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Just my 2 cents. I don't know what game a lot of people were watching? Melbournes defence was superb, no one else in the comp withstands that first quarter. Carlton would have been 8 goals up. They had it locked in but couldn't get through. A lot of people saying all we did is bomb it long into the 50? That's because Carlton was set up brilliantly and that's all we could do. Did you all miss the 100 times they did the same because we blocked them off? There's a reason it was a low scoring game and that's because both teams defence was on point. No leads in the last 2 mins someone said? How do you lead when there is 28 players in the 50? Lead to where? What space? Melbourne actually played very well, unfortunately for us, so did Carlton. Best 2 teams going at the moment for mine. Skill errors and possibly selection are what lost us the game but not much they can do when the best forward we've had for a while breaks his foot the week before. Keep tinkering Goody. C'mon boys, you've got this!

Just watched Goody’s presser, and he was, as usual, superb. It’s obvious he was seething, but addressed the questions about the umpiring with enormous calm. He left no doubt however (with a pause and a smile) that he was angry about it. His restraint is remarkably evolved. Which gets to the truly concerning thing. It is simply ludicrous that he (or anybody within the AFL’s employ) cannot pass judgement or even have an opinion about the shambles that is the adjudication of our great game without being sanctioned or punished by the AFL. How will the umpiring ever improve if it can’t be criticised by those closest to the game, those with the most at stake? I’ve said it before (frankly bore myself to tears with the repetition), but the damage bad umpiring does to this game is embarrassing. That the AFL have an autocratic refusal to even have the issue raised from within is shameful.

I will say at the ground it was glaringly evident that the longer the quarters went on the fitter we looked. I think we’ve got our fitness plan right this year. That game goes for another 2 minutes and we’d win. They literally clung on for the last 10 minutes. Credit to them for that, but Salem should have kicked his goal and the score review doesn’t matter.

I am beyond furious. Forget the result. This has got nothing to do with blaming the umpires for the loss. Though we would have won if not for the appalling display of officiating (that non free late to jvr was right below me - mind boggling that it wasn't paid - the central umpire AND forth umpire were RIGHT THERE) That was the worst umpiring I can ever recall. I feel sick with frustration. I could pick literally 15 examples, but how could they pay that free against bowey in the marking contest? That sort of grappling happens a 100 times a match. And when they mark it they hardly ever pay it. But sure, ok pay it. Then how do you not pay maxy, Grundy and jvr frees for being mauled all game? All game! Particularly maxy, who had three players dragging him on that last kick deep inside 50. The other thing about that free was the outsize impact it had on the game. This game was all about territory. Bowey marks 70 metres from our goal and would have sent it back inside 50. Instead they win it and send it the other way. Pressure valve released. I am beyond angry with the umpiring last night. Forget the result, it was simply nuts how many clear holding the ball frees were not paid - for both sides, but we copped it worse. It's a joke. And don't get me started on the arc 'system'. Scrap it. Or if not, pay for proper cameras and tech, don't have a soft call for touched and leave the decision up to the video ump to make the call. On the soft call for touch, it is completely counter intuitive - if the goal umpire is not sure if it has been touched or not surely logic suggests, given how hard is a for a goal umpire to, one see a touch (unless completely obvious, in which case no arc needed) and two whether it is over the line or not (they are looking up - how can they judge where the line is?) that it goes to the video umpire to make the call? Otherwise what is the point? A blues fan in front of me was going nuts when he heard the 'there is insufficient intent to over rule' call. Why? That was right below us and everyone around us, blues fans included thought it was a goal - and he assumed the 'soft call' was a goal. Imagine his joy when I told him the soft call was touched. Let's call a spade a spade. We won that game. That was a goal. But the blues get the four points. And we'll deserved too - they were fantastic. As were we for most off the game. Incredible fight back in the last. The game didn't deserve the appalling umpiring served up. Ruined it. For god's sake AFL, have at least one full time professional umpire in each game. And either invest in the tech to make arc work. Or scrap it. Otherwise claims this is an elite competition are just laughable. By the way, to be clear, I don't blame the umpires for that display. I blame the AFL. It’s on them, pure and simple. They are the custodians of the game. Ask yourself why the Grand Final is ALWAYS umpired really well. (Yes there might be one or two controversial calls each year but can anyone recall a GF being ruined by the umpiring or a GF umpired as appallingly as that game?) Why? The answer is simple. The best umpires officiate. They are the best because, under pressure, they consistently make the right call and apply the rules. The best umpires also don't pick and choose or bottle it - if there is a free there they pay it. Clear frees that are not paid don't get the same attention as howlers that are. But they are as bad, maybe worse, than calling a wrong free. One, because it creates inconsistency, which fans rightly hate and two it is their job to award free kicks that are there. EVERY game deserves the same high standard that you get in grand finals. There is too much riding on it for what we saw last night.

A moment of appreciation for Clarry who missed 10 weeks of footy and had 27 touches, 13 tackles and TEN clearances last night. To put in perspective, Cripps had 5 clearances, Hewett 8, Gus 6 and Viney 5. The man is a freak.

it's not working it is a real shame it should've been a point of difference for us instead it's become a hindrance to our style of play

Right, so we're currently sitting 14-7 and sitting 3rd. The last team to be in this exact position to go on and win a flag was Richmond in 2017. Their form heading into finals is eerily similar to ours right at this point. Richmond won 4 in a row, came up against top 4 team in Geelong in round 21 and lost by 14 points at the MCG. They then won the last two remaining games of the season and went on to have a great finals series which lead to a flag. My point, I don't think this loss against the blues sets us back one bit. I see it as a positive that we can now tinker some changes and it keeps players on edge. Win the remaining two games and then why not us???

Based on today our best options of not many is to play Tomlinson back, Smith forward and bring one of Spargo, Woey or Laurie in for Jordon. Anyone who looks at the stats and see they are led by Dunstan and Harmes need to recognise their games dont translate to anything that solves our problems at AFL level.

Give the man ( Tmac) a break, hasn't played a game for 3 months let him play another game for Casey and if he improves and plays well I'd play him against the Swans if all is well.

There is no way any other team in the country withstands that first quarter from Carlton like we did.

Congratulations. Your team lost. Crack open the champagne.

The umpiring seemed extremely ****house tonight. I hate blaming them for a loss and Carlton were good but my god the amount of scragging, pushing and blocking they got away with! Carlton player jumps on Maxys head doesn't touch the ball. Play on. Carlton player tries to evade a tackle. Ball end up dropping out of his hands when trying to handball. Play on. Player sits square on Sparrows back. Play on. JVR has his legs taken out. Play on. And that was just the last quarter. Carlton players getting away with fistfuls of jumpers right in front of the umps. Most of these happened directly in front of the umpire so it's not an issue of "they didn't see it". There is something seriously wrong with the way our game is officiated, it is a joke. And how can the goal umpire call touched if he didn't see it? If it has to go to score review there should be evidence it is touched otherwise it should be a goal. Furious. 🤬🤬

Maybe it won’t change the result gone by, but it will add pressure to the AFL to make a serious investment in improving technology so outcomes like these are avoided in future games. It is simply archaic.

How good was Kossie’s goal in the last qtr with two opponents and no gap to squeeze the ball through. Gees he’s worth the price of a (family) membership

Fair enough. When I watch the video of the goal line angle he clearly doesn’t touch the ball. I feel like the ARC didn’t take the necessary time. They are now sacrificing decision making for time efficiency, because everyone was getting annoyed with the process mid season. There’s no evidence that the ball was ever touched. It was a mistake, which I can live with. What I can’t live with is that the system is designed to mitigate errors, and in this case I think all it did was highlight its own inabilities. I also think the argument that it was clearly not touched, and that the technology isn’t good enough aren’t mutually exclusive. The tech isn’t designed for our game, and it isn’t uniformly incorporated at all games. We should expect a better system. The AFL expects players to make split second decisions correctly or miss games, yet it can’t design a decision making system for goals that does the same thing with the luxury of a lot more time. Thom Browne said this morning on Seven that the AFL is working on ball trajectory tech. Hope that’s the answer.

Great post Sam. Both defenses were superb. You are the 4th or 5th poster to say that without our defensive efforts, Carlton should have been 5-8 goals up at quarter time. Which begs the question, why does Joel Smith cop such BS on here? He was part of that brilliant defensive effort. His spoiling and tackling were very good. Yet he cops the "should never play back again", or "should be the permanent sub". The poor bloke has been training as a forward all year and yet gets placed down back. We are lucky to have someone with his versatility. Personally, i would prefer him as a forward, but really happy for him to be getting game time, in any role, after so many horrid injuries throughout his career. He is the ultimate team player as he'll take on any role he is given.

We haven’t started a game well for a month, IMO (when we jumped Brisbane). Led Adelaide but they had plenty of territory and shots. Trailed Richmond and were 20 down in the second. Trailed North and were 33 down in the second. Conceded 20 of the first 22 inside 50s to Carlton. Would dearly love a strong start next week as a response.

I reckon Marchbank is telling fibs.

Agree with the fourth umpire creating confusion And it creates a cop out opportunity. The umpires are now regularly looking at other umpired to see if they ate going to call something. The perfect example was the rivers sling tackle. That was text book and a free every day of the week. Dees fans started howling when it looked like it wasn't going to get paid. And when it finally was, the blues fans around me went ballistic. Summed things up perfectly - a free, that was 100% obvious, was paid but BOTH sets of fans were aggrieved. I'm not even sure who ended up paying it. I'm going to watch the replay tonight, and I'll spew if the commentators don't call our the appalling umpiring the way they did foe the two over the boundary like call in the cats pies game.

Umpires - absolute [censored] cheats

No idea what you were looking at Dazzle. One angle showed the ball miss his hand by a fair way.

What a terrible week you have had WCW. I am so sorry for your loss and that of the fellow Demon Army member. I am in awe of your dedication and that of the DA. I hope this week is better for you.

Pretty dour performance. Schache and McDonald were non existent. Tommo up forward? You know what, I'd be willing to give it a decent shot. Was drafted as a elite running CHF from his junior days. His tank and work ethic could come handy in blowing up defenders and he's fit and ready to go. Big bodied player who could be a handy foil for JVR.

So Petty, JVR and Jefferson are not AFL standard? Ok Jason Taylor tell me more

I'm more than happy to blame the goal umpire... that was a truly [censored] decision. Not all decisions cost games... that did . In some respects the better team won... but they shouldn't have.

I'm at Princess Park. Not a breath of wind. Ground looks in perfect condition. The boys have just run onto the ground. Tmac looks in good nick. Tomo looks in great nick. My anger has subsided over the umpiring last night (venting on dl helpful) All is good with the world. Go dees.

You are joking if you think Carlton can sustain this into the finals and win it from 5th. This game was their final. Wouldn’t surprise me they were to lose to Gold Coast next week

This! Feeling your anger and frustration binman (as was Goody in his presser, but as ever, he was masterful in his restraint). And for all those who say, “you can’t blame the umpiring for the loss, if we’d played better we would have won, DESERVED to win even”, that’s a wholly different point. The umpires in the last quarter made it an uneven playing field. Fact. Bad umpiring changed the course and the result of last night’s game. Fact. No different to the Adelaide shambles in ‘21, for which the AFL issued a mea culpa afterwards. Will they do it this time? No chance. And what’s been done to fix this shambles, what’s REALLY been done? A fourth umpire? It’s just added 33% more confusion and inconsistency. Spare me! Not full time professionals, not better technology. Nothing. It kills our game. KILLS IT. This result could affect our flag chances this year. It’s that simple.

If that were true we'd have lost by ten goals or more. We absorbed extraordinary levels of pressure and but for that few minutes lapse at the start of the last would have won it.

Just about his worst game. That said, that free that was paid against him in the marking contest was a howler. That sort of grappling happens a 100 times a match. And when they mark it they hardly ever pay it. But sure, ok pay it. Then how do you not pay maxy, Grundy and jvr frees for being mauled all game? I am beyond angry with the umpiring last night. Forget tge result, but it was simply nuts hoe many cleat holding the ball frees were not paid - for both sides, but we copped it worse.

I know we lost but gee I love the way our boys never give up no matter what. Still reckon we'll give the flag a decent shake.

No, nothing to do with loading or tapering IMV. I think @DeelightfulPlay nailed it. Even though we only had two ins, we've had three major changes to three zones of the ground and this happened all in the last fortnight, so cohesion is out of whack. 1) Smith going back has meant our defenders don't trust each other. It starts with May, who rightly, doesn't trust Smith's zonal positioning, which leaves May trying to play 1v1 and zone, and ending up occasionally doing neither. This lack of trust then spreads through the rest of the back 7. One questionable link in the chain undermines everything. 2) Clarry's return has thrown off the midfield balance and saw multiple players going for the same ball, instead of trusting each other to win it and take up aggressive outside positioning to receive. 3) Petty's aerial threat and forward craft being replaced by Grundy, who offers neither of those things and also seemingly throws off Max's game is a double whammy. It means we have little aerial threat offensively and lack defensive pressure when the ball hits the ground. Chandler played 66% TOG tonight, but I have no idea what his role was. He was essentially a non entity. So I think we need to drop JJ (which hopefully lessens the midfield problem by prividing clarity over roles) for Spargo and I'd bring in a speed forward (Spargo) who can do the gut running, high half forward role with ANB, so that Chandler and Kozzy can play closer to goal, and provide greater forward pressure. I'd also play Smith forward and only back as an absolute break glass option. He's frankly sub if we think Tmac will give us an offensive threat.

f62af0f6-a2b5-4b54-b411-f31f48514dd9.mp4 Am I wrong or is this a free to Max? He’s running back to get to the contest and the Carlton player deliberately blocks him and prevents him from getting there? If so why can’t 1 of 4 umpires see it?!?

what??? chandler rarely sighted??? kicked a goal and had 6 goal assists. means he had a hand in 7 of our goals. Bizarre analysis.

At one stage Cripps was caught by 3 diff tacklers consecutively. He might have successfully shrugged the first. However, after then trying to shrug the next two, the 2nd & 3rd stuck and he dropped the ball, literally flopping it one hand and just releasing it as one arm was pinned. No free play on. He was caught red hot and 100% incorrect disposal but they just wouldn't ping him tonight. This sort of rubbish must make a player feel like he is untouchable. Had a VG game but too often gets a lovely helping hand to enhance things.

Good side Carlton. Was surprised with the cockiness of some on here during the week that we'd win easily. They were missing Cerra Walsh McGovern which is impressive in itself. They'll do some damage come September. They're a genuine top 4 contender in my eyes. I think we'll be fine. There is some positives to take out of this game imo and I think a loss like this actually keeps us back on edge. On the negatives. Grundy forward experiment is officially done. It simply doesn't work and we're playing a man down when he's down there. Slow, unfit and brought in off the back off poor form at VFL level. Goody has done a lot right in the last month, but he made a mistake bringing him in tonight. This could mean we may have to rush Tom McDonald in next week.. I love Petracca, but his last quarter efforts in the opening 5 minutes on Cripps was seriously lazy. Allowed him to Waltz out of stoppage far too easily and create score involvements for the first 2 goals that they kicked. He simply had to just lock him down harder and not allow him easy space. Our forward line was lacking big time. It's time to keep Joel Smith permanently there because the Petty out was significant tonight. No more James Jordon thanks. Brayshaw was absolutely huge for us! BOG by a mile in my books. Keep him in there for the rest of the year. All in all, disappointing to lose, but definitely not losing the faith. Win the next 2 and we can set ourselves up well come September.

2 best teams in the competition going head to head in an absolute 18 round belter. bloody loved the game, hated the result. there was SOOOOOO much to like about our performance and i am more confident we can win it all. No team outside of the two that played tonight is capable of playing at that level. and the scary part is neither were at our best.

ARC technology. Proudly filmed by a Soviet 1935 submarine. Best in the game.

Last one from me. But apart from the JVR one being an obvious miss, why in earth wasn’t Langdon paid the free for being tackled without the ball just before it? This is just a coupe of howlers in last few mins. Won’t change the result now but club should put in a please explain cause there was a heap of shockers tonight and is most weeks. 005790f7-5d3f-49a9-90bc-8ee5a81e8eaf.mp4

Couldn’t agree more. They were hot on us for holding the ball but plenty of times they got away with incorrect disposal. It’s the complete inconsistency which makes everyone so angry. How in earth Bowey’s mark was not allowed in the 4th when he moved his player but then some Carlton player moved Kossey in the same way a few minutes later it’s fine. That’s what drives us mad.

Have to say I was really proud with the fightback. Should never have been 3 goals down but had we pulled it off that would have been seriously spectacular.

Must say I'm a lot more worried about the Salem kick than the Trac kick. What the hell was that?

I'm proud of the boys. When they got out to an 18 point lead I thought we were done. But, we fought back well and you can't question their endeavour and effort. Carlton were better on the night, but it doesn't change my opinion that I still think we're genuine contenders still.

We played our guts out We played like Demons in that last quarter Van Rooyan was tripped no free Everyone i know behind the goals tell me the ball wasnt touched Buy some proper [censored] cameras AFL Robbed. We will smash these [censored] in September

I am so angry I have just emailed the AFL to tell them how incompetent their umpires are and how they are ruining our once great game. It will probably end up in the trash file but it made me feel better to tell them exactly what I thought.

SWYL is very Angry That was a goal i HATE everything about Carlton. There is no difference between them and Collingwood Never Forget that