Melbourne: what do we make of them

[Boristown]

Ok, I’ll bite. Any particular umpiring decisions that you felt were unfair?

iTs ThE oNeS tHeY dOnT pAy

 

[Johnny Karate]

Ok, I’ll bite. Any particular umpiring decisions that you felt were unfair?

Complaining about umpires is the most embarrassing s**t on Bigfooty. It’s perhaps forgivable to post something like #freekickbulldogs in the moment when you have your game day rage on. However, doing it a day after is cringeworthy and claiming it affected the outcome is worse. Dogs won last night because they were clean when it mattered most.

 

[PerthBoy86]

Just not convinced they're a hardened outfit against the strong teams - Bulldogs, Cats, Richmond, even the Eagles.

3 years ago we saw Melbourne have a great year then go to water in the finals, straight out without even a whimper. They then spent 2 years in the wilderness with the same list. Then this year they had a softish start to the year, got some wins, some confidence and have kept rolling.

Im not saying that they're not a very good team, worthy of top 4, but I havent been convinced that they'd be up there when playing the hardened finals teams when the whips are cracking and yesterdays game against the Bulldogs kind of validates this i think.

Good luck to them though, be good to see them shake up the finals series.

If they've beat every top side they've played in the regular season why can't they in finals?

 

[Johnny Karate]

The last six matches have only yielded two wins which is poor, after an 11-1 start. The side has looked particularly sluggish in losses against Collingwood and GWS as well as the draw against Hawthorn. The Essendon win was underwhelming as was the Bulldogs loss, the outlier is the Port game which was an impressive performance albeit against an opponent with a few question marks.

For all that’s said about making the defence accountable, we are hardly conceding cricket scores. Ball movement has been stodgy for weeks and the likes of Langdon, Salem and May are nowhere near the form they were in earlier in the season. There has also been a bit of regression in getting too sucked into the contest which leaves us vulnerable particularly in defensive 50 stoppages. Bontempelli x 2 and English kicked goals from this last night. There also seems to be a lack of composure with the ball in hand and poor decision making from a lot of players. There’s a lot to fix but unlike 2017-20 it isn’t a gaping chasm between our best and worst.

 

[Lampers]

Dude, the Bulldogs lost their best key defender and best performing half back on the night by 3QT. Down a runner, they were gassed mid way through the last on top of being forced to cover your talls with smaller defenders. If those 2 things didn't happen, Melbourne would have scored even LESS than they did.

2 weeks in a row teams have gone tall up forward to negate the intercept marking of the Melbourne defenders, as well as trying to expose them when the ball was on the ground either in open play or at a stoppage. Both weeks it worked. Dogs kicked 6 goals from stoppage last night and that was without Dunkley and Treloar.

What does Melbourne do next time to negate it when Bulldogs will only be stronger from a personnel perspective? Play Melksham? Give Weideman another crack? Throw ANOTHER extra defender inside D50 on top of the 1 or 2 that are already normally there?

Change your profile team to Bulldogs. I may take you seriously if you’re honest enough to do that.

 

[conrad_437]

All this analysis but there's only one stat that explains it all away. Goal kicking. 13,14,13, 14 and 11 behinds last night.

Sure the umps ensured a loss last night but if Ben Brown kicks those 2 goals in the first half and pickett doesnt kick a torp from 20m out and we get an evenly umpired match then we hit the half time break up by 4 goals.

The reality is our missed chances for goal are statistically worse than any other team in the comp and it's not getting any better.

Whether we win or not, the result is on our boots, not on the other teams.

A genuine broken record you are

 

[Johnny Karate]

Change your profile team to Bulldogs. I may take you seriously if you’re honest enough to do that.

Must’ve missed the bit where Caleb Daniel was injured? Good side the Dogs, even more amazing that they’re missing 47 of their best 22.

 

[Boristown]

Must’ve missed the bit where Caleb Daniel was injured? Good side the Dogs, even more amazing that they’re missing 47 of their best 22.

I'm assuming you've taken umbrage to the half back comment? Daniel played up the field all night, spent almost 40% of game time in the attacking half so wasn't playing half back.

It's hilarious how defensive Demons fans get when the opposition's missing players are highlighted. I legit saw one of yours claiming Marty Hoare was missing lol

 

[Johnny Karate]

I'm assuming you've taken umbrage to the half back comment? Daniel played up the field all night, spent almost 40% of game time in the attacking half so wasn't playing half back.

It's hilarious how defensive Demons fans get when the opposition's missing players are highlighted. I legit saw one of yours claiming Marty Hoare was missing lol

Talking about who is not on the field is up there with blaming umpires for results in the shallow analysis stakes. Bulldogs won last night because their players on the park were better on the night. It could well happen again if we play in finals but claiming the margin would be greater simply because Martin, Treloar, Dunkley and Lin Jong will be there next time is simplistic.

 

[Boristown]

Talking about who is not on the field is up there with blaming umpires for results in the shallow analysis stakes. Bulldogs won last night because their players on the park were better on the night. It could well happen again if we play in finals but claiming the margin would be greater simply because Martin, Treloar, Dunkley and Lin Jong will be there next time is simplistic.

So if you take May out at the 10m mark of the game, you think the margin would be the same?

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Ditto. They have mids and backs covered. Flags are won by teams kicking 90 points (+/-). They struggle to get there. The wildcard for them is Brown has a month to get himself right and for the crumbers to work out how to play with him and Petracca. If he starts kicking goals like he did last week with 3 then they are in this up to their eye balls.

Petracca sprays way too many from around 45 out on the run. Either needs to fix this or start hitting up short targets inside 50.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

3 years ago we saw Melbourne have a great year then go to water in the finals, straight out without even a whimper.

What are you talking about? We beat Cats and Hawks before being smashed in Perth

 

[Johnny Karate]

So if you take May out at the 10m mark of the game, you think the margin would be the same?

May was pretty average last night, maybe Petty steps up like Schache did, or Tom McDonald has more of an influence behind the ball and de clutters the forward line, who knows? Maybe if Ed Langdon didn’t cop a concussion in the previous match against the Dogs, he wouldn’t be playing s**t now? It’s pointless speculation, the Dogs were a better side last night and both teams have room for improvement regardless of injuries.

 

[Demon bhoy]

So if you take May out at the 10m mark of the game, you think the margin would be the same?

The way he’s playing the last 2 months it wouldn’t matter

 

[Northernsoul74]

Complaining about umpires is the most embarrassing sh*t on Bigfooty. It’s perhaps forgivable to post something like #freekickbulldogs in the moment when you have your game day rage on. However, doing it a day after is cringeworthy and claiming it affected the outcome is worse. Dogs won last night because they were clean when it mattered most.

Pretty much like you were a lot better than us when you beat us in the earlier game.

 

[Shannon M]

May 17th I was onto them

9-0 flatters Melbourne and can't see them doing much damage in September.

Played teams like Geelong and Richmond at the right time, the last three weeks the games were a lot closer than they should be against weak opponents for a legitimate 9-0 side.

June 14th I was onto them

Yeah just don't rate them.

Smell of straight sets in the air come finals.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

We were pretty sh*t last night. Not as sh*t as against Collingwood, GWS and Hawthorn but still largely crap. We still got within 20 points and could’ve easily burgled the game in the last. Our best is good enough but we’d want to find it in a hurry.

Your concerns are noted but the first part of your post is simply incorrect. Until last night (and I accept that recent form is more relevant) we have convincingly beaten pretty much the entire top 8.

I don't think we were s**t, we dominated large parts of the game but failed to convert that into scores. The first 10-15 minutes the ball lived in our forward half yet we only kicked 1.4. Same deal with the start of the second quarter. Part of that was missing easy shots (a problem we need to rectify), part was not playing to the conditions and part was the fantastic pressure put on by the Dogs.

Some people are going on like we got belted by 50 points, we let the Dogs skip out to a 3-4 goal lead due to our poor inside 50 conversion and couldnt reel them in despite getting within 4 points with 10 minutes left. Dogs then sealed it with 3 late goals and that's the game.

 

[Johnny Karate]

I don't think we were sh*t, we dominated large parts of the game but failed to convert that into scores. The first 10-15 minutes the ball lived in our forward half yet we only kicked 1.4. Same deal with the start of the second quarter. Part of that was missing easy shots (a problem we need to rectify), part was not playing to the conditions and part was the fantastic pressure put on by the Dogs.

Some people are going on like we got belted by 50 points, we let the Dogs skip out to a 3-4 goal lead due to our poor inside 50 conversion and couldnt reel them in despite getting within 4 points with 10 minutes left. Dogs then sealed it with 3 late goals and that's the game.

As you say we blew several chances going forward and gave up at least 5 goals from simple mistakes - Bontempelli having too much room at two D50 stoppages, English from Gawn getting sucked inside in the first, giving Daniel a mile of space 45 out in the 3rd and letting Weightman slip through the back after taking the hanger on Gawn. Effort was ok, composure in front of the sticks and concentration in key moments defending was crap not to mention the skill level being generally poor leads me to describe our performance as s**t.

 

[Chairman Zia]

if they play geelong in the gf, Geelong by a solid 35.

 

[Boyd oh Boyd]

Defensively I think they're still the best. Teams are being very careful with kicks down the line and bombs to the goalsquare but come finals pressure I reckon players will blaze away more. Only question mark I have is how their own ball movement/decision making will hold up then as well.

 

[Trav 20]

Oliver was great, petracca not so much..

Petracca didn't receive a vote from either coach, so your view was vindicated.

Perhaps put it down to my blind love for Petracca

 

[markm106]

Petracca didn't receive a vote from either coach, so your view was vindicated.

Perhaps put it down to my blind love for Petracca

Trac had some good moments but didn’t finish a lot of his work. Went at 35% efficiency.

 

[Dangerousfield]

After an 11-1 start, I'm thinking Norm Smith has started to exert his usual influence. Dees fans waiting for lockdown to end so they can hit the ski slopes as is their usual habit at this time of the season

 

[Dee Train]

if they play geelong in the gf, Geelong by a solid 35.

We won’t make a GF based on current form

 

[Chairman Zia]

We won’t make a GF based on current form

Geelong looks the most solid and they are peaking at the right time.