Lucifers Hero

I agree, I was referring to the his particular 'comfort zone' when he does go missing or is ineffective which wasn't Saturday.

What went wrong on Saturday? Obviously a lot! But I noticed a major flaw in how we played: We forgot 'Team First'! From the get go we were 'selfish' like in years past when self-preservation, stats, being the hero etc was what mattered. This resulted in tackling, positioning, disposal, structures, team rules etc going out the window. So Collingwood scored 6.3 from our turnovers in the first quarter. Unfortunately our leaders (and not coincidentally the pre Roos players): Jones, TMac, Gawn were the worst at selfish play, virtually for the whole day. So we ended up with no or little leadership. That selfish play lingered until a few kids like Petracca, Oliver etc took over. Why? My theory is 'Comfort Zone Syndrome' (a made up phrase). It has been mentioned in other threads that under pressure players revert to their 'comfort zones' eg Jones, TMac, Gawn become selfish, Watts withdraws, Viney takes everyone on, Tyson kicks the ball nowhere, Hunt forgets to slow just before kicking etc. Sometimes the pressure is physical and real. But often it is not and that is when they revert to their 'comfort zones'. Our problem is players do not snap out of their comfort zones until the end of a quarter and often it is too late. Our leaders don't act because they can't see it as they themselves are engulfed by their own 'comfort zone'. Not a problem when it is one or two players but a huge problem when it afflicts most of the team like it did on Saturday. This 'comfort zone syndrome' is undoubtedly subconscious and highly individual therefore a major, major problem. Probably, it is the reverting to one's 'comfort zone' when under pressure that makes us look mentally weak. But 'mental weakness does not exist in a vaccum. When expectations are highest, the pressure goes up and the more likely comfort zones will kick in. I can think of no other reason why we crack under expectations. Somewhere, this week a poster suggested a sports psychologist. If my theory is correct then we need a bunch of them.

Yes, that is how I read it. Lewis said something similar recently; that not all players prepare as well as they should. Elsewhere Oliver has been complimented on how professional he is in his recovery, diet and his preparation. So it is no coincidence that the he has been our most consistent player and will probably take out the bluey. A player can train the house down but if not keeping up with recovery and preparation then they aren't physically or perhaps mentally at the level required to play. I don't know whose job it is to get recovery and preparation right but someone had better get onto it, quick smart!

Much of the dialogue on this thread has 'saviour' written all over it and the salivating is a bit OTT! He plays his role very well but he isn't the major cog in the Crows defence. So I'm not sure he is a Key Position Player. He might be one day but not right now. Will he be the defender we need to play on Brown, Daniher, Moore, Hipwood etc? I am a little cautious in assuming he will be. TBH I am skeptical of the $850K being bandied around. That is the sort of money paid to a match winner and I don't see Lever being a match winner. Don't get me wrong. I am glad we are chasing him. But I hope we don't pay overs in $ to him or trade value to Crows.

I saw that and wondered if it was reported correctly. Its a big win for us if we keep the gate from our Home QB game and share the gate with Coll for the opening round which would always be their Home game. It would make more sense if we shared the gate from both 'Blockbuster' games. Otherwise we make out like bandits financially and Eddie isn't about to give us another free kick. We may need to wait till it comes from the AFL or the clubs themselves. As reported it seems odd...

That list is not up to date. Go to this thread for all contracts:

He won't. Petracca cares. Petracca was truly gutted when the siren went. Col would have gone and joked and laughed with Howe and Dunn.

A ban is a bit dramatic... Anyway, the 'damage' is done. For what it is worth the platter also had avocado, prosciutto etc. Brighton? Now you are buying into the silvertail myth about Melbourne supporters...

Up early this morning, the dust has settled and I'm ready to move on. Well, I thought I was until I saw this article https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-confidential-melbournes-early-email-to-members-about-finals-tickets-backfires-spectacularly/news-story/fcbc24b7907cd845bf747d2f7143e915 I struggle with the ridicule in this article. I think every club that was in the running for finals were sent the 'Finals Ticket' email. The 'cheese platter' taunt will go down as folklore along with 'snowfields'. Taunts to be thrown at us at every opportunity by media, friends and family. Perhaps what we lost more than the game on Saturday was Respect. We lost the Respect a hard fought season had earnt. From the @Older demonpost in the Nathan Jones thread, unsurprisingly it is taking a toll on players. Its sad that one of our 'prominent players' wants to leave town and be alone. Not even wanting the solace team mates can bring. While I want the lost opportunity to motivate I certainly don't want it to scar. Players must hear the 'mentally weak' accusations, especially when a club great leads the charge (which is his right and his job). They must also hear the ridicule. It is a small step to go from 'mentally weak' to 'mentally scarred'. I just hope the last few games of 2016 and 2017 don't cause a new round of 'mental scars' for players. Hopefully, there is good support around the players, especially the young ones.

A lot of people did and their response is in this post:

It seems our President is in a state of shock: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/melbournes-finals-miss-burns-in-the-players-guts-nathan-jones-20170828-gy5rno.html "A shattered Bartlett said it was too soon to take a publicly analyse what had gone wrong for the Demons following Saturday's upset loss..." There is also a hint that the whole club got ahead of itself: "It shouldn't be the end it should be the beginning..." Let this be a lesson to all concern - something about counting chickens... Hope he is bashing PJ's door down to get some answers from Goodwin and find out how the coach is going to fix things. I don't want that to be public but would be very disappointed if someone doesn't bring Goodwin to account.

No 'Likes' for this Ethan... ...it seems Demonlanders have lost their sense of humour today.

As I recall, Roos struggled with 'us' and 'them/they'. 'Them/they' was used when referring to the Club and yes, it took him a while to use 'us' and mean it. But I don't recall him every transferring responsibility to players after a poor performance. Goodwin has consistently used 'we' and 'us' in his narrative but his commentary around that has been what the players have done poorly on the field. I don't recall it referring to the coaches/coaching activities. Roos took responsibility for on field failings, Goodwin doesn't. Not standing shoulder to shoulder with Jones is poor.

That is a good point. One of the reasons the Tigers have done so well is that Hardwick now reports to Neil Balme (as does Mahoney's equivalent). Balme actively challenges the coaches, team selection, game reviews, the game plan, tactics, trades etc. Geelong have Hocking and Hawthorn had Fagan (not sure who does it now) both of whom were actively involved in football and not mere administrators. I wonder who does that job at mfc. It isn't Mahoney and it isn't McCartney as he reports to Goodwin. At one stage Roos was talked about as having the Balme role but the idea wasn't revisited when Roos left. I feel Goodwin still needs direction and guidance. Hope PJ is paying attention. Maybe its time to have another look.

Couldn't agree more, Earnest. Something I appreciated about Roos was that he always took the heat. He would say we (ie coaches) brought x back too early from injury, we made mistakes at the selection table, we need to revisit our defence/attack etc. He never left the players out on a limb. Not once this year have I heard Goodwin saysomething similar. His narrative has been we (ie players) didn't execute our game plan, we didn't play the way we would like, we didn't have numbers around the ball, we were beaten around the contest etc etc. That may be true but it sounds like it has nothing to do with the coaches! Hello, it is the coaches job to ensure players are in the right mind; it is their job to understand how weather conditions affect the standard game plan on different ovals etc. It would seriously worry me if the coach(es) can't see their own deficiencies when supporters can. Unfortunately, the email the club sent today has not alleviated my concern. It said: With regard to the Collingwood game on Saturday, the effort in the first quarter clearly wasn’t there. Simon Goodwin has said throughout the year that we must respect the competition and that didn’t happen with our effort or intensity. That makes me a bit cross to put it all on the players. As you say, Goodwin should have been with Jones. It would have acknowledged the season performance and Saturday were a joint responsibility and joint failing. Hate to say it but leaving Jones out there on his own had Neeld overtones about it. I hope Goodwin is able to look at himself and see his own deficiencies or we are in strife. He needs to lift his game and it wouldn't hurt for him to eat a bit of humble pie sometimes.

That is not an official website - it is someone having a sick joke. If there was a press conf of any sort the announcement notice of it would come from the club. Ignore it, someone is trolling.

I rather silly looked at how the finals might pan out. Had we hung on to 8th we would have been in the non-Sydney side of the draw. We probably would not have got to the GF to play them but can't help wistfully thinking what might have been for us in September had we made 8th and had a bit of luck with injuries.

Oliver is recognised in the article as 'unlucky to miss' - check the table at the bottom and it will show that after 9,000 votes he is the most unlucky. It should be noted the AFL does not necessarily choose on merit - often it is past reputation. How else do you explain Bontempelli, Selwood. Or or encouragement to teams eg Ross, Docherty, More telling for me is that none of our leaders are even close.

And he still had a very good season: kicked 42 goals, was in the AFL top 3 for fwd pressure acts and goal assists. Laid 74 tackles in his 21 games. He had a very consistent year as evidenced by his nomination in AFL AA squad of 40. Very well deserved in my book.

They are not our problem - only Vince has played regularly this year and he has said he is happy to play games at Casey next year if he stays. It may make people feel good to delist 10 players but it is only tweaking around the fringe and will not fix the bigger problem. The bigger problem is a game plan which does not currently match the players we have and a huge lack of player smarts and disposal skills. If our coach is flexible he can fix the former, the latter takes more than one season.

AFL AA Squad: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-28/2017-all-australian-squad-revealed Demons: Hibberd, Garlett, Jetta. Well done guys! Clarrie is leading the 'Who was the unluckiest player to miss the 40-man AA squad?' I mentioned in the post above that he needs to kick more goals to displace some of the elite midfielders. Nonetheless, a stunning year by a19 year old. These players have been our only consistent players all year who have put in every game and usually for all four quarters. (Some may disagree with Garlett but remember he was out injured and had family matters to deal with, so its worth cutting him some slack). Our leaders missing this year, in more ways than one...

That is not surprising since most of the team have had only a few preseasons. I think those guys are giving it their all but do need to conserve energy. Many of them should have been rested at some stage during the year. The best coaches have a game plan that suits the players they have. Then develop it in tandem as the players develop. That is what Roos did at Sydney - he didn't have stars; he had a tough team and had a defensive game plan to suit. It may not have been pretty but it worked. Clarkson did the same and is still doing it. He wanted a precise disposal team and gradually recruited that type and developed his high possession, pin point game plan accordingly. This year he lost a lot of his speed and accurate players, he modified his game plan accorndingly. Goodwin has a game plan that does not match the players he has right now. It doesn't match because most have poor disposal skills and because many have not had enough pre-seasons to sustain a crash, bash and run style. Goodwin's game plan may be the one that wins a premiership but he doesn't have a team to carry it out right now. He needs to recognise his plan is part of the problem. He needs to modify it to match the team he has now. Then develop it in tandem as the players develop. To do otherwise risks the players loosing belief in the game plan.

2013 is ancient history. It was our abyss. Anything would look better than 2013 so really clutching at straws using it as a base for comparison. In 2017 when it really counted we lost to Collingwood by 16 points because the coaches and players collectively dropped the ball. Our opportunity to give the finals a shake, to get some experience into our youth and to give supporters something to hang on to went up in smoke because they dropped the ball. On Saturday we lost a lot more than a football game!

Miniscule improvement! Not much reward for a year's work. Injuries and the draw are not excuses. We had finals within reach but didn't lift a finger to get there. Until we turn up for 4 quarters each week we have not improved. The gut wrenching thing is there is no 'next week to redeem ourselves'. We now have to wait 8 months to see if anything changes.

Therein lies the tragedy. And they are the guys I am worried about...they stood up. They must be feeling very disillusioned right now.