Toast How can this Melbourne side be stopped?

Apr 18, 2005
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It's not just that they're out of form, it's their record against top 8 teams. The next 4 rounds will tell a story.

We've all been banging on about their dysfunctional forward line. Does anyone have the I50 count from last night. Actually would be great to see I50 count for the full season and goals kicked per game. I think it will make for interesting reading.
Our pressure has been horrid. Brown not marking it, Weidemann just not up to it. At least McDonald gave something. Lucky we Fritsch.
 
Apr 18, 2005
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I thought Weideman was pretty good last night, best game he's played for at least 12 months
He was good, his issue is urgency and I simply don’t think he goes hard enough or works very hard off the ball. Given he kicked three you can’t drop him but I hope he finds some more campaigner over the next few weeks.

We really needed Lever and we need our much vaunted midfield to be better. The flack has to go on the big names in the middle. Hopefully Essendon hangs on against Collingwood.
 
Jul 26, 2007
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Lol. These threads are so funny.

A team wins a flag, comes out the next season full of confidence and wins 10 straight and someone starts a silly thread saying 'how can they be stopped'.

Later in season they get beaten.

Wow.....who would have thought even a good team eventually loses a couple of games.l
 

BarryMorgan

Premiership Player
Jan 17, 2013
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Don’t be evasive.

They didn’t even make the 8. Nobody is suggesting winning again in 17, but not making the 8 is pretty grim. They’ve also done stuff all since that flag.

Do you know how hard it is to go back to back? In the modern era?
Stuff all, besides making the grand final last year? Yes, we got smashed by a much better side, but making the GF is still an achievement nonetheless.
 

LightTower4

Premiership Player
Mar 3, 2004
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Lol. These threads are so funny.

A team wins a flag, comes out the next season full of confidence and wins 10 straight and someone starts a silly thread saying 'how can they be stopped'.

Later in season they get beaten.

Wow.....who would have thought even a good team eventually loses a couple of games.l

Thread started in May 2021 by a Bulldog fan after Adelaide beat us by a point and we were playing the Dogs the next week.
Thread was started as a joke.
 

thecuzsays

seancurreyfitness (instagram)
Jun 23, 2015
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Much harder fixture than last year and still gonna be playing finals and with that much exposure against top 8 teams could instantly ignite at finals time. The 8 rounds of fixturing will be way harder than the first 1-2 weeks of finals for melbourne. A week off before finals starts as well. You wont want to play them first up in finals.
 

old55

Club Legend
Feb 12, 2011
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Richmond did it, Hawthorn did it twice in their premiership stint - that’s pretty recent history.

If you’re looking purely at ladder position then it’s quite possible the Dees fall a similar number of spots to the Doggies the year after their premiership win - 5th-9th, Dees could go 1st-5th.

The baseline and expectations were a lot higher for Melbourne. The general opinion for the Doggies was they’d jagged one before the list had properly come together and eventually they’d be challenging with a more mature squad - which did happen 5 years later.
Back-to-back for drought breaking premiership teams is rare. Brisbane did it in 2001-3, Adelaide in 1997-8, prior to that you have to go back to Essendon 1984-5. Plenty of teams have tried and failed since Brisbane did it most recently - Port, Sydney, Geelong, Hawthorn, Collingwood, The Dogs, Richmond. Melbourne will be defying recent history if we can do it.
 
Jul 24, 2009
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Can they beat Collingwood
Luckily we get to find out Friday. Coming off arguably our best performance of the season, I would expect us to be playing close to our best this week. If the Pies roll us again it will be very impressive.
 

Crusty Demon

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2009
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Can they beat Collingwood
Some teams just match up incredibly well on other sides. Pies are one of those teams for Melbourne. Would not be surprised to see Pies win this weekend. I'll be convinced about the Dees if we can get over the Pies Friday night. Great test for both clubs i reckon.
 
We thrashed Collingwood in 2020. Since then they’ve played us right in the middle of two major form slumps/loading phases. If we turn up and play four quarters like we did against Freo and they beat us or run us really close I’ll believe they ‘match up well’ on us in some way that other teams don’t, but the fact that they beat us last year and this year is meaningless on our end for now.
 
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