26 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

I saw a couple of our players slip over today.

Are our footwear maintenance technicians state of the art or do we still have a load of old cobblers?

#Sackthebootstudder

Yep that's it, anyone know the name of our bootstudder because I swear he's in the gun this week..

While we're at it and on that slipping over, can we review New Balance as a boot sponsor? They really are a run of the mill footy boot and I reckon we should consider something like Nike, Puma or Reebok from now on. You know, something with credibility? I know we won a flag doing this but still it's time to complain. 

Another game where our fwd strategy looked confused & is anyone actually working on kicking techniques?

Of the top 8 sides our fwd set up is probably the worst. 

Our plan continues to be bomb it long & preferably to the pockets. 

Every other team manages to kick low to space.

So who to blame ?

4 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Of the top 8 sides our fwd set up is probably the worst. 

Our plan continues to be bomb it long & preferably to the pockets. 

Every other team manages to kick low to space.

So who to blame ?

Our gameplan is to lock the ball in our forward 50, and mitigate against opposition scoring on the rebound. So I'd put it down to our whole coaching dept.

The frustrating thing about it is our 2 best forwards in Fritsch and Brown are natural lead/mark players, and not very good contested marks. And even if they were good contested marks, we'd have a resting ruckman competing against them.

And the other frustrating thing is we 2 permanent forwards in ANB and Spargo who aren't a scoring threat to the opposition. I question whether their supposed strengths outweigh their weaknesses as forwards.

16 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Of the top 8 sides our fwd set up is probably the worst. 

Our plan continues to be bomb it long & preferably to the pockets. 

Every other team manages to kick low to space.

So who to blame ?

One thing I'll agree with you on is kicking low to space. I wish we would try this out a bit more. Ping it around in the 50 and worst case scenario it goes out of bounds anyway. 

Have no idea about how good Stafford is as a coach.  But as others have said I think this is more about the game plan / strategy.

There's three phases of the game: when we have the ball, when they have the ball and when it's in dispute.

We're very good at 2/3.  But when the ball is in hand we are boring and safe.

Whoever is in charge of ball movement / strategy needs to do a lot of work over summer.

Can't blame them as it worked last year but the game has evolved.  We need to as well.

45 minutes ago, deelusions from afar said:

Have no idea about how good Stafford is as a coach.  But as others have said I think this is more about the game plan / strategy.

There's three phases of the game: when we have the ball, when they have the ball and when it's in dispute.

We're very good at 2/3.  But when the ball is in hand we are boring and safe.

Whoever is in charge of ball movement / strategy needs to do a lot of work over summer.

Can't blame them as it worked last year but the game has evolved.  We need to as well.

I reckon last year we played with nothing to lose attitude take them game on through the corridor, we hit the kick into the middle and attacked from there.  Bit like Collingwood, Fremantle and even Geelong are playing this year, looking to hit the aggressive kick to open the game up.

It is easier to take risks when people don't expect you to win the comp, be interesting to see if we have change in mindset this week with the losing team finished for the year

1 hour ago, mo64 said:

Our gameplan is to lock the ball in our forward 50, and mitigate against opposition scoring on the rebound. So I'd put it down to our whole coaching dept.

The frustrating thing about it is our 2 best forwards in Fritsch and Brown are natural lead/mark players, and not very good contested marks. And even if they were good contested marks, we'd have a resting ruckman competing against them.

And the other frustrating thing is we 2 permanent forwards in ANB and Spargo who aren't a scoring threat to the opposition. I question whether their supposed strengths outweigh their weaknesses as forwards.

Just want to say Charlie Spargo is very underrated by many. He leads the AFL, let alone MFC, in hitting targets inside 50. Without him we would look a lot worse going i50.

5 minutes ago, Crystal Dees said:

Just want to say Charlie Spargo is very underrated by many. He leads the AFL, let alone MFC, in hitting targets inside 50. Without him we would look a lot worse going i50.

Agreed but for whatever reason it doesn't end up in his hands all that often CD.

We need one or two other VG ball users to be doing this.  One of them used to be Melk on occasions when he played a more HHF role.  Nowadays it appears like he's staying inside 50 more than not.  Also when he does get it higher up ive noticed his passing isn't quite what it once was.  Which might explain why he's a fair chunk more time deeper?

22 minutes ago, Crystal Dees said:

Just want to say Charlie Spargo is very underrated by many. He leads the AFL, let alone MFC, in hitting targets inside 50. Without him we would look a lot worse going i50.

Now if only he got it 20 times a game. 
 

Our biggest problem is we have not evolved. We are doing the same as last year and expecting the same results, we haven’t got them yet we don’t change. 
It’s like they don’t review the forward entries… 

1 hour ago, deelusions from afar said:

Have no idea about how good Stafford is as a coach.  But as others have said I think this is more about the game plan / strategy.

There's three phases of the game: when we have the ball, when they have the ball and when it's in dispute.

We're very good at 2/3.  But when the ball is in hand we are boring and safe.

Whoever is in charge of ball movement / strategy needs to do a lot of work over summer.

Can't blame them as it worked last year but the game has evolved.  We need to as well.

Last year we were the number 1 ranked pressure side. This year we have hovered around 17th.

We are not getting the ball off our opponents in situations where we can move it forward quickly and into space.

I am 100% confident that this is the reason for our forward struggles.

It's also why I believe that the idea some hold that we should maybe drop players like ANB or Spargo, or we should bring in McDonald or JVR is just missing the point. Get the pressure right, and ANB and Spargo will look just fine.

Having said that, the fact that we couldn't have seen any clearer what applying pressure to our opponents brought us last year, and yet we have given it up in such a huge way so quickly, says we probably aren't getting it back in the next week or so. Looks to be a huge opportunity missed for us.

we don’t have a FT forwards coach, as Stafford is in charge of both Ruck and Forwards. he’s not doing too well at either.

Time for some fresh blood in both roles methinks. But blooming hell, we need a dedicated forwards coach.

Our forward entries are a real conundrum, most teams move the ball in a way to enhance their attack, we move the ball into the forward 50 in a way that helps us to defend.

4 minutes ago, loges said:

Our forward entries are a real conundrum, most teams move the ball in a way to enhance their attack, we move the ball into the forward 50 in a way that helps us to defend.

Yep, our offensive setup is based on “good offence starts with a good defence”. Frustrating

1 hour ago, Crystal Dees said:

Just want to say Charlie Spargo is very underrated by many. He leads the AFL, let alone MFC, in hitting targets inside 50. Without him we would look a lot worse going i50.

Can someone provide me a link of this stat. I'm lead to believe that it's a percentage of kicks inside 50 rather than volume. Spargo is a low possession player, so if he's only delivering the ball inside 50 4 times a game, hitting 2 targets is hardly impressive or a game changer.

I suggest Wayne Carey - you never know what he has up his sleeve - or in his pocket.

1 minute ago, chook fowler said:

I suggest Wayne Carey - you never know what he has up his sleeve - or in his pocket.

We already direct our kicks to the "white line". Not sure if Carey will straighten us up.

Wayne Carey, you say?

2 hours ago, drdrake said:

I reckon last year we played with nothing to lose attitude take them game on through the corridor, we hit the kick into the middle and attacked from there.  Bit like Collingwood, Fremantle and even Geelong are playing this year, looking to hit the aggressive kick to open the game up.

It is easier to take risks when people don't expect you to win the comp, be interesting to see if we have change in mindset this week with the losing team finished for the year

Maybe... but i actually don't think that was the case for our wins in the second half of the year.  If you look at how we were going halfway through the 3rd quarter in the GF, we looked just as impotent and vulnerable as we did on Friday - we were going slow up the line and Brown, TMac and Gawn were not able to mark.  Harmes gets through a stoppage to Fritsch and then we get two centre bounce goals in a row.  Brayshaw gets his out of nothing and Petracca from the boundary and then two more centre bounce goals.  The game was done.  But none of that came from attacking centre corridor play moving the ball from our defence.

As good as we were that day - this issue we were having in the GF has still plagued us this year - particularly against the good sides.

I heard an interview with a swans player (maybe Mills?) post game.  He said Melbourne are really dangerous in that once they get a goal they can pile on a few very quickly from the centre bounce.  During the week they talked about ways they could nullify these repeat goals.  So long as they slow us down in general play, we won't be a threat for the rest of the match.  Other than the start of the third, they executed perfectly.

 

 

2 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

Yep, our offensive setup is based on “good offence starts with a good defence”. Frustrating

Certainly is, espcially when we only scored once from defensive 50 transition, 

1 hour ago, layzie said:

Certainly is, espcially when we only scored once from defensive 50 transition, 

Didn’t help that nearly 80% of their score came from our turnovers.

3 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

Didn’t help that nearly 80% of their score came from our turnovers.

Turnovers in terrible positions as well.

7 hours ago, chook fowler said:

I suggest Wayne Carey - you never know what he has up his sleeve - or in his pocket.

And his anti-inflammatory’s might help CP5 and other injured players get through games. 
 

6 hours ago, deelusions from afar said:

Maybe... but i actually don't think that was the case for our wins in the second half of the year.  If you look at how we were going halfway through the 3rd quarter in the GF, we looked just as impotent and vulnerable as we did on Friday - we were going slow up the line and Brown, TMac and Gawn were not able to mark.  Harmes gets through a stoppage to Fritsch and then we get two centre bounce goals in a row.  Brayshaw gets his out of nothing and Petracca from the boundary and then two more centre bounce goals.  The game was done.  But none of that came from attacking centre corridor play moving the ball from our defence.

As good as we were that day - this issue we were having in the GF has still plagued us this year - particularly against the good sides.

I heard an interview with a swans player (maybe Mills?) post game.  He said Melbourne are really dangerous in that once they get a goal they can pile on a few very quickly from the centre bounce.  During the week they talked about ways they could nullify these repeat goals.  So long as they slow us down in general play, we won't be a threat for the rest of the match.  Other than the start of the third, they executed perfectly.

 

 

Apparently “if we focus on contest, pressure and defence our forward line scoring will take care of itself.”

Is this mindset the issue? Have the players become too focused on reducing the opposition score, to the point that it affects our dare, willingness to take the game on and just attack the goals?

Is it worth us trying a mindset shift. “Hey boys, this week as well as trying to keep the oppo under 68 (or whatever the magic number is) we are also going to try and score 110 points. Wolf of Wall Street comes out if we score 110”

When we attack we look good. Premiership type good. I think this fact is why we are all so frustrated.