Dr. Gonzo

It was a good game. I'm filthy. We should've belted them. Only a win against them in September will cleanse the palate.

Yep the only one I was filthy on was the Jordon one, no prior and ball spilled free. Cameron was paid a mark which looked like it hit the ground. The rest of the frees were there problem was we didn't get them paid our way 😡

Yes but our defense starts with forward 50 pressure which was missing. No pressure up the ground makes an impossible task for our defenders.

They have strength in numbers though, Richmond and Essendon are similar. They feed off each other and reinforce their own ignorance. And it ends up impacting the umpiring and the energy of their players. I wish we had that.

Last year we built our game on our defensive structure and forward half pressure. Where has the forward half pressure gone?

I was AFL members as well and it felt like it was me and about 10 other Melbourne supporters in a sea of scum and villainy. Which level were you guys sitting? Ground level felt like a sea of black and white It is demoralising as a supporter seeing us so heavily outnumbered at our own home ground I can't imagine how the players feel.

You are kidding yourself

Sparrow nailed one though

The reason is because we are not halving the contests in our forward line. We either get outmarked (Moore and Howe last night) or the ball cones to ground and the oppo small defenders are rebounding it out. Our plan is to create forward 50 stoppages and it's not happening. Quick transition from our forward line makes it harder to zone further upfield and our defenders get caught one-on-one and made accountable. Both our F50 entries and our small forwards/mids are letting us down.

Forward 50

And Pendlebury

What else is new? If people were scared off by the rain, it was perfect conditions, didn't rain once throughout the game.

10 minutes to go in the final quarter, crowd at a fever pitch, less than a goal in it and this slob of a nuffie sitting near us decides to have a go at my brother for taking the Lord's name in vain! My sister said she felt like we were in a zoo and I said yep let's get out of here so watched the last 10 minutes in standing room up the back.

Our fault for selling a home game.

After halftime we came out and had the ball in our forward line for 8 minutes with zero reward. They take it down and get a goal. They then got the next centre clearance and I knew we'd be pushing [censored] uphill for the rest of the game. If we took advantage of our opportunities maybe it would've been a completely different game but we didn't create enough solid opportunities from the time in our forward half either. I'm furious with this loss, absolutely gutted.

The problem is we've made a habit of losing to them. Tonight was the one we had to get back and we didn't, we [censored] the bed again. You can't just say, "we'll get them next time" - they have our measure and their gameplan counters ours extremely well.

Spargo was on his own 30m out directly in front at least twice and just ignored completely. Kicked to a contest instead. I don't get it.

Missing the set shot I can handle - it's a skill error albeit one he should NOT be making Trying to kick goals out of your [censored] like you're a bloody small crumbing forward is bush league stuff. Far more selfish than anything Fritsch was accused of. I'm bloody ropeable about those because he should know better and it's not the first time it's happened.

Bring in Van Rooyen - no point playing safe and losing, we have no legitimate tall options up forward

They clearly orchestrated the gang tackle on him in the opening seconds too. Sidebottom went 20m clear of him on the wing at the opening bounce leaving him in space knowing the ball would come out and they pounced.

The Viney holding the ball and Petty push in the back? Both those were there. Johnson's mark earlier was a bump ball though and the other holding the ball they got in from of goal was ridiculous. Pendlebury caught red-handed in our 50 and nothing 😡

2nd quarter the ball was in our forward line for the first 10 minutes we kicked 2 goals I think. 3rd quarter the ball was in our forward line for the first 8 minutes - no goals, they take it down and score instantly. Our forward line is a shambles, the entries kill us, Gawn trying to kick snaps out of his [censored] instead of handing off when he can't even kick one from dead in front, Brown flopping around like a baby giraffe, small forwards nowhere near the crumb, and no space to work in. Everything is rushed instead of setting ourselves up with the best option.

Their forward line played us to perfection. Kept a player back deep (usually Elliot) so we didn't have May or Lever sitting back there as an anchor unopposed. They have no key forward but all of them are dangerous and they use them all so you have to man up on them, so Lever and Petty found it hard to go 3rd up and intercept. Elliot, Mihocek, De Goey, Johnson (never heard of him!) - they made us accountable.

Pathetic, selfish game from Gawn inside 50. At halftime they had 18 inside 50s for 8 goals 2!! Brown had a mare of a patch in the 3rd quarter. Small forwards were largely ineffectual. Collingwoods system matches up extremely well with ours. This one stings I [censored] HATE losing to that mob! Chances are we play them again in September and I'm not looking forward to it....

I can't believe we let them run over us again!!! [censored] fuming we should've put them away during the 2nd quarter