Leaderboard

Didn't think I could feel worse than last week. Then we serve up that slop. I've been putting it off for a while now, but that has to be the end of Goodwin's senior coaching career. If it doesn't happen right now, then it happens at the end of the season. I know there are financial implications involved, but I was embarrassed tonight. We stunk it up again from the moment we got going and we never looked in it. We hung around like last night's pizza for most of the night, but I didn't feel as though were ever going to win it. Our forward line is a mess. Weid is constantly battling two or three. I can't understand why the [censored] we picked Preuss, in these conditions, to play as a forward all night. Outside of one tackle he did nothing. Our small forwards were Bedford and Pickett, two kids who are still raw and learning the game, and ANB, who does ANB things and really shouldn't be playing football. Fritsch, while he can be soft, gets a pass mark from me as at least he gets to the right spots and does things with ball in hand. Our midfield was running on empty and we lacked rotations in there. I have to commend Trac, Oliver and Viney as they never stopped trying, but they were outmatched. And lets not forget that we had too many passengers - Smith, Pickett, Bedford, Baker, Hunt (okay, he did two good things, but that was it), Hibberd. There are probably more, but we need everyone contributing to win games of footy and it just doesn't happen. Positives - I really like Trent Rivers. Great drafting there. Mids did okay. Langdon has a dip. Tomlinson did really well in defence. That's really about it. Hurting big time tonight. Hopefully the club has the courage to make some big decisions in the coming months. Another e-hug to all of you out there.

This isn't a dig at SWYL's 4 year post which is a valid discussion point, but exactly 2 years ago was one of the best nights at the MCG for many of us in recent years...

Playing Preuss as a forward is insanely dumb. I had hoped we'd see him get a long run in the ruck to send Gawn forward. Nope. Playing Fritsch as a loose defender failed throughout 2019. Ruined our first quarter and robbed us of a rare marking target forward of centre. We had no cohesion through our team, which makes sense given we had 7 new players compared to last week. I know some were calling for fresh legs but that wasn't the way to do it. Our zone was too high. Our ball movement was too wide. We overhandballed for probably the 45th time under Goodwin. Gawn lost his composure, which happens far too frequently when we're struggling. We had no midfield support to ease the pressure on Oliver and Petracca. We have to continually rob Peter to pay Paul by throwing May forward, exposing Smith who isn't an AFL footballer. The same problems continue to manifest.

I didn’t even bother watching, I’m the real winner here.

The fact we ran so hard late disgusts me. Deliberately pick and choose. This club doesn't deserve us.

Garry Lyon: "why aren't we a ruthless, unconditional club"...and why are we asking that question at round 16? We've had all season and all pre season after a season of disappointment to get there. Spot on, Garry.

It has been obvious since 2017 Goodwin can't coach. we lucked out with 4 good games in 2018 after being soundly beaten by the Swans in Rd 21. Hopefully there'll be many apologies forthcoming now for the bile that was spilled at those who could plainly see how hopeless he was. People laughed at the Camp but the decision of the players to go the AFLPA was a disgrace and showed the lack of leadership at the club. And a real knock on Goodwin. Sadly we didn't take his resignation at that point. And in the crunch games we repeatedly stunk it up with poor efforts and zero footy smarts. Poor scores kciking wi th the wind, trying to play champagne football in the soaking wet like tonight, no one standing on a goal line for a 50m shot on goal. Under 12 stuff. People excused 2019 but it wasn't an abberation. The same old problems and lack of cohesion, game plan, etc were obvious. This year there is simply no excuse. We were the fittest we had ever been, had a full list to choose from, played every team once and just stank it up repeatedly. The players dont buy the game plan. They're confused and have no idea what to do with ball in hand and no idea what to do when they don't have the ball. Its not that hard. We got beaten the same way too many times, Chip kick keepings off, switch play, sit on the outside and pressure the ball carrier and they'll turn it over with handball. Rinse and repeat. We have talent and a good coach would get this team humming. Goodwin aint it.

I’m going up to the Abrolhos islands fishing on Saturday. I’ll post some photos.

Us dees fans are a hardy lot. Who have developed all sort of coping strategies to deal with the sort of routine gut punch we got in the last game. Some get angry. Some fatalistic. Some vow never to care again. Some get depressed. Well all really. And some pretend it's just a game. Me I give it some time, try to process my frustration, then pretend it never happened and by game day and full of optimism, can't see how we can possibly lose and am trying to convince my mate we should back the dees over 39. I developed this coping mechanism during the long dark days of the 70s. And have been honing it ever since. A key design element is a seven day break between games. Six day break stress tests the model. But it cannot cope with a four day break. Freo will be desperate to beat our Casey ones and we have decided to help their cause by changing a third of our side. And having refused to use two rucks suddenly decided to do so. And despite making seven changes [censored] Melksham is not one of them. And despite lack of foot skills being our biggest glaring issue we don't bring in our best kick. And after picking the slowest dees side since Spud Dullard and Ray Biffen graced the team, and 90& of supports wondering why against young swans team who our skipper said in the lead up like to play fast footy, we have suddenly picked the fastest, against a team that moves the ball at turtle speed.. And the coach knows the problem. And is working on fixing it. Make no mistake the players want to win. And know that effort was not acceptable. This is not the Melbourne way (yes goody, it [censored] well is). We have an identifiable brand (that at least is true, but it ain't what you think). We will look to play our best team each week, cos we are super burgess fit. Until we don't. We will pick a side that want to win. [censored]. [censored] [censored]. Another [censored] wasted [censored] season. [censored]. [censored].

I celebrated my first father's day yesterday. Absolutely loved it!

This is an excellent comment.

They already lost 13k this year, to not crack 40k next season will be an utter embarassment. You can't keep chasing your losses and have to look at the opportunity cost in keeping him. I've been a supporter but no more, he has lost me. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for 2019 but to miss finals this year with one of the healthiest lists in the comp is unacceptable. Comparing him to Hardwick, Thompson etc misses the point. Those guys had 1 poor season after getting the team to a finals standard. You get a pass for 1 poor season and that was 2019 for Goodwin. 2020 big fail, see you later Simon.

I made it pretty clear that I did not like the backline structure that we had against Sydney and while I am frustrated that we changed the successful back six (seven with rotation) that served us so well against Collingwood and North and one which served us pretty well against the Bulldogs (they beat us in the midfield) , I have to say I am pretty happy with the make-up of our side tonight. Whilst I would still prefer the intensity and kicking skills of Lockhart, the backline includes a better mix of talls and runners than last week and should match up well - May on Taberner, Lever on Hoges and Tomlinson on Lobb with Joel Smith the lockdown role on Walters or Fyfe - depending on whether they send the latter forward. The Lever on Hoges battle will probably be game-determining in my view as it should be a low-scoring affair given their style of switching heavily from down back. I am also excited at the prospect that we will see a bit of VDB in the guts with the tiring Trac likely to spend quite a bit of the game at full-forward. Melky will probably get a bit of a go in the middle as well and hopefully the pair can negate Mundy enough leaving Olly and Viney to go to work on Brayshaw, Fyfe or Acres. The move to bring in Preuss is smart given they have Lobb as their second ruckman and Brown for all his run and workrate simply cannot match that sort of presence. Preuss also provides the security should Max need a break and the pair when resting may even force Freo to restructure, although I imagine they will play Ryan on Weid and rely on Cox to take Preuss or Gawn. Freo enjoy keepings off and have loads of runners, so having four small forwards, which is one too many for any long-term sustainable framework, may actually work well and force them to turn it over on occasions. Looking forward to seeing Kossie off a break and Hunt, who I rate much higher than most of you and certainly our coach, with his career at Melbourne on the line. I'm assuming Baker will play on the other wing and if he negate Aish's influence then he will have done a great job. I hope that if we cop an injury down back or things don't work out with Smith (he will be playing on their most dangerous player remember) that our coach breaks the rules and sends Hunt back before it's all over. Yes I know he has been training with the forwards, but he did spend quite a few years learning his defensive craft and I suspect that he will be playing half-back in some side next season - not sure which one yet. And one last thing. Thank christ we made seven changes and brought in a lot of fresh legs. While it may have been partly forced on them, our selectors seemed to have learnt from the Port four-day break debacle.

Anyone else get the impression from Goodwin yesterday that the club doesn't think it will play finals? Three things I noticed: 1. He started talking of the condensed fixture, travel, Alice, late arrival at Gazaly and conditions. It was like excuses are in the pipeline. 2. When asked about focusing at this intense time he talked about the opportunity for the club to grow, to develop, to continue to evolve, to be consistent and that is our aim. Lots of teams vying for finals and we want to use it as an opportunity to get better. No sense of expectation to play in finals. Hardly filled me with confidence. 3. When asked about the list he talked 'this year is about building ourselves up' and play in some games that will define us 'whether we play finals or not' 4. Selections. Have very little confidence in a win tonight.

Langdon and river's effort.

Trent Rivers with pick 32. Will play 200 games (hopefully all for us).

I called the club last week and took my membership of auto-renew. I told them if Goodwin goes I'll put it back on. Someone mentioned that Pert gets reports like this. Call the club and let them know you won;t re-sign if Goodwin is there. Money talks.

Garry nails it yet again. Summary: - Too many average players - Good players play as individuals ie they lift individually when the game is on the line, but don’t lift as a collective and do the team things

As low as it gets. The final five minutes shows two things: we weren't doing what we should have been doing for 3.5 quarters, and we had energy in the tank. For that sort of ball movement and effort to only show up right at the end says a lot to me. There are serious problems within our club. I fear that sacking Goodwin may be the only way to fix them.

I'm glad that Melbourne have a gin sponsor, but I don't think it's enough. I need Melbourne branded hard drugs to get me through this crap.

Others may differ but I liked this finals win better than the Hawthorn one.

It’s very easy to forget that Bennell has actually exceeded our expectations so far. May he continue to.

Goodwin press conference probably worse than our performance tonight. Disrespectful to the members.

Key parts of what Garry said * urgency came too late * maybe just an average group? * average sides/players can’t maintain consistency of effort * 2018 aberration * smith, Preuss, Bedford, ANB, Baker average players in what is now an average footy club * Goodwin coaching average * took too long to adjust, no passion, urgency until the end * players trying to win the game by themselves as opposed to team * good individuals, average team * not enough resilience in team

I know that there’s bigger issues, but whoever decided to give Oscar Baker a 2 year deal has no idea.

Maybe it’s just that you’re not real clever. I am indeed boating over to the islands from Geraldton on Saturday morning. It’s my way of saying what many other are saying. The season is down the toilet and I’m looking forward to my fishing trip. And yes, there will be a lot of trolling over there. Looking forward to try the Nomad DTX minnow amongst the Spaniards. I’ll post a photo for your viewing pleasure. Have a lovely evening.

John Northey says hi.

Well Said Wise i haven’t trusted him since he walked away from the 2018 Preliminary Final As a young Coach he should have studied every Frame of what Meth Coke did to us in that First Half But Simon knew better.... Well guess what...

[censored] poor again !!! Goodwin must go!!! An utter disgrace of a season !!!

Almost a relief. The pretence was killing me.

Love Trac feel sorry for him

Ah yes, the old "go past us". Did we "go past" St Kilda when we beat them? Has Sydney "gone past us" despite being in the bottom 4 whilst we will be in the 8 if we win tonight? My view on this is very different. At the end of the season, whoever finishes in the top 8 deserves to play finals. That is, indeed, the entire point of the top 8. It's even more so in a season like this, where everyone plays everyone else once. If we make it on 9 wins, at least two of St Kilda, Collingwood, GWS and the Dogs is going to similarly lose some games over the next two weeks. Whoever finishes the season with the 8th or better record of the 18 clubs will have deserved their finals spot.

Me and my boy were on level 1 at the 50, about 10 rows back. My son (14) yesterday rated this moment his #1 highlight with his dad in his life so far.

This presser is giving us absolutely nothing information wise. Platitudes like we need to be ruthless. We need to play better footy. We need to get better at all phases of the game. What an utter waste of time. Treat the supporters with respect.

can goodwin just explode in a presser just once please. or just change tone ffs so infuriating he sounds so bored and careless

I'm sick of Goody mentioning the 'tough conditions' - they're the SAME BLOODY conditions that Freo played in!

Oliver was ****house

Was garbage, As was Baker, as was Pickett.

Couch discussion was so good, and like him or not Lyon nailed everything about the club and the side.

Agree with almost every criticism here but I have one more to add. We have one of the best taggers in the comp James Harmes, who has wasted away at half back every game without tagging once this year. The week he comes out injured we decide that tagging is actually a viable tactic, and throw a ball using half forward onto one of the biggest and best contested mids in the game. Fyfe 22 touches and 7 clearances. Melksham 9 touches and 2 clearances. Beyond a joke at this point.

Garry Lyon absolutely bang on right now On the Couch.

Goodwin has trashed Paul Roos' legacy at the Dees

Pickett must be the only small forward drafted highly that can't actually kick a [censored] goal

If Pickett can't start kicking those he won't make it. Misses them too often.

I’d be happy to Bradbury into finals this season and most definitely be happy to Bradbury a flag.

Last chance saloon. Must win tonight if we want to make finals. There's not likely to be a lot to learn from a win tonight. If we do win, it will probably mean either some top shelf performances from our A-graders, or some surprising performances from our additions. Getting fired up after a pathetic loss happens frequently enough, so I don't think there will be anything long-term to take away from a win. A loss tells us a lot though. If we've packed it in, if we've given up, if we can't turn around our form against another bottom 6 club, if we look lifeless, skill-less, no lessons learnt, if Melksham and Fritsch don't tackle, if vandenBerg gives away free kicks and doesn't get the ball - a loss has the potential to tell us a lot. Win tonight and I'll care a lot more about the GWS game on Saturday.

Fremantle aren’t all that bad, it’ll be a tough, close scrape. Dockers by 89 points.