titan_uranus

Has anyone at the club said anything about the fixture or the flying into Cairns? As far as I'm aware, no. The only people mentioning it are supporters. FWIW, we've had as hard a fixture as anyone this year. I heard someone previewing the Dogs-Eagles game tonight saying that the Dogs have a 4-3 record at Metricon this year. That's 7 games at the same venue - we haven't played more than 2 games at any venue all year. There is, in my view, no doubt at all that we've had to do it tougher than most in terms of moving around, acclimatising to conditions and ground sizes, and trying to get some sort of consistency to our "home" games. None of that is enough to explain the Sydney performance, but it is a factor to consider when the season is said and done.

Ah yes I forgot we were focusing on the Goodwin era. Round 23, 2017 surely takes the cake.

The rumour is 9 changes. No idea if true. But when was the last time any team, let alone us, made 9 changes? We know Jones, Harmes and Brayshaw are out. OMac is surely another. Another five from there is insane to think about: would surely be looking at players like Melksham, Fritsch, Spargo and OMac. I'd be surprised to see 9 changes, but if we do, let's hope the surprises are more in relation to the players coming in than the players going out.

No love for Round 22, 2016? We'd just won three straight to get to 10-10, including our drought breaking win over Hawthorn and another drought breaking win over Port Adelaide, in Adelaide. We had Carlton at the G with finals still on the table if we won the last two. Carlton was on a 9-game losing streak. Sunday afternoon, 40,000+ at the G. We might not have beaten Geelong, in Geelong, in the final round to make finals, but we should have given ourselves the chance.

I don't, no. Only three games left, one of which is on Monday, so there's not a huge amount of time for them to get back before the end of the home & away season.

Unfortunately not. If Hibberd's not ready, it's quite a bit of experience going out without much to bring back (Jones will miss too through injury). Presumably PIckett is one inclusion. I'd like to see Bennell and Lockhart too, and maybe Baker/Bedford. We'll need players to be able to rotate through centre bounces to take Brayshaw's minutes.

Despite our 7-7 record, still in line for a top 5 Brownlow finish and an AA jumper. Has taken his game to another level this year, which very few other MFC players have done. There is a continued expectation on him to lead us. It's important we all remember he's only just now reaching his 100th game and is only 24 years old. So many comparisons get drawn between him and Dustin Martin. IIRC, Martin's entrance to the AFL's elite was 2016 (first time he won RIchmond's B&F and made the AA team). That was his 7th season. Petracca's currently in his 6th season, one of which he missed entirely through injury.

If there was competition for his spot, I would agree. A lack of intensity and a low-possession game aren't really going to impact us that much. But it's not like those in the 22 are doing much better than this. I mean, are we really saying Melksham's 8 disposal, 0 tackle, no score game is more impactful than what Bennell might produce? Or Fritsch's 13 disposal, 2 tackle, 0.1 game? Spargo's 9 disposal, 2 tackle, 1 goal game?

In what world are any of those players an equivalent for Papley? Indeed, I'd argue all three together isn't enough. What?! I thought Hore had a really promising first year and would be getting games right now in OMac/Smith's spot if he wasn't injured. Wouldn't have him anywhere near a list of players to delist, let alone second. Happy to release Jones, J Wagner, Smith and OMac though. Not yet sure on Hannan.

It's so simple! All we have to do is have 44 elite, best 22 players on our list!

I'm no scientist, and I'm guessing neither are you, but maybe there's a different impact on players' bodies to playing a match of AFL, a (highly) contact sport with a large field, than playing soccer?

I am reliably informed that Brayshaw and Harmes will miss this game due to injury.

You're not a fan of either of them? Hore is a far better defender than OMac and Smith. The kicking is a problem but not as bad as you're suggesting.

I'm not sure the weather exacerbated our poor kicking. But I am sure it exacerbated our poor decision making. Whether it's on the coaches for failing to make sure we knew what we were doing going into the game, or on the players for their ineptitude, we were just mindlessly kicking it long to hope the wind did the job for us.

The fact we flew in so late is almost certainly on the AFL. We were in Alice Springs with St Kilda. St Kilda needed to return to the Queensland hub. So we flew with them. Fremantle was in the hub and needed to fly to Cairns. So we flew with them. Had we flown directly from Alice Springs to Cairns, that's an extra flight the AFL had to arrange (St Kilda still had to fly back to Queensland and then Fremantle still had to fly to Cairns). Sydney was in Adelaide and had to get into Queensland somehow, and no one else was flying from Adelaide to Queensland, so they were able to just fly them to Cairns without having to worry about anything else. I'm not sure, but I'm relatively confident these decisions weren't made by us.

How many threads does olisik need to start after a loss? To answer the OP, no, we didn't get it wrong.

The suggestion isn't that Bennell needs to become a CP/clearance-winning bull. It's that he needs to be capable of, and willing to, defend. He has to chase and tackle when the opposition has the ball. We saw yesterday that when forward half players don't do that (e.g. Melksham and Fritsch), we look terrible and we struggle to score.

But didn't we get ridiculed after the Port loss? Didn't we learn a lesson then?

Not an excuse, possibly not even a relevant factor, but something to note: Tonight was our fifth consecutive game at a different venue. On 5 August we were in Adelaide. We played two games in four days, then flew back to Queensland to play in Brisbane, then the Gold Coast, then did a day trip to Alice Springs, then five days later flew up to Cairns. It's been a difficult run. No consistency. Lots of flying/driving around. Again. I'm not suggesting this is a nice convenient way to explain our performance tonight. But it's something to bear in mind. Particularly if we play well on Sunday vs Fremantle, despite the four-day break (maybe getting to just stay still for a bit and get used to a venue will help).

If we get to 10 we might pass Collingwood (who will need to beat either Port or Brisbane to get to 10) or St Kilda (who will need to beat either West Coast or GWS). 10 should get us finals. 9 almost certainly won't.

Look, I'd much rather Demonland have positive threads on our players, rather than it continually be clogged up with threads started by Olisik or Elegt potting everyone under the sun. But OMac is bad. Really bad. Making the same mistakes he's always made, showing no improvement. Fingers crossed Petty and/or Hore are fit and ready to go next year.

6 - Langdon 5 - Gawn 4 - Tomlinson If I have to go further: 3 - Oliver 2 - May 1 - Brayshaw?!?! Can't give a vote to Petracca - did he hit a target all night?

Langdon - deserves a mention Gawn - was also OK That's about it.

Of course they were - look at the three who posted before you. He was given a crack at a midfield/forward role and he immediately looked better than he has for weeks.

Certainly can't argue that the forwards tonight were operating at a level of intensity that Bennell can't produce. I still think Bennell needs to improve that part of his game but I'm more than happy to let him have a crack instead of watching Melksham fail again.