Aaaah classy bunch of supporters are the pies. Officially overtaken Essendon as my number one. I’ve never been more on edge at a game with constant baiting and antagonism right through to the train ride home. Called a few out and they immediately went to water. A real bunch  of pack mentality heroes. I’m completely livid at this point in time. We SHOULD have won that game, but didn’t.

I come away from the game however confident that we will win the flag PROVIDED we continue to fix the forward line. I pray Tom Mac comes back in at some point in time  he is crucial. 

The Pies won this game on slingshot football and you don’t win finals playing that style plain and simple. Their ability to drop back and run forward got us in the end, but Im going to put my balls in the line and say I cannot foresee anyone going with us at the G come finals time.

Maybe I’m delusional…

 

  On 05/08/2022 at 12:55, dees189227 said:

It was up on the whiteboard before the game apparently

They clearly orchestrated the gang tackle on him in the opening seconds too. Sidebottom went 20m clear of him on the wing at the opening bounce leaving him in space knowing the ball would come out and they pounced.

  On 05/08/2022 at 12:56, Only Rigoni said:

We just wouldn't make backlines nervous at the moment. Weid hasn't proven to be the answer, BB can barely move, Tom McDonald is looking more & more like the saviour and he was hardly shooting the lights out before getting injured. We're just not potent enough.

Bring in Van Rooyen - no point playing safe and losing, we have no legitimate tall options up forward

  On 05/08/2022 at 13:52, The heart beats true said:

Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be the fitness guy. 7 games lost where we’ve been completely over run and looked limp after half time.

He’s got it very, very wrong.

The fact that you appear to not know his name says it all. Selwyn Griffith was head of Strength & Conditioning under Darren Burgess and arguably was as important for our fitness and lack of soft tissue injuries in 2021 as Burgess was. But now of course he's our High Performance Manager he has no idea what he's doing.

  On 05/08/2022 at 13:59, The heart beats true said:

You’re ok mate. I just wanted to get in a bit of Sydney bashing to make myself feel better on what’s otherwise been a [censored] night. 👍

I'm prepared to accept the Sydney-bashing from Melburnians (it used to be common but thankfully most people don't seem to care anymore). When I first moved to Sydney I received a bit of Melbourne-bashing as well. It's always slightly [censored] me off both ways. Clearly in both cases meaningless. I've always argued they're both are pretty good places to live and it's not a competition. No doubt there are plenty of other nice places to live that are better than both Sydney & Melbourne (and of course more places that are worse than both).

Goody said it perfectly in the presser …every supporter..coach & player should be filthy with that loss . I’m always super positive but to see our team so dominant & not capitalise on the scoreboard was galling. Of course they’re always going to get the “rub of the green” but really with our dominance..shouldn’t have mattered. As the reporter in the presser said…if you looked at the stat sheet ..should have been a 4 to 5 goal win to us. If we showed half the intent they did it would have been a 10 goal win. So angry. It will also be a very long time till I go to another game against the Pies. It is so unpleasant from the very start. If we don’t pick up our attitude…it doesn’t look promising! 

The amount of times they scored setting up through Sidebottom who seemed without a man all night on his wing was ridiculous 

Petty was woeful tonight 🤦‍♂️

No excuses tonight. Not acceptable. The better team, and somehow managed to drop it. 

Could/should have kicked a goal to go ~30 points up at half time. Instead allowed them a cheap one, and a manageable 17 point half time lead. 

Something missing I fear. Premiership teams don’t drop that kind of game. 
 

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:17, DeeZee said:

The amount of times they scored setting up through Sidebottom who seemed without a man all night on his wing was ridiculous 

A 10 year old sitting next to me, worked out the damage Sidebottom was doing. Why do we have no ability to react / re-jig things during a game? 

Edited August 5, 20222 yr by 1964_2

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:08, Demon Jack said:

ANB, Kozzie and Spargo

0 tackles inside 50.

😕

It’s shocking isnt it. It’s not effort. 
It’s our f50 entry and the lack of forward structure. As much as we all laid into TMac he’s absence is leaving a big gaping hole that is not easily filled. Remember Gawn/LJ were the 3rd tall in this lineup. Not the 2nd. 
 

TMac won’t impact this season and Weid is done. Not sure JVR is ip to it just yet. We another tall KPF desperately.

 

And F Me. Who TF is Johnson? Was a performance like JUH 2 weeks back.

Edited August 5, 20222 yr by CYB

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:18, 1964_2 said:

No excuses tonight. Not acceptable. The better team, and somehow managed to drop it. 

Could/should have kicked a goal to go ~30 points up at half time. Instead allowed them a cheap one, and a manageable 17 point half time lead. 

Something missing I fear. Premiership teams don’t drop that kind of game. 
 

What's missing is hunger. We drop away in second halves because we mentally let it happen. It's not fitness. 

Our response as supporters to these losses is - we have last year. Players are no different. They are satisfied with one. 

  On 05/08/2022 at 13:00, dees189227 said:

Is anyone going to call out gawn and his attracious kicking? I know we all love max but he is our captain and he is letting us down in front of goal.

I know what he did last year but he is costing us in front of goal and at the wrong times. 

It's getting frustrating

Missing the set shot I can handle - it's a skill error albeit one he should NOT be making

Trying to kick goals out of your [censored] like you're a bloody small crumbing forward is bush league stuff. Far more selfish than anything Fritsch was accused of. I'm bloody ropeable about those because he should know better and it's not the first time it's happened.

Edited August 5, 20222 yr by Dr. Gonzo

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:21, fr_ap said:

What's missing is hunger. We drop away in second halves because we mentally let it happen. It's not fitness. 

Our response as supporters to these losses is - we have last year. Players are no different. They are satisfied with one. 

For the first time this year, I agree with this view.

really really poor. 

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:16, Sydney_Demon said:

The fact that you appear to not know his name says it all. Selwyn Griffith was head of Strength & Conditioning under Darren Burgess and arguably was as important for our fitness and lack of soft tissue injuries in 2021 as Burgess was. But now of course he's our High Performance Manager he has no idea what he's doing.

I'm prepared to accept the Sydney-bashing from Melburnians (it used to be common but thankfully most people don't seem to care anymore). When I first moved to Sydney I received a bit of Melbourne-bashing as well. It's always slightly [censored] me off both ways. Clearly in both cases meaningless. I've always argued they're both are pretty good places to live and it's not a competition. No doubt there are plenty of other nice places to live that are better than both Sydney & Melbourne (and of course more places that are worse than both).

On the second point, it was a joke. But I take back my apology as you seem a touch self righteous, which is very Sydney of you.

On the first point I know exactly who Griffith is. He’s got it wrong. Our players couldn’t run out the game again tonight. We’ve lost 6 games where we’ve had 4 goal  leads before half time. I’m sure the club is asking him some tough questions about tonight. We should be in great condition, and from what I saw at the ground we aren’t. Feel free to defend him. I can only evaluate him on what I saw at the G tonight.

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:21, Dr. Gonzo said:

Missing the set shot I can handle - it's a skill error albeit one he should NOT be making

Trying to kick goals out of your [censored] like you're a bloody small crumbing forward is bush league stuff. Far more selfish than anything Fritsch was accused of. I'm bloody ropeable about those because he should know better and it's not the first time it's happened.

Spot on. Had a runner on the outside too. Pathetic leadership really. 

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:21, Dr. Gonzo said:

Missing the set shot I can handle - it's a skill error albeit one he should NOT be making

Trying to kick goals out of your [censored] like your a bloody small crumbling forward is bush league stuff. Far more selfish than anything Fritsch was accused of. I'm bloody ropeable about those because he should know better and it's not the first time it's happened.

Wanted to be like Draper. Really poor Max. Key moment of the game as well 

 

They are like that one fly that buzzes around your face no matter how many times you wave it away. Needed to be squashed early.

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:09, Deespicable said:

5) Others have commented on this, but can we keep playing three small forwards in the same team. ANB's role is crucial through the middle, but I lost count of the number of times he got tackled by the Pies. Could his role go to someone else this late in the season? 

 

I feel Chandler is more than capable and ready.  He's also very dangerous around goals and is now bringing a high degree of pressure at ground level.

  On 05/08/2022 at 14:24, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Spot on. Had a runner on the outside too. Pathetic leadership really. 

Yes that was a handball every day of the week.  Tried to play the hero in no space.  Perplexing bit of play from the Captain who is trying his guts out but who is unfortunately (for us) not quite at his best so far this season

  On 05/08/2022 at 12:56, Only Rigoni said:

We just wouldn't make backlines nervous at the moment. Weid hasn't proven to be the answer, BB can barely move, Tom McDonald is looking more & more like the saviour and he was hardly shooting the lights out before getting injured. We're just not potent enough.

You don't understand Tom's role and he had kicked 15 goals plus makes room and strength for the smalls. Was playing fine in his role and badly missed. 

  On 05/08/2022 at 13:12, Fork 'em said:

This also does my head in.
Blokes open running through the middle of the ground but no, ignore them and go down the line to congestion.
Cause, you know .... Defensive option even when attacking.

 

Spargo was on his own 30m out directly in front at least twice and just ignored completely. Kicked to a contest instead. I don't get it.

Our forwards don't present enough, they don't fight for the front position, can't get separation and don't make anywhere enough multiple leads (at pace)

Our midfield wins the ball but faced with our forwards not playing their roles properly are then coached to kick the ball long to a large pack or to the pockets (usually the left forward pocket) We've become very predictable

So the numbers say one thing but the reality is way different.  On top of that our marking strength up forward is poor (especially for a top 4 team)

Lowering the eyes and following up with a bullet pass can only work if the forwards present.  And they don't present

The chaos ball forward has been worked out by the opposition and our forward line defensive pressure has gone missing as well.  8 tackles inside 50 tonight to Collingwood's 18. 

The Chaos ball forward (or long bomb) requires defensive pressure as one of the other main ingredients.  Without that defensive pressure, it's just a rubbish entry.  Next thing we see is the ball rebounding out often with a switch of play

By contrast, we had 51 tackles outside the forward 50 tonight in the other areas of the ground

Against the Doggies we didn't register a tackle inside the forward 50

6 losses from our last 10 is the stat that matters most right now and our record is 0-4 against top 4 teams

 

Edited August 5, 20222 yr by Macca

We are 1 tall marking target short up forward yet continually bomb it to the goal square or up forward. 
we got a taste of finals intensity and manic tackling and failed the test as well as being incapable of providing tackling pressure ourselves. The team did not handle the tackle pressure at all well.

the worst outcome was to miss a set shot and allow a kick out which continually got slingshot out of the backline upforward

Jackson is not yet a ruckman. He doesn’t take many marks, spends too much time on the ball and that is the dips in our play happen. Max is a marking target up forward but his set shot kicking is hurting us.

The elephant in the room for me tonight....

Clarry's lack of leg drive out of stoppage!  What's happened to this aspect of his game?

He's a completely different proposition to the opp and so much more damaging for us when he brings this aspect of his game.  Looks like he's running up & down on the spot at times since his return.

Edited August 5, 20222 yr by Demon Dynasty

  On 05/08/2022 at 13:18, Sydney_Demon said:

Ridiculous. It wasn't Goody's fault the players couldn't kick straight to save themselves and Collingwood couldn't miss.

Let's not get carried away. Melbourne should've been 8 goals in front at half-time and the game would have been over. Colingwood won by 7 points despite losing every category except the final score and the umpiring. They played brilliantly in the 2nd half but it should've been too late by then.

Agree. When it mattered all the decisions went Collingwood's way. Petracca gets a holding the ball decision when he handpassed it. A Collingwwood players lies all over the ball and gets a minute to tap it out. I don't want to blame the umpires for the loss but in a close game it matters.

In retrospect it wasn't wise. But it was ridiculous at the start of the game Collingwood try to drive his head into the ground and then 4 players  come in to join the tackle after Lingers had been brought to the ground. Naturally the umpire calls for a ball-up.

Well, it was 4 goals to 2 in the last. With a bit of luck we could have won.  Let's be honest here. Collingwood have won 11 in a row and with just ordinary luck for each team it would be at best 8-3.

Well said DemonWA. We won the Inside 50s 65-41 plus nearly every stat apart from the only one that counts. It's frustrating to lose an unlosable game but to all the posters who have decided to vent their spleen just get over yourselves. Collingwood played as well as they possibly could, beat us by 7 points, and Melbourne should have won by 6 goals. It wasn't a disgraceful effort by the Dees. We lost by a narrow margin to a hard-tackling, attacking & extremely lucky opponent.

The problem is we've made a habit of losing to them. Tonight was the one we had to get back and we didn't, we [censored] the bed again. You can't just say, "we'll get them next time" - they have our measure and their gameplan counters ours extremely well.