1 minute ago, DeeMee said:

My fear and looking more probable is playing a great season, finishing third and playing first final against Lions in Brisbane. 

My bigger fear is missing top 4.

I woke hoping my MFCSS would subside but it hasn’t. I’m genuinely concerned we’ll lose to Hawthorn next week and expose ourselves to needing to beat Sydney to avoid slipping out of the top 4 altogether. 

I think 4th is more likely than 3rd though. 

1 minute ago, DeeMee said:

My fear and looking more probable is playing a great season, finishing third and playing first final against Lions in Brisbane. 

I don't fear playing Brisbane up there but would love some home finals. Guess we cheer the Pies on this week and just do the rest ourselves. Might need Port to drop another game. 

Was always going to go down to the wire. Credit to our backline for absorbing that manic first quarter pressure. Umps were frustrating with the htb inconsistency but it happens. Maybe it's crowd noise. We had our chances. Jvr kicks one of those goals he usually does and it's happy days . Also midfield totally caught napping five mins l at the start of the last.

It's the fwd problem that worries me come finals. I just can't see where our goals will come from. Chandler, Melksham and Kozzie are hot and cold. Jvr our most reliable but the kids played twenty games. Back to betting on Tmac . I do think in leau of Petty going out,  Goody should have played Smith fwd. Grundy is definitely not a fwd and once again Max seemed subdued.

Edited August 13, 20231 yr by leave it to deever

5 minutes ago, DeeMee said:

My fear and looking more probable is playing a great season, finishing third and playing first final against Lions in Brisbane. 

We need Port to win today

15 minutes ago, DeeMee said:

I can understand Umpires missing frees and making mistakes, it is the nature of the game.

I cannot understand umpires looking directly at blatant frees right in front of them and not paying them. They know the rules. We were shafted last night.

There were a few that left me gobsmacked. Several boundary throw ins where Pittonet just blatantly hugged Max/Grundy and they couldn't compete for the ball.

The "specky" attempt on Max that went nowhere near the footy.

The JVR legs take out.

Sparrow having someone drop right into his back.

I'm sure there where others but these were all blatant and right in front of the umpire. I really hate sooking about it because when it happens the other way (Richmond supporters a couple of weeks ago) we just laugh at how one-eyed/sooky they're being but when they miss blatant frees that aren't open for interpretation when they're staring right at them what hope have we got.

11 hours ago, Roger Mellie said:

His kicking was off all game

His disposing of the ball has been off for a while, contact is not his favourite word...

3 minutes ago, YearOfTheDees said:

I don't fear playing Brisbane up there but would love some home finals. Guess we cheer the Pies on this week and just do the rest ourselves. Might need Port to drop another game. 

Pies might rest a few they cannot lose top spot....

4 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

Pies might rest a few they cannot lose top spot....

Yep and also increase the chances of a real threat to them (us) having to go to Brisbane week 1

27 minutes ago, sam6172 said:

Just my 2 cents. I don't know what game a lot of people were watching?

Melbournes defence was superb, no one else in the comp withstands that first quarter. Carlton would have been 8 goals up. They had it locked in but couldn't get through.

A lot of people saying all we did is bomb it long into the 50? That's because Carlton was set up brilliantly and that's all we could do. Did you all miss the 100 times they did the same because we blocked them off? There's a reason it was a low scoring game and that's because both teams defence was on point. 

No leads in the last 2 mins someone said? How do you lead when there is 28 players in the 50? Lead to where? What space? 

Melbourne actually played very well, unfortunately for us, so did Carlton. Best 2 teams going at the moment for mine. 

Skill errors and possibly selection are what lost us the game but not much they can do when the best forward we've had for a while breaks his foot the week before. 

Keep tinkering Goody. C'mon boys, you've got this!

Great post Sam. Both defenses were superb. 

You are the 4th or 5th poster to say that without our defensive efforts, Carlton should have been 5-8 goals up at quarter time. Which begs the question, why does Joel Smith cop such BS on here? He was part of that brilliant defensive effort. His spoiling and tackling were very good. Yet he cops the "should never play back again", or "should be the permanent sub". The poor bloke has been training as a forward all year and yet gets placed down back. We are lucky to have someone with his versatility.  Personally, i would prefer him as a forward, but really happy for him to be getting game time, in any role, after so many horrid injuries throughout his career. He is the ultimate team player as he'll take on any role he is given.

11 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

My bigger fear is missing top 4.

I woke hoping my MFCSS would subside but it hasn’t. I’m genuinely concerned we’ll lose to Hawthorn next week and expose ourselves to needing to beat Sydney to avoid slipping out of the top 4 altogether. 

I think 4th is more likely than 3rd though. 

I'm hoping the Suns take care of Carlton next week and it becomes a non issue.

We really should beat Hawthorn irrespective of all that and I expect us to. But then I expected us to beat Carlton too.

Edited August 13, 20231 yr by Binmans PA

41 minutes ago, sam6172 said:

Just my 2 cents. I don't know what game a lot of people were watching?

Melbournes defence was superb, no one else in the comp withstands that first quarter. Carlton would have been 8 goals up. They had it locked in but couldn't get through.

A lot of people saying all we did is bomb it long into the 50? That's because Carlton was set up brilliantly and that's all we could do. Did you all miss the 100 times they did the same because we blocked them off? There's a reason it was a low scoring game and that's because both teams defence was on point. 

No leads in the last 2 mins someone said? How do you lead when there is 28 players in the 50? Lead to where? What space? 

Melbourne actually played very well, unfortunately for us, so did Carlton. Best 2 teams going at the moment for mine. 

Skill errors and possibly selection are what lost us the game but not much they can do when the best forward we've had for a while breaks his foot the week before. 

Keep tinkering Goody. C'mon boys, you've got this!

A sane voice among a cacophony of catastrophisation.

12 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

I have major issues with Salem running into an open goal, unpressured, and not making the distance from about 42 metres. I just don't get it. Furious with that.

Great game of footy, but we were beaten at our own game and looked slow around the contest, especially at stoppages. 

Because he stabs at it and always finds the loose man, always has. Lovely kick of the ball, just don't ask him to kick a long high 50 metre drop punt. Anyway, you win some, you lose some.

Edited August 13, 20231 yr by John Demonic

5 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

Was always going to go down to the wire. Credit to our backline for absorbing that manic first quarter pressure. Umps were frustrating with the htb inconsistency but it happens. Maybe it's crowd noise. We had our chances. Jvr kicks one of those goals he usually does and it's happy days . Also midfield totally caught napping five mins l at the start of the last.

It's the fwd problem that worries me come finals. I just can't see where our goals will come from. Chandler, Melksham and Kozzie are hot and cold. Jvr our most reliable but the kids played twenty games. Back to betting on Tmac . I do think in leau of Petty going out,  Goody should have played Smith fwd. Grundy is definitely not a fwd and once again Max seemed subdued.

Max has a problem with ruckman that can jump early but Grundy does not and thats why he was more affective in that last quarter and with the forward line they moved away from what they were trying to do they got sucked up the ground with their opponents to hard to create space if everyone is in the same area, Kossie, melk/chandler or JVR should go no further than the arc and if you watch the pies/even geelong they always have 1 or 2 players around that area so they can lead out the back and into free space. 

 

5 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

Great post Sam. Both defenses were superb. 

You are the 4th or 5th poster to say that without our defensive efforts, Carlton should have been 5-8 goals up at quarter time. Which begs the question, why does Joel Smith cop such BS on here? He was part of that brilliant defensive effort. His spoiling and tackling were very good. Yet he cops the "should never play back again", or "should be the permanent sub". The poor bloke has been training as a forward all year and yet gets placed down back. We are lucky to have someone with his versatility.  Personally, i would prefer him as a forward, but really happy for him to be getting game time, in any role, after so many horrid injuries throughout his career. He is the ultimate team player as he'll take on any role he is given.

Smith is good 1v1, it's in the zone when there's space front, back and sides that he gets exposed and he's not a good reader of the play.

But the mark and goal he kicked once moved forward was superb.

Edited August 13, 20231 yr by Binmans PA

Just now, Binmans PA said:

Smith is good 1v1, it's in the zone when there's space front, back and sides that he gets exposed and he doesn't read the play.

But the mark and goal he kicked once moved forward was superb.

Get a decent forward coach he might be more than handy.

Our slow starts worry me. The oppo tear into us from the get-go and put us on the back foot straight away. Switch on from the start and we win last night.

The luck was against us. the big calls went Carltons way. Such is life.

If we can find a partner in crime for JVR we're set for September. One last dance with TMac perhaps?

4 hours ago, Travy14 said:

Chandler is as safe as houses, has been one of our best since he came back in.  and even today he kicked a goal, had 1 goal assist and 5 score involvements at 88% disposal efficiency.

Agree with JJ going out and I think Smith needs to go back to Sub, he just doesn't have the smarts for full games.  but has been very good as Sub this year

Yes a joe-the-goose.  Missed the only deliberate gettable shot by alot from not far out.

A window presents for Moniz or Spargo for mine subject to their performances today.

Might need Smith to cover up forward for Grundy out over the next two weeks until we see how Macca goes.

Smith was the only tall forward to take a contested mark and kick a set shot goal in his limited time up forward.

If Macca makes it back then yes, maybe Smith goes back to sub but not before imv.  Need the alternate TF to assist JVR.

Edited August 13, 20231 yr by Demon Dynasty

46 minutes ago, DeeMee said:

My fear and looking more probable is playing a great season, finishing third and playing first final against Lions in Brisbane. 

I keep doing ladder predictors and keep coming up with us playing Carlton in a GF

 

46 minutes ago, DeeMee said:

My fear and looking more probable is playing a great season, finishing third and playing first final against Lions in Brisbane. 

2nd spot is still up for grabs if the Pies beat the Lions next week. Hopefully that is a bruising encounter for both.

2 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

Exactly right Macca. A win might have glossed over a lot we did wrong. But also right. 
End of the day they were the better teams and we should have been 5 goals down at 1/4 time.

We were short on our best whereas the Blues played extremely well

Our best is 4 or 5 goals better than Carlton but we didn't play to that level ... and that's why we lost.  Certainly the main reason

But if anyone here reckons our output was any better than 6.5 out of 10, I'd like to see them explain that reasoning

For instance, we had any number of players down on their best.  Too many in fact

A good example is our forward line and how it functioned (or how it didn't function) ... plain as the eye could see

Now, we weren't 4.5 out of 10 like we were against the Bombers earlier in the season and we didn't play poorly like we did against Freo but nevertheless, we were not close to our best last night

So we have to look ahead after a loss like that ... and we need to improve if we're going to contend.  Or at least, bring our best like we did against the Pies

There's still plenty of hope because despite playing below our best against a team who played very well, we very nearly won

For anyone that has doubt about the goal umpires call last night listen to the ABC audio interview with Marchbank - it  is clear as day that he did not touch it. 

Edited August 13, 20231 yr by Gawndy the Great

9 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Yes a joe-the-goose.  Missed the only deliberate gettable shot by alot from not far out.

A window presents for Moniz or Spargo for mine subject to their performances today.

Might need Smith to cover up forward for Grundy out over the next two weeks until we see how Macca goes.

Smith was the only tall forward to take a contested mark and kick a set shot goal in his limited time up forward.

If Macca makes it back then yes, maybe Smith goes back to sub but not before imv.  Need the alternate TF to assist JVR.

Spargo will replace a mid, ie JJ. We're playing too many mids now. 

10 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

For anyone that has doubt about the goal umpires call last night listen to the ABC audio interview with Marchbank - it  is clear as day that he did not touch it. 

Cripps after the game was asked about the touched ball incident and he said they got lucky.

11 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

Spargo will replace a mid, ie JJ. We're playing too many mids now. 

I’m far from sold that this is the right move. 

I think Oliver’s return made our mids look off last night as they adjusted but I can’t see how adding another small forward helps any issue we have. Particularly one like Spargo who doesn’t get much ball or hit the scoreboard much. 

How good was Kossie’s goal in the last qtr with two opponents and no gap to squeeze the ball through. Gees he’s worth the price of a (family) membership