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POSTGAME: SF vs Carlton

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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36 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

Hasn't been the same since Maynard cleaned him up in the Duck/Dinner game.

Has the club? It's upsetting to admit it, but maybe we haven't. Maybe it shook us. Playing in front of a big MCG crowd baying for blood. We may have been too good for the has-been Tigers on Anzac Eve in 22', but the step up from that against another contender with a big supporter base. Maybe we haven't.

Edited by John Demonic

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    21 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

    Good analysis of what went wrong….

    https://www.theroar.com.au/2023/09/16/finals-fix-how-melbourne-killed-their-season-with-the-butcher-job-to-end-all-butcher-jobs/

    Agreed. Cathartic reading on the comedy of so many errors explaining how we self destructed. Again. haven't felt this way since Prelim 1987... 

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    5 hours ago, rufus said:

     I think deep down nobody trusts what this club is going to do so they don't want to make too much noise fearing the inevitable ridicule.

    100%

    I actually hate watching our players celebrate goals like they've just won the game half way through the 3rd qtr and it's 6pts the difference.
    Max gobbing off to the opposition ruckman before he kicks the goal etc, etc.
    Even listening to radio before the game they were saying that all the money was for Melbourne.
    Only 7% or so for Carlton.
    Soon as I heard we were raging favourites I got that ominous sense of doom because the club can't handle expectation.
    I hated the pre-finals pump up propaganda video the club put out.
    All the talk of winning finals in Melbourne and then losing the next 4, out in straight sets 2 years in a row.
    Max "bullish" again this season.
    I could go on and on.
    All the clowns at work telling me for 2years we'd be out in straight sets.
    And we prove 'em right.
    Cause we're chokers.

    These days I struggle for the motivation to drive 700km round trip to watch the scrappy, boring, unattractive game Goodwin calls "The Melbourne way".
    Yes they win more than they lose but it's god awful to watch regardless of the final score.


     
     

    Edited by Fork 'em

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    12 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

    100%

    I actually hate watching our players celebrate goals like they've just won the game half way through the 3rd qtr and it's 6pts the difference.
    Max gobbing off to the opposition ruckman before he kicks the goal etc, etc.
    Even listening to radio before the game they were saying that all the money was for Melbourne.
    Only 7% or so for Carlton.
    Soon as I heard we were raging favourites I got that ominous sense of doom because the club can't handle expectation.
    I hated the pre-finals pump up propaganda video the club put out.
    All the talk of winning finals in Melbourne and then losing the next 4, out in straight sets 2 years in a row.
    Max "bullish" again this season.
    I could go on and on.
    All the clowns at work telling me for 2years we'd be out in straight sets.
    And we prove 'em right.
    Cause we're chokers.

    These days I struggle for the motivation to drive 700km round trip to watch the scrappy, boring, unattractive game Goodwin calls "The Melbourne way".
    Yes they win more than they lose but it's god awful to watch.
     
     

    I can completely understand Fritsch turning to the crowd to pump them up and get them behind us. I feel like he and maybe Tracc are the only ones that understand the power behind it and harnessing the energy. But when it comes to turning back to our players, and engaging in gleeful hugs and smiles, like the job is done. I too felt that same 'awkwardness' - Don't want to pick on Kozzy as he's young, but he was smiling like his spiteful enemy had been vanquished for good after that Frisch goal and it made my stomach turn.

    You want to see a much more determined steeliness in regards to player interactions after goals. think back to the 21 GF and Tracc's reaction to his boundary worm burner goal. Just fierce determination to keep dominating them.

    Edited by John Demonic

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    9 hours ago, Binmans PA said:

    A pathetic and insipid ending. You can't kick 9.17 and expect to win too many games of footy, let alone finals.

    I know we were cobbling together a forwardline minus Petty, Melksham and JVR, but we had more than enough chances to win the game, and botched them.

    I also felt our A grade midfielders didn't influence the games enough, when we desperately need them to boss games. 

    The mantra leading into the finals campaign was win the big moments. We constantly [censored] the bed in pivotel moments.

    Shattered by two chokes in two weeks.

    Nothing more at this time, but numb is a good word for it.

    Don’t entirely disagree but Petty spent most of the year in the backline and Melksham a fair bit of time at Casey coming in when Fritsch got injured. Petty looked great there and Melksham a strong back half of the year but the both weren’t exactly first choice forwards. The fact is Goodwin never knew what our best forward line looked like all year.

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    I don't understand the calls to replace Goody. He took a different approach from last year by promoting youth (which worked) and not playing banged up players (mostly). If nothing else he deserves a lot of credit for playing two of our most maligned players who helped us secure a top four finish (Melksham) and almost gained us a preliminary final place (Smith). He also persisted with Petts as a forward who I think (injuries notwithstanding) could well be the tall, strong, mobile presence we need up there. 

    I love how he gives the press corps almost nothing and backs our boys publicly. He's the reason all our stars committed to long term deals and why the best from other clubs want to join us. The Gawn - Grundy combo didn't ultimately work because neither are great resting forwards but having BG helped us win games when Max missed a month. We'll also look after him in any trade that sees him leave and we'll lose no capital or friends in doing it. 

    We lost 9 games by a collective total of 81 points. That's 9 points a game on average and one of those was by three times that figure. Injury deprived us of Petts & Melky at the pointy end of the season and Ben Brown's degenerative knee will likely see him hang up his boots, leaving us to rely on a very underdone T-Mac and Fritta who was playing with a plate in his foot. Far from ideal yet we almost completely dominated territory and possession in both our finals. I'm sure Macrae and Voss both feel like they've won the lottery right now. 

    I really don't know much about the tactical side of AFL football tbh and lean a lot on some of the regulars on here to help make sense of what I see each week. Maybe my one strength is not making daft comments about things I don't really understand. 

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    57 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

    Feel angry and disillusioned because we lost, not because we weren’t good enough but because of ill discipline, especially from Pickett and JVR and poor selection - Laurie as sub last week and keeping TMac on too long this week. Spargo showed why he is important as a good decision maker and needs to be played. Our back 6 were superb and must be filthy with the forwards. 

    tell Goodwin please

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    7 hours ago, The heart beats true said:

    You didn’t sit where I sat. I sat with the most passionate, vocal, unrelenting Melbourne supporters I’ve ever seen.

    This narrative about our supporters is hot garbage. We were outnumbered, but we gave everything we could for our team. On the siren that was the most gutted I’ve ever seen our supporter base. 

    You can be disappointed in the loss, but it’s simply untrue to say our supporters are ‘shocking’.

    I was sitting next to the Dees army and I can tell you it was loud and we were chanting Melbourne over and over! On the right side of me were Carlton supporters who were saying awful things and booing at every chance when we had the ball. Quite disgusted! I really hope they lose big time! 

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    8 hours ago, Demonsone said:

    So, Josh Schache.  Played 2 games this year:

    Round 7 against Nth Melbourne
    Round 23 against Hawthorn 

    10 disposals, 1 goal, both games combined.

    But we bring him in as the sub for the do or die final - yet we’re paying Brodie 6/700k, we had no ruck contest for 4-5 times in the f50 …. Unbelievable 

    Who does Goody report to? Richo? He needs a bake for this. I reckon we win this game with Grundy. 

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    I know we lost with our bad kicking for goal, but Viney’s turn over to Weitering will go down as one of the worst turnovers I’ve ever seen in a big game. It completely killed us when we had all our players on that side. You just can’t coach for that.

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    Really not liking some of the negativity and criticism of our coaching staff and players on here this morning.  If we'd won, by 5 points there would have been some very different reviews.

    Thought we learned a lot of lessons from 2022 this year, but just got smashed by injury upon injuries to our forward half.  Yey the players played their guts out and kept us in games when we were dealt some rubbish hands on game day as well.

    In 2021, everything clicked for us in our attacking game in the last 5 or 6 games of the home and away, but this season, every time we got close in that regard we had another injury to a key part of that forward setup that put us backwards.

    In retrospect, I wished we'd appealed JVR's suspension, because he might have been the difference against Carlton and what he did was a whole 3 levels less severe than what Maynard did.  But next week, we probably would be smashed by Brisbane, like I hope Carton are and in all, I think we just didn't quite have enough go our way in the back 3rd of the season to be a truely dominant contender hitting the finals full of confidence like we did in 2021. 

    Three top four finishes in as many years says we have the troops, the coaches and the culture to take us to another premiership with a few more tweaks and a bit more luck go our way.  Max, Viney and Goodie are great leaders, with quality around them on that next level as well.

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    Goodwin did not address this last night but what was with the No Melbourne ruck in the forward line. Must have been as least five of them. Some kind of pregame plan that made no since. 

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    4 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

    I know we lost with our bad kicking for goal, but Viney’s turn over to Weitering will go down as one of the worst turnovers I’ve ever seen in a big game. It completely killed us when we had all our players on that side. You just can’t coach for that.

    I couldn't believe what i witnessed when he turned over that kick. No one around but Weithering 15 yards away. Acres of space behind him to kick into. And he kicks it straight onto his chest. I knew then what was coming. I just knew. Jack will struggle to sleep for a while.

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    8 hours ago, frankie_d said:

    Max post game “Some intersting free kicks”….

     

     

    Absolutely agree with him but as captain he can go over to the umpires at an interval  to discuss those “interesting free kicks” or non calls……..especially on his case. We are too nice a club. This is us though all learnings post game when it’s too late, why not do something about it during the course of a game.

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    1 hour ago, Great Northern Summer said:

    Every time I’ve walked past Roffey she has looked completely unapproachable. I actually walked past her yesterday hours before the game sitting on a couch in the mcc alone. Didn’t exactly give a positive impression that she was the ‘president of the people’. Poor body language. That’s my impression anyway. Maybe just attention your correspondence directly to the board.

    I walked past her sitting on the couch too, I looked back to check it was her, gave her a wave and got one back. She was on the phone, so not much more she could do 

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    15 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

    I know we lost with our bad kicking for goal, but Viney’s turn over to Weitering will go down as one of the worst turnovers I’ve ever seen in a big game. It completely killed us when we had all our players on that side. You just can’t coach for that.

    Yep! Even if he bypassed Smith and goes long on his left and it either gets knocked out of bounds or Kozzie gets it over the back

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    Selection can always be questioned and i don't think its the reason we lost. You can always talk up the potential performance of the player left out against the actual performance of the player that played.

    But the TMac selection just has to be questioned. He offered nothing. And not subbing in Schache. Bizarre decisions. 

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    Just now, BDA said:

    Selection can always be questioned and i don't think its the reason we lost. You can always talk up the potential performance of the player left out against the actual performance of the player that played.

    But the TMac selection just has to be questioned. He offered nothing. And not subbing in Schache. Bizarre decisions. 

    We lost because 90 secs off football we stopped playing, we lost all defensive structure behind the ball.  The game was won, so our players thought

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    18 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

    I know we lost with our bad kicking for goal, but Viney’s turn over to Weitering will go down as one of the worst turnovers I’ve ever seen in a big game. It completely killed us when we had all our players on that side. You just can’t coach for that.

    Yep and Viney will be living with that all pre season. That was the turnover kick that set up the winner

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    1 hour ago, Fork 'em said:

    Hasn't been the same since Maynard cleaned him up in the Duck/Dinner game.

    That and since he shaved his hair! 

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