Can I just say picketts final goal was pretty good considering he couldn't run around

Actually I think I was a bit hard on Roo.

Didnt destroy them but a serviceable game for him.

He's played over fifty games so I am disappointed he has not only not improved but definitely gone backwards.

Probably not worth much trade wise.

Gee I hope Jeffo turns up and gets at least a fifth of the chance Petty has had.

The latter finally showing form. Who would have thought? Not me. Let's hope it continues.

What's happened to Oliver's disposal the last few years? It's as if he's just happy to get his hands on it but not too worried where he sends it. That sounds rough but if it's not a hospital handball it's often just thrown onto the boot. It's made a big difference to his and our game. He wasn't too bad in terms of pressure acts and getting the pill but he needs to work more on finding a teammate not under pressure or in more space.

Thirty odd disposals doesn't matter if they go back to the opposition so often.

Apart from Max, where have our reliable markers gone?

Where are our equivalents to Sicilly, Gunston et al?

Hawks had three players with ten each.

We had Max and Jvr with six and Viney our third with five?

It's been problematic all season.

Finally despite the criticism it's the second last game of a torrid season against a genuine flag contender so one should not be be too disappointed.

I.just hope we are ruthless under a new coach and we assemble much more depth...not has beens from other clubs so we can drop players at will if they play poorly.

How many times to we see players gifted games because there is nobody to replace them with?

Anyway hopefully onwards and upwards

And please put up a better fight against those thugs next week.

44 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

6 goal loss isn't so bad in the end.

Just can't believe we won the inside 50 count.

Many many players disappointed today

We won the I50’s, the hit outs, the clearances and contested ball count! All were Goody’s non negotiable KPIs. They once meant something, but in the modern game they mean very little on their own.

47 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

The opening goal gifted to the hawks was a disgrace. All the players said it was touched. But no camera angle

Fix this miss you morons at the AFL

They didn't even stop to do a proper review. What a shambles of a competition.

Woefully inept performance for all but the last 5 minutes when Hawthorn had moved on to next week. There are comfortably 10 players from today who I'd be happy to never see play for the club again.

If we go into next year with Sparrow, Langdon, Chandler and Salem as walk up selections, we're certain that to be bottom 6 again. Select them when there is a defined role and they are in form, but they play VFL otherwise.

May is done and should retire. We need to start from scratch in defence, probably building around Petty.

And Sharp, as expected, was completely useless. He offers less than nothing.

Sorry Roosie... think you've had a few too many Mai Tai's if you reckon our list is within a bulls roar of finals let alone a flag.

Got to be the most over rated list going around !!

Club needs to consider a scorched earth rebuild.

That was atrocious... fair dinkum Dees .. no pride for the jumper left.

Very 😔

44 minutes ago, Lil_red_fire_engine said:

Not unexpected in my view. There was always a good chance of a down off the emotion of the recent weeks. We were ok after quarter time but that was more a 10-12 goal loss saved by their kicking.

What I did like was Chappy continuing to spin the magnets to see what we learn. Interesting that in the last quarter Rivers was in the pivot, Petty at CHB and Sparrow on a half back flank.
I actually would prefer us to be shown up like that today as I dont want an incumbent thinking you can in todays footy carry so many ball butchers in Oliver, Viney, Langdon, Trac and Sparrow.

Hopefully we try some new things again next week. Make a few changes subject to performance tomorrow and get through unscathed (lets hope for no Pickett last round suspension like the last 2 years).

yep I agree last week we/they were all still running on adrenaline and now we've hit the deck, actually we were close to to them in a lot of stats except for conversion for goals unsurprisingly, not good but not all bad

47 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Harry sharp is a reincarnation of Tom Gillies who imo is probably one of the worst footballers ive ever seen play for the red and blue.

Somes this team when we have gifted him close to 16 games this year whilst guys like Laurie and Billings work their [censored] off each and every week at Casey.

Nuke the joint and start all over again.

The [censored] part is when they get brought up, they’re also just as [censored] as Sharp, and Sparrow etc.

Our team is full of great VFL players.

40 minutes ago, Stiff Arm said:

His fumbles, dropped marks and turn over kicks were like a comedy show

And we've got another year of him to enjoy!

Coming back from concussion.

They finished off okay but were miles off for most of the day. But nothing’s ever as bad or as good as it seems at first.

JVR showed some good finishing skills in the last quarter.

The halfback line needs to go for some more challenging kicks rather than taking up time chipping around defensive 50. When I see this I think that teens are just trying to limit the damage – I guess they didn’t kick 100 points today so that was probably a reason.

I sat behind the goals on level 1 until half time and level 4 till 3/4 time. I think that's the lowest Demon contingent I've ever seen at the G and can you blame fans for not showing up when the professionals didn't want to be there.

I was surrounded by 5h1t3 hawks everywhere and the sound of their bandwagon rolling along.

I normally stay till the bitter ends but today was the first day I left at 3/4 time when we had just 4 goals on the board. Abysmal performance and negligible pride.

18 minutes ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

What's happened to Oliver's disposal the last few years? It's as if he's just happy to get his hands on it but not too worried where he sends it. That sounds rough but if it's not a hospital handball it's often just thrown onto the boot. It's made a big difference to his and our game. He wasn't too bad in terms of pressure acts and getting the pill but he needs to work more on finding a teammate not under pressure or in more space.

Thirty odd disposals doesn't matter if they go back to the opposition so often.

I was listening to the Port v Carlton game and the discussion was the lack of leadership at Port. They were under pressure and they had no leaders talking up and directing their team.

I do wonder if we are in the same boat where we are lacking on field leadership. Plenty of good players, but missing that on field direction.

Or maybe the players have just given up on the season?

7 minutes ago, poita said:

Woefully inept performance for all but the last 5 minutes when Hawthorn had moved on to next week. There are comfortably 10 players from today who I'd be happy to never see play for the club again.

If we go into next year with Sparrow, Langdon, Chandler and Salem as walk up selections, we're certain that to be bottom 6 again. Select them when there is a defined role and they are in form, but they play VFL otherwise.

May is done and should retire. We need to start from scratch in defence, probably building around Petty.

And Sharp, as expected, was completely useless. He offers less than nothing.

May was very good in his last few matches prior to suspension so he hasn’t lost it that quickly. I wonder if he was fully recovered after his concussion. And as soon as I saw him line up on Gunston I was worried, he should have taken Lewis but that takes him up the ground and perhaps exposes him for pace. If he plays on maybe trial him as a deep forward.

Didn’t expect a win but was looking for effort, some sign of systemic improvement and maybe some enthusiasm. But we got nothing.

Sack the stand-in coach. Obviously need a fresh voice.

1 hour ago, BoBo said:

Bloody chandler and his inappropriate and insecure hand gestures cost us that game.

You might be onto something… mimetic social behaviour. Average players demonstratively gesticulating to the team mates (who are their betters and their seniors) gives momentum to an incremental pattern of degeneracy and poor standards.

Well done! Your IQ might be quite good I imagine

13 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Coming back from concussion.

If he’s not up to it, give someone else a go. He played like a first gamer. Might as well let the young players gain experience whilst he gets back to his best (if he can find it).

5 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Sack the stand-in coach. Obviously need a fresh voice.

Sack the lot of them.

Just looking for the Time To Go Chaplin thread. If someone could help a brother out …

1 hour ago, The heart beats true said:

Bruest swapping jumpers with Koz is class.

Just hope Bruest doesn’t try to wear Koz’ XXXXS size spray on jumper 😂

Pretty sloppy and disappointing effort.

The Hawks were too slick and Jack Gunston made us look like clowns.

I don't think the future coach (Nathan Buckley?) would be very impressed with that performance.

A few blokes might have already "checked out" when in reality they should be playing for their careers.

Not enough pride wearing the Melbourne jumper it seems.

Will be interesting to see who has a crack and who doesn't next week against the Magpies.

53 minutes ago, Redleg said:

What do you mean, they showed vision of Rivers’ fingers bending back as he touched it?

The ARC is another bl-ody AFL joke.

Everyone saw it and knew it, except the [censored] in the ARC.

Why is the word id-ot censored?

I thought starting Melksham as sub was an inspired choice.

1 hour ago, Strawberry Fields said:

I feel like I’ve gone back in time 10 years.

When Roos took over the team his focus was on defence. We had the best defensive system for a few years and we trashed it.

In the best part of 5 decades I’ve come to learn the dangers of “group think”. In this case, I think we got sucked in to the “group think” of fast transition football being the new way, as if it hadn’t been tried before. We got sucked in, by that I mean the coaches got sucked in, changed our game plan and this is where we’re at. We finished top 4 in 2023… Crazy.

Our defence is a shadow of what it used to be. We have the players to be able to execute the structure. Time to bring it back I say. Better to go out in straight sets again then watch this rubbish.

Well kind of. Modern game relies elite kicking and the odd turnover. With the amount of turnovers we give teams our defense has absolutely no chance.

the game last against the Doggies was a bit of furphy - they are bog ordinary behind the ball.

I’m 100% convinced there are fractures in the group. The lack of team effort is worrying. Whoever is not head first into a rebound next year and extra training and preseason sessions ,F them all off over trade week. I’m sick of the pea hearted tackles week after week. You don’t need skill to apply an effective tackle , it’s all determination.

2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I thought starting Melksham as sub was an inspired choice.

As was selecting Sharp