generally our biggest game of the year. As one of the Richmond players said on the day of the opening game this season “I love playing in Carltons grand final every year”. Then when Port or the Eagles play Collingwood at the MCG is most likely only one of possibly two games they’ll play at the G so they almost treat it like a mini final. Then because they have such a big following Australia wide when they go to Sydney or Brisbane they either have large supporter base in that state plus a large number of fans that travel. 
I think (I’m sure someone will tell me if I’m wrong) one of Geelong premiership years they only lost one home and away match for the season. This season and last every team is priming themselves for the Tigers.

So to answer your question “what aren’t the players getting”, it’s the need to come to play and be mentally switched on for every game. If we want the ultimate success and sustained success that’s what is required. Obviously only one team can win it so if we do that it doesn’t guarantee success but it gives us a much better chance of achieving it.

1 hour ago, In Harmes Way said:

Kossie is just getting wound up. 1 goal in round 1, 2 goals in round 2, 4 goals in round 3

I look forward to him continuing the pattern and kicking 8 this week. 

So you have marked him down for 8 in game 4.

No problem.?

2 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

o to answer your question “what aren’t the players getting”, it’s the need to come to play and be mentally switched on for every game.

Thanks for the response @Bombay Airconditioning

I guess I am coming from the perspective - that if we aren't quite doing things well enough, it may not be anything to do with the players not being switched on - it's that the other teams actually are quite good and well structured.

It's almost being dismissive that other teams don't have capabilities and don't put work into our strengths and try to leverage that themselves...

3 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Retired? This is the same group that lost consecutive games to Freo and Sydney last season when finals were on the line.
 

Yes we’ve had plenty of honesty sessions before but if there isn’t a noticeable shift maybe the club needs to explore different ways of getting the message across.

Bombay, we're 3-0, which means we have won every game, maybe the message is getting across...

2 hours ago, PaulRB said:

Bombay, we're 3-0, which means we have won every game, maybe the message is getting across...

I hope that it is. I think we’re a massive chance to be 5 & 0 heading into Anzac Eve, that would be massive for us

Coaches votes:

Split:

• 5/5 Gawm
• 4/4 Green
• 3-0 or 3-0 or 2+1 Viney, Picket, Petracca
• 2/0 Lever
• 1/0 Langdon

Again first 2 unanimous.  The rest not so.  Of Viney, Pickett, Petracca, Lever and Langdon only one got votes from both coaches!

Bit surprised to see Lever amongst the votes as he had a few clangers and cost us goals.

Leader Board

Oliver and Gawn in the top 5.  Tex has flown past the rest

28	Taylor Walker	ADEL
19	Dustin Martin	RICH
16	Darcy Moore	COLL
16	Clayton Oliver	MELB
15	Max Gawn	MELB

20 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

Gawn is the best footballer in the league and Kossie is the most exciting player in the league. Hunt's best game ever and Viney and Brayshaw were brilliant when things weren't actually going our way. I'm excited with the way the teams going I think it is our best chance of winning the flag since 1998.

Agreed on Brayshaw & Viney (and Hunt)

Both Jack & Gus kept the team in the game early with their vigour & attack on the ball

Without them we might have got run over or at least have been 5 or 6 goals down

Brayshaw especially is playing well in a role that is unfamiliar to him (defensive wingman) ... he's often forced to kick to a contest as he is being asked to gain metres for the team

So therefore the DE in relation to Brayshaw is another useless stat held up by those who don't watch the game closely enough.  Metres gained with regards to the new attacking brand of footy is however a more apt stat

But I choose to watch the game over what the stats say and Brayshaw had a very good game when considering he's not a natural wingman

Viney was just Viney and he's a little champ

Hunt is finally starting to find his feet ... I like what I see

7 hours ago, Demons11 said:

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but I thought Hunts running game on Sunday was his best since his break out year under Roos.  The speed he brings off half back is so great to watch and I thought he used it better than I’ve seen for a long time.  I think as his confidence grows, he is going to be so important to our chances this year.  

I gave him top votes this week, might’ve been a little rose coloured glasses as he’s always been a favourite of mine, but no doubt it was his best game since he burst onto the scene as a running half back. What I really liked was that the first half he got the ball and dashed away but stuffed the disposal, second half he lowered the eyes and started hitting targets. He probably wasn’t BOG, but if he can get confidence from that game and continue with it we’ve got a proper dashing HBF weapon.