Game Day AAMI Community Series - Western Bulldogs v Melbourne Demons

AAMI WB v MELB “Best on Ground” will be:

  • Kade Chandler

    Votes: 4 21.1%
  • Someone else who plays for the Dees

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • A Western Bulldog

    Votes: 3 15.8%
  • One of the Bulldogs train-on players that nobody has heard of

    Votes: 5 26.3%
  • OMac

    Votes: 7 36.8%

  • Total voters
    19

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Last week I thought we moved the ball much better than we did in 2020. The development issue is much more concerning. I get the feeling we went into yesterday with a depleted list thinking we could still compete and match the Dogs in the contest. The fact that we got beaten there so badly shows our depth is a real problem.
Does it? I mean I think most sides would struggle missing their three best inside mids (I don’t include Trac in that bracket as an inside mid similar to how I don’t think of Dusty that way). Especially against the Dogs who bat deeper in the middle than any other side - Bont, Hunter, Libba, Macrae, Dunkley and now Treloar with Wallis and McNeil able to go through there. I would argue that no side bats six A-graders deep in the guts other than the Dogs.
 

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Senior players like Petracca are obviously being instilled into them that the failures of last year (and almost every year previous) is somehow solely attributable to problems of attitude, but of course that doesnt examine why there are problems with attitude.

If there are problems with attitude or fortitude, it's largely due to a lack of players confidence in themselves, in eachother - in what the group is trying to do. Our game plan under Goodwin is awful and relies almost solely on talent of a few players. Structures and contingencies are almost non-existent. It instills no confidence. Even the best attitudes and loyalty to coaches cannot overcome massive structural deficiencies in the way the team plays the game.

It's impossible to get excited about this club or this season with Goodwin still at the helm, we're dead in the water from now until whatever threshold needs to be reached by the internal bean counters which makes it justifiable to sack him and pay out his contract.

The naysayers might point to Thompson at Geelong or Hardwick at Richmond as examples of coaches who needed 7 seasons and many failures to deliver success. But my observation is that they're arent comparable to Goodwin at all. We're not looking at gradual improvement punctuated by one bad season. We're looking at one decent season amongst three categorical underperformances, all marked by terrible losses to round out the season.

I want to be optimistic, but I'm more inclined to be realistic. The best outcome for this season is for Goodwin to no longer be head coach at the MFC. Only then can we have some genuine hope.
 
I don't understand this hate for all the "melts". These opinions are entirely justified. I'd like to see how anyone can remain positive when we seem to be dishing up the same crap that has led to mid table mediocrity for years.

It's a preseason game without Oliver, Salem, Viney, Brayshaw, Ben Brown, Melksham, Hibberd, Weidemann, Pickett. Against a good team. With many of our boys desperate to prove a point/make an impression. Save the melts for Round 1
 
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