2 minutes ago, von said:

Late in the game lever had an opportunity coming out of defence to keep the ball moving with a short pass to one of two players. He instead held the ball up and kicked to a pack and they won the ground balls and they kicked the leveller. It was very stubborn and defensive. There was one minute thirty to go and he froze. We used the ball better early but at some point we only had eyes for the defensive pack kick that rarely worked. We put the cue in the rack in the second and weren’t able to get going again. Very arrogant. The lesson is not being learnt. Doesn’t bode well. Mental fragility in front of goals has killed us and will continue to. Will likely be our undoing. So hard to watch. The adjudication of high contact that came into the game in the third seemed to be missing in the first half too. 

He had Jordon on short but did the team thing - he ate up more time, and then kicked long to the boundary.

Problem was Hawthorn outworked our talls and brought the ball back through the centre.

Wasn't Lever's fault.

1 minute ago, Dr.D said:

You called me a troll when I said we'd finish 5th because you guys couldn't fathom the idea that we could finish 5th. I had done my research and I looked at all the teams and who they were playing and looked at our form and came up with 5th. So I've now proven that my prediction is the most accurate because you guys couldn't even stomach the idea that coming 5th was within the realms of possibility. 

"Accurate"?

You've got literally every single match prediction over the last month wrong.

3 minutes ago, Undeeterred said:

The HTB on Petty was absolutely disgraceful 

It drives me insane when players scoop the ball back into the player on the ground and just lay on them to earn a free.

That's exactly what happened to Petty.

1 minute ago, von said:

Late in the game lever had an opportunity coming out of defence to keep the ball moving with a short pass to one of two players. He instead held the ball up and kicked to a pack and they won the ground balls and they kicked the leveller. It was very stubborn and defensive. There was one minute thirty to go and he froze. We used the ball better early but at some point we only had eyes for the defensive pack kick that rarely worked. We put the cue in the rack in the second and weren’t able to get going again. Very arrogant. The lesson is not being learnt. Doesn’t bode well. Mental fragility in front of goals has killed us and will continue to. Will likely be our undoing. So hard to watch. The adjudication of high contact that came into the game in the third seemed to be missing in the first half too. 

Excellent analysis. 1 minute 23 seconds.  Lever takes mark in defensive zone about 60 metres from hawks goal. I thought he would switch to open side. Kick mark kick mark. Get to 30 seconds. Then kick to our forward 50 pocket and get set behind the ball. No kicked to a pack then we lost the contested footy.  Hawks go forward and breust kicks the goal that we simply couldn’t (Spargo. Pickett. Brayshaw). 

Not sure why so many people want to write us off after that, if this year had shown anything we bounce back after a bad game and  still haven’t lost to a top 8 side, so for all the people saying we can’t win when it matters our record says different. As disappointing as that was I’d still rather be in our shoes than any other side. 

3 minutes ago, Undeeterred said:

The HTB on Petty was absolutely disgraceful 

I saw it but could not believe it. Petty never fell on the ball or dragged it in. Complete lack of understanding of the HTB rule by that Muppet.

I don’t know how the bloke (Nash) who was left out because he was put in isolation would have gone but his replacement Cousins played a very good game. Covid19 costing us again.

33 minutes ago, adonski said:

• Oliver arrogant. Work rate on obvious drop off in 'easy' games
• ...

He covered the 3rd most ground for us tonight (5th most on ground).

32 disposals, 16 contested, and led us for metres gained and had a DE% of 75%.

I'm not sure his work rate dropped off.

4 minutes ago, Dr.D said:

You called me a troll when I said we'd finish 5th because you guys couldn't fathom the idea that we could finish 5th. I had done my research and I looked at all the teams and who they were playing and looked at our form and came up with 5th. So I've now proven that my prediction is the most accurate because you guys couldn't even stomach the idea that coming 5th was within the realms of possibility. 

Honesty, just go away. 

The umpiring really killed us.

Petty gets called for HTB in the fourth when he slips over with barely any prior.

Hartigan then gets caught after taking a player on and drops it in our forward line, but doesn't get called.

Brown gets called for the "hold" on McEvoy in the second.

So many 50/50% calls went their way but then didn't go ours.

25 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Except for when we turned the first GWS, St Kilda, Richmond, North Melbourne, and most importantly Brisbane games, right around.

And resisted comebacks from Geelong and the Dogs.

We have a clear problem against bottom sides but we won't be playing them in the finals, and our record against top 8 sides speaks for itself.

This isn't about whether we can/will win finals, this is about whether we will ruin our season's hard work by giving up a top 2 or top 4 spot.

We're not flag contenders anyway, so top 2/4 is fairly irrelevant. You aren't going to win a flag with key forwards who regularly play at VFL standard...and our key forwards aren't even our biggest problem.

Until this cub learns how to consistently allow games to be decided by talent then we're not competing for anything. These guys still regularly seem to think that talent can be the deciding factor without brining any defensive intensity. And it can't happen in this sport. AFL Football is a relatively low skilled sport...good offence can't beat good defence in the AFL...the foundation for winning is making it hard for you opponents to win it themselves...

Yeah Hawthorn played well. Teams like that should play well while we canter away to a 3 or 4 goal win thus getting the job done. Not putting one over us every time. 

1 minute ago, wizardinoz said:

I saw it but could not believe it. Petty never fell on the ball or dragged it in. Complete lack of understanding of the HTB rule by that Muppet.

Hey, I'm not sure on the rules with this one either.

How or why can the umpire just halt a game because Barass got a sore shoulder?

I understand if a player is out flat on the ground groggy or knocked out but why did the game get stopped while Barass jogged off with just a sore shoulder?

Anyone know the exact rule around injured players?

It would be nice if we good turf the theory that this only happens against bad sides and our record against good sides is great. It means very little. Give me bankable wins over crud opponents over taking our chances against quality opposition any day. 

All I will say is that the umpiring, especially in the 2nd and 3rd qtr, was deplorable and momentum changing.

23 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

Although it would be good if Spargo could kick further than 35m. 

And Kozzie, Gus and Clarry (from set shots).

Clarry needs a foot up the [censored].  Spargo marks that ball in front of him and he's whining on the way out.  Accept he probably didn't see you there and encourage.  Awful awful look and hardly part of their so called 'team first' mantra.

How bout you stop with the Hollywood over the head handballs mate and also learn how to kick a set shot (even an occasional one) from 30 to 40 out straight in front or on very slight angles!???

Tracc...for christ sake learn how to give off the first option instead of trying to break two to three tackles so often.  You aren't Dusty mate.  And any chance you could kick a ball softly coming inside 50 instead of drilling it into no man's land or over our forwards heads?  Or even worse straight to the opp!!

And as for Viney's kicking inside.  My God.  Don't get me started.  He's an asset to the opposition here.  Almost always straight to the opp even when surrounded by an opponent or two/three!

No wonder we can't snuff teams out.

With two kicks off HB from one of the worst teams in the comp, they split our defence apart both through the middle and inside 50 and were taking a shot at goal.  Luckily they missed.  Basic but smart/slick footy using hard leads with some skilled kicks and lowered vision.

This is going to take a momentus change in attitude along with some super hard work with set ups/skills (particularly by foot and balance in the middle) to get this mob right, ripe and ready if we're to have any chance of not going out in straight sets.

The forward line has always been a mess.  And we've now been beaten in the middle by the 2nd worst team in the  comp.

Goodwin now making excuses that the opp needs to be respected & they've been playing really well of late.  Come on mate who you kidding.  Go take a long hard look in the mirror and stick a rocket up this team's arze on the track for christ sake.  A few changes also.  Time for softly softly Mr Nice guy is not now.  Stick it up em mentally!  They were soft as butter tonight bar a few and so was your preparation and game set ups.

Anything less than a PF win/GF is a fail from here.

Edited July 17, 20214 yr by Rusty Nails

When you draw against the 17th team on the ladder playing infants while you are fighting it out for first, umpires are not the problem. 
Yes umpiring was putrid, but welcome to 2021. 
We have only ourselves to blame. We played lazy and our pressure was well down. We also fumbled badly and couldn’t win a ground ball. Tackling was non existent and we again blew easy shots on goal. This is what led to the result. Not poor umpiring.

We are so forken frustrating.
Who woulda thought sitting on top of the ladder would make me feel like this.

Really good teams win games irrespective of umpiring 

Yeah Clarkson did a good job getting his side up for the game. but there is only won reason why we drew and that was the 22 players out there mentally weak everyone knows it.

Thought we were back on track after Port but no you have to play somewhere near your best every week or your gonna get your pants pulled down and we have far too many players who choose when they want to play and it's not good.

The Gold Coast game will say everything about the club. Do they eventually learn and realize 100 per cent is the minimum you must give to play the game or do they show there constant flakiness against bottom 8 sides. 

Gold Coast know they can beat us and if this is the Melbourne I know they will do so easily.

The elephant in the room is Goodwin. He might be sitting at the top of the ladder but his coaching against bottom 4 teams is insipid.  It will cost the club a top 4 spot in the end.  
 

normally if your team is sitting in top of the ladder, you can mostly sit back with a cold beer and enjoy the game, no no no not with this club. It’s nerve wracking every week.  I will be gob smacked if we finish top 4 and utterly surprised if we win a final.

the mindset of coach and players to win big and at all costs does not exist.  I have no idea what they think going into these games no idea whatsoever.

Longggggggggggg way off!

Goody says : 

 

Dees lacked intensity. Hawks were hungrier.

Out tackled and out muscled us 

we had opportunities 

hawks good. Came to play 

Its a lesson. Not RUTHLESS ENOUGH IN THE AREAS WE VALUE. 

7 goals from our turnovers. Didn’t execute good enough 

58 entries. 24 scores. Inaccuracy cost us !!!!

petty one of our better players. 

 

Replace the name Brown with Weideman and he would be getting smashed here. 

don’t want Brown dropped but I just want balanced comments. Brown was poor, hopefully he gets better or he’ll be back at Casey 

Name a more exhausting life choice than being a Melbourne supporter 

I’m just thankful Frost was still playing for us.

19 minutes ago, rufus said:

Doesn't say a lot about the quality or desire of our players though does it. It's looking very much like the higher ranked teams have tried to play their own game and haven't applied the full on pressure to us, thus opening the door for us to play it on our terms. When lower teams apply pressure, our players look worse than ordinary.

In finals, just like in the NBA playoffs, everyone ups their defensive intensity. I can see another Perth 2018 on the cards when the finals come around.

The pressure port applied last week was huge and we came out on top