General MFC discussion

[Demon 16]

Roos was spot on with his AFL 360 comments - the whole club and everyone who supports it goes into meltdown when we lose.

I havnt liked it when he keeps referring to the past - but I did understand his point about carrying the load of the last 7 years.

He can't say it like this, but he's only been here 18 months - so it must be frustrating a hell when we have a poor game and the whole club goes uni meltdown. Whilst we'd love to be improving quicker, we have improved a lot since he arrived.

There will be a few more disappointments yet, but he's going to leave us in a heck of a better spot that when he started.

Anyone who expected us to be contending for the eight already, was delusional.

 

[Topkent]

I havnt liked it when he keeps referring to the past - but I did understand his point about carrying the load of the last 7 years.

He can't say it like this, but he's only been here 18 months - so it must be frustrating a hell when we have a poor game and the whole club goes uni meltdown. Whilst we'd love to be improving quicker, we have improved a lot since he arrived.

There will be a few more disappointments yet, but he's going to leave us in a heck of a better spot that when he started.

Anyone who expected us to be contending for the eight already, was delusional.

Plus as he was talking about I think it was the first time on that show id seen him getting frustrated
There's no doubt he would be connecting with this club due to the Fitzroy days and it would be hard to keep having to revive the whole club after a loss

 

[d33my]

One attitude that seems to be coming through lately is that we (as supporters, as a club, whatever) are entitled to some success - due mainly to the fact that we've been shithouse for the better part of a decade.

That's not true. We might feel like we're entitled to some, but that's not how football works. If it did, St Kilda would have won the 2010 Grand Final, or Freo the 2013 one. The Dogs would have made more of their umpteenth prelim finals appearances in the 90s/00s. And so on.

This isn't a game where we punch in a few numbers, assemble a team, and then ascend back up the ladder, ready to claim our rightful premiership. Surely, we of all supporters should know, that it doesn't work like that. We've already tried a few times now.

I co-opted this from a piece on mental health, but it sums up our situation quite well, I think (credit to Anna Borges):

We're probably halfway along that graph at the moment. Another club, like Richmond, is probably 3 quarters of the way along. Freo's probably right at the very tip -- even then, there's no telling what's at the end of the graph: is it a premiership? Is it a slide back down to 0?

As a supporter, there's sadly not much we can do to influence that graph. We pay our money, and we turn up. What happens next is unpredictable -- which is pretty much why any of us bother with footy in the first place. It could be beautiful, it could be horrible. There's a fine line between them.

 

[Ando727]

One attitude that seems to be coming through lately is that we (as supporters, as a club, whatever) are entitled to some success - due mainly to the fact that we've been shithouse for the better part of a decade.

That's not true. We might feel like we're entitled to some, but that's not how football works. If it did, St Kilda would have won the 2010 Grand Final, or Freo the 2013 one. The Dogs would have made more of their umpteenth prelim finals appearances in the 90s/00s. And so on.

This isn't a game where we punch in a few numbers, assemble a team, and then ascend back up the ladder, ready to claim our rightful premiership. Surely, we of all supporters should know, that it doesn't work like that. We've already tried a few times now.

I co-opted this from a piece on mental health, but it sums up our situation quite well, I think (credit to Anna Borges):

We're probably halfway along that graph at the moment. Another club, like Richmond, is probably 3 quarters of the way along. Freo's probably right at the very tip -- even then, there's no telling what's at the end of the graph: is it a premiership? Is it a slide back down to 0?

As a supporter, there's sadly not much we can do to influence that graph. We pay our money, and we turn up. What happens next is unpredictable -- which is pretty much why any of us bother with footy in the first place. It could be beautiful, it could be horrible. There's a fine line between them.

Th OCD in me really hates the way that graph line has loops in it - mathematically invalid.

You are, of course, right in what you say. We feel owed simply because we've had to wait. In leagues like EPL they have a different mindset - if your club is s**t, even for one year, you get relegated to the lower division. They have a less demanding mindset about what their club should be able to do. Supporters of crap clubs are happy if they can just avoid relegation. We have bought into the AFL's ideology that equalisation will mean every team will win a premiership at some stage. Unfortunately there's no evidence that this is true. There are some clubs that in all likelihood will never win another flag. One of them might be us. The thing that keeps us hanging on is we don't know if it will be us. We might just snag one some day....

 

[stretcharmstrong]

Most times we lose there is a meltdown - even 'honorable losses' can't be copped these days.

Which of our losses this year would you say we're honorable losses?

 

[Proper Gander]

Th OCD in me really hates the way that graph line has loops in it - mathematically invalid.

Invalid, perhaps, but it maps my emotional journey. Sometimes I don't think we have just dipped down, we've gone backwards

 

[maxmustard]

Invalid, perhaps, but it maps my emotional journey. Sometimes I don't think we have just dipped down, we've gone backwards

Do you remember the year 2013? I'm not saying I'm happy with our team now but we are obviously better than 2 years back. Our percentage was just over 50 and I think we may have been the worst team in modern history.

 

[Proper Gander]

Do you remember the year 2013? I'm not saying I'm happy with our team now but we are obviously better than 2 years back. Our percentage was just over 50 and I think we may have been the worst team in modern history.

You speak truth.

(I think what I meant to say is sometimes, like last weekend, I feel like we are going backwards. An emotional not logical reaction - and probably what Roos meant when he talks about meltdowns)

 

[Topkent]

Th OCD in me really hates the way that graph line has loops in it - mathematically invalid.

You are, of course, right in what you say. We feel owed simply because we've had to wait. In leagues like EPL they have a different mindset - if your club is s**t, even for one year, you get relegated to the lower division. They have a less demanding mindset about what their club should be able to do. Supporters of crap clubs are happy if they can just avoid relegation. We have bought into the AFL's ideology that equalisation will mean every team will win a premiership at some stage. Unfortunately there's no evidence that this is true. There are some clubs that in all likelihood will never win another flag. One of them might be us. The thing that keeps us hanging on is we don't know if it will be us. We might just snag one some day....

This is a sad reality that I refuse to believe.. Even now in the perfect world your team can only win 1 flag per 18 years, if you miss your chance in a cycle it goes out to 1 in 36 years
So then you might see 2 premierships in your lifetime
Unfortunately it doesnt work like that, Someone like the hawks have seen 3 in 6 years and maybe 4 in 7.. Whilst we havent even played finals in 10

This is where the AFL has problems, Where are all the new supporters gonna come from for the clubs who dont win the flag

WE need state of origin or a cup competition...
There needs to be something else to aim for outside the premiership season

 

[maxmustard]

You speak truth.

(I think what I meant to say is sometimes, like last weekend, I feel like we are going backwards. An emotional not logical reaction - and probably what Roos meant when he talks about meltdowns)

Yeah for sure, Sunday had that old stench to it didn't it. I think after we beat the cats I was expecting more competent performances even if you forget wins/losses. We need a response this week although not holding breath.

 

[64 reasons]

Football is a competitive business. In the MFC's case we have to assess our improvement with reference to the competition. We might have improved, some might feel better about MFC but that means diddly when the football industry sees us as at best irrelevant.

 

[Topkent]

Which of our losses this year would you say we're honorable losses?

The blokes tried there guts out against Adelaide, Collingwood and Essendon
All 3 games were different but I think they competed well for the majority of those games

 

[Proper Gander]

The blokes tried there guts out against Adelaide, Collingwood and Essendon
All 3 games were different but I think they competed well for the majority of those games

True. I'd forgotten.

I was pleased with the Adelaide game - and not surprised the next week when we beat Richmond

 

[Dez!]

I co-opted this from a piece on mental health, but it sums up our situation quite well, I think (credit to Anna Borges):

Graph has too many ups and not enough downs, not a Melbourne graph.

 

[Praetorian]

Most times we lose there is a meltdown - even 'honorable losses' can't be copped these days.

true, but there was also a bit of a meltdown after we won against brisbane. It's more to do with putrid football than purely W/L. THeres been so many losses over the years that we'd all be in a psych facility if we had a meltdown after every loss. Supporters just want improvement, not regression

I can't speak for anyone else, but I got far more enjoyment from watching our game vs Collingwood (despite Cloke kicking straight and Oxley prancing about on his own) than I did vs Brissy. We played better football, but happened to lose. Thats all it is for me.

 

[booshboy]

true, but there was also a bit of a meltdown after we won against brisbane. It's more to do with putrid football than purely W/L. THeres been so many losses over the years that we'd all be in a psych facility if we had a meltdown after every loss. Supporters just want improvement, not regression

I can't speak for anyone else, but I got far more enjoyment from watching our game vs Collingwood (despite Cloke kicking straight and Oxley prancing about on his own) than I did vs Brissy. We played better football, but happened to lose. Thats all it is for me.

+1

 

[Cannon82]

Graph has too many ups and not enough downs, not a Melbourne graph.

Trending wrong direction?

 

[Topkent]

Watching on the couch and Hawthorn and WC score 60% of there points from the forward half
We are still trying to play the slingshot with only one or 2 blokes forward of the ball

Thats why the Hawks and Eagles score 100 regularly and we score 40

 

[Demon 16]

true, but there was also a bit of a meltdown after we won against brisbane. It's more to do with putrid football than purely W/L. THeres been so many losses over the years that we'd all be in a psych facility if we had a meltdown after every loss. Supporters just want improvement, not regression

I can't speak for anyone else, but I got far more enjoyment from watching our game vs Collingwood (despite Cloke kicking straight and Oxley prancing about on his own) than I did vs Brissy. We played better football, but happened to lose. Thats all it is for me.

Totally agree - we have played poorly the last 2 weeks. No doubt.

It's hard for Roos to make the point that we are coming from a long way back, and we were never going to be completely turned around within 18 months. He's been told by the media department at the club, not to refer to the 'players habits of the past' - but he does make a fair point that when we hit a poor patch, the current players and coaching staff bare the fans frustration of being s**t for 5 1/2 years before he even walked in the door.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

true, but there was also a bit of a meltdown after we won against brisbane. It's more to do with putrid football than purely W/L. THeres been so many losses over the years that we'd all be in a psych facility if we had a meltdown after every loss. Supporters just want improvement, not regression

I can't speak for anyone else, but I got far more enjoyment from watching our game vs Collingwood (despite Cloke kicking straight and Oxley prancing about on his own) than I did vs Brissy. We played better football, but happened to lose. Thats all it is for me.

Mate, I enjoyed watching us lose to the Saints more then beating Brissie - so I get that aspect.

 

[Sir Hugh Percy]

I haven't for a minute considered getting rid of Roos as a reasonable response to where we are at. BUT, at the same time I don't think he gets a pass just because we're better than where we were two years ago while still being less than mediocre.

There are issues that we CAN cop right now, because they're part of our long term development - like the fact that we've played so many first year players this year. Like the fact we were very heavily defensive focused last year. If that's why we are losing games, then fine. However, insipid efforts or playing like there's no plan are issues that fall directly within the senior coach's area of responsibility and shouldn't be happening. As I said earlier in the week, you look at St Kilda and they have 22 players playing disciplined footy to a clear plan. There are other issues that mean they likely won't be playing finals for a few years yet, primarily the fact that they're gradually replacing older, fading players with kids, but they're doing everything right for where they are now. I don't think there's any excuse for us not to be doing the same.

The same goes for other people around the club. The senior players also need a rocket, because they should be doing more to correct on-field lack of intensity, lack of options being created up forward, not sticking to plans, etc. And Dave Misson lobbed at the club and immediately told everybody how poor our fitness was and led us all to believe he was going to turn that around. Why do we still have issues in these areas?

We can't just keep letting sub-mediocre performance pass just because of where we were a couple of years ago. We're all in agreement that we're significantly better than that now, but we're still s**t. While we keep using 2013 as our yardstick our improvement will be stunted. We need to set achievable but somewhat optimistic targets and then be bloody disappointed if we don't get there and try to understand why we failed. We need to look at the other teams around us and what they're doing right, then try and do that better than them. Stuff like fitness and intensity should be non-negotiables and everybody's responsibility.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

The familiar 2nd half of the season for bugger all wins is growing tiresome.

After the Geelong win i think a lot of us were thinking we should have won all of the past 3 games, as has been mentioned its the way we have played that makes me filthy dirty though, i guess we just can't ever look ahead and get excited by our draw in the 2nd half of the year, dont ever dare to dream, lesson learnt.

Reminiscent of over 'best win as a club under Roos' against Richmond earlier in the year, its all gone to s**t after the Geelong win, at least back then our losses were to quality teams following it so it was easy to just overlook. We never carry any 'good' momentum over to the following week, never ever ever ever, thats whats annoying, we are the masters at staying in a rut though.

#scared

 

[Demon 16]

The familiar 2nd half of the season for bugger all wins is growing tiresome.

This is the prime exhibit of why we need to keep some sort of calm this year.

The new regime have only been here a year and are copping 6 years worth of disappointment.

 

[wowlace]

Woot! I'm not banned anymore.

PS: * you Melbourne you campaigners!

 

[Proper Gander]

Woot! I'm not banned anymore.

PS: **** you Melbourne you campaigners!

Well done. The sunshine you bring daily was sorely missed