Jump to content

Featured Replies

3 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Football hasn’t been the same for me since last year’s finals and it probably won’t ever be again. 
Today has just about killed the last bit of hope I had for the season. 
Time to take a break from football. 

I've only been to three games this year. I can't shake how I felt after the Carlton final after witnessing 4 straight finals losses at the MCG after watching a flag under house arrest.

I don't care what anyone says, the emotional roller-coaster we've been through has been amazing but also just demoralising. It's been bloody exhausting.

Clubs like Melbourne, Footscray... we're just not built the right way. 

I'll be back eventually but the bitterness I feel after 2021 is just unhinged. I know i shouldn't feel this way but I do 

 
52 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

“We took a big step forward today”

A quote from Goodwin’s presser tonight.

That's disgraceful. I've been behind Goody, but the fact is they weren't up to it again.

On the couch just showed our average pressure rating was 164. That is a week after losing by 93 and in a huge game.

As comparison the Pies were 188.

1 hour ago, Yze_13 said:

Didn’t suggest we weren’t. All I said was that the desire and the hunt was there early. Whether you’re playing superstars or spuds, if you don’t take your chances you don’t win. Pretty simple.

The desire and hunt was not there. Broken tackles in the first 10 minutes led to Collingwood goals, our desire to work hard pushing forward to create options was not there. Same old [censored], this club still have no idea what it takes to succeed, they know all the right things to say, they know the buzzwords like culture, respect the game, respect the opposition blah blah blah but they actually have no idea what it means to put that into practice. It's not complex either, just takes guts and pride and we have neither.

 
13 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

I haven't seen goody's presser. anyone know what he said?

Talked about this being the kind of dip all teams go through and that in many ways we improved on last week's performance. 

Said clearances and composure under pressure remained a very significant problem. 

Said the club had "found something" in Neal-Bullen as a tagger. 

I actually think Goodwin has become a far better public communicator over the last 18 months or so, but he didn't convince me. Not on this being a dip, not on this being a step forward and not on Neal-Bullen becoming an ultra-defensive midfielder when at times he's been the only thing keeping the rusty barge that is our midfield floating along. 


7 minutes ago, praha said:

I've only been to three games this year. I can't shake how I felt after the Carlton final after witnessing 4 straight finals losses at the MCG after watching a flag under house arrest.

I don't care what anyone says, the emotional roller-coaster we've been through has been amazing but also just demoralising. It's been bloody exhausting.

Clubs like Melbourne, Footscray... we're just not built the right way. 

I'll be back eventually but the bitterness I feel after 2021 is just unhinged. I know i shouldn't feel this way but I do 

I’m exactly the same 

 

which is silly, coz you know - Gaza, people here can’t afford a house to live in etc etc 

Edited by Superunknown

What was that sound???..... What was it?

Sounded a bit like a window closing and being locked......

And that tinkle at the end???... key being thrown away?

1 hour ago, GCDee said:

Dumbest comment ever? 

He hardly trained over the summer 

He rocked up to training camp late “not fit to train” and was sent home….

His off season dragged the club through the mud.

 

Yet the club just let him walk into the 22 for round 0. Not completing the work, and it’s bloody showing now. 
 

Is that the kind of character you want at your club? Let alone being one of the leaders and highest paid? 

Can’t argue with any of that. Some of the instagram footage i saw last Summer was completely out of control….

 
1 hour ago, DemonWA said:

This won't be a popular post but I thought the lads had a real crack. I'm not angry or disappointed because aside from finishing off infront of goal I thought the game was an improvement from Freo. We're a bottom of the 8 sort of side this year for a few reasons

Wow, you are easily pleased

1 hour ago, praha said:

Inaccurate has nothing to do with it. 

Our shots are from the pockets. Collingwood kicks theirs from direcrly in front. We have a shot directly in front from 50 and hit a target on the pocket. Daicos slots his from 55 out directly in front.

This is 100%, undoubtedly, unequivocally structural. This is a coaching decision. It's how we played in 2021. It's how we're playing now.

We have a 60 goal forward in Fritsch who consistently can't get into games. 

We consistently kick to spare defenders.

We are poorly coached.

I'm not sure our coaching is poor to the point of being terminal, but I'm with you on just about everything else. 

"We're inaccurate" is an easy throwaway. 

For a very long time, we've failed to take advantage of a zero-pressure kick inside fifty - a free kick or mark somewhere between 60 and 90 metres from goal. We compulsively refuse to kick to the advantage of forwards. Where other teams turn a 50:50 into a 60:40 with weight and trajectory, we routinely turn it into a 40:60, or as you said, kick it straight to a spare defender. 


28 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Winning culture by losing 26 or so GFs 😁

They've won equal most flags and despite losing many GFs they had to win plenty of games to get there in the first place. In very few if those GF losses were the actually disgraced either, not like our efforts in 1988 and 2000.

19 minutes ago, Tolstoys Nudge said:

Without reading any of the predictable responses I thought today was a side zapped or bereft of confidence that’s having their weaknesses exponentially exposed by that.

If you look again at the incredible chances they took versus ones we didn’t it’s hard not to see players dropping their head & effort then becoming an issue which for me, despite goody saying it wasn’t, it was in patches.

We can’t kill a single ball that’s deep d50 right now, we can’t make hand passes in-tight, we can’t convert easy basic chances — even posters alone today means it’s a diff game if they go thru. It really is a small margin league and unlike Collingwood we need our stars playing well always have or were in trouble so we’re feeling that right now & whilst I’m nowhere near giving up, I do see how easy it is for ppl to fall into trap of tho king it’s worse than it is. The in game swings are a major player in modern footy look at swans yest, nearly smashed but take chances and then our score cats by 12g like it’s nothing!
 

Inside 50 conversion remains the issue  but at least we got it in there today, and had a fwd show all he’s a bonafide STAR about to pop-off big time. Adding Lever and Trac helps, Kossie is close to really becoming the great he was always destined to be, but boy it’s tempting to only see the trees right now! 
 

But again it’s a small-margin game & I still have belief it’ll turn, our confidence is shot atm, we need a circuit breaker, energiser.. Clarry looked better too, don’t give up, be annoyed upset be livid but don’t fall into the trap it’s all lost.. cus that absolute easy and poisonous greed in my view.

Kudos for the very balanced (touch optimistic) post.

I totally agree that confidence is a massive factor in the game, and we’re totally lacking it. It makes players introspective, single minded, hesitant etc.. If manifests in missed kicks, missed shots, reactive at clearance etc. The flip side (ie. Collingwood) is instinct, confidence in team mates, high difficulty execution etc.

The great challenge is.. how do you fix that? Incredibly difficult when the team is sliding.. and if Goodwin manages to achieve it, then he’ll deserve the big bucks.

1 hour ago, Mickey said:

I'm not writing Clarry off. He is doing what he can off 2 weeks of preseason. He should never have played round 0, and probably should have had a good 4-6 weeks during the season to get himself fit. But the FD that itself when Gus was ruled out. If he gets a full preseason next year, and stay on the rails, he'll be ok.

I'm more concerned about some of our older players. TMac has been good but will have zero interest in going again if we are [censored]. May looks like the end is near, and so does Viney. Those three out, plus Petty at the end of the year, and really no-one to replace them. Swallow hasn't come on, and Tholstrup is a while away, if he makes it.

We are in a big hole and without our own 2nd rounder this year. It's going to be hard to rebuild quickly.

Viney only 30 and tough as teeth. He will come good.  Both he and Clarrie have lost the drive in their legs. Heaps of players have had seasons like that and improved the next year.  

Tmac will have a out 400,000 reasons to play on if we offer another one year contract. Will only retire if we don't IMO

3 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They've won equal most flags and despite losing many GFs they had to win plenty of games to get there in the first place. In very few if those GF losses were the actually disgraced either, not like our efforts in 1988 and 2000.

Just remember 2nd place is the first loser 😜

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They've won equal most flags and despite losing many GFs they had to win plenty of games to get there in the first place. In very few if those GF losses were the actually disgraced either, not like our efforts in 1988 and 2000.

Also I believe Melbourne historically is a very efficient team, winning most of their GFs. Granted we had very few in the last half century 😅


1 hour ago, layzie said:

Effort also extends to very small things like sticking tackles that you should stick and applying enough energy to kick or even handball over an opposition player 1 metre away from you. The number of lazy skill errors was embarrassing and cost us dearly.

I know a lot of people think effort is just getting your head over the ball and going in hard but there's much more.

Exactly layzie, you said it much better than I did. The supporters who think the "effort" today was acceptable are having a laugh.

16 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They've won equal most flags and despite losing many GFs they had to win plenty of games to get there in the first place. In very few if those GF losses were the actually disgraced either, not like our efforts in 1988 and 2000.

2003 was a good one to watch

44 minutes ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

The most damning stat I've seen is today was our lowest pressure rating of the year.

After last week's debacle. That is disgraceful.

Tell me again about how good the "effort" was 🤬

This club is not a serious footy club

 

26 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

I'm not sure our coaching is poor to the point of being terminal, but I'm with you on just about everything else. 

"We're inaccurate" is an easy throwaway. 

For a very long time, we've failed to take advantage of a zero-pressure kick inside fifty - a free kick or mark somewhere between 60 and 90 metres from goal. We compulsively refuse to kick to the advantage of forwards. Where other teams turn a 50:50 into a 60:40 with weight and trajectory, we routinely turn it into a 40:60, or as you said, kick it straight to a spare defender. 

Fritsch did it twice in the 3rd when we could have clawed back.

It drove me insane!

2 Melbourne forwards on the lead against one pies defender. 

Guess where he kicked it?

Why why, it drives me mad.

I know we have talent problems now but this feels like we're back to looking for another Paul Roos to fix our culture and build out confidence again.


2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Tell me again about how good the "effort" was 🤬

This club is not a serious footy club

 

Agree. Coming off our worst loss in recent memory and talking all week about responding.

Neale Daniher.

And dish up the least pressure all season. [censored]

Something is deeply amiss.

45 minutes ago, Tolstoys Nudge said:

Without reading any of the predictable responses I thought today was a side zapped or bereft of confidence that’s having their weaknesses exponentially exposed by that.

If you look again at the incredible chances they took versus ones we didn’t it’s hard not to see players dropping their head & effort then becoming an issue which for me, despite goody saying it wasn’t, it was in patches.

We can’t kill a single ball that’s deep d50 right now, we can’t make hand passes in-tight, we can’t convert easy basic chances — even posters alone today means it’s a diff game if they go thru. It really is a small margin league and unlike Collingwood we need our stars playing well always have or were in trouble so we’re feeling that right now & whilst I’m nowhere near giving up, I do see how easy it is for ppl to fall into trap of tho king it’s worse than it is. The in game swings are a major player in modern footy look at swans yest, nearly smashed but take chances and then our score cats by 12g like it’s nothing!
 

Inside 50 conversion remains the issue  but at least we got it in there today, and had a fwd show all he’s a bonafide STAR about to pop-off big time. Adding Lever and Trac helps, Kossie is close to really becoming the great he was always destined to be, but boy it’s tempting to only see the trees right now! 
 

But again it’s a small-margin game & I still have belief it’ll turn, our confidence is shot atm, we need a circuit breaker, energiser.. Clarry looked better too, don’t give up, be annoyed upset be livid but don’t fall into the trap it’s all lost.. cus that absolute easy and poisonous greed in my view.

Since our flag we've played the Pies 5 times and lost 4 times to them in exactly the same way every time! They started kicking some goals out their [censored] towards the end but when the game was still live they were waltzing it in off rebound from turnovers. Today we had no names like Harvey Harrison, some guy named Krueger and spuds like Hoskin-Elliott slotting them through.

Effort was [censored] from first bounce, I'm not buying this "effort was ok" garbage.

49 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Again I ask, what exactly does our forward coach do? It's a mess at the moment. 

Collect a cheque for years doing sweet [censored] all

 
1 hour ago, Tired and Emotional Dee said:

I’m glad I couldn’t get tickets in the end, but it’s just [censored] that there were 16,000 spare seats and the game was a “sell out” early last week. 

I got tickets thanks to @WalkingCivilWar and @praha tip-offs to email the Demon Army. Kudos to the DA, who made noise all game, despite what was being served up on the field. Very grateful to have got the tickets and my kids loved being among the cheer squad.

However, it was annoying to see the top level of the Ponsford Stand only half full, despite no tickets being available. Apparently, Collingwood called it as a sell out last week?

Listening to Goodwin presser was like it was 2017 in his first season with a team trying to climb up the ladder! How has this team gone from number 1 in the last 3 season to 12th contest/defence?? What’s our culture when Oliver lack of preseason not thru injury plays instead of forcing him to find fitness & form @ Casey, our drafting of billing’s, Hunter, schache, Fullerton, Mccadam jury still out but these guys are not improving our list! The stubbornness of trying to make petty & turner into fwds … 


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • PREVIEW: Port Adelaide

    With both sides precariously positioned ahead of the run home to the finals, only one team involved in Sunday’s clash at the Adelaide Oval between the Power and the Demons will remain a contender when it’s over.  On current form, that one team has to be Melbourne which narrowly missed out on defeating the competition’s power house Collingwood on King's Birthday and also recently overpowered both 2024 Grand Finalists. Conversely, Port Adelaide snapped out of a four-game losing streak with a win against the Giants in Canberra. Although they will be rejuvenated following that victory, their performances during that run of losses were sub par and resulted in some embarrassing blow out defeats.

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 1 reply
  • NON-MFC: Round 14

    Round 14 is upon us and there's plenty at stake across the rest of the competition. As Melbourne heads to Adelaide, it's time to turn our attention to the other matches of the Round. Which teams are you tipping this week? And which results would be most favourable for the Demons’ finals tilt? Follow all the non-Melbourne games here and join the conversation as the ladder continues to take shape.

      • Thanks
    • 91 replies
  • REPORT: Collingwood

    The media focus on the fiery interaction between Max Gawn and Steven May at the end of the game was unfortunate because it took away the gloss from Melbourne’s performance in winning almost everywhere but on the scoreboard in its Kings Birthday clash with Collingwood at the MCG. It was a real battle reminiscent of the good old days when the rivalry between the two clubs was at its height and a fitting contest to celebrate the 2025 Australian of the Year, Neale Daniher and his superb work to bring the campaign to raise funds for motor neurone disease awareness to the forefront. Notwithstanding the fact that the Magpies snatched a one point victory from his old club, Daniher would be proud of the fact that his Demons fought tooth and nail to win the keenly contested game in front of 77,761 fans.

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 1 reply
  • PREGAME: Port Adelaide

    The Demons are set to embark on a four-week road trip that takes them across the country, with two games in Adelaide and a clash on the Gold Coast, broken up by a mid-season bye. Next up is a meeting with the inconsistent Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval. Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Thanks
    • 173 replies
  • PODCAST: Collingwood

    I have something on tomorrow night so Podcast will be Wednesday night. The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Wednesday, 11th June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Dees heartbreaking 1 point loss to the Magpies on King's Birthday Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show. Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 37 replies
  • POSTGAME: Collingwood

    Despite effectively playing against four extra opponents, the Dees controlled much of the match. However, their inaccuracy in front of goal and inability to convert dominance in clearances and inside 50s ultimately cost them dearly, falling to a heartbreaking one-point loss on King’s Birthday.

      • Sad
      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 532 replies