He does sound a bit like Lockyer at the momentDarren Lockier wrong game same injury.
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He does sound a bit like Lockyer at the momentDarren Lockier wrong game same injury.
Huh? I think you are underestimating the strength of the midfield they played. Gawn is the best tap ruckman in the comp, feeding it down to Oliver who is the best clearance player in the comp. Throw in Brayshaw who is coming off the back of an incredible year where he finished 3rd in the Brownlow. That's a pretty handy midfield with those 3 alone.Vine jones and lever are that much better than Zorko Gardiner and Adams it isn’t funny. Our midfield should have absolutely dominated them. They didn’t. Jake lever is on the Harris Andrews level and our key forwards couldn’t dominate either.
Most determined Rich I have ever seen.......didnt let anyone past and copped a battering a few times. Kicking not the usual starring performer but much rather tough and hungry Rich turning up each week.
Vine jones and lever are that much better than Zorko Gardiner and Adams it isn’t funny. Our midfield should have absolutely dominated them. They didn’t. Jake lever is on the Harris Andrews level and our key forwards couldn’t dominate either.
Expecting - 7 wins.
Pass mark? - 12 wins
Lid removed > 12
I think in reality you're the one sitting with a massively overinflated expectations. I'd be absolutely amazed if we were to get 12 wins this season personally, it would be an astonishing outcome IMO.
Why are you so surprised that we didn't belt them in the midfield? We're talking about what is likely to be a top 2 (at worst top 4) team this season with one of the deepest and well rounded midfields in the competition and we beat them. Yes they're without Viney and Jones but we were without Zorko who I rate a better player than either of those two based on recent seasons form (albeit not better than both of them combined). Then we were missing Gardiner and Oscar as well. As for our key forwards not dominating, they still had May and McDonald down there, who are both good defenders, you make it out like they had noone. Melbourne are very deep all over the field (bar maybe KPF) and should be one of the favourites for the Premiership IMO even when you discount for the perception that they're still a basket case hangover.
I'm massively heartened by this weeks effort after being a bit flat about last weeks and generally unimpressed. Sure there are going to be some challenging times this season but we're not a finals team yet and to beat a strong melb team was a good result. I particularly liked how we managed to arrest momentum away from them when they started to get on top.
If you break it down even further, without looking at the stats, I think we averaged around 138 contested possessions per game last year so to achieve a figure of 159 against a Melbourne midfield is a fantastic result.Last year Melbourne had the second greatest contested ball differential ever recorded (behind West Coast in either 05 or 06), and that was without Viney for a lot of the season (Jones plays wing for them mainly too now). The fact that we were very competitive with them in contested ball (we actually beat them 159-150) and led them in clearances 40-29 was a very positive sign, even with the usual caveat of it being a JLT game.
The main thing I took away from the game was that you can see how our midfield can be far better at winning the ball this year - Lyons, Neale and improvement from Matho will hopefully really bolster that despite Beams leaving. Our key forwards are still young so winning more of the ball will be the main way we win more games as we need to give them more chances to score rather than relying on them to convert a high % of less inside 50s.
Fair
Vandenberg and Oliver also got fines for striking Neale and Lyons respectively.
Considering some Demons fans said their mob didn't care and were going through the motions, there was a bit of agro out there from some of their players.
Yep. I reckon it was pretty clear both teams were trying to win and it wasn't until the fourth the foot was taken off a bit.
Apparently we were "playing our grand final".
Which is, hilariously, what supporters of every team we have beaten in the last few years has said (in fact, we won two grand finals against Hawthorn last year). I guess you have to convince yourself that you didn't lose on your merits.
I was concerned we might have done the same thing with the result vs the Suns a few weeks back.A week for May seems reasonable. As for Melbourne, don’t be surprised if they slump this year. They may start drinking their own bath water and that’s never a good thing.
We were the opposite. I’d take seven goal first quarters all year.I was concerned we might have done the same thing with the result vs the Suns a few weeks back.