praha

I've already switched off mentally for the year and won't turn back on until we've booked a spot in September. I counted last week that I've attended around 272 matches in my life since 1991, for 94 wins, 178 losses. I haven't seen us win a final in person since 2002. I've sat through 19 10+ goal losses, have never seen us beat Geelong live, have never attended a match where we've beaten a team with Buddy Franklin in it, lost countless matches where we've been outright favourites. And I pay $600+ per year. I've been uninspired all year, and switched off in my head after round 23 last year. I care less, but still get frustrated. If they lose against Freo, I'll be the same as I am now. If they win (and I think they will, comfortably), I'm still not validating my bandwagon ticket. I've earned my VIP pass. I'm not cashing it in yet.

Only lose once to Melbourne in his whole career.

I see your point, but my point is that at this point in the season we have to expect teams like Geelong to beat teams like Sydney. This only makes it tighter, and a win last week would have give us breathing room. Maybe referring to ladder position wasn't the best way to make my point, but I was just trying to highlight how costly losses like last week are. It's a carbon-copy of the North loss(es) last year.

That shakes things up. If we'd won last week we could have leapfrogged Sydney with a win last week, potentially WC and may well have ended the round in 2nd. Highest we can end the round is 6th and equal on points with as low as 10th.

Melbourne is shorter odds at $1.83 to win by 40+ than it is to win by 1-39 (around $2.10).

In our defense, we don't allow opposition teams to go on long streaks of 6-7 goals. We haven't allowed that since the Hawthorn game. It was a massive issue last season and in the first few rounds this year. We know how to stem the tide. our problems now reside in conversion i50, and opposition transition. An easier fix imo as momentum is hard to stop when a team gets on a role. We can still kick goals and stay within striking distance.

If you watch the 98 season "hotter than hell" video on Youtube there's quite a few clips of Daniher speaking post-game. He used to refer to players in the plural quite often which you don't hear much anymore. "We have a really talented forward line, the Farmers, Neitzs, Lyons". He was also pretty brutal in his assessment of matches but never singled out a player if I recall. Daniher's demeanour and language was very similar to malcolm blight, although Blight went over the edge a few times. "Pitiful Pitman" is an all-time classic media meltdown and roast of a player by a coach.

Since 64: 87 88 89 90 91 94 98 2000 2002 2004 2005 2006 So 12 actually.

55 years. Of which only 11 have been finals years. Melbourne supporters should get their own bronze memorial outside the MCG.

I think the difference between this talk and, say, the talk we got in 2012 and 2013, is that we genuinely know we can be better, so the talk is an accurate reflection if a harsh reality. In 2012 and 2013 we had the likes of Jones and Grimes always talking about "lifting" and "not playing we want to play", but it was shallow PR talk.

You mean you would trade Demonland untouchable Jones?

"St Kilda gave them a lesson in work rate." We haven't played finals in 12 seasons. We couldn't lay a tackle in the first 10 minutes of the club's most important game in a decade. Record membership. Record attendance. We are being taken for a ride, folks.

i want us to dump them so we get more MCG games. The fatigue factor is rubbish. We've been crap the whole time we've played up there and we somehow attribute [censored] performances with playing in humid conditions. Maybe it was just because we're an average team? What's our excuse for our performances against Hawthorn, Richmond, Collingwood, and St Kilda?

Only Melbourne could debut a young key defender against a team that can't score, allow 119 points against and have said kid be a key standout contributor that was the team's defensive ineptness on the day. Bravo, Melbourne. Bravo.

In: Frost Garlett Vince Out: Hannan Tyson Petty It's really, really simple. Would also consider dumping ANB for Spargo.

Solid crowd I thought. Probably 30k without the free tickets so still break even on the day. Agreed though, seems like a token day tbh.

Pretty confident that unless we play finals and they both lift their game, both Salem and Jones will be traded at season's end. That would help us land Gaff and give us more flexibility. We had assets to trade but as is the Melbourne way we always hold onto players for far too long. Cameron Bruce should have been traded long before we let him walk to Hawthorn for nothing. Watts should have been traded after 2016 when his stocks were at their highest. Evidently, we let the likes of Dunn and Howe leave because we still have no idea how to nurture and develop troubled talent. They are both EXACTLY what we need defensively right now. Goodwin has some runs on the board with Spargo, Hannan and Frisch. But he needs to make another tough decision with this list akin to his Watts decision.

This game will be our North in 2017 equivalent. We lost to them twice but the second time, we needed to win to really establish ourselves in the 8 and with GWS to follow. We then scraped home wins against St Kilda, Port and Brisbane despite dominating all three, and had to turn it up against the Pies. But I always look back to that round 19 loss as the catalyst for our missing the finals. As soon as the final siren rang I just knew that this was the game we would look back to. We always look back to the Pies game but it's games like Round 19 2017 and yesterday that really kill us. In 2016 we lose to Essendon and Carlton. Win those and we play finals. Last year it was North x2. This year the battle for the 8 is even tighter and we can't even beat St Kilda on the MCG, where they never play. We are now 2-6 of our last 8 at the MCG. That is not finals caliber. Not by a long margin. Let's be frank. Warning signs were there against Geelong, Brisbane and Hawthorn.

We won't make it. Bulldogs will tear us a new one as quick teams do on the MCG. We're not getting close to Sydney or West Coast, Adelaide with Tex and Sloane back in will toy with us, GSW will rip us apart on the transition. IMO GC, Geelong and Freo are our last wins for the year.

Jones should have been traded 3 years ago when he had some value. What difference from a leadership perspective did keeping him on have? We say he stayed loyal, let's get real, it was either stay at Melbourne or take on offers from other cellar dwellars. He ain't the cause of the problem but we've kept on players that go through the motion and have contributed little to changing the culture. We keep hearing the culture has changed but then we have round 23 2017 and parts of this year. Viney was irrelevant for three quarters and propped up when the Saints dropped off and the pressure eased up. The same issues are present and have been clearly evident since 2016. Once the pressure is applied we struggle most of the time. This is why finals last year was so important. Beating WC in Perth is pointless if you can't lay a tackle in a game that determines a finals berth. Winning 6 in a row means nothing if you lose games that cement your position and can earn you real respect. We mock guys like Brereton and Dunstall and King and Lloyd and Carey, we say they don't know what they're talking about. But they highlight key deficiencies with this team and club time and time again. They have the runs on the board. What do we have? 6 wins against [censored] teams? And then a loss a month later against one of those very teams? I love Jones. I do. But cut the dead weight ffs. It's not a rebuild if you keep the losers.

Viney is a one-way runner and too slow when teams open us up on the MCG. Goodwin's gameplan contradicts itself. It relies in quick sweeping attacks, that kills us on the transition, formed around a contested gameplan that dictates staunch defensive awareness and tactics.

5.00

transition transition transition transition transition transition. tisk tisk tisk.

Goodwin looks lost for ideas.

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