Autopsy Round 14, 2020: Melbourne v St.Kilda

[lewdogs]

We still have a favourable draw coming up. We play Hawthorn off an 8 day break, they are coming off a 5 day break. Then we play West Coast at the end of a long run of games for them.

 

[plugger66]

At this point in our development under Ratts it’s important we make finals even if we go straight out. We need to see the long game. We’re not ready to contend yet IMO and that’s becoming clear but we need to attract talent and be on an upward trajectory.
we just seem to have lost our way of late - correct that and we are going somewhere not treading water

It’s vital we play finals for the reasons you said and membership next year. Could be a huge drop off if we somehow shot ourselves in the foot and missed the finals especially as when they go on sale there will be no guarantee of crowds next year.

 

[bennymc7]

Speaks to the regard that supporters hold King that he's getting grilled for his performance...

The kids played 14 games and we're carrying on that he's not duking them like Dixon

Get a grip, how about directing some of the anger towards Membrey? Missed two sitters and has been poor all yr

 

[#gosaintas]

I wonder who's more courageous, Billings stepping out on AFL footy field, or you behind a keyboard telling everyone how much of a pu##y he is

Everybody's played football before at whatever level. The better ones get to AFL. They aren't that rare - there's 800 of them or so. The AFL landscape is made up of a great variety of men/boys. There are the Lenny Hayes/Jack Steele types and then there are the AAron Fiora/Jack Billings types. Billings will never be much of a footballer because he gets found out mentally. He's not scared but he is soft.

 

[DGontheQT]

We need to fix our forward line , as it’s killing the rest of the team , particularly the younger midfielders who seem gassed and then lose the ability to tackle effectively. We always look better when Marshall or Battle are up forward , so lose a small or two that isn’t Dan Butler. Our defence is going ok , with Wilkie and Coffield in particular going great. Our Rucks are good , and without Jack Steele’s magnificence , our midfield would almost be in the worst three. Zak Jones , love his speed and carry , but his kicking is ordinary and his tackling is weak , allowing breakaways from opposition midfields. Billy Slater needs to get him one on one for a day or two ffs. All these probs are fixable to a degree , so no need to panic. There is always the trade period

 

[_Maximus_12]

Oh well that’s comforting.

 

[Ducky Tie]

I feel for Marshall because he is so good and is such a workhorse but he's had bad misses in the North game, the Brisbane game and now this game. I'm sure he's working on it, but it's frustrating.

 

[Crusty Undies]

I hope Petracca wasn't being nasty to our bunch of choir boys on the plane.

Looks like Billings forgot to bring his teddy to Noosa. Maybe that's his problem. Ratts should ask that Qld monstrosity of a premier if she would allow Mrs Billings to fly it up in time for the next game.

Let me guess you're from sydney and think gladys berejiklian isn't the worst state premier in Australian history despite all evidence to the contrary.

 

[CarnTheSAINTERS]

I thought whenever Phillips had the ball, something happened.

 

[BrutThough]

We still have a favourable draw coming up. We play Hawthorn off an 8 day break, they are coming off a 5 day break. Then we play West Coast at the end of a long run of games for them.

Last time we shat the bed like this, it spurred us onto a 4 game winning streak including beating Port in Adelaide. I'd be pretty happy if we won the next 4 games.

Still not optimistic we will make it now but the slim possibility is still there.

 

[George]

It's over. We will beat Hawthorn and lose to the Eagles & Giants. Melbourne Collingwood GWS will make it, we will finish 9th. Depressing.

 

[Diehard Saint]

I hope Petracca wasn't being nasty to our bunch of choir boys on the plane.

Looks like Billings forgot to bring his teddy to Noosa. Maybe that's his problem. Ratts should ask that Qld monstrosity of a premier if she would allow Mrs Billings to fly it up in time for the next game.

How old are you?
Adds nothing to the thread.

 

[bennymc7]

Everybody's played football before at whatever level. The better ones get to AFL. They aren't that rare - there's 800 of them or so. The AFL landscape is made up of a great variety of men/boys. There are the Lenny Hayes/Jack Steele types and then there are the AAron Fiora/Jack Billings types. Billings will never be much of a footballer because he gets found out mentally. He's not scared but he is soft.

Poor take...

 

[Mowman]

It's over. We will beat Hawthorn and lose to the Eagles & Giants. Melbourne Collingwood GWS will make it, we will finish 9th. Depressing.

Sadly i think you're right George

 

[From 45]

Everybody's played football before at whatever level. The better ones get to AFL. They aren't that rare - there's 800 of them or so. The AFL landscape is made up of a great variety of men/boys. There are the Lenny Hayes/Jack Steele types and then there are the AAron Fiora/Jack Billings types. Billings will never be much of a footballer because he gets found out mentally. He's not scared but he is soft.

I guess it's the same with supporters. There are supporters who understand the game and there are supporters with no idea

 

[bennymc7]

It's over. We will beat Hawthorn and lose to the Eagles & Giants. Melbourne Collingwood GWS will make it, we will finish 9th. Depressing.

We'll beat one of GWS or Eagles...

I actually think Eagles, they have a horror schedule... But we'll obviously need to play the house down

 

[BrutThough]

It's over. We will beat Hawthorn and lose to the Eagles & Giants. Melbourne Collingwood GWS will make it, we will finish 9th. Depressing.

Devastating to think about how badly we have screwed this up.

 

[_Maximus_12]

This Billings is ‘soft’ narrative is a load of shit.
Countless times throughout his career he’s tracked the ball in the air and put himself in harms way, and similarly on the ground.
Very few players go through a career without having moments where they could have gone harder but to be labelled as ‘soft’ is laughable.
We lost a game we should have won, it was frustrating and plenty of players had days they would rather forget, we move on.

 

[George]

We'll beat one of GWS or Eagles...

I actually think Eagles, they have a horror schedule... But we'll obviously need to play the house down

There's no way.

 

[plugger66]

It's over. We will beat Hawthorn and lose to the Eagles & Giants. Melbourne Collingwood GWS will make it, we will finish 9th. Depressing.

Well my guess is like me you don’t get our results right each week or 9 winners each week so let’s hope you are wrong. It’s going to be touch and go. Our percentage could still come in handy.

 

[bennymc7]

There's no way.

We've beaten Port, Richmond, towelled up the Dogs, Bombers etc..

I know we're in a rut but 'there's no way' is a bit strong

 

[plugger66]

Devastating to think about how badly we have screwed this up.

Not yet. It’s all a plan to get our supporters hopes down. The strange thing is if we had beaten Melbourne 9 and the lost the last 3 we still most likely make it. That’s life.

 

[Ducky Tie]

This Billings is ‘soft’ narrative is a load of sh*t.
Countless times throughout his career he’s tracked the ball in the air and put himself in harms way, and similarly on the ground.
Very few players go through a career without having moments where they could have gone harder but to be labelled as ‘soft’ is laughable.
We lost a game we should have won, it was frustrating and plenty of players had days they would rather forget, we move on.

Yeah he's definitely not soft. It's a cheap narrative that people go to when he doesn't play well.

He does have issues in his game though. He goes missing, he doesn't have good spacial awareness in traffic and we don't get enough out of his kicking. For someone who was touted as an elite kick, we don't see it enough. We haven't helped him in the last two weeks by taking him from a midfield/wing to a half forward/wing role. He wouldn't be in our top dozen issues, but he's not quite the player we hoped for.

 

[NarklesHelmet]

Still pretty angry in here today.

I was absolutely livid after the Norf and Freo losses as they are poor teams.

This loss? It’s simple, as plugger66 said, since the spotlight has come on us in the competition, teams have worked out that you need to stop the over the back goal against us at all costs.

All this blaming King and the small forwards and our mids (who were rightly being lauded just a few weeks back) is short-sighted. They are not all crap all of a sudden. It’s just with the way the opposition are structuring up, none of our forwards have any room to work in: its like playing in a phone box up there.

You saw after the Geelong loss, Dangerfield saying how much they’d set themselves up for our game. It was the same as May last night. Teams are having a serious look at us. This is a compliment and shows how far we’ve come in a relatively short time.

To win at the moment, we are going to have to do it in a different way.

As much as many here might not want to hear it, in most games against a decent team in this league that has set up specifically to stop us, a young team at our point in its development simply don’t have the experience yet to work our way through what the opposition are doing and win the game.

On top of the above, if you throw in the strange COVID season, the fact we have a number of new players in our team taking a while to gel, and the fact we are missing a great strategic mentor in Roughy to help us on match days, it’s no wonder we are coming up short in working our way through what teams are doing to us at the moment.

Everyone needs to calm down a bit. What’s happening to us now is what happens to all promising young teams at our stage. Everyone hasn’t all of a sudden turned to crap. It’s on the coaches and everyone to work this out at training and then execute on match day. Our boys are struggling at the minute but two losses against talented teams by less than a kick is hardly a time for us all to slit our wrists.

If we work through this, we’ll be better for it. If not, this year isn’t lost at all, it will be a huge stepping stone for a pre-season to get our guys working for months on our plan B.

 

[plugger66]

Still pretty angry in here today.

I was absolutely livid after the Norf and Freo losses as they are poor teams.

This loss? It’s simple, as Plugger 66 said, since the spotlight has come on us in the competition, teams have worked out that you need to stop the over the back goal against us at all costs.

All this blaming King and the small forwards and our mids (who were rightly being lauded just a few weeks back) is short-sighted. They are not all crap all of a sudden. It’s just with the way the opposition are structuring up, none of our forwards have any room to work in: its like playing in a phone box up there.

You saw after the Geelong loss, Dangerfield saying how much they’d set themselves up for our game. It was the same as May last night. Teams are having a serious look at us. This is a compliment and shows how far we’ve come in a relatively short time.

To win at the moment, we are going to have to do it in a different way.

As much as many here might not want to hear it, in most games against a decent team in this league that has set up specifically to stop us, a young team at our point in its development simply don’t have the experience yet to work our way through this and win the game.

On top of the above, if you throw in the strange COVID season, the fact we have a number of new players in our team taking a while to gel, and the fact we are missing a great strategic mentor in Roughy to help us on match days, it’s no wonder we are coming up short in working our way what teams are doing to us at the moment.

Everyone needs to calm down a bit. What’s happening to us now is what happens to all promising young teams at our stage. Everyone hasn’t all of a sudden turned to crap. It’s on the coaches and everyone to work this out at training and then execute on match day. Our boys are struggling at the minute but two losses against talented teams by less than a kick is hardly a time for us all to slit our wrists.

If we work through this, we’ll be better for it. If not, this year isn’t lost at all, it will be a huge stepping stone for a pre-season to get our guys working for months on our plan B.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. May have bolded the use of my name. If I ever say anything remotely right in your opinion again can you please take note of that.

seriously though this what coaches get paid for. To change things up after you have been worked out. No idea what they do but that’s why I’m not a coach.