15 minutes ago, Docs Demons said:

And so would we as Gawn,Trac, Lever are hurt. The rest fold when pressure is on. No forward line at all so in my opinion the Lions have a better chance than we would have.

We, the fans and members, feel betrayed and have felt this way since we lost the 11th game. Goodwin is a major reason for this, and team selection has been very poor/conservative and incorrect. Player development as a team has been negligent. Horrid end to this season; predictable across nearly three months. 

3 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

What a waste of a year. We got into a prime position and piddled it all away.

Admittedly, the Lions shut their mouths and (mostly) just played football. When Mitch Robinson and Rhys Mathieson were outs, I knew they had learnt the lessons of round 23. I don’t like their chances next week but they deserve to be there more than us. There is a way to beat us (albeit many of us lived in denial of it) and the Lions to their credit played to the proven strategy that beats us: fast, sharp movement forward, kicks to open grass or 50/50 contest and constant frontal pressure. Collingwood first did it in QBD 2021 and if teams have the cattle and pull it off, more often than not have they beaten us.

You could see that heads where elsewhere throughout this game. Sparrow giving up a free kick for running too far. BBB playing on and immediately getting tackled. Maxy and Maysie dropping simple chest marks. As soon as Brissy got to 3QT one goal down, I knew we were in serious trouble because of the dumb, dumb football we were playing.

I’ve stood up for BBB for a while, but if he hasn’t got Tomald back in next year opening up leading patterns, he might want to retire. While he isn’t the 60 goal full forward of North days, his finals were mostly putrid. Dogga as a resting forward didn’t help. He’s been mentally checked out for a while. Either way, JVR needs a run next year. To what extent is up for debate, but the forward line status quo cannot stand.

Whatever happens next year, injury management and aerobic fitness really need to be looked at. Too often have we gotten to 4 or 5 goals up only to be slowly overrun. It started against Freo and basically reproduced itself in every loss for the year. Plus the amount of blokes out with injury was cause for concern. Tomald out for 12. Maxy out for significant stretches. Lever not himself after his injury. 

One silver lining to come out of this year is that I hope our blokes now realise that flags just don’t grow on trees. All this talk of ‘winning one on the ‘G’ smacked of cart before horse stuff. We now reload but the bitter taste of how we went out will linger.

Salem was never the same either.  One of our best last year.

Oh god we have mad Monday now. I hope someone is watching may.

Just now, rpfc said:

 

If it makes you feel better, those DID NOT SEE THIS COMING lol.

So we are advanced in our stages of grief. 

Me, I am at bargaining, just said to the cat that I will get him more biscuits if he clawed my eyes out.

Surprisingly I'm not even that angry lol.

You could read this game like a book when Ah Chee kicked that goal right on half time.

Anyway, keep us updated with the whole cat clawing man's face off things.. 

Other than Oliver, and perhaps Petty, who actually improved this season? 

Oliver is a next level player. He wants it so badly. 
I feel like the rest of the list was very complacent. We lost that fire and the desire and we were not ruthless enough. How many times this season have we lost while 20+ points up? 2021 Melbourne would never ever allow that. 
 

We seemed to think Bang Bang Bang will just happen again and save us. That we can play 10 good minutes of football a game and win. 
Need to rediscover that hunger and dare and FITNESS if we want to contend again next year. 

3 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

We, the fans and members, feel betrayed and have felt this way since we lost the 11th game.

Speak for yourself.

I think Brayshaw, Viney, Melksham and Gawn should be pretty disappointed with their finals series.

Rivers was exposed in the heat of battle.

BBB, Salem, Lever, Petracca were obviously not fit.

We need an injection of pace from the flanks. 

Don't understand how we let Coleman, Rich and Zorko start attacks from half back so easily?

Buy another tall defender and put Petty forward.

Guys to hold their head up high in the finals: Oliver, May, Petty, Langdon and...

 

17th for pressure acts tells the story this year.

The ruthlessness has gone, they are content they won one last year.

4 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Oh god we have mad Monday now

Do they deserve one?

2 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Surprisingly I'm not even that angry lol.

You could read this game like a book when Ah Chee kicked that goal right on half time.

Anyway, keep us updated with the whole cat clawing man's face off things.. 

I’m barely bleeding, his hearts not in it. 

16 minutes ago, mo64 said:

Rubbish. It's the game plan. Do you think the key forwards like leading into the pocket, or having the ball kicked on their head?

But we need mid sized forwards who do more than ANB, Spargo and Sparrow.

Come on mo4 I realise our forward entries aren't the best but (i would love to swear here) how many times did Jacko and that useless all arms and legs bloke named Brown  had chances to mark and were weak as P

Well, there's always last year...

1 minute ago, Jaded No More said:

Need to rediscover that hunger and dare and FITNESS if we want to contend again next year. 

Sure, but I think people are underestimating the physical toll of running deep into the finals right through to a GF and then the reduced turnaround until the next season. Perhaps no accident that both last year's grand finalists are out. I remember Hardwick talking about how hard it was physically to back up after winning a premiership.

Disappointing but not surprising in the slightest. We were simply not good enough in 2022. We were never going to win the requisite 3 games in a row at the MCG.

In some ways it might be better to be hit between the eyes with a straight sets exit so Goody and co can actually change the game plan and personnel in time for next season. The game plan worked in 2021 but got found out this year and I have serious doubts if it actually works on the MCG against good sides. 

Zorko and some of his teammates (hi Lincoln McCarthy) are absolute germs but I’ll still be cheering them on against the Cats next week. 

 

Edited September 9, 20223 yr by Bang Bang Bang

33 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

My disappointment will settle. The rage too. 
 

But to lose the same way, again, is just maddening. 
 

We lost 8 games this year. 6 of them all played out the same way - strong start, 20+ point lead, some point midway our opponent lifts and we absolutely fall apart and never look like righting the ship. 
 

Our fitness wasn’t good enough. Our hunger can’t have been strong enough. Our skills weren’t good enough. Our coaching wasn’t good enough. 
 

From 10-0, and after finishing 2nd, we should not be watching prelim finals from home. That is not good enough. 

Spot on. And there are wider ramifications.

We had 65k+ members this year. Make a prelim, banged up, I think 2023 sees us still on target for 70k+, but going out in straights could well cost us 5-10k members next year.

36 minutes ago, Buzzy said:

Who would you have brought in? 

Bowey over Salem. Bloke doesn’t miss a target and attacks the ball

Have to hope that this failure reignites the hunger that was clearly missing this year, both in the players and the coaches. 

23 minutes ago, pinkshark said:

Imagine sitting through the review of that?  

Appalling performance.  

 

will they review it, they didn't play the "Melbourne" way. Its not worth their time :) 

AAAAAAAARRRRGGGHH

I HATE BRISVEGAS 

7 minutes ago, dee-tox said:

BBB, Salem, Lever, Petracca were obviously not fit.

I suspect you could probably add a few to that list, will be interesting to see who goes under the knife in the next few weeks.

Well that was a right royal f-up. 

What a [censored] result to cap off the year. No Omac,  no Daniher and you have Hipwood who has struggled since he came back kick 4. 

No one expects them to change the game plan mid year but how does a team that we have consistently put away for 2 years get it done? How does Fagan change the plan and Goodwin cannot manufacture something to give us a different look?

It was there for everyone to see since mid year. Geelong and Sydney… what a bore fest. 

I just feel disappointed & angry at our leaders tonight 

Hi pre-game experts that said everything is sweet. Can you please point me towards the “lets sign up goody for another 10 years thread?”

Thanks?! 

The irony of Petty kicking a goal late in the 4th is too much.

Time for some people to wake up to the drivers behind why we actually won the flag last year, and what the focus needs to be moving forward. Give you the red hot tip, initials are not S.G

 

26 minutes ago, BDA said:

we are clueless going forward. Take a mark, stop, look around, chip and then bomb it into the pocket. It's third rate rubbish. We never play on, take a bounce or take the game on. No dare whatsoever. It's so hard to watch.

Brains trust need to go to work in the off season . Create a plan which gives our players a chance to express their talent. there's no doubt the talent is there but out current gameplan is way past its use by date

Hmmm, you only worked this out post game tonight??