26 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

We won nearly every stat, disposals, inside 50’s, contested, hit outs, clearances, time in possession, shots on goal but they had more tackles, free kicks and were more accurate on goal. We were likely out coached, their game style and delivery forward negated May and Lever strengths and they were able to play around Gawn in the second half. Our finals opponents will be noting all this surely. Adelaide and the Pies have both found us out delivering the ball fast and low to close targets inside 50 for some reason the best sides have been happy to take our strengths head on but without success. 

I feel like delivering the ball inside F50 like this is pure luck though and that is why bottom teams can take that risk.  Hawks won those 50/50 chances with rubbish random kicks tonight, but this could easily be reversed on any given night and would be difficult game plan to sell in a final. "We are just going to spray the ball low along the ground and hope it finds a teammate"

4 minutes ago, hardtack said:

Who did you predict to win last week against Port?

Who did you predict to win against the Dogs and the Lions?

I may be wrong, but as I recall, it wasn’t us.

Yep, you’re a genius.

I wasn't surprised that we beat Brisbane or dogs. Nor was I surprised that we lost to Collingwood or didn't beat hawks. Ultimately, I said 5th. And if I'm wrong, I'd be surprised. 5th I said. It's been there for the whole forum to keep me accountable. I have no problems with that. I'm just keeping all the fans accountable for saying top 2 and top 4 when it was far from warranted.

5 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

 The Cats in their glory days of 2007-2011 focused on crushing teams early so they could cruise at the end. We just want to cruise from the get go.

This^

Many of their games were over by the end of the 1st qr.
But when teams actually stayed with them they got shaky.

5 minutes ago, BillyBeane said:

A very interesting point about experience and games played.  I thought we were lucky to get the 2 points.  It's bizarre how we looked absolutely cooked half way through the 3rd and looked out of it early in the 4th off a 10 day break.  I thought we were going to lose by 4 goals.  Hopefully the two points are as good as a win by seasons end.

Take out Burgoyne and it’s a different, uglier picture. He skews the whole thing. 

Too much sulking here. We drew. Way too emphasis on here and the AFL world on ladder positions. Every week there's people mentioning something like 'we'll lose to them because they're bottom of the ladder'. Assuming our player's are arrogant and not taking the task seriously. We'll it's a bit of a hypocritical way of thinking.

Every game is tough, and we're lucky to be the top of the ladder!

We were crap tonight and there's no use saying otherwise. Anyone wanting to float the idea that this was a positive result is either completely deluded or has no idea how football works. What we saw was pathetic, it is Rd 18, it is not time to let them off and chalk it up as a bad experience. If we bring that to the big games, we are out. It is simply as simple as that.

13 minutes ago, red&blue1982 said:

 Every game is tough, and we're lucky to be the top of the ladder!

Lucky ... Bloody amazing.

12 minutes ago, red&blue1982 said:

Too much sulking here. We drew. Way too emphasis on here and the AFL world on ladder positions. Every week there's people mentioning something like 'we'll lose to them because they're bottom of the ladder'. Assuming our player's are arrogant and not taking the task seriously. We'll it's a bit of a hypocritical way of thinking.

Every game is tough, and we're lucky to be the top of the ladder!

Very well put but I'm sorry I was a little sidetracked. I saw you were from Coorparoo and all I could think of was Jason Dunstall country. A man who knew how to kick straight! 

Both times when when we had our biggest leads during the game in the the 2nd and 3rd quarters we let them have two 4 goal unanswered run ons. We had similar issues but to a lesser degree against the Crows and Pies. We surrender the initiative to lesser sides rather than go for the kill. They seem to sense that. 

Edited July 17, 20214 yr by John Crow Batty

2 minutes ago, Stein9193 said:

We were crap tonight and there's no use saying otherwise. Anyone wanting to float the idea that this was a positive result is either completely deluded or has no idea how football works. What we saw was pathetic, it is Rd 18, it is not time to let them off and chalk it up as a bad experience. If we bring that to the big games, we are out. It is simply as simple as that.

Goodwin still talking about lessons in round 18. 
It's not lessons Simon, its execution. 

1 minute ago, Dr.D said:

Goodwin still talking about lessons in round 18. 
It's not lessons Simon, its execution. 

I will say this, the lessons are about to get more expensive. 

Watch a reply later in the night.

Crap game to watch, at least I could skip forward often.  Hawks wanted it more and were better positioned and more pressure across the field.  But if we could get those set shots it would have been different.  Hawks dominated the contest in the middle and we never seemed to get any fluency on movement or support.  Plus its getting hard to watch an empty venue.

Craptacular moments keep popping into my head….

Oliver having a whinge when Spargo intercepted his mark in the forward pocket. 

Two things about that: 

- really poor form from a team perspective  

- I’d take a Charlie Spargo kick from the pocket over one of Oliver’s every day of the week. 

 

Edited July 17, 20214 yr by Mel Bourne

57 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

We won nearly every stat, disposals, inside 50’s, contested, hit outs, clearances, time in possession, shots on goal but they had more tackles, free kicks and were more accurate on goal. We were likely out coached, their game style and delivery forward negated May and Lever strengths and they were able to play around Gawn in the second half. Our finals opponents will be noting all this surely. Adelaide and the Pies have both found us out delivering the ball fast and low to close targets inside 50 for some reason the best sides have been happy to take our strengths head on but without success. 

I think we beat the good teams with structure around the ground. They try to move it deliberately and or some wins. The poor teams, like Hawthorn did today, hack the ball around without the structure and then find the ball bobs up randomly and we can't defend as well in that chaos environment; we like order and control.

 

36 minutes ago, Dr.D said:

I wasn't surprised that we beat Brisbane or dogs. Nor was I surprised that we lost to Collingwood or didn't beat hawks. Ultimately, I said 5th. And if I'm wrong, I'd be surprised. 5th I said. It's been there for the whole forum to keep me accountable. I have no problems with that. I'm just keeping all the fans accountable for saying top 2 and top 4 when it was far from warranted.

When your team has gone 9-0, those kinds of predictions were just as, if not more, warranted as yours, particularly as we had beaten a number of teams expected to finish well above us. Also, after each loss to a lowly team, we have come back to defeat a top 8 team, so why wouldn’t people believe we can finish top 4.

Edited July 17, 20214 yr by hardtack

4 minutes ago, hardtack said:

When your team has gone 9-0, those kinds of predictions were just as, if not more, warranted as yours, particularly as we had beaten a number of teams expected to finish well above us. Also, after each loss to a lowly team, we have come back to defeat a top 8 team, so why wouldn’t people believe we can finish top 4.

I'm not saying we can't. It's just a prediction. We're coming off seasons finishing 17th and 9th. We had everything to play for last year and screwed up our season by not showing up in games later in the season against bad teams. I suppose that is still fresh in my memory and I think we're seeing signs of that team coming out. 

The selfishness is starting to eek back into the team. Not the hero I’m so important type of selfishness but the one where we try and do too much.
 

I recall Oliver having a number of collisions with other MFC players trying to get the ball - doesn’t look great.

I'd like to propose a site-wide Demonland apology to Brian Taylor. He's been bagged mercilessly for not believing the Dees could win the flag -'"I'll believe in the Dees when I see Goodwin and Gawn holding the premiership cup" he said.  Everyone piled onto him. Now who's looking silly? Adelaide, Collingwood, an undermanned GWS and an undermanned Hawthorn. Where's our steely resolve? Where's our killer instinct? Where's our will to win? We are going to need all of those - and more - if we are going to go top-2 and achieve something  in September.

 

I'm still waiting for Luke Jacksons 'bag' that was just around the corner. Someone even posted comparisons between him and Josh Kennedy. Good Lord. Here I am, pre-season stating that Jackson isn't a forward and I get shot down for it. 

The proof is now in the pudding. Yes, he's going to be a gun in the ruck. But he isn't a forward and never will be.  Hey isn't a good kick for goal or a good mark of the ball (he runs under it too much). Time for a rest.

3 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Pickett’s set shots are a f$&king joke. He needs to put serious work into this aspect of his game. So sick of watching him line up, absolutely safe in the knowledge that he’s going to f$&king cook it. 

It’s his [censored] run up. The little hop and skip and ball moving all around. It’s horrible. 
 

he actually reminds me of Jesse Hogan. Same weird [censored] he used to do!

Edited July 17, 20214 yr by Kick_It_To_Pickett

1 hour ago, layzie said:

Anyone else notice we tend to stink after 9 day breaks? Yet off 5 or 6 days breaks we’re golden. It’s like this group is better off when they roll on through battle hardened and too long of a break is like ring rust. I don’t know.

Yep, noticed it and multiple long breaks with this [censored] finals draw has me worried. We could come out flat as tacks. 

I'm a better set shot than Pickett and weideman from 30m out. I'd happily challenge them.

5 hours ago, Lord Nev said:

3rd or 4th game for the year where we got on a bit of a run with Jackson in the ruck, brought Gawn back in and it went the other way.

This time it cost us the game.

Interesting, Nev. What’s Max doing wrong, or Dogga right?

Oh no look how [censored] we are, sitting at the top of the ladder

Like the players, we shouldn’t get complacent at the pointy end of the season. In the next final 5 rounds, we are the only top 8 team that plays three top 8 teams (two of which are top 4): Dogs, Cats and WCE. Drop all three and we probably finish 5th or 6th, drop two of those three and we probably finish 3rd or 4th.  

This assumes we bank the 4 points against GCS and the Crows. 

We simply cannot turn up expecting to execute our game plan for only 1-2 Quarters and finish top 4, against any team. 

And we desperately need to sort out our set shots for goals. All teams will crank the pressure in finals and we’ll need to take our opportunities in front of goal.