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In 12 months time we win games like that by 5 goals.

I am distraught over this result, but this is garbage.

Well, what could have been? Had we kicked straight, we win the game. We played dirty football at times, scintillating football at other times and we still made some glaring mistakes that we need to fix up if we are to head up the ladder again in 2017. Our midfield was awesome and we smashed them in there. We took it up to them, tackled hard, pressured hard... and couldn't get it done on the scoreboard. Those missed shots in the third hurt us as we could have been at least 3-4 goals up and broken their backs. We deserved to win today so it hurts, but gee we've improved. If we can be consistent with this effort then we win more games. Simple. Special mention to Nathan Jones - he can most certainly have the captaincy back now.

Coniglio, is a boy from Perth who signed a 2 year contract extension mid-2015 and has been through the sewerage with GWS. They look like they are going to be a power for many years to come and he decides "I'm going to Victoria to play for Richmond". I don't buy it. Board members would know less about football department goings-ons than you or I. All this talk about us not being able to afford Prestia because we have to sign Hogan and T-Mac is BS. We have banked $500,000 the last two years from our cap that we can use next year. The club has been very astute in this regard. If we don't get Prestia it's because we've lost in interest in him or we're only prepared to pay him what we feel he is worth. Richmond actually have elite players on their list at this point in time in Deledio, Cotchin, Martin, Rance and Reiwoldt, yet they can pay more for Prestia than we can afford?? No way.

Brayshaw did some brilliant things and some horrendous things. By my reckoning he broke even. I have little doubt he'll be a very good player.

I thought he was excellent today, and in gaining confidence in the Backline( His true Position) should develop into a top line defender! A few errors but very happy with his effort today!

Tom McDonald is a gun and played well today. I know this will annoy those who seem to think us supporters have some sort of superpower and should not accept anything less than a win but today was a very good four quarter effort. Both teams made mistakes but you can't question the effort of this young team today.

Wow no one can find positives. We just pushed last yrs gf team to the limit in wa with a young team and no one can find any positives. Am I [censored] we lost...hell yeh, but if we dont play any worse then that going forward we are going to start winning more then we lose

The smother in the last was as good as it gets. The resulting missed shot was average by Dawes. watts was huge in the last quarter. Unbelievable repeat efforts.

That hurts so bad. To go to perth and dominate at every stat? Wce have never faced that pressure And we lost. Gawn shouldn't have been on the mark at that last free against him, we missed too many shots and we just lacked a little cleanliness going forward in the last third. That hurts in a big way, but that is proof that this team of on the right track. Go home tonight proud of your club because we are going to be a force. There is no doubting that. We are going up . Next year when we play there we will not be intimidated as we know we can do it. Today hurts, tomorrow the sun comes up and we prepare for next week. We are so close fellow demonlanders

Robbed by those f'wits in yellow!

Because emotion has trumped reason.

Proud of the effort. Shattered by the result.

Sorry, which of those facts are you disputing? It sucked, it hurt, and we should have won. We couldn't capitalise with our dominance of the ball, or our huge number of f50 entries relative to theirs. I know all that, and it burned. I had an hour trip home after the game and I seethed the entire way. My heart still starts thumping again just thinking about it. But the last quarter was a slog, and we were unable to outslog a team better and more experienced than us, on their own poo pile. We're young, we tried hard, and it was in Perth - you can be sick of hearing it all you want, it doesn't stop it from being fact, and significant factors in the loss.

RIP tv remote. We had some good times. The biggest inside 50 differential that West Coast have ever conceded at home. And we still didn't win. A step forward. But it should've been a massive stride.

Hogan is massively overrated. Not worth the millions people are taking about.

Yeah our forward line has twice as many attempts to kick goals but it's our back mans fault.

Was it Sam?

This is probably the most frustrating game we've had this year as compared to the other close games we've had (North, Hawthorn and Adelaide), we truly deserved to win this one. The other matches, it was a 50/50 match where both teams deserved to win at the end of the day, but there is no doubt today's match was ours to win, not theirs. We dominated in basically all stats except in our efficiency inside 50. They robbed us of what would have been an inspiring upset. In my opinion, it was yet again our defence and obviously efficiency inside 50 that cost us this game. Our midfielders and ability to get the ball inside 50 were outstanding, but we just couldn't exploit it and convert them into goals. Yet West Coast's ability to get a quick goal in the very few times they entered inside 50 was ridiculous - what sometimes took us a whole 15 minutes to get a [censored] goal took them 2 minutes. Umpiring didn't help either, but was not what ultimately cost us the game (though it did feel like it in the last quarter). We also shouldn't be too critical of players like Hogan, who are generally really important for us...had a quiet game, but so did Jones last week and many of our other stars in previous weeks. Once the frustration wears off, I think as Melbourne supporters we should be proud of what a terrific effort we showed today and should not be too critical. We aren't competing for finals and these are all games that will just make us stronger for next year and a more competitive side. I know a lot of you hate the 'experience' excuse, but it definitely needs to be taken into account. Even the commentators were commenting on how Stretch, a 19-year-old, is considered to be one of Melbourne's more experienced players having played 22 games now - that is astounding. I'm very excited for 2017 and the years to come once all our players have grown and developed even further and finally know, with their experience, how to win these close games.

I am extremely disappointed that we didn't win, we bloody well should have, but there is no way that today's performance proved we are a spiritless club. Short on skills - definitely, but not short on spirit today.

We played better football all day. The missed shots were the issue as the score shows. The umpiring in that last quarter needs a review by the AFL. The meth coast just raise their arms when they want a free.we never do. I am trying to be philosophical about this one but I don't think we could have played much better. The one against Gawn, the deliberate, the 70 metre 50.the high one against Jones were not there to pay- they were crowd kicks. I just hope that when we become dominant we never forget the sort of extra crap we had to do to get there.i want us to crush this scum next time. Take your mine pit and form your own parochial shyte nation you rednecked backwards inbred westralian pigs.

Dean Kent played his guts out today, Poor call!

Bet you said that 3 years ago...

What a bunch of sooks and snipers you lot are.

Came in to this game with no expectations, so was as cool as a cucumber. Now I'm a nervous wreck. Keep the intensity up, we can and will win. Come on boys!

Seriously, this thread is a disgrace. To those using this as their updates because they can't watch - both sides are over using it, both sides have dropped marks because of the rain and both sides have kicked a couple. If we make ONE mistake on here 15 posters go ape. Just settle.

That's the whole point of sport last time I checked.. Some want wins, some want awkward relationships with young guys 40 years their junior..

IMO we lost this game because of poor skill and bad decisions, ours and the umpires. The umpires bad decisions were obvious for all to see. Ours, were an overuse of handball in wet conditions and electing to kick to players who were covered. For example, Vince who has marked 30 out and can kick the distance easily, passes to Kent, who not only has an opponent right next to him, but a much taller one in addition, just behind him. Of course WC get the ball and head downfield for a goal. I counted at least 5 passes to Kent in similar circumstances and each one was taken by a WC player. It was some of the dumbest football I have ever seen. Our shocking kicking for goal was not only heart breaking, it was match losing. We dominated the game having twice as many forward 50's and 100 more possessions. That is usually a very comfortable win. To those on here, who think we have no spirit, I would say, take up watching another sport, because you clearly know very little about football. The definition of spirit is not just winning a contest, it is the effort put in to try and win. We put in the effort today and beat that mob on their dunghill, everywhere but on the scoreboard, with the youngest and least experienced team in the AFL. If you didn't see that, you weren't watching, or you just don't understand. Now for the whingers, bring on your sh-t and attack me for those comments and in advance, I couldn't care less. Go Dees, we are on the way to becoming a good side.

On a positive, Petracca will be a game breaker. He is a cut above.

I'm over hearing this stuff - I've heard it for [censored] years. Once again- for all our "spirit" - and toss in effort potential or any other [censored] thing you like - we are "short on" the four points.

Blaming umpires will not help us kick last quarter goals. We need to learn to do that ourselves.

I must be the only person who thinks we're playing okay. We are in front after all.

I genuinely think we will win. I've finally lost it totally

The main goal of a football club is to win. Then it is to win some more. And then it is to win even more. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise, and if any player on our list didn't have the above as his first, second and third priority then he should go and do something else.

R.P. McMurphy..... We don't like it when you give the men hope. Routine and rest is what they need. Medication time...........

Coniglio alone would cost 2 first round picks.

When you've got certain posters smashing players week in, week out, it means that others will start to simply focus on the mistakes and the negatives and not look for the positives. Tom makes mistakes but he also does some terrific things in our backline. However, that gets glossed over while his mistakes are magnified.

Very much a heartbreaking loss. No doubt about it. I think the match winners are, potentially, there with more game time. Petracca does some fantastic things. Viney never gives in. Gus is playing his best footy of the year, and we are a better side with him there. We know Hogan can kick multiple goals and, like the others, as he gets older he will know how to do it more often. It's a hard pill to swallow, but it's fact.

We lack match winners at the moment. Guys that step up when it counts. It was like I was watching the South African cricket team at the 99 World Cup at times today. They seemed to be trying to lose. Heartbreaking sums it up best.

OOhhh dear !!! Such a blistering and articulate rejoinder!!! I am wracked with guilt and shall be sleepless for weeks!!! BTW your effort may have improved through use of quotation marks ( talking marks to you) around the word spiritless.

This game is like someone cut my chest open, ripped my heart out, handed it to Tom McDonald and said "save her by kicking this heart into this 700m wide pile of fluffy cushions"... And he misses. FML!

I hate blaming umpires, but.... Shannon Hurn could have sunk one into row Z, but as soon as we barely touch one and it trickles over the line it gets pinged. Absolutely ropable. I know, I know, we should have put the game away, but some of those decisions in the last were dumbfounding.

Very pleased with Watts commitment now. Particularly that smother in the last quarter.

The Club just doesn't know how to win ... it's just do predictable...

So many f'wits on here. If people can't see that we are improving and that that was a great effort, they are [censored]. Bloody shattered to lose, but so many ridiculous supporters here.

We've played that song far too often Jack. I'm over this "potential" , "inexperience and " next year" bullshite!

We don't know how to win. Occasionally we know how to Kick a winning score but the nuances of WINNING still escapes us.

For [censored] sake, OMac, Wagner, TMac [censored] off back to the VFL until you can kick the fucken ball. 700k Sydney you can have him.....

Broken record, click Broken record, click Broken record, click Broken record, click Broken record, click Broken record, click Broken record, click

Former Adelaide Crows coach and media personality Graham Cornes said he had spoken to Mr Dank after the shooting. "I've spoken to Stephen Dank he feels it was an attempt to silence him from a speaking engagement ... he's angry," Cornes said."Dank feels it was an attempt to prevent him saying what he was going to say at a football lunch." You've got to hand it to Dank. He's always on the cusp of spilling the beans but unfortunately something always happens that prevents it. Very unlucky. Sociopath