Everything posted by praha
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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