Go Ds

Can you write?! Why write the above contradictions? They don't cancel each other out. Do you think a newspaper could say a PM is a murderer followed by "maybe he isn't" and be immune from a defamation lawsuit? Quite simply you can't say "they haven't" yet.

Absolute mayhem with two top four finishes?! Who were the 4 best missing from Brisbane? The only person missing from the previous 2 years best and fairest top 10 in their winning GF were Rich (retired) and Oscar Mac (injured in prelim). Who apart from the promising Kiddy Coleman? You're kidding if you think losing Petracca, Brayshaw the whole year plus having a compromised Oliver would not debilitate other teams if they had been as badly hit.

Umm, 666 came in 2019 and the stand rule in 2021. We won our flag after these. What are you talking about?

Huh?!!! You've decided that after 2 games?! Petracca had his first game for 9 months last week is it possible he'll be fitter later on?

How are you sure after 2 games North is still a bottom 4 side?!

Yeah, the AFL knew about today's result when they made the fixture 4 months ago. 🙄

Sorry, are you saying we should have got a 32yo Darling who averaged one goal a game last year? Even "shell of a player" Roo had averaged that this year and he's 11 years younger! 🤣🤣🤣 Fans are already complaining about recent years trades. How do you think they'd take an old player getting one goal a game especially if also by next year he's too old and spends it in the reserves? 🙄

Probably not. Sometimes teams just believe they'll beat a supposedly lesser team and have the wrong attitude. It's too simplistic to just forgive Melbourne today - they'd already lost their only game and it was never going to be a shock that a team with a brilliant coach and full of high draft picks would improve with another pre-season under their belt - and such a capitulation in the 4th quarter was not regulation-disgraceful. But we really don't know what today means medium to long term.

Possibly. But also Geelong has a country lifestyle, Brisbane has less of the public gaze and Collingwood has lots of more, facilities and supporters. Not sure about Hawthorn. But maybe there are all sorts of reasons why we have missed out or the above have done so well. It was frustrating missing out on Houston.

Fritsch isn't playing well. Kosi hasn't played yet. Roo could still easily improve this year. Jefferson was subbed off early injured. Do you really think better delivery today wouldn't have also helped? Paint it however you want if Lions played the same standard they did early last year they wouldn't have won the flag last year, forward line or not. I've no idea what our ceiling is but surely we can play better than today.

Umm, we probably won't. It's for the players to know and also if they're not happy with Goody. You're saying they didn't give their all? I suspect they didn't either. But do we know? Really all I'm getting at is that it'll be disastrous if they sack Goody this week IF the players still want him. Honestly sacked or not it could be that we get to 7-6 but in one of the scenarios by listening to the kneejerk reactions of supporters online we've consigned ourselves to losing 3 more games in each of the next 5 years. (Nominating coaches here right now is ludicrous.)

If we keep losing he will lose the players. I haven't contradicted this. If the players know they've given their all and bad luck isn't to blame eventually they'll turn. Conversely if they know it was them who ****ed up today and from here start performing satisfactorily then your comment is moot.

Melbourne were very disappointing today but the overreaction of Demon supporters feels even more frustrating. Most years in the last 50 round 1 hasn't even started for another few days! There's so much season left and it wouldn't surprise if some coaches have been tweaking their programs to ensure their teams are peak-fitness somewhere round late August rather than burning out in July. We've had one shocker from two games and it feels like most supporters are now backing us for the spoon. Do people forget that the Lions lost their first three last year? They improved; Why can't we? In 2020 Richmond came back from the post-round 1 COVID hiatus and scored only 5.6 in a draw against a Collingwood they were expected to beat and then were almost written off after losing to the previous season's 9th and 14th by 5 and 4 goals the next two games, with more low scores. As for the coach, usually the coach replacing a premiership coach does not do the same. Apart from Chris Scott, whose coaching career has been impressive ever since, who has replaced a premiership coach and also won a flag soon after that? If we sack Goody it may well shut the door on Gawn, Tracc and Clarrie winning another flag in Melbourne colours. (And the promising youngsters - who mainly didn't even play today - will have to wait as we re-build.)

Dunstan was an okay midfielder but always going to be back-up for the likes of Tracc and Oliver Grundy was a disaster but looked worth the risk. Hunter was cruelled by injuries as has McAdam been. Schache and Billings were secondhand high draft picks that were probably worth the small risk vs the windfall if a change of team realised their potential. Finally, Fullarton who? Only May, Lever, Grundy and arguably Hunter were topliners when we got them. Always some of the lesser recruits were likely to be misfires. Given injuries and missing out on some of the topliners could it be more that we've been unlucky recently?

Which given them being closer to 2021 were even more pathetic! It's such a big deal to get rid of a coach. You muck it up and you can put your team back 5 years! Goodwin's proved he can coach and the players love him. He's not untouchable but if we still have the cattle and they still believe in him a sacking will waste what we have.

It's sounds like there was a reason why Gawn was so bad today - probably something personal rather than physical. Then again if you're in the camp that wants to dump a coach that broke a huge drought 3.5 years ago and had us well-primed for another 1.5 years ago because of one game (and maybe a season destroyed by injuries) you won't even listen.

Yeah, sure he did. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

I'm hoping North are lot better than everyone realises. But right now we need an impressive win against Suns to restore any morale.

Have we? I think we were closer to a flag come 2023 finals than in 2022 and then last year was a disaster. Today was dreadful after a solid effort last week. So currently a regression of ONE year?!!!

If a tactic has a team usually losing by small margins I'd agree with you. But if a tactic is 5 from 7 against the top sides who cares about the 2 losses, especially if previously the main tactic had them 4-6 or worse against the best ?

Do we, or other teams, change tactics during matches? Obviously with 30 seconds left before full time a half-goal ahead or behind they will? But other times too? Wet or windy conditions? But how about when Gawn (or even him and Tracc/Clarrie) are rested do we just try damage control and just make sure the oppo don't score? And when there's a minute till a quarter finishes? While teams would have general tactics surely many factors complicate things and simply just kicking it long or playing keepings off will sometimes be wrong (despite mainly being right.)

Who were the selections? I was hoping a quick check on YouTube would bring them up. EDIT: Looks like Long (Suns) and Miers (Cats) kicked quick snaps from the boundary and the 3rd was Crow Rachele doing a blind turn and snap in congestion 30m out. I'm really not too fussed. Watching Duke's goal and his wizardry setting up Jefferson with a mark 40 out almost guarantee he's improved this year and he'll help keep Melbourne among the good teams for years to come. Honestly he may kick a few better goals this year.

People don't like being told what to do. Children are no different. If they're swearing a lot of not using their cutlery you can keep guiding or disciplining them to change that. But it's not going to work for team choice. As a young tacker I chose North Melbourne because my favourite colour is blue. It was pretty superficial as probably the only time I ever saw them play 'live' was the 1978 Grand Final on colour telly and years later Carey's team's flags didn't thrill me at all. When Barassi moved from North to Melbourne Dad convinced me to move over with the coach and share the Dees with him and my brother and understood the only games where I'd see North was when North were playing Melbourne at the G. Force wouldn't have worked.

MAFS?! That's almost worse than being a Collingwood supporter! 🤣🤣🤣

There's just no point guilt tripping supporters into going to our games. By all means if Melbourne staff and volunteers can phone lapsed members and convince (but not coerce) some to join up again , or devoted fans can get their kids and maybe friends, such as ones who have moved from other countries, to come to some games and win them over fine. But while we can look longingly round the stands and wish more people were here I doubt most of us can do much. It's a pity but it's just the way it is. Even if I got one wish from a genie, even if the wish had to please a lot more people than just me, crowd sizes would not be a part of it.