Ricky P

We've got 4 left we should win. Freo, Saints, Suns, blues. I reckon we'll win 3 of those.

And we've got 4 tough ones. WC away, Hawks, Port away, Geelong away. I reckon we'll sneak one of those.

So 10 wins all up. Finals next year.

I wouldn't worry about bringing someone in. Just let one of the old battle axes (Dawes or Pedersen) hang on until the kids come on.

Glad he's in the team. Now everyone can back to abusing him.

It's so funny how excited people get about a new player. I only ask that we don't crucify him if he doesn't resemble Andrew McLeod is in his second game!

Thanks for the updates mate.

Back to the main topic of this thread, if we play like we did last week we'll batter this mob.

1 hour ago, ArtificialWisdom said:

Is it? He is a senior player that should be held at higher standards. His form has been atrocious since returning, on top of that even his effort looked down as well on the weekend and that has always been good. Hasnt shown anything to say he should play at AFL level again. He should be dropped and made to demand his position before he plays again. Alot has to change if he ever expects to play in a successful Melbourne side. If dropped I expect to see him back pretty soon but I damn well hope the play him into form at Casey first. 

If he played like he did against Collingwood every week he'd be a handy part of our forward line. He obviously doesn't play like that every week, and I don't really care either way if he stays or goes at the end of the year, but I do agree with Stuie that the reaction to his performance is over the top. It's weird how some people seem to need two or three players to hate: at the moment it's Dawes and both McDonalds. It used to be Watts and Matt Jones. I didn't realise hating two or three of your own players was a thing until I started going on internet forums. It's completely fair enough to say "I think player x isn't good enough". The level of abuse Dawes gets is something completely different and ridiculous.

Oh no! Gawny must be going with him!

10 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

Anyone else find it strange that West Coast are never mentioned n the Jesse rumours?  They would be all over him surely.

I'm also worried Hawthorn and Geelong. 

Would love roosy around in some capacity offering the odd word of advice where necessary.

7 hours ago, Viscount Cardwell said:

You obviously did not watch the game 

7 hours ago, Demons11 said:

He butchered the ball.  That's the worst game I have seen him play 

23 touches, 11 marks, 4 contested, their big forwards didn't get much of a look-in. Nah, but he stuffed a couple of kicks up. Wattsy's come on so I guess people need someone else to hate!

If we play as well as we did today against Freo, we'll batter them.

T-mac had a pretty good game today.

36 minutes ago, Ted Fidge said:

Carlton last year. Essendon last year. St Kilda last year. Essendon this year.

Haha I felt despair after those losses. After this loss I felt regret after a genuine missed opportunity.

14 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

That might be the most frustrating loss we've had in years.

I disagree with those who think Adelaide was "off". They played this game how they play every game. Do they have a single player out injured? (Seedsman maybe?). But we tightened up in the contest in the second quarter and hit them harder. We forced them into mistakes through the middle and we were bold going forward. They lifted in the third and for the first 5 minutes we couldn't match them at all, but we steadied and evened it up. Had Kennedy not rushed his shot on goal in the fourth, we'd have had all the momentum and only 3 points down. Could have played out very differently from there.

It felt like 23 vs 21 out there with Dawes. Every time he went near it he stuffed it up. Can't mark, can hardly move, can't kick, can't handpass, can't or won't ruck. Must, must be dropped.

Compare him to Watts who was brilliant everywhere (bar the goal he gave up to Betts when he went to ground). Rucked, spent time at FB, and still dominated forward with 3 goals.

Garlett showed why we need him firing in our seniors. Kent was much improved. It's all been said but Hunt is a gem. Petracca showed he can move through the forward line. Jetta again stood up as a true leader down there.

In defence, I actually thought that, as defenders, Frost, TMac and even OMac looked fine. The problem is when we take possession - all three are awful kicks (OMac is scared of kicking it, though), all three make poor decisions, TMac and Frost try to take it on without thinking too often. Defensively, I was impressed, but I was disappointed offensively with these three.

Gutted, but there is still plenty to work with.

Finally, to quell all the crap from people who don't think we've improved because we haven't beaten anyone we didn't beat last year (a pretty dumb analysis IMO), the fact we are this upset about losing to a premiership contender who has hardly been troubled for the last six weeks should, when coupled with watching us play, explain to you that your analysis is baseless.

Great post.

3 minutes ago, stuie said:

We lost to Essendon. You can live in fantasy land if you want, up to you.

The rest of your post is just silly, winning games is not "just a stat", it's the whole point.

And again, I'm not interested in "we'll probably win....", how has that worked out for us in the past?

Talking about improvement, not being "World beaters".

 

 

You win. You have misunderstood each and every point I've made. I actually don't know how to fight that.  

1 minute ago, stuie said:

I'm not. See how that works?

 

Ok. So why did you challenge my prediction if you're not interested in it? 

Anyway, your assertion that our improvement is brought into question by the fact that we haven't beaten anyone that we didn't beat last year is a false economy. We didn't beat Essendon last year. Would you be confident of our improvement had we beaten them by a point? Would you be unimpressed if we beat the doggies or the cats by 20 goals? It's just a stupid stat. We'll probably win a couple out of Freo, Saints and Carlton. Does that make us world beaters in your eyes?

1 minute ago, stuie said:

You're hanging your hat on "Oh but we'll win against one of them soon because I say so, so everything is great!".

 

I thought you weren't interested in guesses and predictions?

That's the first loss that has genuinely hurt in about 10 years! I really think we could've won and would still be a sneaky chance of the finals if we had. I spose that's a good thing.

Clearly, the bit that cost us was the first five minutes of the third! We came out asleep and copped 4 goals in 5 minutes! I was hoping we would do that and ice the game. 

We over handball against the good sides because they put more pressure on us. This means that the first or second handball in the chain is slightly off and puts the receiver under pressure meaning they have to handball again, rather than have the time to pick out a kick. It's really not simply a case of the players choosing to handball instead of kick. It  will get better as the team gets better.

There's a lot to be excited about. As disappointing as the loss was, we had them on the run for large parts of that game. And, I know we've all been waiting a long time, but we are actually younger than we have been in either of Roos' first two years. I'm bloody excited about the future.

And I think Jayden Hunt might be my favourite player!

14 minutes ago, stuie said:

Prediction and guesses don't mean much to me.

 

Cool, well you're in the right place, because if there's one thing you won't find on an internet forum, it's predictions, guesses and opinions.

18 minutes ago, stuie said:

51 more handballs than the Crows, and we lost the clearances.

From a broader perspective, we have not beaten anyone this year that we didn't beat last year. For all the talk of improvement, that is damning.

 

I reckon we'll snag a couple of wins against sides we didn't beat last year in the next two weeks.

5 hours ago, praha said:

I fear Adelaide will give us a football lesson today.

Today will be a good test of Roos' coaching credentials: do we stay in touch and fight to live another day, or do we fold and let a good-but-not-great team toy with us? Do we turn a corner, or do we buckle and give up like in 2014 and for most of the second half of 2015? 

Let's see where we are as a team. Either we're well on our way, or we severely overestimate where the club is at.

Lol u should work in the footy media - no space for anything in the middle.

2 hours ago, SaberFang said:

It's not really a pure 6 day break though, is it. Players will spend hours in recovery following the match, probably getting home close to midnight Sunday.

And then they have a 4 hour flight on Friday. It's not as cut and dry as a 6 day break IMHO.

Haha it really is as much of a 6 day break as any other 6 day break.

Dees will sneak home by 10 pts. 

Derwayne is an absolute stain. As is King.