Rodney (Balls) Grinter

27 minutes ago, 640MD said:

Now I only managed the first quarter and a bit. But there were a number of inconsistent decisions by the men in charge. Admit it would not alter much but… I was incensed when TMac got jumped on his head, then the free went against him, and I think they got a goal .

Symptomatic of what might unfold, really our FD should talk to the umpires why and complain . Quietly or loudly.

Shepherding the umpire indicated I thought. Bollocks !

Totally agree. If he was a forward, then they'd say he was protecting the ball drop for himself. I can partly understand if there were other players in the area that he allowed easier access to the ball through his positioning, but it was a one of one contest.

T Mac then copped a fair push in the back a bit later, which was allowed and again they goaled.

The umpires also had a real crackdown on insufficient intent/deliberate out of bounds which I feel was inconsistent and went mostly against us a key times. Noticed this in other games I've watched this weekend as well to an extent - how are players suposed to react to these changes in interpretation week to week. I had also thought the lassoo rule had done a reasonable job of bringing consistency to the deliberate out of bounds - apparently not.

Beyond all else, I really did think they got some stinkers (probably a bunch of those deliberate decisions) and non paid decisions to us that helped shift the momentum in the 3rd quarter that got them back into the game after we had opened up a bit of a break on them.

Was always going to be hard to make changes from the winning team we had last week, but as much as I'm a huge fan of him, I would have picked T Mac against Essendon. Leaving out Heath, Kentfield and/or AJ was also something of a mistake in my mind.

1 hour ago, Rooooooooooo said:

Yes we were the worse team on the day but we also got completely out coached. Essendon had a completely different game plan to nullify us and Steven king wasn’t quick enough or experienced enough to react. We still played like [censored] though. JVR a huge worry for me

Agree with alot of the above.

I think we relied alot on Melksham firing last week to get us over the line. When he got hobbled early, we didn't really have a forward that looked like taking the game on. Didn’t help that we delivered poorly into forward 50 and let them keep picking it off. But I actually think good, contested forwards would see that happening and somewhat adjust for it.

It's not just Roo that concerns me, I also think Mihocek has equally underdelivered in the past few weeks. I'm not sure that dropping either of them is the answer though. I'd be looking to bring in either AJ, Kentfield or maybe even The Moose for someone with a bit more bash and crash, contested style. Could be wrong, but I suspect Melksham will sit out next week with that ankle.

This loss is the flip side to the wins we've pulled in over the past few weeks.

We have a developing team and all asked for a more attacking game style, which has been embraced and delivered results faster than expected.

When the game style works, we expose our opponents and look like superstars.

When we don't win enough of the footy and/or execute well enough when we have it and the game style falls apart, we get exposed and it looks alot like a lack of effort.

I think at the start of the season, we all expected something of a roller-coaster ride, which is somewhat the thing we're getting. Honestly, I hate the losses and I've lost patience with them and can't tollerate them week after week, because of the history we had 2006 - 2017, but I think we need to accept that looses like today are going to happen.

It's now about how we respond.

7 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

We have a very slim chance.

We could've been 4-1 coming high on confidence and a established way of playing footy.

Hard to see us bringing our best next week. They will be psychologically scarred after today.

I don't nessacerilly disagree, but I also don't think many saw the Carlton or Gold Coast wins coming either.

Will be a big test for King and Co to see how they can turn things around.

6 minutes ago, Dees1911 said:

Yep, they haven't lost to a 0-17 record side, and don't give weak effort like we did today, 40 odd points against freo is acceptable but not to ****house bombers

Makes zero difference when we front up next week against Brisbane.

Yeah Essendon were absolute puss against North 2 weeks ago and I'd personally hoped that would continue, but it didn't. They showed signs against the Dogs last week amd we just happened to be their mark this week.

Too bad, tough shiiiit. Move on.

What do you want - us to flagellate ourselves for the rest of the season?

32 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Unfortunately part of the old Melbourne is still there

Honestly, I think we need to move on from this kind of narrative.

It's not a winning formula.

We're in a semi rebuild, but even last season's premiers and grand finalists are getting mixed results this time of year.

I'm supper [censored] with the result and think it's a massive opportunity missed. But in all honesty, at this point, it's just one game. The coaching group and the team have already moved on from this as a loss and are just thinking how we can beat the reigning premier's next week, which I think we can and look forward to being there to watch it.

With a bit of perspective, I know I'd still rather be 3 & 2 this season, than 1 & 4 and / or 1 & 17.

Still think we can beat Brisbane at the MCG next week. We lost. Reset, reload and let's keep moving forward towards another premiership.

3 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said:

Official Danger game. Any hint of complacency and we will get done. Bring out out all the cliches. Keep the [censored] lid on, no drinking any bathwater of any kind least of all your own. https://demonland.com/forums/topic/67214-pregame-rd-05-vs-essendon/?do=findComment&comment=2767825

Obviously they didn't heed my warning 5 days ago..

Saw it comming, but honestly thought we were past this kinda [censored]

10 minutes ago, Dee-tonator said:

The ultimate reality check for a recently over-hyped team with glaring weaknesses.

Just a few examples, against low-standard opposition:

Both Picketts need to bring more than spectacular cameos.

TMac well off the pace as middle age approaches.

Tholstrup - brains needed as well as enthusiasm.

Lever - once a defensive rock, now a pebble.

Van Rooyen - one good game so far in five.

Windsor - so much hype, so little delivery.

Sharp - the Lions saw his limitations.

Midfield - what midfield?

Rivers - apparently not good enough even to feature in King's selection frame.

And so on for all the others except the mighty Max, without whom we would (shudder!) be even worse.

And since there is currently almost no squad depth, I'd say our coach now faces a King-sized selection headache.

And if any of this is proved wrong in coming weeks, I would be absolutely delighted to confess my poor judgment.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Add Cully to that. Got a new contract during the week and did almost nothing today.

Upon reflection of my previous post, I think it's ridiculous that we expect old Max to dominate for us every week. We've come to rely and depend on this far too much and other teams work it out.

We simply must play young Max Heath next week. I don't care if he only takes 4 marks and has 5 possessions for the game, we need someone to take the physical and physiological heat off Gawn as well as developing an alternative for the future. The Moose 🫎 is the man for the job - time we give him a go.

9 minutes ago, Lil_red_fire_engine said:

How could they have such work rate both ways and attack with the ball and at the man and then put up that.

Great to see TMac and Melksham to 250 but they both need to go (Salem not far behind).

Lindsay, Windsor, Culley too reactive and just waited timidly for Essendon to win the ball. JVR has used most of the tickets he built up round 1.

Our lack of shifting to a man on man to stop there short kicks and also the lack of manning up Robert’s both poor from a coaching viewpoint.

How King and we respond next week will be interesting to watch.

Add to that, Langford often gets lauded for his good games, but doesn't get called out in his ordinary ones - today was one of them.

Was also very disappointed in Langdon, Sparrow, Chandler, Steele, Gawn and co that should have done far more.

I do think umpiring, momentum and the footy Gods were against us today but this was a game we should absolutely have won, but didn't.

8 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

Yeah what is Gary so excited about Traitor (LOL not really)

No, I hear you. Fair enough that he tries to be impartial, but he so often goes so far the other way that it seems like he actually enjoys seeing us get beaten.

Just shut the F#@*k in those moments Gary.

8 minutes ago, Dees1911 said:

Tmac horrible, too old to be playing every week, been out marked by kids.

Good servant too club, but don't see how it helps us long term, especially when we get flogged by ****less side in comp

He was crucified by the umpires early. Paid against for shepherding where a forward would be lauded for protecting the ball drop and then not called when he got shoved square in the back. His mobility isn't what it was, but when you take his contested strength away through atrocious umpiring, what can he do.

We haven't played well, but the umpires absolutely crucified us in the 3rd quarter. Tom Mc Donald curled from the start of the game.

17 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

All sports sell their games these days. NFL, F1, EPL... you name it. The Olympics and the Soccer World Cup are sold to cities.

Hawthorn are desperate to keep selling games to Tasmania after the Devils join.

Melbourne purchased the GF.

Add in the Wildcard Games being limited to pay TV and sold to a one off seller and you have the new model

So why do we need to just follow these overly commercialised sports down the money 💰 is king rabbit hole?

I couldn't care less how the Yanks do it (just have look at how their society is going right now). They hit the sporting cuttlural jackpot with basketball, when I reflect on it, because it was a game that was easily accessible at the grass roots level, fun enough to play and watch. Their two other staples of baseball and NFL/American football are international flops, because they are [censored] to watch and other countries have games that are deeply culturally rooted.

The Olympics have been just about the most commercialised event in history, but have done stuff all for grass roots participation and now there is dying interest in the games as a whole.

The synical AFL tactic use every development as an opportunity to squeeze more out of it's fans financially will be to the detriment of the sport. We're in the middle of a global fuel shortage and price escalation which will tank the economy and make interstate travel prohibitively expensive for many and the AFL is thinking of 'monetising' finals. If they proceed, just watch these games get played in front of half empty stadiums of disinterested crowds - is that what they really want?

13 hours ago, D4Life said:

The wildcard round partially balances the AFL FIXture vs Draw!

In the seasons where Teams 7&8 had an easier draw than 9&10, gives 9&10 opportunities to redress that imbalance!

9 hours ago, monoccular said:

But IF we finish 5 or 6 we would be happier, but of course #1 is what we really want.

Both of these. I think it fixes both issues. There hasn't really been any advantage to finishing 5th or 6th compared to 7th or 8th in the finals system that was, asides from security of making the finals is probably better.

As others have said, I absolutely hate the idea of selling finals. I actually don't like that Adelaide has been able to monopolise 'Gather Round' either. Both of which take us into the space of elitism having to travel and pay mega bucks to watch your team play live.

The grand final at the MCG has alot going for it really. Tradition, it's the biggest stadium in the country by a long shot and it's probably the most central location to travel to from either the Northern or Western states.

21 hours ago, In Harmes Way said:

Loved @Temporarily Hopeful Demon 's memory lane summary - job very well done mate.

Special re-mention for the 2018 semi final goal vs hawks - I also went nuts with my boy when he kicked that.

But oddly, my favourite Melk memory was just a kick he made at marvel vs Saints off the half back line in about 2020-21ish. He kicked a 55m low, hard dart through the guts, completely sliced open the saints through traffic to an open player ahead of the centre square who then went on and goaled. It was such a venomous, accurate kick - low and hard. I watched it over and over. Was a ripper, much like Harmes' kick to Fritta in the 21 granny. Just visionary and beautifully executed.

Agree those low 50m darts are such a great feature of his game. Didn't notice so many last week, but I'm sure he'll bring them out when the time is right. Those sort of passes along with his strengths 'one-out' make him perfectly suited to King's game plan. He has such a great attacking mindset as a forward, with the skill and footy nouse to pull it off. I actually think this is party why he got more of a go in the team post 2023, under Goodwin, when we started to reshape the way we play into something more attacking - Jake was the perfect guy to lead it forward of centre.

Really think his prime years was around that 2018 season. That AFLX performances and winning the comp were actually something of a turning point for the team, that gave us some much needed confidence that we could succeed and Jake was huge in that comp and the grand final. Incidentally, that AFLX was also when Bailey Fritsch made his debut for the club, so it's fitting that he comes back for Jakes 250th. Having them working in tandem along with Latrelle, JVR, Mihocek and Chandler gives us some great firepower and presents as a really dangerous forward line.

Loved his 2018 finals series. Both his ability to kick goals and drive the ball deep into our forward line in that series, the Hawthorn game in particular were awesome. While they may only count for 6 points in the regular season, kicking those outside 50m goals still seems to have more inspirational value and game impact than from inside the arc. I think there is great value in having players that can reliably nail them, as it must put defenders in two minds - do I cover my opponent and the forward space inside 50 or do I need to push back and cover the goal square and the risk they get caught in no-man's land or drop off their forward enough to make them a much easier target to hit-up is huge.

1 hour ago, JOHNNY DEE said:

we were not allowed to sit in Level 2 told by staff member to go to ticket office and be allocated seats MFC office already closed went to Docklands office told lady there about it all she spent 20 mins trying to find 2 seats that were available for us to sit in stadium ,got our seats 3rd level 10 mins to go 2nd Q .There was only 19000 at the game .Rang the Dees about on the Monday ,told Ticketmast

This is the other aspect that infuriates me. There was a time when Aussie rules was far more egalitarian and accessible to people of all classes / financial backgrounds. We now have massive stadiums that could be packed most weeks but the AFL and the club's are so insistent on maximising profits that they'd rather price a bunch of people out of going to the footy.

Seeing massive sections of ground level seating on the wings 3/4 empty because they are for exclusively priced members and $50 - $100 tickets is a disgrace.

Our clubs response that "oh, we're sorry there's nothing we can do" is just bloody pathetic. Asides from the idea that they should be fighting for their members a day supporters, it's really poor customer service. Oh, sorry too bad, so sad. How about offering you a free upgrade somewhere in the MCG for one of our next home games (much as I am against this kind of premium seating model) that would be within thier control.

I'm now a 15 year consecutive years member (more like 25 - 30 if you count back in the 90s) having signed up in 2011 when we were putrid, continued membership in 2021, with x 2 GF garrentee tickets I couldn't use. Still I get shunted off to the what's left over seats at the MCG on home games, because I refuse to purchase anything more than. GA for the season. Would be nice if the club made a small gesture of better seats or access to King's birthday / ANZAC day occasionally or even just once.

1 hour ago, JOHNNY DEE said:

Did all that ,last year when we played WC at Docklands our home game had to get tickets on a Ticketmaster APP ,me my wife both REDLEG members got into ground ok but App wouldn't come up on my I phone so we were not allowed to sit in Level 2 told by staff member to go to ticket office and be allocated seats MFC office already closed went to Docklands office told lady there about it all she spent 20 mins trying to find 2 seats that were available for us to sit in stadium ,got our seats 3rd level 10 mins to go 2nd Q .There was only 19000 at the game .Rang the Dees about on the Monday ,told Ticketmaster ,control the ticketing there nothing we can do .

This kind of thing is infuriating to me.

That you paid good money to get decent seats and then got let down by the fickle nature of their mobile ticketing system is an absolute disgrace. If they are going to insist on such a BS ticketing system, they should have a robust back door backup / work around at the ground for the less tech savey or when things stuff up. Things like using the credit / debit card of purchase and / or two factor authentication via the mobile phone No. of purchase should be more than feasible and adequate.

I'm moderately tech savey, but mobile tickets are still often so clunky. It was truly horrible in COVID, when I had to check in myself and X 2 kids under 11 and then battle the ticket app.

The things that they have added not to allow screen shots are a bloody pain. Before they put the stupid blue bar on them to make it near impossible to take screen shots, I regularly use to take them, because I'd had issues with passwords or network connectivity getting into the app (massive density of people in one spot will do that). Now that it's almost impossible to defeat via screen shots, last time I visited Marvel, I made sure that I logged into the app nice and early so I wasn't held up at the turnstile, only to find out that they now have a 15 second revolving barcode that doesn't auto refresh after you've been logged in for a while, so wasted time and held up the que while the gate attendant figured it out. I also get some anxiety that what would happen if my mobile battery was flat when I went in.

Since the club stopped automatically issuing physical membership cards, I've always requested them before the season, because it's so much easier and more reliable, particularly with getting the kids through the turnstiles.

The above half dozen posts have added so much more value than endlessly bemoaning the loss of or Clarry's misadventures.

Actually glad I read the end of this thread now.

16 hours ago, adonski said:

His 2025 highlights shows off his goal sense, just needed to start getting more of the pill (and the handy removal of the sub rule too)

Agreed. For me, he never quite looked like a hopeless frindge player. You could see the potential there. Was somewhat cruelled by the sub rule. It does somewhat surprise me that if you have a player who's strength is endurance that you'd make them a sub and limit their ability to leverage that strength for the team.

I'm guessing that when he is on the ground, he's always on the move and perhaps that's how he utilises that endurance to tank his opponent, because I did note, that at least in our first game against the Saints, he still only had something like 60% time on field (perhaps that's changing with his improved performances).

I don't think he's quite as defensive ANB. More of an offensive link player and/or that's Goodwin compared to King. It's a little hard to know if it's cause or effect.

21 hours ago, Bowserpower said:

Havent noticed him standing out but hes done some nice things here and there. Deserves his spot

Every team needs those no frills, solid, reliable players.

Great that Blake has been able to grind away and make a spot in the team his own for now. Looking forward to seeing what he can do as the season continues.

Will be plenty of competition for spots with Riv and Bowser coming back, but then unfortunately there's also often injuries. Still, different sort of player, but I think he's ahead of at least CJ at this point and has a bit of height that I think T Mac is probably the next out with his more limited mobility.

6 minutes ago, inanunda said:

He was pretty adament. Even more after I gave him a victory hot jam donut!

How sweet those victory donuts!

16 hours ago, deelusions from afar said:

In terms of targets, as nice as a King, Butters, Humphrey, Bailey etc would be, other than Jeremy Cameron, I can't think of too many big signings that have worked out in terms of getting a premiership. I think often it disrupts the salary cap and maybe the locker room as you have to pay overs to get someone to come to you. Obviously easier said than done, but I think better bringing in players that fit your needs (we did this pretty well last year) rather than the biggest names in the trade period Eg Pies before their flag got Hill, Frampton, Mitchell, McStay - the first 3 played a big role in their GF, Hawthorn bringing in Barrass and Battle, Brisbane bringing in Dunkley at end of 2022.

Ummm, may not be fashionable to be saying this right now, but bringing in Steve May was a huge factor in our 2021 premiership.