praha

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Have we found the Freo stud that will dominate us?

HAHAHAHAHAHA

We shouldn't lose this. Freo still has some solid ball winners but they're incredibly unbalanced atm and we should beat them in key areas (middle, attack, stoppages).

They are beatable, but there is zero margin for error against them. You need to beat them in contested ball and stop the outside string, because they are all connected telepathically. Their ability to string together handballs and taps to one another the way they do...well, you can tell they've been playing together for a while. The Bulldogs play a very similar style of play, and dare I say I've seen patches of Hawthorn-style strings of play from Melbourne this year. They are on top, but they are far from their best. The thing is that the league has caught up, but more teams are at the same point, so you have teams winning and losing against each other, while the Hawks stealthily take top spot. I really do think we can beat them.

Since 1990: Grand Finals Adelaide - 2 Carlton - 2 Collingwood - 5 Essendon - 4 Fremantle - 1 Geelong - 7 Hawthorn - 6 Melbourne - 1 North - 3 Port - 2 Richmond - 0 St Kilda - 3 Sydney - 5 West Coast - 6 Bulldogs - 0 Premierships Adelaide - 2 Carlton - 1 Collingwood - 2 Essendon - 2 Fremantle - 0 Geelong - 3 Hawthorn - 5 Melbourne - 0 North - 2 Port - 1 Richmond - 0 St Kilda - 0 Sydney - 2 West Coast - 3 Bulldogs - 0 I don't know, I don't think it's that "skewed". Geelong didn't win a flag for 40 years and superb drafting and patience paid off. Hawthorn was the same. Collingwood, Essendon and Carlton have been okay, not great, and all have been down for long periods between flags. North has been consistently good and always kind of relevant, Port managed a flag as a minnow club, St Kilda has 26 spoons but someone manages to rebuild and make Grand Finals. Melbourne had its chance in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, but either bad luck, bad scheduling or just [censored] managed ruined it. It happens. We've had our chances, and we didn't take them. We're seeing now that the teams that are "up", are "up" for longer because it's easier for them to attract agents and retain players. What this does is ensure clubs like Melbourne are accountable for their finances and the way the club is managed. Can you imagine Cameron Schwab getting away with what he did between 2009 and 2013 for any longer than 12 months these days? The scrutiny is far more intense, there is zero room for error. If Melbourne can't build a finals-caliber side with the rebuild, it will need to start again. You need to fail quickly in this league the way it is, otherwise you can't bounce back. Adelaide has lost so many players and yet are genuine flag contender this year. They're just a superb club. The Saints know how to managed rebuilds and they always find a way out. The Bulldogs were a nothing club two years ago and they're set for a flag in the next 2-3 years. GWS and GC have hurt teams like Melbourne, and imo they have contributed more to Hawthorn's, Geelong's and Sydney's recent dominance than any other league changes.

We make things difficult for ourselves in this country. I'm astonished there isn't strict rules and regulations in place to ensure that ALL agent meetings are post-season. In the NBA, teams are not able to discuss an upcoming free agent's prospects of signing with them until the free agency window has opened. Outside of that, a team can waive "rights" to a contracted player, essentially make them free to join whoever they want at any time. What we're seeing in the AFL is teams meeting with a player's agent while they're still contracted to another club. This puts said team at a disadvantage because while said player is exploring other options, the team they're actually contracted to is being told that contract negotiations are "on hold", when they're anything but. The AFL needs to stamp its authority on this. There should be no discussion -- publicly or privately -- of a team exploring signing a contracted player in the off-season. We all know that Hogan's agent has had discussions with WA teams, that others team have contacted McDonald's management. This should be reserved until post season, and teams that break the rules should be punished. It's a farce. If the AFL ever allows the free agency system to go the way of NRL's, I'll quit this game.

He's using Richmond as a bargaining chip. They are hardcore into him and will give up $700k no questions asked. My understanding is that this was "put out there" to see who would bite, and that a few clubs baulked. Understanding is that Dion ideally would like to be at Melbourne, but the club hasn't inquired since last year, and he couldn't possibly turn down Richmond's offer. I think if Melbourne could get within 100k of Richmond's offer, he'd take it. $600k?

No excuses this week. Should beat them. Experience is irrelevant. We are a 4-5 goal better squad. If they lose this week, it'll snowball and we'll end up with another sub-8 win season. Must win to set up a strong second half leading into 2017.

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

Couldn't find anything on YouTube, but did find this:

We don't have many outside runners so I think oppositions are looking to exploit us by stopping the ball, creating a stoppage and then playing to win the clearance from those situations. Those stoppages create a lot of tackles, and Melbourne being one of the best midfields in clearances, we tend to get our hands on the ball first, hence why we're getting tackled so much. It's also an inability to effectively break free of the stoppage on enough occasions. Hospital handpasses, a number of players who struggle in marking contests (Dawes, Frost, OMac, even Tyson, Stretch) and bring the ball to ground. Against the Bulldogs they were just far too good at stoppages and had 2-3 players hanging out around the play. We got on hands on the ball against Sydney but they were maniacs and held us in every time. It's a combination of things, really. Inexperience, ineptness, stupidity. Seeing blokes have the ball with no one in front of them, only to stop, prop and look for the handpass, only to get tackled or handball to a teammate who gets tackled. As the year progresses it seems to be going up and down: when we break free we're better than we've been for a while, but once we got caught up, the opposition seems to break tackling records.

I wanted to, but didn't considering the conditions on the day. I thought we were very good against North, even after the first quarter.

I don't think we lost on the back of errors. The game was fast, and there was a lot of pressure. I think the scoring shots from errors was around the same. They also gave up some goals and made some shocking errors in the middle of the field. I think TMac, OMac and our defense in general held up well. Whenever the Crows got on top in the middle, they kicked goals. So did we. The game was won and lost in the middle, and on which team could get on top in there and score the most when they were on top. We did well...but they did better.

I am filthy about yesterday's game, mainly because it's yet another game we lost on the pack of a [censored] patch of play at a pivotal moment. Yeah it was error-riddled but I think scores from turnovers was fairly even. Ultimately we lost the game in a single terrible patch. Looking back over the past three seasons, there have been far too many matches like this. I am not necessarily pointing the finger at anyone, be it Roos, the coaching group more broadly, or leaders on the field, but I think it is a combination of a number of things. It's clear that it's an "improvement" -- we're limiting the amount of games we lose, the losing margin, and how long we are actually bad for -- it's a slow transition. But it's fascinating just looking at this. In 2014, we were 5-10 minutes away in 8-9 matches from winning. We finished equal-last literally on the back of too many 5-10 minute brain fades. Astonishing. This club continues to find new ways to lose. There's certainly a lot more in the way of "positives", but it really does feel like we're taking the path back to success through the dark, eerie, cursed forest, and willingly. Having five goals kicked on you in five minutes at the start of a quarter is not a skill issue. It's a mental issue, and it's not "coming out to play". EDIT: I've listed the Adelaide and Geelong wins for some balance, because yeah, it shows what the team is capable of, what the leaders can do. 2014 Round 1 vs St Kilda: A Tyson goal early in the last gave us hope in a close game, but we then gave up a school-boy easy goal moments later that ended the game. Round 5 vs Gold Coast: We dominate play in the last, but waste opportunities. It takes us 14 minutes to score the first goal of the quarter, and suddenly we're within less than two goals. Gold Coast was playing sloppy and had sprayed three shots on goal. On cue, Gold Coast kicks two goals in two minutes between the 18th and 20th minutes to finish us off. Round 7 vs Adelaide: We hold on after a late Adelaide onslaught for a fantastic win. Round 8 vs Bulldogs: Despite leading at three-quarter time we give up six last-quarter goals to lose by 18 points. Round 11 vs Port: We hit the lead half-way through the fourth only for Port to pile on four straight goals to win by 4 goals. Round 15 vs Bulldogs We led at 3QT and for long patches in the fourth, but gave away lazy free kicks and silly goals to lost by less than a kick. Round 18 vs Port: Lead in the fourth and, on cue, Port kicks the sealer with only minutes left. Round 19 vs Brisbane: We led at 3QT but score only one goal to Brisbane's six in the last (they had five to 3QT). 2015 Round 10 vs Collingwood: Shocking first quarter, Cloak domination, and loose defenders make it a game of catch-up that eventually Collingwood walks away with. Round 11 vs. St Kilda: No comment. Round 12 vs Geelong: Up there with the Adelaide win. A good victory where we held on and played 120 minutes. Round 15 vs Essendon: Heavy favourites against a depleted Essendon. Tight game except for a disgraceful third-quarter where Essendon's VFL players strolled into goal. Round 19 vs North Melbourne: Shocking first quarter sets the tone for a game of catch-up, which North eventually gets away with. Round 21 vs Carlton: Despicable first half in which the league's worst team gave Melbourne a football lesson. 2016 Round 2 vs Essendon: Heavy favourites against a team that won't win again for the season. Ran over in last quarter when game was there to be won. Round 11 vs Hawthorn: Poor first quarter set the scene for a game of catch-up. Round 15 vs Adelaide: Shocking 10-minute patch in third quarter destroyed Melbourne's own momentum.

Ultimately, the game was lost after a disgraceful 12 minutes to start the second half. At the 9-minute mark of the third quarter they had five goals for the quarter. It totally undid everything we did the in the second quarter. We pretty much broke even beyond that and scored 5 goals to their 6. We led by 2 goals at half-time. I am absolutely filthy about the loss because our leaders let us down the most in that period. There was plenty to love about it and we were never "terrible", but it's the way we're losing games that really pisses me off. Against Hawthorn and Sydney and Port and North it was "experience". We simply handed that game to Adelaide. If we played an extra 20 minutes and not let them score a fricken ton of goals in five minutes, we win the game. We lose far too many games on the back of bad patches. It's been a case of, 'We didn't play 120 minutes of football' since 2014.

So many people just don't seem to notice this. They expect 20 marks and ten goals every game. Hogan is consistently in our top 5-6 players. Even when he has a "lazy" game, he has a good game. Both he and Watts do a lot off the ball that the average fan might not notice.

Hogan kick 3 goals, had 18 disposals. His ability to push up and influence the play is unparalleled for such an inexperienced forward. The delivery to him is consistently poor: he demands contact and needs the ball long and deep to being it down. His teammates constantly kick it low and short, which understandably frustrates him. To say he didn't provide a target is silly. We went to him almost every attack in the second quarter, and his presence alone helped bring the ball down and move towards goal. Agree with everyone else. Although Jones, Vince and Dawes let us down in the leadership stakes at pivotal moments, particularly the last quarter

Hogan was solid.

Since Roos started? I'd say it'd be close to 20. It was 9 in 2014 where we led in the 4th and lost. 5-6 in 2015. We have to be thereabouts this year. Essendon, North. As far as games where it's within 3 goals in the last and we can't win...too many.

Lol brawls in AFL Members. Adelaide supporters are such ockers.

Time left?

Still winnable. Let's see what Jesse is worth.

Drop a chest mark, the opposition scores. May be game changing.

We make it hard for ourselves in the back half.