Adam The God

https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/afl-matthew-lloyd-criticises-melbourne-christian-petracca-efforts-in-finals-win/0f7951fb-66f0-45cf-8730-e6a71ec3ab36 Not the greatest source, but better than nothing: Lloyd’s criticism around Petracca’s game comes following the revelation from former AFL great Brian Taylor, who revealed earlier in the year that the young forward had been identified as being selfish. “I’m led to believe that there was a video run and it was run on loop of the same player over and over again moments before they went out onto the ground – not giving a handball,” Taylor said on Triple M’s The Mid-Week Rub.

I know this is a Stretch thread, but I reckon our coaches (Goodwin?) have severely mismanaged Stretch and Petracca. Stretch has yo-yoed in and out of the side for 3 or 4 years now, while someone like ANB has had continuity and managed to get some confidence up last year. Stretch doesn't know what his game is anymore and he seems to overthink everything. Petracca has done a lot right this season, but that internal spray they gave him mid last year for not passing off in one set up has really damaged his confidence. His goal kicking wasn't great in the early part of last year, but it has got worse since the moment that selfish play of his was allegedly pulled out in front of every team mate. He tries to do too much too often and sometimes those dinky kicks inside 50 come off, but more often than not, he should be backing himself in to kick the goal. I suspect that if Goodwin had his time again, he and his team would have handled Stretch and Petracca differently. Billy won't make it now and Christian can't seem to take that next step, which is convert his multiple shots on goal into scoreboard power. He'd be a very good player if he managed that.

With our lack of defence in the forward half and in the midfield, people are kidding themselves if they think things are going to turn significantly by bringing back our 5 best defenders in Jetta, Hibberd, Salem, Lever and May. The defenders barely have chance if the rest of the team don't work hard enough.

Surely through 2008-2013 we didn't win too many quarters. Today felt like 2012 to me though, until the last quarter. I'm over it really. I had only just begun to trust this side towards the back end of last season and now they're a complete rabble.

We have a lot of frankly VFL footballers playing at either end of the ground too. Collingwood and the Bulldogs showed in recent years that injuries shouldn't matter if your system and work rate is there. We were okay in 2017 in this respect, but not only are our systems out this year, our work rate at times has been abysmal. The midfield defensive transition is still VFL grade level too. I'm in the group that says our FD needs a massive shake up, a new head of footy and I wouldn't be against turning over every assistant coach we have.

It'll just move to Kayo (Foxtel). I think you'll find the TV rights will be astronomical during the next term, bigger than this time around. If Kayo/Foxtel/Murdoch don't get them, Kayo/Foxtel are done in this territory. The AFL will know this and will maximise their deal.

I haven't heard these comments yet, but I find that to be a slightly troubling statement to so openly discuss on our official website (I presume?). Winning should always be the focus of the players, the coaches can take that attitude at some point though.

I think it exacerbates it. His biggest weakness is positioning and game sense. On a wing he'd be like a lost child.

Because it could be argued that McDonald failed to properly contest in that moment either.

This is fair. Good post as usual, mate.

Problem with this is that McDonald didn't give the umpire a chance to make the call, because he didn't raise his arms to contest. It was still too early, but it was line-ball for me.

Hore is a good interceptor, but he's an ordinary kick and a worse decision maker. What's the basic under 12 rule? Don't kick across goal unless you have an absolutely clear option. He does this every week. Every second kick seems to be an incredible clanger. I like the idea of taking the game on with our kicking, but you have to know your limitations and know when the time is right and when a kick is not on.

Talk about typical Melbourne. Only Melbourne turns what should have been a 6 or 7 goal (minimum) victory into a loss. Our kicking in front of goal was pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. I can't recall Petracca ever snapping a goal or kicking a goal around his body. He missed an absolute soda in the third to go with his under 12 miss in the first 5 minutes of the game. Great that he's getting it, but by missing shots, he's undermining all our hard work. Practice your set-shot kicking. Tom McDonald needs to do the same. His snap from the pocket was not AFL standard. Baker was okay in his debut, but struggled with the pace at times. But he's a better option than Stretch IMO. It's an indictment on our outside mid stocks that he's still getting a game. I don't want to be mean to Billy, because he seems like a real trier and I don't think the yo-yoing selection he's faced in the last 2-3 seasons has helped his development, but we can surely see he's not going to make it now. And I'd love to be able to see what everyone sees in Fritsch, but I'm sorry, his lone asset of skill now alludes him too. Turnover merchant. As for our leadership, it'd be easy to say that we have a lack of it, but I don't think it's as simple as that. Gawn was for the most part brilliant tonight and Viney tried hard, but needs to play to his limitations more often. But I want to point out something Jones did tonight that for mine, turned the momentum of the game. It's nearing the end of the third quarter. We've dominated most of the game and are 19 points up. We fail to capitalise on a forward foray and it pings up the other end and there's a stoppage. Our almost 300 game co-captain stands Shuey at the stoppage in our defensive 50. The ball is about to be bounced and Shuey jogs to the other side of the contest. Jones fails to see this and is caught ball-watching. West Coast win it, Shuey is standing by himself as Jones is still ball-watching, and Shuey kicks a relatively easy goal from a defensive stoppage. A goal we should never concede. If it were a first or second year player, you might be able to cop it, but there are not many players with Jones' experience that would switch off like that or lack the game sense in that moment like he did. This closed the gap to 13 points and the Eagles propelled forward again and managed to get another shot on the siren that Sheed missed. It's embarrassing to call Jones a champion of our club. He's no Flower. He's no Lyon. He's no Neitz. He's no Schwarz. Leadership-wise, James McDonald was a mile ahead of him. Nathan has been a loyal servant who we could say wore the jumper with care in very dark times for us. Constantly putting him up on a pedestal is lovely, but it's sentimental for sentimentality's sake. On the positive side, our ball movement at times mirrored 2018 and we played with dare and a dash. It was terrific to see. Particularly, in the first three quarters. We also set up defensively really well and we stopped West Coast from switching the ball too easily. I thought Petty was quite impressive in 1v1s, despite occasionally getting caught in transition. Salem was again a stand out. His tackling was a real feature. I'm liking what Hunt is bringing to our forward half, but he, like the rest of the forwards, needs to continue to work on his goal-kicking from set shots. That said, he's been pretty good from set shots this year. Harmes has become a proper mid. He's on the cusp of A grade now IMO. He's almost as important to stoppage wins as Oliver. But WTF has happened to Brayshaw?! Anyway, that was the inevitable nail in the coffin for our 2019 season. You watch us win 7 or 8 games now (GWS, Freo, Lions, Carlton, Dogs, St Kilda, Sydney and North) and finish 12th or so and miss out on a top 5 draft pick that we could really do with to strengthen our forwardline or midfield.

So far, the 6 6 6 rule has been an absolute disaster. Lower scores, dull games. The game is close to unwatchable as a neutral in 2019.

It was a very good goal. He's decent as an interceptor, but his field kicking is terrible (Clarry saying he's a beautiful kick is bewildering) and he's 50/50 1v1. He'd be justifiable as a back up interceptor, but he turns it over almost every time in the defensive half, which we just can't afford. He was certainly better this week. He halved and won some contests, which he hasn't done since the middle of last season. Each to their own, mate.

When he starts leading at the ball carrier, he'll show some form. He ruined so many of our forays forward, because he simply stands in the same place.

Gee, Goodwin's an arrogant coach. WTF did we revert to our system from the Richmond game when we finally sorted our game style out last week? I was really hoping we'd gain some confidence from that. Instead, the game style this week sapped any confidence we had. Were we tired? Our decision making was terrible and our skill level managed to become worse as the game went on. I'm beginning to think we're in trouble with Goodwin. I just don't understand why we'd be arrogant enough to think we could beat Gold Coast with the bomb game when we'd failed to beat an ordinary Port, Essendon and St Kilda with the same style. And watch a replay of the last 2 to 3 minutes and Jones was simply horrible defensively. As a leader it simply wasn't good enough. I reckon we can put a line through a couple of players too: Hore, Stretch and Oscar McDonald. Not good enough I'm afraid.

We win by 4 or 5 goals I reckon.

Anyone got any other suggestions besides Langdon? He's a turnover merchant.

Show some leadership, Steven May.

I completely agree mate BUT having just watched the video for the first time, does he actually punch him? It seems to me like he throws him / pushes him to the side. Unacceptable to lay your hands on another person, however, I'd also say it's unacceptable to throw beer on someone. Yes, different levels of unacceptability but worth noting. Having said all that, it's a banable offence IMO, because you don't touch another person at the football. And it's more than just a push and shove.

We'll definitely be able to announce 50k at our next home game. That'll be a proud moment as one of many supporters who had stuck fat all these years. What a terrific effort given where we've been.

Thank you, Peter Jackson. Without his help we'd be nowhere.

Oscar was the anchor.

We've changed the system mate. Not only are we not playing 100% chaos anymore, we're playing a deeper zone with the old anchor that we played some games with, even under Roos. Against Hawthorn you need to switch. You need to look for the switch on the MCG constantly, otherwise you simply give it back to the opposition and then get killed on the outside. Pleasingly, we constantly looked for the switch and were set up for it. It didn't always work out but by the final quarter, we'd started to make it work. This caught Hawthorn out and makes us far more unpredictable and tougher to coach against. If this is a sign of things to come, we'll win a few more games. I don't think we'll make the 8. But there are some positive coaching signs. Now we need the underestimated ingredient of returning confidence.