7 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

That's confusing, I didn't think Fritta played against North................

He's talking about last year.

Edited March 4Mar 4 by dazzledavey36

6 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

That's confusing, I didn't think Fritta played against North................

If he was talking about the practice match Fritsch didn't play....

22 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

That's confusing, I didn't think Fritta played against North................

Against North last year i meant. Archer gave him a lesson in intensity. 

46 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

That's confusing, I didn't think Fritta played against North................

Yeah he did , rd 15 2 kicks

15 hours ago, Wizard of Koz said:

Dont forget he does have the credits of being a 6 goal GF Premiership Legend of the club

So that absolves him from all responsibility for effort? Or do you mean he is above criticism.

Asking for a friend...

Ok my nerves are rested.... 

Unfortunately we were better than Freo for most of the game which may cause the coaches not to rethink a few things before round 1.

When Freo went wide in the 2nd we were caught out (especially on the traditional Lingers wing) which exposed that playing him out of position has a large defensive cost to us. He covers so much ground and quickly that his presence or perceived presence would have closed out that option for Freo.   Windsor had numerous missed tackles some of whihc ended up in scores. He is not the answer at half back.  Simply put Langdon and Windsor are out of position which is damaging to our defence.

Poor kicking for goal may also be used as an excuse along with the conditions but the reality is we had no forward presence in the air or on the ground.  Whilst he was not the answer at least AJ tried and put in defensively as well. Fritta was casual at best. 

 

53 minutes ago, Bay Riffin said:

Against North last year i meant. Archer gave him a lesson in intensity. 

Thanks, I hadn't read the thread all that far back and thought you were referring to a couple of weeks ago.

23 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Is this some sort of new quiz without any clues ...

Maybe just give us the stats ...

 

Preempting the stats:  average stats over a year(or years) aren't helpful when we are loosing Finals or key games due to poor goal kicking.  To analyse the impact it is a game by game thing.   

If we kick more goals than points we win most games.

Maybe I would have but the people going overboard would just sleepwalk through the stats. We lose some games through poor kicking at goal. But it's so convenient and simplistic to just scream out that we need to improve this skill. EVERY team has this problem at times. Every player, kicking enough times at goal, will miss goals they shouldn't. Unfortunately it doesn't matter how much a player practises, how fit they get, how much they 'perfect' technique or however much they discuss avoiding the "yips" with the sports psychologists sometimes players will miss goals, teams will have a disastrous day in front of goal ....even a disastrous FINAL in front of goals. Off the top of my head there was at least North against Adelaide, and Geelong against Hawthorn arguably winning grand finals IF their goal conversion had been merely average on the day.

We all want Melbourne to improve their goalkicking. Hell, even if Melbourne (or whoever someone's baracking for) wins 80 games in a row everyone will still want better accuracy. But at times it may well be bad luck where coincidentally a string of bad misses all happen at once. I hope and doubt the coaches at Melbourne have ignored the H&A games and especially those recent disastrous finals ruined by inaccuracy. But what's the point harping on the Freo game? There were all sorts of reasons why we missed goals. Possibly poor coaching/skills training was well down the list. I wouldn't put money on it but with ZERO home and away games under our belt it may still be that actual kicks at goal, entries inside 50 and the forward set-up have improved. To paraphrase a lousy 90's sitcom WE WERE IN A PRACTICE MATCH! i sure hope the coaches don't overdo goalkicking drills now at the expense of other facets of the game.

(BTW you can find the stats at afltables.com for one.  We kicked at 53% last year (against our opponents at 51% and better conversion than many teams including 3 in the final 8). And as @Bring-Back-Powell said we surprisingly were worse in 2021 H&A season (50% v 54%). You could even use the AFL Tables website to see that as far back as 1897 there were finals where the team with more scoring shots lost. Anyway I look forward to more quarters/matches (no matter when in a year) where Melbourne kick badly and the feeding frenzy resumes on here. *sigh*)

Having watched the replay my thoughts were 

- overall we were on par with them or the better side but efficiency inside 50 cost us the game 

- losing JVR and not having a Petty or TMac to swing forward cost us because none of Turner, Fritta or even Johnson (in his first semi real AFL game) could play the role of big / packing breaking forward 

- despite what the above observation I thought AJ did quite well and probably better than I’d expected (he could certainly play some games this year) 

- I know Windsor missed a couple of tackles but I actually liked him running off half back because he covers the ground so quickly and usually delivers well - this helps clear defensive structures which something we have lacked in the past couple of seasons

- Langdon as a mid I’m not convinced 

- Rivers a bit underwhelming for mine as a mid he always seems to struggle to find a target when he gets a possession

- may and Lever both solid and mostly reliable apart from the inevitable brain fade short dinky kick in D50 which is intercepted 

- great to see both Clarry and Trac back in form - critical to stay fit if we are to be there in finals 

- Langford seemed to struggle a bit with the pace of the game but I am confident he will adjust a be a v good player in time 

- Lindsay looks a bit faster than I thought and his kicking skills are better than most on our list - going to be a good player for many years I think 

- Howes will always struggle when he is played on stronger bodies we have seen this many times - he is lightly built and gets out positioned easily - not the worst though 

- Chandler a big concern a poor game 

- Fritta disappointing and looked to be going through the motions 

- Adams not terrible and potential in the medium term maybe not this year 

- Max was courageous as usual and probably needed the run but seems to constantly get belted by moving back into packs - yes it’s his job but he cops so much physical pressure I’m always stressed he will not get up. At least we have Tom Campbell who can compete as a backup and give him some rest 

- Woey is honest but I struggle to see him getting regular games mainly due to lack of leg speed 

- Sharp a reasonable game and a chance for round 1 

- Turner needs to play to his strengths which leading and using his mobility he is not going to beat most AFL backs in a battle of strength imo 

- Salem did enough 

- Viney what we expect 

- Billings if only he could kick a goal 

Overall I think it was a reasonable performance but clearly efficiency inside F50 is a real key to focus on - it has been for a while unfortunately 

 

10 minutes ago, Go Ds said:

Maybe I would have but the people going overboard would just sleepwalk through the stats. We lose some games through poor kicking at goal. But it's so convenient and simplistic to just scream out that we need to improve this skill. EVERY team has this problem at times. Every player, kicking enough times at goal, will miss goals they shouldn't. Unfortunately it doesn't matter how much a player practises, how fit they get, how much they 'perfect' technique or however much they discuss avoiding the "yips" with the sports psychologists sometimes players will miss goals, teams will have a disastrous day in front of goal ....even a disastrous FINAL in front of goals. Off the top of my head there was at least North against Adelaide, and Geelong against Hawthorn arguably winning grand finals IF their goal conversion had been merely average on the day.

We all want Melbourne to improve their goalkicking. Hell, even if Melbourne (or whoever someone's baracking for) wins 80 games in a row everyone will still want better accuracy. But at times it may well be bad luck where coincidentally a string of bad misses all happen at once. I hope and doubt the coaches at Melbourne have ignored the H&A games and especially those recent disastrous finals ruined by inaccuracy. But what's the point harping on the Freo game? There were all sorts of reasons why we missed goals. Possibly poor coaching/skills training was well down the list. I wouldn't put money on it but with ZERO home and away games under our belt it may still be that actual kicks at goal, entries inside 50 and the forward set-up have improved. To paraphrase a lousy 90's sitcom WE WERE IN A PRACTICE MATCH! i sure hope the coaches don't overdo goalkicking drills now at the expense of other facets of the game.

(BTW you can find the stats at afltables.com for one.  We kicked at 53% last year (against our opponents at 51% and better conversion than many teams including 3 in the final 8). And as @Bring-Back-Powell said we surprisingly were worse in 2021 H&A season (50% v 54%). You could even use the AFL Tables website to see that as far back as 1897 there were finals where the team with more scoring shots lost. Anyway I look forward to more quarters/matches (no matter when in a year) where Melbourne kick badly and the feeding frenzy resumes on here. *sigh*)

The goalkicking was disappointing obviously but a number of shots at goal were either posters or close calls

even if a few of these went the right side of the post we probably win the game 

statistically we won key areas of the contest I’m staying glass half full as at least two of our bigger bodies who should be playing ( JVR, Petty or even TMac) were not there which made our structure a bit small imo 

without wanting to single him out I honestly don’t think Billing’s should take set shots and should pass off to someone else wherever possible - his efforts and output other than that were quite good 

1 hour ago, Sydee said:

The goalkicking was disappointing obviously but a number of shots at goal were either posters or close calls

even if a few of these went the right side of the post we probably win the game 

statistically we won key areas of the contest I’m staying glass half full as at least two of our bigger bodies who should be playing ( JVR, Petty or even TMac) were not there which made our structure a bit small imo 

without wanting to single him out I honestly don’t think Billing’s should take set shots and should pass off to someone else wherever possible - his efforts and output other than that were quite good 

No one's going to ever like watching players miss goals. The club will have gone home with plenty of talking points, a sigh of relief ONCE JVR's back spasms are under control and officially we got thru injury-free and  unlike many Demonlanders probably a 'glass is more than half full' attitude about that game.

I won't panic about the forward line, kick efficiency or players such as Billings and Chandler at least with a sample of (technically) 1

Edited March 4Mar 4 by Go Ds

3 hours ago, Demon17 said:

Great reply. Can I borrow it provided your attributed ?  It could come in handy this season

By all means!😜

Add in some more games into the new guys, a return of McVee, Pickett, Petty, and Spargo, hopefully Melksham and there’s a lot to like atm.