POSTGAME: Opening Round vs Sydney

[Moonshadow 17,675]

As bad as we played by 3/4 time, I thought we were lucky to still be in it and would run out the game on top. But alas...

We simply cannot put teams away early when we have ample opportunity. Our forward line is non functional and I'm god damn sick of using absent players as an excuse. 

2023 merging into 2024, only worse.

The next month will be telling on Goodwin's ability to regroup a team in a hot mess. Did we re-sign him too readily?

[dl4e 5,851]

glad to see Goodwin mentioned learnings in his pres conference. FFS.

[Moonshadow 17,675]

35 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

@picket fence u have been going on about how good Schache has been. 
 
How do u think he went tonight??

Personally he needs to be dropped along with Laurie and Spargo. 

Not good enough unfortunately. 

Schache is the fifth goal post

[picket fence 17,070]

5 minutes ago, Skuit said:

The humidity levels in Sydney were off the charts tonight. Gawn mentioned it felt like playing in Darwin, but generally when we play in the Top End it's during the dry, albeit still slippery.

Anyone who has ever travelled from the southern states to play footy up north during wet season months though will know how insanely challenging it is if you're not used to it. The ball going straight through your hands is one thing, but you simply can't get enough oxygen into the lungs to keep pushing, no matter how willing.

We weren't that bad tonight. Sydney handled the ball 10% better and had 10% more puff. For elite, fine-tuned athletes in a tough and tight competition, those figures make a huge difference. Especially when it was our first real hit-out for the season, and against opposition more familiar with the local conditions. 

People can scream 'no excuses!' all they want, but it's counter to what we actually know about elite performance in today's sporting environment. I'm not arguing that we don't have some concerning weaknesses, as all teams do, but wait until next week to making sweeping judgments. And in the meantime ponder our early season match against the Lions at the Gabba last year and how we followed up back in Melbourne.  

Nup Max is in DENIAL MODE! Excuses, Excuses

[titan_uranus 24,979]

Just now, Moonshadow said:

As bad as we played by 3/4 time, I thought we were lucky to still be in it and would run out the game on top. But alas...

We simply cannot put teams away early when we have ample opportunity. Our forward line is non functional and I'm god damn sick of using absent players as an excuse. 

2023 merging into 2024, only worse.

The next month will be telling on Goodwin's ability to regroup a team in a hot mess. Did we re-sign him too readily?

The absent players are an important factor, but Sydney didn't have Mills, Adams or Parker and still beat us in the middle, so we can't lean on it tonight.

Still, Petty, Pickett and Melksham gives us a much nicer look up forward than Schache, Spargo and Laurie. 

[Bates Mate 4,469]

27 minutes ago, Deecisive said:

Van Rooyen has had a couple of years playing in the seniors and really does not seem to do a lot, he has come out and kicked up a couple of goals in games often late in the game but at other times he can rarely been seen. I dont know how much time we give him, or how much time we can afford to have him failing to hit the score board or help get the ball to our smalls to kick goals.

Jvr has had some good moments is quite slow and not great when it hits the deck. I love his competitiveness but not as convinced as some he'll be a genuine no 1 key consistent 50+ a year key forward. 

But our delivery in stinks so I'll keep the faith

[layzie 33,753]

Here's the issue with the body checking and negating tactics on Gawn. Yes it makes it hard, but I expect this to happen every single week from here on in. It will not get better, everyone will be doing it. 

Find a way to relieve our ruckman or we will surely die. 

[biggestred 5,016]

49 minutes ago, monoccular said:

Despite Ollie's lack of preparation he was a solid contributor.  Who else would you have played?

Should we really put the sprinklers on at Gosh and Casey for training?  Serious question.

Honestly I think we should do it every so often. It's an outside sport, you gotta win when the ball is a cake of soap and apart from a select few we couldn't handle the sweaty wet ball tonight. 

[Sir Why You Little 36,989]

4 minutes ago, dl4e said:

glad to see Goodwin mentioned learnings in his pres conference. FFS.

I rest my case your honour. 
 

Clueless

[deegirl 1,577]

46 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

Goodwin continues to be the worst match day coach in the league. To say he’s even reactive is overselling it. 

He absolutely has to go. If people want to drink his bath water from ‘21; fine. But he had a Ferrari and he’s continued to treat it like a lawnmower. 

The selection committee isn’t far off either. There’s absolutely no transparency or authenticity of selection. To bring Spargo in after his off season was a joke, not to mention the decision to play Laurie, Chandler and Spargo in the one side. 
 

 

THIS. 
 

We simply cannot have a side that includes Spargo, Laurie, Chandler & Billings.
 

Or a coaching panel that includes Greg Stafford as forward coach. 

[titan_uranus 24,979]

Just now, Bates Mate said:

Jvr has had some good moments is quite slow and not great when it hits the deck. I love his competitiveness but not as convinced as some he'll be a genuine no 1 key consistent 50+ a year key forward. 

But our delivery in stinks so I'll keep the faith

Tom McCartin's a really good defender and didn't have to worry about anyone else in the air in our forward line, so he was able to cover JVR pretty well. JVR wasn't amazing but he's nowhere near the top of the list of concerns.

[layzie 33,753]

5 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Schache is the fifth goal post

Will give him some time but these kinds of players won't win us a flag 

[leave it to deever 17,511]

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

Were you sitting in a corporate box or something?

It's been 86-91% relative humidity all night. All 46 players were glistening with sweat in the warm-up. All 46 players were fumbly for most parts of the game, us just more so.

Well said.

I moved to Northern Illawarra,13 years ago ...about a 80 min drive to the Scg.

It was about 24 degrees here today ( usually the same as Sydney) but the humidity always makes it feel five to six degrees hotter.

Although 900 kms south of Brisbane, Sydneys humidity is pretty similar to it. 

It makes a hot Summers day in Melbourne relatively cool.

Sydney is incredibly humid and will shock those from Melbourne.

You can walk down the street in the morning for five mins and need to change your shirt.

It would have been a factor.

It would account for a slippery ball and fumbles.

But it doesn't explain away the fact we kicked poorly and played sloppy.

There are way too many players who have dropped on form and quite a few not up to standard.

It's one game so we will see next week.

Speaking of weather, I'm noticing more and more how much of a barometer Max is.

Sadly he played poorly tonight and it's no surprise that when he does, we lose.

 

[Kick_It_To_Pickett 3,291]

11 minutes ago, Skuit said:

The humidity levels in Sydney were off the charts tonight. Gawn mentioned it felt like playing in Darwin, but generally when we play in the Top End it's during the dry, albeit still slippery.

Anyone who has ever travelled from the southern states to play footy up north during wet season months though will know how insanely challenging it is if you're not used to it. The ball going straight through your hands is one thing, but you simply can't get enough oxygen into the lungs to keep pushing, no matter how willing.

We weren't that bad tonight. Sydney handled the ball 10% better and had 10% more puff. For elite, fine-tuned athletes in a tough and tight competition, those figures make a huge difference. Especially when it was our first real hit-out for the season, and against opposition more familiar with the local conditions. 

People can scream 'no excuses!' all they want, but it's counter to what we actually know about elite performance in today's sporting environment. I'm not arguing that we don't have some concerning weaknesses, as all teams do, but wait until next week to making sweeping judgments. And in the meantime ponder our early season match against the Lions at the Gabba last year and how we followed up back in Melbourne.  

Great take. Very reminiscent of the Lions game. Our ins next week make us stronger. It’s 1 bloody game. There were 2 points in it at 3/4 time and we were a man down and heaps of rotations short after subbing early. Laurie will never play another senior game for the MFC. 

[picket fence 17,070]

8 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

As bad as we played by 3/4 time, I thought we were lucky to still be in it and would run out the game on top. But alas...

We simply cannot put teams away early when we have ample opportunity. Our forward line is non functional and I'm god damn sick of using absent players as an excuse. 

2023 merging into 2024, only worse.

The next month will be telling on Goodwin's ability to regroup a team in a hot mess. Did we re-sign him too readily?

YES

[Graeme Yeats' Mullet 6,772]

18 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

I was at the ground. It was bone dry & little humidity.

Rubbish 

Was 24° and 85-90% humidity, still is....

Edited March 7 by Graeme Yeats' Mullet

[Pirlo 813]

We have lost a lot of solid depth and the guys underneath them just aren't good enough yet. By the time they're ready, if ever, our best players will be finished. I thought the guys tried hard tonight, but were well beaten by a better team. If this form becomes a trend, valid questions will be asked of a summer where we picked up the perennially injured McAdam, back-up ruck Fullarton and underachiever Billings. 

[layzie 33,753]

It did look very humid and slippery.

But that's not the full excuse for the sub par standard game 

[Demonland 71,629]

 

[DemonOX 8,791]

26 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

I don't think you would get much opposition to this opinion.

The problem being is he is really there by default.

Played a serviceable one against the Blues in the Praccy game .

He's been given an opportunity. He could have welcomed it tonight but didn't.

He may get another chance because of other players injured but for me I don't want him selected again.

When he plays It basically means we have others injured that should be there instead.

I'm surprised we kept him this year. Maybe he was contracted.

Wasn't he number two in the 2015 in the national draft?

Sheesh.

He wasn’t contracted we re-contracted him for another yr. Amazing reallly. 

I would rather have Tmac on one leg in the team than S. 

[Moonshadow 17,675]

14 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

The absent players are an important factor, but Sydney didn't have Mills, Adams or Parker and still beat us in the middle, so we can't lean on it tonight.

Still, Petty, Pickett and Melksham gives us a much nicer look up forward than Schache, Spargo and Laurie. 

Petty is incredibly injury prone and Melksham will not be back until end of year. And as tallented as Pickett is, he goes missing regularly. That's been know for 6 months or more, yet here we are still dabbling with witches hats like Schache and Spargo. Goodwin is sooooooo predictable and stubborn in his methods, it's sickening.

Edited March 7 by Moonshadow

[Gawndy the Great 9,011]

45 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

I’m holding.

Our bottom third were poor tonight. Laurie, Schache, chandler,  etc. I think Billings sub was an error but only a minor one.

Our bottom 1/3 was our strength in the premiership year. 

Not too concerned about our ability to claw that back in the next few weeks. I’ve heard from a reputable source the club would be VERY happy to be 3/3 after first 6 rounds so buckle in legends .

 Not sure how to interpret the hidden message here.  It’s a hard start for sure, but 3-3 is not considered a great start in my book.
 

Top 4 you loose a total 7-8 games all year and to cough up almost half your tally in the first 6 rounds is not good.

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 10,805]

30 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Grundy was good but the key difference was he wasn't being blocked, checked, hit and kneed at every contest. Gawn was. We know this happens when we go in without proper ruck support. This has been happening for 8 years.

Watched this happen first hand against Brisbane at Cararra stadium back in 2020.  Charlie Cameron was blocking/shepherding and interrupting his free run at the contest practically every kick-in.  Yet not a single free kick was paid.  Just imagine if this type of behavior happened with Buddy.

How Gumby supporters like me can see this and the 1000 umpires on the ground can't is beyond me.  Particularly when there are umpires in the stands that see goals that are touched in slow motion (when they arn't) and call clear goals behinds with the same brilliant technology.

BTW,  I don't think it would be any use if we tried to support Max in this regard, as they'd see the free kick for any kind or defensive/retalitory action instantly.   Some players and team are protected species, yet ours clearly isn't in this category.

Edited March 7 by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

[dee-tox 4,835]

Things not to like:

Ball handling

Lack of quality crumbers

Kick out strategy

Giving first option

Ruck craft

Goal kicking.

 

[Ned 156]

1 hour ago, Bingo said:

Like Heeney said, they play and train all preseason in this heat and humidity. We couldn't handle the ball.

That’s not an out. It was humid but one week from summer, Melbourne has had the same.

I’m very frustrated with coaching. All the same issues again. Remember Sydney had their three big bodied midfielders out. Yet only Viney - as usual - made a stand.

I remember reading that the coach wasn’t too bright and is intimidated by smart people. Something about that rang true after two straight sets exits and same issues - again tonight. I do love the Dees and dream of success again.

But I fear an awesome list i being/has been squandered by a coaching group that’s not really up to today’s standards.

it would be my happiest moment to be proved completely wrong. Tonight was super poor guys. No excuses. I watched it and we were trounced. :(