Review Dees v the Blood-Stained angels: the Good, Bad and Fugly

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May 2, 2008
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One positive is I thought little Spargo was back to his best.

Unfortunately it coincided with Melk reverting back to his worst.
That kick to Fritsch was one of our best kicks of the year. I thought he’d torched a good lead and then found Fritsch’s tit in a much better position.
 
Jun 14, 2015
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Positives:
  • Some absolutely babes at the ground last night, stunners. Some of the most beautiful and sexy people I ever laid my eyes on, men and women alike. Take a bow, all of you!
  • Spargo
  • Huge game from Olivers and May.

Negatives (there's a few):
  • MCG staff love harassing Toump Ass: "Can we see your ticket please?" "I already scanned my ticket it's how I got in" "We need to know where you are sitting" "No you don't. I need to know where I am sitting and I do know where that is because I was just sitting there a minute ago, and even if I wasn't, I can read fine thank you" "Oh, so you are going back to your seat?" "Maybe. Why didn't you ask the other people in front of me to show their tickets and ask them where they are sitting and how many times they have sat there already?" "Ahhhh carry on sir". Thankfully there were white dudes behind me getting antsy at me holding everyone up otherwise I'd probably still be explaining to some a-hole why I don't want to pull my phone out every time I take a nervous piss.
  • "Category 1" ticket for $100 and I'm surrounded by Swans supporters and a five minute walk to the bar. Don't usually imbibe but needed to "calm my nerves" just before half-time, I didn't get back to my seat until after we kicked 3 in a row. Was a complete disorganised mess with people cutting in everywhere and cracking the shits at each-other, people melting at staff for being incompetent. Meanwhile staff standing around in the corporate boxes serving literally no-one doing nothing. Garbage.
  • No wonder the crowd was terrible... but also, disappointing that the crowd was terrible. We sounded outnumbered on our home ground against some interstate side that sucks arse.
  • Petracca injured, ripper.
  • Complete lack of equanimity. Even though we were on top, we weren't settled in the first quarter, and our leaders were the worst offenders. Gawn gets a mark 60m out and runs back to take the kick while we've got a million players free, by the time he's turned around to take the kick half the players are covered and the ones that aren't are ignored for some shitty dump that was I assume to the forward pocket but ended up near Jolimont station anyway. So basically we somehow managed to be both slow when we had the ball while simultaneously rushing? Amazing feat actually.
  • Pantsed Heeney and Franklin so the Swans found another way to kick goals. Isn't that lovely? We have Plan A which seems to be get 3 goals up then move on to Plan B which is dump kick to the forward pocket and lose.
  • Melksham is trash and deep down we all knew it.
  • Kozzie's best final has been the grand final IMO and yeah that wasn't exactly a masterclass (wasn't as bad as the stats might suggest either fwiw).
  • Ugh
 

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Crusty Demon

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2009
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Positives:
  • Some absolutely babes at the ground last night, stunners. Some of the most beautiful and sexy people I ever laid my eyes on, men and women alike. Take a bow, all of you!
  • Spargo
  • Huge game from Olivers and May.

Negatives (there's a few):
  • MCG staff love harassing Toump Ass: "Can we see your ticket please?" "I already scanned my ticket it's how I got in" "We need to know where you are sitting" "No you don't. I need to know where I am sitting and I do know where that is because I was just sitting there a minute ago, and even if I wasn't, I can read fine thank you" "Oh, so you are going back to your seat?" "Maybe. Why didn't you ask the other people in front of me to show their tickets and ask them where they are sitting and how many times they have sat there already?" "Ahhhh carry on sir". Thankfully there were white dudes behind me getting antsy at me holding everyone up otherwise I'd probably still be explaining to some a-hole why I don't want to pull my phone out every time I take a nervous piss.
  • "Category 1" ticket for $100 and I'm surrounded by Swans supporters and a five minute walk to the bar. Don't usually imbibe but needed to "calm my nerves" just before half-time, I didn't get back to my seat until after we kicked 3 in a row. Was a complete disorganised mess with people cutting in everywhere and cracking the shits at each-other, people melting at staff for being incompetent. Meanwhile staff standing around in the corporate boxes serving literally no-one doing nothing. Garbage.
  • No wonder the crowd was terrible... but also, disappointing that the crowd was terrible. We sounded outnumbered on our home ground against some interstate side that sucks arse.
  • Petracca injured, ripper.
  • Complete lack of equanimity. Even though we were on top, we weren't settled in the first quarter, and our leaders were the worst offenders. Gawn gets a mark 60m out and runs back to take the kick while we've got a million players free, by the time he's turned around to take the kick half the players are covered and the ones that aren't are ignored for some shitty dump that was I assume to the forward pocket but ended up near Jolimont station anyway. So basically we somehow managed to be both slow when we had the ball while simultaneously rushing? Amazing feat actually.
  • Pantsed Heeney and Franklin so the Swans found another way to kick goals. Isn't that lovely? We have Plan A which seems to be get 3 goals up then move on to Plan B which is dump kick to the forward pocket and lose.
  • Melksham is trash and deep down we all knew it.
  • Kozzie's best final has been the grand final IMO and yeah that wasn't exactly a masterclass (wasn't as bad as the stats might suggest either fwiw).
  • Ugh
Kozzy needs a big finals game or he'll start to cop the doesn't show up in big games tag. We needed him last night and was nowhere to be seen. Simply has to step up.
 
Jun 14, 2015
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I’m just ranting tbh- average game but he’s not the problem and he’s not alone. The second half we were constantly kicking to forwards outnumbered two on one (or more) we prons woulda missed kozzie anyway.
Kozzy needs a big finals game or he'll start to cop the doesn't show up in big games tag. We needed him last night and was nowhere to be seen. Simply has to step up.
 
Apr 18, 2005
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Good - May. Petty. We have two brilliant defenders. I am confident our backline is in very good hands for our premiership ‘window’. It won’t be this year, however. Oliver is a phenomenal player, more important than Petracca.

Bad - Predictable. Forward line is a mess. We’ve got older players in Brown and Melksham whom we need to perform and they’re just not up to it anymore. Our delivery is bad. We kick to the same areas, frequently. We make it hard. Our small forwards are just average, whereas Sydney seem to have so many capable hybrid types that offer so much in the F50.

Ugly - who actually thought we would win? Seriously? The Brisbane game was a false positive, we regularly beat up on them. Always. We no doubt will next week as well. Sydney are so different and we were never winning that.

Jackson - * off
Gawn - beaten by a journeyman, isn’t he supposed to be the best ever?
Pickett - inconsistent. Turning up some weeks and not others means you’re a liability. Worth dropping.
Brayshaw - not a midfielders shoe. Why even put him there?
Brown - off a cliff this year

We are carrying Sparrow, Hunt. It’s not good enough. They aren’t adding another element to our team. Very average players.

Is Salem even best 22 anymore?

The only upside is if we get bundled out next week or this then it’ll be a nice wake up call for Goodwin and co. It’ll put the spotlight on our liabilities so we can address them in the preseason. We have to whilst we’re a chance to win a few more.
 

AmericanAFL

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* you jake melksham:
 
Apr 1, 2018
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Danster's Positive Post:

- We've got the double chance and we're playing Brisbane. And whilst beating Brisbane next week won't tell us anything about how we're truly doing, it gives us a big chance to get our sh!t sorted before we come up against a true flag threat, hopefully the week after. I'm confident we beat Brisbane.

- Back to the game, we lost by 4 goals and played well beneath our best. If it wasn't for some brain fades and some horrendous umpiring then the game would've been much closer. If not in our favour.

- The intensity of the players are there. It didn't drop off. The effort of the players is the main thing that can't be questioned.

- Melbournes issues are so clear that we can comfortably put all of our efforts into improving this. It's forward of centre. It's not only not having the personnel up forward but it's also the way we move the ball into the forward line. Now, I'm trying to say this in the nicest way possible. Brown isn't up to it, the evidence has more than stacked up. We have the evidence to make a change for the good. Yes, I've been banging on about Ben Brown all season. But tonight was maybe the confirmation that maybe the coaches needed.

- Petracca was injured, hopefully he'll be better by next week. And if not, we can rest him and roll the dice. There's no point resting him forward. Due to his goal kicking woes he can't be played in the fwd line. So let's roll the dice and if he can't play a full game in the midfield then it's a good opportunity to rest him.

- Sydney are a good team. We didn't lose to a bad team. They're a team with some of the most dangerous small forwards in the comp (Papley and Heeney).

- I also think Harmes will get off.

- I sat right near Nathan dogga Brown on level 4. He brought his son kynan. Looks like a father/son on the way next year and a dees fan.
This is the best post I've seen from you. Reasonable, measured, and pretty accurate.
 
Apr 1, 2018
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Is Gawn THAT good anymore? I'm stoked he got his 6th AA this year but it was more to do with all other rucks being injured. I've seen more poor games from him than good this season. I'd take several current Swans players over current Gawn right now.
Gawn has always been at his best spending the majority of his time in the ruck and then folding back to help the defence. Lately he has spent some time in the ruck and a lot of time forward which is clearly not working.
 
Jun 14, 2015
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emoji137.png
haha i try not to, but it’s happened.

Dudes standing around washing glasses with people waiting half an hour to get served, i prolly would have ripped into them too but I was too angry at our crappy forward entries.
 

Lampers

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May 27, 2004
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Steven May now has the record for the most intercepts in a final since records have been kept (98')
What an amazing effort. Alot of blokes could learn from his ability to stand up under pressure
And look at all the Melbourne hating numpties in the match day thread trying to pretend May wasn’t dominating.
 

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I asked for a Mountain Goat, only to be told they didn't have any. I pointed them out in the fridge several times before they conceded they did in fact have them. Old mate apologised and brought it over, but then stated he couldn't sell it to me because it wasn't an item in the register.

I thought that was ridiculous, just put it through as a different beer. Some headband wearing fool told me they risked a $3000 fine for selling me that can of beer. I'm like mate, it's a mid-strength beer, just put it through as one of the other mid-strength beers.

Anyway, I walked away with a *in great northern and gave them a bit more of a serve about showing some ******* initiative and getting a pen and a piece of paper to display a not for sale sign over the drinks they're stocking but not selling.

Good times.
 
Oct 11, 2018
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Ok all. Apologies in advance. Here are my random, pointless and convoluted musings from watching:

1. Spargo.
The only man I trust to hit a target inside 50. If you want a team barometer, he is ours. I genuinely believe that. Can pluck a 30-40m pass just about from anywhere. We need him to get it more. At the same time we can't just rely on him to hit targets. Could Bowey also play that role? Or Salem half forward? Maybe this is more a pre-season/2023 idea.

2. Ben Brown and fwd line strategy.
BBB cops it a lot, but I really feel for him. What do we all know about BBB? 1. Not a contested marker (although last few weeks has taken a few). 2. Great(ish) set shot. 3. Used to get a lot of frees from arm chops on a lead. Not playing to his strengths at all. We seem to have a forward line strategy that is more designed around not kicking to the fat side for fear of the rebound effect. Lack of confidence in our i50 kicks perhaps? It's as if we think that a good i50 kick is one that goes out of bounds in our pocket. Ok, this might work well if we are dangerous from those types of stoppages, but last night showed we are not - and coincidentally, the Swans very much are (some of those shots on goal...nuts). Seeming lack of confidence more in our smalls being able to apply 'fat side' pressure rather than a lack of confidence in our talls taking a grab. Strategy seems to be too geared to not conceding when kicking inside 50....what?

3. Camera zooming.
Those effing frees...posing this: if the camera does not zoom in on Franklin flopping twice, does it even happen? (ancient Chinese proverb). Guarantee the umps watch the screens :p

4. 50m?
Legitimate question: why was the second Franklin flop a 50m penalty and not a free to him where he fell over? I'm sure there's a reasonable answer to this. I just don't know it.

5. Viney.
Just looked heavy and unsure tonight. Worried even. Concerning from a guy who I think is built for finals. He was one of many who favoured the panic handball to shoelaces method.

6. Back 6-7.
Honestly don't think they were bad at all. We had a 'Melbourne game' going for a lot of the night; first half especially. Had the intercepting going well. May obviously gigantic. Petty likewise (loved the Pap double tackle - clear HTB that second one but meh). People are potting Lever too but I thought he was serviceable. 3 50m pens and numerous stoppage goals isn't their doing.

7. Out on fulls.
Was it just me or did we dump an absurd number of OOTFs last night??? I lost count. And not just crap kicks i50 or shots on goal (Kozzie...the fk?!). Costly ones (Rivers 10m leftie sideways that ended up in a Stephens goal). There's hugging the boundary and then there's that. It's like the one time we tried to go in board was with Maxy (why why why why why), then after that we thought 'never again will anyone try a 45er for the rest of the night.'

8. Lack of dare.
Overall, I think I'm just disappointed at how seemingly conservative we were. If we go up by 4 goals, I presume an oppo team will drag that margin back. But if we go 3 goals down, I can't help but feel like the game is over. I don't have faith anymore that we can overcome 3+ goal deficits. That's a tough feeling to grapple with.

Done. Sorry
 

stEdy

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Nov 2, 2007
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We just don't have the legs anymore. Whether it's fitness or psychological, at the ground last night we were out of ideas in the last and never really looked like threatening.

We had no fluency or feel for the game, often going fast when we should have gone slow and slow when we should have gone fast. Fumbly, rushed and butchered a heap of good looks.

Swans were great though, hats off to them.

Clarry and May were unreal. I thought Harmes and Spargo were good and I didn't mind Harmes hitting that bloke a little late - we were so flat and someone had to try something even though it was sloppy. Fritta cracked in and capitalised on limited opportunities. Petty solid.

We took a heap of contested grabs but never then broke the game open with a handball receive and overlap. Watching the Pies they're so good at this and putting some pace on the ball.
Doesn't give our forwards a chance at all.

Can we blame gastro?:$
 
Apr 29, 2016
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Kozzy needs a big finals game or he'll start to cop the doesn't show up in big games tag. We needed him last night and was nowhere to be seen. Simply has to step up.
Goodwin is equally to blame. He could've put him in the midfield after half time to give us a spark. But no. Goodwin isn't creative enough.

But I agree. If he is a no show against Brisbane then he'll start getting Gary Rohan labels. Even tho Rohan starred today :)
 
Apr 18, 2005
30,892
26,644
AFL Club
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Ok all. Apologies in advance. Here are my random, pointless and convoluted musings from watching:

1. Spargo.
The only man I trust to hit a target inside 50. If you want a team barometer, he is ours. I genuinely believe that. Can pluck a 30-40m pass just about from anywhere. We need him to get it more. At the same time we can't just rely on him to hit targets. Could Bowey also play that role? Or Salem half forward? Maybe this is more a pre-season/2023 idea.

2. Ben Brown and fwd line strategy.
BBB cops it a lot, but I really feel for him. What do we all know about BBB? 1. Not a contested marker (although last few weeks has taken a few). 2. Great(ish) set shot. 3. Used to get a lot of frees from arm chops on a lead. Not playing to his strengths at all. We seem to have a forward line strategy that is more designed around not kicking to the fat side for fear of the rebound effect. Lack of confidence in our i50 kicks perhaps? It's as if we think that a good i50 kick is one that goes out of bounds in our pocket. Ok, this might work well if we are dangerous from those types of stoppages, but last night showed we are not - and coincidentally, the Swans very much are (some of those shots on goal...nuts). Seeming lack of confidence more in our smalls being able to apply 'fat side' pressure rather than a lack of confidence in our talls taking a grab. Strategy seems to be too geared to not conceding when kicking inside 50....what?

3. Camera zooming.
Those effing frees...posing this: if the camera does not zoom in on Franklin flopping twice, does it even happen? (ancient Chinese proverb). Guarantee the umps watch the screens :p

4. 50m?
Legitimate question: why was the second Franklin flop a 50m penalty and not a free to him where he fell over? I'm sure there's a reasonable answer to this. I just don't know it.

5. Viney.
Just looked heavy and unsure tonight. Worried even. Concerning from a guy who I think is built for finals. He was one of many who favoured the panic handball to shoelaces method.

6. Back 6-7.
Honestly don't think they were bad at all. We had a 'Melbourne game' going for a lot of the night; first half especially. Had the intercepting going well. May obviously gigantic. Petty likewise (loved the Pap double tackle - clear HTB that second one but meh). People are potting Lever too but I thought he was serviceable. 3 50m pens and numerous stoppage goals isn't their doing.

7. Out on fulls.
Was it just me or did we dump an absurd number of OOTFs last night??? I lost count. And not just crap kicks i50 or shots on goal (Kozzie...the fk?!). Costly ones (Rivers 10m leftie sideways that ended up in a Stephens goal). There's hugging the boundary and then there's that. It's like the one time we tried to go in board was with Maxy (why why why why why), then after that we thought 'never again will anyone try a 45er for the rest of the night.'

8. Lack of dare.
Overall, I think I'm just disappointed at how seemingly conservative we were. If we go up by 4 goals, I presume an oppo team will drag that margin back. But if we go 3 goals down, I can't help but feel like the game is over. I don't have faith anymore that we can overcome 3+ goal deficits. That's a tough feeling to grapple with.

Done. Sorry
Point 8 is spot on.
 

Topkent

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Kozzy kicked 2 in the qualifying final and 3 in the prelim are you guys actually ****ed in the head or do you just read posts from danster and remember things wrong?

He's also a 3rd season kid. Christ it gets frustrating when there's a stupid group think, usually the same dumb campaigners aswell
 
Logue or Lobb will look good in red and blue for Jackson

* off, Logue is unbelievably useless. Stop listening to the Freo nuffies, he still cant get a kick. No game smarts whatsoever. Looks like hes been playing the game for 6 months.
 
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Topkent

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JVR in Brown out. Make it happen. Browns completely dog s**t useless at the moment he's a ******* anchor around our finals chances. Flog him off into early retirement and get someone in who will be able to get space on an opponent.

Look at how s**t Franklin was, if he had done a hammy in the first and theyd played a smaller forward line they probably would have flogged us.
 
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