Campbell Brown calls the Melbourne Football Club "fragile"

[chook fowler 19,447]

don't mind this - deserve to have the blowtorch applied to the gentiles.

[jumbo returns 6,740]

Good

He's right

[Young Angus 781]

These commentators are just ex players, they aren't experts, they're mostly just mugs with a microphone.

I do understand why heaps of people seem to be giving it to Melbourne more than other teams though.  On paper we looked like we should have been in pole position all year to win the whole thing again, but we continued to squander opportunities and butcher situations in games that a team with so many elite players like Melbourne shouldn't have been butchering.  It didn't make sense, and I don't think it's just Melbourne fans that are angry at Melbourne for letting this happen.  Injuries aside, our kicking was shocking and we still could have won way more games if something so fundamental was being done better.  People are angry with Melbourne, lots of people, what they did this year looks wasteful and I'm sure to some it even looks like their attitude in general is quite poor considering they are well and truly in the premiership window and it still looks like they just aren't working hard enough at being the absolute best they can be while in this window.  

I'm sure most footballers would kill to be in a team like Melbourne right now, and if they see them appearing to not work hard enough and squander an opportunity like this I'm sure that would make them pretty mad because they know how hard they'd work if they were in that situation.  Think 2021 Melbourne...they were hungry, there was a drought to break...something has happened since then that isn't good and we all know it.  We need to get it back because it's still there somewhere.

One game of bad kicking and poor decisions and discipline is one thing...but it wasn't just one game was it.

Most of the pundits are just mugs and are basically just a couple of blokes talking in a pub, apart from Gary Lyon maybe, and not just because he's ex Melbourne but he is very measured and you can tell he's a clever considered professional.

Melbourne deserve way more heat than any other team right now, because they should be way better than most too but have managed to squander it.  We know it, the mugs with the mics know it, and the Melbourne players know it too.  It's just kind of sad because we all know they should have won both those finals and so many more games this year.

I firmly believe 2024 will be a better year, but it seems like there's something at the club we're all missing, maybe even a work ethic or culture issue that crept in after the premiership win, who knows, but something isn't quite adding up as to why we aren't consistently kicking more a$$.

[jnrmac 20,055]

This is how the media narrative works. And its not just footy.

1. John Ralph makes  unsubstantiated anonymous comments from 'senior officials' at melbourne

2.Fox prints comments in their online story

3.55 different commentators who are looking for content write a story or make comments about Melbourne 'whinging', whining' their 'fragile state' etc

4. It is set in stone that Melbourne are weak mentally, are fragile etc [insert adjective]

5. Campbell Brown is a Richard 

6.  Media narrative created

7. Who cares

Edited September 19, 2023 by jnrmac

[beelzebub 23,313]

What an interesting topic.

If someone had asked me ...what one quality do you think Melbourne needs more of ?..   I would have answered RESILIENCE. 

We choked. Anyone want to argue otherwise ?? 

When you do such you WILL attract such commentary that questions fragility. That's just going to happen.

Ive no particular time for the little annoying dweeb...  but I do entertain we got done over.  And that's between the ears...as we struggle to get between the posts.

What is...IS.

The club needs to deal with this. It's  real.

We went out in straight sets.....twice...  nit because we were thoroughly beaten..... but because we couldnt win....even though we essentially had.

I dont have a problem with what any in the media say... let them. 

We stuffed up, let's do better.  

Let's be more resilient. 

 

[IRW 1,387]

10 hours ago, Supreme_Demon said:

Now, I can cop the criticism from Garry Lyon. Because he is a champion of the Melbourne Demons.

But to get insulted by a knuckle-dragging imbecile like Campbell Brown is beyond the pale.

He called the Melbourne Football Club "fragile" and "pathetic" for making up excuses.

Here is the link to the article: https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/exafl-gun-unloads-on-fragile-dees-absolutely-pathetic-excuse/news-story/f4a53703b7ac54ec098740a3dee7c989

All I will say is that I hope the Melbourne Demons players stick this article to their locker doors in the change rooms.

They need to be motivated to seek redemption in season 2024 and beyond. Otherwise, insults from morons like Campbell Brown and other media snipers will continue!

This utter disrespect makes my blood boil! 🤬🤬🤬🤬

But unless we win those cut-throat finals at the MCG infront of huge crowds then this shadow of being "mentally weak" shall continue to follow the Melbourne Football Club. Time for a new mindset of stoicism and determination from both our players and our coaches.

You are quibbling about adjectives?

How about the attitude of the players?

I remember them boasting about a dynasty before they even  got off the ground after winning the flag !!

It was presumptuous then ; embarrassingly revealing of their immaturity and they don't seem to have either grown, or smartened , up by now. 

Dumb,immature, fragile,chokers,naive without poise or confidence...who cares what they are called ?

RDB would be pointing out its not whether youre the best or most talented that is relevant,it's whether you bring your own best to the team  that will make a winning team.

The last two years actually flatter them

 

[Bitter but optimistic 22,222]

Brown, Cornes et al ...... who GAF what they spout.

[beelzebub 23,313]

3 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Brown, Cornes et al ...... who GAF what they spout.

Fair enough...

Those Elephants are going nowhere....

[Vitamin Dee 863]

Irrespective of how the criticism has been directed, the underlying fact is, we've fluffed two major opportunities over the past 2 years. It feels terrible because it is terrible, and criticism will continue to come our way until we improve in this area.

Must win high-pressure games of footy, not provide commentary on reasons why we lost, that just adds fuel to the fire.

Zip the lips and get to work, show the footy world what we all know we're capable of. 

 

[The heart beats true 18,110]

45 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

 

What an interesting topic.

If someone had asked me ...what one quality do you think Melbourne needs more of ?..   I would have answered RESILIENCE. 

I’ll argue with you about this.

Our game plan is literally built on resilience. Consistent contest win, bang it forward, stoppage. Go again. It’s actually the most resilient game plan in the AFL. It’s physically exhausting. At one stage we had 19 to 9 inside 50’s on Friday night in the last quarter. We kept going. Same story the week before.

The one quality I reckon we need the most of is craft. Execute 2 more times a game going into 50, or in front of goal, and we’d win the flag this year.

We are resilient. We aren’t executing. 👍

[YearOfTheDees 3,266]

The football world has the right to call us whatever they want at the moment. It's our job to respond on the field next year. 

[Bozo 73]

He is right. The sooner we are able to admit this the sooner we can start to make progress toward shifting our fortunes. Mistakes have been made and we must take a thorough, honest look at ourselves before it can change.

[beelzebub 23,313]

1 hour ago, The heart beats true said:

I’ll argue with you about this.

Our game plan is literally built on resilience. Consistent contest win, bang it forward, stoppage. Go again. It’s actually the most resilient game plan in the AFL. It’s physically exhausting. At one stage we had 19 to 9 inside 50’s on Friday night in the last quarter. We kept going. Same story the week before.

The one quality I reckon we need the most of is craft. Execute 2 more times a game going into 50, or in front of goal, and we’d win the flag this year.

We are resilient. We aren’t executing. 👍

You'd think so wouldnt you...It' al been about sucking up the pressure and then rebounding.   Problem is we've been getting worn down.  Quite frankly we looked tired and spent out there in the last qtr.  I thought Max had had enough...  Kicks weren't going where they ought to... the boundary line became our refuge ...AGAIN.    Our skills  wre quite frankly borderline attrocious as the game wore on ( emphasis on WORE ).  Whatever craft we have up thefront end had long left for home.. Resilience is aboutovercoming the tiredness and the pressure and maintainng the status quo...or whatever abilities you need to bring to the party and sadly were were lacking and all over the shop...Thats WHY Carlton ran over us..

Everyone keeps banging on about  if only ...if only.....  Well..WE DIDN'T  WE DIDN'T.....because we couldn't.  Whatever happened to the famed and lauded End Game Plan??  it died along with our ability to be effective..  We were the far more fatigued of the two teams at the end.

I do agree with the notion our game has long been about resilience....  I suggest we go find it again...   

[monoccular 17,417]

And what is the one and only way to refute all these critics, most of whom are morons?

Let’s see how the players, the team and the club as a whole respond in 2024 and beyond.  

[Lord Travis 10,701]

Article title says “ex afl gun unloads…”. Who was it? Campbell Brown was as far from a gun as possible.

He’s a pathetic drunken battler, and the fact he has a media job sums up the state of Australian media and journalism. 

Ignore him and move on. We’ll reload next year and be in contention again. The only thing he’ll reload is a slab of beer and a criminal record for his poor behavior.

[Ethan Tremblay 30,828]

If another club made the top four two seasons in a row and went out in straight sets, I’d say they were fragile. I’m a jerk though. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Ethan Tremblay

[Engorged Onion 10,215]

1 hour ago, beelzebub said:

You'd think so wouldnt you...It' al been about sucking up the pressure and then rebounding.   Problem is we've been getting worn down.  Quite frankly we looked tired and spent out there in the last qtr.  I thought Max had had enough...  Kicks weren't going where they ought to... the boundary line became our refuge ...AGAIN.    Our skills  wre quite frankly borderline attrocious as the game wore on ( emphasis on WORE ).  Whatever craft we have up thefront end had long left for home.. Resilience is aboutovercoming the tiredness and the pressure and maintainng the status quo...or whatever abilities you need to bring to the party and sadly were were lacking and all over the shop...Thats WHY Carlton ran over us..

Everyone keeps banging on about  if only ...if only.....  Well..WE DIDN'T  WE DIDN'T.....because we couldn't.  Whatever happened to the famed and lauded End Game Plan??  it died along with our ability to be effective..  We were the far more fatigued of the two teams at the end.

I do agree with the notion our game has long been about resilience....  I suggest we go find it again...   

 

.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Engorged Onion
CBF'd

[BaliDemon 401]

Just a reminder of the stock Campbell Brown comes from. 

 

 

[beelzebub 23,313]

5 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Fascinating how two (many) people can watch the same thing and attribute outcomes to different factors.

We lost because we didn't execute, not that we were more fatigued - we had 10 more scoring shots.

Carlton were also gifted a range of free kicks at opportune times.

Outcomes of matches are not necessarily a reflection of 'grit', resilience, mental toughness etc.  Matter of fact, these words STILL have not even being operationalised into legitimate constructs  since the 15 years have passed since I finished my masters in sports psych, worked in the industry for said period of time, and was working with the 'mental toughness' guru researcher Dan Gucciardi who exited the space.. (yup, felt a need to put in my credentials).

We lost the match because we failed to execute, this happens consistently in every game by every team, there are such fine margins in sport., but I get that not everyone sees it that way. Some are absolutists - some invest all their energy into being a supporter and having success of a club inextricably linked to their own happiness.

For sure, have an opinion @beelzebub, but if you don't know what you're talking about, then you don't know what you're talking about.

 

Why do you think we couldn't execute..all very glib to use this buzz-word as the get out.. but reality is thats the result...not the reason.

Irony much in your last paragraph. 

[Half forward flank 1,022]

I did not see any evidence in softness in play. Strangely i saw no joy of playing from the guys either in the warm ups or game. I know its professional sport by thought there was bit of stress showing from the start and evident when  lining up for goals and of course got worse as we kept missing. 
as to kicking the drop punt is vrry accurate with a good exponent of the kick. Sometimes from 30 a ugly old punt kick is easier and more relaxed kick.

[layzie 33,765]

4 hours ago, BDA said:

Demonland is very fragile at the moment. Getting all worked over commentary in the media. It's just noise mainly. Some fair criticism for sure but nothing the club is not already aware internally.

That's right. 

I've had several people complain to me about last Friday's game and then almost in the same breath mention the media lashings in a very defensive tone. What were we expecting? The season promised a lot and delivered little, one lot of straight sets exits is enough, 2 in a row was the doomsday scenario. 

The club knew it was coming. 

[Demonsone 2,036]

Gary Lyon on the couch sums up perfectly suck it up didn’t play well enough come back for preseason training to get fitter & better full stop .. coaches get better improve ur game plan, blowtorch should be on all of them inc Goody  but even stronger on port power as same coach 10yrs + no gf or a flag! Beaten convincingLy in both finals !

 

[The heart beats true 18,110]

16 minutes ago, layzie said:

That's right. 

I've had several people complain to me about last Friday's game and then almost in the same breath mention the media lashings in a very defensive tone. What were we expecting? 

Totally. This place is very angry at the moment. There feels like a lot of venting, but not a lot of reading going on. 

I get it was super disappointing, but it’s also just a game of footy. We all want the same thing here. Shouting at each other isn’t going to make it happen.

I’m excited for the draft and trade stuff to really kick off so we can get back to having some dialogue around here. 

[WinterofDiscontent 123]

When media aren't talking us up during the year, people sook and whinge that we aren't being given the credit we 'deserve'. We failed when it counts two years in a row. Either we're not actually a top 4 side and there's no need for anyone to talk us up or recognise our successes during the year, or we are good, and repeated failures in finals are exposing an inability to win when it matters - that IS mental weakness. Being terrible in wet weather for literally as long as I can remember is mental weakness - rigidity and an inability to change game style to suit conditions. Losing players to suspension when we really really need them, giving away 50m penalties, not taking best and first option and instead turning the footy over in crucial moments - it's all mental weakness. They're not robots, so you've got to expect a degree of fragility and each player to have mental deficiencies in their own areas, but anyone that can't see that we lack that killer instinct, hack the bone ruthlessness that dynastically great teams had doesn't watch us well enough. We rarely put sides away. We often leave teams in the contest when games should be well and truly wrapped up. So many of our players fail when they're gifted the opportunity to put a result beyond doubt. Excuses about being rattled by a teammates' concussion a week after the fact, is pretty grim if true. There's a really really easy to to avoid anyone discussing the club in a manner like they have since last Friday... just win. Win, and the noise ceases to exist. 

[Demonsone 2,036]

Reality is opposition supporters etc want to tear down a club that’s won a flag recently, in particular pure & blues who both have won only 1 flag between them since 2000. I kindly remind them of this & they shut up. The % all went wrong buy decisions made across coaches & players … so suck it up & accept we’re not good enough & find ways to improve.,  took the cats 11 seasons to win another after 2011 !