POSTGAME: Rd 10 vs North Melbourne

[whatwhat say what 18,883]

the amount of hanrahan's on this thread... good grief

[Demonstone 19,084]

18 minutes ago, old dee said:

10 on the Trott

I think he wore number seven, old dee.  

[sue 8,417]

If anyone isn't happy with 10-0 and the % then they have redefined MFCSS.

But if people are not concerned about our performances and deficiencies, then they are smoking something that I expect Goodwin isn't.  Note I said 'concerned' not in despair.

Let's see how Freo goes against the Pies today.

Edited May 22, 2022 by sue

[Demonstone 19,084]

I am neither concerned nor do I smoke, sue.  Don't worry, be happy.

[Lucifers Hero 36,991]

7 minutes ago, sue said:

If anyone isn't happy with 10-0 and the % then they have redefined MFCSS.

But if people are not concerned about our performances and deficiencies, then they are smoking something that I expect Goodwin isn't.  Note I said 'concerned' not in despair.

Let's see how Freo goes against the Pies today.

May I ask what is there to be concerned about?  Genuine question.

[buck_nekkid 5,465]

My take:

we smashed them in shots on goal and inside 50’s.  Our poor inside 50 marking (we dropped way too many markable passes) and our goal kicking accuracy cost us a bigger win, but didn't cost us anything else.  They had 13 shots, we had 14 goals, plus 16 points.

our system stacks up, and our ability to keep at it until the game turns to the demon way is impressive.  Role playing for 4 quarters is a tough thing to do.

Gus had a bad start, Brownie tried too hard and let himself down in his 150th.  Lingers was missed.   We seemed to play Gawn forward a lot tonight, too.  Dunstan shaky early but got cleaner later.

Oliver was simply brilliant.  Lots of touches, but unlike a [censored] like Mitchell, they were at the coalface and were high value.

Strangely muted feeling for such a dominant display and a big win.  I think we let ourselves down on what could have been a parade.

i love being NARRM and all that this says about our club.  Go Narrm, go Dees.

[sisso 2,383]

1 hour ago, FlashInThePan said:

You play the team in front of you on its merits with what you have. Too many people on this forum seem to think there is a fantasy land where perfect teams play perfect football against oppositions who roll over.

 In the real world, great football looks like this. Not everything goes to script but you are good enough to overcome whatever is thrown at you. This is absolutely the best team in the league right now. Sure, some weeks our kicking is a little off, other weeks our clearances work is not dominant. Regardless, we find a way to overcome our opposition.

 These teams lower on the ladder are free to try some really interesting things to penetrate our defensive zone. We will be learning a lot by having to deal with it. It’s not shameful to encounter something new and struggle to counter it, that’s us learning and adapting. I actually think we could have been in trouble if north could have executed the basics a bit better, there strategy for moving the ball was pretty good.

Sooner or later we are going to drop one because no team can be this dominant all the time. I for one am enjoying this immensely. I don’t need to pick at the little imperfections each week, I’m just enjoying watching us find different ways to win.

100% agree and was going to comment similar - people think we are just going to turn up play Harlem Globetrotters football and win by 15 goals every week. North scrapped extremely hard yesterday and that coupled with playing on that shifting Marvel surface made the game a real slog. We also lost our best runner and key to our ball movement in the first 10 minutes of the match, yet adapted to all that to still win easily. Not sure what everyone expects, saying we will get a wake up call against Carlton etc cmon?? St Kilda were meant to be a big wake call and that game was effectively over at quarter time.

[von 1,217]

There were periods when we had long runs of forward half possession where they had 13, 14, 15 players in our forward 50. They played us very close and very hard. I liked their endeavour. They gave  away a lot more free kicks than we’re paid but they can’t pay them all. We were being tackled before we took possession in the contest more often than not.  We are never going to look fluent going forward when there is that little room in our forward line, when our talks are competing with multiple players in the air etc. Goodwin was pleased with the amount of time we controlled the game and played a forward half game which we’ve been trying to get going all season. It’s one of the stats that are down from last year. So that’s a positive amongst the scrap that the game was.

against better teams and teams that try and win with their game the field opens up they get caught on the rebound and our forward line has room for our forwards to operate.  Our system is designed to win hard games of football with something on the line. Where a team needs to kick a winning score. North and west coast were not trying to do that. So it looked a bit [censored].
 

 

[buck_nekkid 5,465]

9 minutes ago, sisso said:

100% agree and was going to comment similar - people think we are just going to turn up play Harlem Globetrotters football and win by 15 goals every week. North scrapped extremely hard yesterday and that coupled with playing on that shifting Marvel surface made the game a real slog. We also lost our best runner and key to our ball movement in the first 10 minutes of the match, yet adapted to all that to still win easily. Not sure what everyone expects, saying we will get a wake up call against Carlton etc cmon?? St Kilda were meant to be a big wake call and that game was effectively over at quarter time.

Good point re the adaption to what we meet.

It looked like North stacked the backline to make it a slog, and attempted to use the corridor without the skill to pull it off.  We kept turning them back and hitting their flood.  I guess it means there are those who try and win against us and open themselves up (like the saints) and those who try to minimise the damage and turn the game into a slog (like yesterday).  We seem to keep doing our thing either way, trusting and resetting where we need to.  

All teams in the AFL have good players and are capable of scoring. We kept them to about 2 points from 10 minutes to go in the third quarter.  That is a hell of an effort.

[sue 8,417]

20 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

May I ask what is there to be concerned about?  Genuine question.

Several posters have already answered that so I see no point in making a list, some of which I might not agree with and some I might.  Whether they are right or suffering old-fashioned MFCSS only time will tell.    But I am 'concerned' they might not be entirely wrong.   As Goowin says, there is always room for improvement and development.

[DeeSince73 431]

1 hour ago, FlashInThePan said:

 

 

 These teams lower on the ladder are free to try some really interesting things to penetrate our defensive zone. We will be learning a lot by having to deal with it. It’s not shameful to encounter something new and struggle to counter it, that’s us learning and adapting. I actually think we could have been in trouble if north could have executed the basics a bit better, there strategy for moving the ball was pretty good.

 

This reminds me of the BORG in Star Trek. We absorb everything other teams throw at us in order to become supreme beings. It seems to be working 😉

Edited May 22, 2022 by DeeSince73

[Lucifers Hero 36,991]

7 minutes ago, sue said:

Several posters have already answered that so I see no point in making a list, some of which I might not agree with and some I might.  Whether they are right or suffering old-fashioned MFCSS only time will tell.    But I am 'concerned' they might not be entirely wrong.   As Goowin says, there is always room for improvement and development.

Fair enough.

Tbh, I haven't read much that concerns me but agree there is always room for improvement. 

Nonetheless, as Goodwin says:  we embrace imperfection; we don't try to play a perfect game. 

As to what other posters 'concerns' are, I'm in the people 'suffering old-fashioned MFCSS' camp.

[Wodjathefirst 2,273]

This world seems to be full of opposites.  You are either a introvert or extrovert, optimistic or pessimistic etc.  

Some supporters are optimists - love having won a flag and now 17 on the trot, looking forward to trying to break a few records and so on.

The mfcss appear to be pessimistic by nature, not happy with scrappy wins, various players and performances. Such is life, people are different.

I’ve been told, never give advice unless it’s asked for, but bugger it.  For the ‘never quite happy people’ out there, I’ll borrow a quote from Industry Super Funds logo- ‘it’s never too late to change’.  
Not suggesting to come across to the dark side (and be happy), but rather be realistic about what we have done and are doing.  Savour or at the very least tolerate the so called ugly wins and then cherish the big ones.  
What we are experiencing now is possibly once in a lifetime moment.  Who knows how long it will last.  Plenty of time later to become once again miserable…. maybe.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Wodjathefirst

[Bombay Airconditioning 5,875]

Over the years when we were struggling as a team, Queens Birthday was our GF. 
 

On top of being reigning premiers we are on an unbeaten run, for bottom teams we are their biggest game of the year bar derbys / traditional rivals  and for top 8 teams we are the benchmark. 

[DeeZone 7,701]

The last two games the opposition have thrown everything that they could muster at us, we kept resetting slowly grinding them down and then kicking away to win comfortably.  Very difficult to take advantage of forward 50 entries when they have the bulk of their team in our forward line. Not to mention the questionable tactics like blocking, holding and punching arms that they got away with on most occasions where we had to resort to team brilliance and silky skills to penetrate the mall. At least when you play good teams you have the opportunity to display your skills and team work to full advantage. The good thing is that we have shown that we have the toughness and grit to tough it out until the worm turns our way. Go Dees.!!!!!!

[mo64 5,209]

Some seem to forget that we are playing against an opposition. Most teams are coming at us with a mindset of disrupting our game plan. As yet, no team has cracked us. 

Aside from Oliver, and to a lesser extent Lever and May, it was hard finding good players for us yesterday. Even Trac was sloppy and wasteful. But one thing you can't question about this team is effort. That's what grinds the opposition into the ground, rather than our pure talent or brilliance. Gut running isn't measured on the stats sheet, but it's an underrated quality of our players.

Goodwin would be rapt with the way we're tracking, because he knows there's room for improvement. We haven't reached the halfway point of the season, and we are still building towards our best. 

Freo will be a test, but I see the game being a slogfest. Would love to be playing Carlton or Brisbane next week, just to see if we lift up a gear against the 2 other form teams.

[godees 647]

14 hours ago, Pates said:

Personally I felt it was fair and just hard, if the shoe was on the other foot I reckon most would say it was good attack. 

Pickett loves doing tackles like that as well, just a bit of bad luck for Linger. 

He was *that* close to landing on his neck/head. Free kick was there. Won’t/shouldn’t be suspended

[Pates 9,536]

4 minutes ago, godees said:

He was *that* close to landing on his neck/head. Free kick was there. Won’t/shouldn’t be suspended

Agreed, I’m comfortable with it being a free kick. I do genuine believe if roles were reversed (and Pickett has done a couple of spear tackles in the past) that most on here would be saying play on. 

[rpfc 27,431]

2 hours ago, Smokey said:

I feel like MFCSS has gone through a mutation this year, whereas in times gone by we expected them to play terribly all the time. These days many here have an unreasonable expectation that we are at the top of our game week in week out with no players allowed to have a bad game.

Breathe. 

Melbourne supporters have no idea how to support a good team. Almost like it’s a video game or a game played by androids. And if that sounds condescending…

It is.

[sue 8,417]

6 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Melbourne supporters have no idea how to support a good team. Almost like it’s a video game or a game played by androids. And if that sounds condescending…

It is.

Not suprising some need to learn how to support a good team after all this time.  Those of us old enough to have supported a good team in the 50's and 60's will need less instruction.

[WalkingCivilWar 31,345]

11 hours ago, Deesprate said:

Just watching replay. The constant barrage against Melksham and Dunstan hard to fathom. They are depth players not world beaters. Both solid contributors some people need to take blinkers off. Dees are getting fair share of injuries post COVID but still undefeated. Building pole position for another crack at flag. That a fact despite some rampant negativity on this site.

Thank you 🙏👍🏽💕

[durango 1,976]

I looked at the NM game's final statistics and they prove my theory that the only stat that counts is the scoreboard NM seemed to win in lots of criteria but in the end it is meaningless against a team that uses the ball better.

The great Hawthorn teams were the same as the MFC their ball use was better and they won games where the opposition won the statistic count but lost the only one that counts the scoreboard.

Edited May 22, 2022 by durango

[Deedubs 157]

With the form that we're in, we're losing to Freo (play them twice), Carlton, Sydney, Brisbane twice. Geelong (GMHBA) and maybe the dogs. That's 7-8 losses if we continue to play this poorly. 

 

[WalkingCivilWar 31,345]

1 minute ago, sue said:

Not suprising some need to learn how to support a good team after all this time.  Those of us old enough to have supported a good team in the 50's and 60's will need less instruction.

I had the pleasure of sitting next to a passionate (and loud, even for the cheer squad) 10yo boy for the last quarter. This kid hasn’t experienced the abject pain and despair that we all have. His enthusiasm and blind adoration was infectious. My point is, regardless of age, just revel in the moment, peeps. Stop dwelling in the past and/or worrying about the future ffs. 
Incidentally, we were talking about certain moments in the GF. I told him when Bont got them to 19 pts up I went outside and smoked a cigarette and cried. He says, “me too! I went to my bedroom and played Fortnite and cried.” Bless. 

[D4Life 2,299]

In soccer you see the poor teams stack all their players back, to make it really difficult for the better teams to score. Then they try and break away for a lucky goal and win.

Fortunately in the AFL this type of approach typically can only minimise the damage. This is what the Demons are running into against the weaker teams.

Winning 17 in a row is terrific and we will drop a few games between now and the end of the season. But we know from last year our method and team play sensational finals football.

As Goodwin stated last year finals football is a new season and we have proven we can do it! To the sky is falling brigade, let’s see what the Lions, Blues, Freo, Saints can bring come finals time. Tigers can play finals football but they aren’t the team they were!!

Go Demons!!