POSTGAME: SF vs Brisbane

[spirit of norm smith 13,526]

Ins. Tmcd. JVR.  Howes. Bowey

outs. Melksham.  Spargo. Sparrow. Rivers. 

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,133]

Gee those 2 goals on the siren came back to haunt.

[Demon17 4,682]

51 minutes ago, The Stewster said:

Watching Jackson closely last night, no intensity and prancing like a pony. Really got to me. Maybe he is gone, as his performance suggested. 

How many players with knees this year, bbb, Salem  rivers, track  kosi, ftitta. Limped into finals and fell out. 

ANother underwhelming performance last night.

I'm happy to drive him th the airport and rid the club of this distraction. Let's move on, which I trust in JT being on the case.

He may be a very good player/athlete in future. Not a club talisman like Trac and Oliver though.

[Bring Back Barassi 546]

1 hour ago, von said:

There can be only one answer surely. Fitness. What went wrong in that regard we may find out in time. I suspect injuries killed us. First quarter last night we looked great. Our running patterns were great in the forward half. We were proactive and lowering the eyes. Brisbane didn’t come up with the answer miraculously after 9 quarters of us belting them this year. It was obvious at the ground we had nothing in the tank in the second half

1. Fitness

2. No forward connection 

 

Both are coaching issues

[Bring-Back-Powell 13,491]

Just now, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

Gee those 2 goals on the siren came back to haunt.

Yeah I’d suggest we may have won the game had it not been for those two late ones. The players and crowd were up and about after we got 12 points up and then we inexplicably coughed up the lead in the blink of an eye.

Not sure if Brisbane would’ve been capable of bridging a 2 goal margin given they weren’t as defensively sound as Sydney were the week before.

[dees189227 11,135]

Well you wake up this morning & it still bugs you about last night.

It's little things that annoyed me. Key players went missing, discipline and by leaders, missed goals again and giving up goals again near the siren.

[Brownie 5,477]

8 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

The DARE has been deliberately coached out of the side. It is forbidden, not part of our game plan. The side has been drilled to relentlessly play the defensive percentages, kick down the line for Max to mark or knock it out and set up for the throw in and repeat. Kick long to the fwd pocket basically to get an out of bounds again, then hope for a goal from the throw in. It mostly works but not against the best sides who read what we are doing and start to congregate around where they know the ball is going then intercept and run and take risks to get the ball forward quickly with low passes into their fwd 50. 

There was a point about 14 mins to go in the third and May was kicking in.

He had the courage to drill it hard down the centre corridor to a one on one and back Rivers to beat his opponent. It was great to see him try something different.

The problem was that Rivers next closest team mate was Hunt out on the wing. He was at least 5m outside of his opponent on the far wing.

He has the pace. He was supposed to have the hunger? Remember he was supposed to have the HUNGER!

But he just was jogging behind his opponent outside of the kick. 

Was he coached to stay out wide? Or was he just dumb or lazy? He had the opportunity to make the dash into the corridor to help his team mate but he didn't.

Result.... Rivers lost the contest, turn over and then goal to the lions I think.

It's just so frustrating and excruciating to watch us slowly die over three quarters in a final.

[Graeme Yeats' Mullet 6,414]

[censored]!

[Bring-Back-Powell 13,491]

Doesn’t help when our opponents kick a combined accurate 28.15 across the two finals.

[KysaiahMessiah 725]

9 hours ago, dees189227 said:

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

Melks will chaperone 

[Demon Dynasty 16,122]

1 hour ago, John Demonic said:

You have to wonder whether they were merely the messengers, and it was Goody/some of the coaches who spent the year telling them that our method and game-plan was superior, and if we just got it all in order then we could beat any one - and that this fast down the corridor method of attack won't last and these clubs will yield to our method of strangulation. All of this just eventually leaked out via Langdon in the most naive way possible.

Obviously you can't blame anyone for thinking that way - That 'confidence and arrogance' is what makes a team succeed - but it also can be the blinders that shield you from the realisation that your method and game-plan has been superseded and needs major overhaul. Whether that's correct is anyones guess...

Because It could be that we were only temporarily beaten and the system needs a fully fit group, tweaking/positional changes and a slightly easier fixture. But only time well tell.

Go Dees in 2023!

lol what a ride. 

Whatever they were told/thought/ believed that's all fine but keep that under your hat and internalise it.  It shouldn't be a regular public thing.

And what was that wolf of wall street crappa.  Complete BS.  That's all fake bravado.  Just get on with things and stick with the Reverend's "when all is said and done" mantra.  Was the best message in 2021 AND it was mostly internalised and kept in house!

[Pipefitter 2,068]

Our best set up is 2 tall forwards. Unfortunately Weid was so poor we had to change that mix. And by the end of the season Ben Brown was just as poor. To see the coaches effectively give up on him and bench him in the last was telling. We need a lot of investment in our list from a tall forward perspective. 

[Melbournepotter 279]

So many questions to be answered and resolved over the summer...

-  what is causing the fadeouts after being in front by around 25 points in games ?

- is injury the cause of subpar performances in the last half of the year and if so, why not rest players ?

- do we have dumb footballers or does fatigue set in during games and they just make dumb decisions ? It appeared we gave up two free kicks around 35 metres out, in Brisbanes attacking 50  last night by trying to dispose of the ball (incorrectly) when being tackled. Just hold onto it and pretend you are  punching the ball until the umpires ball it up. Both times, there was no prior opportunity and the  umpires  had been fairly consistent in that interpretation last night (although there are always the 'rogue' decisions lurking...). Handballing it to someone standing stationary next to you when under pressure is also not very productive....especially when Brisbane  in the second half were in the clear after 2- 3 slick handpasses.

- why did Max win a lot of taps but Brisbane came  away with the ball ? Is that our midfield coach/system failing ?

- Forward line functionality. Its been a problem for a while now, hopefully more cash means we can afford a forward line coach that can coach forward line craft and system. That also  depends on have a midfield that can actually  find a target rather than streaming downfield and just pumping it long to a contest.

- Goodwin says we want to be predictable in what we bring to the table in effort etc but teams  have worked out our 'kick it to the left from defence' tactic and set up for it. Maybe we have become too predictable.....

There were a number of other issues against Brisbane,  like conceding goals with only seconds left in the quarter and missing gettable shots that would have put us further in front early in the game, is that a mental issue tied to fatigue ?

Then there is gamesmanship...Buddy did nothing last week except shift momentum by running at May and getting a free kick...do we have players with the same smarts ?

This has all been happening for a while and is repeating....so why is it not being fixed ?  

Maybe I've  seen too many MFC losses but at various times I've lived in different cities and seen much of their AFL teams live and Melbourne seem to be the only team that can be so inept and confused  at times.....

 

[adonski 9,323]

Goodrem > Goodwin

[dees189227 11,135]

Wonder how lever slept last night after having a brain fade & giving away that dumb 50

[OhMyDees 1,380]

And to the Brisbane supporter who condescendingly yelled out “GO LIONS!” as he got off the tram after the game…..

Enjoy getting touched by Geelong next week you [censored] muppet, when you win more premierships than the Demons then you can talk.

[Demongirl35 844]

It took Goodwin until the semi final game with 3 mins left to change something and chuck petty up forward..

I’m not at all saying put petty up forward but why wait until now to try something different. 
Goodwin doesn’t reward good vfl performances, he’d rather wait 5 weeks until a player finds his mojo again. I’m not a fan of Chris Scott but a player I thought played decent for Geelong gets omitted because to Scott it’s still not good enough. 
Back to back is hard I understand that but geez I feel so flat about this year 

Edited September 9, 2022 by Demongirl35

[1964_2 2,357]

2 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

Can you be a good coach AND have things to work on and address?

Yes, but he doesn’t actually work on and address anything…Just turns up to press conferences  and says there were lots of “learnings” and we “need to be better for longer” and improve our inside 50 connection 

[Graeme Yeats' Mullet 6,414]

5 minutes ago, adonski said:

Goodrem > Goodwin

Significant delta

[Brownie 5,477]

8 hours ago, adonski said:

Perhaps playing our most balanced midfielder as a tagger instead of letting him play his natural game was an error...

Gus came to life as soon as he was released from Tagging Neale which was handed to Sparrow IN THE LAST QUARTER.

Goody seems stubborn or too scared to make the changes when he should. Probably both I guess

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

25 minutes ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

Gee those 2 goals on the siren came back to haunt.

The one before half-time swung the game.

Classic Dangerzone Melbourne resting on their laurels and not capitalising on the lead.

Straight-Sets Simon has a lot to answer for this year.

[Demon Dynasty 16,122]

1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

He was responsible for their goal with 10 seconds to go in the 2nd quarter.  It gave them a ray of hope that if they came out all guns blazing in the 3rd and quickly goaled, which they did, they were back in it.  Without that goal we were 28 pts at the main break.  Within a few minutes of the 3rd starting we were just 8 pts up.  Without that on the siren goal they didn't have that little confidence boost.  It would have been more of the 'here we go again' feeling.

Why do I say Viney was responsible.  Max tapped the ball into the dirt for Viney to pick up or at worst kill it before the siren.  Viney stood a few meters off Zorko at the CB.  He hesitated when Max tapped the ball down.  Zorko ran onto the ball didn't break stride and there was their confidence boosting goal.  It made Zorko feel 10' tall.

Not the reason for the loss but a very significant moment to lose.  Last week coaches talked about winning the significant moments is so important in finals.  That was a very significant moment in the context of the game.

Viney had to kill that ball!

Too busy in the lead up looking after kids at training sessions??

The whole club reeked of complacency in the last few weeks.

Maybe it's a whole of AFL thing now and im behind the times.  Maybe a necessity and ok thing during odd training weeks in the H&A but finals you need to knuckle down with very few distractions.

Viney is usually a finals gun.... for whatever reason his mind (body followed) wasn't fully on the job this series.  His usual on field leadership was missing big time.  Very dissapointing.  Again too much talk from too many during the season.

May's nonsense mid point of the season didn't help matters either.  Took the whole club's eye off the main task at hand, even if it was briefly.

[IRW 1,291]

4 minutes ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Significant delta

I am not sure which of the two is worse.

Goodwin was at least a very good player,the other one has absolutely no talent whatsoever 

[Bates Mate 4,012]

9 minutes ago, OhMyDees said:

And to the Brisbane supporter who condescendingly yelled out “GO LIONS!” as he got off the tram after the game…..

Enjoy getting touched by Geelong next week you [censored] muppet, when you win more premierships than the Demons then you can talk.

Can add the Muppets who booed Petty last night, seriously WTF!

[Dr. Gonzo 22,682]

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Haha you genuinely believe this don't you.. My god you're delusional. 

Not the fact that our game plan was completely flawed from the moment Freo Sydney and the likes exposed it mid year.

Goodwin and the coaching group showed a complete and utter lack of match day innovation when we were challenged throughout the year especially in the 2nd half.

They continued backing of the same method in our forward structure that was being pulled apart by teams because of how easily one dimensional it was. Bang it into the pocket and pray like hell our smalls lock it in, yet we were rated 17th for forward half pressure. So the smalls weren't even doing their job.

Coaching group completely butchering team selections this year. Not taking our opportunities to rest blokes against North and West Coast when there were early signs of fatigue. Exposed once again tonight for going in completely banged up and yet the coaching group had the absolute nerve to go in unchanged.

Complete stubbornness and arrogance to not only refuse to reward the blokes who showed consistent form at VFL level this year in the likes of JVR, Chandler, Laurie, Bedford, Dunstan but the continued backing of Sparrow, Spargo, ANB Rivers who have all been consistently poor especially 2nd half this year.

No willingness to try and bring in fresh face or personnel to give our playing group a different edge or new element come match day.

Maybe explain to me what was our plan B this year? 

Only time Goody and the coaching group decided to show a hint of plan B was 3 minutes to go last night and they decided to throw Petty forward because it only just hit them then that our season was a bees [censored] from being done.

Pur season capitulated on the back of poor coaching from our coaching staff.

So yes, give me an absolute spell if you think this is solely on the players.

I think you are right but I am also right. It is not solely on the players and it is not solely on the coaching group. Take out opportunities early and we are up by 8-10 goals at half time last night. But we also play an extremely dour gamestyle which makes it difficult to score (perhaps because of our lack of genuine key tall forwards?) and got chopped up in 2nd halves this year (fitness, coaching or both?)

I agree the coaches could've done more, I don't agree with those who are piling on with an undertone (or in some cases outright demanding) the club replace Goodwin. I will give them the credit to learn from this and make changes over the off season. I think they've earnt it.