Leaderboard

Very disappointed with the outcome, but sick of the carry-on on the other threads re how crap the team is, sack the coach etc etc. i sense the frustration in the press conference that we are still struggling to put all the pieces together, but I think it’s close, and a bit more continuity and playing together will see us push us the ladder quickly. Just might not be this year. can I just say that all of Clarkson, Hardwick, Hinkley and Buckley have been in the “sack the coach” club by supporters, the media, and ex players, presidents etc. none of us keyboard warriors really know enough about in the inner workings of 2020 AFL to know if anyone can coach. However i thought today the backline looked pretty good. Before the game I actually thought that we were one tall short and was worried how we would cover Myers and Ablett at ground level, and who was quick enough for Rohan. Lockhart and Smith both made one or two errors but their versatility was a real plus today. Hibberd was better than he has been and I don’t get the hate for Lever. Thought he showed some glimpses that he might be getting back to form. Except for Ford’s mark, we didn’t get beaten in the air - but their goals were from hit up leads where there was not enough midfield pressure (unlike the tone we had for our I50 entries). All in all, I thought the backline was pretty good as a unit (given the number of AFL games that some have played and also together as a unit). midfield is a strength - despite Geelong having a few all time greats, serviceable 200 gamers like Guthrie and Duncan, and Parfitt etc, we looked comfortable here. our I50 remains the problem. Think we need another tall, and Bailey Fritsch to be third man up, not playing on athletes who are taller like Blicavs. That said I thought TMac competed much better this week, Hannan looked dangerous and Kozzie when he trusts himself more could be one the best small forwards in the comp - there is hope that things can change for the better pretty quickly. Still need a lot of work in the entries, and in the end this was the difference. not sure where Geelong stand, but they had a lot of experience and beat the hawks by 10 goals two weeks ago - so obviously they not complete crap. i understand the frustration on this site, but the lack of objectivity and negativity bordering on hatred annoys me. cue the usual posts that I’m an apologist for the coach and club, got no idea, the reason why MFC have been crap for 50+ years etc, we are going to loose every game between today and when we deservedly go broke or get kicked out if the league etc etc

This is the problem though. This gets said EVERY year. Just reckon the majority of the supporter base have had enough of that mentality. Make no mistake, if things don't get better this could very well end up being a turbulent year for our club.

When we lost to them at Geelong in 2018 by a kick after the siren Dangerfield milked that ruck infringement free against Brayshaw which cost us a goal. Again yesterday he milked a 50m penalty by diving to the ground, which led to a Duncal goal. And again we lost by less than a kick. I have huge respect for the football ability of Danger - he is a joy to watch with his speed and power and ball winning and marking ability. But he is a repeat offender in staging and that takes away from people's respect for him as a sportsman. He won't care as he has the 4 points, but you look at a bloke like Lenny Hayes and understand why he is so universally admired and it's little wonder why there is a bit of a dislike of Danger in the footy public.

The reason Geelong were able to chip the ball around our fwd half is because we don't man the op. This allows them to sprint a few metres into space and take easy, uncontested marks as we are constantly chasing them. It looks like we are playing zone defence in our fwd half. That will never allow enough time to intercept the short chip kick. Geelong (and WCE and Hawks) consistently play that chip/possession game in defence, against us so I was shocked that Goodwin said that next time we come against that style of team, we will be ready. Hello! They have been doing it for years. Who does our opposition analysis? And what about counter-tactics? The frustrating thing is we let them do it all day. The coach didn't change tactics.

Any decent side would have beaten the Cats yesterday. Stewart was off early and Atkins was injured early, he had one possession and they had another injury later, as well as Danger off for most of a quarter. We don’t convert opportunities and it is because of the selection of the side, the game plan and the lack of skill of the players. Other teams have us worked out and that is why the Cats played that chip game yesterday. Name one time when we found a forward leading into space and he was given the ball. We are incapable of maintaining possession of the ball. We are a team of hard at it players who lack basic disposal skill. With our unbending game plan of bomb it in, we are doomed to more losses than wins. The dumb mistakes we make have to be down to Coaching. The Coach seems unwilling or unable to change. I love Viney and Oliver’s attack on the footy but they simply turn it over far too often. Watch the game again and you will see Viney swing into his left and kick it to a pack or nowhere near a teammate. Oliver too often kicks without even looking. He is a shadow of himself in his first year. People on here are not against their club if they write what they see, despite some attacking others for not simply showing blind loyalty. Any fan watching the last half of the Blues game and yesterday’s game would have to be worried and agree that we play ugly footy that is hard to watch and the footy world seems to agree. If we don’t fix up our poor skill, poor game plan and poor selection of the team, we will remain the same.

Yeah this isn't a good place to be after a loss. It's almost always the same and I keep telling myself to not even come here for a few days to avoid the worst of the toxicity, but I cant help it. Equally, the over the top gushing after a decent victory is just as ridiculous, and at times laughable when then it's the same people that have massive melts after a loss. This would be a lot more enjoyable place to be if there was a bit more balance rather than the constant swinging from one extreme to another.

What will it take for this season to be finally marked as a total [censored] up and cancelled?

Richmond fans currently high fiving each other as their season gets back on track.

Why the hell aren't we playing Weideman? I am no big fan but he surely has to be better than the rubbish we have put up in the last two games. Why did we renew his contract last year if we don't intend to use him?

Wait, what? Clearly we watched different games.

Angus gained 7 Coaches votes (4+3), not bad for 2.5 quarters! Really underrated by some on this site. coaches-votes-r4

Ok so I just watched 'All The Goals' video GET HARLEY BENNELL INTO THE TEAM VS RICHMOND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Hard to stay invested in this season.. for various reasons but we really have been the team most affected so far.

To those who said we weren't that bad yesterday. Get ready to grab your ankles.

This season is a goddamn circus, and we, as the resident clowns, fit right in.

This above is all true. How about this? Rd 21, 2018 The Swans had 99 uncontested marks to Melbourne's 61, as the Swans cleverly maintained possession and exposed the Demons' inability to defend by constantly creating the outnumber forward of the ball and making the Demons' defensive press look second-rate. This was Rd 21 2018! This was the game when Goodwin realised he had to change and after that he made several changes that launched our first finals campaign in 11 years. The Swans chipped the ball all over the ground denying Melbourne possession. They won convincingly. Up till that point of the season melbourne were average just 10 goals a game and a bucketload of i50s. Now Goodwin has the gall to claim in the presser that "we coudn't get the ball of them (Geelong)" AND "we'll be better prepared the next time a team tries to do this" Seriously? This guy is a fraud. We have struggled forward of centre for 6 years. We have struggled with teams that pressure us and with teams that deny us possession. And Goodwin is surprised by this tactic? The whole league understands this except our genious coaching staff. I am sick of listening to him justify his position week after week. He is simply not up to it. As for those saying " we can't change the coach , it won't ake any difference" we have ample evidence that the same rubbish is being served up week in week out yet a coach like Beveridge can win a flag, Fagan can get his team firing, Teague can get his team playing attractive footy and we still look like [censored]. Even when we win we look like [censored]. Goodwin is killing our club.

I heard Weideman kicked 10. This means he'll now be named emergency for the scratch match next weekend.

It was a strange old game. You walk away from that thinking we didn't really deserve to win given we trailed for most of the second half and nor could you say we played well enough to win a game of footy. But in reality we so easily could have (and should have) won that. It was a hard game to watch but I wouldn't say it was an awful performance - certainly there were aspects that were poor but also some things that we did well. I thought we defended our back 50 really well. This was an area that we were really poor in last year but we have defended our back 50 well the last two games. Geelong only scored 12 times from 38 entries - normally they are far more efficient that that against us. We kept them to a score that was clearly a beatable score - if you keep a team to 47 points you really should be winning that game. It was really only a few poor individual errors that gifted them goals that enabled them to kick 7 goals. Without those errors it may have been 4 or 5. So those whacking the coaching staff for "doing nothing" in the off season clearly aren't taking into account our two improved defensive performances since the break. That being said, there is obviously some more work needed in defensive transition. Carlton in the second half found too much space and the Cats and Eagles took far too many uncontested marks. Although I must admit today I didn't think it was as costly as some are suggesting - yes the Cats retained possession with little chips but in the main I don't think it particularly hurt us and perhaps even stifled their own offensive play at times. Effort and intensity and ability to win the ball was good as usual. Having said all that, there were two areas that were really poor today. Firstly, our attacking play was, quite simply, a mess. There was nothing identifiable about the way we went about our attacking play. It was random and haphazard and not helped by the usual poor delivery going forward. The forward structure looked unbalanced on paper and played out that way on the field. The lack of a contested marking key forward is just so obvious and is really affecting our ability to score. TMac was better and jumped at the ball and halved contests well, but as stated before he needs help and not selecting another KPF was baffling. Our lack of scoring is a big concern as even when we do dominate games, it's questionable whether we will be able to score enough to maximise the dominance and put other teams to the sword. If we take out the Carlton first quarter when they didn't show up, we've kicked 16 goals in 11 quarters in 2020. Even with shorter quarters that's horrible. The second aspect is our footy IQ. I've banged on about this for a while but we are a low footy IQ team. The dumb decisions and the mistakes individual players make game after game are just infuriating. Geelong were extremely ordinary today and were asking to be put away but they were able to just sneak through on their smarter play. Langdon not walking over the boundary line deep in defence cost us a goal. Not being able to touch the ball on the goal line cost us another. There were countless more mistakes. And we've seen it time and time again in recent matches. In a tight game some smarter and more composed footy gets you over the line. I think what sums it up perfectly is that Salem play at the end. A team that is regularly guilty of bombing it in actually needed to do precisely that given we had two players out the back in the goal square. What do we do? No, let's not bomb it long the one time we need to, let's wait and try and spot up an impossible pass to a player who is 4 on 1 by the time the ball gets there. And this was from one of our most composed players and better decision makers. That's three times in the last five matches against Geelong there has been a shot for goal within the last minute to win the game. We've lost all three.

Are you seriously saying you would drop Hannan? I can’t fathom what you would expect from a mid sized forward that hadn’t played any footy for about 18 months. I thought everything taken into consideration Hannan was very good. We had two very poor players today, AVB who looked so underdone and Rivers who just looked out of his depth today, and remarkably you come up with a Hannan & Lockhart. Staggering!

I really felt for Lockhart after he got pinned late in the last quarter. Prior to his injury he was playing really well and was one of the more cleaner players on the ground. I do hope he gets another go next week. I would continue to bank games into him and get as much experience as possible.

Strewth you can argue TMac’s impact but lack of effort? Got too numerous contests, took one front on and kicked an important goal in a shizen game.

Fritsch is a flanker, be that at either HF or HB, allowing him to roam (i like the idea of using him as a winger). Give him some space to work with, not stick him in the middle of a scrum with blokes twice the size of him.

Absolutely... I really cannot remember a team which dominates most games they play in the key stats, i50s, clearance & contested ball.. yet cannot win consistently or put teams away. I really do hang onto the hope that we are 1 step away from making it click but this frustration is really getting old. We need to make this work and fast, we already have an entire generation of fans embarrassed to support the dees as we have been dog [censored] for over a decade. There will be no supporters left if we need to rebuild again.

Open your eyes. He is a good tackler but is always trying to take shortcuts and refuses to run with his opponents. Stood out with Geelong's chip it around style. I don't question his want to run and tackle, he had a great passage from the half back to the wing where he got to Blicavs. I question his ability to run and shut down an opponent from being an option, the unrewarded running that isn't acknowledged on a stat sheet.

In Weid's defense, he could have been clunking them all day long but that won't make the goals only highlights reel. Hopefully a detailed write-up will be posted soon.

THE GOOD... Petracca: Continuing a fine year and, along with Gawn, is one of the few showing the ability to tear a game apart. His confidence is building and you can see that he is starting to treat tacklers with complete disdain in the style of Dusty Martin in 2017. Was amongst our best again yesterday, but still seems to be building his belief; when he gets there, look out! Team Defense and pressure: While our focus has been upon our inability to build scoreboard pressure and kick a winning score, it should also be noted that we kept Geelong to the lowest score by a winning team so far this year. Yes, the quality of the match was lacking, but this is a Geelong team with the capability to kick big scores with 73, 108, and 77 leading into today's 47. The biggest change to last year is our team's ability to keep pressure on the ball carrier, and whilst it's still not at the level I'd like to see it, it is infinitely better that the cricket scores we were conceding this time last season. Unlike round 2, we were able to maintain the physicality and pressure after the first quarter and barring a lapse in the third, it was a much better sustained effort that rounds one and two. Lever, May, Salem and Hibberd, whilst not individually starring, are not conceding... which is the primary role of a defensive unit. Speed: Two things needed to be addressed on-field after 2019, first being some outside skills to complement our inside grunt, the the second was footspeed. It's quite telling that Geelong went into the game with an altered gameplan to combat our leg-speed, where they tried to maintain possession and keep us from running through a turnover. Our team looks significantly faster this year and whilst the balance may not be quite right between marking targets and small running types, it certainly seemed to be addressed. Whilst Tomlinson rightfully copped criticism for some turnovers in the last, the final 4 minutes of the game demonstrated his running power. THE KINDA GOOD... Pickett: Jackovich had IT, Farmer had IT, Jurrah had IT and now Kossi has it. He'd have learnt a lot from yesterday, particularly a couple of moments in the first quarter where he misjudged the pace of the game at this level, but you feel he is close to ripping a game apart. He is the kind of player that opposition players and coaches dread as even if he is kept down for three quarters, he doesn't need much time to do a lot of damage. That's high praise for a player who didn't do any of that today, but you can see that it's there. Rivers: Really impressed by Rivers and, in many ways, it's a credit to him that people aren't falling over themselves with praise for the young man. He has slotted in so seamlessly that most wouldn't even notice that yesterday was his second game. Whist not dominant, he is quick, aggressive, skilled and found himself standing alongside Gary Ablett Jr throughout the afternoon and didn't seems over-awed. He seems to have the temperament of a ten year half-back. McDonald: I am now coming to accept that TMac will not be the player that he was in 2018. That player was strong overhead, lethal when kicking and was able to motor around the field and run defenders into the ground. There is no doubt something physical that is stopping him from playing that way and he is seemingly carrying far more weight than ever before. With that said... perhaps yesterday we saw a new model of Tom McDonald. A big, bustling forward who can provide a target, crash the packs, bring the ball to ground and catch a few along the way. If that is the case, then hopefully we can see Weideman join him sooner rather than later, but after yesterday I'm feeling a bit more confident about what McDonald can provide this year. Midfield: They're all up and running - Viney, Oliver, Gawn, Harmes, even Brayshaw showed some positive signs. However, whilst they dominated Geelong's much vaunted on-ballers, we're not converting this into clean, fluent possession. Langdon struggled to get involved yesterday due to Geelong's efforts to slow down and congest the match. The ability to find an outside runner was identified by Geelong as an area to pressure us in and, for the most part, it worked. THE NOT SO GOOD... Melksham: When Melbourne is at it's best, Melksham's left foot is lethal. His strength and power either delivering to a team mate or kicking for goal is the steadying influence and impact that our team needs. This was left wanting yesterday as several key opportunities were missed or fumbled. He's a long way out of form and, if this match was played two years ago, he would have nailed at least three goals yesterday. Not sure what to do about this one, as he's a class player and they can usually turn things around very quickly, but like Fritsch, he's missing so many opportunities that he's something of a liability at this stage. Conversion: We're working way to hard for our goals and, as someone said in the gameday thread, our scores come from individual brilliance rather than a coherent system. Too many fumbles and not enough poise forward of centre is seeing players succumb, more often than not, to perceived pressure. More players were lowering their eyes yesterday, which is encouraging, but we're a long way off a team that can reliably kick a winning score. Hunt was missing yesterday and Hannan struggled to find space and was largely ineffective. Energy and Enthusiasm: It really seemed to be lacking yesterday. I liked the attack on the ball and the pressure on the opposition, but the team looked very flat and joyless yesterday. There was very little fire and encouragement yesterday throughout the match, even after Brayshaw kicked the final goal.

Ryan is a good mate of mine. Really great to see him getting serious traction in the industry. Absolutely ripping bloke and just loves the AFL.

I can’t stand seeing such scathing criticism of Viney. It’s hard to think of any player who does more to give his all for his club. He throws himself in , gets the hard ball from impossible positions, then does his best to move the ball on from congestion. What a gutsy team player! I admire him greatly, and it hurts to see fellow supporters suggesting we should trade him. Keep fighting for us, Jack, you’re a Demon through and through!

I'm happy for you that you can detach yourself from any kind of passion or emotional investment in the game mate, but I don't think you speak for the "majority of supporters" if that's your approach.

Thank goodness for May being steady and reliable and for Hibbards first half, otherwise we would not have been within 15 goals as I read this

Coaches meeting, AAMI Park: Richardson: The uncontested mark stats from the game are outrageous Goodwin: it shows how impossible it is to get the ball off a side like that. When they're marking it like that. Chaplin: an uncontested mark ... isn't that a free kick to us? God, those umps! Plapp: what can we do when they're playing like that? They’d have to be flag favourites after that. Rooke: it just seems impossible. Everywhere you look, they’ve got the ball! How do they do it? Goodwin: Well the stats don’t lie. It all comes back to my secret plan. Teams with higher scores have more inside fifties. Chaplin: Fifty? I thought you're only allowed 18 on the ground? Oh, you're counting both teams. Goodwin: Jeez Troy ... you should be doing stats too, mate! Yes, inside fifty ... we had them cold for inside fifty ... now here's my idea ... Rooke: kick more goals? Goodwin: getting a bit ahead of yourself there, aren’t you kid? Listen. They only just pipped us but we had it inside fifty more. What if we got it inside fifty EVEN MORE!? All: oh yeah … of course … genius, boss Goodwin: this week, I want all training working on getting it inside fifty. Kick it, punch it, throw it, just get it in there! Whaddya reckon? What about you, Richo? You're all silent at the back. Richardson: the earth is muddy but the Ox lost his radio shift All: what??? Richardson: (winks) I've heard good coaches say that. Or something very much like that. It can't be a coincidence, eh? Strange wise sayings means good coaching. Goodwin: crikey. I knew we got you for a reason! Right, that's it. Homework for everybody: come up with strange wisdom. And increase the bloody inside fifties!!! They all get up and leave Richardson: (to self) I think it was that … the Ox is dumb but the earth … Chaplin: who’s the Ox? Is it Fritter?

I think Viney deserves a bit more credit for his performance yesterday. Stood up late in the game to drive us forward a number of times and gave us as good a shot as any at winning that game.

Rivers made errors, but didn't drop his head and continued to take the game on. He stays. He is someone who just have to get games into. Along with Pickett.

In vs Richmond out vs Sydney

How is he being negative? It's a legit question that needs to be asked? I mean last I checked he works for the media am I wrong?

ANB was a beneficiary of his favouritism in previous years. I'll reserve judgment until I see the team this week, but I suspect we will see vandenBerg hold his spot and ANB fail to retain his. IMO, we have few players who are more trustworthy delivering the ball inside 50 than him. I genuinely do not understand your attack on that aspect of his game. He's one of the few players who kicks to a forward's advantage. Did it yesterday on at least two of those inside 50s you mention, did it again vs Carlton. He's also one of the few players who consistently, all day, runs both ways. I can't think of one example in three games where he's been obviously caught out for a lack of speed, either. Not every player has to have Hunt's foot speed. From what I saw of yesterday's game he was probably in our 10 best players.

Who says people that are emotionally invested in footy aren't emotionally invested in their family? What a bizarre comment. No one is saying there's not things that are more important, but you discount peoples emotions when you compare things in that way. "Oh, you lost an arm? Oh well at least you're not dead, cheer up sadguts" "Oh, you got a promotion? Well it's not like you won the lotto, so take it easy"

i pretty much agree with the original poster. Personally, I was generally happy with the effort and unfortunately a few individual mistakes or lack of experience cost us. I think we need another tall in the forward line to help take the bigger opponents and hopefully give our mid size forwards a better chances when the ball comes in. A bit more composure at crucial times and we win. Great to see Rivers and Kossie today, they look like they will be very good players.

I think there are enough wise heads amongst the leadership (as opposed to Demonland) to release that this year is a bit different, and not the time to make impulsive decisions. The end of next year will be the time for change if things are not substantially better.