Jaded No More

Yep. Doesn’t look good. Maybe a scratch to the cornea? God that would hurt so much ? Well we are still a stupid team with no skills.

Rubbish rubbish rubbish

Every turnover turns to a goal for them and they are kicking each one of them out their butthole

For the love of god the tackling in the back line is rubbish.

Unbelievable this team.

Yep his ball use has been trash and a major disappointment. Because other than his ball use, I’ve loved his run and spread and his speed on the wing. But he lets himself down with execution and decision making time and time again. Melksham needs a big game today if he wants to retain his spot. When he plays well we play well forward of the Centre so fingers crossed he can pull a finger out today.

There is no comparison. King will be a star for the next 10 years. May was what we needed at the time.

While Max Gawn is in this prime, there is literally no point trying to attract another established ruck. They will battle it out at Casey for most of the year, getting an odd game here and there if Max is injured. We have Jackson in the wings, and he should be hitting his prime when Gawn retires. No point spending decent coin on a backup player, and certainly no point getting rid of Preuss only to get a slightly upgraded version that will service the same need. We need to chase a tall forward in this year's trade period or through free agency. No idea who may be available, and given our rubbish draft position we are unlikely to have any cards to play at the table.

I hate you. But also enjoy for all of us Melbournians currently back home in PJs and on high dosages of booze!

I know you’ve been barracking for this club for a long time. We’ve both been through some truly horrific individual displays from players. Smith has been putrid down back, but he doesn’t come close to some of the truly horrific displays of footy we’ve seen from the likes of Newton, Morton, Gisberts, That ginger kid whose name escapes me, Heffernan, Moorcroft and the list goes on and on and on. The bad days of Nicholson pre-beard, Holland, Carroll pre-jail. Ah memories.

It might mean Gus has to play more game time which I’m happy with. And I think there’s a golden opportunity to rest AVB forward.

More like it’s played at Olympic stadium while Victorians are in lockdown. Gawn and Oliver do their knees in the first 5 minutes. We lose by 1 point.

I think Rivers ahead of Lockhart purely to give him a rest. From what I understand the AFL is planning on cramming a lot of games into the next 4 weeks with 4-5 day breaks between games. Which means we need to look after the younger players. We all know Melksham is Goodwin’s bestie. How he still gets a game in his current form is mind boggling. AVB is on thin ice too, but given how little continuity he’s had I think he deserves a bit more time. I would like to see him playing as a defensive forward.

Hallelujah! A second tall forward. A player who can kick the footy. Jetta. And a far more reliable tall defender in Omac who will make Lever more able to zone off. It’s like the coaches finally caught up to 2020 ?

Lockdown was a lot less painful when I didn’t have to watch Melbourne lose while stuck at home. Round 2 is going to require a LOT of wine.

If this headline said “Jaded is the best kick going inside forward 50 for Dees” I doubt anyone would be surprised either. Our ball use is horrendous.

Definitely there with his wife and two kids.

Hahaha autocorrect at its finest. To be fair, the IDF would have done a far better job in those hotels. Although Israel is back in lockdowns too, so they mustn’t be that great.

I’m so jealous. Never have I hated living in this state more than right now. What an absolute [censored] we find ourselves in. I wonder if Andrews will take any responsibility for employing an incompetent private security company to manage hotel quarantine (instead of the IDF!) which has started this second wave.

Goodwin won 2018 on the back of having a player coming off the back of the square. Once 6-6-6 was introduced his one playbook move was done and he has been lost ever since. Our gamestyle does not suit our players. Simple.

This play on at all costs fast ball movement game plan, is so poorly executed and does not suit our players. We are a contested ball machine. We have loads of excellent ball winners and one of, if not the best ruckman in the league. Instead of winning clearances and using them to our advantage by having a clear system forward of the centre, our players are told to move it on as quickly as possible in this 'chaos ball' method. This method is great for teams with lots of foot speed, good kicking skills and a couple of very good contested marking tall forwards, eg- Richmond or West Coast. This method is NOT successful for teams with poor kicking skills, not great foot speed, and no key forwards eg- Melbourne. We went and recruited Langdon (poor kicking skills, but tick on the speed and spread) and Tomlinson (poor kicking skills, average speed, but a tick on marking and ability to cover the ground). However these two have not fixed our issues forward of the centre where we still refuse to play a single in-form tall forward. I appreciate that Tmac has been getting more and more involved the last 2 weeks, but he gets double teamed and yesterday his opponent took 8 intercept marks. EIGHT! For someone who used to be a defender himself, that is pretty pathetic handling of an opponent. Our problems are so obvious and were so obvious last year, that given we had a full pre-season with minimal injuries, I do not understand why the coaches did not work on tweaking the game plan, as it looks exactly the same as 2019. Even Goodwin said post match that the stats read the same every week, and so does the result. And yet, here we are, 3 wins since our humiliating prelim loss in 2018, and nothing has been done to change the outcome. I don't believe that our players are so poorly skilled. I believe that they are confused, lacking a genuine forward option to kick to, and most importantly they are rushed to move the ball at all costs to the determent of their decision making and execution.

You don’t need wholesale changes. Those two changes alone will change the entire dynamic of our half forward play. I never was in favor of the wild axe swinging. How we made 5 changes after the non Essendon game is beyond me. But equally how we persevered with a team that got badly outplayed and could not score to save itself last week is just as baffling. We have to give ourselves opportunities to score because we win enough of the ball but we just waste it. We constantly kick to outnumbered forwards or directly to the opposition. Get some class kicking in Bennell and a second forward target that, at the very least can contest the aerial contest and bring ball to ground, and the long high slow bombs could even work once in a while.

Viney is going. If he wasn’t we would have heard by now given he’s our vice captain. You maybe right re: older players not being senior like Wagner or Preuss. Although we would need Preuss for insurance if Gawn gets injured. Jones is the one who may have decided to stay back. Can’t blame him. He should be playing. If he can’t crack the team in our current horrid form why bother wasting time in the hub away from the family?

I’m sure players who won’t be playing would rather stay home with loved ones than be stuck in a hotel for 5 weeks. Players cannot leave the hotel except to train or play. It’s not a holiday.

Completely disagree. Some of the players left behind are injured so what’s the point to bring them? And some are unlikely to get a game. Plenty of guys with young babies who should have the opportunity to bring their families along. Viney bringing his wife and one week old baby is more important than us bringing KK or Hore who can’t play. Don’t you agree? This is a big ask for players. If we can make it easier on them, they will be happier and play better. No point bringing along guys who will never get a game anyway.