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I think we might be flat track bullies

They are picking us apart. Look much more likely forward. Cleaner and better numbers to the fall of the ball. we look like we are under committing at the contest. Seems deliberate.

4-6 is the worst possible forecast for injuries. Sometimes people never get off the 4-6 week injury forecast

The pressure rating plummeted in q2 after being huge in q1. Do you think we thought, let’s give as little as we have to now, slow everything down and keep as fresh as possible. Essentially read what they were giving and equal that? I thought our attack on the ball carrier in q1 was huge and was something I’ve been wanting to see more of recently. The way we were peeling off to get to the next possession in the chain and kill it was as good as it’s been for a while. It faded as the game went on. Do you think we decided to try some other defensive tactics/structures or just got worse at it over the duration of the game? Or did hawthorn just make it harder for us to do that as effectively as the game went on? the quality of possession seemed to decrease as the game went on. Do we put that down to the sun going down and dew setting in?

It felt like between what I was watching and what was being discussed by commentators that I was a victim of some serious gaslighting last night. It was the hardest commentary to sit through I can remember. They didn’t show replays of a number of dubious free kicks to gold coast. Neglected to notice any that should have gone our way. When dunstall said we had the rub of the green I wanted to scream. at one point in the 2nd or 3rd I had the thought that we aren’t a big enough club to be so good and the afl don’t want us to be where we are. This I know is well and truly too far into the conspiratorial, but i had the thought. Between the Richmond game and last night I had had enough. the nba has had it brought to light that refs were manipulating games. They used one ref as a scapegoat but he admitted later that he definitely wasn’t the only one. NBA players know it happens. It has been discussed openly at times. A sport with as much money involved as the afl and its gambling affiliations is without doubt influenced when needed. I have no doubt. I marvel at people who like to think that talk about umpiring is over the top/biased/unnecessary. Having watched the game for as long as I have both Melbourne games and neutral games it is clear that umpires know how to arrest momentum and create it or at least try to. Doesn’t always work.

We were nowhere to be seen through the midfield. It was one of those games where loose balls and mongrel kicks landed in their laps a lot too. Back line can’t do much when they kept running out the front of contest.

We did get away with a few in the last but by god they tried hard in the middle two quarters.

Between us being average, the horrible umpiring in the 2nd and 3rd and the commentators being as biased as you could I need a big long walk in the rain.

Dunstalls a real smug [censored] sometimes

People who think they’re above others refuse to consider the fact that they effect games. Umpires clearly effect games and momentum and the last two quarters have been shocking.

We aren’t worth enough to the afl to be as good as we are so we get umpiring displays like this.

The first quarter was one of the least intense quarters of football I’ve seen. It looked like the Roos were trying to play a zone they had no idea how to play and we did what we wanted. They seemed to man up a bit after quarter time. Hopefully we took the chance to work on some things tonight. Always good to have a relaxed night at the football.

Yeah it was. But it didn’t look perfect every game. Far from it. No one would have predicted we would do that coming into the finals either.

Great run in that area

2021 wasn’t as perfect as some remember. We struggled for a large chunk of the season. Lost to some poor sides. After the loss to gws at the g I thought we were done that year. Our last two months built beautifully but there were many hiccups. We can get back to that. There are some things we are clearly working on that may click along the way.

Yes, I do

People seem to be disappointed based on some silly idea we should win by 100. We will win by 10 goals at minimum. That’s plenty. Who cares. We did this against sides in 2021. We even lost to Adelaide then. We were a good side then. This whole good sides do this and that speak is nonsense based on fantasies and wishful thinking. But hey, we still might win by 100. The eagles will fade.

I love seeing us running out games. I love trading the weid chant for the roo chant. Went last night to see the weid and have to say I do not miss him. Grundy running through the lines and distributing was just lovely. Loved that they came hard in the middle two quarters and although it looked like they had the game in their hands for a lot of that time we did enough, sloppy as we were during those quarters at times. buddy just goes around whacking people these days and papley can go and get [censored] with his chest pumping [censored]. I would love him to play for us though. after last week my faith is restored and it made that last quarter all the sweeter. Seeing different set ups is good to watch and will only make us harder to play against. Bring kozzie back in and let’s have a few good weeks.

Not sennheiser 421s?

The Brisbane game has me spooked. They have been our bunnies and we were terrible. I hope it’s an outlier. It doesn’t make it any easier having to back up against Sydney. Sydney games are hard to watch even when we win. I just can’t escape the feeling we might be in trouble this year after seeing us against Brisbane. It is a reflexive position to take as a Melbourne supporter and I hope it’s just that. Our arrogance coming in to week two as supporters and the massive let down feels kinda familiar. Logically I think I’m wrong but emotionally I am concerned.

We gave away lots of high frees. Some of them seemed questionable. You grow the [censored] up. Complaining about people complaining about the umpires is like complaining about there being oxygen in the atmosphere.

Yeah, our deficiencies are we don’t look great without two all Australians and a future all Australian, struggle in humidity, players coming back in under done don’t make up for having other players out and we find it hard to arrest momentum when we have a bad 8 minute patch where the best player in the league is taken out of the game and the umpires are throwing a bone one way all night.

We can’t deal with the slippery conditions. We are wrong footed and fumbley as a result. They are doing fine with it. How many high tackle frees have we given away this quarter? Some kind of record

Liked bowey tonight liked the way McDonald created space in the forward line mcvee is going to be super silky

Collingwoods game style must be incredibly taxing. Let’s see how their bodies hold up for the second year playing that way. As we know a lot happens in a season