Dodos Demons

1 hour ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Worse part is that they are not stagnant, Fritta and JVR. They are regressing.

Honestly JVR is the one major worry to me. He had shown talent and mongrel. Where's that gone? Maybe some off-field situation that is messing up with his psichy/mind, otherwise I can't understand what happened to him.

Posted a similar comment in another thread. If you look at other young forwards at other clubs, they take time to develop but generally improve year on year. Sadly I don’t think we can say that about JVR and starting to get a good number of games under his belt so it is a decent body of evidence to draw comparisons.

1 hour ago, William said:

He has been abysmal all season and should not be played again. He is not the answer long-term and we might be able to get something from trading.

Tom McDonald should be playing and now the season is done we should see whether M. Jefferson can do the trick. I stood next to him today in the Betty Cuthbert room and he is one tall fellow which doesn’t mean he will work but he has the height.

I especially like D. Turner today who can take some great marks. But they should leave him in defence.

Petty is also not the answer down forward - he is quite languid and doesn’t seem to be able to hold his marks.

1 hour ago, William said:

He has been abysmal all season and should not be played again. He is not the answer long-term and we might be able to get something from trading.

Tom McDonald should be playing and now the season is done we should see whether M. Jefferson can do the trick. I stood next to him today in the Betty Cuthbert room and he is one tall fellow which doesn’t mean he will work but he has the height.

I especially like D. Turner today who can take some great marks. But they should leave him in defence.

Petty is also not the answer down forward - he is quite languid and doesn’t seem to be able to hold his marks.

Don’t want to turn this into a aa JVR pile on but hard to argue that he hasn’t regressed. No idea what his KPI’s are but doesn’t seem to be offering much to the naked eye. A few times today he seemed to hesitate when ball was in dispute. He doesn’t get great delivery but when ball hits deck he seems nowhere to be seen. Defensively, he and Fritsch can be hard ti watch at times. Would love JVR ro prove me wrong but he seems to have plateaued.

Commentators did their best in the first quarter to highlight Daicos getting the same treatment Oliver has received his entire career and never called out. Just crickets. Happens to Daicos and they make sure they have zoomed in footage. Can’t tell me the broadcasters aren’t playing their part to get favourites teams on top. Meanwhile Trac and Oliver just have to cop it.

1 minute ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

This game can be summed up by Kozzies first lazy shot at goal.

Sums up our entire intensity.

We look tired.

And our midfield got spanked all day.

I think we lost our chance to play finals today and it's our kicking that did it.

Just like our two finals campaigns in straight sets. The story continues for three years.

Talk about inertia. No wonder it took us 56 years to win a flag.

Too slow to fix clear lingering issues.

Well said. Pressers from Goodwin rarely if ever mentions it. As if the kicking is not part of all the coaches’ responsibility. Know as the worst conversion team. Says a lot.

5 hours ago, Dodos Demons said:

To the untrained eye, the first image appears to show Clarry expressing sheer joy but if you pan down, you will see it is sheer agony. The culprit may wish he wasn't identifiable by the thumb strapping lol.

The recent email from the club appears to have (appropriately) edited the random hand from the earlier photo 😉.

Screenshot 2025-05-26 172705.jfif

1 hour ago, roy11 said:

To the untrained eye, the first image appears to show Clarry expressing sheer joy but if you pan down, you will see it is sheer agony. The culprit may wish he wasn't identifiable by the thumb strapping lol.

8 minutes ago, Pottsydee said:

I worry about Fritta, I really do. I was ground level tonight and watched him closely. He lacks hunger and the desperation that makes forwards dangerous. He really looks like he isn't invested. We know he has the ability and his forward craft is first class, just looks sluggish and disinterested.

I was at the game and watched him very closely after the match and there was next to no interaction with teammates. They all huddled on the ground near the race waiting for Langford to come back from seeing fans on the other side of the ground. Fritta was just standing out the back of the players while the rest were joking and celebrating. Didn’t see any players go up to him. Very small sample size but did not seem to be a lot of love towards him from teammates.

12 minutes ago, inanunda said:

Only twelve months.

Thanks for clarifying.

Apologies if this has been asked and answered before in this thread - do we have to pay out full contract of Goodwin if we terminate before the contracted end date or did the AFL bring in a max payout cap. If the latter, we should be on our bike in the hunt to secure the best replacement before other clubs are in the hunt (eg Carlton, if not already)?

Forwards seem to have very little body work craft. At least 3 occasions in first quarter when one of JVR and Disco had oppo player out positioned under the ball and only needed slightest body contact but zero contact. Simple stuff.

How many times did we handball blindly forward. Don’t think it worked once. Look like a complete rabble.

1 minute ago, DubDee said:

The most obvious taking of the legs with 16 seconds to go

Nothing

Free kicks 33 - 9 after the first 15 minutes

Seems anything goes in the last minute but only if it advantages Collingwood. That was a disgraceful non-call and so obvious. Would love to hear Bevo tee off about the umpires.  He must be seething.  Don’t think I heard the commentators once mention the free kick count.  Probably not allowed to.  

5 minutes ago, adonski said:

Petracca’s concerns included his belief that Melbourne people did not check in with him enough in the aftermath of his King’s Birthday injury,

By “check in” does he really mean become followers and/or comment several times a day on his numerous social media platforms. He has a point …/sarc 

30 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

I think so too. I think his followers will dry up the moment he leaves the football scene as well.
 

This whole ****show has shown his true colours and in the current world, his entitled attitude won’t appeal to many people let alone sponsors. 

A certain few Australian male tennis players appeared to have very similar traits and quickly lost the media and Australian fans. Not justifying those Australian tennis players but in their defence, they were playing an individual sport.  It is so bizarre that a similar attitude could bubble to the surface and be on full show in AFL football with squads of approx 44 players.  

Maybe there is a stalemate and radio silence from both player and club because the issues  (aka “grievances”) run very deep and touch on matters that are the subject of current or future legal proceedings and neither party wants to go there. I have no idea but I can’t for a second accept that the current strategy of Trac is the result of professional/paid advisers. 

Grievance tribunal would be a pathetic Hail Mary from Trac and his team.  Hard to know if this is navel gazing by those in the media or leaked by his “advisors”. If the latter they are clearly desperate and clutching at straws for any leverage. The club should (and hopefully will) hold firm like anyone holding all the cards should. “Stay on target, stay on target”….. sadly we are not at the stage where we can finish the Star Wars quote: “almost there, almost there”. 

41 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

I don’t think he’ll front up next year if we make him stay. So what would that mean contractually? Obviously miss Match payments, but could he play the mental health card to at least get something his way aka Ben Simmons’s tactic?

That would destroy his brand so would definitely avoid IMV.

So as Buckley has said we hold firm, get some solid offers from GCS, North, Richmond and give him an ultimatum. We control the outcome no matter how much of a tantrum he throws. 

Imagine the bidding war that could eventuate (may already be happening behind closed doors)

If Trac is genuinely that unhappy with the club to cause all this drama and damage (and so far do nothing/stay silent to seek to salvage the situation), he can’t have it both ways and say I need to leave but only if I end up at a “big” club. That is where he is losing the faithful.  If that is his predominant motivation (ie he wants out but only to a big club) then that is so disappointing.

"Depending on who Petracca talks to, it’s different. If he talks to the players, his issue is with the leadership of the club and when he talks to the leadership, his issue is with the players and the off-field stuff."

If true, he is hardly in the right frame of mind to make significant decisions about his future!

59 minutes ago, gregdemon said:

Buckley    said it best on SEN  this morning . Its not the Christian Petrecca Football club.    Melbourne can sit back and let others work.        come to us with a good deal or No deal.         We hold all the cards.      Good trade  or come back with tail between the legs and grow up   

Sounds like many in the media are starting to turn the screws on Trac in terms of his (or his "advisors") approach as this saga continues to play out.   Of course, the media would be salivating at the void this is filling before week 1 of the finals.  I though that not playing in finals reduces the anxiety levels of supporters.  Imagine if we did happen to make it to finals and this came out.

Club needs to channel Jekyll and Hyde in the ANB and (if it happens) Trac trades given the statements made to date about ANB getting to where he wants. Boy I hope the club holds firm. 

11 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Sam Edmund on SEN confirmed McClure’s story is true.

Cornes is urging Melbourne not to trade him as we have all the power.

Don’t you love the irony of Cornes.  He is on the record as saying he thinks long term deals are ridiculous and should never be entered (or words that affect).   Now it seems he finally sees the light and the reason why CLUBS do those deals. BTW I agree with Cornes (we hold all the cards). Club needs to channel some Kenny Rogers! 

21 minutes ago, The Stewster said:

the most infuriating part of tonight...Turner trying to take chest mark instead of on the hands, missed goals with instant rebound by Brisbane, May's non mark, Rivers non goal. Some really dumb football by AFL players that should do the basisc well. easy from the couch, I know, but FFS!

Agree with all of this but it was nice (funny) to see another team do some “Benny Hill” moments that are usually saved for the Dees - Hipwoods handball point lol and Dannihers chip pass to Charlie lol. 

Watched the Fox pre match and said to my kids 15 minutes from the bounce- what is wrong with the Melbourne players? They look flat and disinterested. Not saying I predicted the result but I have not seen them look so switched off and appearing as though they cbf’d. Could be a coincidence but not they looked very very flat in the pre match. The rest is history. Something seems to be way way off in the attitude and mental approach department. Worst month of footy for a long time.  

25 minutes ago, leucopogon said:

This is almost the end of the line for me and the MFC/AFL. My motivation and interest are at an all time low. I just googled how to cancel my membership FFS! That's how I'm feeling right now. Hearing 10s of thousands of supporters cheering Maynard just doesn't sit well with me. Watching our blokes put in the most disgraceful efforts in four games now (Bris, WCE, Freo, Pies), not to mention the two straight sets exits of 22 and 23. It's broken me. How quickly have we gone from dominating force to irrelevant? It truly is mind boggling.

100%. Salt in the wounds is watching Geelong successfully complete mini rebuilds and attract quality players time and time again to remain contending to years on end. Sydney too.  We seem to be miles off anything near that as a club, on or off the field. Would love to be proven wrong but there just doesn’t seem to be the same noises, confidence or bigger picture being communicated from the coach or club (unlike the Cars or Sydney).  

3 hours ago, BW511 said:

It is quite intriguing that skill has been our downfall for many, many years and yet we doubled down with a new gameplan which is outrageously reliant on skill.

We have grunt bulls (that are very good at it although Clayton is off his best for known reasons) but silky skilled mids and wingers we fall well short. Even Salem is miles off his laser like kicking. May is inconsistent especially with short passes. Bowey lost his radar a little too. McVee is excellent but our game plan seems to need need about 6 silky players. Bring back the bomb to the pocket lol.