The heart beats true

I find it fascinating how people want to ignore the obvious. Outscored after halftime in 11 of our last 15 games, gave up 22 point leads 6 times (all during that period), and won only 6 of our last 14 (one of those being daylight robbery against Carlton) Sometimes the simplest answer is a big part of the answer. Watching at the G you can see we didn’t have the legs to go again and again after half time for the last few months. I will never know but I strongly suspect we tried to replicate 2021 in terms of training load but didn’t have the same base due to a shorter preseason, and more injuries to contend with. We had absolutely nothing to give after halftime for 3 months. I interpreted Goodwins post Game comments last night to essentially say that the club was going to investigate this.

Fitness

If Freo get rolled this week I expect an announcement this week. Is that unrealistic? Goodwin made it sound like they expect to know in the coming days.

And we are back talking about the 2018 preliminary final review/lack of review again. Let. It. Go.

Do you really think any Melbourne supporter is shocked to see a stat that says we haven’t been a consistently good side for 30 odd years? We all live it BBP. I didn’t mean to come across so dismissive. I just feel like we all know this in our bones 👍

This narrative is absolute rubbish. 85% of the crowd last night was Melbourne. Every metric you look at shows we have the second best turn up of Members to games across the comp (second only to Freo because of their member numbers and where they play). The supporters are tired of seeing the side get beaten in exactly the same way for the last 3 months. Last night we turned up and we wanted it. I can not stand that supporters blame other supporters. It’s factually incorrect, and an entirely useless exercise.

What an utterly meaningless stat.

The vast majority of supporters around me were fantastic. I have to say, and this is a criticism I’d gladly tell anyone at the club who’d listen, it’s incredibly difficult to go to our home ground (which we’ve been banned from for 2 years prior) and see the side get beaten in such a comprehensive and consistent manner after half time week in and week out. I know people have been critical of the supporters but each game was so eerily similar I think it’s a lot to ask of supporters for them not to go into their shell and think ‘here we go again’.

I actually don’t think we’ve got the best list in the comp. I think we have a lack of marking forwards, and elite distance kicking. It’s probably 3 players, but with them we would have an amazing list. I’d also say Hibbo might not go around again and we are lacking a shutdown defender with him gone.

Fitness. I know it’s wildly unpopular to talk about it but we have been crushed after half time. We’ve won 4 of our last 15 second halves. We got our fitness horribly wrong.

Salem is the answer. He’s been operating at 20%. Get him fit and he makes us a lot better.

Dare I say you’re more optimistic than me with your 90 percent estimate.

It’s genuinely infuriating to watch us lose the same way every week. To sit there at the G and have opposition fans give us a bake when we are beaten so convincingly after half time is just utter garbage. We realistically haven’t been a top 6 since since midseason. It’s a lot to digest as a supporter but we fell in a massive hole mid year and never pulled ourselves far enough out of it. I dunno. I’m super flat.

Still not convinced you’re a Melbourne supporter. Week in, week out.

At the ground it’s a sea of red and blue. If you are at the G I need unrelenting noise. Let’s show the competition how much we love our team.

He’s more Derry Girls - so more swearing and calling everything ‘wee’. I only understand about half of it. It’s the key to the success of our relationship.

You’re Irish! I knew I liked you. My grandfather was from Athlone, and my partner was born in Belfast and all his family still live there. I lived in Dublin for a few years, but I left became it was filled with Dubliners 😉 (I actually love the place).

Taking public holidays off people is literally political suicide. I have a long held theory that if we proposed changing Australia Day to the last Monday in January (therefore guaranteeing a long weekend every year) 90% of people would be onboard with it. Just needs a bit of PR work to get over the line.

What an unusual life she lived. So much authority, but almost no agency over her own life. Go here, do this, smile, wave, don’t offend. Famously the royal family policy is ‘don’t complain, don’t explain’. If we implemented that policy around here Demonland would be out of business in 2 days.

The far more interesting part of this story was what Sanderson said about defensive transition, and the sides that do it well blocking lanes for us.

You make very valid points Nev. For me if this thread has taught me anything it’s that it’s better to watch what’s happening on the ground, than assume we know more. I personally think it’s a lot to assume we’ve had injuries, and that the selection committee are aware of all of it - but just kept running players into the ground. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is true (because I’m critical of how our game plan relies very heavily on 5 players), but i can’t know it. I’m basing my opinion purely on what I can see on the ground, and what the scoreboard has told us since mid year. We looked absolutely out on our legs at 3/4 time last week (when we should be peaking). Very flat, no energy across the team. That tells me we haven’t got something right with our fitness. Interestingly no one’s really arguing we aren’t fit enough, instead they are just speculating on what’s responsible for it. I bet Greg Stafford wishes he got that much grace around here. 👍

My mail says the opposite is true. Mrs Grundy appreciates full disclosure.

If your job is to make sure we are running out games, particularly the games that matter most, and instead we are ranked 15th in the comp for it, then you have to be feeling heat. I find it really interesting how little criticism our fitness is getting.

This. I find it mesmerising that anyone wants to defend our fitness department given what we’ve dished up since Round 11. I honestly think Griffith will be under extreme pressure inside the club. We are nowhere near it.

Way ahead of you Layzie.