titan_uranus

FFS let this conspiracy theory [censored] go. We lose games because of ourselves. Let’s get our own rubbish under control before looking anywhere else.

We’re back in the bottom 4, which after the last three weeks is where we belong. For all the gains we made during the 5-1 streak, we’ve cooked our season by losing two games to (at the time) bottom 4 sides in the most maddeningly classic Melbourne fashion. Better analysis will come but for now, the overwhelming feeling is that we’ve taken a promising run of form and absolutely [censored] it up against the wall right when we needed to buckle down and focus before the bye. As disappointed as I’ve probably been since 2020.

That tweet was posted yesterday. He surely travelled with the team as the travelling emergency, doesn’t mean there’s definitely a late change.

Final team In: Viney Out: Tholstrup (omitted)

In: Viney, TMac, Sharp No outs yet. Viney named in the 18. Bench is JVR, Windsor, Tholstrup, Langdon, Howes, Rivers, Sharp, TMac

Waited for what, though?

The bolded bit of your post is something that doesn’t really get considered by those who query the length of deals like this. We all want him to stay here for his career. Whether that’s 1 contract, 2, or 3, who cares. We’d end up in the same place when all is said and done in 9 years. Getting this contract locked away allows us to move our focus to the rest of the list/market, with more certainty over the future. Yes, it’s a lot of money, but if we don’t offer it someone else will, and it’s one of few levers we can pull to get him signed. It’s also a massive sign of faith in the club, which, whether we like it or not, is a good thing for us. He’s marketable, popular and a genuine match-winner who is still improving yet is already at or exceeding the output of comparable players at comparable stages of their careers. I can’t express enough how much of a win I see this as for us.

In this clip Mitch Cleary says Viney still has to clear concussion protocols before we can pick him: I don’t know if that’s because his progress got delayed by the hand injury but it’s concerning that he still hasn’t cleared protocols. It’s been 6 weeks.

melbournefc.com.auInjury Report | Viney in the FrameJack Viney is a chance to take on the Power.Sestan’s absence this weekend explained - a minor hammy. Viney “a chance”. Doesn’t sound promising tbh.

How the [censored] is this at all related to what @Dee Boys correctly said? We lost to the clear flag favourites by a point in a game we played well in (this is what is getting lost in the result - yes, we suck at close games and we still waste forward half territory, but we simultaneously neutralised Collingwood’s ball movement and generated enough supply of our own, to an extent maybe 1-2 other sides have done all year). The idea that yesterday is the catalyst for needing a rebuild/major change is insane. If anything, yesterday is confirmation that this side can play good enough football to challenge, but that rounds 1-5 have snookered any chance we have of making finals.

Insofar as we continue to prioritise territory, the inefficiency issues are in part on Goodwin. But at the end of the day he can’t execute the plan or the kicks on the field, that’s up to the players. He can’t be there to hold Fritsch’s hand when he marks 15m out but plays on without looking. He can’t be there to mark Gawn’s errant kick into the corridor. We all know our list is riddled with players who are poor kicks. Under pressure, their poor kicking comes to the fore, and their instincts (bang it, because I can’t hit a short target) take over. Hence the repeated losses of close games.

The appalling umpiring feels as bad as it does because of the way some decisions either sapped momentum or handed them a score. But we continue to let ourselves down in the same ways. 21 inside 50s to 9 in the second quarter but we lost it by 8 points. Fritsch playing on from 15m out. Gawn’s turnover in the middle of the ground. Oliver out on the full in the last 2 minutes when a point could have snared us a draw (almost as good as a win given our percentage). Losing a close one (our record in close games over the last few years is really poor). We are such a low-skilled side by foot, even when we bring elite pressure, stoppage and defensive gameplay to keep the runaway flag favourites on the back foot most of the day, we still can’t do enough on the scoreboard.

Wonder if anyone was dicey to get up for the game and Sharp was nearly called up to replace them.

Who from the 23 was missing @waynewussell ? Clarry? Lever?

I haven’t read the article but I suspect Ralph is saying something similar to Daniels - we are going to offer him enough money to convince him to stay, or something like that.

That’s a good point @Harvey Wallbanger - keeping some players fresh to deal with the next month of travel could well be a factor. Bear in mind we’ve also travelled in 3 of our last 5 games (Perth, Brisbane, Alice Springs).

Yeah it’s odd. Carlton and Essendon play 20 hours before us but named squads 3 days before us, and finalised teams 48 hours before us.

Maybe Howes too (although I’d have thought TMac might deserve that spot more).

Gee this place would be up and about if we hadn’t [censored] the bed last week. Had we won, we’d currently be 10th, knowing that a win on Monday (however unlikely) would take us past the Dogs, and just percentage off GWS in 7th. As it stands, we’re now just percentage out of the bottom 4 again, and a 10 goal loss would send us back there. Yay.

Billings will go down in history as one of those classic “too good for VFL but not good enough for AFL” players. Laurie probably the same.

Why have so many players been withdrawn but only Laurie has been dropped? Some injuries to be announced? Or just cover with emergencies?

If you want a great example of a good side doing exactly what we did last week, watch that last quarter of Adelaide v Brisbane again. Adelaide nailed some good shots (5 goals from about 8 inside 50s), but they also had a pressure rating of 248(!). Brisbane, all of a sudden under extreme pressure, spent 15 minutes repeatedly bombing it inside 50, repeatedly taking low percentage shots (snaps in the wet from 40m out), and repeatedly botching their shots on goal (Bailey at least twice, Robertson twice, Lohmanm twice, even Neale).

Again, @WheeloRatings shows this. St Kilda’s shot map shows they kicked 8 goals from directly in front, 7 of which were within about 25m from goal. We barely had a shot from the same area. St Kilda got too many easy looks inside 50, hence their accuracy. We had too many difficult shots, hence our inaccuracy.

There’s fairly enough plenty of focus on the players taking the actual shots, but there’s no doubt that on the weekend and historically we take low percentage shots. @WheeloRatings ’ shot map shows how many shots we took on the angle and outside 30m. Our expected score was 83.8. We had 28 scoring shots. So that would still have looked like 11.17.83. So with the shots we had we were still expected to kick inaccurately. The shots were too often too hard. We’ve done better this year at generating better shots on goal. Last week was a regression IMO.

Photos from training today show them in blues and whites, with the blues looking like the senior team. TMac, Laurie and Jefferson all seen in blue. Culley, Campbell and Howes all seen in white. Perhaps some insight into selection?