1 minute ago, layzie said:

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. 

I think I would feel much better about the progress this club is making if our week to week effort was consistent. If we lose to some good sides because they are just better than us on the day, and take care of the sides that we are better than, then so be it. Right now it just feels like we're miles and miles off understanding what it takes to be a consistently good team that can compete for flags.

One more thing, I'll add. Thank god for Sam Frost.

If he didn't have those two brain fades, we lose that game. Ironic in that we were talking about 'Frost Ball' prior to the game, because that probably got us to skulk away with that draw.

Just now, DubDee said:

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 

How was Tmac? Maybe ask yourself why our tall forwards aren’t getting near it, and then look at how we kick the ball inside 50. A bunch of drunk blind geese would hit a target better than we did tonight. 

1 minute ago, Soidee said:

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!

Someone suggested in the game day thread we call Clarkeson.
I'm down with that.

10 minutes ago, Garbo said:

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. 

I love you optimists........

Just now, Jaded said:

Name a more exhausting life choice than being a Melbourne supporter 

A Saints supporter maybe?

good times as a demons fan when we are inconsolable after going back to top of the ladder

Just now, DubDee said:

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 

The game was not set up for the big men tonight. BB made a contest but we couldn’t get any clean ball out of the contest 

Good thing we won't play anyone outside the 8 in the finals....

I was very disappointed in Maxy in the last quarter, one inside fifty he kicked it straight to a Hawks player then with a couple of minutes to go and a goal up he just bombed it in and they ran it out.

Had he kicked it short or even backwards to milk the clock we would have won.

Edited July 17, 20214 yr by DeeZee

22 minutes ago, Sydee said:

I’m disappointed but pleased Sportsbet paid out my line bet on Hawthorn +42.5 points 

The MFC are the best bet going when they go into a game as hot favourites 

I still struggle to see how we are top of ladder - this team just takes a holiday when they really should bury teams 

Hard to feel confident they can perform when it really matters - finals 

I had the Whoreks at 42.5 as well at the TAB. At least it's some consolation. 

Just now, DubDee said:

A Saints supporter maybe?

good times as a demons fan when we are inconsolable after going back to top of the ladder

Look you’re right. We are losing the plot while sitting half a game on top of the ladder. 
But the emotional roller coaster of easily disposing of Port in Adelaide last week then [censored] the bed against Hawthorn a week later, is very taxing on my soul. 

Lol.

Reminds me of the good old days, coming on here after a disappointing loss so I can watch other people absolutely lose their minds. I find it very calming. Other people's hysteria is a great way to regain perspective.

Anyway, as for the game;

Our goalkicking was poor, theirs was superb; particularly the snaps.

We failed to properly guard clearances in particular and the corridor more generally - same problem as the Adelaide game (which, coincidentally, probably should have been a draw, umpires notwithstanding)

Alistair Clarkson is a four-time premiership coach for a reason - the very clear tactic to whack the ball around, kick it off the ground, and just generally being messy and swarming on the ball did a superb job of confusing us, confounding our structure and making us anxious and rushed. The plan to force Petracca to handball instead of allowing him breakaway kicks was executed very well, as was the plan to let Viney be our least 'guarded' midfielder so he would feel compelled to kick instead of handball. It's a bit like when we tagged Libba the extractor and 'cut of the snake's head', except it was rearranging the snake's head with our [censored].

Six Hawthorn free kicks in a row early in the third quarter clearly distracted us and clearly handed Hawthorn momentum. Enough of them were dubious enough throughout the night that it compounds the poor impression made by the 22-15 free kick imbalance.

It was irritating that the commentators so clearly favoured Hawthorn. My favourite was the post-game excitement about the 'young talent' at Hawthorn. Our 22 was younger than theirs and most of their younger players were also their least effective.

But, meh. Learnings. The way Hawthorn played will provide a valuable lesson for finals. Better to get a draw in round 18 than having to play extra time in a preliminary final.

 

 

9 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

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.

We would surely have to put in a phone call to the AFL this week you would think. It wasn’t marginal when there 2-3 goals from very questionable frees and non frees to MFC. 
 

I remember thinking up until half time that the umpiring wasn’t too bad. 

10 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

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). 

I actually disagree with this. He kicked it down the line to our tallest marking option in Gawn, the issue was the laziness (or stupidity)of our other players around the area to not get to the fall of the ball. There were 4 Hawks players and they won it and moved it forward when we could've created another stoppage and eaten more time off the clock.

Story of our night. Outworked and outnumbered all over the ground

 

 

10 minutes ago, rufus said:

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...

Incorrect.

Our results speak for themselves. You don't win every game you play to this point of the season against the top 8 by accident or a fluke.

Everything else you've said describes our wins against the good sides perfectly. Good offence (e.g. sides like Bulldogs and Brisbane) can't beat good defence (us).

Every time a top 8 side has thrown their best at us, we've countered it and won. 

The issue isn't whether we can win finals. We've shown we can. The issue is whether we are going to give ourselves the best shot at it, which starts with ladder position. 

8 minutes ago, layzie said:

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. 

???

1 minute ago, Jaded said:

How was Tmac? Maybe ask yourself why our tall forwards aren’t getting near it, and then look at how we kick the ball inside 50. A bunch of drunk blind geese would hit a target better than we did tonight. 

T Mac was poor. Fritsch managed 6 marks a mid size. I don’t give the talls an out. Kicking inside 50 wasn’t good but that is why we got Brown to bring it to ground

brown missed an easy shot then tried to snap a set shot from 40. Hard to understand 

4 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Name a more exhausting life choice than being a Melbourne supporter 

Well, there’s ………………………………………………………………………… ah f**k it, I got nothin’.

10 minutes ago, layzie said:

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. 

What?

You want us to be like Port? Downhill skiiers/flat-track bullies etc.?

Like we were in 2018?

Seriously, feel free to be disappointed with tonight, but FFS this is an unbelievable position to take.

55 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

maybe do a ladder predictor and get back to me. 5th or even 6th isn't out of the question. 

probably a good thing the finals will be played outside off Melbourne , it would be hard to sit through anything like that

Mental midgets coached by a pea brain

Outworked by a team missing 10 first 22 players. 

And our leaders? Hang your heads in shame

5 minutes ago, Dr.D said:

maybe do a ladder predictor and get back to me. 5th or even 6th isn't out of the question. 

Did it. Picked favourites, had us losing to Dogs and Cats, we finish 3rd.

Babow.

In actuality, tonight is by no means end of the world. All we have to do is win next week. 

If we had won tonight but lose next week, we would find ourselves in third and if we had lost tonight we would also be in third. 

We keep first by the end of the round and we can keep it next week if we play some better footy. 

Just need a big response from the boys against gold coast. 

Come on Dees! 

Interesting we convincingly won all the game statistics, bar tackles, goal kicking efficiency and free kicks.