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I'm loving this new Tigerland forum, it sure beats talking about Melbourne.

I'd rather petition the footy club to work out a way of winning at Etihad. We're not going to make the finals until we do. Avoiding the venue isn't the answer IMHO.

So 6 weeks ago nobody thought the Tigers list needed patching up.... Well I know I said at the start of the year they would finish bottom 6, I thought they had a poor list and it needed more than just patching up. Blind Freddie could have seen what Richmond have been doing over the last 4 to 5 years. Apart from their top 6 they have next to nothing, too many media folk just look at their Champion data stats and forget to use their own brains. As for the expansion clubs, well this is a bigger story than just Richmond. It also is a huge reason why Hawthorn and Geelong remained at the top for so long.

I've seen worse spells.

This loss was purely down to players work rate. I have a friend who works at the club and can pass on that the coaching staff singled out a few players in the review. Guys like Kent and Harmes didn't put in, mids didn't push back hard enough. They were also livid at Tmac not following instructions. He was told to stick closer to Reiwoldt after qtr time but kept trying to guard space and cut off attacks (unsuccessfully). He seems to have developed an ego and taking things on himself. Unsure if he will be dropped because we don't have any other decent tall defenders as coverage, but they're very unhappy with his attitude.

Don't post here a lot - long time reader. Reading some of the reactions to the game yesterday both on here and in particular the club's Facebook feed, I feel compelled to post as I'm just so sick of this club's supporters. And yes, I've been through it all so don't say I haven't done the hard time. Today was an entirely predictable result and the sky is not falling in. We came off a 4.5 day break and errors were made at the selection table for not refreshing the squad. Young teams struggle with short turnarounds. It was clear to all watching that from mid-way through the first quarter after the adrenaline had worn off that we were not covering the ground either in offence or defence. Lots of hands on hips/heads at the breaks. Our new game style is high risk, high reward, and extremely taxing. We played a team that had the speed to exploit this on their fast home track. Our short turnaround resulted in us looking sluggish and disinterested (I don't think this was actually the case and the effort was there). Our fortunes rise and fall with Max Gawn and he has often struggled against Hickey in the past. Mobile, tall tap ruckmen are his weakness, and Hickey is very much in this mould. Max is far more effective against the brutes/undersized rucks like Maric and Grundy (coincidentally when he starred). He's played 40 games and if he continues with his rate of improvement, it wont be long before he has no weaknesses at all. Our team is extremely young and one of the youngest in the league. Our half back line relied on two players who have played less than 5 games and they look to a 30-gamer (Salem) for leadership. We played 3 players with less than 5 games each which is a lot to carry when our 'experienced' players are 50 gamers. Petracca was overawed - hard for a first gamer to play in a team that was evidently tired. We don't match up well on the Saints in the same way we always match up very well against Richmond. Their midfield is quick (ours is not), their forwards are mobile and their backmen are experienced. To those who say that we should be able to play the same way against any team - an extremely simplistic view that fails to consider the variation of players/teams across the league. Anyone who has played any sport knows that there are always certain types of players/teams that you struggle against. Not to say we should just accept defeat - but needs to be understood. The saints only really scored on the counter/over the back - it isn't as if we were soundly beaten in every single area of the ground. We had one key deficiency they exploited, but we still kicked 100 odd points with about 10 passengers. This is progress and a simple fix. Until we have 100+ games into Trac, Brayshaw, Kent, Harmes, Viney, Tyson, Gawn, Kennedy, Oliver, ANB, VDB, Hunt, Wags, Frost, Salem etc. - we can expect to see this type of inconsistency. We will continue to have good weeks and bad weeks. The competition is very even and we saw today that a few passengers makes it hard to win. Our experienced players were poor, yes, and this is the most disappointing part. Don't forget that TMac and Lumumba were a big part of our good footy the last two weeks. The overreactions on here, and particularly Facebook are not warranted. We did NOT lose because the players spoke of confidence and finals. What do you expect? If we are ever going to improve, we will need to learn to deal with increased expectation and positive media. It is part of the journey and to those saying that we should never say these things again - you are effectively wishing for another 10 years of misery at the bottom. The reactions by our supporter base are a significant part of the problem with this club and believe it or not we do have an impact on each other and on the perception of the club. For us to be successful we need long periods of coaching stability and low player turnover, and the worst thing we can do as a supporter base is cry foul and force changes in this regard. There will be good weeks, there will be bad weeks, and we know there will be good media and a fair amount of bad media. I would think after 15 years of pain most would be pleased we are finally playing a reasonable brand and scoring. Apparently not. People need to understand that the majority of good sides never win a flag, and in all likelihood this side won't either. My hope is we become good enough for perhaps a 5 year period where we are top 4 and respected and I will enjoy this time if it comes. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy the ups and the downs and regardless of our performance, the moments and incidents that make the game and being an AFL supporter great (like Hogan's 7 today). We are improving. Shut out the noise, stay the course and keep calm.

I've been supporting Man City for nearly as long as I've supported MFC, but I wanted the Foxes to win the title head of Man City. It's a fantasitic story because it reaffirms my belief that coaches can make a difference if they can instill belief amongst the players. Ranieri had none of this BS of taking 2 years to teach the players how to defend, before they learnt how to attack. None of this BS about a rebuild. It was all about getting results on the field from day 1. The greatest coaching achievement in the history of sport.

that reminds me......

I go every week, mate. I go to all the Melbourne-based matches. I'm going to Sydney next month and I always go to Geelong. I don't like others mocking my football club, but there's a line where as a supporter you can demand more. My experience of your posts, either directed at me or others, is that any questioning of the club is an affront to you. Pointing out weaknesses and things we could improve on doesn't necessarily translate to doom and gloom. As for expressing your disappointment to the club and players directly, that's why I go to the games. I let them know too. Over the fence. I also couldn't care if I was identified publicly, but you wear that pride with such disdain for others that it gets tiresome. And I think you 'baiting' posters is you hiding behind your keyboard. It's either trolling or you don't understand there are shades of grey.

So basically you're a troll?

Sympathy for Richmond who Lost a "Home" final against Carlscum who only made the 8 because of Essendrug... none whatsoever. Their use of the draft has been appalling since Hardwick arrived. But they will not admit it...

Lol. A small vocal majority? Well, what is it? A small number of us or is it a majority? And the above post is drowning in irony. People vent. That's footy. Most on Demonland are capable of seeing the grey, rather than only the black and white. Unfortunately though, Saty, you're not one of them. You're stridently pro-Melbourne everything, to the point that no one within/attached to the club can be questioned, and this view is one I would equally describe as 'shallow'.

Cant believe people are still tearing their hair out over the weekends game. We are on the right path. We will win one of the Hawthorn games this season. Just watch,

Jack Viney.

Or, if we have to play a home game there, can it be at least against an interstate club, not a side that call Etihad home

I don't think anyone heard you the first 7,563 times you said that..

See I told you calling for calm has the opposite effect.

NOT ONE SHRED OF SYMPATHY OR EMPATHY, HAVE I FOR ANY OTHER AFL CLUB PERIOD!

why go and fret ? I'm not fretting at all. In fact I couldn't give a f****

Saty I take it you are ok with baiting that includes calling a female poster fat ("Are you one meter wide?"), lazy, disorganised and slow? The 'Get To Etihad' thread includes all of these gems. Baiting = trolling.

The complaints were always going to get louder when the expansion clubs started winning.

Can you sue your wife?

Attention Demonlanders : Just noticed we are favourites so everybody put bets on Gold Coast to win if the Dees have got any chance

As predicted by most James Hird has lost his legal case against Chubb and now has to pay a legal bill of around $640,000. Maybe he should be suing his lawyers for the abysmal advice he has received throughout the whole saga!

You re missing the point entirely. Its not losing. Its the way we lost and the inability of the coaches to change what clearly wasnt working. And very inconsistent performance by the players. And 14 uncontested marks in their fwd 50. That kind of stuff. Thanks for your soothing words though.

Mark Stevens ‏@Stevo7AFL 44m44 minutes ago Nothing to worry about at all with Jesse Hogan's finger. He's a lock for this week

Playing 2 inexperienced kids with less than 5 games between them in defence is fraught with danger. Worked against the Tiges but they only have one real threat up forward, the Saints cut them up. We need a cool head back there, either Trengove, Vince or Jones for mine. Bring back Oliver and time for Trenners to come back, forget the idea of a stage managed return at the 'G'. We can't afford that rubbish we need our best on the park and he will be invaluable as an on field leader.

What a load of bollocks

They should reappoint Cameron Schwab and Chris Connolly to complete the transition.

If there was ever a story of David vs Golaith this a story worth talking about & one which gives smaller clubs in any code of sport that when you get commitment,desire,for one another & teamwork all based on one common goal not dictated by big money transfers or greedy players but a club which went to their players during the transfer window to go after a big name players to strengthen their squad, the players replied no as they had something special a chemistry that can't be manipulated by money but a common desire from players who were never big names but were willing to bust there guts for the jumper and believed in one another! A team in its 132 yr history never won a championship so no ethos of success & fighting relegation last season! This is the EPl the richest & toughest league of the world with 38 home & away not to mention FA cup, Carling cup & euro champions league play offs .. Leicester FC spent 58 million pounds vs Chelse 205 mill pounds to win 2014/2015 championship throw in teams like Man U , Man city , Arsenal all spending around the same! I hope this inspires the smaller clubs in the AfL which had seen a domination by 4 clubs in the last 10+ yrs either winning or playing in a Gf & of course this can be possible for the MFC that it can be done!

As a lifelong Gunner i tip my hat to Leicester. They had the fire in the belly to not let go I hope Roosy talks to our players about what Leicester have done. They had no 5 year plan. They just went out there and DID IT Made heroes of themselves. What are you going to do next season Arsene? 4th again???

If I found a man driving a truck of chicken poo fertilizer lost in the wilderness, I would say unto him, brother, the address you seek is Punt Road (cnr Brunton Ave) Richmond 3121. If I saw a woman unable to melt her membership ticket because her microwave was broken, I would say unto her, here, sister. Use my microwave as it were yours. If I saw a man too dry and parched to spit on his coach, I would say unto him, come, father. Sup of my wine that you may salivate once more. And I would do these charitable acts for any the 17 clubs!

The bloke has ruined his life. Hero to less than 0. And he did it all himself. Eat a dick hirdy

wgaf

Start the round 7 match preview thread, already!

Interesting. He'll want to stick close to Lynch this week and check his ego if that is indeed the case. Maybe Jack tried to shake it out of him in the pre-season..

Simply staggering.

We have kicked 12.12 in a win 17.7 loss 20.11 win 16.6 win 20.9 win 15.6 loss This time last year we were struggling to kick 8 goals a game......Goals out the back are far more common these days so when the ball is turned over there is space behind the pack and ALL side are using it......Eddie Betts is third on the goal kicking list because of this. I have to laugh at posters, and I know that DL is a place for people to vent their anger or laud our team as the next great thing but seriously after one bad game Dunn(who people whinged because he didn't play in the first two games are whinging that he played last week) Posters blaming the coach, the players, the ground, the selection. Attack is the way things are going these days and I love it, otherwise we could go back to the Ross Lyon way of things and be bored stupid for half the game. We will lose more games because of this but we will win a few as well We have won 2 games in a row and many posters were struggling to make changes to the team.....One week later we are hopeless and people are making 5 or 6 changes. and blaming the footy dept for not making the changes in HINDSIGHT. Stupid Coaches

Just out of interest, where is all this "our defence is appalling" this year coming from? It seems to me that people are looking at one game (St Kilda), the most recent one, and erroneously trying to say that what we showed in that game is indicative of the entire year. It was only the second time this year we've conceded 100, in a season where scoring is well up. We're 10th for points against this year, i.e. mid-table, where most if not all of us think is where we rank this year. To this point last year, we had conceded 527 points, this year it's 592. That's 65 more points, or just under 11 per game. Is that drastic? I don't think so, and when viewed in the context of the increased offensive capabilities of the side (the very thing most on here were hoping to see this year), it makes sense. It's wholly unsurprising that we've conceded more in the aim to score more (if you think that's unacceptable then your expectations are wildly out of proportion). Given our percentage after 6 games last year was 77.6% and this year is 102.2%, clearly the shift to offence is outweighing the losses (if any) to our defence. I really don't think there is some major cause for concern with our defence. Our defensive performance against St Kilda was poor and contributed heavily to our loss, but that doesn't mean there is some underlying problem.

That's about the worst spell of whether I can remember

The most valid point so far and the only point. The thread can end now.

Good teams learn to play well everywhere. Demanding to not play at certain venues is a cop out.

Clayton oliver 131 dream points and 16 tackles yet not named in the best... Stiff..

Unbelievable admission....here comes the manure and the microwaves.

I have this feeling that, regardless of the Suns game (which I think we are a good chance to win because of their injuries and also total lack of form), we're going to play well against the Dogs. We usually play them well at the G and I have a suspicion we'll fire up for it because a) we know we beat them here last year (same as we knew we beat GWS, Richmond and Collingwood last year) and b) as some sort of "payback" for being destroyed by them at Etihad the second time. If I'm right and we play well (win or lose) against the Dogs, I expect to see a shocker against the Lions the week after, though.

The Weed was managed.

Can anyone confirm please wether or not Saturday's Metricon clash is a home or away game?

Petition: Demand an end to the Melbourne Football Club losing at Etihad Stadium

It breaks down when you can't hold the ball in your fwd line. That's what happened. Our tackles dodn't stick and they outran us wide and created overlap. I would love to see a stat for missed tackles - thta was a big difference from the week before. Hold those tackles and all of a sudden they are not streaming down into an open fwd line..

I'm not sure where fr_ap has been spending his time to see the need for this post, but I've not seen anywhere near the reaction that there was after the Essendon game. No one is panicking, no one is baying for blood, the worst I've seen is people question a few things and being a bit disappointed, hardly any need to "calm down". But I appreciate the long winded apologetic post. Maybe fr_ap needs to understand that with increased performances comes increased expectations.