Pates

Something that was very intelligent and cool from the bulldogs was their ability to look for the easy 15m (although at times closer to 5m) kick to be able to control and protect the ball. We talk about the return of the red mist for the Dees, it was interesting to see them execute that side of the game compared to us. The players have lost their heads in recent weeks, early in the year we were able to calm ourselves down at the right moments to protect the ball and retain possession. Now we seem to be rushing things and going for the immediate get out kick of down the line. Now if Max is waiting there and it’s a dry day/night that’s “ok”, but really we should be looking at options available that hold possession. I personally think we’ve been feeling the weight of being on top of the ladder and being “the hunted”. Dropping top spot could be a bit of a hidden positive to wake the players up a bit and reset the way we play. (Trying to find positives in falling back to the back)

Sorry if I’m being daft, is that saying that they are +79 for the year? I’m a bit confused with the “FF” & “FA” part of the column. My brother and I were discussing the biggest issue of the free’s discrepancy. It’s the fact the almost every 50/50 decision, whether it’s a prior opportunity or an incorrect disposal or a block off the ball ALMOST ALWAYS goes their way. There’s zero consistency, case in point Hannan’s first goal we got a dogs player cold for HTB/incorrect disposal but it was called play on and then in the following stoppage Brayshaw gets done for HTB with little to no prior opportunity. English’s fluke of a goal came off the bulldogs player just dropping the ball. Lever, Gawn, May, and Hibberd were blocked from contests ALL NIGHT but we barely got a sniff at it, while the bulldogs got soft ones all through the night. If there had been fans at the ground the Dees faithful would have been frothing at the mouth.

We got away with it early in the season, it’s costing us crucial points now. Problem is it’s clearly a mentality thing because Brown has always been a dead eye and now he’s missing easy ones. I’m hoping him nailing those other two (the last one was tricky as well) will give him confidence. The tricky thing is if you highlight it too much that can play up the accuracy issues, get a psychologist or a hypnotist if you want but it needs to be addressed. We miss top 4 by one game then this will be one of the main reasons why.

Top 2 was always going to be a stretch, and at one point this year we were definitely one of the top 2 teams, if not the best team. Sadly it looks like we will go down as one of those teams that peaks too early, it’s hard to control that sort of form because you just have to take advantage of it when it comes. The challenge for the FD, mainly Goody, Yze, and Williams, is to re-energise the players to capture that form back. That is going to be a super tricky thing to do because the players are nowhere near gelling to the same level they were early in the season. It seems as if we will play GC next, that is no easy task, but there can be zero doubt the we are both good enough and should win it. Rather than seeing this as a crisis the players and coaches should see this as the ultimate challenge to prove the doubters wrong. One of the few positives last night is that even though he missed some crucial kicks early, Brown looked dangerous and getting him into form could be the one of the most important things before the end of the season. Top 4 is a chance but dropping the stupid points against Adelaide, GWS, Collingwood, and Hawthorn now mean we will have to make them up elsewhere.

Being under three goals the game is still there if we’re good enough. So far we haven’t been, we looked sharp for much of that quarter offensively but gave up some very soft goals as well. Viney getting that goal before the end of the quarter gives us momentum, first goal of the last is massive. Maybe the umps will actually start looking at the free kick count and give some levellers. The bias has got that blatant even the Seven commentary are mentioning, seemingly grudgingly.

First off our kicking for goal is what’s made us be 21 points down. BUT FAIR BLOODY DINKUM THE UMPIRES MIGHT AS WELL BE WEARING BULLDOGS UNIFORMS. THEY ARE THROWING, THEY ARE BEING TACKLED BUT DON’T DISPOSE OF IT, THEY ARE BEING GIVEN AN ARMCHAIR RIDE THIS ENTIRE MATCH. Chalk at least two goals against the umps. On our side, we have to take our chances. 0.2 from Brown isn’t only disappointing, it’s deflating. Not just that he misses but that they are supremely gettable kicks, you would expect ANY AFL player to kick it let alone a FF who’s job it is to do exactly that. We actually had quite a bit of territory and decent opportunities but yet again butchered them. We have regressed back to what we did most of last year. Worst part is, I’m still in hotel quarantine after watching us have they great run earlier this year and I’m genuinely wondering whether it’s impossible for Melbourne to be a decent team while I’m in the country.

I've tipped against us in every match against a fellow top 4 contender, and I'm doing that again. If nothing else the form is good for the Dees every time I tip against us. This week I feel more deflated than other weeks though, last week was so disappointing and absolutely inexcusable. We really needed to bank the matches we're expected to win, and dropping points to the Hawks was just plain stupid.

Just watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics, like so many other events without crowds it just isn’t the same. Plus the amount of people involved it makes it look like it’s a dress rehearsal. Feel sorry for those involved, their opportunity at being a part of something special and it’s (yet another thing) ruined by the pandemic.

I’d be very interested to know where we ranked in this stat up until round 12, I’d hazard a guess we’d be closer to the pointy end. I also remember that until mid year we were one of the highest for tackles inside 50. I feel like tackle pressure is the one non-negotiable in footy that only requires players to be committed to the team and each other. It’s what Hawthorn brought that made us crumble, they didn’t do anything flashy or brilliant, they just made it a tough old slog and we simply didn’t match their intensity. It’s most certainly fixable, and needs to be addressed now.

I could not believe Clarry’s attitude when Spargo “took” his mark, he genuinely looked like a toddler who’d had his favourite toy taken away. And yet if I think if anyone had a choice between the two they’d go with Spargo every day of the week. Clarry’s set shots are disgraceful for a player of his ability. Brayshaw in the past has actually been really steady as a set shot player so I wonder what’s changed. Is it the higher aerobic expectations from playing wing taking its toll? It’s not an excuse by the way, we need players to be able to nail clutch goals and I honestly don’t know if we have any. I mean BB misses from a set shot he nailed at north every bloody day of the week! We got away with our poor conversation rate early in the season, we’ve now seen it cost us wins against Adelaide, GWS, and the Hawks.

No it has to do with both, the coach with the cattle available should be able to find a way to get the players to pull their finger out as well. It’s an equal parts blame, the coaches and players collectively failed as a team.

That’s not entirely a knock on Goody, Clarko is a damn good coach and his players executed the game plan they came up with. Even with Clarko putting the game on his terms the cattle we had out there should have been able to get the job done.

I’ve thought about what goes wrong against the poor sides and one thing that sticks in my mind with almost all the games we’ve either lost or been poor is forward entries from the opposition. The grand irony is that to get through our system you have to be random and unsystematic to a point, it’s like they have to work it intelligently or fast to the outer 50 but then instead of trying to place the perfect pass the chaos ball seems to be the one we [censored] our dacks at. Get it in, get it to ground and then outwork our defence with pressure. Then it seems once they start to do that our defence gets rattled and stop working to their roles, and that’s when the passes to free players begin to happen. The other thing that really stuck out last night was that May, Lever, and Gawn we’re all having poor games at marking. They dropped some absolute sodas that usually they take with their eyes closed. When those guys drop marks they should be taking, it’s up to the ground level players to win the ball and the Hawks players were simply more committed. We were outcoached, and the players did not put in the hard yards that they did earlier in the year. I’m not giving up on this squads potential but it has a stink of 2005 about it where we drop off at the end and finish outside the top 4.

I haven’t come in here since the match thread because I needed to decompress. I will say this; at least we got the draw which is what we should have got against Adelaide. But this much closer to a loss than a win, the players should be having a good long hard look at each because right they are deciding when they are and aren’t going to play properly. The moment we got out to our 26 point lead they stopped playing properly, they paid the Hawks zero respect and have paid the price. Our kicking for goal has been poor this year and in recent weeks it has caught up to us. Brayshaw should have dobbed his at the end, Brown should have kicked his in the first quarter, and we had entrance after entrance into the forward 50 that was to a big pack situation where no one was going to mark it. We’ve gone backwards since the start of the year with forward connection, but what’s infuriating is we keep doing the same f-ing thing! We as fans ask for respect from the media but performances like that prove we haven’t earned it yet. We didn’t look like top 4 contenders tonight, we didn’t even look like a top 8 threat. Once again the competition has a laugh at us, we are yet again a joke. Fabulous welcome home, this makes quarantine fun. ?

Back to kicking long without looking, while they look for leads. Who’s up the top again?

100%

Bloody hell Melbourne, this is utter garbage.

Wasn’t wearing gold and brown though so play on.

How was that a high free kick in our attack? The hawks player ran into McDonald!

Clarke has made this game into such scrappy mess.

#freekickhawthorn seems to be back. That 50 was utter [censored] and that was soft in the middle.

I think I’m sitting comfortably enough, but it just frustrates the hell out of me that we can’t do a clinical job on a team we are clearly better than. Worst is that at 26 points up I allowed myself to think that maybe just maybe we actually might just put a team away early. But of course that’s not us, we drop for 5mins and let them back in to get their tails up. Burgess can do all the fitness training he wants, Goody and co can create the winning game plan, but it’s up to the players to keep their minds focused throughout the game.

I’m a Viney fan, but FMD his disposal has been shocking. Two entries into forward 50 straight at a hawks player.

Why can’t we just bloody bury a team early!? 26 points up against 17th on the ladder, dominating where the ball is, but then take the foot off the throat....again! Not finishing our work, again. Brown has been good, but jeez you’d put that first shot in the bank usually.

I’m not really worried, just mindful that we have been off against lower ranked teams. I really want the player to bring a huge amount of pressure early to overwhelm them and get early scores on the board. I’m also excited, I arrived from the UK yesterday and am watching the game from quarantine. Great to watch a game at a normal time, and great to be home.