4 hours ago, BDA said:

Geelong have a massive monkey on their back

True, but sometimes these monkeys can galvanise the group and lead to success.  Similar to Port Adelaide when they were labelled "chokers" in finals, then they won the premiership.

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by one_demon

19 minutes ago, one_demon said:

True, but sometimes these monkeys can galvanise the group and lead to success.  Similar to Port Adelaide when they were labelled "chokers" in finals, then they won the premiership.

Or when we finally managed to break our 57 year drought

It can be done for sure, but easier to do without any psychological baggage i reckon

Well we've got ourselves a nice opportunity next week to recover from this week's loss.

Carlton will be deflated and missing some key players (Cripps included). Collingwood plays against Sydney so we could see Collingwood fall from grace next week if they loss, due to their miserable percentage, they could fall to 5th?

Then just one last game to decide our fate against Brisbane at the Gabba. MFC can be sitting 2nd, 3rd , 4th or 5th at the end of it. 

Still a lot to play for!

Finish top 4 and I am confident we will win the flag.

23 minutes ago, BDA said:

Or when we finally managed to break our 57 year drought

Correct

Our form has been up and down. But if we play to our ability we can best most sides on their best days. 

We'll  need some luck and some more consistent efforts but it's feasible. This time last year I didn't truly believe we could win it either. 

if we can't beat both of brisbane and carlton then we're just making up the numbers..

It's a game of small percentages for the Dees at the moment.

- improve goal kicking accuracy

- increase pressure through the middle of the ground as teams transition forward.

 

 That's enough to put us back in contention. If the pies don't have a 1 in 100 day of goal kicking then we win that game.

11 hours ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Win next 2

Play Pies at the G in first finals round.... Win

Prelim

GF

Job done

This must and will happen.

9 hours ago, praha said:

As much as I'd love to beat them in a final, playing them first round is the [censored] worst for our supporter base. We miss finals and a flag last year due to lockdowns and our first final back will have us scrambling for tickets like rats to crumbs. AFL Members is going to be a brothel. And not a good one.

If you wouldn't relish the opportunity to knock those bastards over in a final I don't know what to do with ya 😂

1 hour ago, Beetle said:

Finish top 4 and I am confident we will win the flag.

yep   will one win  get top four  ?

Need to win out 

I reckon we have one shot at this but we need to pull some strings....and fast!

Call me crazy but....

Aside from big BB, Fritta and a resting Max when he needs the rest, i would go small up forward and rely on BB & Max getting the ball to ground with a mosquito group of three plus the medium in Fritta sitting at the drop.  Namely Chandler, Bedford & Kozzie.

Those four in particular (mosquito fleet plus Fritta...and not having a go at Fritta he's been ok here at times...always room for improvement though) need to be read the riot act on bringing manic pressure inside 50 as soon as we lose possession.  Supported by Max who is also (usually) pretty decent at tackling & pressure acts inside 50.

That would mean two out of ANB, Melk & Spargo making way.  Probably Melk & ANB given their recent dodgy form?

On top of the above we need some manic pressure and better chaos ball with more quick chaos kicks forward rather than the odd extra often unnecessary dinky handball inviting more pressure and an increase in turnovers and the scores that often result from these.

The quick chaos kicks forward will only pay off though if the bulk of our forwards play in front and / or work thwor arses off to maintain it as best they can.

As Spirit of Norm Smith has highlighted, in some of the losses we've gone handball crazy on occasions.  That's not our DNA or certainly wasn't last season.  We are in the main a manic pressure / chaos ball team that thrives on the hunt, pressure and preying on our opponents.  Forcing the turnover or intercepting from pressure brought up the field then pouncing to punish from those turnovers.

This is the way

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by Demon Dynasty

Need to finish top 4 , not terribly worried about playing away to Swans on their home turf. Wouldn't like to play Brisbane away in the finals .

5 hours ago, Fanatique Demon said:

Yes, we had our chances and didn’t take them. The other sides did. What does that tell you? Everything’s ok?

No it means things aren't dire and we can turn it around with some slightly better execution in front of goal.

3 hours ago, Surfer Dee said:

It's a game of small percentages for the Dees at the moment.

- improve goal kicking accuracy

- increase pressure through the middle of the ground as teams transition forward.

 

 That's enough to put us back in contention. If the pies don't have a 1 in 100 day of goal kicking then we win that game.

Agree, on the same day we miss a bunch of sodas.

3 hours ago, layzie said:

Need to win out 

I agree, layz

Lose any or both of the last 2 H & A games and we'd almost certainly need to win 4 finals from the Elimination final onwards (that's a big ask)

Lose any final and we're out immediately or, if in the case of losing a QF, we'd then need to win 3 finals after that loss (again, a big ask)

We need to start winning and keep winning with no slip-ups

In an ideal world, we win our last 2 H & A games, win the QF (against whoever), have a fortnight off and then win the PF

And then win the GF

As you said, we need to win out

Best thing we have going for us is our belief. 

Our smiling, anger, discomfort with loss and errors, shows that they believe they should win every game.

There will be no complacency from now on.

The pointy end and we will roll on.

Games won't be easy, but I believe the cream will rise.

We have the plan, ability to carry it out, the cohesion and will.

Go Dees

 

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by kev martin

Don’t see us finishing top 4 now, we probably beat blues and loose to lions meaning we finish 5th making a flag extremely unlikely, not that we would deserve it. We haven’t beaten probably the 3 main contenders in Cats, Swans or Pies this year, hard to see us going through at a minimum 2 of them of on a way to a flag when we haven’t all year.

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by Garbo

I’m still confident we can win as long as we remain injury free to our key players and we play truly ruthless footy, which Friday’s loss will help  

Specifically, I think we’ll finish 2nd, play and beat Sydney in the first week of finals, play and beat Fremantle in the PF, then probably face Geelong in the GF. 

14 hours ago, Stiff Arm said:

Must finish top 3 after H&A

No team has won the premiership outside of top 3 in over 20 year (except bulldogs)

Our best is well ahead of any other team. Need to keep that up for 4 quarters. Tmac returning would help

5 more wins and its back-to-back

Rubbish. There is no difference between top 3 or top 4. We can still win it if we finish 4th, the only thing that counts is the double chance and the opportunity to play in a home prelim.

41 minutes ago, Deenooos_ said:

Rubbish. There is no difference between top 3 or top 4. We can still win it if we finish 4th, the only thing that counts is the double chance and the opportunity to play in a home prelim.

Theoretically true, but I think it will significantly increase our chances if we avoid Geelong in week 1. They will be desperate to win the first week to secure a bye. It would be an extremely taxing match, making for a tough elimination final if we weren’t to get over the line. 

17 minutes ago, Nairobi_Demon said:

Theoretically true, but I think it will significantly increase our chances if we avoid Geelong in week 1. They will be desperate to win the first week to secure a bye. It would be an extremely taxing match, making for a tough elimination final if we weren’t to get over the line. 

And Sydney or Collingwood wouldn't also be desperate to win to secure a bye?

It doesn't matter where you finish inside the top 4, I don't think Geelong is so much harder to beat than any other contender.

We need more from the second tier players and consistency from the umpires. Neither are happening at the moment.

As much as I still want to complain about the spilt milk it's done now. The requirements and in front of us now and it really is a sink or swim proposition. One thing that does comfort me a bit is that the last month of the season can turn out to be a bit of a shmoz. Team like us can look out of form but fall in to top 4 and somehow produce a performance for the ages in QF week. The there's the Dogs last year, gone for all money and bang.