I feel like I'm back in the 90s tbh. Fast high scoring footy, no club dominating for more than a season, contending for 2-3 maybe, but never being in with a realistic shot of more than two flags, due to the huge amount of fluctuation of clubs rising and falling from year to year. Rule changes fostering a style of footy that can aid 'young' lists built with speed in mind to contend and fall away very quickly.

 Time will tell I guess. But the 2000-2020 period feels like a different era now. Things changed so slowly.

 

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by John Demonic

14 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Time will tell I guess. But the 2000-2020 period feels like a different era now. Things changed so slowly.

 

certainly the 2010-2020 era - i think a large part of that was the invention of two franchises sucking the talent out of drafts coupled with the introduction of limited free agency

it meant that the good from the latter half of the 2000-2010 era stayed on top for longer; in the first half decade of the 00s the bears were dominant after they'd feasted on the corpse of ol' fitzroy and been gifted a generational father-son while the pear were still reaping the benefits of their introduction - so many of their dominant players came from their introduction as well as canny drafting and an incredible fitness regime led by - who else? - darren burgess

now that the drafts have evened themselves out there's definitely looks to be a host of teams who are can win this year

i thought it was going to be a spread from the 2-11 spots on the ladder but the spread looks even bigger than that at the moment

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by whatwhat say what

I really hope this is the last time we try and 'phone it in' this season. My mood is as dreich as the weather outside right now. 

 

 

 

This thread should be renamed, The  Long drive home in support and acknowledgement to WcW and all of those who travelled to Adelaide to cheer on the team.

Can we now stop Gather round please.

9 hours ago, McQueen said:

Pencil in neck. 
 

Done. 

Joe Pesci style.

14 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

certainly the 2010-2020 era - i think a large part of that was the invention of two franchises sucking the talent out of drafts coupled with the introduction of limited free agency

it meant that the good from the latter half of the 2000-2010 era stayed on top for longer; in the first half decade of the 00s the bears were dominant after they'd feasted on the corpse of ol' fitzroy and been gifted a generational father-son while the pear were still reaping the benefits of their introduction - so many of their dominant players came from their introduction as well as canny drafting and an incredible fitness regime led by - who else? - darren burgess

now that the drafts have evened themselves out there's definitely looks to be a host of teams who are can win this year

i thought it was going to be a spread from the 2-11 spots on the ladder but the spread looks even bigger than that at the moment

A lot was made of the fact during 2013 and 2020, no flag was won by any coach that wasn't Clarkson or one of his assistants. It was almost laughed off as just a quirk. And that Goodwin was the first coach to break that coaching style stranglehold on the era, hasn't even rated a mention anywhere. Not in the footy media, and not even on demonland really. I guess it's just one of those obvious things, nobody cares to notice. It's a seismic shift really that has (maybe inadvertently) ushered in a new era.

Edited April 16, 20231 yr by John Demonic

Learnings from this game is that we might start playing form players ahead of reputation or gifting games to guys like Tomlinson, Melksham and TMac

We might now need to use Disco Turner, Bill Laurie ahead of them.

Gawn will most be likely replace Tom next week if fit.

Had a good sleep on this. OK…

Teams have bad days, I get it. But this is our SECOND very bad day in just 5 rounds. In both cases we were outplayed and outworked by a team who wanted it more. We may have been tired last night from travel, who knows, but that’s a lazy answer - we had team mates burning each other, and guys playing millionaire football. No teamwork.

it’s time to wake up - WE’RE NOT THE REIGNING PREMIERS anymore. That would be the cats. Either we get used to hunting now - do we want this dynasty or not?? We can either be the Doggies and rest on our one flag, which would be such a waste given our list or we can play our guts out week in, week out - and earn it!!. The bombers were hungry and smart last night, and they outran us. Where did our intense levels of training go??? Wasn’t that what we kept hearing?

Anyway, I hate that I never know which version of my club will turn up at games. We’ll never be great, and we’ll never have that dynasty they talk about so much until consistency is in our DNA. 

So annoyed at last night’s loss. Wasted points in what will obviously be a very tight season 😔

No forward over 192 was a tactical fail. Schache should have been in the emergencies.

15 hours ago, Tom Dyson said:

I praised T'Mac last week and i think rightfully so, but his game today was just a shell of that one over in the west.

Of course difficult conditions to mark the ball in and Essendon's defence was pretty good but just didn't seem to compete as effectively as he did against the Eagles. 

Maybe i'm being too harsh as most of our talls had a shocker today. 

Draper and Phillips seemed to have no issues.

T mac is a frontrunning spud that only kicks bags against bottom teams. 

5 minutes ago, wonnabeeri said:

Draper and Phillips seemed to have no issues.

T mac is a frontrunning spud that only kicks bags against bottom teams. 

Yes he should be dropped but do you really need the vitriol 

I am bitterly disappointed about how poorly the Demons played against the Bombers.

We really were off our game and there were many poor performances. The Demons played dumb football too with a lot of terrible decision making.

Brad Scott outmanoeuvred and was tactically a bit too clever for Simon Goodwin in the coaches box. However, the poor endeavour of our players compared to Essendon's needs to be taken into account.

Overall, a horrible day yesterday and the sooner we get Max Gawn back the better.

we didn't play well but i think we're under representing how well the peptides played

they dominated forward, mid, and back

their performance against us was more comprehensive than the bears imo

I used to listen to the "2 guys, 1 cup" podcast a lot, but would get a little annoyed that they kept referring to Melbourne as being a team that was way ahead of itself (specifically Petracca and Oliver).  Now I'm thinking that maybe they were right.

I don't mind getting beaten if we at least have a go, but not even trying is beyond the pale.

It's all very well for us to smash bad teams, but you have to give every team respect and turn up to each game. 

Lack of effort and a disjointed (rudderless?) approach does nothing to dispel the theory that Goodwin does not have the team.

I strongly suspect Lever is a lot more important to us than any of us know.

Our list is too good to play this badly.  A statement is needed.

 

Have we started loading already? 😉

41 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

No forward over 192 was a tactical fail. Schache should have been in the emergencies.

? TMac 194; Petty 197; JVR 193. 

The gap between our best and worst is too big and we have a problem with regards to motivation and preparing well.  Lazy?  Certainly not switched on

Nothing that can't be sorted as we've got plenty of talent.  But we've got to turn up ready & able

We play the flanks and wings too much on occasions.  We've got the talent to use the corridor way more often as other teams do.  Essendon used the corridor and took chances and it paid off

We lacked dash & dare and played from behind and were 2nd to the ball all game.  Where as they had numbers at the contest, played as a team, chased hard and pressured us

Yesterday mirrored the Lions encounter.  By contrast, we were fantastic against the Doggies & Swans.  The Eagles game was a training run

16 hours ago, Clintosaurus said:

Genius move by the Drug Cheats to appoint someone from the AFL as coach. All the club Intel, mates with the umps and ARC...

Glad I gave my ticket away.

We'll pump Richmond next week.

3 Free Kicks were first three goals which brought the game back to even keel, for the first time.

Then a few very doubtful out of bounds and a couple more free kicks for the second time.

Well if we keep going back to 2021 style of play season over, forward line is dysfunctional, keep going back to Tmac and we will keep failing, JVR is leaning but at least he is trying to crash packs and bringing the ball to ground, can someone teach him how to use his hands when marking and before someone says what do you know, look how many times the ball comes out of his hands and he try's to double grab, that is his weakness but he is young and playing in a hard position to play. 

Cannot figure out how you have Trac not in the guts at the start of the game, put your best in because Kossie is not a midfielder if it's to please him to stay then wrong move, they did the same with brayshaw before he signed to contract waste of time.

When you let the opposition build a wall across the H/B line you are in trouble and that is what happened yesterday because they know all your players are up one end of the ground and it's congestion time, no where to run so they just kick it back with long kicks it also becomes a physical test on the body.

We will beat sides but when the heat is on with our forward line entries it is going to be hard going stop going to the well with Tmac, Melk I am not confident with Schache but just try him for a few games, hell it might be even worth trying  Jefferson, I know that it is early but I would sooner play someone that can chase than become a witches cone.

Fritsch please learn to tackle you can put your body into it and stop trying to side saddle them.

Come on Simon spend the week on the forward line we don't have a power forward yet, so do something to make it work.

 

 

 

New Coach of TWSNBN thinks  that,

MELBOURNE ARE STILL CLEARLY A CONTENDER Quote on AFL web site.

Something to hang in the rooms for the rest of the year and come Finals if we get to play them

6 minutes ago, Macca said:

The gap between our best and worst is too big and we have a problem with regards to motivation and preparing well.  Lazy?  Certainly not switched on

Nothing that can't be sorted as we've got plenty of talent.  But we've got to turn up ready & able

We play the flanks and wings too much on occasions.  We've got the talent to use the corridor way more often as other teams do.  Essendon used the corridor and took chances and it paid off

We lacked dash & dare and played from behind and were 2nd to the ball all game.  Where as they had numbers at the contest, played as a team, chased hard and pressured us

Yesterday mirrored the Lions encounter.  By contrast, we were fantastic against the Doggies & Swans.  The Eagles game was a training run

Well we know the doggies form, swans are hit and miss, if the game at the Gabba was not stoped we would have stared down a 10 goal loss and the eagles well they had east Perth under 10's playing, we have the talent it's the game plan in the forward line that will kill us.

10 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

Well if we keep going back to 2021 style of play season over, forward line is dysfunctional, keep going back to Tmac and we will keep failing, JVR is leaning but at least he is trying to crash packs and bringing the ball to ground, can someone teach him how to use his hands when marking and before someone says what do you know, look how many times the ball comes out of his hands and he try's to double grab, that is his weakness but he is young and playing in a hard position to play. 

Cannot figure out how you have Trac not in the guts at the start of the game, put your best in because Kossie is not a midfielder if it's to please him to stay then wrong move, they did the same with brayshaw before he signed to contract waste of time.

When you let the opposition build a wall across the H/B line you are in trouble and that is what happened yesterday because they know all your players are up one end of the ground and it's congestion time, no where to run so they just kick it back with long kicks it also becomes a physical test on the body.

We will beat sides but when the heat is on with our forward line entries it is going to be hard going stop going to the well with Tmac, Melk I am not confident with Schache but just try him for a few games, hell it might be even worth trying  Jefferson, I know that it is early but I would sooner play someone that can chase than become a witches cone.

Fritsch please learn to tackle you can put your body into it and stop trying to side saddle them.

Come on Simon spend the week on the forward line we don't have a power forward yet, so do something to make it work.

 

 

 

We’re the highest scoring team in the league. Forward plan is not our biggest problem.

what did you think of our effort yesterday 

3 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

Well we know the doggies form, swans are hit and miss, if the game at the Gabba was not stoped we would have stared down a 10 goal loss and the eagles well they had east Perth under 10's playing, we have the talent it's the game plan in the forward line that will kill us.

The forward line is an issue but we were beaten all over the ground in contest after contest

Even with a functioning forward line we still lose the game yesterday.  Our players were 2nd to the ball, we often played from behind and we didn't hunt in packs.  Our pressure was ordinary

Teamwork was poor where as the Bombers did all the basics properly

Beaten in the overall rucking, midfield, stoppages, clean clearances, backline & forward line.  All phases.  We had a dirty day

The upside is that our best beats any team so it's not a disaster

We have to turn up fully motivated and fully prepared

Just now, BDA said:

We’re the highest scoring team in the league. Forward plan is not our biggest problem.

what did you think of our effort yesterday 

Oh it's not a problem is it how dd it go yesterday, they went back to 2021 football sides play a different style we did not, as for we are the highest scoring side have a look at who we have played and how they are playing don't get conned by that stat.

 Ring in Jefferson Airplane, Van Rooyen was underwhelming, 2 kicks and no grabs, not what was advertised.