Jaded No More

Great mark Jayden. Really nicely brought down. Very clever.

Another game I decided to watch from home. Between our form, the cold and the lack of trains it’s a TV game kinda day. Will be interesting to see Petty forward. Can’t see how we can kick a winning score today, but luckily the dogs aren’t big scorers either.

Struggling club should chase A grader by throwing loads of money at him hoping he cares more about cash than success and his teammates. Revolutionary idea that has never once had a bad outcome.

Frankly I thought our first half was worse than our second, and I said so many times. I fully respect the rotation situation and the injuries, but I witnessed a first half with a full team riddled with horrible ball use, poor decision making and atrocious goal kicking against a terrible side. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a win, and I have no issue with the players or supporters celebrating. I just don't seem to enjoy wins at this stage of the season, against poor sides, when finals are out of the question. I rather concentrate on the things that need improving, which yes, are negatives, and see where our improvement is going to come from. To me beating Carlton by under a goal is not where the improvement or hope for next year lies. Just as I don't ever have a go at anyone celebrating wins, I expect others to do the same when the reverse is true. We all look at things from different perspectives, and mine is firm. I only care about playing and winning finals, and premierships. Small incremental wins do not thrill me. This is not 2016. We should be a long way away from talking about whether a 5 point victory against Carlton should be a point of celebration as we stare down a bottom 4 finish. As Nasher said, some people can enjoy the small wins along the way. I did too until finals were no longer on the cards. Now all I see is a team broken by injuries, lacking skills and a relevant game plan, and struggling against bottom feeders, which is sadly now also where we find ourselves. Again.

Trade a player out a year after we traded him in? No chance. I don’t know if they can play together as we haven’t seen enough of it to know. The end of this horrible season is a good time to test it out. But unless Preuss can prove a good forward fixture, then my answer is sadly no. Robs us of too much run, and heaven forbid we are down on rotations like yesterday we are stuffed.

Watching Melbourne is hard enough as it is without Frost getting more opportunities to kick the ball. I want to see Salem on a wing. He can kick and he isn’t totally slow. I get we haven’t had a single run of a fully fit backline yet, but with Lever and Jetta most likely back this week and Jones playing well at half back, I would love to see Salem get the rest of the year to play wing. To me it is his natural position.

Why risk Gawn this week? Unless he’s 100% fit and his ankle is feeling as good as pre injury, I would rest him for another week. We are not exactly knocking on the door of success this year and he is one guy who we can’t afford to stuff around with. In fact if it was not going to get us in trouble, I would send everyone for their post season ops and clean outs now. Play the kids from Casey and who have shown a bit, and move onto 2020. Won’t happen though. Cannot wait to see what disastrous injuries await us this week ?

It’s been so good that I’m thrilled it’s not an ACL as I was fully prepared for the worst. This season can go eat a bag of d$&ks

I never said I wasn’t happy we won. But I said from the first minute of the game, before we had limited rotations, that it was a horrible game to watch. Our skills are deplorable. Below AFL level. Our game plan is outdated. We make mistake after mistake with the ball in hand. It is the same every week, except we are lucky that we came up against an equally poor team. Do you think we would be 6 goals up playing like that against Collingwood? Or Geelong? I have never once told anyone here to stop celebrating a win. But have been told to stop thinking about all the negatives. Why can’t I have my views of this game in the context of the season, but you can? I am not exactly calling for mass sackings and declaring I’m going to microwave my membership. And you forgot to mention that Carlton was also down on rotations. Or that we have barely won a last quarter all year. Forgive me if this win has not somehow made me more optimistic about our ladder position or the same fatal flaws we have displayed all season. We beat the same team by 109 points a year ago, and they are arguably worse this season. We get the 4 points which is great. It still doesn’t get us within a realistic shot of finals. We still haven’t improved our skills or decision making. To be honest I was happier with our loss to Richmond, than this win. Because I don’t care about meaningless wins in a season that is dead in the water. I care to see us match it with good teams. The reality is we barely beat Carlton or Gold Coast and we are deeply embedded in the bottom 4. Go and enjoy the win. Nobody is stopping you. I certainly am not. But this is a discussion forum and I want to discuss the reality of this season, not this win. Is that ok with you? Gees the only thing worse than this season is all the bloody supporters on their high horse who suddenly can’t handle anyone mentioning negatives about the position of the club. We had one good year in ten. That is not a free pass in my eyes.

Apparently -84 points in last quarters this year according to commentators. I assume it’s due to no fitness base due to a terrible pre season. At least I hope so.

You’re probably right. I guess winning is not really a motivator for me at this stage of the season. I look forward to seeing the kids develop and getting something positive out of this horrible year.

Very true. They had Kruezer on the bench for 20 and Weitering with a splattered face. They were not full of running either. And they have injuries as big as ours. No Cripps or Curnow is equivalent to no Oliver and TMac (when in form).

Don’t disagree but with Hore a definite out I think Lever will play a sweeper role. Frost and May can both play small and I think Petty has showed enough to be given as much experience as possible at the top level.

To be fair I thought the game was garbage viewing from minute one to minute one twenty. Our skills are so poor, as is our decision making and defensive running. The defensive running you can forgive with 3 on the bench, but what was the excuse in the first quarter? We scrapped an ugly win with limited rotations against a bottom feeder missing their top 3 players. I am deeply thrilled to remain at 16th with yet another 3 injuries to add to the mix. One of the worst quality games of football I’ve seen in a long time. Both teams had horrible patches and while we looked the better team for long periods, our finishing really ruined the enjoyment of good ball movement. Not one for the highlight reel.

Who says Petty will miss? Lots of players play a week following a concussion.

Statically we are the worst team in the history of champion data for conversation inside 50s. What a season!

Is that confirmed? So long as it’s not his ACL I don’t care. This season is dead anyway!

That kick was the perfect summation of our season. Absolute joke. (Was a good kick don’t get me wrong, but how it just stopped on the line?!)

McDonald just says he “doesn’t think he did his ACL”. Jesus Christ! This year is cursed. Horrible game. Skills are embarrassing. Season needs to end fast.

What a [censored] disgraceful game. Errors galore. Injuries. Can we call this season off?!

5 minutes.

[censored] off! How do you [censored] this up?’

Disgusting. Ball use again.

Jesus Christ Melbourne.

Carlton will win this thanks to Silvagni