Previously known as LITD.

Wow how lucky were you to have been mentored by such a great of the game. Thanks for sharing. Not bad credentials BB. For reasons of confidentiality, without disclosing too much ...did you play Afl? I think I'll read your posts with more interest and respect. Cheers.

For a few I'd It's all psychological. I say this because recently we have seen some players who have records of great accuracy, become very bad at set shots. So I'm not sure in some cases if training would do a great deal. As I mentioned in a prior post, players like Tracca and Gawn have always been terrible with this. We just take this as a given. I'm sure they have trained and trained trying to improve this part of their game but it hasn't worked. Although perhaps Gawn has improved a little. I think Max changed his style a little, with giant chip kicks. Sounds like an oxymoron but it's the best way I can describe his actions. In the Geelong Prelim when Max kicked a record of five, most of them were quick snaps. Except his divine 70 metre drive from a handball from his other partner in crime. It just seems when these two have to think about it, their mind reminds them of their problem and where the mind seems to go, so to, does the ball. Although in the past I sometimes thought Max didn't spend enough time looking at the goals when lining up for a set shot. I also think he could have had more of a run up. Not like BBB but just more of a body trajectory coming in. Likewise , players like Fritta and Roo who have been great must be thinking more about missing lately. And so they find themselves in a mental rut when lining up. The more you think you will miss, it becomes a reality. I'm sure the club has specialists in psychology that try and address this but its not working. Or maybe they don't. So I can't imagine how you can fix the situation. I think the targets in the crowd are great but yea the problem continues. It's quite an interesting psychological state when it spreads through a team in a particular game. Often referred to as the yips. Maybe use the carrot and give players a financial bonus for every successful set shot. Confidence and mental fortitude are commodities that training can't provide. But Crikey it's cost a quite a few wins and quite possibly not so long ago, another flag.

They have huge actual circle targets held up on the fence in the cheer squad. Fgs what more do you need. Gps inside the ball?

I've got a feeling Tracc will leave soon. When is he contracted ? Kozzie wants leave. Oliver's just way off. Vineys getting way on in years. So as many mids as we can and of course the biggest, strongest and accurate fwd we can find. One that actually chases and tackles to remind Fritta what the job is all about. Not much.

I watched the GCS game and I thought Hawks had a lot of throws that got through.

Give the poor kid a bit more of a chance. Still way too early to write him off. Played a handful of senior games.

At a very crucial stage of the game too was that non call. Do we need six umpires fgs. Do umps get dropped? They should have a tribunal for them. Now that would make footy interesting. Id watch my non favourite umps get four weeks for bias or stupidity. Or in this case both. An absolute shocker. I reckon those things can be demoralizing for players and it would be difficult not to get frustrated and angry. I know mistakes happen but I don't think I've seen many worse. There was that non call on a Dob out of bounds at a Crows game a few years back. And in 2021 some mug called us out for a Dob in the last h and a game v the cats when our player was racing against the clock to simply get the ball forward. Not that I hold grudges or anything on these matters. But Sheesh.

Agreed. Players must take some courses in advanced calculus and possibly get some specialists in from the Bureau of Meteorology. Or dock players pay per miss. The stick is always better. The interesting aspect in all this, is that Fritta and Roo used to be such good shots. I mean with Tracca and Gawn we have just taken it as a pleasant surprise when they convert but the others are a mystery. We quite possibly could have had the Hawks game sewn up at Three quarter time with some decent kicking. That and just a fair shake from some truly poor umpires. I reckon that trip on Kozzie was seen by people in the New Guinea highlands fgs. It was a huge issue in our finals campaigns and I reckon probably cost us a flag. But still not fixed. It's damn frustrating. Must drive the coaches nuts. But then again it's their jobs to rectify.

Alright, I will try to be more positive. It's a shame we had the injuries on the weekend and an abysmal showing from our entire forward line. With Fritta and Jvr coming back from the seconds and Jeffo still a pup in terms of games and Melksham out, I don't know how Goody expected us to kick enough goals and was as usual his slow to make a change, self. Otherwise if we won , and while only one game I think with four on the trot, we'd well and truly be back on song. Our Gws game and 3 quarters v Hawks showed our best is very competitive. But I just feel with players like Oliver and Salo and Fritta having the seasons they are, is having a large negative impact. And Lever and Petty who is much younger always have issues. Although I think Petts was a concussion. Maybe a new coach might inject some new enthusiasm and make us more respectable but it's really hard to see finals with no forward line. But keep going to the games ATG , because we need good supporters like yourself to keep us going in the dark times. But a miracle comeback would be so sweet. But Im sure if we polled, we are definitely in miracle territory. Sorry but that's the best I can do.

Got to give you 10 points for optimism. But not even Laziraus can come back from this.

I do hope your right about Jvr. I mean he's shown more than patches of very good form in the past and been a great set shot. Maybe he toned down his agro due to suspensions and that has had an influence. I don't know what's happened to him. It has been hard trying to establish oneself as a fwd and then being dragged into the ruck. A lot of hope for him to be another David S but it's a pretty high bar. And Roo isn't as big. So much pressure on some young kids that it's easy to lose confidence. He seems very down . Even his accuracy has gone awry. He's not a stand and deliver pack park . He's more a mark from lead fwd and I think we never have enough room or delivery is often too slow. I just hope he becomes at least a decent serviceable player at this point in time. But expectations have definitely been tempered.

Pretty much sums it up. Tx.

Crikey. No you leave them exactly where they are and get smashed in the last quarter. What are you on about? Our three fwds kicked zero goals and you claim you don't move disco there because he was doing well down back. Yea sure he saved goals but you have to kick them to win games. Hes been successful playing fwd prior and he is a very reliable shot at goal when experienced players like Fritta were spraying them everywhere. And just because he only managed one mark in the final while playing forward is a complete non sequitur. The ball was being delivered i50 not as well in the last. We were also running out of fuel. If he was there in the beginning when we were delivering the ball at breakneck speed at times up fwd, it could have been a completely different story. We made Sicily look like a superstar. Certainly come half time, when your three major fwds have done bumkus, and the game is there for the taking, you make a change. And as a proven successful and accurate fwd , Disco was the obvious and probably only choice given Tmac won't play there. Just because he was doing well isn't a reason not to move him. On that logic you would only put poor playing players up forward. That's going to just have some more of the same. Speaking of Bumkus, the word somes up your post beautifully.

Hi SWYL ( I always see Bart strangled when I see your username). Hope your well. Haven't seen you around these parts too often. Perhaps your doing the right thing and weening your good self off socials more. Especially footy ones because my goodness footys tough when your travelling the way we are this year. We're also having a bad run of injuries adding pain to some seriously good players really struggling. The umpiring on the weekend really did it in for me this season. Anyway to your post.....the accuracy or rather inaccuracy statistic is quite damning. Mainly because it's been vexing us ( me especially) for way too long. There are two players ( I don't need to name them except to say that they are probably two of the biggest names in the comp) that must hear Benny Hill music when lining up for a set shot. On the fly so to speak when they take a quick kick they often get all six points. The other stats don't really say a great deal for me. Perhaps the conversion rate....which killed us in our finals and I believe cost us another flag. But just not enough info to really sum things up. I'm reminded of that famous quote by Levenstein that implies stats only reveal a part of the situation Im probably misquoting ( but what name I go by in my private life is none of your damn business 😀) but I think it was " Stats are like bikinis .....what they show is suggestive but what they hide is vital." Anyway we certainly for way too long have had very little success in accruing decent scores given the number of i50s as well as , just mentioned incredibly woeful set shots. And this last issue seems to be getting worse from some players whose goal kicking you could previously take to the bank. The inability to take a contested mark and even uncontested marks inside fifty on the weekend was frustrating. We made face ache Sicily look really good. With Fritta and Roo in a big slump and returning from the Magoos and Jeffo only starting, I don't know what Goody was thinking. They booted a grand total of ZERO majors for the whole game. And as I pointed out in the game day thread our leading marker for the day , Disco with 11, should have played fwd all day. One..the others have been struggling all year. Two, he is a proven strong mark in a pack( doesn't have to rely on flying high or leading)...he's strong enough to bring them down in the thick of it. Three , when players were hitting the pie shop sixty metres away from the behind post, Disco and excellent kick would have nailed them. Now these three facts, I believe would have made a difference. Combine that with some decent umpiring and our season quite possibly wouldn't be well and truly gone. The only big plus was Langford. I sense a deep disturbance in the force my friend. And dark years ahead. I think it's time for Simon to bow out gracefully now. I thank him for the flag he got us. He will always be fondly remembered and rightly praised in the annals of footy history as the great coach who broke the Melbourne drought. It's time to get back to building up a new team. Starting with a new coach. Cheers.

What a nice compliment.

Quite a few in the game day thread were shouting out for this Even at half time after Jeffo, Jvr and Fritta had kicked zero goals ( and none for the entire game) I don't think he was moved until the third. Goody does seem to get stuck in his ways at times. Often slow to make fairly clear and necessary changes. It was frustrating to see us not take contested marks inside fifty. Also Turner is a very good set shot while so many were missing easy ones. Given that Fritta and Jvr had recently been relegated to the twos due to low form and Jeffo playing a handful of games, I'm not sure where Goody thought all our goals would come from. At least Langford was a pleasant surprise.

I think it could now refer to the current USA. A country that doesn't know what it was at present.

That old chestnut. Ho hum.

If your satisfied and happy the club has recruited some awesome forwards and enough of them then I'm happy for you. I strongly disagree. I'm l pretty sure Turner was recruited as a defender. Although he should have been employed as a fwd all day yesterday. Jeffo wasn't around three years ago and only started playing this year. The other names except for Roo who has sadly gone backwards are the rejects from other clubs I was complaining about. But na our fwd line has and is in top top shape. It's been booting over 100 points consistently for years now. Not.

We have had some big outs...Viney...Petty... Milkshake....Lever. Their getting older and injury prone. Although a concussion in there Let's face it the club got complacent after 21 . Maybe after 21 the club got complacent. Maybe after so long one flag was enough We failed to recruit big fwds. You need a lot of them cos some often don't pan out. Ie Weed. We also strangely picked up a few players from other clubs that weren't very good. Also something went wrong with our club culture too. Something wasn't right and it's hurt us. In any case it shows what happens when you get cocky. Success can be an enemy. Shame because we thought so much we had a great list. I guess we did. We just lost two double chances and one cos Gus was Ko. But the way Salem played today and Fritta and Oliver and ... absolutely makers of our 21 cup. ....it's hard to understand AFL cubs fortunes come and go as MFC fans no better than most. Maybe time for Goody to go. He failed to move Turner when we couldn't take a mark inside fifty or convert a set shot. Gee we've had it so good for a few years I've forgotten how painful footy can be. Bummer.

Frustrating game. Didn't take our chances. But same old story...no fwd line. Plus we can't carry Oliver again. Or Fritta or Jvr. Didn't think Id ever being saying this.

Shame re Jvr. Gone from being a really promising player to a liability. Has tried but only amassed two marks and zero goals. Now there is a question mark over Jefferson but early days for him. Melksham and Petty fwd would have helped. Oh well. I think this may be our season finished But I liked our pressure for three quarters. Kicked ourselves out of it with the umpires not helping as well but we had our chances. Just a continuation of no decent fwd line. Same old same old. Why Turner wasn't moved fwd I don't get. Goody gets set in his ways.

Well we are definitely in it.

Another junk time goals please

Why wasn't that a throw?