On 18/04/2021 at 09:16, SPC said:

Yes.. more than my wife 

After my wife had  "My Heart Beats True", in red and blue musical notes tattooed on her forearm I started to trust her. She may just be a keeper

I’m not expecting us to win every week, but I’m getting more comfortable in fourth quarters that we will prevail (or at the very least not fall away).

Let's see how the boys go against Richmond, Port, Doggies, West Coast, Brisbane before coming to any conclusions.

  On 18/04/2021 at 10:46, dworship said:

After my wife had  "My Heart Beats True", in red and blue musical notes tattooed on her forearm I started to trust her. She may just be a keeper

That's a good start dworship but , to be absolutely certain, have her get it tattooed on her forehead.

  On 18/04/2021 at 11:25, Bitter but optimistic said:

That's a good start dworship but , to be absolutely certain, have her get it tattooed on her forehead.

I didn't say I could get her to do anything. One of her favorite sayings is "you're not the boss of me!'

Edited April 18, 20214 yr by dworship

  On 18/04/2021 at 11:38, dworship said:

I didn't say I could get her to do anything. One of her favorite sayings is "you're not the boss of me!'

Give her a jolly good thrashing!

  On 18/04/2021 at 11:40, Bitter but optimistic said:

Give her a jolly good thrashing!

Whilst that is a splendid idea, not only is it unlikely to have the desired effect, I would have to sleep with one eye open as she has a vindictive streak and a long memory (don't they all?). The expletives used today to describe the Hawks and the Umpires are testament to that.

I went to the game expecting a solid performance and a good win.

I spent the first three quarters wondering if we had again gone early with the talk in the press, whether the players had thought they just needed to turn up, whether we'd again got sucked into another hype bubble.. etc

I'm glad we got our [censored] together in the last, but the fact I was stressed at what should have been a stress free game tells me that I dont trust them yet, and I still can't be completely sure what we are going to get.

Ask me in another 4-6 weeks

When I was ten, Melbourne had the best premiership season I have ever seen it ring up (16 wins 6 losses). In most years, that would have gotten us a double chance and in other years might have seen us finish top.

During that year, not only did we roll the minor premier Essendon twice, we beat Hawthorn twice with the second time interrupting their run of flags and grand finals from 1983 to 1989.

We also inexplicably lost to mid table North by 141 points (John Longmire kicked 14) and got eliminated by an underdog West Coast Eagles team we arrogantly thought would just roll over to us. Garry Lyon was rested on the basis of the fact we were dead certain we’d win.

That year has been a microcosm of the club since I have followed it. Exhilarating highs that are ephemeral, crushing and unexpected lows that leave one shaking their head, and a tendency to get ahead of one’s self.

In a similar vein to@Jaded, 30 years of that won’t get swept away by five wins to start the year.

 

Edited April 18, 20214 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

  On 18/04/2021 at 10:41, Jaded said:

5 wins in a row don’t undo 5 decades of failure. You can’t cure MFCSS with anything other than a premiership 

Precisely 

I trust the team to be able to win against most of the other teams ... but the Tigers, Port, Eagles & Doggies are still ahead of us right now from a technical viewpoint (proven big time talent)

That can change of course but until it does I don't expect the team to be able to win against the elite teams.  Not yet anyway ... compete well, yes.  That is expected.  We can beat Sydney & Brisbane

But if we catch any of those other 4 aforementioned teams on an off day (whilst bringing our best) then we can win.  But all things being equal, winning against the best teams remains a goal

In a nutshell we're good enough to win 14+ games and I'm confident that will happen.  16 or 17 wins (or more) and a guaranteed top 4 spot is a tad unrealistic.  Not impossible but we'll need a few big scalps to get to those lofty levels

Richmond will be a big big test and they'll be wanting to put us back in our box. 

We've seen snippets of a steely resolve but that mindset needs to run at close to 100% ... game by game for the whole season

Teams on their way up can often hit a wall and if that happens to us we'll need to redress quickly.  Again, there's enough talent on the list to make quick readjustments.  The overall coaching is much better too

And the doubts about our forward line have been dispelled.  Suddenly, we have to find a way to fit them all in

Edited April 18, 20214 yr by Macca

I’m doing my best, although there’s always a little doubt.

Just thinking about 2020 and 2021, we have beaten Carlton, Gold Coast, Adelaide, North, Collingwood, St Kilda (twice), GWS (twice), Essendon, Freo, Geelong and Hawthorn (twice) for 14 wins out of 22 games. That’s just OK. 

But we have cause for optimism, because since the loss to Port Adelaide last year, we have won 11 of our last 14. Port Adelaide and Richmond have done better, but I doubt there are many other teams in our situation. (The Bulldogs have won 10 of their last 14.)

So, we’re getting there. And so am I.

 

  On 18/04/2021 at 08:01, Chook said:

Pretty simple. Do you?

We could be 30 goals up with 2 minutes to go in a grand final and I’ll still expect them to [censored] it up. 
Trust- not yet but I’m sure enjoying the ride so far

  On 18/04/2021 at 09:55, DeeSpencer said:

At this stage - no.

We had a terrible period against the Saints. We started dreadfully against the Giants before they ran out of players, and we started awfully today and a big reason why the Hawks folded was because they're a young side coming back from Perth.

We've had the absolute dream draw. 

We're playing better and playing in much the right style but too much of the ball movement lacks polish and we still need more system going inside 50.

That's not to say I don't trust that players to give strong efforts more weeks than not (no team is ever perfect) and it's not to say we aren't making good progress but at this stage I think we just lack the polish to really be reliable. And I'm a bit doubtful on whether we can play top line pressure footy against the best sides when we're probably a couple of mid/forward rotation players short who can both pressure and provide quality with the ball.

We'll see what happens with the big forwards if they straighten us up in a good way (and don't just encourage long bombs). Overall though I think Petracca and Oliver in particular need to become capable of the Pendlebury or Dusty type moments just cutting through congestion with beautiful skills not just power.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts, although I can't recall ever seeing a Melbourne side produce the overall pressure that this side is bringing every week. The kind of pressure that wins big games. It really does (currently) appear that it has finally "clicked" in that the team now realizes what they need to produce week in week out.

The Tigers, Bulldogs and Eagles will show us as pretenders, or the real deal. 

 

  On 18/04/2021 at 11:12, bingers said:

Let's see how the boys go against Richmond, Port, Doggies, West Coast, Brisbane before coming to any conclusions.

You are right. After all, we are yet to beat anyone ahead of us on the ladder. ?

At the moment yes!

Things we have going for us:

Our stars are in great form. Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Lever, Langdon, May, Salem, Viney, etc.

Players know their role. Bottom six are doing a job. 

Players are fit.

Our young guys are emerging stars. Pickett, Jackson, Rivers are much improved. 

Brayshaw is getting better every week.

Great to see Hibberd hit the ground running.

We still haven't picked our best team. BBB, Weed, others may have a role but the balance needs to remain.

Our challenge will be when opposition teams continue to try and clog us up like Hawthorn did for three quarters. That will expose the one-on-one abilities of a few of our guys. Petty, Tomlinson, ANB and a few others struggled here against the Hawks

There will be off weeks as well. 

At the moment we are as hungry or hungrier than the teams we play. That won't be the case every week. When opponents are hungry our skills need to shine. Goalkicking (poor all season) and marking especially.

 

 

Very close to voting Yes. What makes me all warm and fuzzy right now is seeing some individuals become team first players and not being content with a couple of highlights. 
This team means business, time will tell if we are good enough for the ultimate glory. 

Trac slammed his fist on the turf 4 times in anger just after the half time siren, obviously very disappointed with himself for spraying the shot on goal just before half time. Watching Lever rule the roost back there is a sight for sore eyes. I love the fact they expect better when making errors. Very encouraging signs to say the least. 

I have trust and belief 

We’re 5-0. Despite this there is still a lot of improvement to come with BB and the Weid. May and Fritsch to return soon.

Every time we’ve been challenged we’ve responded.

We’ve stuck to the plan.

We have depth. The boys are Casey were fantastic yesterday. Competition for places is fierce. We have plenty of options

The only negative for me is our goal kicking but i guess that can only improve.

I predict we’ll give Richmond a real game. We’re going to hit those bastards like a freight train.

Can’t wait for next Saturday night.

Depends what you’re looking for; a consistent commitment to pressure and structure so we are never out of the game, or a revelation that we are as good as the Tigers and Dogs et al.

We will have our extended fade outs - all teams do - even the best.

I think we are a top 6 team that is consistent and should be close to a prelim.

we've found a way to win in 5 games which all have had moments where we could have gone to water and lost.

It's so nice sitting at the footy feeling confident were going to win. There were so many supporters at the game yesterday groaning and sooking when players made decisions thinking we were going to lose and I was just sitting there with a smile on my face thinking, nuh we got this... and we did.

  On 18/04/2021 at 12:03, JTR said:

I went to the game expecting a solid performance and a good win.

I spent the first three quarters wondering if we had again gone early with the talk in the press, whether the players had thought they just needed to turn up, whether we'd again got sucked into another hype bubble.. etc

I'm glad we got our [censored] together in the last, but the fact I was stressed at what should have been a stress free game tells me that I dont trust them yet, and I still can't be completely sure what we are going to get.

we were never going to lose that. we've never really looked threatened this year in any of our games. in past years we lose to freo, gws, and geelong.

we're going to get belted a few times and will lose a few games but this team is the real deal. people need to accept that some loses will come but it ain't the end of the world. 

At the moment I trust that these boys will give it their best shot.
I can see as a team they want a flag. 
Whether or not their best shot will get the job done is another thing.
My only trust concern is the conversion rate.
If anything brings us undone it will be poor kicking, injuries or covid.
It won't be lack of effort.

Edited April 18, 20214 yr by Fork 'em

  On 18/04/2021 at 22:57, Fork 'em said:

At the moment I trust that these boys will give it their best shot.
I can see as a team they want a flag. 
Whether or not their best shot will get the job done is another thing.
My only trust concern is the conversion rate.
If anything brings us undone it will be poor kicking, injuries or covid.
It won't be lack of effort.

Team defense is possibly the best its ever been.

A bit like Richmond.

 

Wow.

  On 18/04/2021 at 23:02, faultydet said:

Team defense is possibly the best its ever been.

A bit like Richmond.

 

Wow.

While I was typing the post I had the vision of General Lever re-focussing the troops against Geelong in my head.
A telling moment IMO.