Very small (ie the smallest) sample size but if we are serious about being a premiership contender, to perform like that for the first game of the season (on top of straight sets finals exit and off field issues over summer) plants a massive seed of doubt and consequently, it will no doubt embolden opposition teams to no longer fear our contested and defence oriented game style. I hope I am wrong but with the injuries and off field issues, I fear we are on the precipice of asking  the cabin boy to start moving the deck chairs on the titanic. 

16 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

Max talked a big game but didn't deliver at all.

Max let Grundy get into his head and as a result, couldn’t concentrate on his game. I’m glad we got the Swans out of the way early in the season.

5 hours ago, D Rev said:

Hodgey would rather drink poison than give us a compliment.  Pretty easy to punch down when we are playing poorly.

1.8 from 29 entries deserves everything it gets

we certainly didn’t deserve compliments 

21 minutes ago, Dee*ceiving said:

We knew already, but Grundy's performance last night is a severe dagger in the heart for us. 

SG and football department should be hurting over their failure to make something out of the Max and Brody partnership. It seems they only had one plan for that partnership.

It was one or both of Max and Brody spend ~50% of their game time I50 and they kick goals. As soon as they became convinced that wasn't working they threw it away completely and discarded a quality player to a competing contender.

Surely there were other options and a combination of which could be applied? 

• Don't play them both every week. Surely there would be benefit in giving them a rest from time to time. 3 - 4 games off each throughout the season would have some merit (horses for f'n courses)
• If the forward option isn't working have one of them drop behind the ball for 20% of their game time. This could even allow a defender to swing forward as a shock option! 
• Reduce each of their own overall game time. Max had 82% TOG last night, Brodie 78%. Why not target each of them around 70%? 
• Sub one of them off from time to time for a running player

It’s all history now but I agree the whole Grundy saga was a stuff up. Interesting Cornes had a lot to say about it on SEN this morning. He said we had Grundy signed for 4 years but let him go one of our fiercest competitors, not the Eagles or Kangeroos, for pick 46! And did this knowing there was no ready backup ruckman for a 32 yr old. He has a valid point. Our whole season depends on Max staying fit. The inability to make the Grundy thing work still staggers me. 

A lot of Brody Grundy revisionism going on today

12 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

1.8 from 29 entries deserves everything it gets

we certainly didn’t deserve compliments 

When Hodge pointed out that literally nobody in our F50 was moving at all, followed by a laugh, alarm bells started ringing. I thought this is what had been addressed in the off season?
 

Either they were too tired to move, were following instructions from the coach or what, our whole forward line just gave up on creating leads??
 

I don’t know which is worse and I just don’t understand how in Rd 1, a commentator points this out. I do not understand at all. 

I am worried for the rest of the year and am shocked that I’m saying that. 

Slippery conditions against a well coached side, which is do struggle against.  despite that I did tip us to just win so double annoyed. We had our chances early but kicking 1.7 cost us the game.  

Our forwards were poor and not working hard enough to create opportunities for those bringing the ball in.   Also our crumbs don't crumb, never have for some reason.  Laurie looked terrible but so did a lot of teammates.  

 Overall a very frustrating ingot of footy.  We have time to reset for rd 1.

2 hours ago, Sydee said:

Well, I was there too and didn't think it was particularly warm albeit I do live in Sydney so perhaps I'm used to a warmer climate.

What I will say is that after the game I walked across the park outside the ground and the grass felt dry to me so not sure how it gets so slippery inside the stadium and for the most part the swans players seemed very capable to handle the ball like it was dry.

We can make all the excuses in the world, but the harsh reality is that last night we were out played by a team that looked much fitter, was prepared to run harder and make space and were far superior when it came to executing basic AFL skills (particularly field kicking)

For the record I was convinced at half time we would get our act together and come home with a wet sail. When Bowey got injured, my confidence dropped, when May looked proppy at 3/4 time I thought the writing was on the wall - and it sure was.

I'm not writing off this year based on one loss to a team who in my opinion will make the finals but there is plenty of work to do to get to where we hope to be. Some of that is missing critical personnel particularly in our F50 (Petty, Pickett, McAdam and possibly even Fullarton who couldn't offer less than Schache who is simply not an AFL footballer and never will be.

Chandler, Laurie and Spargo were all bitterly disappointing but of those 3 at least Chandler offers some leg speed the other two were embarrassingly slow last night - and I have been a big supporter of Spargo before but on last night's effort he should not have been selected mainly due to lack of match fitness.

Those criticizing JVR need to remember that our system and delivery into the F50 is shambolic - I would hate to be a forward in our side as the ball is constantly hacked in mostly to the defender's advantage. His output will improve if we can get either Petty or Fullerton there as another legitimate tall target and improve our system of entry/delivery even by a small margin. 

 

Fair post but I wasn't referring to any dew more humidity levels and the slipperyness coming from the perspiration from players bodies making the ball harder to handle.

There is no question our forwards don't move enough.  But equally,  if we have a 3 on 2 or 4 on 3 with a 'fast break', I still not confident we score.     We don't make the right decisions or run to the right spots.  I'm sure they do a lot of work on this at training but imho it's a 'skill' that you either have or you don't.  If you're going to run with an undersized forward line you simply have to be able to take advantage of 3 on 2s.  Conversely, our back line is excellent at defending when outnumbered or out positioned. 

17 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It's boring football, just really hard to watch.

I don't care if we're winning. It's if we start losing like that and playing an ugly contested style, it's bloody torturous. 

17 hours ago, praha said:

Goodwin picked Schache over Grundy in a do-or-die semi final, but then never played him, instead stuck with Tom McDonald, who is still on the MCG right now completing a 180 degree turn some 6 months after the game ended. 

AND THEN he traded Grundy, before picking Schache to play *against* Grundy as the backup to Gawn, the role Grundy was originally recruited to Melbourne for. Only for Grundy to smack them both.

You couldn't come up with a more Melbourne storyline if you tried. 2021 is such a pipedream. Only Melbourne could [censored] up having two AA ruckman 

Don’t forget we also trade Grundy for nothing. 

36 minutes ago, BoBo said:

When Hodge pointed out that literally nobody in our F50 was moving at all, followed by a laugh, alarm bells started ringing. I thought this is what had been addressed in the off season?
 

Either they were too tired to move, were following instructions from the coach or what, our whole forward line just gave up on creating leads??
 

I don’t know which is worse and I just don’t understand how in Rd 1, a commentator points this out. I do not understand at all. 

I am worried for the rest of the year and am shocked that I’m saying that. 

Yes i am not angry at Players, but the Gameplan and Coaching is another level. 
We have not evolved as a side since ‘21. 
Trading Grundy after such a short time is unforgivable, he should have been persevered with for at least 2 years. 
It has already bitten us straight away 

is it arrogance or just plain dumb?

Chandler, Laurie & Schace are not afl standard …our fwd situation issues haven’t changed since Hogan, sure won a flag with Brown & Tmac but are past it yet still on our list! Our recruiters have done a great job with gems in defenders but can’t believe premiership team not been able to attract a few agent fwd or get a trade done!
 

What hurts is seeing a 70mill training start of the arg centre within walking distance of the SCG in a rugby state and the mfc getting kicked around looking at Caulfield with zero confirmed 

5 hours ago, Demonland said:

At the airport. Schache has compression bandage around quad/hamatring. ANB limping. Spargo noticeable limp. 

Hope ANB isn’t injured. He gives 100%. 

Anyone know if the VFL practice match has been played already and possibly details about best players etc..

4 hours ago, loges said:

Right and about 10 people on here that were there have stated the opposite myself included, what were you sitting in, the fridge.

Posters have been whining about wet slippery conditions making all sorts of excuses for a pathetic effort.

It was a warm night typical (24 or 25 deg) of Melbourne or Sydney in March with a 15-20k breeze blowing across the ground & bone dry.

Not wet or slippery but great football conditions.

We fumbled & slipped from the get go mainly due to our ineptness & Swans pressure not the conditions.

6 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

It was definitely slippery due to the humidity being 89%.

Dunno where you got that. The BOM site said humidity was 56% at 4.30 pm.

And I am astounded at the excuses being made here. Melbourne has been just as hot as Sydney in the last month.

It's not like we played in Darwin or Cairns.

We were rubbish & supporters should stop looking for weasel excuses.

It was dry & perfect for football. 

 

9 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Dunno where you got that. The BOM site said humidity was 56% at 4.30 pm.

And I am astounded at the excuses being made here. Melbourne has been just as hot as Sydney in the last month.

It's not like we played in Darwin or Cairns.

We were rubbish & supporters should stop looking for weasel excuses.

It was dry & perfect for football. 

 

It was humid as can be.

Sydneys humidity leaves Melbournes heat for dead.

But it's a national comp so no excuse.

7 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Posters have been whining about wet slippery conditions making all sorts of excuses for a pathetic effort.

It was a warm night typical (24 or 25 deg) of Melbourne or Sydney in March with a 15-20k breeze blowing across the ground & bone dry.

Not wet or slippery but great football conditions.

We fumbled & slipped from the get go mainly due to our ineptness & Swans pressure not the conditions.

1 minute ago, Cranky Franky said:

Dunno where you got that. The BOM site said humidity was 56% at 4.30 pm.

And I am astounded at the excuses being made here. Melbourne has been just as hot as Sydney in the last month.

It's not like we played in Darwin or Cairns.

We were rubbish & supporters should stop looking for weasel excuses.

It was dry & perfect for football. 

I can't believe this needs to be done, but anyway:

Here's the BOM data for Sydney during game time:

84% humidity during the game. The dew point is also a measure of moisture - it is the temperature to which air has to be cooled in order to produce condensation. The higher it is, the the more moisture in the air.

The BOM says that a dew point of 21 means the weather is "muggy, quite uncomfortable" (5-10 is "dry", 10-15 is "comfortable").

I get that you have the word "Cranky" in your username, but seriously.

24 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Anyone know if the VFL practice match has been played already and possibly details about best players etc..

FRIDAY, MARCH 8

Essendon v Northern Bullants (NEC Hangar, 5:00pm, 4x25min)

Casey Demons v Port Melbourne (Casey Fields, 6:30pm, 4x25min)

Geelong Cats v Werribee (Deakin University Waurn Ponds, 6:30pm, 4x25min)

Frankston v Williamstown (Kinetic Stadium, 7:00pm, 4x25min)

SATURDAY, MARCH 16
Casey Demons v Coburg (Casey Fields, 12:00pm, 4x25min)

Could someone check the stat’s to see if Rhino Richards has set new record in the category :-

“Using Face palm and Vomit ‘emoji’s without actually posting a single comment”.

I think he goes very close to Drysdale Demon’s record.

Thanks in advance.

18 hours ago, Demonland said:

The Dees were fumbly and lacked forward cohesion but held on for three quarters before ultimately going down to the Swans by 22 points in the Opening Round of the season at the SCG. 

prepared to write that one off due to to horrible slippery conditions that Sydney handled better  Next week will tell   Footy should not start till late march. Playing in tropical conditions is rubbish.  Terrible game to watch

3 hours ago, DemonSam said:

From what I can see yesterday, the message to the team is often kept simple, Goodwin would say "its hot and sweaty boys so get it in long and deep."

The boys come out, we're a good team a well drilled team and win the middle contest get distance to the opponent and remember the message "get it long and deep!"

The problem being that the get it long and deep is only when the play is tight and the pressure is on, when you get space you have to be clean no matter the weather. So we dominate the contest early but flub it because we bomb.

I bet the message at half time was, "alright boys we've smashed em at the contest, now just use it a bit better get it to someone who can kick and hit up someone" 

2nd half of the game we started loosing the contest and sydney ramp the pressure and but we are a well drilled team so we follow the message "use it better, hit someone up" so as it gets more soapy, wet  and under the higher pressure we fiddle and fumble in the contest and try and hit up targets like Spargo against taller defenders.

I think Goodwin does react to things that happen on gameday for sure, but I think its the timing and a general reactivity instead of a proactive message thats the problem.

Problem of IQ in my view

Is being found out 

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Yes i am not angry at Players, but the Gameplan and Coaching is another level. 
We have not evolved as a side since ‘21. 
Trading Grundy after such a short time is unforgivable, he should have been persevered with for at least 2 years. 
It has already bitten us straight away 

is it arrogance or just plain dumb?

Expect Simon Premiership Goodwin to shock next week selecting one of Tmac or BBB (both probably underdone and/or past it).