Pates

I can see Jack taking up the mantle again, he's still vice captain and well respected through the club. Other thank Jack it would have to be Lever for me, every time he speaks he speaks like a leader who loves responsibility. He's also a general down back, directing and talking to the other players. The moment that sticks out for me that makes me think he'll be a captain one day for us was when May went down early against the cats, and I'm pretty sure they got a dodgy free kick to get a goal the cats players were baiting us and trying to get a rise out to do something stupid. Jake stepped in and dragged everyone out of it and reset the situation. I think it would stiff on Jack to have him deputise to the next person, but at the end of the day it's peer and coach voted so you make your impact on the park.

I think the unassisted part is a big part of reclaiming our pride, when we were at our worst we were going to the AFL on a regular basis cap in hand and desperate. It was necessary but it was a shocking look, made us look extremely weak but worse than that it made us look like we were useless and a burden on the competition. We’ve copped the worst luck of anyone on the financial side of things regarding COVID, it sucks but I feel like the attitude is, “suck it up and move on”. I think if we can we might try to move one of our MCG games later in the year to Alice. Perhaps negotiate another replacement game with another club.

Them not being professional, and thus paid as a professional, is an interesting debate. Will they get decisions right more often? I’m not sure they would, as I think one the biggest issues they face is the AFL rules committee tinkering with interpretations every bloody year. Will it change the scrutiny of the decisions they make? Likely yes, in a way that the media will harp on them being “professional umpires, and these mistakes shouldn’t happen”. Look at the FIFA World Cup, referees still get heavily criticised for the decisions they make but they are meant to be THE BEST IN THE WORLD. I’m not saying they shouldn’t go professional, but I don’t see it necessarily changing a whole lot.

With someone of Darren’s quality sometimes it’s not just the message but the person delivering the message. Two people might say the exact same thing but if one of them is Darren the player might listen a lot more.

I wasn’t angry about the Pendles out of bounds being changed, it was the right decision. The only major decision that was a momentum killer was just after TMac (who’s been a dead eye all year) missed his easy set shot it went up the other end and the Pies forward was paid the mark when May VERY CLEARLY got first hands to it. Changed the complexion of the game. Other than that I don’t feel we had a hell of a lot to complain about. Was just a dirty day all round.

This is what is frustrating fans I think. We feel like we’re pulling out all the excuses that we used to for Watts. But Jack showed 10x more than what Sam has in his first 50 games. Clubs and supporters need to have patience but at some stage the patience has to be rewarded. @Lord Nev made the point that other statistics were down such as tackling, efficiency etc, and that is very fair, but what got me to the point that Sam has to be dropped is that there was almost no competing in aerial contests. That is a non-negotiable as a tall forward, he wasn’t alone in his poor efforts but he was the worst. What’s interesting is that we have recruited BBB over the off-season as someone who is clearly a lead up forward, and Sam also seems to be best as a lead up forward. So why then do our players continue to just look for where the pack is forming and go straight towards it? Spargo and Melksham are the only two players that will regularly look to put the ball into space to force the forwards to lead at.

Oh absolutely, and to clarify just because I'd be ok with him getting a 2 year contract doesn't mean I think he should keep his spot. I think the FD has mostly got our selections right this year but it was interesting listening to the DeeBrief where they spoke about forward line mix and I am starting to wonder whether the best mix is to have one of BBB or Weid in the team at all. Both have been extremely disappointing this season (albeit with interrupted pre-seasons). Sam should not (nor do I expect him to) keep his spot.

Strange as it sounds if he were willing to sign low, and have his contract heavily weighted on performance I wouldn't be against offering him a 2-3 year contract. Only to look at it as the fact that he has age on his side and his value right now must be low. I'm sure he could probably get better coin at other clubs but if he sees that we are going to be challenging and he thinks he has what it takes then back himself to get better and earn a place in the team. This match was one of the worst performances I've seen from a Dees player, BUT a certain Spargypants also had an absolute shocker against West Coast and many people on here said he should never pull on a Dees guernsey again. Write players off at your peril.

There's almost no substitute for sustained pressure. I would imagine our pressure rating peaked in the 3rd quarter and it wouldn't have really hit our season average. Pressure means that midfielders aren't able to spot up leads and execute their kicks properly, the Pies mids were given an embarrassing amount of time and space, especially when you consider how small the SCG is. In all of our big scalp wins the opposition were barely able to allowed to have the ball for a split second before getting swamped, it's actually really frustrating to see us drop that intensity against "lesser" teams. We have been made to pay against Adelaide and the Pies, we didn't respect the opposition and brought only 50% of what we've brought for the crunch games. I'm starting to wonder if we will see a 4 quarter effort at all this year.

This week wasn’t lost at selection, it was lost between the ears of the players. If Viney is good to go he comes in for Sparrow. When is VFL starting up again? I really want a body of form to be able to bring BBB in. I kinda lean towards bringing Mitch Brown in as a mid forward, plus he always seems to pull out good games against the bombers.

I hate saying this, he may well become a decent footballer but it’s very possible it won’t be with us. There are occasions that for whatever reason a player can’t seem to find his mojo at one club but change of scenery and change of message brings something new to them. I’m not writing him off but [censored] me he can’t stay in the team after that disgraceful performance.

It definitely was, it’s an absolute cliche but our success has been built on playing for each other. There was none of that today, it was a lot of players trying to do too much on their own rather than give the ball off to teammates in better positions, and it was coming from a lot of our “stars”. Hell even when Langdon kicked that goal at the end to take us inside two kicks with 3 and a half to go there was absolutely no players getting around him or revving each other up. We looked beaten but the siren hadn’t gone.

My guess is that if the game is at say half capacity and the members get first crack at tickets you may well be right that they would gain little financially. We are easily taking the biggest financial hit from all the clubs with bad luck regarding crowds/COVID this season (so far).

Regarding the choice of the SCG as the ground, maybe it doesn’t suit us (it certainly didn’t appear to watching on the telly) but it was the same dimensions for both teams. If we’re seriously wanting to contend then it needs to be anytime and anywhere. It was the best choice to get a decent crowd in for the Big Freeze which is more important than the game itself. We can also be a seriously quick team when we want to, but the players didn’t seem to use that. There was a distinct lack of energy from all the players and I don’t buy any tiredness excuse when they had 10 days break. The attitudes were reminiscent of 2019 where they just went at 50% for most of the game and didn’t give everything on second efforts. Meanwhile the pies brought the energy for Bucks and gave him a fond farewell. Sickening. We’ve got a tone of work to do make sure we aren’t another team that fades to obscurity after the bye.

This is the point, we’ve had plenty of opportunities to drop games during our 11-2 start but fact is that is only our second loss for the year and by far the worst performance. The players responded well after the Adelaide loss, this is their chance to learn and respond again.

Weid out. Fritta, Kozzie, and Tommy were non existent. Spargo seemed the most lively but Quaynor was way too dominant. Our forwards really were so far off the pace. Meanwhile our much loved midfield was absolutely beaten, Pies still have some quality (which would be frustrating if you were a Pies fan) and they stepped up. Petracca (aside from a couple of good cameo moments) wasn’t close to 50% of his best, Oliver was well held and clearly roughed up through the match. Gawn had an up and down game but aside from his 3rd quarter would rate his day as very average. LJ was the only player I’d say gave an effort all game, he’s definitely got a special quality to him. I know they’re different types of players but boy you put him next to Weid and you just have to shake your head. I don’t write players off but Weid is now at the bottom of the BBB/M Brown/Weid pack after that pathetic performance. The whole footy world has been waiting for the “old Melbourne”. On one of our biggest days of the year they returned, but here’s the good news: they players have two weeks to stew and be ****ed about it. Return after the bye breathing fire, I have a feeling the media will be loving this.

Game over.

Get Max on now, get all the mids in a huddle and say, “we are not losing this”.

Pickett completely stuffed that, had to handball to Fritta then.

Our entire forward line has been awful tonight.

If I were a pies fan I would actually be angry about this, the players have pulled out a very discipline performance and I would be questioning where this has been.

Almost need our own teammates to injure him, liability.

We look beaten, we don’t look like the top team.

Kozzie just kick it! ?‍♂️

Who the hell was on Pendles then????