2 hours ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

The issue is with Petracca out we've now lost our best player.

The positive of this is we are going to find out which players have the leadership skills and mental aptitude to take the club forward. They can't hide behind our best players now.

100% agreed 👍 

40 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

 

If we had more midfield options he’d probably have been rested, but with Gus gone he’s had to keep fronting up when he’s clearly not right.

Not sure this rationale stacks up anymore. If he was the difference between winning and losing, it makes sense to keep playing him. But given where we have been for the last month, if he was so impacted he should have had a rest to get right for the last half of the season

3 hours ago, 2021 said:

Not sure we have the personnel in terms of tall forwards

Im sure we don't.

I suspected the KB game might give a window to where we are...and did.

Our next outting will be a real litmus.

We may well not be as bad as we seem.... or then again we might just be. 

RoCo's overview requires a hell of a lot of ducks to line up. 

My general assessment just ackowledges what we can generally and fairly ajudicate.

Forward line: Undersized, undermanned,underwhelming. Looks totally disorganised. 

Midfield.  Not gelling. Overuses the ball, not clever in clearances ( when we get them )   Max playing well... but seriously....to whose advantage ?? 🤷🤷  Midfield a shadow of our Granny winning ability.

Backline.  Struggling without Lever.  May not at top of his game...looks injured and frustrated.... but tries.

Coaching.....all over the shop ...  Not looking sharp or effective.. Lost the plot ? Lost the players ??

Team cohesion..  Has been much better.

Team effort...  bog average of late.

Injuries... mounting....and cruelling

Talent in reserve.... unknown or not setting world on fire.

Our pressure is way off the boil.

Scoreboard...   can't hit it...   

Prognosis...  not looking that flash.

Needs...   a bloody miracle and a few rockets.

Finals ...  yeah...nahh

Convince me otherwide....   am open minded ...to reason ;) 

Cheers

Go Dees.... yep...need to get going !!

21 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Im sure we don't.

I suspected the KB game might give a window to where we are...and did.

Our next outting will be a real litmus.

We may well not be as bad as we seem.... or then again we might just be. 

RoCo's overview requires a hell of a lot of ducks to line up. 

My general assessment just ackowledges what we can generally and fairly ajudicate.

Forward line: Undersized, undermanned,underwhelming. Looks totally disorganised. 

Midfield.  Not gelling. Overuses the ball, not clever in clearances ( when we get them )   Max playing well... but seriously....to whose advantage ?? 🤷🤷  Midfield a shadow of our Granny winning ability.

Backline.  Struggling without Lever.  May not at top of his game...looks injured and frustrated.... but tries.

Coaching.....all over the shop ...  Not looking sharp or effective.. Lost the plot ? Lost the players ??

Team cohesion..  Has been much better.

Team effort...  bog average of late.

Injuries... mounting....and cruelling

Talent in reserve.... unknown or not setting world on fire.

Our pressure is way off the boil.

Scoreboard...   can't hit it...   

Prognosis...  not looking that flash.

Needs...   a bloody miracle and a few rockets.

Finals ...  yeah...nahh

Convince me otherwide....   am open minded ...to reason ;) 

Cheers

Go Dees.... yep...need to get going !!

This needs to go on the Whiteboard in Gary Pert’s office…

He has a very big job in front of him

I say crash and burn this season, make it a spectacle.....lose to North, which is already a distinct possibility, get pick 3 or 4 and the win the Flag in 2025. Losing Brayshaw has really hurt us, losing Petracca has ended us for this year. 

Nah ... we're out.

27 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

I say crash and burn this season, make it a spectacle.....lose to North, which is already a distinct possibility, get pick 3 or 4 and the win the Flag in 2025. Losing Brayshaw has really hurt us, losing Petracca has ended us for this year. 

I am also of the view we won't play finals. Mentally shot, you can see it on the players faces and their efforts on the ground. 

• Bullied by Collingwood twice in a row now, barely gave a yelp physically on Monday 
• Completely gave up for the first time in years vs Fremantle 
• Embarrased by the Eagles 

I wonder if we've underestimated the losses of Melksham and Hibberd to, in the sense of their leadership and harndess. Could probably add Harmes to that as well. We have no one that plays on the edge now, Viney is to banged up and we've done our best to coach it out of Pickett.

7 minutes ago, Dee*ceiving said:

I am also of the view we won't play finals. Mentally shot, you can see it on the players faces and their efforts on the ground. 

• Bullied by Collingwood twice in a row now, barely gave a yelp physically on Monday 
• Completely gave up for the first time in years vs Fremantle 
• Embarrased by the Eagles 

I wonder if we've underestimated the losses of Melksham and Hibberd to, in the sense of their leadership and harndess. Could probably add Harmes to that as well. We have no one that plays on the edge now, Viney is to banged up and we've done our best to coach it out of Pickett.

Brayshaw is the one we miss

3 hours ago, MrFreeze said:

Dale Thomas talked about how Carlton had the hard conversations with each other at the exact same point in the season last year. Following that, they shot into the 8. We need to do the same, discuss how we are going to make the most out of this year and don't skirt on the hard truths. We may not play finals, but we can't be fixated on results - it's about attitude, intent and commitment.

Well this part is up to the players, and their nominated and unnominated leaders. 

Get together and thrash it out (no, not Entrecôte style) and bring a plan to the coach.

43 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

I say crash and burn this season, make it a spectacle.....lose to North, which is already a distinct possibility, get pick 3 or 4 and the win the Flag in 2025. Losing Brayshaw has really hurt us, losing Petracca has ended us for this year. 

We have been 3 short on the list since round 0.  We are now 4 down until Milk gets back, but even then it is still 3. 

2 stars (Angus and CP5), 1 good filler in (JS) and one very good player (JM).  Makes it tough to plan some continuity.

But, when the going gets tough, he tough get going : are we tough guys??

9 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Brayshaw is the one we miss

Brayshaw was definitely the glue. A selfless player and person.

Wonderful leader.

I'd agree with the poster above. Use the rest of the year to trial some kids, get blokes fit and prevent anyone we really need next year from being run into the ground, eg. Max & May. 

If Viney is injured, don't play him. If Clarrie isn't fit, get him bloody fit! 

I'd also suggest we go back to playing people in their proper positions. Get Langdon on the wing, Petty in the backline & Sparrow in the middle for starters. 

And start hunting for FAs...now

The tiny glimmer of hope  we had left, is now gone with Trac out for the season.

You don't win flags without your best players.

I think we'll bounce back to a degree and will finish 7th or 8th but cannot see us firing a shot in September. It's absolutely make or break without Trac so it'll be interesting to see who really steps up. Feeling a little more optimistic that we could see the making of one or two good young players in the back half of the season... McVee and Rivers in the midfield perhaps.

50 minutes ago, Dee*ceiving said:

I am also of the view we won't play finals. Mentally shot, you can see it on the players faces and their efforts on the ground. 

• Bullied by Collingwood twice in a row now, barely gave a yelp physically on Monday 
• Completely gave up for the first time in years vs Fremantle 
• Embarrased by the Eagles 

I wonder if we've underestimated the losses of Melksham and Hibberd to, in the sense of their leadership and harndess. Could probably add Harmes to that as well. We have no one that plays on the edge now, Viney is to banged up and we've done our best to coach it out of Pickett.

There's sadly very little hardness left.

We'll get ragdolled more and more here on in. 

Good pickup re Hibberd etc..   very much the truth of the matter unfortunately :(

56 minutes ago, Dee*ceiving said:

I am also of the view we won't play finals

Not sure about this.  We only play one top eight team for the rest of the season

In appreciating where we really sit in amongst all of this I offer up a simple exercise. It's something all clubs will do.

Pretend you're an opponent . In preparing to play us you WILL conduct a Strength /Weaknesses analysis. 

I'm not going to pre-empt anyone's results...  do your own.  But be matter of fact honest in your appraisals.

What did you find ?? 

Sobering ?? 

I am taking a break from the MFC.

This is because I have totally lost faith in the MFC.

When watching before the first bounce I was dumbfounded to see Trac being nice to the pies thug.

Right there I said to my wife the pies will win this easily. How could he be nice to the guy that end his team mates career. Our club has no determination and have lost there will to win at all costs. The pies had it in spades.

Then there was the decision to send Trac out with broken ribs, a ruptured Spleen and a punctured lung. What sort of medical team do we have? this is every bit as bad as sending someone back out with concussion. In fact it is probably worse. He could have died that afternoon.

I have followed this club and been a member for most of the last 64 years.

I am devastated that our club has descended to this level.

Good bye for now hopefully I will see some improvement from the people that run our club before 2025.

Edited June 13, 2024Jun 13 by old dee

It is not the end of the world,although the doomsayers seem to be in full flight.

Firstly :

• We have a lot of very young players (some tried already and some developing)
• Currently we have 3 or 4 defenders: 1st or 2nd year players (McVee,Howes,Bowey,Woewodin (either defence or wing)
• A young wingman in the Duke.........So that makes 5 or 6 current L Platers
• Our Forward line probably needs development but has a lot of potential in JVR , Turner . Admittedly Petty has not gone ahead after his run with injuries. Petty & JVR could be our Key Forwards and both (plus Turner) are very young.
• Rivers ,Kozzy, Bowey, Chandler are all good players ready to move up a level/position of Responsibility.
• Lever is still relatively young. May is too good to fade away quickly. TMAC seems timeless (although some have given up on him 6 years ago, but he has been our swingman and now he is fit again is proving invaluable.
• Maximus has broad shoulders, but cannot carry a football team. He could be the experienced forward we need if Petty goes to Adelaide/PA or even if he stays.
• Viney is viney !! (He has been downgraded too many times and keeps providing heart)
• Fritta needs a stronger body around his area to take pressure off him physically.
• Petracca, Oliver are too good to be bad.
• Langdon & Salem : write them off at your own risk.
• ANB plays with spirit & passion. ANNNND very under rated teamwise. He is not going to win a Brownlow but "does the job"

 Secondly :

• If our Recruiting people have been doing their job and there is enough evidence to say they have , there are number of "probables" to come into this side when our L Plater move up the ranks  ala Kozzy,Bowey,Rivers.
• Our "older" players need to move down into elder statesman status (ala Hawkins role @ Geelong) and be able to porovide the "support"

Thirdly :

• I miss Gus, but he has to fade in our memory and stay in our hearts

49 minutes ago, old dee said:

I am taking a break from the MFC.

This is because I have totally lost faith in the MFC.

When watching before the first bounce I was dumbfounded to see Trac being nice to the pies thug.

Right there I said to my wife the pies will win this easily. How could he be nice to the guy that end his team mates career. Our club has no determination and have lost there will to win at all costs. The pies had it in spades.

Then there was the decision to send Trac out with broken ribs, a ruptured Spleen and a punctured lung. What sort of medical team do we have? this is every bit as bad as sending someone back out with concussion. In fact it is probably worse. He could have died that afternoon.

I have followed this club and been a member for most of the last 64 years.

I am devastated that our club has descended to this level.

Good bye for now hopefully I will see some improvement from the people that run our club before 2025.

Old Dee I hope you change your mind. We have too many optimists on this site at present and we need every pessimist we can get.

If not, then I look forward to hearing from you in ‘25. 

2 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

The tiny glimmer of hope  we had left, is now gone with Trac out for the season.

You don't win flags without your best players.

You also don't win flags without your best players playing to their best, and the lack of games + pre season in the cases of Oliver and Petty only add to the losses of Brayshaw and Petracca.

People should also remember we've lost Smith, who in spite of everything was our best forward in last year's finals.

Edited June 13, 2024Jun 13 by bing181

You can't keep losing your best talent and expect to compete at the same level. But you can still compete, so getting into the finals would be a good season, winning a final under current circumstances would be a very good season.

The one positive is that this could help fast track a few of the younger players/lesser lights.

And in terms of wishful thinking, my knight in shining armour coming over the hill to save us is the return of Melksham. if he can get back to his best (??), marshalling the forward line and nullifying key defenders, it could give us a whole new look up forward and go some way to covering the loss of Trac. And from there, who knows.

2 hours ago, Dee*ceiving said:

If Clarrie isn't fit, get him bloody fit! 

Short of pulling him out of games for 6 weeks and putting him through a mini pre-season, what you see with Clarry is what you get. You can't build fitness in season, it's all you can do to maintain fitness.

Edited June 13, 2024Jun 13 by bing181

 

1 hour ago, old dee said:

I am taking a break from the MFC.

This is because I have totally lost faith in the MFC.

When watching before the first bounce I was dumbfounded to see Trac being nice to the pies thug.

Right there I said to my wife the pies will win this easily. How could he be nice to the guy that end his team mates career. Our club has no determination and have lost there will to win at all costs. The pies had it in spades.

Then there was the decision to send Trac out with broken ribs, a ruptured Spleen and a punctured lung. What sort of medical team do we have? this is every bit as bad as sending someone back out with concussion. In fact it is probably worse. He could have died that afternoon.

I have followed this club and been a member for most of the last 64 years.

I am devastated that our club has descended to this level.

Good bye for now hopefully I will see some improvement from the people that run our club before 2025.

I heard they're bringing back Jamie Bennell mate 👀