POSTGAME: Rd 07 vs Hawthorn

[DubDee 25,524]

1 hour ago, MrFreeze said:

Max with 2 goals, 29 touches (4th best on ground), 14 contested (equal 1st) and 35 hit outs 

Not bad at all 

I’m sure I am taking it for granted. But we are witnessing our greatest ever ruckman and one of our best players ever

[Gawndy the Great 9,011]

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

- We won

- We had a massively disrupted week

- Hawthorn threw absolutely everything they had at us

- We won

Save the overanalysing it for the replay. This was a tough game, we still won and we’re 7-0. 

Don’t forget the 6 day break. 

[Roy Boy 373]

FMD what is going on with our forward line? Leading patterns are non existent, Brown and Weed both going up for marks hoping to clunk one. I sat down the Punt Road end, and watched numerous time Brown and Weed just standing there waiting for something to happen instead of making something happen, frustrates the crap out of me.  I honestly see better forward line movement at local footy. We could be so much better.

And what is with the kick ins after the opposition scores a behind? Our plan seems to be kick it to a pack and hope for the best, time and time again. Do the coaches just think we'll back our team against the opposition instead of coming up with a plan??

[Beetle 4,599]

1 minute ago, CYB said:

Don’t forget the 6 day break. 

Hawks played a day after us.

[DeeSpencer 25,423]

1 hour ago, Tom Dyson said:

Thought Jake Melksham had a great game.

Competed well, won ground ball nicely, used it well, calm experienced head when the ball was pinging about. 

Quick reminder to everyone that he isn't done yet and still has something to offer.

Gave up an early goal by punching the ball indiscriminately down back and had his usual number of half hearted attempts to defend or contest.

Had some better moments too and I like they way they used him. But not enough to really be convincing.

[Gawndy the Great 9,011]

We played the night before. From a recovery standpoint it is effectively the same as a 5 day. 

[Jaded No More 68,855]

2 minutes ago, binman said:

We are 7 zip.

 

You can say that again. 
 

Two years ago you would murder for this type of position. Now we are whinging because we didn’t smash a competitive side after a week full of disruptions. 
No doubt whatsoever Lever and Viney were underdone after Covid and we were missing key players AND we lost Smith which threw the defense into chaos with Tmac going down. 
 

We keep being thrown challenges and we keep finding ways to win. We saw what we can do when we put the foot down for 15 minutes in the third term. We conserved energy and defended hard in the last because that’s how we like to play. It is great practice for our defensive set ups and it greatly reduces the amount of energy spent and risk of injury. We don’t need to win by 10 goals every week. 
 

People forget that we didn’t have big wins this time last year either. Why give up your winning hand this early in the year?

Very proud of us for making it work in a week that threw us massive curveballs literally on the daily. 
 

[Sydney_Demon 1,175]

1 hour ago, Deedubs said:

True. I just think we should recognise that we aren't in form. We're playing like trash. We won't get close to Stkilda if we play like this.  People love talking about gears. When will we get into gear? If not round 7, round 10? round 18? round 23? finals? Who knows. 

With due respect the only trash I've seen today concerning Melbourne Football Club are your posts. I've heard of doubling down but I think in your case you've quintupled down with increasing overstatement and inaccuracy with every post. Right now the only thing that matters is racking up the wins. Would any Demon fan have believed someone saying pre-season we'd be 7-0 with a percentage of 145.9% after 7 rounds? We are not playing perfectly, but so far have beaten 4 finalists from 2021 including the 2nd & 3rd teams. Yes, on the balance of play we should have a percentage of 165% (which shows how dominant we've been) but 145% is hardly shameful. Deedubs, the issue isn't with the Dees, it's with you 😞.... 

[dl4e 5,851]

We won and that is good. We usually don't make many changes so the 5 really threw us. Also those players are badly needed. Bedford was the only non permanent player who impressed.

[Longsufferingnomore 1,631]

2 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Yeah so I ended sitting plumb in the middle of the cheer squad and I’m not 100% sure but I think I’m now a member of the Demon Army. 😆😂unofficial for now but the bunch of crazy Dees ladies told me how to make it official on Monday. 🤩🥳❤️💙

Whose big face will you be holding or will you take on the bulls eye

[Beetle 4,599]

2 minutes ago, CYB said:

We played the night before. From a recovery standpoint it is effectively the same as a 5 day. 

No, not really. Our game finished 18 hours before them and they played in Tasmania.
They played the next day, had less of a break than us but you said we had a six day break like it was a disadvantage? I don’t understand.

I’m not trying to pick a fight, I’m just trying to understand what you mean?

[rpfc 28,247]

What a distance this club has come to deal with this week and still win and win well enough against a team we just don’t ever feel comfortable playing.

I am a bit worried of a similar build up to the St Kilda game and who knows how the players with Covid will recover. But Dunstan, Melksham, Bedford, and TMac will be better if they are to remain and they all were solid.

This is why ‘stars’ are important - Gawn, CP5, Oliver, and May just finding a way.

[DubDee 25,524]

What is it about Melksham that polarises people?

He was not great today.  He was not terrible today.

He will lose his spot to ANB.

[Sydney_Demon 1,175]

1 hour ago, Deedubs said:

Yeah that's what I keep trying to tell myself. But having the game on the line with 5 mins to go against Gold Coast, Essendon and Hawthorn is not by design. 

Absolute BS. IMO we were never going to lose any of those games. The closest we got to losing was against Essendon when they had a kick in the last quarter to reduce the margin to a goal with about 10 minutes to go. No game involving Melbourne this season has been on the line in the last 5 minutes. Hawthorn scored a goal in the last minute to reduce the margin to 10 points. That's not a close game. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved it if we'd won every game by 10 goals but I'd take winning all games as we have  against having a percentage of 170% and a 5-2 record any day. You attack and you open yourself up to goals at the other end. Why take that risk when you're 4 goals ahead at 3-quarter time? 

[Jaded No More 68,855]

13 minutes ago, dl4e said:

We won and that is good. We usually don't make many changes so the 5 really threw us. Also those players are badly needed. Bedford was the only non permanent player who impressed.

Correct. 
Nobody who came into the side apart from Bedford made even half the impact the 5 Covid infected players make on a weekly basis. 
Weideman was not bad in the ruck but Jackson makes a far bigger impact in marking contests. Melksham is nowhere near ANB for pressure and you can’t compare what Sparrow and Petty bring to what we got out of Dunstan and Smith. 
So essentially we were missing 5 really key players (6 with Salem) and most teams would really struggle if that happened to them. 

[Longsufferingnomore 1,631]

19 minutes ago, Roy Boy said:

FMD what is going on with our forward line? Leading patterns are non existent, Brown and Weed both going up for marks hoping to clunk one. I sat down the Punt Road end, and watched numerous time Brown and Weed just standing there waiting for something to happen instead of making something happen, frustrates the crap out of me.  I honestly see better forward line movement at local footy. We could be so much better.

And what is with the kick ins after the opposition scores a behind? Our plan seems to be kick it to a pack and hope for the best, time and time again. Do the coaches just think we'll back our team against the opposition instead of coming up with a plan??

Kick ins are so predictable especially from May. He just seems to wait for Max to arrive, Just occasionally go down the middle or to Ed,. A number of times today Langdon was standing unmanned but still May and Rivers didn’t go to him.

[Hopeful Demon 1,517]

1 hour ago, Deedubs said:

True. I just think we should recognise that we aren't in form. We're playing like trash. We won't get close to Stkilda if we play like this.  People love talking about gears. When will we get into gear? If not round 7, round 10? round 18? round 23? finals? Who knows. 

Can you please calm down? We're not 'playing like trash' at all. I thought today's performance was actually very impressive given that five of our premership players were forced to isolate. The Melbourne of old never used to find ways to win in difficult circumstances like this.

By the way, you seem to be forgetting that we had many ugly wins during the 2021 H & A season but peaked at the right time. Why can't that happen again this year?

Just try to be grateful. We've won 14 in a row, for god's sake.

[bush demon 2,034]

46 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

As our successful continues, we will pick up supporters of the West Coast/Adelaide ilk who barely know that the ball is oval, let alone any nuances of the game. It's part and parcel of being a successful club. Look on it as a barometer of where we are at. The top.

I believe "just kick the bloody thing!!!" is the correct terminology?

Never seen so much red and blue at the Berwick roadhouse.

[Earl Hood 6,082]

28 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Gave up an early goal by punching the ball indiscriminately down back and had his usual number of half hearted attempts to defend or contest.

Had some better moments too and I like they way they used him. But not enough to really be convincing.

Yes can’t replace ANB defensively and didn’t do enough offensively. We missed Kosi and ANB’s forward pressure I thought. Hawks moved the ball out of their backline too easily. 

[Guest]

I don’t understand the negativity.

We now have the cattle that allows us to win without getting into top gear. 5 or so years ago, if we weren’t playing at 100% focus 100% of the time, there would be a very good chance we would lose. We are good enough to know when to save ourselves for. 

Hawthorn gave it their all. We played to about 70% of our capacity and not once did I think we’d lose the game. 

Without being arrogant or dismissive, I wonder if some define their life as Melbourne supporters as being synonymous with grievance. We are witnessing the best team of my lifetime (by a considerable margin) and we are getting people going potty over a result that will barely matter in the bigger scheme of things besides it being four more points we’ve banked.

[Sydney_Demon 1,175]

36 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Random thoughts on what the in/outs showed.

- Sparrow brings more than Dunstan, and probably more than Jordan (though a different kind of player). Most important mid behind the big 3 for mine, and we missed him tonight.

- Ditto ANB. Missed his run and all-over-the-ground presence.

- Interesting Bedford vs Kozzi. Kozzi has that bee-in-a-bottle business, but Belford is more of a traditional small forward. I just wonder if Kozzi would have been in position for that mark that Bedford took (Petracca kick I think). 

- Weideman looks better when he's up and around the ground, gets him more involved. He doesn't have Jackson's mobility, but is more useful than McDonald around the packs.

- Playing Ben Brown up the ground was a kind of smart move as it cleared out the forward line. Unfortunately he's a real liability in general play, slow and fumbly. 

- Lever still rusty.

- Also not sure what's going on with Rivers, not as self-assured and solid as last year. If it's possible, I don't know that I'd be playing Rivers and Hunt together.

- We still don't have a real lock down, one-on-one stopper, and that's been the case since Jetta left.

- Back line looks better with Petty in it. Not sure why, but they seem to work better together. 

I was slightly surprised they didn't bring Tomlinson in for Petty and Lever for Smith. I guess that with so many forced changes they thought an unforced change should be avoided. Not having that extra tall meant Lever wasn't freed up and he was coming back from covid. We do have a lock-down stopper, Hibberd, but I think Hunt is now in to play on the opposition's small forward with his closing speed. 

After mentioning Smith's possible non-selection, I did think he was missed in the last quarter when off injured. TMac moved back bit didn't seem to do much. I was also disappointed when TMac took that early mark of a ball that was clearly going through. Looked like the act of a man who was under pressure and desperate to enhance his stats, but maybe I'm being a little unfair 🙂. 

[Dr. Gonzo 24,129]

2 hours ago, Deedubs said:

True. I just think we should recognise that we aren't in form. We're playing like trash. We won't get close to Stkilda if we play like this.  People love talking about gears. When will we get into gear? If not round 7, round 10? round 18? round 23? finals? Who knows. 

You watch the Saints game yet mate?

[The heart beats true 18,095]

4 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Without being arrogant or dismissive, I wonder if some define their life as Melbourne supporters as being synonymous with grievance.

This is one of the more poignant things I’ve read on here. I often think the same thing, but was unable to articulate it. There’s definitely an historic lens to it.

[Gawndy the Great 9,011]

36 minutes ago, Beetle said:

No, not really. Our game finished 18 hours before them and they played in Tasmania.
They played the next day, had less of a break than us but you said we had a six day break like it was a disadvantage? I don’t understand.

I’m not trying to pick a fight, I’m just trying to understand what you mean?

No offence taken Beetle. It’s a fair question. Have you ever ran 15km at 10 pm? If not there is no point trying to explain. 

Edited April 30, 2022 by CYB

[Demondan75 188]

Can confirm that the Hawks supporters in the standing areas of the Southern Stand are still a bunch of arrogant knobs. Yet they were fairly quiet towards the end.