3 minutes ago, D Rev said:

I was at this game and thoroughly enjoyed it, though it was more than a little stressful.  There really is something to be said for the smaller "boutique" grounds that represent communities in the northern states that people want to travel to (here's looking at you GWS).

The first line of respect I'd like to pay is for the bloke on the accoustic guitar on the MMM stage who seemed to play "Free Falling" for 7 hours straight (I got there in time for the reserves).  Tom Petty no longer owns that song.

This was a bloody tough game, the Suns are a very good team who move the ball at G-Force speed from their backline to their forward line.  Their mids are absolute gold who dominated congestion. 

I actually feel for Suns fans, they don't have another home game for SIX WEEKS.  Can you imagine that happening to a Victorian team?  I understand they need to sell games to the NT for cash (imagine being there...).  I don't know what their fitness program is like, but thats a big interruption to the season and makes it hard to build support.  Great ground though, and loved the passion of their fans. 

As for us, we started well then they got on top and really pushed us to the end.  The Grundy-Max thing seems to take away a bit from both of them, Max plays his best in the middle or intercepting marks and sending him to the middle FT seems to be a 'break in case of emergency' play at the moment.  Grundy is perfectly adequate as a tall up forward.

Speaking of forwards, Fritsch had his worst game in years, so lets forget it and hope it doesn't happen again for years. Langdon was absolutely woeful too, I thought he was on mushrooms he was out of position so often.  Again, here's hoping it's a blip.

Spargo had an awesome game in the twos and needs to come in to stop the ball rebounding out of the forward 50 as soon as it hits the deck.  It was good to see Disco get through a (nearly) full game without being concussed but he was too undersized for Casboult and its a shame it took Goodwin 3 quarters to work that out.  Im happy for Petty to be back or forward but Spargo should come back in.

Brown looked slow in the twos and his opponent regularly outmarked our out-ran him.  I'm not convinced he is a better option than Grundy up forward.  Sounds crazy, I know.

 

Thanks for this post. Enjoyed reading it. Your assessment of Bbb worries ne. We really need someone to step up. Especially if Jvr is out and speaking of Petty he's not a forward. 

1 hour ago, Monbon said:

1: The Suns are a VERY talented team. They beat Geelong a few weeks ago.

2: That is about the most inconsistent umpiring I've ever seen. One push in the back at a marking contest paid, the next three not etc etc

3: Please, keep Petty down back.

4: The May bashing by Demonlanders is pathetic.

5: You will probably never again see Fritsch, Langdon, Chandler, Jordan and Neale Bullen play so quietly in one match again. Jacob Van R needs to hold his marks.

6: That Melbourne  won this game is testament to their determination to keep at it, to not give in. 

7: We forget that Van R., Mcvee, Turner, Bowey to a lesser extent, ditto Rivers, have not played all that many games. 

8: I'll take a win like this any day.

9: Van Ruyen should not get cited by Christian. He tried to spoil, actually got a fist to the ball, and in the process hurt the Suns player accidentally. There was absolutely no malice or intent to injure.

10: The commentary was a bestial joke.

 

Great listening to Chaplin and he mentioned it was our 3rd game in 12 days - 3 wins is a fantastic result. 

7 hours ago, Deebauched said:

WCW

Yep,....i briefly logged into match day posts and it was dreadful. Insults flying everywhere about Grundy May Lever and Fritsch. Is Deespencer a bonifide Mfc supporter? 

How many teams would have beaten the Suns yesterday Maybe 2 or 3  or maybe none.

Rivers looked as sick as a dog after the game in the rooms. An dees official said Chandler was ill before the game. Sounds like they ate some jungle grub that didnt agree with them. Goodwin never complains or makes excuses.

Brayshaw thought it was a damn good win under the circumstances.

That face slap was a mistake: if you notice, I've also entered a 'clap'. A, being an alte kaker means my keyboard is always 159,000 steps ahead of my ability to use it, and B, I'll ask the question: What can you give a man who has everything? Answer: Penicillin. This comment is in relation to 'the clap'.

5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah, but 8 teams travel every 2nd week all year every year. I can understand maybe off short breaks but we had a week between games and our last game was a glorified training run.

Always look on the bright side of life....

That was a good game of footy. No quarter asked and none given. Heart in mouth stuff for us Dees supporters when what-his-name had a shot to tie it up but good to get the 4 points from the game.

We came off a trip to Adelaide, a 5 day break and then a tip to Queensland for this game. I know that The Suns also had a lot of travel to deal with recently, but I was surprised at the tempo and intensity delivered by both teams.

My big take from the game is that while the coaches bang on about the way the team looks to reset during games in response to the circumstances, I do not see the same 'reset' from the match committee at selection given the dire situation of our forward line.

One of the cornerstones of our 21 Premiership was the stability and structure of our defence. We built the gameplan around this structure and it was a success. I heard that Goodwin was talking about clearances and that we base a lot of our attack on winning turnovers after possessions out of the clearances and I cannot argue with that given our results but what I would argue is that if that is the case we need to ensure that we have the best people in the best places in defence. To my mind that means rebuilding the defence around May, Lever and Petty as the talls with Salem (when fit and in form), Bowey, Rivers, Hibberd, Brayshaw and McVee as the smaller running defenders. 

Petty back is what is needed at the moment. It seems as if in his absence, there has been a little too much pressure on May to perform and it is to the detriment of his game.

Well we have to discuss the forwards and there is a lot to discuss.

Petty is not the answer to any question regarding the forwards.

JVR out for  couple of weeks.

This leaves a couple of large holes at the pointy end. What to do?

I would try Brown and Schache as the talls for the next couple of weeks with Gawn/Grundy resting there as required. Fristch as a genuine spare medium forward and have Chandler, Spargo, Pickett and ANB as crumbers/harassers at the fall of the ball.

I would have Harmes in the team to cover any tagging roles that crop up during the game. I would have loved Goodwin to pull the trigger on the sub much earlier and get Harmes into the game to tag Anderson yesterday. 

With these suggestions I am not sure what that does to the team selection.

B: Lever, May, Hibberd

HB: Bowey, Petty, Rivers

C: Langdon, Viney, Hunter

HF: ANB, Schache, Chandler

F: Fristch, Brown, Pickett

Fol: Grundy, Petracca, Oliver

I: Gawn, McVee, Sparrow, Harmes/ Jordon (one of these two as sub)

A lot of flexibility and options in that team and all playing primary position to their strengths.

Was at the game and we got out of jail big time. We were very lucky to win it and thank god that last shot at goal went through for a point. Not sure what has happened to Fritta but he had a very bad game but hopefully only one. 
 

Now, the umpires, my god I have never been to or seen a game where it has been this bad. They were calling Melb players to play on after we got a free when there was CLEARLY NO ADVANTAGE, called frees for GC consistently when they were very dubious, called Hunt for holding the ball when he clearly disposed of the ball and then other similar situations to Hunts didn’t get called against the suns. 
 

They were pathetic, inconsistent, hopeless, atrocious, and should NEVER umpire again. They even pointed in the wrong direction to where the player was taking the free. It was comedy hour but wasn’t funni at all. 

Very happy we got the win but bloody hell the umps need a rocket. 

Edited May 7, 20232 yr by DemonOX

38 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

Great listening to Chaplin and he mentioned it was our 3rd game in 12 days - 3 wins is a fantastic result. 

Yep, Chaplin’s words.  “We are bloody proud of this group” 

1 hour ago, CHF said:

That was a good game of footy. No quarter asked and none given. Heart in mouth stuff for us Dees supporters when what-his-name had a shot to tie it up but good to get the 4 points from the game.

We came off a trip to Adelaide, a 5 day break and then a tip to Queensland for this game. I know that The Suns also had a lot of travel to deal with recently, but I was surprised at the tempo and intensity delivered by both teams.

My big take from the game is that while the coaches bang on about the way the team looks to reset during games in response to the circumstances, I do not see the same 'reset' from the match committee at selection given the dire situation of our forward line.

One of the cornerstones of our 21 Premiership was the stability and structure of our defence. We built the gameplan around this structure and it was a success. I heard that Goodwin was talking about clearances and that we base a lot of our attack on winning turnovers after possessions out of the clearances and I cannot argue with that given our results but what I would argue is that if that is the case we need to ensure that we have the best people in the best places in defence. To my mind that means rebuilding the defence around May, Lever and Petty as the talls with Salem (when fit and in form), Bowey, Rivers, Hibberd, Brayshaw and McVee as the smaller running defenders. 

Petty back is what is needed at the moment. It seems as if in his absence, there has been a little too much pressure on May to perform and it is to the detriment of his game.

Well we have to discuss the forwards and there is a lot to discuss.

Petty is not the answer to any question regarding the forwards.

JVR out for  couple of weeks.

This leaves a couple of large holes at the pointy end. What to do?

I would try Brown and Schache as the talls for the next couple of weeks with Gawn/Grundy resting there as required. Fristch as a genuine spare medium forward and have Chandler, Spargo, Pickett and ANB as crumbers/harassers at the fall of the ball.

I would have Harmes in the team to cover any tagging roles that crop up during the game. I would have loved Goodwin to pull the trigger on the sub much earlier and get Harmes into the game to tag Anderson yesterday. 

With these suggestions I am not sure what that does to the team selection.

B: Lever, May, Hibberd

HB: Bowey, Petty, Rivers

C: Langdon, Viney, Hunter

HF: ANB, Schache, Chandler

F: Fristch, Brown, Pickett

Fol: Grundy, Petracca, Oliver

I: Gawn, McVee, Sparrow, Harmes/ Jordon (one of these two as sub)

A lot of flexibility and options in that team and all playing primary position to their strengths.

"Dire situation" Really? We are the second highest scoring team in the comp. Something must be working. 

5 minutes ago, djr said:

"Dire situation" Really? We are the second highest scoring team in the comp. Something must be working. 

My thought on reading @CHF's post exactly.

I would agree that our forward line is not quite right at the moment (mainly because I steadfastly do not support Petty as a forward), but "dire situation" is a ridiculous thing to say given we're the 2nd highest scoring side, and only 3 points behind Geelong who have Hawkins and Cameron.

1 hour ago, CHF said:

That was a good game of footy. No quarter asked and none given. Heart in mouth stuff for us Dees supporters when what-his-name had a shot to tie it up but good to get the 4 points from the game.

We came off a trip to Adelaide, a 5 day break and then a tip to Queensland for this game. I know that The Suns also had a lot of travel to deal with recently, but I was surprised at the tempo and intensity delivered by both teams.

My big take from the game is that while the coaches bang on about the way the team looks to reset during games in response to the circumstances, I do not see the same 'reset' from the match committee at selection given the dire situation of our forward line.

One of the cornerstones of our 21 Premiership was the stability and structure of our defence. We built the gameplan around this structure and it was a success. I heard that Goodwin was talking about clearances and that we base a lot of our attack on winning turnovers after possessions out of the clearances and I cannot argue with that given our results but what I would argue is that if that is the case we need to ensure that we have the best people in the best places in defence. To my mind that means rebuilding the defence around May, Lever and Petty as the talls with Salem (when fit and in form), Bowey, Rivers, Hibberd, Brayshaw and McVee as the smaller running defenders. 

Petty back is what is needed at the moment. It seems as if in his absence, there has been a little too much pressure on May to perform and it is to the detriment of his game.

Well we have to discuss the forwards and there is a lot to discuss.

Petty is not the answer to any question regarding the forwards.

JVR out for  couple of weeks.

This leaves a couple of large holes at the pointy end. What to do?

I would try Brown and Schache as the talls for the next couple of weeks with Gawn/Grundy resting there as required. Fristch as a genuine spare medium forward and have Chandler, Spargo, Pickett and ANB as crumbers/harassers at the fall of the ball.

I would have Harmes in the team to cover any tagging roles that crop up during the game. I would have loved Goodwin to pull the trigger on the sub much earlier and get Harmes into the game to tag Anderson yesterday. 

With these suggestions I am not sure what that does to the team selection.

B: Lever, May, Hibberd

HB: Bowey, Petty, Rivers

C: Langdon, Viney, Hunter

HF: ANB, Schache, Chandler

F: Fristch, Brown, Pickett

Fol: Grundy, Petracca, Oliver

I: Gawn, McVee, Sparrow, Harmes/ Jordon (one of these two as sub)

A lot of flexibility and options in that team and all playing primary position to their strengths.

I like your thinking CHF do you have any influence on the match committee???

1 hour ago, CHF said:

That was a good game of footy. No quarter asked and none given. Heart in mouth stuff for us Dees supporters when what-his-name had a shot to tie it up but good to get the 4 points from the game.

We came off a trip to Adelaide, a 5 day break and then a tip to Queensland for this game. I know that The Suns also had a lot of travel to deal with recently, but I was surprised at the tempo and intensity delivered by both teams.

My big take from the game is that while the coaches bang on about the way the team looks to reset during games in response to the circumstances, I do not see the same 'reset' from the match committee at selection given the dire situation of our forward line.

One of the cornerstones of our 21 Premiership was the stability and structure of our defence. We built the gameplan around this structure and it was a success. I heard that Goodwin was talking about clearances and that we base a lot of our attack on winning turnovers after possessions out of the clearances and I cannot argue with that given our results but what I would argue is that if that is the case we need to ensure that we have the best people in the best places in defence. To my mind that means rebuilding the defence around May, Lever and Petty as the talls with Salem (when fit and in form), Bowey, Rivers, Hibberd, Brayshaw and McVee as the smaller running defenders. 

Petty back is what is needed at the moment. It seems as if in his absence, there has been a little too much pressure on May to perform and it is to the detriment of his game.

Well we have to discuss the forwards and there is a lot to discuss.

Petty is not the answer to any question regarding the forwards.

JVR out for  couple of weeks.

This leaves a couple of large holes at the pointy end. What to do?

I would try Brown and Schache as the talls for the next couple of weeks with Gawn/Grundy resting there as required. Fristch as a genuine spare medium forward and have Chandler, Spargo, Pickett and ANB as crumbers/harassers at the fall of the ball.

I would have Harmes in the team to cover any tagging roles that crop up during the game. I would have loved Goodwin to pull the trigger on the sub much earlier and get Harmes into the game to tag Anderson yesterday. 

With these suggestions I am not sure what that does to the team selection.

B: Lever, May, Hibberd

HB: Bowey, Petty, Rivers

C: Langdon, Viney, Hunter

HF: ANB, Schache, Chandler

F: Fristch, Brown, Pickett

Fol: Grundy, Petracca, Oliver

I: Gawn, McVee, Sparrow, Harmes/ Jordon (one of these two as sub)

A lot of flexibility and options in that team and all playing primary position to their strengths.

Angus??!!

4 reasons to keep the faith

1. Our forward half is incredibly unsettled yet the highest scoring in the league.

2. We’ve won all 8 final quarters

3. We’ve got Salem, Spargo, Gawn, Lever, May and others all miss games so far. 

4. We’re second on the ladder with the highest %
 

 

@layzie is spot on with regards to our lack of forward line pressure ... another way of looking at it is that we have been excellent in that area previously

As well as that, in other areas of the ground we weren't exerting maximum pressure

And they were exerting pressure with lots of numbers around the contests which often amounted to hurried disposals for our lads

So Gold Coast played a very good game, maybe their best game this season, yet we won the game

To sum up, we didn't bring our best but we didn't play poorly and in the end, we beat their best

Apart from that, if we'd have been more accurate in front of goal, we would have wrapped the game up.  Although, there seemed to be a gusty breeze about which caught hold of the ball occasionally

4 points banked

1 hour ago, djr said:

"Dire situation" Really? We are the second highest scoring team in the comp. Something must be working. 

Yep. Really. I believe that it is a dire situation with our tall forward mix and has been since the first couple of rounds with the different things we have tried. Need to find a solution and work with it.

1 hour ago, Dee*ceiving said:

Angus??!!

Knew I had missed someone. Have him in there instead of either Sparrow or McVee. 

1 hour ago, DeeZone said:

I like your thinking CHF do you have any influence on the match committee???

Nah. If I did have any influence on those guys there would have been changes a couple of weeks ago.

Not wanting to be all doom and gloom, because I'm glad we got the 4 points, I'll take that any day of the week and generally I think we are playing ok and in a decient position win/loss wise.

BUT I think there are some aspects of our defensive game that are rubbish at the moment.  My recollection of the last two goals that the GC kicked, were the result of some sloppy defending on our behalf close to the goal line that wouldn't have previously got through our once elite backline.

We can talk about bias against us with respects to umpiring decisions and JVR's suspension all we like, but I really hope the coaches and players throughly review that final 5mins of play carefully and we learn some lessons from that.  Goody publicly stated how well we played in the last quarter and generally I'd agree, but in our near capitulation, I think we actually lost our heads a bit and if it wasn't for their rubbish shot on goal in the last minute, we would have had an unfortunate loss.  Against any decient top 8 side and we loose that game.

Edited May 7, 20232 yr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

On 5/6/2023 at 7:35 PM, DeeSpencer said:

Hunter’s cooked and Grundy’s a headless chook so there goes our recruits from last year.

Fritsch needs a wake up call.

Chandler’s struggling with his leg, had no explosiveness in the second half. 

I thought Oliver had left behind these shocker games in 2020 but he’s had a few this year now.

May and Lever madness bubbling along. Petty could help but he gives no offensive drive and that’s how the ball gets stuck at the wrong end. Disco was really coming in to the game late in the 3rd with some intercept marks, not sure they subbed the right guy.

When a team turns up the pressure and speed and we can’t get the backline set we’re coughing up goals.

And our ball movement just becomes gimmicky or bombing because too few of our players make quick accurate decisions.

And we're 6-2......

People confuse me sometimes, do they think all the games we win is going to be convincing or something? I read people saying Geelong and Collingwood would bend us over, cause those teams haven't had bad games or games they shouldn't have won. Or we're not playing like a premiership side. Who the f wants to play like a premiership side in May? Top 4 is the goal and then give it a real crack. Please name 1 team who's won all their games convincingly?  Such potatoe cakes out there.

The chat about how badly our forward line is functioning is giving me real 2021 nostalgia

6 hours ago, JJR said:

People confuse me sometimes, do they think all the games we win is going to be convincing or something? I read people saying Geelong and Collingwood would bend us over, cause those teams haven't had bad games or games they shouldn't have won. Or we're not playing like a premiership side. Who the f wants to play like a premiership side in May? Top 4 is the goal and then give it a real crack. Please name 1 team who's won all their games convincingly?  Such potatoe cakes out there.

I like potato cakes.....

9 hours ago, JJR said:

People confuse me sometimes, do they think all the games we win is going to be convincing or something? I read people saying Geelong and Collingwood would bend us over, cause those teams haven't had bad games or games they shouldn't have won. Or we're not playing like a premiership side. Who the f wants to play like a premiership side in May? Top 4 is the goal and then give it a real crack. Please name 1 team who's won all their games convincingly?  Such potatoe cakes out there.

That's right, do what we have to do to qualify for the tournament then bring your best. Pretty happy to fly under the radar right now collecting wins.  

21 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Not impossible, but again, surprisingly difficult. 
 

Any questions would obviously need to be audible to any would-be transcribers, who would more than likely need to be operating from within the broadcast control-room. So again, you’d need microphones everywhere conveying that information. 
 

Or, you put the transcriber on a laptop in the conference room, and just hope that they can hear everything well enough to transcribe to air in real-time. Again, very challenging. 

There has to be simple solutions to a rather silly problem.

How about each journalist is invited and they write their best question on paper....If it is accepted the 3 or 4 journalists step forward closer to microphone to ask their questions when required.

As it is... do they just randomly pick reporters to ask the question and place them in random corners of the room.....Has always been messy part of the game that seems to not be an issue within other sports.