Demons won't win the flag in 2022.

[Cheap Seats 3,310]

5 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

As the odds would suggest. Gutsy. Keep going

Whatever gets you off mate.

 

[Jjrogan 1,448]

2 minutes ago, COVID Dan said:

Whatever gets you off mate.

 

This thread clearly.  Ps the earth wont blow up tmw. 

[Cheap Seats 3,310]

9 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

This thread clearly.  Ps the earth wont blow up tmw. 

Great convo mate .thanks for contributing..

I love the irony of you trying to insult me because you're upset about what I've got to say.

Don't look in the mirror anytime soon mate 

 

[Jjrogan 1,448]

2 minutes ago, COVID Dan said:

Great convo mate .thanks for contributing..

I love the irony of you trying to insult me because you're upset about what I've got to say.

Don't look in the mirror anytime soon mate 

 

I have no emotion of this thread except its telling me the likely odds. Lol. Like i said. Keep going. 

[Cheap Seats 3,310]

27 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

I have no emotion of this thread except its telling me the likely odds. Lol. Like i said. Keep going.

? Que

[Sir Why You Little 37,302]

2 hours ago, praha said:

Elephant in the room...

We're still a small club that can't consistently perform in big games in the big smoke.

We won it last year, a fantastic achievement, on the road in front of a handful of local supporters and rent-a-crowds. Sorry but it's true.

Twice against Collingwood, Twice against Sydney, Geelong, and almost Carlton... every single time we've played "the big boys" in Melbourne in battles between contenders this year we have been comprehensively beaten in the contest with pressure.

It's great if you're a good travelling team during the season but in finals it's irrelevant when all your games are at the MCG in front of 80k+... 

I don't want to understate the significance of last year's flag at all, but this year is legitimate "big boys" finals on the big stage and we've really buckled on almost every occasion. 

There was a shot of a Swans supporter doing the choking motion last night and it's pretty accurate.

As soon as things returned to normal and perennial contenders Sydney, Collingwood, Geelong come back onto the scene, we've been deers in headlights. We're so close yet so far.

To lose against Collingwood and Sydney TWICE on the MCG in the fashion we have is an indictment on the season in my view. Taking nothing away from those teams at all but we have been way off it on the REAL big stage this season.

We turned it up on the other side of the country when most of us were locked up at home and couldn't even celebrate, away from the stress and scrutiny of Melbourne. Now the big boys are out to play and we're still a league below.

Last night was just so typically Melbourne in outcome. I know I'm being harsh but it's been an obvious trend this year.

You can always follow another team…..

[praha 11,253]

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

You can always follow another team…..

Well you know that's not an option...

I'm just calling it like I see it. Not saying we aren't capable but let's get real. We aren't going to get respect from the big boys until we start doing what we did last year on the big stage at the MCG.

[leucopogon 1,519]

2 hours ago, praha said:

Elephant in the room...

We're still a small club that can't consistently perform in big games in the big smoke.

We won it last year, a fantastic achievement, on the road in front of a handful of local supporters and rent-a-crowds. Sorry but it's true.

Twice against Collingwood, Twice against Sydney, Geelong, and almost Carlton... every single time we've played "the big boys" in Melbourne in battles between contenders this year we have been comprehensively beaten in the contest with pressure.

It's great if you're a good travelling team during the season but in finals it's irrelevant when all your games are at the MCG in front of 80k+... 

I don't want to understate the significance of last year's flag at all, but this year is legitimate "big boys" finals on the big stage and we've really buckled on almost every occasion. 

There was a shot of a Swans supporter doing the choking motion last night and it's pretty accurate.

As soon as things returned to normal and perennial contenders Sydney, Collingwood, Geelong come back onto the scene, we've been deers in headlights. We're so close yet so far.

To lose against Collingwood and Sydney TWICE on the MCG in the fashion we have is an indictment on the season in my view. Taking nothing away from those teams at all but we have been way off it on the REAL big stage this season.

We turned it up on the other side of the country when most of us were locked up at home and couldn't even celebrate, away from the stress and scrutiny of Melbourne. Now the big boys are out to play and we're still a league below.

Last night was just so typically Melbourne in outcome. I know I'm being harsh but it's been an obvious trend this year.

Spot on. Certain members of the playing group seem to have big issues handling the pressure of big games in front of big crowds. We aren't a serious contender this year.

[rpfc 28,903]

1 hour ago, COVID Dan said:

That's what I said.

We're not good enough to win this year.

Reality will decide that soon enough. 

I hold out hope.

[BDA 23,016]

7 minutes ago, leucopogon said:

Certain members of the playing group seem to have big issues handling the pressure of big games in front of big crowds.

they went alright in front of the big crowd in the granny last year

[leucopogon 1,519]

7 minutes ago, BDA said:

they went alright in front of the big crowd in the granny last year

Like Praha said, it was a rent-a-crowd, nothing at all like a pro-Pies packed MCG. There were fools decked out in full Bulldogs costume celebrating with our players as they did their lap of honour with the cup FFS.

Edited September 3, 2022 by leucopogon

[BDA 23,016]

4 minutes ago, leucopogon said:

Like Praha said, it was a rent-a-crowd, nothing at all like a pro-Pies packed MCG. There were fools decked out in full Bulldogs costume celebrating with our players as they did their lap of honour with the cup FFS.

There have been a lot of reasons cited today for why we lose at the G (our record is bad no denying it) but the idea that the players have a problem playing in front of crowds there is laughable.

What is it exactly about the crowds at the G that somehow affects these players?

[leucopogon 1,519]

MFCSS from our home crowds infecting the players, the anxiety of letting down your long suffering supporters. Who knows? 

I'm 100% more confident when we play away, just seems to galvanize the team for some inexplicable reason.

[BLWNBA 1,443]

1 hour ago, BDA said:

What are you on about?

Who said anything about good enough is near enough. There was enough wrist slitting in the bad old days and it didn't get us anywhere

The club is well run and managed. The FD know what they are doing and have delivered a flag. We have champion players and can bounce back. 

This thread. Seriously

I would suggest the entire implication of ‘just enjoying the ride’ and ‘anything’ which comes next, is a ‘hell of a lot better’ than anything we experienced prior to the 2021 premiership is absolutely correlative of suggesting ‘near enough is good enough’; at least in the context of this discussion. 

Expressing serious concern about our demonstrated shortcomings is hardly ‘wrist slitting’, especially when it’s off the back of a premiership. 
 

I never suggested the club wasn’t currently well run, nor did I infer that the current FD erred in their decisions. 
 

I did state there’s an inherent ‘weakness’ or ‘softness’ within the MFC supporter base, which is, in my opinion, unlike that of any other club.

[Deenooos_ 647]

Imo the result today couldn’t have been better for us. We struggle against the pies and Sydney because of their elite pressure, they must be in the top 3 for pressure in the comp.

I was barracking for Geelong because I think they can be handled better by our boys in a PF. Geelong are bottom 8 for pressure just like us. I honestly think they are a bit overrated. Geelong almost got beaten by the pies whose profile is actually pretty average except for defensively.

If we can beat the lions and beat Geelong (they will remember how we dismantled them) and play swans or pies in a GF anything can happen. Petracca should be mostly recovered from his fracture in 3 weeks. It’s not all over yet.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Deenooos_

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

3 hours ago, Deenooos_ said:

Imo the result today couldn’t have been better for us. We struggle against the pies and Sydney because of their elite pressure, they must be in the top 3 for pressure in the comp.

I was barracking for Geelong because I think they can be handled better by our boys in a PF. Geelong are bottom 8 for pressure just like us. I honestly think they are a bit overrated. Geelong almost got beaten by the pies whose profile is actually pretty average except for defensively.

If we can beat the lions and beat Geelong (they will remember how we dismantled them) and play swans or pies in a GF anything can happen. Petracca should be mostly recovered from his fracture in 3 weeks. It’s not all over yet.

At quarter-time In our game, despite being a couple of goals up my overriding thoughts were that Sydney’s pressure was better and we didn’t handle pressure as well as them.

As a result, we fumbled and got caught a lot and for me that was one of the biggest reasons we lost.

[Deenooos_ 647]

2 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

At quarter-time In our game, despite being a couple of goals up my overriding thoughts were that Sydney’s pressure was better and we didn’t handle pressure as well as them.

As a result, we fumbled and got caught a lot and for me that was one of the biggest reasons we lost.

Yeh tbh for some reason pressure completely dismantles our game which is odd because it's part of footy. I wonder if the teams in last year's finals were poor pressure sides or were we able to handle it better?

I guess there's no way around Sydney or Coll so I don't see us winning but making a prelim or granny is huge even if we come up short. We will have to look at how we can become a better pressure side over the summer because we need to get back up into the top 5 in the comp like 2021.

When I look at our young guys nobody can really bash them for being mediocre at times or inconsistent: Sparrow, Spargo, Rivers, Jackson, Pickett, Jordon are all under 22 and are already showing their talent. I can't wait for next year after another full preseason and think JVR will probably become a consistent part of our forward line!

We will be top 2/3 again next year and the hunger will be back. I think the whole year has just been mentally and physically draining and that's understandable.

[BDA 23,016]

We'll beat the Lions next Friday because they are bottle jobs

I'm confident we can handle the cats in a prelim. Danger, Selwood, Hawkins contributed little yesterday

Swans in a GF? Hmm. I don't know but there's ever chance we'll be there and on the day who knows. Plus it'll be a mostly an AFL crowd so perhaps relieves the crowd pressure factor some think is an issue

 

[Bring-Back-Powell 15,244]

Until we win a game against a top 4 side, I suspect Melbourne supporters will be twiddling their thumbs on 24 Sep.

Friday night was a chance to atone our record against one of our bogey sides (Collingwood being the other) and put in a rare excellent MCG performance. We once again failed.

[Roy Boy 381]

Was there on Friday night, and watched our body language after Swans kicked the first goal of the 4th quarter. I knew we were beaten then, no discussion, heads down, walking back to centre, hands on hips.

Form over the last 10 weeks suggests Cats, Swans and Pies are the clear top 3. I think one of these 3 will go all the way.

Then its us, Lions and Freo, who have been hit and miss.

Any team can still win it if you're in it, but the likelihood the bottom 3 win 3 in a row is highly unlikely.

Prove me wrong Dees.

 

[Sydee 4,633]

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Until we win a game against a top 4 side, I suspect Melbourne supporters will be twiddling their thumbs on 24 Sep.

Friday night was a chance to atone our record against one of our bogey sides (Collingwood being the other) and put in a rare excellent MCG performance. We once again failed.

Yes it was a chance to atone BUT if you actually review the last two games against the Swans we were in a winning position - same with the pies 

We are not far off winning those games and if we play our best footy and don’t have major brain fades we can beat any of the remaining teams including Collingwood and Swans 

I don’t really rate Brisbane or Dockers but there is next to nothing between the other four and they all have a real chance  this year

Our form at the MCG has been a worry but there is no reason why they can’t change quickly - it was fine in 2018 when we last had finals there

Friday night we looked terribly flat from the first bounce and still looked in control until Buddy flopped to get a 50m penalty and goal (one of three goals from 50m penalties btw) and then Max tried a ridiculous pass that led to another gift and just like that momentum shifted and they got their tails up 

[1964_2 2,357]

2 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Until we win a game against a top 4 side, I suspect Melbourne supporters will be twiddling their thumbs on 24 Sep.

Friday night was a chance to atone our record against one of our bogey sides (Collingwood being the other) and put in a rare excellent MCG performance. We once again failed.

Agree. Both Geelong and Collingwood played exceptionally well yesterday. Levels above us unfortunately. 
 

[BW511 2,724]

5 hours ago, Deenooos_ said:

Yeh tbh for some reason pressure completely dismantles our game which is odd because it's part of footy. I wonder if the teams in last year's finals were poor pressure sides or were we able to handle it better?

I guess there's no way around Sydney or Coll so I don't see us winning but making a prelim or granny is huge even if we come up short. We will have to look at how we can become a better pressure side over the summer because we need to get back up into the top 5 in the comp like 2021.

When I look at our young guys nobody can really bash them for being mediocre at times or inconsistent: Sparrow, Spargo, Rivers, Jackson, Pickett, Jordon are all under 22 and are already showing their talent. I can't wait for next year after another full preseason and think JVR will probably become a consistent part of our forward line!

We will be top 2/3 again next year and the hunger will be back. I think the whole year has just been mentally and physically draining and that's understandable.

 I think our success comes from our system, however our insistence on the system is also our downfall.

We are great when the game is on our terms and we can control it. When Pies/Swans type teams really come at us and can use skill to pick us apart, there is no Plan B. Our mids are elite at winning contests, granted, however they would be well below in every other metric.

We are seriously flirting the line of being   ‘front runners’.

Edited September 4, 2022 by BW511

[Swooper1987 3,322]

Not buying the doom and gloom.  I've seen enough sides in identical positions to us now (with even worse form coming into finals) make GF's or actually win it.  Dropping the first final isn't necessarily an impediment to winning a flag. Just this century you've got Brisbane in 2003, Sydney in 2005, West Coast in 2006, Hawthorn in 2015, Richmond 2020; then teams who have made the GF after losing in week 1 include Sydney in 2016, Collingwood in 2018 and Geelong in 2020 just in the last 6 years.  Add to that the Bulldogs who won a flag and made another GF (2016 and 2021) playing each week. 

Very historical but both flags our own coach played in were 4 week finals campaigns - in 1997 they won them all and in 1998 they lost the first one then got three in a row to claim back to back. Let's hope history repeats.

[John Crow Batty 8,880]

17 hours ago, praha said:

Elephant in the room...

We're still a small club that can't consistently perform in big games in the big smoke.

We won it last year, a fantastic achievement, on the road in front of a handful of local supporters and rent-a-crowds. Sorry but it's true.

Twice against Collingwood, Twice against Sydney, Geelong, and almost Carlton... every single time we've played "the big boys" in Melbourne in battles between contenders this year we have been comprehensively beaten in the contest with pressure.

It's great if you're a good travelling team during the season but in finals it's irrelevant when all your games are at the MCG in front of 80k+... 

I don't want to understate the significance of last year's flag at all, but this year is legitimate "big boys" finals on the big stage and we've really buckled on almost every occasion. 

There was a shot of a Swans supporter doing the choking motion last night and it's pretty accurate.

As soon as things returned to normal and perennial contenders Sydney, Collingwood, Geelong come back onto the scene, we've been deers in headlights. We're so close yet so far.

To lose against Collingwood and Sydney TWICE on the MCG in the fashion we have is an indictment on the season in my view. Taking nothing away from those teams at all but we have been way off it on the REAL big stage this season.

We turned it up on the other side of the country when most of us were locked up at home and couldn't even celebrate, away from the stress and scrutiny of Melbourne. Now the big boys are out to play and we're still a league below.

Last night was just so typically Melbourne in outcome. I know I'm being harsh but it's been an obvious trend this year.

We have our backs to the wall now. Do or die. Let’s see if this makes a change to the dynamics to the way we play. Due to early wins banked we have been in a comfort zone with most losses having little effect on our standing. We have let other sides pressure us with too much reciprocating.