jnrmac

A big IF for mine but maybe they have seen the back half of the season and concluded that it is an 'easier' run of games and there is time to build. Rd 16 we are top 4 so things are all OK. Start to fine tune our form into finals with a hopefully healthy list. It has quite a bit of risk to it though but it is a long season I maintain we changed the way we play for the Carlton game as a pre-cursor or dress rehearsal for the Collingwood game. We now know that works. Similar to what Geelong did against us last year - they revealed some tactics assuming they would meet us in finals. That gives me some comfort they have a plan they are working towards. A finals style that can win big games. But the jury is still out for me and it seems like we are playing with fire a bit. A few things go wrong - like Fritsch - and we are back in the pack making life much harder for ourselves.

Here's a quote from Robbo - who I don't normally rate - but I think he is on the money here: Melbourne plays density football. It’s a strong contest and combative team. They don’t play so-called easy football with spares everywhere. It’s labour intensive, man v man, which means their football is tough and grinding. Our game style is very taxing. We make it hard on ourselves. Its an arm wrestle and tries to wear down the other teams. SG has shown no inclination to change that except for the finals series in 2021. So maybe that is his go. Get to finals and 'flick the switch' as it were. I can see why that makes some sense - get to finals - but there is a lot wrong with that if that in fact is the case. And it isn't an easy thing to change style late in the piece. My observation is that during pre-season and the early part of this season we were playing a lot more daring football and kicking angles into the corridor. Hence our accuracy at goal as many of the shots were front and centre. But as we have seen in the past 5 weeks it has shifted dramatically to old style of kick along the boundary and bomb the ball into our fwd line.

How many goals have we scored in the last 13 or so games where a forward has led towards the kicker and marked out in front. I am struggling to think of too many. We make it so hard for ourselves.

Thats the way Goodwin likes to play. He prefers the strangulation/arm wrestle method to keep us in more games and give us chances to win, He talks about that a lot. Except for the last two years in the second half of the season we don't

If you cant see a connection issue, our utterly clueless fwd set ups and a return to down. the line bomb it to the fwd pocket then I can't help you.

He's heard the same press conference 30 times because the problem is still the same. Its been going on for 4 years bar the last 6 weeks of 2021 He's a defensive coach that consistently says 'our method keeps us in games and gives us a chance to win' He is totally inflexible in his approach and he and Stafford have NFI about how to manage a forward line.

What a joke of a footy team up forward. Today 2g 9b v Cats 8g 15b v Pies 8g 18b v Blues 8g 13b 3 1/2 games and we have kicked 26g 55b FMD

How is our forward connection?

Jordon 41 possies and a goal Jefferson 4 g JvR 4 goals A lot to like

All over 97 pts well played Casey Demons

“Clearly in the last four or five weeks, we need to be better,” Goodwin said last week. “We’re not connecting as well as we should. And we’re not probably taking our goalkicking efficiency to the level that we need to be. Hope this doesn't trigger some people here......

That would be game 99 for Melb. Might as well get him to 100....

Do you mean that we wouldn't have had 158 handballs in a circle in wet and slippery conditions that invite pressure from the opposition? Or letting the Cats maintain a Goal keeper out the back to stop any quick fwd thrusts? Or letting Geelong switch back into the corridor at will? Or fumble at every opportunity because of that pressure? We played dumb wet weather football for much of the game and our fwd entries were simply abysmal (I would have said worst of the season until last night's Sydney game) If that was part of the plan we are in bigger trouble than I think we are.

This post is unbelievably misguided and defies basic economic principles.

We tax everything except fresh food whether or not its for the public good. Gumments are addicted to raising revenue and can't live within their means.

When you say 'they' who are you referring to?

I wouldn't call Kozzie lazy . I think he rates very highly in pressure acts and he does a power of running. I would question though where he is running to and how he places himself at the drop of the ball. Defenders usually go to the boundary side and yet we rarely have anyone swopping down the side to capitalise on a punch to the boundary. Thats something KP could do. He just isnt getting t the drop of the ball where he is most dangerous.

Hibberd copped a nasty elbow to the ribs/kidney in the first quarter I believe... Maybe explains a little how Rohan got off the chain.

Maybe , just maybe he's suggesting Goody shouldn't let him get 42 touches next time.....

We weren't fatigued in the first half. and thats where the game was lost. We just played dumb football

This is where Stafford is poor. Good teams create space by leading out and opening up gaps. But you can't do that if we are slow moving the ball in or dumping it high.

That was the excuse last year. We led in every single game that we lost. All 8 of them. 'Oh we're doing a lot of things right' said Goodwin. Yep true. But our game plan was picked apart and its happening again.

Fatigue has nothing to do with kicking 2 goals 7 behinds in the second qtr. or 14g 33bh in the past two weeks. Has nothing to do with players being handball happy in the wet or playing behind your man or butchering kicks to our players advantage or stopping to wait while the oppo defence sets up their zone.. That is plain stupid brainless wet weather football. Decision making is abysmal, fumbling is killing us and stagnant, slow predictable footy is what undid us last year. Quick kicks and leads aren't being honoured. Players stop leading when that happens. Its a cancer in a team and totally the opposite of how we played in pre-season and training where the emphasis is on fast movement, angled kicks to the corridor etc. Kicking for goal was above average in the early part of the year because thats what we were doing and taking goal kicks from a more central position. We have now reverted to stop prop go down the line lick to the pocket. Its killing us. Kozzie bar the opening game has been totally out of sorts as has Langdon. Something isn't right with Gawn. There are a number of others. Selection integrity has been compromised for guys like Jordan, Bowey, Thommo, Brown directly but it affects the whole team when there are 'favourites'. This is not a team that is playing for each other. No one goes to Gawn's aide when he is targetted by Stanley, nor petracca when he was constantly being held by Atkins, nor Viney when he was down. We go from one of our best games (v Collingwood) to one of our worst. Something isn't right.

Wow. Did I say they haven't lost a game? Can you not read?

Since rd 10 last year. They have been 'up'