On 16/03/2025 at 22:44, Macca said:

Re Turner ... unproven as well

And that's why our forward line is dysfunctional

Too many what-if's.  Right now, we don't have one forward who we can absolutely rely on

By contrast, we can rely on on our midfield and defence.  2 out of 3 ain't bad but it's not great either

 According to the late Mr Loaf.

 

 

I thought Langford was disappointing. Looked slow, overwhelmed and out of his comfort zone. I have concerns about big junior players that dominate until they reach the big league where most players are big and fast. Hope I'm wrong.

XL looks class 👌 

Yeah what happened to JVR?  Just went missing.

Jeffo was good, reckon he will do well and looks exciting enough and puts in the effort.

Turner would have been handy but the conditions sucked.  Needed Fritsch to do better.

  On 16/03/2025 at 21:23, picket fence said:

Fritsch needs to be dropped on his pusillanemous and paltry tackling and none existent second efforts

He was better yesterday with 3 tackles, mind you he was playing higher up the ground.

  On 16/03/2025 at 21:15, Farmer said:

I agree with this. No reflection on either Johnson or Jefferson, but instead of removing Howes, I would have had Langford on quite early in place of , I think, Jefferson. Johnson was a little helpful in the ruck

As much as Howes wasn't up to speed I would have benched Jefferson much earlier to bring on an extra running mid in Langford.

 

  On 16/03/2025 at 22:57, Adam The God said:

He was better yesterday with 3 tackles, mind you he was playing higher up the ground.

Fritsch was unsighted in the first half carrying on with his 2024 form

When he first came to the club he was played down back to try and sharpen his defensive skills. He seems to have gone back to old ways.

Not sure how much longer gets a free pass on his pre-2023 efforts.

  On 16/03/2025 at 22:29, Macca said:

We lost a game we could easily have won but once again, our dysfunctional forward line cost us that victory

Defence 7.0

Midfield 7.5

Forward line 3

We got close but one area of the ground continues to be our Achilles heel

As for building belief, I'd say the players would feel quite deflated right now.  We lost another game we could have won

You’ve posted it about 100 times now but why do you say our dysfunctional forward line was the reason we lost?

As opposed to what struck me as much bigger issues - not running out quarters, struggling to defend transition, and conceding two goals from situations we usually kill (both to Coniglio).

  On 16/03/2025 at 22:52, ManDee said:

I thought Langford was disappointing. Looked slow, overwhelmed and out of his comfort zone. I have concerns about big junior players that dominate until they reach the big league where most players are big and fast. Hope I'm wrong.

XL looks class 👌 

Those that have attended pre-season a number of times can assure you that Langford is much more than a 'big junior'! Langford played 20% game time for 5 disposals... extrapolate! That's three less than Toby Bedford who played 89% of game time. For talents like Langford, anywhere within the white boundary line IS their comfort zone!

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:08, jnrmac said:

Fritsch was unsighted in the first half carrying on with his 2024 form

When he first came to the club he was played down back to try and sharpen his defensive skills. He seems to have gone back to old ways.

Not sure how much longer gets a free pass on his pre-2023 efforts.

This is the bloke who has more goals in 150 games than any other of the 'modern day' Melbourne forwards (including Neitz, Schwartz and Robbo). He was also our leading goal kicker in 2024!

Edited March 16Mar 16 by waynewussell

at the end of the day we lost by 3 points to a flag contender playing 6 debutantes - good result overall, acknowledging we blew it in the last quarter and by missing gettable  set shots.

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:05, jnrmac said:

As much as Howes wasn't up to speed I would have benched Jefferson much earlier to bring on an extra running mid in Langford.

 

Totally agree jnr.

I was actually thinking before the sub was made that I'd bench Friitter such was my frustration with his performance, but jeffo probably would have been the go.

I wonder whether part of the calculation was Rivers was poor in the middle and they decided to put him at hb at Howes' expense.

Risky to change up defence structures i reckon. 

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:11, waynewussell said:

This is the bloke who has more goals in 150 games than any other of the 'modern day' Melbourne forwards (including Neitz, Schwartz and Robbo)

Absolutely agree. He is our most accurate set shot for goal and is a very smart forward with great forward craft. With this in mind why are we using him so high up the ground. Aces in their places. We are not playing to his strengths. Have him patrol inside the forward 40 with space to work in one on one by getting the ball in quickly. Having said that he does need to be much better defensively and that part of his game is on him because that’s attitude based not talent based. 

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:09, titan_uranus said:

You’ve posted it about 100 times now but why do you say our dysfunctional forward line was the reason we lost?

And you've screamed at your own supporters a 1000 times about not turning up to games

All based on a stupid myth and an  idiotic perception.  

Fact is our forward line hasn't worked for quite some time now and yesterday was a good example of that 

Edited March 16Mar 16 by Macca

  On 16/03/2025 at 22:29, Macca said:

We lost a game we could easily have won but once again, our dysfunctional forward line cost us that victory

Defence 7.0

Midfield 7.5

Forward line 3

We got close but one area of the ground continues to be our Achilles heel

As for building belief, I'd say the players would feel quite deflated right now.  We lost another game we could have won

An extremely negative view of our forward line . Firstly we kicked the exact number of goals that GWS did …it was not a day for key forwards ..JVR completely negated Sam Taylor who was close to best on against Collingwood  & even if they had Briggs & Hogan playing ..put in Kozzie & McVee & that game was ours. Those negative supporters take a deep breath..if someone had said to you ..your team is going in with a 1/4 of first gamers (2 ex VFL who didn’t do a full preseason with us ) May a late withdrawal & then you’re going up against  one of the flag favourites who have already played a game ..I bet you wouldn’t think we would lose the game in the last minute. A bit of credit please …

Goodwin doesn't know how to coach offense very well

At best, he is adequate 

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:14, chook fowler said:

at the end of the day we lost by 3 points to a flag contender playing 6 debutantes - good result overall, acknowledging we blew it in the last quarter and by missing gettable  set shots.

Against a team with 1 game under their belt as well. Little things matter in such a narrow loss

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:25, Deestar9 said:

An extremely negative view of our forward line . Firstly we kicked the exact number of goals that GWS did …it was not a day for key forwards ..JVR completely negated Sam Taylor who was close to best on against Collingwood  & even if they had Briggs & Hogan playing ..put in Kozzie & McVee & that game was ours. Those negative supporters take a deep breath..if someone had said to you ..your team is going in with a 1/4 of first gamers (2 ex VFL who didn’t do a full preseason with us ) May a late withdrawal & then you’re going up against  one of the flag favourites who have already played a game ..I bet you wouldn’t think we would lose the game in the last minute. A bit of credit please …

With a decent forward line we win by 5 goals (yesterday)

With Gawn, Trac, Clarry and Viney we have something to build around. We also have May to come back in. I think the real improvement will come once the new additions settle into the side. If we can add Windsor, Lindsay, Langford and Kozzy to that midfield rotation by the end of the season that will give our midfield a more dynamic mix and more than just the stoppage dominant team we built our flag around.

A couple of concerns for me is we don’t have a dominant forward, but that is something widespread in the AFL and there is only a couple of teams lucky to have them at the moment. The new players like Landford and XL may allow us to play CP forward more towards the end of the year and he is a genuine match winner, as is Kozzy. 
 

The other concern is that we are being burnt in transition regularly off our half forward line. I’m not sure if it’s whether we don’t have enough pace, or not enough pressure but GWS we’re willing to gamble a few times through there yesterday and got rewards. We haven’t been able to add that to our game, but there are some signs with Windsor and XL that it may change.

We are reliant on the development of the younger players to move us forward. We are a work in progress.  I’d rather be glass half full after yesterday, there was a lot of positives and the pressure and intensity was there. Special mention to XL who really impressed, he has great awareness and footy smarts, great skills and seems a natural at AFL level, seeing or reading the game before others.

  On 16/03/2025 at 14:06, Pennant St Dee said:

There was still never an opportunity to punch the footy at any stage, Sparrow is covering off the kick over the top of one of our players (possibly Fritsch) on the 50m arc members side wing, which is where the kicker heads, he’s also within striking distance of Kelly if the kicker try’s to hit Kelly with a clean kick he can press up and stand the mark to force Kelly to step back and allow players to move up into position which we did well for most of the day., if you rewatch the game you will see this continuously.
 
We have actually covered off quite well but the scrubbed kick came off and Sparrow is boundary side.

Henderson may have been better served to give away a professional free and take Callaghan’s legs out but it is what it is

I think the main error in that last play was Clarry.  He was on Callaghan but as soon as the kickin happened elected to run to the Kelly/Jones contest leaving Callaghan free in the corridor.  That mistake meant GWS had the one extra streaming through the middle.  

We also lost that game in the last two minutes because we didn't set up adequately in the event that AJ's shot for goal missed. Their transition from the kick out was too easy.

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:27, Macca said:

With a decent forward line we win by 5 goals (yesterday)

Maybe with Kozzie ..point of difference was Toby & Kozzie would have done exactly what he did what the best small forwards do & we didn’t have him. I’m pretty sure Cadman only kicked 2 so it wasn’t on our forward line. 

  On 16/03/2025 at 21:23, picket fence said:

Fritsch needs to be dropped on his pusillanemous and paltry tackling and none existent second efforts

Problem is PF, we really have no suitable replacement that's capable of kicking two and a half goals a game.

Fritta has been one of our leading Coleman projects for years now. Let's not forget his bag in the flag.

Is Milkshake available? A fit Jake would probably be the best alternative and match up

I don't dispute his form has been poor. He didn't seem to have a very good 2024. The scuttlebutt says he was injured.

Last year I saw him jogging after opponents way too often. He lacked intensity and I think your mate Jeffo showed how one applies forward to pressure that cracked a few ribs. And his tackles stick like a rusty pipe wrench covered in Tarzan's grip. 

I don't think Fritta has that strength. I've also noticed he is mostly on or off and he needs to find more consistency.  Perhaps it's a mindset where in  a game of low performance, he struggles to shake it off and it becomes a fait accompli. 

The club has been really slack in bolstering our fwd line.  I'm not sure about Jvr. He's shown glimpses of greatness but last year he didn't seem to progress. I still think he's going to be very good player but this is the year to break out.

I have high hopes for Turner but he is still an unknown.

Jeffo is probably the new hope. Boy do we need him to perform. Let's hope he continues to score.

Also what is worrying is in 2021 we had Spargo and Nibbler backing up Kozzie to help us kick some high score....now we don't.

Now all we have is Chandler and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks he's overrated 

Petty is back where he belongs and showed us why he should stay there. He was never a fwd. But who can we replace him with?

So many of us have here have been shouting for a big bodied experienced tall fwd. But no go. Let's just keep relying on our backline to win games.

Alas against a good side this just doesn't work. We did very well yesterday and had ample i50s to provide opportunities.

Our known fwds produced only three majors with Jeffo accounting for two third of them😀.

I would swing Milkshake in there pronto and tell Fritta to get his act together.  I would also prefer young Bowey in there too as a crumber.

Ps bonus points for the word .......

Pusillanimous.

 

 

  On 16/03/2025 at 23:32, Deestar9 said:

Maybe with Kozzie ..point of difference was Toby & Kozzie would have done exactly what he did what the best small forwards do & we didn’t have him. I’m pretty sure Cadman only kicked 2 so it wasn’t on our forward line. 

I don't care about GWS

Our woes up forward are ours to fix

I didn't expect a win yesterday given that the opposition had played opening round and finished about ten positions above us last year.

I did expect to see signs of improved ball movement, more efficient entries into the forward line and signs of improved depth. Overall I was disappointed on all three of these markers, although the effort was very good to excellent all day. 

The reality is that we have now won 5 of our last 16 games. We are genuinely a mediocre side, and I don't think we have the personnel or the coaching nous to fix this in the short term. It is going to be a long and frustrating season, particularly if we lose Gawn or Petracca at any stage.

The good: Petty & McDonald were excellent in defence. Petracca was almost back to his best form immediately. Oliver was much improved on last season. Lindsay looks to be a great find. Windsor did some excellent things, although played out of position. Salem looks fitter and more composed. Gawn seems to have dodged Father Time for another year, although our reliance on him remains a concern.

The bad: Johnson's diabolical ruck work makes him a dubious selection, despite his aggression and competitiveness up forward. Langford looks way off the required fitness and awareness levels at this point. Henderson needs time to find the pace of the game, and needs to stop looking sideways and backwards. The way Langdon was brushed aside at the last centre bounce, convinces me he is wasted as an onballer. Fritsch has zero confidence and is playing out of position.

The ugly: Howes, Bowey and Lever are all terrible defenders, and Howes is not an AFL level player. Chandler spent his afternoon running up and down the ground for zero impact. Sparrow remains a mediocre player. Jefferson lacks conviction and presence, and shouldn't have been played in those conditions. I would have played Billings, but there is precious little else at Casey to bring in. 

 

Still gutted today. I think the weather conditions actually suited us but we just can't seem to win these close games and our ground ball game particularly in defences will be the death of us.