Engorged Onion

So you’re telling me we’re a chance? Great compiling of stats there. but it doesn’t stand up to the ‘eye test’ of some in here!

I'll lead off with that my belief is that it is impossible to sustain 22 week's of form (be it as a team, or an individual) and then get into the 'real' season and maintain it. Thus, I'm not in favour of the notion that the players were down or not up yesterday - they made errors, [censored] it, so did the Dogs, they just converted. Whilst some folk find Goodwin 'expressionless' in his conferences, the clue for us all is how he frames things. Irrespective of a win (he down plays it) or a loss (he also down plays it) because it's always about 'resetting for the week ahead'. For all of those in the ecosystem that is the AFL industry - it does not help to get emotional about the wins and losses... and that fact [censored] supporters to tears. He isn't about pumping up players, or jumping on them, because if you teach players that you can only win when you feel good or confident, what happens to performance when you are not feeling good or confident, or fatigued? You move away from games plans, you play more insular (sure weve seen it from individuals this year) and it impedes performance. And...how on earth would you feel on Grand Final Day in front of 100k... not sure about you... but I'd have a squeeky little bum.} It's a time of high anxiety and high stress... and Goodwin drives the team (as do most coaches) from a position of knowing that this is the emotional landscape of football. Having to front up to it, is exhausting. But it stands to reason that this has been our most consistent season in almost living memory. Some of the players are 5 years under his tutelage, others are 1, or 2 or 3. They're on a journey of psychological and physiological development. As supporters we can find the language too corporate, too naff, too disconnected from what we traditionally want to hear (give em a rev up etc etc), but he is speaking the language of the eco-system of the club... well not just our club, its all clubs. I'd argue its not about getting the players up , they know what their game plan is, they'll get themselves up...they weren't down yesterday either... They were up against the Dogs, as it were... but if you count WINS as the only indicator of being 'up', then you're missing the bigger picture....and also being unrealistic and unfair on the playing group. Loading, periodisation, whatever you want to call it, is real and it impacts on performance outcomes in the here and now, for the planning of the future.

I thought Mark Wiliiams was the messiah around here for fixing kicking ;)

To be the best you’ve got to pressure. No if’s or buts. And Is it realistic that over an 8 month (ostensibly 11 months) training period, that essentially 22 games in a row that ‘pressure’ will be dialed up?

Whilst Burgess is known for pushing the envelope, it would be arrogance on his behalf after a quarter of a century in the business to continue a strategy that on evidence hasn’t worked. Fatigue , wouldn’t be Burgess pushing the envelope on top of a periodisation process - that just ignoring best practice. We are where we are, because we are where we are on the schedule.

This could be useful to wrap your head around, whilst debating the probability of whether training loads matter, if you're a dubious type of person, who thinks the performances are disgusting and pathetic and think Goodwin should be sacked, and you'd much prefer the relief of knowing your not going to make the finals as a supporter. It's round 18 - here is a neat little graph - now if you're making finals - it's a pretty good template to run off. There wouldn't be too much variation from club to club, because clubs don't do that. In relation to this content, and through worrying about people knocking my credentials, I'll just say, I'm also coming from a place of knowledge of what happens, because I have it from numerous horses mouths who are fed crunchy digits from their employer(s)...

My take. "There is a vibe though that we are running on the spot. I'd argue it s clearly about training and game day loads, and as suggested, all teams in finals contention will be doing it. The difficulty for us and other Victorian teams is the lack of second tier competition, so where do we get to put those players who still need to have match fitness, but at a reduced level. This dilemma, impacts performance for obvious reasons. But with an eye on 4-5 weeks away - what is a Football department to do. Do you make every post a winner until september, with the eventuality that you haven't given your team the best opportunity FOR september. Or do you mitigate as much as possible, and hope the talents and systems will get you a top 4 slot, so that you're cherry ripe for september, but you may be in a position where you don't have a double chance. The 22 rounds are just the hors d'oeuvre's, and I would prefer my team to be pretty [censored] hungry for the main course in September, when fitness on dry (er) tracks will be at a premium. ps... what @Skuitsaid.

Gus did say back at the G the last time we played in the wet - that 'we' were licking our lips... I hope this is accurate, and they want to get down and dirty. It's no september football by any means, but it helps us.

amplification to the dogs? That is so blunt and just so lovely xo

legitimate unit of measurement?

I'll just stick this opinion piece here.

Mmmm a 25 year old film clip. Probably what a Melbourne fan will be like tomorrow - if we lose tonight

Curious, if we lose tonight, do most posters on here, interpret it that we are not 'legitimate contenders'?

So how many talls reduces a teams ability to effective deal with ground balls in your own forward line?

That appears to be true, be it by the media or Demonlanders. Mind you, not one other top 4 team has brought 'it' as consistently as us either... So I guess it depends if you don't want to look beyond Melbourne FC and include other clubs in that conversation. It's just a lovely little narrative, and I suspect the team would call it Fugazi, whilst still working on remedying it. I concur with Leppitsch. I'd rather be in Melbourne position losing to bottom 4 teams, than losing to top 8 teams.

I always imagine, that is exactly how it would have started... some dude/dudette, with some words, on a guitar...before production.

One of my favourite covers of all time

Mmmmm Pressure vs Delivery. I'm Libran, it's all about the weight of scales.

If you're a Chelsea fan - you'll get the link Actually Bin, I think you are on to something in the use of language of 'defensive'. If there was media commentary around that role and what it entails, then the midfielder (who is operating as a defensive mid) wouldn't be seen as performing as poorly, but performing in line with the specific role. Viney is an excellent defensive mid. Gus was not.

My prediction if we win...

Could go either way. If we lose, don't get sucked into the hype about the Bulldogs or the Dees If we win, don't get sucked into the hype about the Dees or the Bulldogs.

Interesting, I interpret it completely differently. ’It’ll be interesting’ - adds uncertainty I’d love to stay - is also adding uncertainty

None of those exist aside from Hawkins and McKay Perhaps Hawkin's relationship with Shannon Burns in the key in getting him across ?

run out of jokes???

We got away with our poor conversation rate early in the season, we’ve now seen it cost us wins against Adelaide, GWS, and the Hawks. In the current era, average conversion rates are around 51.4% on 22.3 scoring shots per match — that is, teams have scored an average of 11.6 goals per match. For the purposes of this article goal accuracy or conversion rates is defined as Conversion Rate = Goals / (Goals + Behinds). In 2021, we are averaging 1.5% less than the competition norm. Our opponents are 3% above the expected norm. Here is a break down of our percentage conversions per game, against opponents (losses/draw in red) vs their conversion, as well as a difference between the teams on the day, as well as a % difference from the norm (for our opponents)