5 hours ago, binman said:

When it comes to the chances of us winning the flag,  one advantage the pessimists have over the optimists is that the are more likely to be proven correct. 

Bugger!

19 hours ago, praha said:

I highly rate this team. The emotion of it all takes hold when expectations aren't met. I'll be first to admit that my negativity sometimes gets the better of me. I thought in the heat of battle that we were "pathetic" tonight. In reflection and after watching the replay I realised we're not.

And that I am pathetic.

This is my life.

Had the same experience last week vs pies 

Good thread. 

I do feel though with being 10-0 our expectations were heightened. Last ten games we 5-5 which is the same as bombers and the crows. So for me this is where the negativity has come from. We have no consistency. 

but I completely agree we should enjoying the ride and staying positive 

I’m keeping low expectations so that I might be surprised… 

Look at all the so called dynasty teams of the last 20 years.

Brisbane Lions: Didn’t finish on the top of the ladder in any of their three peat years. Lost to Collingwood week 1 of 2003 and had to get to the big dance by rolling the Swans in Sydney.

Geelong: Experienced the embarrassment of the ‘08 GF, made to look second rate against Collingwood in ‘10 and finished second in ‘09 and ‘11. Yet they won three flags in 5 years.

Hawthorn: Were underdogs in the ‘14 flag decider and had to go through the hard way after losing their first final against WCE in ‘15

Richmond: Never finished top in any of their flag years. When they did have a completely dominant 2018, they pooed the bed in the PF against the Pies.

The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire. No team wins a flag sailing through entirely still waters.

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 20222 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

23 hours ago, Sideshow Bob said:

MFCSS rubs true

 

We are 2nd on the ladder with a round and a half to go for 2022. Yes our form isn't as strong leading into finals as last year. Yes our best footy is still the best in the competition, despite not showing often enough

I for one am sick to death of the negative nancies on here and the real world who are saying we can't win it. Of course we bloody can. We're in this up to our eyeballs.

Too many years of MFCSS unfortunately haven't been washed away despite last year's win - just because it's a close season doesn't mean we haven't got a shot at it fron here - can't win them all as an absolute dominant side - that's actually a rarity!

There's a saying that some people are glass half full and others glass half empty type people.

Some that post on here seriously can't even find the glass.

Agree, we're in with as good a chance as any this season.

A pessimist is an optimist in possession of all the facts.

People will be people. This is a place where all people should feel welcome to talk about the Dees. 

The fact that we have threads like these, believe it or not, is marginalising the folks that have a different perspective to the OP. I personally don’t understand nor relate to people who continually see the upside against all odds, but I don’t go out of my way to make threads about the ‘Cool Aid Corner’ or ‘Obnoxiously Optimistic’. 

There are forum rules and mods to ensure disrespectful and distasteful chatter is moderated and punished accordingly. Anything beyond that is fair game so if you don’t like it, facepalm the post, ignore the poster and move on. 

Edited August 14, 20222 yr by CYB

1 hour ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Look at all the so called dynasty teams of the last 20 years.

Brisbane Lions: Didn’t finish on the top of the ladder in any of their three peat years. Lost to Collingwood week 1 of 2003 and had to get to the big dance by rolling the Swans in Sydney.

Geelong: Experienced the embarrassment of the ‘08 GF, made to look second rate against Collingwood in ‘10 and finished second in ‘09 and ‘11. Yet they won three flags in 5 years.

Hawthorn: Were underdogs in the ‘14 flag decider and had to go through the hard way after losing their first final against WCE in ‘15

Richmond: Never finished top in any of their flag years. When they did have a completely dominant 2018, they pooed the bed in the PF against the Pies.

The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire. No team wins a flag sailing through entirely still waters.

 

 

 

This is where Geelong will come unstuck coming into Finals with a soft underbelly.

1 hour ago, CYB said:

People will be people. This is a place where all people should feel welcome to talk about the Dees. 

The fact that we have threads like these, believe it or not, is marginalising the folks that have a different perspective to the OP. I personally don’t understand nor relate to people who continually see the upside against all odds, but I don’t go out of my way to make threads about the ‘Cool Aid Corner’ or ‘Obnoxiously Optimistic’. 

There are forum rules and mods to ensure disrespectful and distasteful chatter is moderated and punished accordingly. Anything beyond that is fair game so if you don’t like it, facepalm the post, ignore the poster and move on. 

You pick a strange topic to take up arms against in the name of marginalisation. There are in fact multiple threads deriding supporters who don’t turn up often enough or don’t make enough noise to satisfy the desires of some forum posters. But you find it marginalising when someone calls out how it makes them feel to wade through post after post of negativity? Righto

There really isn't too much difference between this time last year, and now. 2 wins (that we easily could have had in the last couple of weeks), not much % wise, very wide open field... and I think a lot of us forget that we were a Gawn goal from finishing 3rd.

Sure from here it only takes one bad game to be bundled out, but none of the teams scare me - home or away. We are right in it, and we are definitely going to be considered the team to beat in two weeks. 

This season aside from tactical things of forward connection being an issue, the thing that has frustrated me was we seemed to fall back into old bad habits of teams taking the lead in the final quarter and our players giving up in a sense. Yes they would keep playing but they didn’t seem to be playing with any thought or genuine will to get over the line. 

The last 2 and a bit minutes we were in 6th and staring down the barrel of being a memory of 2022, but the players played with a hunger I hadn’t seen in those previous losses. It was like they were fully aware of the stakes and didn’t want to leave anything out on the field. Call me crazy, but I really hope this could kickstart something. 

8 hours ago, FlashInThePan said:

You pick a strange topic to take up arms against in the name of marginalisation. There are in fact multiple threads deriding supporters who don’t turn up often enough or don’t make enough noise to satisfy the desires of some forum posters. But you find it marginalising when someone calls out how it makes them feel to wade through post after post of negativity? Righto

I'm not taking up arms against anybody. The bottom line is we are here to talk about football, not how people react in gameday threads or the outlook they may have. Everyone will have a different opinion, perspective and a process to deal with the emotions they face during and after the game. If you don't like what people have to say, you don't have to read it. It really is that simple. 

25 minutes ago, CYB said:

I'm not taking up arms against anybody. The bottom line is we are here to talk about football, not how people react in gameday threads or the outlook they may have. Everyone will have a different opinion, perspective and a process to deal with the emotions they face during and after the game. If you don't like what people have to say, you don't have to read it. It really is that simple. 

Same could be said for you. If you don't like this thread, don't read it. 🤷

7 hours ago, Uncle Fester said:

There really isn't too much difference between this time last year, and now. 2 wins (that we easily could have had in the last couple of weeks), not much % wise, very wide open field... and I think a lot of us forget that we were a Gawn goal from finishing 3rd.

Sure from here it only takes one bad game to be bundled out, but none of the teams scare me - home or away. We are right in it, and we are definitely going to be considered the team to beat in two weeks. 

100%.  Our raw Win/loss record is very comparable but we've had a much harded season to contend with.

I believe our 2022 season has actually been an improvement on 2021 when you take in all the factors above and you look past the incredible final 45 minutes of footy we played in 2021.  We are not playing our best footy and must improve in many areas to win it all again, but that is exactly the situation we were in at this time in 2021.  

On 8/13/2022 at 9:42 AM, Sideshow Bob said:

MFCSS rubs true

 

We are 2nd on the ladder with a round and a half to go for 2022. Yes our form isn't as strong leading into finals as last year. Yes our best footy is still the best in the competition, despite not showing often enough

I for one am sick to death of the negative nancies on here and the real world who are saying we can't win it. Of course we bloody can. We're in this up to our eyeballs.

Too many years of MFCSS unfortunately haven't been washed away despite last year's win - just because it's a close season doesn't mean we haven't got a shot at it fron here - can't win them all as an absolute dominant side - that's actually a rarity!

Unfortunately we are now third on the ladder not second with the Swans playing St Kilda in the last game of the year and of course we play Brisbane at their home Ground. To get to second place we would need to win by more points that Sydney beat St Kilda by to edge to that position. Frankly both the Demons and The Swans will be fighting not only for wins but percentage points as well as the gap is slight between us and the Swans.

 

Edited August 15, 20222 yr by David-Demon

What frustrates me enormously is the many supporters who find issues & faults in our game when we win. There was a great podcast from Johnathan Brown who talked about the issues facing teams when they are trying to go back to back. It certainly put a lot of things into perspective for me. Also game (AFL) is made up of brilliant play…many mistakes (especially under pressure) that’s what provides excitement . As many bemoan what our players did wrong …what would Carlton be saying about the kick to Saad which forced him to play on…the spilled mark by Newnes… the fact that Melky marked over 4 key defenders …the three Carlton defenders of whom one should have marked the ball on the wing…I could go on! My point being both teams gave it all …finals type pressure & we won. I’d be happy to win a GF that way & I’m sure all our supporters would. Fact is our brilliant football last year was in the finals & the lead up games were against far lower opposition…we have been playing other teams GF’s for most of the year.

3 minutes ago, Deestar9 said:

What frustrates me enormously is the many supporters who find issues & faults in our game when we win. There was a great podcast from Johnathan Brown who talked about the issues facing teams when they are trying to go back to back. It certainly put a lot of things into perspective for me. Also game (AFL) is made up of brilliant play…many mistakes (especially under pressure) that’s what provides excitement . As many bemoan what our players did wrong …what would Carlton be saying about the kick to Saad which forced him to play on…the spilled mark by Newnes… the fact that Melky marked over 4 key defenders …the three Carlton defenders of whom one should have marked the ball on the wing…I could go on! My point being both teams gave it all …finals type pressure & we won. I’d be happy to win a GF that way & I’m sure all our supporters would. Fact is our brilliant football last year was in the finals & the lead up games were against far lower opposition…we have been playing other teams GF’s for most of the year.

The knock on by O'Brien was their worst error. Hit it to Lever. He should have either grabbed the ball or fumbled it to create another stoppage, or knocked it towards the boundary. David King discussed it at length on the Last Crack last night. 

5 minutes ago, Winners at last said:

The knock on by O'Brien was their worst error. Hit it to Lever. He should have either grabbed the ball or fumbled it to create another stoppage, or knocked it towards the boundary. David King discussed it at length on the Last Crack last night. 

Really good segment there from Kingy and showing how the Pies worked this to perfection burning clock against us last week keeping the ball in close and forcing stoppages. 

If we beat Brisbane on Friday we'll end the season with 16 wins, one fewer than last year.

That will be despite:

1. a brutal fixture - assuming the Dogs pass Carlton, of our five return matches four will have been finalists. Compare that to Brisbane, whose five return matches feature just one finalist (us). Or Geelong - the Dogs will be their only return game against a finalist, plus they've had North and West Coast twice each. And that's without touching on travel, six straight weeks of different venues, and repeated instances of having a shorter break than our opponent.
2. the competition focusing on us and analysing our gameplan within an inch of its life.
3. a comparatively worse run with injuries than 2021 (not saying we've had as bad a run as other sides, just that it's been worse this year than it was last year).

 

One more win on the board and I think the naysayers would be a fair bit happier. Most people know how hard these things are to win but I think it's the one or two games that people expected to chalk up as opposed to last year that are sticking out for some people.

48 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Same could be said for you. If you don't like this thread, don't read it. 🤷

Good on you Doc. I'd be lost without you. 

1 hour ago, CYB said:

If you don't like what people have to say, you don't have to read it. It really is that simple. 

The counter to that is that if you don't want feedback on your comments then start a blog. 

This is an online community. If you choose to engage with the community then you will have to accept that you will receive feedback from the community. This is one such item of feedback. 

Because blogs are boring. 

Edited August 15, 20222 yr by Axis of Bob

Since the byes finished in Round 14, here is the top 8's record against the current top 8 (i.e. Carlton in, Dogs out):

• Geelong - 3-0
• Melbourne - 3-2
• Sydney - 2-0
• Collingwood - 1-1
• Richmond - 1-1-1
• Carlton - 1-3
• Fremantle - 0-1-3
• Brisbane - 0-2

5 of our 8 games since Round 15 have been against the current top 8 (which might remain the final top 8 if Carlton wins or the Dogs lose this week).

Brisbane, Sydney and Collingwood have, combined, played 6 games against the top 8 in the same period.

I recently saw a meme that said

'People really pick a sports team when they're a kid and let them annoy them the rest of their lives'

We're all in that boat, some of us are just more measured than others 😄

I'm definitely in the crazy half of the supporter boat.  I was so flithy with our performance on Saturday at one stage had to tell myself "you can't control what these clowns do on field".  And I'm outing myself as one of those who cracked it and walked out with 2 minutes left. 

I'd love to be one of those 'support the boys 100%' types but like all of us MFCSS sufferers, I've been hurt too many times to be optimistic.  But I fully own my craziness 😆