POSTGAME: Rd 17 vs Geelong

[monoccular 17,426]

9 hours ago, DEE fence said:

Thanks for flying the flag, don't stress the money, your good karma account is full,  along with every other supporter who travelled. (Have only done it twice for 0-2)

Last time I did it it cost 2 shillings to stand on the earth mound.  Never again. 

8 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Langdon gave him an almighty spray afterwards. 

I think as supporters we were genuinely waiting for that exact moment you pointed out to happen.

I nearly threw my cat through the TV when he chose to dribble kick instead.

It's frustrating because in country footy I've seen blokes on my team or opposition benched nearly for a whole quarter from selfish acts such as this.

Wish that happened tonight.

dazzle - you watched it with a 🐱! Jinxed us 😱

[poita 3,902]

Really ordinary performance from start to finish, very disappointing. Final margin 28 points, but could have been 60+ if Geelong had kicked straight.

Full credit to Geelong, they have improved their team since last year by bringing in new players and redeploying others, and their game plan is much improved. Meanwhile we persist with the same, tired old plan that has been worked out by every club in the competition. Further, we continue to gift games to players who are either carrying injuries or underdone, or horribly out of form.

If I didn't know better I would have assumed that our game plan in the first half was to have chains of handpasses going sideways and backwards until Viney or Harmes tried to run through a wall of opponents and were caught holding the ball. After half time the only tactic seemed to be bombing the ball down the line  to a pack of players where we were horribly outnumbered. On the rare occasions that we moved the ball quickly through the middle we looked quite dangerous.

May - contained Hawkins reasonably well, but was fumbly, indecisive and erratic in possession. A poor game overall.

Salem - has given nothing defensively or otherwise since his return. I would drop to Casey to find form. Hunt or Rivers would give more.

Harmes / Viney / Neal Bullen - A for effort, but F for execution. Please take the first option and, if in doubt, clear the area instead of taking on the tackler.

Jackson / Gawn - Jackson shouldn't have played, gave absolutely nothing. Gawn only marginally better. Weideman would have contributed more.

Bedford - nowhere near AFL standard unless he has acres of space to operate in. Happy to delist at year end.

Spargo - playing far too wide and too far from goal (again). Rarely accountable defensively.

Sparrow - not sure what he is contributing at present, exceptionally poor. Any number of Casey players could replace.

Langdon - showed no respect to Holmes, and allowed himself to be hemmed in against the boundary the entire game.

Jordon - season worst game, and the sooner we replace him on the wing with Brayshaw, the better. 

I'll give a bare pass mark to Oliver, Petracca, Petty, Lever and Hibberd, but overall a very poor team and coaching performance.

 

 

[The heart beats true 18,123]

On reflection I’m disappointed by 2 very simple things:

We got beaten comprehensively at clearance all night. 

We played into their hands with our ball use when we won it back in defence. Long down the line to no one. Gawn and Jackson underdone was a problem, but honestly we are so boring with our ball use from the back half for most of the last 2 months. 

It’s a very hard ground to counter attack from defence because of its horrific shape, and Geelong’s knowledge of the ground. So if you lose clearances it’s next to impossible to win. That’s the biggest problem. I also think because our forward line is struggling we pushed Petracca forward but it costs us a line breaker around the ground. To be fair it’s a tough ground to break lines on. It’s just so claustrophobic.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

In 2020 with our season waining, Goody used the term "ruthless....we have to be more ruthless".

For this season he might want to add "Selfless, we need to be more selfless".

Well now's his chance to follow the ruthless and selfless sides through.

Fritsch should be out for a stint at Casey to work on his selfless acts.  Bottom line you can't have selflish players if you want to make a GF and win the big one.

Selfless footy is catchy...and so is selfish footy.

Coach needs to be ruthless here for everyone's sake.  Huge opportunity to make that statement this week.  Don't stuff it up son.  Hard call but has to happen.

Edited July 7, 2022 by Demon Dynasty

[layzie 33,794]

8 hours ago, binman said:

Not me.

I was right behind him. Tbe fact he didn't look inboard makes it worse.

I was, and remain  ropeable with him.

And bloody hell, why a dribble kick?

Cardinal sin of AFL footy. You get one let off, maybe two at most. You can't be doing that there is no excuse whatsoever. 

As I said before, he's just not seeing anyone in that 50 right now other than goalposts, whether it's deliberate or not..

[Lucifers Hero 39,747]

They pressured us into 'old Melbourne' bad habits:

• Not lowering the eyes anywhere on the ground.
• Little composure
• Picked out opp players,
• Didn't do the 'good teammate' things.
• Poor on field leadership
• Harmes resurrected his fend-off and HTB
• Viney resurrected his take on the tackler and HTB
• Overhandballed.
• Didn't take the first option.

We succumbed the same way to Sydney.  When they brought the pressure we reverted to the above. 

Both games at the G.

I guess that is our archilles heal: unrelenting opp pressure.  We have work to do and banish the 'old Melbourne' bad habits permanently or at least be able to stop them in game when they creep in.

[drdrake 3,163]

We have lost our dare and just want to play safe down the line footy. It is boring and frustrating to watch.

 

[TheWiz 766]

2 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

On reflection I’m disappointed by 2 very simple things:

We got beaten comprehensively at clearance all night. 

We played into their hands with our ball use when we won it back in defence. Long down the line to no one. Gawn and Jackson underdone was a problem, but honestly we are so boring with our ball use from the back half for most of the last 2 months. 

It’s a very hard ground to counter attack from defence because of its horrific shape, and Geelong’s knowledge of the ground. So if you lose clearances it’s next to impossible to win. That’s the biggest problem. I also think because our forward line is struggling we pushed Petracca forward but it costs us a line breaker around the ground. To be fair it’s a tough ground to break lines on. It’s just so claustrophobic.

10/10 really well said.

[Lord Travis 10,729]

This gave me a chuckle 

 

[layzie 33,794]

7 minutes ago, drdrake said:

We have lost our dare and just want to play safe down the line footy. It is boring and frustrating to watch.

 

That was disappointing when we decided to ignore switches that were on, it was like we didn't want to show them anything that could possibly be changed up.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

15 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

We played into their hands with our ball use when we won it back in defence. Long down the line to no one. Gawn and Jackson underdone was a problem, but honestly we are so boring with our ball use from the back half for most of the last 2 months. 

It’s a very hard ground to counter attack from defence because of its horrific shape, and Geelong’s knowledge of the ground. So if you lose clearances it’s next to impossible to win. That’s the biggest problem. I also think because our forward line is struggling we pushed Petracca forward but it costs us a line breaker around the ground. To be fair it’s a tough ground to break lines on. It’s just so claustrophobic.

???

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

I know he was under done but then why play him?  Gawn running past the contest looking for the easy receive when Hawkins broke a tackle from the pack and kicked a goal around the corner was a  seriously bad look.

Should have been hitting in to that contest and/or at least covering the goal side space that Hawkins ran into to goal 🤮

[titan_uranus 25,014]

21 minutes ago, poita said:

Really ordinary performance from start to finish, very disappointing. Final margin 28 points, but could have been 60+ if Geelong had kicked straight.

Full credit to Geelong, they have improved their team since last year by bringing in new players and redeploying others, and their game plan is much improved. Meanwhile we persist with the same, tired old plan that has been worked out by every club in the competition. Further, we continue to gift games to players who are either carrying injuries or underdone, or horribly out of form.

If I didn't know better I would have assumed that our game plan in the first half was to have chains of handpasses going sideways and backwards until Viney or Harmes tried to run through a wall of opponents and were caught holding the ball. After half time the only tactic seemed to be bombing the ball down the line  to a pack of players where we were horribly outnumbered. On the rare occasions that we moved the ball quickly through the middle we looked quite dangerous.

May - contained Hawkins reasonably well, but was fumbly, indecisive and erratic in possession. A poor game overall.

Salem - has given nothing defensively or otherwise since his return. I would drop to Casey to find form. Hunt or Rivers would give more.

Harmes / Viney / Neal Bullen - A for effort, but F for execution. Please take the first option and, if in doubt, clear the area instead of taking on the tackler.

Jackson / Gawn - Jackson shouldn't have played, gave absolutely nothing. Gawn only marginally better. Weideman would have contributed more.

Bedford - nowhere near AFL standard unless he has acres of space to operate in. Happy to delist at year end.

Spargo - playing far too wide and too far from goal (again). Rarely accountable defensively.

Sparrow - not sure what he is contributing at present, exceptionally poor. Any number of Casey players could replace.

Langdon - showed no respect to Holmes, and allowed himself to be hemmed in against the boundary the entire game.

Jordon - season worst game, and the sooner we replace him on the wing with Brayshaw, the better. 

I'll give a bare pass mark to Oliver, Petracca, Petty, Lever and Hibberd, but overall a very poor team and coaching performance.

The "same, tired old plan" that had us enter the round top of the ladder, a game clear of everyone else, with the competition's best percentage, and 16 games removed from a flag?

We were bad last night but your hyperbolic negativity will never cease to amaze me. 

[drdrake 3,163]

4 minutes ago, layzie said:

That was disappointing when we decided to ignore switches that were on, it was like we didn't want to show them anything that could possibly be changed up.

Issue we faced last night, the club set up  is for 3 tall forwards plus Fritsch and the 3 smalls that work high and then back.  We are running with one less tall and the smalls are having little impact.  B Brown is playing to high up the ground to compete in the air, max and Jackson both terrible.

B Brown is a lead up forward we are killing this bloke asking him to get so high up the ground to create a contest at long bombs out of d50.

When teams like last night dominate us at clearance we struggle to get field position and have to work to hard up and back.

I hope we are training at Casey fine tuning or game plan for finals, we keep playing the way we are it is going to be a short finals campaign 

[BenF 56]

9 hours ago, layzie said:

Appreciate the NAIDOC week tribute Nev but it's a messy jumper which introduced unnecessary colours into the mix. If clashes and clash strips pop up onto the media agenda again I don't want to hear about it. 

I think it's great tribute to the indigenous week.  Why else would you not like it?

[John Demonic 5,790]

Meh. No doubt we have some areas to address, but I'm not fussed about Skinny stadium in July. I'm more annoyed that Nadal pulled out of the Wimbledon semi vs Kyrgios tbh. Had a big Friday night/saturday morning of all footy and tennis planned. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by John Demonic

[JTR 2,846]

1 hour ago, Dockett 32 said:

The good old Geelong at Geelong thing ( the first game they put in the draw each year) even better this year on a Thursday night. So easy for supporters to get there.

No seats anyway l suppose.

I’d like the stats for all the other Victorian clubs visits over past 20 years.

 

In the 2000's...
 

Melbourne	18
North Melbourne	17
Western Bulldogs	13
St Kilda	10
Richmond	8
Carlton	3
Hawthorn	3
Essendon	2
Collingwood	0

 

Filth havent played there since 1999

 

[titan_uranus 25,014]

5 minutes ago, JTR said:

In the 2000's...
 

Melbourne	18
North Melbourne	17
Western Bulldogs	13
St Kilda	10
Richmond	8
Carlton	3
Hawthorn	3
Essendon	2
Collingwood	0

 

Filth havent played there since 1999

It's a disgrace.

The fixture is uneven enough as it is. Refusing to send Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn and Richmond to play at Geelong's true home ground is unfair on the rest of us, and clearly we and North have had to bear the brunt of that unfairness more than the others.

It's time for the AFL to accept that supporters of all clubs, not just the big ones, miss out on attending games at GMHBA Stadium, and starts sending the five other Melbourne clubs down there on a routine basis (e.g. once every 2-3 years or something).

[Vipercrunch 2,827]

Here's some 2021 post bye facts for those that seem to be looking at 2021 with September colourled glasses on.

Round 15 - Held off Essendon by 11 points, 57-68.                                                              https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/3108#match-report

Round 16 - Beaten by GWS by 9, 55-64.                                                                                https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/3100#match-report

Round 17 - Our best game and win for this period, a 31 point win over Port Adelaide at their home ground, 55-86.      https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/3125#match-report

Round 18 - After leading by 27 points midway through the second term, we finish with a draw with Hawthorn, 79-79.      https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/3123#match-report

Round 19 - The Bulldogs get revenge for round 11 to beat us 65-85.                          https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/3159#match-report

Our avergae score for this period was 70.6 (2021 season avergae was 85.8)

Our avergae score against this period was 68 (2021 season avergae was 65.6)

Interestingly, despite that 5 week record (6 if you include the 2021 QB loss to Collingwood 63-80), in the press conference after the Round 19 loss to WBD, when asked about our scoring, Simon Goodwin said "I'm not worried one bit", "We sit here confident", and in regards more generally to how the team was going, he said "I think we're pretty close. As a footy club we're not far away." and "We're certainly not going to jump at shadows."  

https://www.afl.com.au/news/652025/-not-worried-one-bit-goodwin-upbeat-on-dees-scoring-woes

https://www.afl.com.au/video/653832/full-post-match-demons?videoId=653832&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1627133400001

[The heart beats true 18,123]

10 minutes ago, JTR said:

In the 2000's...
 

Melbourne	18
North Melbourne	17
Western Bulldogs	13
St Kilda	10
Richmond	8
Carlton	3
Hawthorn	3
Essendon	2
Collingwood	0

 

Filth havent played there since 1999

 

May as well call it what it is…

Financially Disadvantaged Stadium. 

[layzie 33,794]

1 minute ago, BenF said:

I think it's great tribute to the indigenous week.  Why else would you not like it?

I’m going to say this one more time because the inference that I don’t understand the significance or reason WHY we’re wearing the jumper in the first place is getting a bit frustrating.

In simple terms: 
-    I love what the jumper stands for and why we wore it, 10 out of 10, 100%, nail on the head, locked on. 
-    However, and this is the key bit of info: I do not like the jumper aesthetically from a personal point of view , that is it. I know it can be hard to separate the two things but if you could try your best that would be much appreciated. I have loved and have owned several indigenous guernseys in the past, they are some of my most cherished items. 

The Melbourne Football Club, since 1884 has worn these colours 🔴🔵.

Geelong wears these colours 🔵⚪.

In a game as fast paced as it is these days and the old chestnut of clash strips on slow news days, would you say that there is less chance of clash or more chance of clash if our team decided to wear the following colours?   🔴🔵⚪. Just a simple yes or no.

That's my peace, end of story. 

[Willmoy1947 4,085]

Final comment on Weideman for week 

PLAY HIM FOR REST OF SEASON OR WILL WILL LOSE HIM.

[bush demon 2,039]

51 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

They pressured us into 'old Melbourne' bad habits:

• Not lowering the eyes anywhere on the ground.
• Little composure
• Picked out opp players,
• Didn't do the 'good teammate' things.
• Poor on field leadership
• Harmes resurrected his fend-off and HTB
• Viney resurrected his take on the tackler and HTB
• Overhandballed.
• Didn't take the first option.

We succumbed the same way to Sydney.  When they brought the pressure we reverted to the above. 

Both games at the G.

I guess that is our archilles heal: unrelenting opp pressure.  We have work to do and banish the 'old Melbourne' bad habits permanently or at least be able to stop them in game when they creep in.

Good post. Harmes had friends, plenty of others trying the Hollywood fend-off. And what's with our penchant for ignoring presenting players and bombing into packs? There's a player called Dee Hubris (forgot his  number) who needs a spell at Casey.

[dees189227 12,390]

Ugh was last night a nightmare.

Yze needs to have a strong meeting with our midfield. They were smashed last night

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

Max rucking works against us against the better midfields of the comp. 

Obviously he's a champion around the ground but we're always beaten at clearance against good sides when Max is in there. 

His tapping is super inconsistent due to being too offensively minded. I noticed that without genuine ruckmen last week our mids were far more balanced in the way the positioned and then attacked that first ruck contest. 

Got to be less offensively minded when coming up against the stronger midfields of the comp. 

Aside from that, the loss doesn't really bother me. They'd built this game up for the past year, was a mini grand final for them so they can have it. A final at the G will be a different story. 

The only other worry is the forward line entries and our consistent missed opportunity to put scoreboard pressure on when we've got momentum. That's the thing that could possibly cost us a top 4 spot or a loss in a big final.

We can't just expect that we'll turn it on come September. 

Fritsch and Brown have been underwhelming and I'd be rewarding Chandler ahead of Bedford after last night. We need to find a working and cohesive forward line before September. 

Kosi down but can't be dropped unless he has another couple of weeks of poor form. 

Over the off season, we need to target a serious contested marking goal kick forward to straighten us up. Ben Brown and Fritsch require space and perfect kicking most of the time which they can't rely on because of the types of ball users we have through the midfield. Mostly blazers. 

But of work to do and next week we simply must win if we want to stay top four. I can see dogs, pies and Carlton all beating us. No game will be easy from here, gotta sort this out pronto.