Swooper1987

Excellent appointment by the Tigers.  Wish him nothing but the best. A great servant of the Demons.

11 hours ago, Dingo said:

We won most of our games by small margins this year .So we know how to win the close ones regularly. And yes l know,we lost the last 2 games- by small margins. We didn’t get blown away.

We won some of them - we also lost to Freo by 7, Carlton by 4, GWS by 2, Port by 4 and then the two finals by a combined 9. We beat Collingwood by 4, Gold Coast by 5, Adelaide by 4 (getting run down) and Brisbane by 1 (running over the top). So that's 6 losses and 4 wins in games decided by 7 points or less.  If that doesn't indicate some level of above the shoulders fragility I don't know what does. Especially given that we had we had more shots in both finals, against Carlton in round 22 (16-14), against Freo (22-19), and against the Giants (20-12). Goal kicking is partly where you take them from and partly composure and execution and that last part is in the mind more than the body.

Van Rooyen plays in a way that is going to draw the attention of the MRO and tbh I don't mind that.  The incident in the QF was silly but his attack on the man and ball has been hard and mostly fair in his first season. Our perceived softness is mental rather physical. And that perception will only change when we start winning the close ones regularly.

11 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

I deliberately neglected to say that he started his tirade against Kozzie by calling him a f****n !d!ot. Clearly he was overcome by emotion because by all accounts he’s not usually one to yell at them in anger let alone name-calling. I didn’t mention that part because I’m a huge fan of Goody and I was sad to hear that he’d caved in to his anger and had uncharacteristically insulted the boys. 

I guess it'll show what they are made of.  Sheedy did something similar after the 1983 GF and the Bombers won the next two.  That was after three years of finals failure.  It was also 40 years ago.  Times change but I think there is still a place for a good rocket.  At the end of the day though, if the players aren't already feeling bad enough about a missed opportunity, and their individual and collective parts in that failure, then they aren't the right players anyway.  I expect most will respond in the right way.  Appreciate your insight WCW.  Thanks for sharing.

It's a shame Jordan Lewis is so entrenched in the media. He'd be an excellent coach.

Interesting stat provided by the On the Couch team.  We have three of the seven worst kicks in the comp and 4 of the worst 60.  Qualification is 200 kicks.  Gawn is number 1, Viney number 3 and Oliver number 7.  Petracca rounds it out at number 60.  I think it was largely borne out on Friday.  Gawn and Viney simply must handball more.  The other two desperately need to improve their foot skills and decision making.

Good news.  His presence makes Lever better.

We have two-thirds of the game completely mastered. Contest and Defence have been proven to be the basis of nearly all great sides.  We need better connection between our mids and forwards.  Oliver and Viney do many things well but they both lack finesse by foot.  Tracc must be 70-30 forward.  His disposal efficiency by foot is not great either.  I don't have a lot of faith that Petty can play a full season but he is without doubt our great hope.  JVR will be a very good player.  he has a natural aggression about him that means he's always going to be on the edge, but he hits packs hard, rarely gets outmarked and is a lovely shot on goal.  We need to look after him.  If he can become a 6 mark a game player he'll kick three goals most weeks.  That'll make a difference.

I think Rohan Connolly is an outstanding footy journo.  He provides a sense of real balance in his latest piece for ESPN.

https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/38395193/afl-finals-rohan-connolly-where-next-melbourne-demons-port-adelaide-power-straight-sets

Tomlinson proved his worth once again.  He's no May or Lever but he plays such an important role and that will only be magnified if Petty becomes the forward we hope he will be. Of all of the players spoken about moving on he is the one we need to keep. 

Very sorry to hear about your circumstances and horrified and disgusted by what you went through.  I work with young people everyday and have for many years and sadly your story is not unique. Good on you for having the courage to share your story and by doing so helping others.

Go the orange.  Love the way they play. Jesse was always a personal favourite and pleased to see Bedford playing so well now he's getting regular opportunity. Hope they can go all the way.

A true legend.  Perhaps the greatest figure in the games history.

19 minutes ago, Rhino said:

At the Clutch ,Viney turns ball over with a terrible kick on the right And Mcvee doesn’t get his fist to ball Game over None of that matters if Max doesn’t touch Oliver’s kick 

Or if Pickett doesn't lose his mind in the first quarter, or Tracc doesn't keep kicking it to Weitering etc etc

A lost opportunity not a wasted season.  Our best was as good as whoever wins this years flag.  If you look at who's left we've beaten Carlton, Brisbane and Collingwood and lost by less than a goal to GWS and Port. Unfortunately we couldn't beat Collingwood and Carlton when it really counted.  Despite our flaws, and we have a couple of big ones, we are practically the equal of anyone left.  Goodwin is aware of our list limitations hence his gameplan.  We lack midfield polish (often a price you pay for a reliance on contest) and our issues forward are there for everyone to see.  That will take time to remedy - recruiting and skills coaching and perhaps an adjustment to the game plan.  

Teams below us are coming - sides like Adelaide.  We will have some significant list changes which should readjust our age and experience profile.  I'd not be surprised to see us move back a little next year to relaunch.  I'd also not be surprised to see an on-field leadership change. Not advocating one but I believe Max has flagged he's not got long left as skipper. Time for renewal all round.

Another outstanding game from the best full back in the league.  Led our defence superbly.  Certainly not the fault of the defenders that we are now in the off-season.

4 minutes ago, layzie said:

Having Petracca contest the ruck 3 times was flat out embarrassing. Making a play for an AA ruckman only to stamp his papers before finals is one to move on from quickly.

The holes in the list are obvious and need filling. 

It was poor.  We basically conceded any opportunity for a clearance goal inside 50.  Surely a better strategy would've been for Gawn to contest at least some of those and for McDonald or Smith to drop back.  

A lot of disdain for Goodwin in the immediate aftermath.  He should rightfully cop some heat for a couple of things.  The choice of sub which rests with him and the match committee was the wrong one twice. That hurt us.  More damning is the inability of Goody and the MC to absorb Einstein's messaging around insanity.  And this lies equally with some of the poor decision makers we have on the field.  Our constant need to bomb long at every opportunity - Petracca a lovely clearance in the third when we had all momentum kicks it long for Weitering to intercept 15 out from our goals, when he had ample opportunity to lower the eyes and find a target 30 out. Just one of many one the night and over the season.  The fundamental difference between our side and those that fulfil their potential is great decision makers.  Elite ball users who instinctively do the right thing with it.  If you recall the Hawthorn 3 peat team, it's feasible to say they were not the best side over the season in any of their flag years yet managed to do it three times in a row because of the class and decision making of an array of players. That's partly coaching and partly list management.

The other thing that Goodwin and the other coaches need to ask themselves is why didn't they pay respect to Walsh, who absolutely dominated the game and ran rings around our midfield. I don't like his stubborn attitude towards this.  In 2021 he had Harmes sit on Liberatore mid season and it worked a treat.  I'd have thought a similar role for Viney might have been worth some consideration and implementation. Walsh was the absolute difference in the game from a Carlton point of view.  Class, poise, winning his own contests and spreading well from others.

Something he did right was getting Spargo back in.  Our best deliverer inside 50 and one of the better footy brains in the side. 

21 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

Good analysis of what went wrong….

https://www.theroar.com.au/2023/09/16/finals-fix-how-melbourne-killed-their-season-with-the-butcher-job-to-end-all-butcher-jobs/

That's the match review right there.  What  a great summary of the total disaster that unfolded.

Other than Gawn, the rest of the mids get nothing.  Totally eclipsed by Walsh who completely dominated all night.

6. May - just an outstanding defensive effort and more proof that a good key defender will always beat a good key forward.

5.Spargo - I really liked his game and his commitment to the cause.

4. Smith - our best forward on the night 

3. Gawn - the best ruck on the ground.  One very costly miss, one miss that would have been a great goal but was never likely.

2. Sparrow - a very good game from Tom - showed better skill than some bigger names.

1. Lever - started like a house on fire. Was in the right spot most of the time.

Special mention - ANB - loved his last few weeks.

The very last thing we need to do on Friday is be overly emotionally charged.  Just play the ball hard and not get jumped because we are thinking about things that can't change. Looking at the players reaction last Thursday night - attending to Brayshaw, rolling him into the recovery position, it's no wonder we got jumped.  At that point it was 2 goals to one.  We lost ourselves for the rest of that quarter and that was the game.  Total focus for every second of the game will get us the result.

4 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

In good news, Carlton are trying to get Jack Martin down to 1 week rather than cleared altogether.

A sensible approach.

Let's focus on Friday.  It was always going this way.  The rules will change next year.  That's done now.  The best way we help Gus is to win Friday night.

Was impressed with Lyon tonight.  I thought he articulated the case for the prosecution well.  Buckley and to a lesser extent Brown still came across as stuck in the past.  It's obviously hard for Lyon - very close to both the Frawley family and the Brayshaw's. Managed to keep his emotions in check.  

10 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

It's a hard call but Max does the fwd role better . I guess your thinking correctly that Max is needed around the ground as Grundy can't mark. I worry too that Grundy may be annoyed with the club. I hope we overload on big fwds in the off season. 

Grundy is a professional footballer with potentially a chance to play in a premiership.  He will give his all if he's selected irrespective of what might happen post season.