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There are two wildly unbalanced stats from that game, and all the others are remarkably tight. We won hit outs 68-18. They won free kicks 25-11. Every sport at the top level should aspire to the best possible quality of adjudication. This was not that. Doesn’t matter how you spin it, that was not a level playing field out there. Season free kick stats equally confirm the Bulldogs are getting a free ride through the season. The big question is why, but nobody’s asking it.

Stand up Melbourne and show us what you’re really made of after some inexplicable lapses against the supposedly weaker sides. It’s unacceptable to give up a 26 point lead against the second bottom team.

I had a dream that we kicked 87 goals and 21 points which equates to 543. The odd thing was that in my dream I saw the scoreboard and that’s exactly what it said, 87 goals 21 points: 543. Apparently I’m a maths wizard but only in my sleep. Anyway, I think we’ll actually win this one easily. Bulldogs hero Ugly-Hogan to be held to just the one possession. Brown will kick 52 of the 87 goals.

On the positive side Jayden Hunt has put together a great few weeks. Can't remember him losing a 1on1 and take the game on. Yes a few disposals are iffy but really liking what he is bringing

They took some chances, we missed some sitters Not much between the two sides Umps gave them an armchair ride I'm looking forward to playing them in September

As usual, there are some wildly big statements in here. This game was so much more even than this thread or the 20-point margin suggest. But yet again we lose because we miss shots on goal. The impact of those misses cannot be understated. Doing all the hard work up the ground but failing to put any scoreboard pressure on our opponent keeps our opponent in the game and makes our job psychologically harder. Brown's two set shot misses plus a third out on the full, Pickett's missed snap in the first quarter, Viney missing from the goalsquare, Petracca failing to score from three different shots. Then after we'd kicked the two early goals in the third, Pickett gets the ball, has McDonald in a heap of space, but misses. Later, in the fourth, we're back to 4 points and a kick goes to the goalsquare but over Jordon's head. Small things but in a game that was largely even, those moments lost it for us. I'm sure ANB's pressure acts were up there but he is reverting to pre-2021 momentum-killing football. He fumbles and get smothered far too much. If Harmes isn't tagging someone out of a game he's useless right now. We can do better with his spot in the side. Jordon and Jackson both really struggled tonight too. A few headaches again at selection. May and Lever once again fantastic, Oliver's first half was incredible, Petraccca did a lot right outside of the missed shots, Pickett worked his way into it, and I thought Viney made a hell of a lot of Demonlanders look silly. A loss like this isn't anything to be too upset about. Our top 4 spot is in jeopardy not because of tonight, but because of the Adelaide, Collingwood, GWS and Hawthorn games. Still need two wins minimum from the last four to make the top 4, and possibly need a third. And a final note: the umpiring was unbelievably Dogs-biased. Tackles on the shoulder were called high for them but play on for us, they were throwing it out of tackles, and don't get me started on the HTB call on Brayshaw right before half time. Just could not get any momentum when 50/50 calls were going against us at every turn. Genuinely terrible and it's not sour grapes to note how bad it was.

A bit rich that criticism of a premiership coach and a forensic accountant. Deserves a bit of respect.

It's difficult for me to watch that game and think, this wasn't umpire bias? they were hot on the trigger to give the Dogs free's but loathed to pay them the other way. I know others won't agree with me but i genuinely do doubt the integrity of the game at times.

Not much in the game. Biggest factor is Bont is a superstar. Thought Viney was very good big positive. As for the umpiring it make the game unwatchable. There is simply no logical explanation for the free kick count. Inexplicable plus throwing is clearly allowed.

Shouldn't that be 7 Mate Mate.

Ok but totally biased against Viney. Hit up Brown for a goal. Hit up Kozzy for a goal. Kicked super goal in the third. Nine tackles. At the contest. 3 words. “Very good game”.

misses in the first quarter really hurt in the end.

Bevo playing a taller forward set up is already admittance that their best playing their way cant beat ours. The question is whether we still have any of our best in us. Gawn needs to be aggressive at the stoppages with his ruckwork. Viney, Harmes and Jordon need to play defensively well and let Oliver and Trac off the leash and get back to brilliant basics not Hollywood footy. Brayshaw back to the wingers club to assist with hard defensive run. Our half backs rebounding fast and aggressive when we have the ball and forwards who separate and take advantage of players lowering their eyes to hit them. Most importantly for the love of god take your chances. Our speed forwards need to back to Port style inside 50 pressure to contain and turn it over in our half. Not much to ask really. Get back to doing all these well and it wont matter what set up the bulldogs play. Our best is the best in the comp we are just the least trusted to bring it every week.

Game day already? It’s 6:45pm on Friday here. I’ll have to eat dinner, watch TV, sleep, have breakfast and vacuum the pool in my Demons scarf.

I agree with most of what has been written. The free kick difference was inexplicable but I was more annoyed with the ones they didn't pay. Especially the throws . Endeavour and tackling will only get you so far, as Hawthorn showed us up last week. I think the Dogs had a bit more class on the park and around the midfield. Bailey Smith on the wing dominated whoever he was on (Gus or Langers). Dale, Daniel and Duryea all deliver the ball better than we do as Salem and May are our best kicks out of defence. Hunter, Bont, Macrae & Libba bat deeper than our midfield guns in Trac and Oliver. Despite this we had the same scoring shots, identical disposals with even kicks and handballs, more contested football, the same number of tackles, kicked 2 out of bounds on the full and 1 that didn't make the distance. With 9 minutes to go we trailed by 4 points. They took their chances, English kicks a miracle goal from a stoppage that somehow makes it over the line. bailey Smith gets the ball on the flank and kicks one on the run from way out There wasn't much difference between these 2 teams. I think Keath getting injured assisted them as they replaced a tall with a small and gave them better balance. Schache did well at full back when the opportunity arose We aren't that bad! We lack some class in some areas but we are trying to build a team and culture that plays finals and is in the top 4 for the next 5 years.

It's a really funny one, because i come away thinking we shouldn't feel like the Dogs are a better side than us. i think they got a lot of help from the umpires, but also our goal kicking. we can't win the flag if we can't finish our work. I think we did more than enough to win the game, we just missed a few to many chances, and lapsed into old habits a few to many times. the two things i think we need to fix heading into finals are 1. We need more reward for Gawns dominance, if you're winning hitouts like that. we need to be scoring off them. 2. our goal kicking. we are shooting ourselves in the face

Langdons form has been scattered at best since he got concussed. I think we're missing his form from the first half of the season more than we realise.

There are two arguments peddled by the protesters and those who think like them, when arguing against lockdowns, that make my blood boil. The first is that we have had very few deaths in Australia from COVID, and/or that the death rate from COVID is "low". That argument either ignores, or fails to contemplate, that the death rate in Australia is low because of the public health measures that have been implemented since March 2020, predominantly the use of lockdowns and mandatory mask wearing. In other words, if we did what the protesters wanted, not only would the total number of deaths be higher, but the rate of death would also be higher, because we'd have more cases needing ICU/ventilation and fewer health resources to treat them. The second argument is drawing comparisons between places like the UK or US right now with Australia right now (e.g. people saying crowds are allowed at the Euros but I can't leave my house). That argument either ignores, or fails to even think about, the wildly differing vaccination rates in the UK/US compared to Australia.

Did you have Spaghetti Marinara or Spaghetti Marijuana last night for Tea?

Hoping for a win, but loss won’t be end of the world. Between now and end of season, just want to see 3 or more wins, so we finish top 4, and stay injury free. Dogs got lucky winning in 2016 from 7th, played a great final series and were allowed to throw the ball at will!! But odds favour the top 4 and that’s the key! Covid makes it hard to know where finals will be played, so there might not be any home ground advantage, as could end up interstate. Demons just start kicking straighter! Go Demons!!

This is a good warm up opportunity for finals and I hope our guys treat it as such

Like last week yeah?

They should protest about the slow vaccine roll-out

Sure, they had Keath out and then Richards down, but we dominated them for 4 quarters and failed to capitalise in front of goal. I just don't rate the Bulldogs. I thought we were, with the exception of Oliver, and a few moments from Viney forward of centre, woeful, but with 10 minutes to go we were 4 points down. JJ takes the mark in the goalsquare and we're in front. But goalkicking has now cost us 4 wins (Adelaide, GWS, Hawthorn and tonight). Brown kicks those gimmes and I think we comfortably overrun them. I was pleased to see Gus back to the wing and Viney forward. Two good moves. Gus started okay, but faded I felt. Whereas, Viney was brilliant inside 50 and his attack on the ball carrier was exactly what we needed there, but it's time to shelve his midfield minutes. It's never been more obvious than tonight. He was a deadset liability at stoppages. He is the key reason our mids are bees to the honeypot. He just mindlessly hunts the ball carrier and completely exposes us on the outside. You certainly can't afford that against the Bulldogs. That's their entire game. Burn you on the outside as they flick it (and I mean flick it) to their receivers. But back to the bees to the honeypot, it wasn't just in the midfield that we failed to trust team mates to get the job done. I thought repeatedly we were done on the outside between the arcs and inside attacking 50, when multiple players swarmed the one Bulldog player, only for them to flick it out to a free Bulldog. We also seemed to take too long to adjust to the wet weather and played too fancy with the handball. We weren't clean either, particularly in the first half. I thought Salem was terrible, not just fumbly, but poor in the contest. Hunt tried hard but his kicking is a real worry. No drive or cleanness from Rivers or Hibberd. As for Brown, you have to wonder whether playing under a roof a lot of the time for North shaded his true accuracy in the midst of inclement weather. He just couldn't handle the conditions. I don't think I can remember seeing him kick so poorly. It's a conundrum because he actually takes marks and gets to the right spots, but if he's not kicking them, is he much better than Weideman? The answer is yes, but it will cost us games and potential finals. We didn't really have any winners forward of centre in the first half, perhaps Fritsch, but our lack of potency in the forward half has become an Achilles heel in the second half of the season, and much of this is down to accuracy. JJ, Jackson and Rivers all really struggled and Kozzy continued to make the easy look difficult, but I did love his pressure and attack on the ball. Tonight though is the first time I've felt we are relying on too many young guys to play important roles. I think it'd be worth resting JJ for Sparrow, Jackson for Weideman and Bowey for Rivers. Maybe not all in the same week but over the next two weeks. I'd much prefer to have some concerns now than come finals, but this evening was bitterly disappointing. Our defensive game was off (leaving Daniel free and then Bontempelli twice is not good enough), but so was our offence. The fact we only went down by what we did says a bit about our system and a bit about the Bulldogs.

The way I see it, we bolted too early, showed all our (limited) cards to the rest of the comp too early, and flew too close to the sun. We did it with a low-key arrogance that assumed we'd be contesting for the premiership and just needed to pass the time until September. Clearly, the good coaches have figured out that if you pressure us hard around the ball and man-up on our defenders we crumble. Clarko did it to us last week, and reflecting on how the Bulldogs misjudged us in Round 11 there was no chance we'd see a repeat of that. Salem rarely gets space and doesn't have the gut-busting drive to break through. Hunt has the confidence, but not the finesse (though he was OK tonight). Hibbo has forgotten how to create. And to highlight our inability to adjust our game to the conditions and situation, Goody started Harmes on Libba again, who fresh from a week of rest laughed in his face and got his hands dirty. In the first 10 minutes Daniel and Dale ran around on the half back line with freedom and cut us to pieces despite the slippery conditions. And just like in all previous years we couldn't address a critical need. Even when they lost Keath early and Richards in the last we were still unable to exploit that! It feels as if we are incredibly reactive and scramble our way around searching for scores. Kicking efficiency is just not to a professional standard. Other observations: - At the start of the game they were comparing Bont and Trac as the two best in the league. Bont gave us all the finger - that's how a leader leads and adjusts to pressure - Viney needs to be remade as a defensive forward (eg. shut down Daniel and put his body in to create when we're on the move). - Jackson is giving us nothing. His time will come but it's not 2021. Bring back Mitch Brown - I still feel like he can become a no frills Cam Pederson type - It's time to blood Bowey, Harmes back to VFL, and start rotating Salem between mid and halfback (like Crisp of Collingwood) to become a little less predictable. We've been SO lucky with injuries that it's masked the poor state of our best 22. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be gifted such a clean bill on health in future campaigns. So take action NOW!

Our positioning around stoppages particularly in our def50 is abysmal. Bont and Smith killed us We were fumbly, they were clean our defence was terrible when the ball hit the ground Petracca went missing in the last We did nothing with Gawns dominance Our small fwd were largely non existent. TMac ... what's happened to him? Olivers 1st half was outstanding. 2nd half not so much ANB seriously, has any player ever had so many kicks smothered? He's so slow with ball in hand. Drop him for mine. Jackson just has no impact Harmes was a liability Jordon was hardly sighted Petty was back to his bumbling best And the umps were diarrhoea

Thought we were pretty good tonight. They were just a little better and they had Bontempelli who made our mids look silly in the last quarter. The umpiring - meh . Our inability to convert pretty straightforward opportunities was more of an issue. Well done to Oliver and Gawn who had good connection tonight. Lever was really solid. If we can make top 4 we are still a real shot. Our challenge is to win three out of the last four to make sure of it.

The great thing about the loss is that we can stop the BS that our losses against spuds were OK because we bring it against the big teams. No, we don't - not for a while anyway. It's important to note that they were short Dunkley, Treloar and Keath. We were at full strength. We have some serious issues that need to be resolved NOW. No more looking back. Skills, forward entries, manning up, taking chances. Now's the time to fix it otherwise we'll just be a stat in finals.

When you can’t beat a depleted 17th team don’t expect to beat the second team. Game over.

Sold Chad a refrigerator once while I was living on the Sunny Coast. Very friendly guy. Was horrified to discover that his teeth are real.

Would have stuck with Chaucer myself.

I have two requests of Maxy and co. 1. Kick straight 2. Bring the heat and intensity If we bring our A game nothing Bevo or the doggies do will make a difference The boys have delivered when it matters most all season. I expect them to deliver again tonight Dees by 5 goals Message to BB. Now would be a great time to clunk and slot 3-4 goals

UM-PIRES -- *clap clap clap UM-PIRES -- *clap clap clap UM-PIRES -- *clap clap clap UM-PIRES -- *clap clap clap Im sure they would love people barracking for them.

Jackson definitely needs a rest. Jordan too. Langdon and Spargo were out of touch tonight too. Playing catch up footy all night, on a wet night and pathetic umpiring . But I still feel we will beat them in finals

Our skills are not great and when you play a side that are highly skilled it shows. Missing easy goals every week is becoming very costly. Sh-t umpiring doesn’t help.

Any chance the AFL can afford to buy their Umpiring Dept some measuring tapes?

News just in: Umpire regrets giving Melbourne a free that resulted in a goal

i think i'm drunk. i thought i saw the ump give a free for a throw

We're top of the ladder. We've been top of the ladder for 10 rounds, in the top 2 for 15 rounds, and in the top 4 for the entire season. We're 9-0 against the top 11. Two weeks ago we comprehensively outplayed the side sitting 4th on their home deck with a vocal opposition crowd. But in your view we've never been a legitimate contender? It's 3 from 6, and a 3-1-2 record overall. It will be 2 from our last 6 if we lose tonight, though.

For me this was the real frustration of that game. Shouldn't have mattered we were a bit flat, a near 5 goal lead at the end of the first q and again halfway through the second, should not have been squandered. Really should have further ahead at the end of the first too.

No we're not. The Bulldogs, on the other hand ...

High pressure from first bounce. Contested footy. Win more clearances. Less fumbles. Last week was so frustrating. Target Bont and Libba Kick straight, for god's sake. That should do it!

The Dogs have also beaten top sides (Brisbane, Port) and lost to Geelong by a kick after the siren in Geelong. They are a predictable side, we are not. The fact that we haven’t lost to a top 8 side yet this year is very commendable, but until we start winning the games we’re expected to win, we won’t be taken seriously. If we win tonight, we then need to win our next 3 against two bottom 8 sides and a struggling Eagles side. There’s no excuse not to.

I am feeling low key confident, no injuries to speak off it’s at our home ground and we are playing for a top four spot. No crowd is a real bummer but predicting a 27 point win to Dees. Come on boys you need to be at the top of your game from the first bounce.!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing at the amount of confidence for tonight? It's easy to live off the 'we haven't lost to a top 8 team'. But unfortunately I think tonight we'll see our first loss to a top 4 club. I rate Bevo as a coach and think he'll have put enormous amount of homework into us and making sure they don't repeat what happened last time. Some of Goody's coaching tactics in the past couple weeks have been ordinary at best.

I'm starting to think it might be better if we stopped mandating mask wearing, and stopped pushing vaccinations. I've seen enough stories of anti vaxxers and never maskers dying of covid that perhaps, just maybe, we're better off without them? Survival of the fittest comes down to brains too. If you have a brain, get a jab, put a mask on. If you're in an at risk group, stay away from morons. Simple. Job done.

As long as we kick 15-6 I don't care Mr. Leg.