Dogs were slick. 

We had our opportunities to win but didn't take them. Kosi twice. Trac. Umpires got in the way with missed frees and awarding them frees. We were sloppy with ball in hand. 

Would have been fun to watch as a neutral, but as others have said, defensively speaking there's no way we would have wanted that kind of a game. 

We're off. No doubt about it and we need to find form soon if we want to contend. Win two more and we're top four. 

Get it done. 

 

FFS what is it with Steven May & short kicks on the backline?  Just how dumb was that?

8 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Tommo was mainly on Bruce

Yes. Petty was mostly on JUH.

Some really poor individual performance tonight mostly from our leaders once again.

Why on earth was Gawn trying to grab it out of the ruck time and time again to then take the tackler. He coughed up the ball straight to a doggies player by doing this all night. Embarrassing performance. 

ANB - I love his defensive tackling and pressure but my god give the first option Nibbler! Another you wants to take the tackler on at every opportunity and cough it up by either not giving first option or fumbling crucial ground balls.

Sprago - what on earth is his role? He's simply been poor for a number of weeks and yet we're not getting any value at all off him.

Harmes - God awful

Jackson - God awful

Brayshaw - Turnover galores tonight.

May - Stop spraying blokes when you're half the problem.

Tomlinson - Was he on JHU in those couple of goals he kicked?.

Jordon - Slow, fumbly and even more slow to react. 

All in all a very disappointing performance all round. You could actually predict how the game was going to go at the start of that last quarter. You knew that if Doggies continued to bring heat and play that chip and then corridor, we would be exposed once again.

Our once elite defence from last year has turn to absolute [censored].

Edited July 23, 20223 yr by dazzledavey36

6 minutes ago, praha said:

Don't want to overreact because it's a very close league but pretty concerning how we are losing matches.

It's something like 40 goals to 17 in the second half in loses. That's very concerning. 

We are really good in close games. I actually can’t believe how well we do under pressure. But when you play your heart out, wrestle momentum, bust your nut, only for it to be all taken away due to soft frees - it’s deflating for a team. Umpires are rewarding staging and mentally weak players - ahead of 1%’plays and sacrificial acts. It’s hard for MFC because we don’t get the rub for a reason. The free kick count is lob sided against us all the time - because we don’t have players who play for frees, I mean, we have Spargo, and clearly this should be his last game for us till he changes this. It’s a weakness come finals at the G.

Edited July 23, 20223 yr by KingDingAling

4 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

On current form, we aren't winning the flag this year. We are a top 8 team for sure. But a premiership team? Not on your life.

 

Yes maybe but still a few weeks to go and injuries and other things will take their toll. We have some hard matches but so will other teams, even some of the easy teams are putting up a fight. A few injuries will hurt any side. Tonight was not a great result, may be they need another kick up the butt to get them moving. We had a few passengers, we had some mistakes and we had some bad calls from the umpires, same as every game. as long as we are playing finals we are with a chance, our attack out of the middle is the best in the competition. our defense is usually better, but missing lever and having a couple of others down did hurt. time to fix these before the finals.

As the cup holders we encounter the best of each team week in, week out and unfortunately I don't think we have the fitness to deal with it. We have about 2 1/2 quarters of our best footy before the skill errors creep in and we lose our burst and clean ball movement. I can see the purple haze running over the top of us next week too. I was holding out some hope of finishing top 2 but there is a distinct possibility of us sliding out of the top 4. Just devastated tonight, the boys had that game well under control.

 

 

Maxy always trying to play the Hero!!!  Caught so many times taking it out of the ruck.

 

Luke Jackson has done nothing all year,based on this year's performance,he's worth 600k.good luck Freo,Back to Mummy for Lukey!!!

 

Trac and Clarry soundly beaten in the second half,couldn't go with them.

 

Steven May's clanger cost us the game

 

 

4 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Jordon - Slow, fumbly and even more slow to react. 

Imagine potting a bloke playing on one leg

Edited July 23, 20223 yr by Seraph
On* one leg

For starters, we lost the game because we were overrun. The umps didn't help, but they weren't the reason we lost.

Too many on here can't see that we have too many players down, due to either fitness or form. Gawn, Petracca, May aren't playing anywhere near their best. Aside from the Brisbane game, we haven't played well for 10 weeks. 

Secondly, last year we prided ourselves on being the fittest team in the comp. We've now been overrun by Freo, Swans, Pies and Dogs after holding 20+ point leads during the game. We clearly aren't at the same levels as last year.

And can we finally debunk this training loads nonsense.

Get Brayshaw into mid rotation, we are too reliant on Trac & Clarry. 

2 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Tackles Inside 50

Melbourne 0

Western Bulldogs 9

Don’t blame umpires. This was not what Melbourne stood for in 2021. 

The only game in 2021 where there wasn't  bias  was the GF, and that was because the game we played overwhelmed anything else for 120 minutes, I'm afraid.

19 minutes ago, McQueen said:

The most pathetic umpiring display recorded  for fu*king ever. 

Back in the basket back in the basket!

Such a trivial thing but so representative of the way it slowly killed us.

The start of the Third qtr when they got the first 7 of 8 frees made it pretty bloody hard.

Did we play well in that second half? No not really but I reckon the umpiring may have cost us the game in the second half.

Our leaders were MIA tonight when the heat was turned up. Really disappointing from Gawn, May and Trac. 

2 minutes ago, wizardinoz said:

FFS what is it with Steven May & short kicks on the backline?  Just how dumb was that?

May rarely makes to many mistakes,  give him a break, the amount of ball time in their half he did ok.

5 minutes ago, OhMyDees said:

I’m not even sure we can win another game this season.

Once Gawn was paid HTB I had to switch it off. 

Umpiring putrid but we’re just not playing anywhere near how we were last year. 

I’m going to the game in Perth next week. I think we’ll know how our season will ultimately go based on that result. Win and we gain back some respect and get ‘8’ points on a rival. Lose and top 4 is basically gone. 

He was holding the ball.

Just now, dees-picable said:

I think fitness must be a major problem. Why should we be more  “tired” than any other team? Couldn’t match their spread and run all night. Made us look lazy. And the holding the ball disease! Beaten by a better drilled fitter and more desperate team. Umpiring was dreadful but not the reason we lost. Sorry not this year. 

Rubbish. Absolute and utter garbage. We are so far from lazy it makes my blood boil. Take a look at our draw. We keep coming up against sides with less rest and more favourable conditions.

I was at the ground tonight. The players tried their absolute guts out. It’s not about want, or skill. We are exhausted, with a full day less break plus interstate travel and missing 2 of our most important structural players. The Dogs played out of their skin - but Ugle-Hagen may never kick 5 goals again in his life. He had a day out where he could do no wrong. Fair play to him but it’s not a reliable game plan.

Our team is trying so incredibly hard and fronting up against a lot - and the footy gods are not smiling on us at all. You need a bit of luck, and instead we keep getting injuries and a lack of cohesion.

I can’t cope with people putting down our players any more. It’s pathetic. These boys won us a flag and are doing everything in their power to go again, and a lot is going against them. 

Frankly they’ve been incredible.

And next a 6 day break and the longest trip in footy for us

We get beaten badly in the Stoppage Clearances, especially when we lose. Until the coaches sort that out, we can forget about another premiership.

1 minute ago, gOLLy said:

He was holding the ball.

But Bont wasn't. Incredible 

Just now, demon3165 said:

May rarely makes to many mistakes,  give him a break, the amount of ball time in their half he did ok.

That goal he gifted them turned out to be the difference between us winning or losing the game.

4 minutes ago, Seraph said:

Imagine potting a bloke playing on one leg

We had a Sub available 

7 minutes ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Anyone have any news on Tmac? is he a chance in a months time?

Was on ABC Radio this afternoon talking footy and BBQ’s and meat preparation with Matt Preston! Said he hoped to have the screw removed from his foot in round 20 and though his foot would be stiffer he hoped to be involved in the finals. 

Just now, Larry, Moe or Curly said:

And next a 6 day break and the longest trip in footy for us

This really gets me. How have we been so solidly ripped off with the floating fixture!!?

Fritta tried to pass....

Should've had a shot!!! 🤣