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Generally I think our strategy was reasonable in the last quarter, we tried to win the game and 3.5 to 8.0 is just a freak outcome. Stacking the backline and trying to hold on is not the way to win - we managed to level the momentum in the mid part of the quarter and keep scoring - if JKH kicks the goal we win. Yes we could have switched OMac and Frost a play or two earlier. The real problem was further up the ground - we were getting killed at the stoppages - Ablett 14 possession in the last. Specifically in the last two minutes, I think Petracca's torp was a reasonable play, he went deep down the line to an even contest and got the ball OOB inside our 50. I also don't think Jeffy did the wrong thing either, his kick went towards the top of the square again to an even contest, he didn't have a wild ping. Suggestions that he should have taken it OOB are ridiculous, he would've been pinged for sure. Bernie's spoil back into the 50 was a decent play as well - that's where we like to lock it in. I think there were three big factors, one out of our control and two in our control: Max having to go off - at the boundary stoppage after Trac's torp TMac is telling Max to go back deep and he'll take the ruck but Max has blood and has to go off. If Max is deep it's unlikely Geelong marks that last play. Lewis giving Menzel too much rope on the wing. I don't know the full team rules and Lewis was guarding the corridor but surely that's man-on-man time, he was miles off Menzel and knows he doesn't have the closing speed to make a contest. No-one running with Duncan from our forward 50 when he receives the handball from Hawkins - someone just had to go with him. I think there's great learning opportunity out of this loss, like the loss against St.Kilda - issues were exposed that cannot be ignored

Keep posting Kevin, people are just extra upset, in fact gutted, as many have said, over what we see as inevitable failure after supreme efforts by the team in adverse circumstances. Murphy’s Law flourishes at the MFC, where something often happens and seemingly only to us, to cause major disappointment.

Gee there’s a lot of BS in this thread. If you reckon Jones wouldn’t get a game in every single other side in the league bar none, your opinion isn’t worth the magnetic disc it is written on. I’m sure some people on this forum try so hard to be “balanced” and “unbiased” that they see gremlins that aren’t there. Whatever problems we have, Jones ain’t one of them.

Let me just quote myself from the Post match discussion thread: "There was a centre bounce in the last quarter too where the pack was around a ground ball, Harmes bent to pick it up, a Geelong player kicked the ball off the ground and they wound up with a goal. It was possibly the worst case of kicking in danger I can remember. The Geelong player booted Harmes' wrist and his shoulder bumped into Harmes shoulder/neck. Harmes may have been injured as a result. Not only was it a definite free kick, it was borderline report worthy. But ofcourse, no free kick called and resulted in Geelong goal to keep their momentum going and get them over the line". If that incident I described on the weekend is the cause of Harmes' broken hand then the club should be fuming. We were legitimately robbed by the umpires on the weekend. Not only that, but they've failed in their responsibility of ensuring players receive duty of care when on the field, as one of our players is now injured due to a careless rough act that went unpenalised. Unbelievable. I hope the club lodges a formal complaint against the umpires from the weekend. What a f*cking pathetic waste of skin they are.

All the best for your recovery and hope all is well.

And that is it. However, dissecting the last 2 minutes also ignores the errors earlier, that lead you to that point. For example, if Tom Mac, our best set shot, iced his 20 metre shot straight in front, we are 5 points more ahead when the siren goes.

I know in time this will be of massive benefit to us. We'll be the side always looking for that next goal and going for the throat. There's been plenty of talk that we needed to control the tempo and I was one of them but lets be honest, that can play into the opposition's hands as well if you go into your shell too early. I was frustrated with Goodwin after Sat night for sure. There were a few things he did that didn't work but I'm also prepared to acknowledge that his structures and moves early on put us in the position to win. I know it can come across harsh but I'm definitely not going to call for the guy's head. Does he need to evolve? Maybe. But he's definitely our guy right now as far as I'm concerned.

That fight seems to resemble the sort of fight you would see at an old peoples home. All it was missing were the cane's for pocking from bystanders.

Probably shut it in the car door when he realised he was about to be typecast as a tagger.

A torp is risky. A drop punt down the line could have resulted in the same thing. He sent the ball down towards our best contested mark in Gawn. What else was Trac to do when the ump clearly waved play on? There’s maybe one short risky option on that pic as pointed out earlier. I see Lloyd and Bartel were critical of Trac also in the dissecting video claiming he panicked. I don’t believe this kick cost us the game.

After watching the game again, I noticed another thing that helped cause our loss, weak leadership. Look who stood up for the Cats, Danger, Ablett, Hawkins and Selwood. When the game needed to be won they stood up and led. With us, who of our leaders stood up? Who led the way? Who directed the others? Who took the mark or laid the tackle or made the hard gut run to set the example and/ or create the game winning/ saving piece of the play? I think our leaders were merely observers. We lack quality leadership.

I thought Smith was pretty good. His speed and athleticism are important to the team at the moment. I’d play him on Tom Lynch. OMac to Jenkins, Frost to Walker, Jetta to Betts.

IMO we were just plain unlucky on the weekend but our performance was first class. How many teams would beat Geelong at Kardinia Park when they kick 80% in front of goal? Maybe Richmond. The loss was devastating but you don’t win premierships in July. Petracca has hit form and is showing again that he can become an elite midfielder. Oliver is already a top 10 player in the AFL. And Brayshaw will be very good at the least and better if he can improve his kicking. Even without Viney, Hibberd and Lever, we are going to be a hard side to beat in the run home the way we are playing and I can’t see us having a down performance due to lack of effort given what’s happened over the last 12 months.

We need to secure Gus before worrying about anyone else.

This sort of stuff just doesn’t happen in Perth. Ever.

I understand the frustration, but the supporters provide the primary unifying element to the ship of Theseus which is a football club. The current team is not the team of a few years ago; so it's really just your memory which is littered with these types of losses which you and other fans perceive we just can't seem to stop. But the current team did exactly that last year - vs. West Coast, Collingwood and Carlton - after suffering from some tight final quarter defeats against Freo and Hawthorn earlier in the year. We also came back from deficits similar to the one Geelong overhauled yesterday on numerous occasions - with football being a sport of momentum. We've had some bad luck this year, but these things can go either way for all teams. No one would argue that the Salem goal after the siren vs the Bombers a few years ago was the result of a well-drilled team which was cool-headed at the finish. We got lucky in an unnatural game environment and immediately forgot every mistake at the death. More mature teams like those of Hawthorn and Geelong in recent years are of course more likely to prevail in this atmosphere with greater experience of it. We're not yet a mature team.

He didn't lose the game. After his torp the ball went out of bounds and we had another scoring shot. There was still too much time to tray and maintain possession and even if he wanted to there didn't seem to be any options. Maybe you could argue if he doesn't kick that barrel Maxy never goes off with the blood rule and we win but now your starting into alternate reality theories.

Yeah I saw that at the ground - was absolutely pathetic. The bloke is a champion footballer and I've always liked watching him (except against us) as he's just so powerful and skilful. But recently I've lost a lot of respect for him as a sportsman. In recent games I've seen him repeatedly hold an opponent's arm after they apply a tackle on him to make it look like he is being held after getting rid of the ball. He milked the ruck free kick last night and then his dive over the boundary was another blatant act of staging. I suppose he has learnt the art of milking frees off his captain, who I noticed time and again whinging to the umpires about not receiving a free. And all Ablett has to do is throw his arms in the air and he gets an immediate free for holding. Then you have Chris Scott carrying on like a pork chop when one decision doesn't go his team's way, only to then act all sanctimonious the next day in his media interviews. I never minded Geelong in the past but recently I've begun to really dislike this mob.

Yeah Lets play him because you have a soft spot for him.

He's turned over in his grave so many times the energy could power the MCG lights.

We don't really...they just haven't fully developed yet. Our core leaders are now the young guns, Oliver, Petracca and Brayshaw along with Max. They are still young and/or inexperienced but stood up pretty well. We were also missing 2 other important young leaders in Viney and Lever. We don't have 3 future hall of famers around the 30yo 200 game experience mark yet. This is one area I'm not at all concerned with (I am with the defence). The Tiges lost all the tight games until it clicked for them, now they win 'em. Cotchin wasn't a leaders boot lace until he was...the same will happen with us.

Good post, mate. What it highlights is, at this point, Trac has some risky options to look for, but they have a chance of being a turnover that could have been catastrophic. Instead, he took the low risk option and went down the line. It was the right decision, and a mature one as well.

He should be, but won't be. He also dove over the boundary line looking for a free. It's a blight on the game. Did anyone see what he did after he got the Bs free paid against Brayshaw? He kicked the goal and then looked at DUCKWOOD and pointed to his head with the index finger as in 'how smart was that'. To me that is a clear indication that he knew he had outsmarted the umpires and milked one.

As I said, no Lever, no Hibberd, and an injured and out of form Hunt are all contributing to the "mix" being out. But my view remains that even with Alex Rance in OMac's position, we'd have been conceding those goals to Hawkins. Rance is obviously a better player than OMac but he also plays in a system which gives him far more support, both in the defensive 50 and up the ground. We know this has been a focus since Goodwin called us out on it at the St Kilda press conference. Since then, our two-way running and overall team defence has improved and the rate at which sides score against us has decreased. We conceded 8 goals in 3 quarters at Kardinia Park, from 34 inside 50s (that's less than 25% scoring rate when they went inside, down from 68% against St Kilda). If the back six were the problem, I'd argue that rate would have been much higher all game. The entire side weakened for 15 minutes in the fourth quarter and A-graders (Ablett, Hawkins, Dangerfield, Duncan, Tuohy) stepped up, and they scored 5 goals in quick succession. I'd argue that's far more consistent with the team defence being critical to our success, not the back six themselves (who held up when the side played properly, as it should, for 3 quarters).

Brayshaw should have quietly nominated himself. Made sure Dangerfield blocked him. Free kick. Bam we win the game... Yep I’m still salty about that one!

You should read what you write. Its hardly a cop out. Its fact. And until we fix our defence we won't get anywhere consistently.

I really don’t like Geelong, Dangerfield & Selwood are a protected species, the crowd are feral & the way Hawkins was carrying on in the last quarter really lacked class. Theres no humility about that mob, maybe that’s why they’ve been so good the last 15 years

The Club needs to draw a line in the sand with the umpiring...thats...culpable.

I disagree with this, we managed 12 goals to 8 in the first 3 quarters. We set up well and they struggled to break our press. They broke it once when Jordan Jones got out the back, which came from a risly ball out of the Cats defensive 50 through the middle of the corridor. That pass came off and they were away. It didn't happen much and we set up well on the night. 4 of those 8 goals came from Jermaine Jones (mentioned above), the Dangerfield ruck nomination, Hawkins outmuscling Max and the Harmes 50m penalty. In the last quarter the Cats kicked 5 goals in 6 minutes and it was more to do with us not being able to get our hands on the ball from the centre clearances than our defensive set up. Ablett and Kelly dominated and hit Hawkins laces out straight from stoppages. The way they broke away and delivery is almost impossible to defend. Same happened against the Dogs at Etihad but they lacked the polish with their delivery. We needed to slow the momentum which was obvious but you can't slow the game down when you can't get your hands on the ball. Yes Gawn being off had an impact but all teams go in with set rotations. We lost because of a lack of composure from Garlett, Vince and probably Brayshaw. Nibbler putting in a toe poke instead of putting his head over the ball also cost us with ball getting out to Ablett.

I agree, I don’t think Petracca did anything wrong. He got the ball deep and close to line. A failure to force stoppages at the death killed us.

I'm not a crier, I am a fighter but bullies are best ignored IMO.

Learn to handle criticism or you will spend your entire life in the foetal position crying. That was a hysterical over-reaction to Jadeds comments.

We managed to keep Geelong to 20 scoring shots for the game. So our defence was not as bad as you make out despite OMac getting a hiding. Geelong kicked 16.3, with one rushed. You would expect that type of accuracy once per season. And St Kilda smashed the Tigers in July last year. We are not shot yet. We are seventh and one game outside top 4.

Exactly how I saw it on the box. Was shocked at first and then admired the endeavour - which got the desired result (and unlike others, I didn't think much of Trac's game overall). Playing for time at Kardinia from the point Trac had it would have been a recipe for disaster (a different disaster) He engineered a stoppage deep in our forward pocket. It was the responsibility of others to then lock it down.

Stay classy Geelong.

Right, so now that I've had a decent night sleep and gotten past the smug texts and comments from some Geelong mates, I'm willing to look at a few of the positives last night. I think Christian Salem is quietly have a very good season for us. Had another 19 touches off half back last night and, generally, his ball use is first rate. He isn't flashy but he's tough, courageous and could easily be a 200 game player for the club. It's also good to see him staying fit. I'd still like to see him further up the ground, but I think that will come in time. While he tired in the second half, I think the first half showed us that Charlie Spargo can be a very, very good player for the club. Played a crucial role in many of our scoring chances early, as well as kicking a fantastic goal in the second term. Once he has another pre-season or two under his belt and builds his tank he'll be able to stay in games long, but he's a very smart footballer and a shrewd pick from our recruiting team. While his stats won't show it tonight, James Harmes is another who I believe has taken the next step this season. Shut down Selwood in the first half and Danger in the second, it adds another string to his bow. When he's not tagging he's shown he can rack up the stats and hit the scoreboard. Lastly, and the most obvious one of the lot, is Oliver. I don't think we can truly appreciate how good this kid is. Another 40 disposals, 7 marks, 6 tackles and 20 contested possessions. He has the chance of going down as one of the best players this club has ever had at the rate he is going. Took it up to their experienced midfield all night and never looks like tiring. He just goes and goes and goes. What a star he is. I'm still hurting from last night, and I won't forget this game any time soon, but I still think we are a big chance of making finals and taking destiny into our own hands. It starts with the rolling the Crows on their home deck next weekend.

I know others have responded already, but this post really hit me. Mate trust me, even those of us with lives jam packed full of other stuff feel the sting. Being able to rationalise it away with “it’s just footy” comes later after things settle down, but the initial emotion still cuts deep. For me, the blame phase isn’t part of the package when we lose. I don’t need to blame OMac for having a poor game, or JKH for missing an easy shot, or Goodwin for whatever, like so many do. That gives me zero therapeutic value - in fact it just makes me feel worse. That’s why I will often come across here frustrated when I post on here after losses. I just want an outlet to share my disappointment with other Melbourne supporters because I don’t really know many others, and all I seem to come across is misplaced rage and mindless criticism. People mistake my attitude for nonchalance or that I’m just happy with effort. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Last night honestly felt up there with the most crushing feeling I’ve felt in my life. I turned the TV off immediately and just sat in the dark silence by myself for ages. I haven’t felt such a feeling of hopelessness for ages. The rational, intelligent man knows it’s stupid to react so strongly to football, but it still happens. Anyway my point is, there are more people out there in your corner than you think.

Maybe someone that was at the game can tell us if Trac has options behind him for a short pass to milk the clock. From the view on the TV he had no options sideways or forward for a short kick like @Dr. Gonzo posted above. If anyone is willing to sit through the last two minutes again you will see the umpire clearly signal play on before Trac kicked the ball.

JKH has zero weapons DV8, with no obvious potential upside in any footballing discipline. He's become less damaging if anything. Kent, Bugg, Frost - these players at least bring something to the mix.

Were you also reminded of us vs. Collingwood last year with Watts on the end of it in open space after two links from half back?

Max going off with the blood rule with a minute left was so typical of our luck.

Only someone interested in sadomasochism would have any interest in watching those last two minutes again.

I support my team with great passion, and never have a personal thing to say, or make any action, toward any other supporter. I went last night, was up the other end from this incident. As soon as Tuohy kicked the goal, I had some clown clap at me (basically in my face). It was totally unnecessary, I had not spoken a bad word, nor addressed or acknowledged him (or any other supporter for that matter) at all during the night. He's lucky that I'm a lover and not a fighter. This sort of crap is asking for trouble. He would've been the first one to whinge if he copped one on the nose, which could've happened if I was someone different. It's also worth noting that this is the 2nd or 3rd incident this season at a Geelong game. I know from my personal experience that their supporters ask for trouble with the way they act. I'm glad I'm better than that to respond with violence, but I'm not surprised that others do. I have had enough of going to Kardinia Park. I don't deserve to have my night out at the footy ruined by idiots, just because I'm a passionate supporter in "enemy territory".