Mightydees
Senior List
- Joined
- May 19, 2009
- Posts
- 296
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- 3
- Location
- Melbourne
- AFL Club
- Melbourne
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- Liverpool
As you are no doubt aware the players were called 'soft' and accused of playing 'bruise-free footy' during the week and the predictable response from Brad Green has been that the players are pumped and ready to go hard and prove the knockers wrong. My questions for the playing group are:
1. Aren't you a group of professional athletes?
2. Why does it take public insults to get you 'pumped'?
3. Is Dean Bailey that bad a bloke that you don't want to play for him?
The game this week against the Bombers is meaningless to me - the boys can't expect to win this game and suddenly regain the respect they have lost. I have been a Melbourne supporter and/or member for over 30 years and during that time it has become very clear to me that we are capable of putting in tough, desperate performances but that those performances are rare and usually come when we are publically insulted or our members scream bloody murder! I have no doubt that Brad and the boys will come out this week and make our supporters proud to wear the red and the blue…unfortunately that generally only lasts for the 5 or 6 days following the game. How do you rectify that?
"DESPERATION" needs to be the players motto. EVERY player must be DESPERATE to win the ball…DESPERATE to win every contest…DESPERATE to win the game. Our footy appears "soft" not only because we played negative and outside footy last week but because our players are not DESPERATE.
I go to every game and although it is not apparent from replays on the tv I can guarantee you that some of the players (not all) are just going through the motions on the field. An example is a spoil - Collingwood players are always desperate to spoil the kicker but I have noticed that the Dees players will put their arms out, because that is what they have been told they have to do, but there is no DESPERATION or belief that they can actually effect the spoil. Another example is chasing the ball carrier. Our players chase but sitting on the boundary you can clearly see that there is no DESPERATION or belief that they will actually catch the ball carrier. Finally, when the game gets blown out a bit, heads go down and more players lose any DESPERATION they might have had.
As a supporter and member of the MFC at the very least I demand 4 quarters of DESPERATION regardless of who pulls on the jumper and regardless of what the result is. If the DESPERATION is there then I am a happy member.
A good example is Rafa Nadal. This bloke literally plays every point as if it is the only point in the match. The score board means nothing to him because he approaches every point as DESPERATELY as the last. He is so DESPERATE to win every single point that he usually wins every game. Our blokes could learn a lot from Rafa Nadal. Forget about the scoreboard and focus on every single contest as a separate challenge and be absolutely DESPERATE to win as many of those challenges as you can. That is the mind set of winners and I don't see that in our playing group at the minute.
DESPERATION in footy is what wins footy matches and what gels supporters and clubs alike. I know that it is within us but we need every player to commit to it.
So I am begging you MFC….make DESPERATION a minimum standard…tattoo the bloody word on the players hands if you have to but make sure they play with DESPERATION for 4 quarters every game. If they don't then drop them…regardless of who they are because their lack of DESPERATION is apparent to the members and that will lead to the members not being so DESPERATE to sign up again next year.
GO DEES
1. Aren't you a group of professional athletes?
2. Why does it take public insults to get you 'pumped'?
3. Is Dean Bailey that bad a bloke that you don't want to play for him?
The game this week against the Bombers is meaningless to me - the boys can't expect to win this game and suddenly regain the respect they have lost. I have been a Melbourne supporter and/or member for over 30 years and during that time it has become very clear to me that we are capable of putting in tough, desperate performances but that those performances are rare and usually come when we are publically insulted or our members scream bloody murder! I have no doubt that Brad and the boys will come out this week and make our supporters proud to wear the red and the blue…unfortunately that generally only lasts for the 5 or 6 days following the game. How do you rectify that?
"DESPERATION" needs to be the players motto. EVERY player must be DESPERATE to win the ball…DESPERATE to win every contest…DESPERATE to win the game. Our footy appears "soft" not only because we played negative and outside footy last week but because our players are not DESPERATE.
I go to every game and although it is not apparent from replays on the tv I can guarantee you that some of the players (not all) are just going through the motions on the field. An example is a spoil - Collingwood players are always desperate to spoil the kicker but I have noticed that the Dees players will put their arms out, because that is what they have been told they have to do, but there is no DESPERATION or belief that they can actually effect the spoil. Another example is chasing the ball carrier. Our players chase but sitting on the boundary you can clearly see that there is no DESPERATION or belief that they will actually catch the ball carrier. Finally, when the game gets blown out a bit, heads go down and more players lose any DESPERATION they might have had.
As a supporter and member of the MFC at the very least I demand 4 quarters of DESPERATION regardless of who pulls on the jumper and regardless of what the result is. If the DESPERATION is there then I am a happy member.
A good example is Rafa Nadal. This bloke literally plays every point as if it is the only point in the match. The score board means nothing to him because he approaches every point as DESPERATELY as the last. He is so DESPERATE to win every single point that he usually wins every game. Our blokes could learn a lot from Rafa Nadal. Forget about the scoreboard and focus on every single contest as a separate challenge and be absolutely DESPERATE to win as many of those challenges as you can. That is the mind set of winners and I don't see that in our playing group at the minute.
DESPERATION in footy is what wins footy matches and what gels supporters and clubs alike. I know that it is within us but we need every player to commit to it.
So I am begging you MFC….make DESPERATION a minimum standard…tattoo the bloody word on the players hands if you have to but make sure they play with DESPERATION for 4 quarters every game. If they don't then drop them…regardless of who they are because their lack of DESPERATION is apparent to the members and that will lead to the members not being so DESPERATE to sign up again next year.
GO DEES
