Wiseblood

Worst part of a loss is seeing Werridee, Elegt, Olisik etc all turn up to start/revive their own threads because their opinions can't just go in the post game thread.

The two that have to go are Oscar and Jones. Neither should play again unless we absolutely have no choice. A few saying Weid should be dropped, but that's a bit silly. Had a shocker but our ball use going forward was a joke. He has runs on the board. Will they flick Smith as well? Doesn't get much of it and still panics, but then I didn't think he lowered his colours to Papley. Papley still got his hands on the footy a bit but I didn't think he was that damaging tonight. Who comes in? Take your pick. Pickett, Hannan and AVB will probably get a look in, but then so should Jay Lockhart. Hibberd to come back in IF he is fit.

Those two, for me, are the standouts in what was wrong with us tonight. Nathan Jones a very close third. Why they persist with Oscar is a mystery to me. Plays the odd half decent game, but gets beaten too easily and panics with ball in hand. Tomlinson was ten times better when he got shifted down there. And yeah, Viney. I dunno mate. I defend him, but gee, he really made it hard for others out there tonight. You can see his desire and his mentality - it's in the right spot, but he has a real blind spot when it comes to how it can affect others and their game. He knocks players off the ball, tries to do too much etc. We needed some calm heads out there and he just doesn't have that aspect to his game as a leader. I want to mention Jones here too - at 33 he should be setting the right example for the younger players. Instead, he is trying to pull off lazy kicks that get turned over too often. It's not good enough.

John Longmire is a very smart coach. He is the sort of coach that has Goodwin's number more often than not.

Don't worry mate, we had 20 players playing drunk tonight anyway. It's only fair to join them.

Also, one thing that needs to be highlighted: We had yet another quarter, the second, where the opposition banged in five goals while we didn't kick one of our own. It happens way too often for a side supposedly pushing for finals. Take that one out and we won the first and third quarters, and both kicked 3.3 in the last. I'm merely bringing this up to show that we are still having this sort of brain fades that don't last five minutes, but last for thirty, and we don't seem to have any answer for it when it starts to go pear shaped.

I was willing to believe the Port game where we got smashed was the outlier, and that we even rectified our errors from the Dogs game against the Saints last week. But this one is beyond me. Insipid doesn't even do it justice. Really hurting after that.

If we were to do that and miss finals by losing in the last round, that WOULD be classic Melbourne. So, watch it happen.

So I'm starting this before the end of the game, as I'm so angry and disappointed and let down that I need to write something down to get it off my chest. That game was lost from the moment Salem was pinged for holding the ball in the first five seconds. We played lazy, selfish, arrogant football and we were taught a football lesson by a team that has been distinctly average all season. They came in with a plan - to get a man behind the ball to either pick off the long kick, or to help with mopping up when it hits ground level. They did it all night. Have a think about how many times we crumbed a goal, or truly put some forward pressure on? It was rare, at best. We also lost this at selection. Losing Hibberd hurt, and you could understand the reasoning behind Hannan and AVB going out, but the ins made no sense. Joel Smith? Yeah, he was okay in patches, but we know he doesn't work down there. And what about Oscar. Sheesh. I hate to be that supporter, but this bloke can't play another senior game for us. He was God awful. But that's on Goodwin - why is he playing him? What has Lockhart done to be dropped and left in the wilderness? And as above - what of our forward pressure? I thought Spargo did okay here and there, but others like Fritta, Melksham (outside of some good kicks in the first term), ANB etc provided little to no pressure and they did as they pleased. But the concern, again, is through the midfield. We are a contested ball winning, clearance team... and we were getting beat by one of the worst clearance sides in the comp. What is going on here? We are built for that sort of footy, yet we can't get our hands on it enough. We can't even use the 'tired' excuse - the Swans were coming off the same break, they made less changes and looked far fresher than us. They hounded us, got numbers around the ball and we looked helpless to do anything about it. But I'm hurting after that. Not just from the result, but from getting my hopes up yet again. This is just the sort of game we lose, but I thought to myself that surely we have matured since then. I couldn't have been more wrong. And he has been a warrior for us, but Nathan Jones summed up our effort tonight in the second term. With a chance of turning the momentum a little with a shot on goal, he lazily turns and kicks on his left, straight into the bloke on the mark. Just unforgivable. He is a wonderful Melbourne man, but he should never play for us again. Stuff the 300. We can't have experienced players in the side setting that sort of example. It's just not on. Lastly - because I need to say something positive - Ed Langdon is a ripper. Yeah, he missed a few shots on goal, but his two way running and effort is something that all our players should watch. If I could, I've give everyone here a hug. I can't, so I'll send an e-hug instead.

Nothing more surer than Fritsch missing that. Didn't even consider the wind.

Game over now. I'm an [censored] and really gave us a small chance to kick four goals and get up. Yes, I'll reiterate, that I'm an [censored]. Is the word i d i o t really censored?

They always pull out their best effort against us. Very much our bogey side.

We'll win from here. You watch. Jokes, it's game over.

We have made some of their spuds look like superstars. Clarke. McInerney. Thurlow. Wicks. They have totally outplayed us.

Langdon deserves a goal here. Probably won't get it, but he deserves it.

And again, they are able to get their hands on it when it hits the deck inside their 50. For us, they look like they have about 10 players on to 2 when it happens our way.

Any chance we hit a target inside 50?

We want him to make moves. So he does. And he still cops it. Fair enough.

Oscar forward. Had no option but to get him out of the back line after that horror second term.

What the [censored] was Oliver doing then? Jesus. Some of the decisions tonight have been awful. Jones off injured. We were playing a man down with him on anyway so no loss there.

That was our best use of half back then. We actually hit three targets in a row. And great finish from ANB.

I'd say it mostly is, but when Sydney were leaving an extra behind the ball, why didn't we man that up? Why did we allow that to happen? We should have done more their from a tactics point of view.

Here we go.

He set the tone early in the first term... and by set the tone, I mean going after balls that he didn't need to and thus stuffing it up. A few times someone like Oliver was set to win the footy and he would come barging through and stuff it up. I like Jack, but that's unacceptable. He needs to stop being so selfish.

Garry Lyon: "This is such a Melbourne thing to do." Yep.