46 minutes ago, homsar said:

My take is that he had a bad quarter and then went to work and had another high quality and influential 3 quarters. If the rest of the team were as consistent as him, and as proud of their performance, we’d not have lost today. 

I’d disagree but there is no point arguing. 

25 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Harmes?

He isn't best 22 anymore.

I didn't think so either, but some of the young guys looked tired and lost today

I hope WCW is shouting food and petrol on the return home - she had a big win today! 

40 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Of course, it comes down to mindset. We've shown that we still don't have the mature/professional mindset to bring our best each week like some of the great teams of recents years. Look at the Geelong side of 07-11 they would turn up to play every single game, bring the right mindset and pummel teams into submission early before easing off later in games once the 4 points had been won. Unfortunately it seems our players still think they can turn up some weeks and just bank 4 points without doing the hard work. The secret is you have to do the hard work every single week from the first bounce if they figure that out they'll be unstoppable.

Which is why i think the 6 day break isn’t the excuse as we were off from Q1. It’s 100% attitude. We got it right in 21 largely by a game plan that didn’t require us to be 100% all the time and system worked.

Our system has been forced to change into a higher risk and higher pressure game plan where we cant afford to be complacent. Be prepared to have a few more games where we will concede 100+ points this year until it clicks with the team that every week requires us to turn up.

 

16 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

I didn't think so either, but some of the young guys looked tired and lost today

We're in real trouble if they're tired at round 5.

I didnt see todays game. Is there similarities between today and round 2? Hope there isnt a pattern emerging

2 minutes ago, cookieboc said:

I didnt see todays game. Is there similarities between today and round 2? Hope there isnt a pattern emerging

Yes almost identical. 

28 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

I hope WCW is shouting food and petrol on the return home - she had a big win today! 

A very nice windfall indeed!

11 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Yes almost identical. 

insightful

7 minutes ago, cookieboc said:

insightful

The similarities are there and for me most notably it was this habit of everyone pushing forward at aerial contests, almost expecting that we'd win the hard ball and be off to the races. I cant remember how many times a long kick out of defence for the opposition came off the pack out the back to a free Essendon player who would scrap the next kick forward which they marked nearly every time. 

Being front and square is great but I felt like we didn't set up for this well and expected things to go a certain way. We also just didn't bring enough effort in either game plain and simple.

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by layzie

We looked flat they were sharp and their mids moved the ball by hand and foot fast and accurately and they held their marks in the forward line. They took advantage of the frees they received and their confidence was high, they outworked, outmarked and outran us. We looked poor was that Mays worst performance in the last two years. Very disappointing effort lots to do between now and the 24th.!!

Tough pill to swallow I know but let’s remember 

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by BDA

Pickett was miles off today too…did he attend any Centre bounces? He must have had a few goes in the middle..but I barely noticed him. 

19 minutes ago, cookieboc said:

insightful

We are 10 pages in the post game thread. I’m sure it’s not too difficult to read through to get the specifics yourself. 

51 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Which is why i think the 6 day break isn’t the excuse as we were off from Q1. It’s 100% attitude. We got it right in 21 largely by a game plan that didn’t require us to be 100% all the time and system worked.

Our system has been forced to change into a higher risk and higher pressure game plan where we cant afford to be complacent. Be prepared to have a few more games where we will concede 100+ points this year until it clicks with the team that every week requires us to turn up.

 

It's great to see the quick ball movement but sometimes I really want us to slow the game down and not forget about the stuff that got us to this point. That first half was almost exclusively played on the outside and I would have loved to have seen us try to keep things in close a bit with some repeat stoppages. Contested footy is our 1 Wood and there's times when we should aim for more stoppages to back our guys in. 

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by layzie

50 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Which is why i think the 6 day break isn’t the excuse as we were off from Q1. It’s 100% attitude. We got it right in 21 largely by a game plan that didn’t require us to be 100% all the time and system worked.

Our system has been forced to change into a higher risk and higher pressure game plan where we cant afford to be complacent. Be prepared to have a few more games where we will concede 100+ points this year until it clicks with the team that every week requires us to turn up.

 

Yes and no - a trip across the Nullarbor returning late Sunday then off to Adelaide a few days later can throw people's routines off which can in turn impact their mindset. Not using it as an excuse by any means but I can see how it could be a factor. What seemed to happen though is when Essendon upped the ante and showed they were up for a fight and weren't just gonna turn their toes up our guys seemed to throw in the towel and couldn't be bothered. That's not the standard we've come to expect over the last 2 years.

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yes and no - a trip across the Nullarbor returning late Sunday then off to Adelaide a few days later can throw people's routines off which can in turn impact their mindset. Not using it as an excuse by any means but I can see how it could be a factor. What seemed to happen though is when Essendon upped the ante and showed they were up for a fight and weren't just gonna turn their toes up our guys seemed to throw in the towel and couldn't be bothered. That's not the standard we've come to expect over the last 2 years.

The towel went in so early too, some of the moves we made early in the 3rd looked like junk time moves.

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yes and no - a trip across the Nullarbor returning late Sunday then off to Adelaide a few days later can throw people's routines off which can in turn impact their mindset. Not using it as an excuse by any means but I can see how it could be a factor. What seemed to happen though is when Essendon upped the ante and showed they were up for a fight and weren't just gonna turn their toes up our guys seemed to throw in the towel and couldn't be bothered. That's not the standard we've come to expect over the last 2 years.

I’m in 2 minds - if it was travel based fatigue, I’d expect us to fade out in Q4, but our pressure was off all game. I’d love to see the pressure ratings for each quarter.

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by Gawndy the Great

Just now, Gawndy the Great said:

I’m in 2 minds - if it was travel based fatigue, I’d expect us to fade out in Q4.

Of course but physical fatigue is different to mental fatigue. They were off by 5% but that's enough for a team that is on to make you look silly. If you're not mentally switched on then things look hard, last two weeks we've been gang tackling and running hard, today we weren't sticking tackles or running hard both ways. So which is the real Melbourne? The team that ran the Dogs and Swans off their legs or the teams that turned it up against Brisbane and Essendon? We'll have to wait and see.

4 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

Our attitude is really poor at the moment. 
 

Laziness is creeping into our games more and more

100% this and/or "happy with our lot"  complacency.

The lack of anything "Team" let alone good/great team today was alarming.

Beaten in pretty much every facet of the game by a team with over two seasons less experience (approx) is a real worry for mine.

It's time for Goody to make a few swinging substantial ins / outs to send a message through this group or we can kiss this season goodbye earlier than the last one!

We also don't want to go through another entire season wondering "what's going on?" with another key player not re-signing within a reasonable time.

If said player performs at a very high level then fair enough he's contributing and playing his role to a T.  No issues and you play him on on his merits.

However, if we are getting a stack of up & down average performances with a lack of application / commitment then Goody needs to make a hard call putting more time into potential alternatives in the second half of the season eg; Moniz (assuming he is in decent form at Casey) in preparation for 2024.

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by Demon Dynasty

46 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

I hope WCW is shouting food and petrol on the return home - she had a big win today! 

She had no such thing! She doesn’t give a fat rat’s clacker about a dumb bet. She’s still 450kms from home and has forgotten all that’s good in the world. And now she’s third-personing herself so who knows what’s next. Hashtag I hate Essendon. 

1 minute ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

. Hashtag I hate Essendon. 

#asmuchasjadedhatesem??

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by Demon Dynasty

1 minute ago, Demon Dynasty said:

100% this and/or "happy with our lot"  complacency.

The lack of anything "Team" let alone good/great team today was alarming.

Beaten in pretty much every facet of the game by a team with over two seasons less experience (approx) is a real worry for mine.

It's time for Goody to make a few swinging substantial ins / outs to send a message through this group or we can kiss this season goodbye earlier than the last one!

We also don't want to go through another entire season wondering "what's going on?" with another key player not re-signing within a reasonable time.

If said player performs at a very high level then fair enough he's contributing and playing his role to a T.  No issues and you play him on on his merits.

However, if we are getting a stack of up & down average performances with a lack of application / commitment then Goody needs to make a hard call putting more time into potential alternatives in the second half of the season eg; Moniz (assuming he is in decent form at Casey) in preparation for 2024.

How many times did we burn open players in the 50 today! Quite a lot of visible bickering as a result of it too.

3 hours ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

You might want to watch it again. He had prior and ducked his head. Harsh, but right decision.

Spargo certainly ducked his head, so it was correct not to give him a free…..but to penalise him for incorrect disposal? He was semi-conscious when the ball came out of his hands. 
Ducking the head to try to avoid a tackle should certainly not be rewarded with a free, but the tackler still has a duty of care not to concuss the ducker.

10 minutes ago, layzie said:

How many times did we burn open players in the 50 today! Quite a lot of visible bickering as a result of it too.

I think this is just players trying too hard to impact the game and not trusting other team mates to get it done. It’s worrying that we can lose the trust so fast.