Honestly if Gawn hasn’t done his ACL and it’s just a minor injury, I think we can bury that game in a deep dark hole and just move on without giving it a second thought as it won’t have an ounce of impact on the rest of our season. 
 

It was a putrid uncharacteristic display that we know is very un-Melbourne like. It’s about as likely to happen again as the lights being on fire. 
Happy for the team to walk away ashamed of that effort and move on to next week knowing we are a hell of a lot better than what we showed last night. 
 

We just need Gawn to be ok. Right now that is the only thing that truly matters. 

5 minutes ago, layzie said:

Another reason why putting all your faith in a 31 y.o with history isn't wise.

I'm not having a go at people down in the dumps and I'm very down in the dumps myself. But it is still a team sport.

People talk about Max like he's the second coming of our lord, he's everything and a bag of chips but we also watch our club every week. I had friends in Adelaide who said the same about Primus, West Coast couldn't win one without Nic Nat. Hell I have Richmond friends that watch Jack Reiwoldt every week and feel the stuff he does makes him the most important forward in the comp.

I know people don't want to hear about comparisons because Max provides more than any of those but these case studies are all we have to draw on. There is literally no point at all bashing guys like Grundy round the head saying that he's not Gawn and that no-one is. We get it, he's almost irreplaceable.

It's become apparent to me that we've all got different ways of dealing with this and I'm gonna stay clear of here for a few hours. Chins up.

i agree with you on most points, but the it feels like our team structure is built around having two ruckman in the side. Take one man out of it and we go to water. I reckon Schache might get a look in next week if he plays well.

The real worry for me is that we don't have someone waiting in the wings to take on the ruck duties when Gawn and Grundy retire. Verrall and Farris-White are speculative at best.

2 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

Had our deficiencies exposed for the comp to see.
Have the balls to run at us and we look powerless.
Collingwood with their relentless run and ball use will eat us.
 

Yeah, our deficiencies are we don’t look great without two all Australians and a future all Australian, struggle in humidity, players coming back in under done don’t make up for having other players out and we find it hard to arrest momentum when we have a bad 8 minute patch where the best player in the league is taken out of the game and the umpires are throwing a bone one way all night.

We were very bad. Is Brisbane's bog hole ground going to become a fortress? Some very crucial frees not paid to us and paid to their pets by the three Blind People, sorry maggots sorry Brownlow Medal Voters.

6 minutes ago, von said:

Yeah, our deficiencies are we don’t look great without two all Australians and a future all Australian, struggle in humidity, players coming back in under done don’t make up for having other players out and we find it hard to arrest momentum when we have a bad 8 minute patch where the best player in the league is taken out of the game and the umpires are throwing a bone one way all night.

We looked powerless against the dogs last week till Gawn, Trac and Oliver did their thing.
If those 3 aint doing it out've the middle, it aint happening .... At all.

16 minutes ago, Willmoy1947 said:

Is Brisbane's bog hole ground going to become a fortress?

It won't be, the ground is being rebuilt and won't be available for about 4 years.

12 hours ago, dees189227 said:

Grundy 0 marks. Maybe McRae knew something we didn't. 

Our whole team struggles in the conditions.

Grundy will have a massive opportunity now to insert himself 

I have no idea what went wrong.

Hopefully an aberration.  

46 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

I have a problem comprehending why, when we have so many AA mids, that we struggle with clearances, and not just centre clearances. Because of our personnel, this is the one area of the game that we should, without fail, dominate. So what is the issue? Is it

- that our mids, unless our rucks put it down their throats, are incapable of winning the ball?

- that are mids are lazy?

- that opposition mids are better coached to nullify our personnel advantage?

- that our midfield coach needs to lift his game plan?

- or is it a combination of all these items? And possibly more?

Could someone please explain this to me as I’m dumbfounded by our relative failure in this area, particularly after last night’s performance which was abysmal.

It's all of the above. And that's why most on here were sadly mistaken when they said that we'd be unstoppable with a Gawn/Grundy ruck combination. Losing hit-outs are the easiest thing for an opposition coach to neutralise.

Too many people got caught up with last week's game, in particular Gawn/Grundy. That reality was that Bevo did nothing to counteract Gawn's dominance over English, and nullify our mids. English broke even with Grundy. 

If Max is out long term, our coaching dept have a lot of work to do. Grundy can't play Max' role because he's useless as a contested mark. I honestly don't see what the answer is. 

All our faults got abused and none of our strengths were displayed.

The mids got hammered. Oliver was mentally all at sea and back to his worst habits. Taking the ball stationary, back tracking, ineffective handballs and awful rushed kicking. Viney was rusty. Petracca bizarrely fumbly. Harmes awful. Sparrow was great after the delayed restart - displayed some high level decision making and release handballing - which makes his lack of impact for 3.5 quarters more concerning.

Forward line were shown up for an inability to take a pack mark and control play and the inability to pressure. Supply was dreadful but it’s bad combination. Gawn’s height and Pickett’s speed were both badly missed. We’re really short on high level AFL athletes up forward.

Backline had a stinker even up against a very talented forward line. Brisbane loaded up with talls and our talls couldn’t get set behind the ball in the right configuration. And then we didn’t use mobility as an advantage on the way out. Petty was mentally cooked from the start. Lever did some nice things but his kicking is diabolical. I can’t keep making the same point about how costly Brayshaw is. Bowey at least had a dip and McVee seemed disciplined to his job on Charlie.

2 minutes ago, mo64 said:

If Max is out long term, our coaching dept have a lot of work to do. Grundy can't play Max' role because he's useless as a contested mark. I honestly don't see what the answer is.

Ruckman not named Nic Nat are overrated at stoppages and that includes Gawn. Our mids and coaches can adapt to Grundy.

Grundy can still sit behind the ball (needs to work on his positioning and fitness) and spoil. He had some quality spoils last night. We’ll still have numbers at the drop and Grundy can chain up at ground level which is where Max has declined significantly in the last 2 years.

The bigger concern to me remains forward of the ball where Max especially was meant to be our contested target. We should be running and using skills more but long down the line is a strategy every team needs at times. Max can nullify or beat 2 or even 3 opponents. Brown’s ok one on one but otherwise we’re in trouble.

Skills.  Still our greatest weakness and always will be with this group, particularly under pressure.

How do we have so many poor field (and goal) kickers in one midfield, it's diabolical and hurts us every week.

Yuck.

5 hours ago, drysdale demon said:

Your original post perhaps highlights you, didn't have the heart to stand by it.

I've already said in other posts that I edited it about 5 minutes after I originally posted it. I've also owned up to the fact that "pissweak" was a bad choice of words, as no one out on that field is pissweak and that I also let my emotion get the better of me.

I'd have the heart to stand by it, but I was wrong - hence the quick edit and admitting to that.

Edited March 25, 20232 yr by deva5610

2 hours ago, kev martin said:

I have no idea what went wrong.

Hopefully an aberration.  

You won't see Trac and Oliver play like that again. Trac owned it and they will prove themselves as the comps premier mids next week. Fritta and Jv will be better for the run. Bbb playing well. Milk to be swapped for another fwd ..Van R? May to return to the backline. Harmes a spell in the twos and we reset.

   

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 20232 yr by leave it to deever

3 hours ago, Gator said:

That's the most flattering scoreline I've ever seen.  Easily.

Some supporters love making excuses, but let's deal with reality.  They were a 10 goal better team.

Oliver, Petracca and particularly Viney were pathetic.  Harmes was worse than Viney.  Barely possible.

Brayshaw plays like he's wearing concrete boots.

Ashcroft made our two ''generational'' mids look like they lacked class.

Grundy is one of the smallest talls I've seen.

Tom McDonald needs to rediscover form at the lower level.

I particularly enjoyed the dropped marks and constant fumbling.

A grim reality check.

A big part of it is the game plan still too slow with ball movement.

3 hours ago, von said:

Yeah, our deficiencies are we don’t look great without two all Australians and a future all Australian, struggle in humidity, players coming back in under done don’t make up for having other players out and we find it hard to arrest momentum when we have a bad 8 minute patch where the best player in the league is taken out of the game and the umpires are throwing a bone one way all night.

Is it in any way possible for observations or opinions not to include some ridiculous statement about umpiring ?

They have never made a difference....ever.

Some umpiring is better some is worse...some is awful...in the same game...relative to both teams

GTFU!!

 

 

5 minutes ago, IRW said:

Is it in any way possible for observations or opinions not to include some ridiculous statement about umpiring ?

They have never made a difference....ever.

Some umpiring is better some is worse...some is awful...in the same game...relative to both teams

GTFU!!

 

 

Such a BS statement

Pretty sure they cost us the game in Adelaide a couple of years ago

14 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

A big part of it is the game plan still too slow with ball movement.

No one seemed to notice last week that either Collingeood or Geelong would likely have overwhelmed MFC even with May down back.

The tidal wave attack game was likely specifically  designed to crack Melbourne's 2021 Premiership defensive structure .

Goodwin shows no sign of understanding that....occasionally kick it out to the other side..!!! Geez kill me now so I don't have to listen to his pressers

Rethinking in slow motion 

Edited March 25, 20232 yr by IRW

1 minute ago, jnrmac said:

Such a BS statement

Pretty sure they cost us the game in Adelaide a couple of years ago

A mistake can have a consequence but to say endlessly that MFC is being disadvantaged suggests that the other teams are being favoured.

It's childish 

3 hours ago, Gator said:

That's the most flattering scoreline I've ever seen.  Easily.

Some supporters love making excuses, but let's deal with reality.  They were a 10 goal better team.

Oliver, Petracca and particularly Viney were pathetic.  Harmes was worse than Viney.  Barely possible.

Brayshaw plays like he's wearing concrete boots.

Ashcroft made our two ''generational'' mids look like they lacked class.

Grundy is one of the smallest talls I've seen.

Tom McDonald needs to rediscover form at the lower level.

I particularly enjoyed the dropped marks and constant fumbling.

A grim reality check.

Tom being "structurally important" only works as an excuse for just so long. 

Hes's cooked.

I am / was a fan but was it 2019 that  he kicked 50 goals zip,clunking marks in the middle of packs and fan defenders up and down the ground?

Briefly in the leadership group

It's a long time between drinks and I reckon the well is dry.

Bummer 

3 minutes ago, IRW said:

No one seemed to notice last week that either Collingeood or Geelong would have overwhelmed MFC even with May down back

The tidal wave attack game was likely specifically  designed to crack Melbourne's 2021 Premiership defensive structure .

Goodwin shows no sign of understanding that....occasionally kick it out to the other side..!!! Geez kill me now so I don't have to listen to his pressers

Rethinking in slow motion 

Where was Yze's  response when we were getting belted in the centre last night coaches these days just seem to wait till a break comes, if Harmes gets a game next week it is laughable, bring in Schache for Tmac, JVR for Melk. but we will stick with the same.

58 minutes ago, Buzzy said:

Skills.  Still our greatest weakness and always will be with this group, particularly under pressure.

How do we have so many poor field (and goal) kickers in one midfield, it's diabolical and hurts us every week.

Yuck.

Yeah it beggars belief

At least there will be Kossie for the rest of the season

Fagan whinging about last 12 minutes saying we had longer warmup and they had nothing to play for and didn’t want injuries.

That is pathetic.

Goody won’t use excuses like Gawn, May and Kossie you can bet. He isn’t into that. We are on DL though.

35 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Fagan whinging about last 12 minutes saying we had longer warmup and they had nothing to play for and didn’t want injuries.

That is pathetic.

Goody won’t use excuses like Gawn, May and Kossie you can bet. He isn’t into that. We are on DL though.

I watched the last 5 minutes and the post match handshaking with the sound off.  Try it.

To the unaware, you would think the Dees won and the Lions lost.  And Fages was furious. Part of us will still be in his head.

Fages is upset for sure but many reasons caused the turnaround and the Lions copped a huge advantage when Max when down., and I'm hoping the team parks this result and mentally moves on.