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I’m off to the game this afternoon. I’m very excited. Live footy,!. Could be some pies eaten and beers drunk. I’ll barrack for you southern Demonlanders. Go Dees!

So I'm starting this before the end of the game, as I'm so angry and disappointed and let down that I need to write something down to get it off my chest. That game was lost from the moment Salem was pinged for holding the ball in the first five seconds. We played lazy, selfish, arrogant football and we were taught a football lesson by a team that has been distinctly average all season. They came in with a plan - to get a man behind the ball to either pick off the long kick, or to help with mopping up when it hits ground level. They did it all night. Have a think about how many times we crumbed a goal, or truly put some forward pressure on? It was rare, at best. We also lost this at selection. Losing Hibberd hurt, and you could understand the reasoning behind Hannan and AVB going out, but the ins made no sense. Joel Smith? Yeah, he was okay in patches, but we know he doesn't work down there. And what about Oscar. Sheesh. I hate to be that supporter, but this bloke can't play another senior game for us. He was God awful. But that's on Goodwin - why is he playing him? What has Lockhart done to be dropped and left in the wilderness? And as above - what of our forward pressure? I thought Spargo did okay here and there, but others like Fritta, Melksham (outside of some good kicks in the first term), ANB etc provided little to no pressure and they did as they pleased. But the concern, again, is through the midfield. We are a contested ball winning, clearance team... and we were getting beat by one of the worst clearance sides in the comp. What is going on here? We are built for that sort of footy, yet we can't get our hands on it enough. We can't even use the 'tired' excuse - the Swans were coming off the same break, they made less changes and looked far fresher than us. They hounded us, got numbers around the ball and we looked helpless to do anything about it. But I'm hurting after that. Not just from the result, but from getting my hopes up yet again. This is just the sort of game we lose, but I thought to myself that surely we have matured since then. I couldn't have been more wrong. And he has been a warrior for us, but Nathan Jones summed up our effort tonight in the second term. With a chance of turning the momentum a little with a shot on goal, he lazily turns and kicks on his left, straight into the bloke on the mark. Just unforgivable. He is a wonderful Melbourne man, but he should never play for us again. Stuff the 300. We can't have experienced players in the side setting that sort of example. It's just not on. Lastly - because I need to say something positive - Ed Langdon is a ripper. Yeah, he missed a few shots on goal, but his two way running and effort is something that all our players should watch. If I could, I've give everyone here a hug. I can't, so I'll send an e-hug instead.

This was as classic Melbourne as you could get.

I’ve said it a couple of times already but the very first passage of play rang alarms bells for me. Petracca, one of the best form players in the AFL has a free kick in the middle of the ground, kicking with a strong wind. If he goes back and kicks it he can put the ball about 30 metres out from our goal. Instead, he handpasses backwards and to his right to Salem, a known left-footer. Salem who inexplicably was calling for the ball while running past Petracca’s right side was therefore forced to kick on his right side. The ball was turned over and Sydney soon after kicked their first goal.

MFC - you’ve killed me

When finals are on the line... 2016 - lose to lowly Carlton with Dylan Buckley kicking 3 goals. 2017 - lose to lowly Collingwood. 2020 - lose to lowly Sydney with Justin [censored] McInerney (WHO?!??!?!) tearing us a new one. We are an embarrassment of a football club.

I’m getting drunk tonight. It probably isn’t the answer to the problem but for now it’s part of the solution. Cheers

Everyone has to cop it for that. Players refused to dig deep and do the hard things. You could see from the very start they were hesitant in going into contests, refused to tackle, refused to run without the ball. A current assistant coach at another club messaged one of my mates "these players just have no ticker". Goodwin had no answers yet again. It's hard to see improvements he's made in his time as senior coach. Most of the 'improvement' has come from a better list. So many of the same problems with no answers year after year. It's also hard to see how we motivates the players. The corporate speak and monotony doesn't seem to be working. Stafford. Firstly, goal kicking is very very poor. Clearly not working. Secondly, our ruck work seems to have gone backwards to the point where it's rare that our rucks hit it anywhere near one of our own players. Richardson. What has he brought exactly? Neither here nor there with him tbh, but I've seen nothing different from a coaching perspective. Don't want to go too overboard after one game, but this is too much of a recurring theme now, these things happen far too often. Staggered if people keep believing that 'Goody has the players' after seeing this kind of thing over and over.

Garry Lyon: "This is such a Melbourne thing to do." Yep.

Game day !!! Had forgotten until I saw the thread! How many times can Dees supporters think off where we’ve won the difficult game ( aints ), only to give back any advantage , by losing the supposed easier game? We won’t want to let our guard down this arvo !!!

Another disgraceful performance. It keeps happening. The players aren’t willing or capable of making the necessary mental changes to play consistent football week to week. And Goodwin is repeatedly failing to get them going. I agree with all those referring to the opening bounce. You could tell from the very start we were flat. Inexcusable. It’s time to accept a few realities about our list, realities many of us already knew. Oscar McDonald is not good enough and will never be good enough. He has had enough chances. He is an utter liability with the ball in hand and his defensive work has, somehow, regressed this year. He is a complete disaster, so much so that Goodwin threw him forward to get him out of the backline, but he was so bad there he then had to swap him with May. Just terrible. IMO, that should be the last game he plays for this club. Same goes with Jones. It was bad enough that he turned it over with a left foot shocker, but for him to then follow that up minutes later with a rinse and repeat left foot shocker is all you need to know about him. He is done. He shouldn’t be playing. It’s sad, we should honour his achievements, but he is a wreck out there. Is it a coincidence that when we brought Smith back our defensive set up fell to pieces? I’m not sure. But he’s not a footballer. Melksham should have been dropped 5 times this year. He is lazy, selfish and pathetic defensively. So is Fritsch. I don’t think we can play both. I thought Langdon was our clear best all day. His missed goal was deflating and he clearly has a goalkicking issue, but at least he can hold his head up as an example of someone who played their role to the required standard. Gawn’s marking was great and I actually thought his tapwork was fine. The issue in the middle was the mids falling to pieces: fumbling, quick fire handballs to no one, poor decisions, lazy kicks. Harmes looked lively in the fourth when given the chance to play mid/forward. Can we accept now he’s not a defender? Just like 2016 and 2017, they get our hopes up and then fail. I don’t know how many more times we can have someone bake us in the media, or someone say “that will burn in our guts”. It’s a pattern and maybe we need a reset of some sort to break it.

Had multiple defenders around him and blocking him, not to mention the disgraceful delivery. Could have been better for sure, but there's also a fair bit of blame for the mids and the coaches in not playing their parts.

Sure, the players were woeful. But If there's one thing I know, it's that Goodwin can't get this team to play to their potential. We look like a rabble, against a team that would actually be better served losing right now. Next coach please.

Jones and Oscar McDonald must NEVER play again.

Pissweak performance. Oscar McDonald is by far the worst footballer ever to grace the red and blue. Its a comedy that we've gifted this potato to 80 games. Pack your games son, that's the last we'll see of you. Jack Viney - Can't stand him and never been a fan. Is nothing but an idiotic selfish footballer. Nearly knocked out Trent Rivers because he he wanted the the ball himself when Rivers was about to gather the ball. Not only that, he is a disruption to our midfield set up. I would be happy to trade for a 2nd rounder. Not a leader's [censored] and its laughable that he's our VC. Give it to Steven May and trade out this muppet. Simon Goodwin - insipid coaching performance. I pumped him up on the back of thinking we'd easily beat Sydney and Freo. I got sucked in easily once again. This is worse then the Port loss.

Lets be honest, performances dont get any more "Melbourne" than that one. In the 8, a game against a low ranked side to consolidate.... fit and practically a full list to choose from... result is a forgone conclusion yeah? We fail to turn up. The whole footy world could have guessed todays result. He we go AGAIN I just cant even.......... Dont think for one moment that MFC have stopped playing with your emotions.... NOOOOOO. We will find a way to stay alive right up until the game against Essendrug., and we all know what happens then dont we? This club can go [censored] itself.

Depressingly predictable.

Gates open in 1 hour. Nearly ready to head off. Nights have been cool so wearing long pants for the first time in 6 months. It is currently warm and windy. I am not excited, I'm hysterical. Now c'mon the Dees.

So I consulted Titus O’Reilly and he’s very philosophical about the game:- “As for the Swans, their painful season is at least approaching the endpoint, but they always give it a go, which worries me. Why can’t they just give up when things are hopeless? I mean, I give up when things are mildly annoying, but that might explain why I have achieved very little, while the Swans makes finals almost all the time. That’s my big worry in life. That trying is what makes the difference, not destiny and that exhausts me. I’m tipping Melbourne, just to really hurt myself.”

Has anyone raised the fact that the Swans have been in Cairns since Saturday (and training at Cazaly since) while we flew up this morning? I don’t know about you, but being on a plane flight for 2hrs and then expect to play a side that’s been there for 5 days and already training there seems a bit rough. The performance was inexcusable but this further highlights the inequality of this season.

Viney going for the ball blindly is both admirable and our biggest downfall in the midfield. He’s a selfish footballer. He works super hard but sometimes it’s detrimental to our efforts because he’s always getting in the way of others.

From that first handball by Petracca I had a very bad feeling in my gut. And then Viney (Ithink) got caught with the ball trying to evade a tackle. I turned to my 25 year old Dees-mad daughter and we both said "Oh no, it's this again". And so went the evening. I shoud be used to this feeling, but I'm not. ruins the rest of my week/weekend.

Can anyone please tell me what Fritsch brings to this team? A big head? Yep

If oscar or Jones get another game im going to spew. They're both terrible and cost us 5 goals tonight

2021 welcome to demonland Al Clarkson.

[censored] peahearts. They make me sick

Absolutely pathetic performance. My mind hasn’t changed on Goodwin one bit.

Langdon the only one working hard today. Trying his guts out. Literally.

Harmes was training and doing stoppage work with the mids yesterday.

Can anyone confirm if they get 4 points in this scenario.

Okay, I am taking a break from watching cat videos, which I did for the whole last quarter because I didn't want to torture myself any further. Time for a rant. I have been DEDICATED. I have been PATIENT. I have been LOYAL. I have been PAID UP every year. I have kept the FAITH. I have SUFFERED the losses, the heart wrenching losses. I have ENJOYED the few victories. I have STAYED to the very end of games where it was obvious there was no HOPE. I have MOURNED the tragic losses of our players like they were part of my own family. BUT, I don't think I can stand much more of this. Does the club care as much as me, as much as us? Do the players? Or is life just a little too cosy being an AFL player today? I would really like to know. I do not understand what I witnessed today. It is inexplicable.? HELP.

Anyone who has played deep forward in a team performance like today would cut Weid some slack today.

The game was lost at selection going too tall and not bringing in run. The players were then clearly not on from the start fumbling, getting caught, not laying tackles. The coach and players then fell for the oldest trick in the book kicking with the wind and just blasted everything in selectively picking out their spare without fault. The players then looked gassed and lacked energy a quarter and a half in. Players did their usual individual efforts and not doing the team things. If I see Viney push our own players out of the way to try and get the ball again I will scream. Improved quality and a kick up the bum saw us increase our efforts in the second half but our inability to take chances under pressure saw us not take advantage. The best thing that can come from this is Finally accept some home truths and resolve them immediately. Oscar is a liability, Jones is finished, Melksham is lazy and Fritsch a down hill skier (I would play neither but you cant play both). We desperately need run and should be bringing Lockhart, Baker, Pickett, Bedford, Bennell in to get some speed on the game.

I was willing to believe the Port game where we got smashed was the outlier, and that we even rectified our errors from the Dogs game against the Saints last week. But this one is beyond me. Insipid doesn't even do it justice. Really hurting after that.

I wonder if the players had a similar expectation to some of the posters on the Gameday thread this morning. Dees easily, Swans are rubbish, no Rampe, no Mills etc etc. Well, Sydney are a team that have dominated us over the last decade with a very good coach who’s also very good on game day. This wasn’t a surprise at all.

Embarrassing and indefensible. No further comment.

Shopping him around? After everything we did to rehab him and get him back to playing? Despite the obviously strong relationship he has with May and, it seems, with Goodwin (possibly/probably Burgess too)? No way. IMO Bennell's issue is intensity - he hasn't been sprinting or chasing hard enough when he's been in the side. If that's because he's fearful of injuring himself, that's something he has to work on. But I've seen enough to believe he still has the desire to make it, and the talent to be a best 22 player for us. After putting all this work in, I cannot imagine we'd be giving up now.

This says it all. One of the more optimistic people here at a total loss. Can't fault anything you said really. Definitely feel the same way.

Apart from the Covid numbers not going down fast enough (really, who the hell is getting this thing now? I can’t see how you can possibly contract anything under stage 4, and haven’t the health settings got their sh*t together yet to protect their workers?) and my Dees confirming their position as the AFL’s laughing stock, it’s been a great day.

Watch the rest of the season fall away meekly now. In fact, no - watch us get up and beat Freo, scrape past GWS and lose to the Bombers. Repeat ad nauseum. I really have no explanation for these performances. We will most likely miss finals now, and deservedly so. Big problem for the club is: how do you sell hope for next year on the back of that crap?

2 more years of this wishy washy Coaching/Preparation Sorry he is not up to it, when he is put under serious pressure Longmuire knew exactly what was required with half a side AND nothing to play for except Pride. The MFC needs The best Coach in the land otherwise it will be 8-10 wins a year This Club cannot deal with pressure. Once again. Seen it so many times before

Jones is the epitome of what the dees are. A campaigning loser. He needs to go and the loser culture he brings

Max Gawn just had two weeks off. Has anyone ever had triple figures in hit outs? Do you really want to debut Amartey against Gawn? Everything else Melbourne have won 4 of their last 5. They've got 5 midfielders who are at the top of their games in Petracca, Viney, Gawn, Oliver and Langdon (the last of whom has really come in the last month) as well as Steven May who is a dominant force at FB now. Good test against an experienced, in form side but I don't have us as an impossible bet in this. If we bring our intensity again we can trouble Melbourne who are not consistent or reliable yet in my mind. We will get smacked!! Keep it within 4 goals and that's a win for us. Melbourne are seriously average with their two way running and defensive pressure. Our guys who like to run will have a field day with all the time and space the Dees will afford them. With the Hawks furiously tanking, Pick 3 is in jeopardy. I can’t see us winning another game with the games ahead. It’s the kind of game that the hapless Demons tend to stuff up with monotonous regularity. Melbourne if they are half decent should see this week as a bit of a percentage booster unfortunately for us. Melbourne are not that good, but we're definitely worse. If we stay in the game for the first half I think they'll get scared. Melbourne besides poor performances against the Bulldogs and the Power have been very competitive in most games this year. They are clearly the better side, but imo, are weak as [censored]. Lucky to beat St Kilda and beat up teams worse than themselves. We are worse but are not as weak, so if we can stay in the fight and not get blown away, Melbourne can definitely lose it for us. Melbourne are soft as, just pretenders.. Can definitely win this.. I'd love nothing more if our boys beat them and stuffed up finals for them.. If we're in it at half time (either <12 points down) i reckon we'll win. It is Melbourne after all. Interested to see how Fritsch goes - he might be in Red & White next year.

The Swans can’t score and our defence is peaking, there’s no way we can lose this game. Sydney by 27.

Wooohooo!!! September football with the Demons