Brownie

Great post. And the players buy in to the game plan as they start to see it working. This builds, effort, confidence, intensity, belief etc. I don't think the players would care if the game plan was boring, if they could actually see that it worked. It doesn't work and the trust and belief seems to be broken. Time to rip the band-aid off

Great post. I remember ANB talking about Yze as he was departing MFC. He said Yze helped transform his kicking game. Remember what a butcher he was early on. He said Yze taught him to take a breath and find time before kicking and it made a huge difference to his disposal and kicking. I wish he was our head coach now. I think we're really missing him I watched a bit of Norf and Tigers yesterday. I'm sure they'll go past us next year as their lists improve and their players develop their skills and learn to take a breath before disposing in a cohesive system. The tiges are looking pretty fast

Mmm, I think that's part of the problem. A good proportion of our players do try but the system doesn't work. Our list is not fantastic but it's not bad. Gawn tries, Salem tries, Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Langdon, JVR, Melksham, Disco etc all try. But they're working in a broken workplace that's completely chaotic on match day and standards and systems outside of match day that just aren't good enough. The coaching team have to drive the standards, skill development, decision making and processes. We need to pull the trigger now. Not end of the year when there's a few other teams looking for new coaches and assistants. We're destroying a fairly reasonable list and we're back to being a non-destination club with a sliding membership. But that's the thing, I think a lot of the players are really trying and it must be incredibly frustrating and soul destroying to be part of the decline. Think about JVRs journey over the last few years. Had to bust his guts to break into a side and then became our primary KPF with no real support around him and a delivery method into f50 that has been completed GARBAGE for 4 years! Oh and go and ruck for a third of the game too son. Good luck. How many other good clubs do that to their young and developing KPFs? Yes, Jeffo was terrifying in parts last night, but he's coming into a completely mad workplace. Of course his confidence and decision making will plummet. Just like JVRs has. He's only just crawling out of the hole somehow. Our poor decision making comes from a lack of confidence in the system and then each other. Not so much effort. Koz is just something else because he can do it all himself.

Come on, silver linings. The umps have got us a step closer to a new coach(es). I think Disco went forward for the last three minutes. Savvy move Simon. Jeffo gets himself in the right place. Just let him and JVR run the season out together up forward. There's nothing to really lose. Should we start a change.org petition to have Disco play forward with them and Petty to go back when May is suspended for a couple of years. Maysey really should have swung a stiff arm at the blokes jaw "going for the ball ya know". He'll end up with more weeks than Xerri because...... Our club is a little club. We don't stand up for ourselves. And, we don't make the hard decisions until it's too late and our membership whittles away. I love Kosi. Great to see Fritta play with aggro and ferocity. Langford will be a champ if we don't make him crumble. I can't recall seeing an AFL team kick it over their teammate's head over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. When do our wonderful women's team kick off? Gimme Stinnear over Goodwin any day

Last kick of the quarter, after a good handball chain, Lindsay pops it up in a looping kick to reward Melkshams lead by kicking it over his head. I swear this scenario has happened around 10 times for us so far. Our skills are as mad AF

He'll get 4 weeks. He shouldn't

Yep, there's a thing called a stab kick which hits your leading team mate in the guts. I think they even use a version of it in soccer

If you didn't know it was his first year. You'd look at Langford tonight and swear he was part of our leadership team. I'm sure we'll drive him into mediocrity by the middle of next year. Look at Windsor last year to where he's at this year. When there's complete chaos all around you as a young player, it must just keep chipping away at your confidence We seem to Excell at this for decades. The Paul Roos era seems to be the only time we seemed to build young players up in skills and confidence rather than seeing them crumble

I'm almost certain we must practice kicking it over our forwards heads. We do it so well, or kicking a bomb to any forward outnumbered two to one.

But he is. Remember his first year. How have our skills and standards dropped so much?

Another spud of a field kick by Sharp So many big loopy field kicks. Hardly a stab pass to be seen

We have an incredible amount of "sometimes it's best not to practice when you've got poor kicking skills" not to do

I'd be ok if it was consistently officiated but watch the same scenario get ignored for the rest of the game. Perfect place to pay it too hey

Fritta, why not Tracc then,?

And they're now both on the bench

Great kicks into f50 earlier by Fritta to space / Melksham and then Windsor to Kozz

Gee I reckon that was a goal to north. Gool old crypto really wasn't conclusive and the ump called it a goal

Coupla bucks on Norf at $14. Probably throwing it away but gives me something to cheer for. Umpiring generally makes it really hard work when you're a visiting team against a porochial crowd. You can't tell me these yellow blokes don't get sucked in by the crowd. Go Dees

They're trying their hardest. Would be great to see em go down by a goal

I think they're making room in the cap as Goody takes on a "HR consultancy gig" with Haymes paint in the off season. 👍

It was an interesting season 2024. I was really disappointed early on in the season but they really ground out some good wins late in the year with some key personnel missing. In lots of ways I'm loving watching the women play more so than the men. They seem to play for each other as a really tight team. I still reckon Stinnear should be a big part of the men's coaching squad. Culturally and strategically, he seems more confident to swing the changes mid game and has them all playing for each other. We've got a bit of an injury list to start but I reckon we've got to be close to top 4 this year. My only MFC premiership to see live at the ground. Will always have a soft spot for them. Go Dees

But there's one tall defender most of us have been screaming for to move forward. I wonder what having Disco given a solid 6 week run up forward earlier in the season may have produced? I know it's not a silver bullet but it's not just selection that could be questioned but also where some players have been continued to be played. E.g Petty forward, Windsor off half back

Got to watch the replay late last night. TMAC - what stands out for me is that the bloke can actually straight. The value of having good disposers in our side is just so critical. He's steady as a rock and should never have been dropped. Our defence - keep TMAC in, move disco forward with JVR and Jeffo. Send Petty back. Give Lever and May a rest. It could work really well. Our goal kicking - was better. But there were three oofs in that total from set shots and we still missed sitters. I wouldn't be overly satisfied with our goal kicking but it was better. And yep as others have mentioned, our ball movement and disposal is still off chops. Our intent - won us the game. It was fantastic to watch Tracc, Viney, Oliver, Pickett and of course Max grit their teeth halfway through the third and grind out a solid win. Pressure is everything. Jeffo and JVR - we just have to persist for the rest of the season now and see if they can find confidence and a groove. Leave JVR forward as much as possible. I still don't understand how JVR ends up under the ball so much? Can someone who can get to the games shed some light? Surely if he's leading hard you kick it out in front of him. Is our field kicking letting him down or is it his leading patterns or both? Lindsay looks cooked now, Windsor just needs a game or two. Langford is a gem, he also looked cooked for 2 or 3 games back, but he seems to have gotten a second wind. He's a gem. Xerri - swinging stiff arm to the jaw with the ball nowhere near tells it all. The slow motion footage is damming. 4 weeks at least. And yes our club is completely placid. The players looked shocked and the club should come out hard this week for all of the players and Tom's family. Melksham almost got very seriously injured earlier in the game with a hard hip to the head. Not even a free kick and the commentators just said it was accidental. It was still high and reckless. Petty's concussion the other week was blamed on Petty for poor technique. Wtf you tend to lead with the head when you're going for the ball. And yep. Dragged my wonderful wife down to the MCG from the northern Rivers to watch that fateful final. A horrible night. No respect for a fair and courageous club champion. No respect after the game with abusive pies supporters screaming at Melbourne fans AFTER THEY WON! Just filth. My love of footy at the AFL level was broken that night. I probably won't attend many more AFL matches in my lifetime. I'd rather have a nice day out watching a good suburban game. @Ghostwriter please send our love and thoughts to Tom and his family this week if you can. Hope our club comes out strong this week for us all. I'm not holding my breath though. Go Dees

The master of the one arm tackle