i expected inconsistency

i did not expect non-existent pressure and total lack of effort against a likely wooden spooner. we weren't just off yesterday we were nowhere near.

The overall look of the team was lethargic, complete lack of intensity apart from Gawn, Kozzie, Turner. They looked like I feel after a night on the turps. Did they all go to the Barossa Valley the evening before for an evening of becoming over-refreshed?

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Gabriel

9 hours ago, DubDee said:

I’m beginning to think the Langford might be more Andrew Embley and less Patrick Cripps

Beautiful skills but doesn’t get his own ball much

Not a knock, just an observation. And I know other folks have called his lack of interest in contact earlier

I have watched him this year jog to contests and actually not contest on many occasions.

It is different to how he played last year, so I wonder what is going on.

12 hours ago, buck_nekkid said:

They came with a plan and we failed all day to execute its counter. They played keeping’s off and we failed to pressure the ball carriers. We were too slow behind the ball. Our missed shots invited their confidence to rise

Does this mean we take out from this game Leatnings. (Sorry). Or just experience.

I don’t disagree with these comments btw.

Now I only managed the first quarter and a bit. But there were a number of inconsistent decisions by the men in charge. Admit it would not alter much but… I was incensed when TMac got jumped on his head, then the free went against him, and I think they got a goal .

Symptomatic of what might unfold, really our FD should talk to the umpires why and complain . Quietly or loudly.

Shepherding the umpire indicated I thought. Bollocks !

13 hours ago, red and blue forever said:

this will probably sound silly as I try not believe in the footy gods and fans effecting games B.S.

but I knew on friday we would lose.

My boss is a mad essendon supporter. but if fickle with his team over the last few years due to their poor performances.

so I had been talking up Melbourne to him after our great win against Gold Coast. which lead to him watching our game... getting very excited about how good we were.... and upon seeing the $67-1 odds of us winning the grand final, put $300 on US to win it...

it was done from there

sorry

Your access to the building is being modified this morning as week speak. Good luck tomorrow morning @red and blue forever. All suffering Dees will be with you in spirit. Just remember, your emotional support network is here for you.

Bombers supporters post on Facebook

The difference was

1. Ridley and Langers provided confidence and a calmness for Reid and McKay to stop any of their marking forwards

2. Our back line has some great users of the ball in Ridley, Roberts and now Farrow. We were allowed to play uncontested kick and mark footy. Unfortunately we don’t play the Dees every week

3. Our forwards are now moving and creating targets, with Kako and even Gresham providing pressure and holding the ball in the F50. Caddy will be a gun forward very soon

4. Wight & Blakiston did a fantastic job in the ruck and competed hard to eventually wear Gawn down

5. Darcy Parish had his best game for a year. He tore them apart.

6. Scott simply our coached King in all areas

Well done bombers and yes we know Tsatas is a real player and stays in for the season

No 21 for them goes orright

11 hours ago, AzzKikA said:

I know it sucks but what's the difference in the suprise win against the ladder leaders and the surprise loss to the bottom feeders? Not much except the emotion. Win against the top when it's not expected YAY! Lose against what you should beat comfortably OUCH.

These are the sorts of ups and downs that we've all spoken about, not valent losses but soul bruising heartache and absolute giddy joy.

Wonder which it will be next week against the lions? 💙❤️

We played like toad fish yesterday, Bottom Feeders!🐡

2 hours ago, bing181 said:

People say they expect and accept there'll be losses ... until we start losing.

There's getting outclassed against Fremantle in Perth and there's losing to the clear worst team in the competition by close to ten goals.

I'm happy to enjoy the rollercoaster. I'm not happy when the rollercoaster comes off the tracks.

27 minutes ago, 640MD said:

Now I only managed the first quarter and a bit. But there were a number of inconsistent decisions by the men in charge. Admit it would not alter much but… I was incensed when TMac got jumped on his head, then the free went against him, and I think they got a goal .

Symptomatic of what might unfold, really our FD should talk to the umpires why and complain . Quietly or loudly.

Shepherding the umpire indicated I thought. Bollocks !

Totally agree. If he was a forward, then they'd say he was protecting the ball drop for himself. I can partly understand if there were other players in the area that he allowed easier access to the ball through his positioning, but it was a one of one contest.

T Mac then copped a fair push in the back a bit later, which was allowed and again they goaled.

The umpires also had a real crackdown on insufficient intent/deliberate out of bounds which I feel was inconsistent and went mostly against us a key times. Noticed this in other games I've watched this weekend as well to an extent - how are players suposed to react to these changes in interpretation week to week. I had also thought the lassoo rule had done a reasonable job of bringing consistency to the deliberate out of bounds - apparently not.

Beyond all else, I really did think they got some stinkers (probably a bunch of those deliberate decisions) and non paid decisions to us that helped shift the momentum in the 3rd quarter that got them back into the game after we had opened up a bit of a break on them.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

I have watched him this year jog to contests and actually not contest on many occasions.

It is different to how he played last year, so I wonder what is going on.

Not happy at Dees???

16 hours ago, Ollie fan said:

And more generally: Melbourne hot favourites to win against a bottom of the ladder team, and we lose? Has that ever happened before?

Every time we get built up by the media...we lose.

14 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

He was probably our third best player today - and if not, def in our best six. what are you talking about?

What he's talking about is that MOOSE needs to play alongside Gawn and support in ruck, forward and back for the REST of this season no ifs or buts. Going further, Jeffo needs to be played come whatever may for the rest of the year to see if he is up to it. Luker also needs game time. I'm calling it now JVR is a huge BUST, gets caught under the ball time and again.

1 hour ago, rufus said:

Yeah he's come from Geelong where there is an underlying culture of competing. Coaches don't need to spend too much time wondering what attitude the players will turn up with week to week. He'll quickly learn that it's a big part of the job here and he can trust nothing. People will rubbish that comment but anyone who thinks the MFC generally competes with high intensity week in week out is watching with rose coloured glasses. And that's not just now but most of the last 30 years.

I suspect despite Petracca not playing last week, given how unpopular he was with the other players they were probably fired up to give it to the Suns physically and kind of send a message to him. It is back to normal service resumed with the players inexplicably leaving the intensity at home this week.

Pressure ratings pretty much decide every game of football played at AFL level. IF pressure is even, then talent and execution decide it. Our guys again seemed to think they have the talent to overcome bringing low intensity. They don't and nor do most other teams.

10 hours ago, rufus said:

Yeah he's come from Geelong where there is an underlying culture of competing. Coaches don't need to spend too much time wondering what attitude the players will turn up with week to week. He'll quickly learn that it's a big part of the job here and he can trust nothing. People will rubbish that comment but anyone who thinks the MFC generally competes with high intensity week in week out is watching with rose coloured glasses. And that's not just now but most of the last 30 years.

I suspect despite Petracca not playing last week, given how unpopular he was with the other players they were probably fired up to give it to the Suns physically and kind of send a message to him. It is back to normal service resumed with the players inexplicably leaving the intensity at home this week.

Pressure ratings pretty much decide every game of football played at AFL level. IF pressure is even, then talent and execution decide it. Our guys again seemed to think they have the talent to overcome bringing low intensity. They don't and nor do most other teams.

Would be concerning if players were more motivated to play better on the basis of Petracca who wasn’t even playing, would be interesting to one day know what was the supposed falling out between the players and him.

Whilst the game plan is faster & attacking it’s also resulted in bigger scores against us, our pressure was definitely down and if not addressed will see big scores kicked against us, King is early days into he’s game plan but the contest defence needs to be addressed.

2 hours ago, bing181 said:

Until it started getting roller coastery.

People say they expect and accept there'll be losses ... until we start losing. Then losses are suddenly unacceptable, worse than 186, culture killers and insert-your-hyperbole.

I accepted the Flagmantle result, as did many others on here, graciously. I do not accept what was dished-up yesterday.

15 hours ago, dees189227 said:

The bad thing is, we play them again this season

I’m not one for blind optimism but I have Essendon at the G as a win (assuming we haven’t fallen off the cliff by round 14)

Essendon play like men possessed at this Gather Round fixture and I have no idea why? But I reluctantly given them credit for it.

Happy to play them again to make up for yesterday’s debacle.

35 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Not happy at Dees???

Who knows.

But he hasn’t shown any urgency or desperation this year, so maybe he is carrying something.

He seems to have a highlight or two each game but there is no desperation at the contest and clearly many have noticed it.

Howes as an example is desperate at the contest and goes hard and his game is continually improving.

6 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Who knows.

But he hasn’t shown any urgency or desperation this year, so maybe he is carrying something.

He seems to have a highlight or two each game but there is no desperation at the contest and clearly many have noticed it.

Howes as an example is desperate at the contest and goes hard and his game is continually improving.

Looks like a young player that has been given a low number and promoted on social media (by the club) and by our supporters as a champion

The missing link is his work ethic has fallen off, and he is still a youngster with lots to learn if he wants to become a serious AFL player

I'd throw Lindsay into that camp as well - his performances this year have been very mediocre imho but again he is still learning so we can't expect much more

Both need to get stronger, both need to learn how to positively impact each contest more effectively

It was a weird performance. Some extremely poor effort from 70% of the team is a worry… the type of effort you see from a team last round of the year with nothing to play for.

Very hard to explain it.

Some of the young kids are on watch.

Might be time to have a look at JVR down back. Lindsay was okay, but looks very soft. Langford is a cameo man with horrific work rate and desperation. Windsor probably couldn’t find a footy in a Sherrin factory at the moment. He is lost.

Finally got around to listening to King’s presser and I found his comment that he’s “still learning about the group” (or something to that effect) very telling

Says to me that he didn’t see that lack of effort coming yesterday, and may have found out that there can be an attitude/motivation problem with the playing group

Again, silver lining is it’s early in the season and he has the chance to go to work, but we’re very far off being an unconditional team at the moment

Interesting presser from Kingy…

Was flat as a pancake. Looked uncomfortable at times. You could say embarrassed.

Mentioned intent & being lethargic a few times. That was obvious.

At the very end he mentioned that “Some others are still coping with the demands of being a true professional”, specifically relating this toward the younger boys.

Interesting.

So much credibility lost yesterday after such a wonderful first month.

This week’s response will be telling.

8 minutes ago, RedLegs23 said:

Interesting presser from Kingy…

Was flat as a pancake. Looked uncomfortable at times. You could say embarrassed.

Mentioned intent & being lethargic a few times. That was obvious.

At the very end he mentioned that “Some others are still coping with the demands of being a true professional”, specifically relating this toward the younger boys.

Interesting.

So much credibility lost yesterday after such a wonderful first month.

This week’s response will be telling.

Yeah it was. What he said and what he wanted to say were miles apart. I think he can see who is putting in effort. Effort when winning, vs effort when losing is the mark of a good team. We are downhill skiers.

Some of our kids need some hard lessons now to learn the right way and stop throwing the towel in so easy. Tackling, chasing should be non negotiable

3 hours ago, BDA said:

i expected inconsistency

i did not expect non-existent pressure and total lack of effort against a likely wooden spooner. we weren't just off yesterday we were nowhere near.

Spot on, mate. Losing is to be expected, but to use “new coach” or “new system” as an excuse for getting thrashed by Essendon is weak and naive.

We always knew there was going to be ups and downs, but the expectations was the hope that the “downs” would come against the top quality sides like Brisbane or Fremantle, but not against sides like Essendon- sides that are literally on their knees and on a 17 match losing streak.

We have shown we can be a brutal tackling side as evidence against St Kilda and Gold Coast, but to your point about the lack of effort and pressure, to allow Essendon to score every 1 in 2 entries is an absolute disgrace.

What stings is, we are still seen as a joke throughout the league with performances such as this. There is no brutality or fear whatsoever with this club.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by VNightCityLegend

2 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Bombers supporters post on Facebook

The difference was

1. Ridley and Langers provided confidence and a calmness for Reid and McKay to stop any of their marking forwards

2. Our back line has some great users of the ball in Ridley, Roberts and now Farrow. We were allowed to play uncontested kick and mark footy. Unfortunately we don’t play the Dees every week

3. Our forwards are now moving and creating targets, with Kako and even Gresham providing pressure and holding the ball in the F50. Caddy will be a gun forward very soon

4. Wight & Blakiston did a fantastic job in the ruck and competed hard to eventually wear Gawn down

5. Darcy Parish had his best game for a year. He tore them apart.

6. Scott simply our coached King in all areas

Well done bombers and yes we know Tsatas is a real player and stays in for the season

If maggots change the rules every week on shepherding and interference(for a start) then any mug can win.