Autopsy Round 21, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs Melbourne

[unty11]

I hope so, we're desperate for a KPD to come on. I have to keep reminding myself how young he is and how awful Darren Glass looked early on.

Yep and remember how poorly Edwards was playing at the start of this season and now he's improved a lot.

 

[DorothyG]

I think people had a feeling we could push or even win today that's why its annoying too.

No one though we could push or even win.

If you did, well I'm not sure what to tell you

 

[ziad]

Mcqualters has lost his happy go lucky attitude at the after match press conference. Hopefully some home truths are about to be told to a few of the remaining credit crew members

not sure who the crew is but they battles, Kelly 26 Disposals, Owies worked hard etc.

 

[BSD]

Agree on most of this besides bazzo.

I think bazzo was under a lot of pressure and disposed of it poorly but I thought he competed well and offered an outlet I think in time he'll get used to afl pressure and dispose of the ball decently. I think theirs something to work with in bazzo.

Duggan provides no leadership at all. At one of the kick ins after a point he has Petracca and a eagles teammate to his right
there is about 4-5m between the two and he kicks it straight to Petracca who puts it through for a goal. He should have been dragged off the ground for his stupidity.
Delist him as he is only going to get worse than he already is. You can't polish a turd.

 

[Astro7]

Only caught last half of game, was predictably woeful. Barely worth reviewing coz it's just rinse+repeat same old, same old.
Any news on the performance of Gross and Chess? Didn't see them much.

 

[Coasters7]

not sure who the crew is but they battles, Kelly 26 Disposals, Owies worked hard etc.

They all work relatively hard. They’re just not that good.

We have a mix of talented youngsters that can’t physically work hard enough, blokes who toil but aren’t good, and front runners who don’t impact at all.

McCarthy was the only one that could match talent with work rate and look how much he stands out. Yeo and Harley and probably the only other two on the list that are capable

 

[Godfather32]

Only caught last half of game, was predictably woeful. Barely worth reviewing coz it's just rinse+repeat same old, same old.
Any news on the performance of Gross and Chess? Didn't see them much.

As a certified Chesser de-lister...he actually played pretty well. First time at AFL level I've really seen him show something over most of a game and not just one or two flashes, hopefully he closes out the season in the same way.

 

[BSD]

Don't pay the 'push in the back' all year, but pay it in this game. All against WC, all in front of goals

yeah ok

And that rule still doesn't apply to max gawn, but they did pay us one in our backline to offset the 2 in front of their goals.
Once again we got 4 inexperienced white maggots to umpire our game, only 178 games experience from the 4.
Bring on the AI umpires anything has to be better than this lot.

 

[mattyc75]

Owies did well, more of a link up player than small forward.
McCarthy good again
Maric got lots of it and for the most part used it well

 

[BSD]

Yeah I was hoping we'd fight it out and would've been reasonably content with a high 30s mid 40s margin but it got ugly fast and we didn't know what to do.

Not much hope of that happening when you have a shit captain who can't lead by example.

 

[unty11]

Duggan provides no leadership at all. At one of the kick ins after a point he has Petracca and a eagles teammate to his right
there is about 4-5m between the two and he kicks it straight to Petracca who puts it through for a goal. He should have been dragged off the ground for his stupidity.
Delist him as he is only going to get worse than he already is. You can't polish a turd.

Sorry mate duggan is signed up to what I believe is 2027 so no chance of him getting delisted any time soon. I think next year graham or baker will be captain giving mini the opportunity to drop duggan.

I've noticed that other teams wont man up duggan in the hopes we kick it to him instead of other better ball users because when he disposes of it usually turns into a turnover or a ball up.

 

[southcoast]

+
Gibney - not just today but all season looks like he is giving 100%. If a few others joined him, we'd be a damn better side.
Chesser - looked like he belonged today. Good wheels and ball delivery.
Reid - in ruck - too light and against a multiple AA looked OK.
Cole - thought he went OK today. Missed a crucial shot on goal at a crucial time but that happens
TMac - very good, agaoin.
Maric - a few costly errors early but regrouped and contributed.
Hewett - a more sustained effort
Gross - started well but tailed off. Highlights he needs a tank and muscle.
Our Mel supporters - brave.

-
Kelly - got a lot of it. Lots and lots of cheapies and few at the coalface where physical contact is required.
Cripps - late cheapies
BWilliams - competed at bounce but Gawn had him easily around the ground. Needs to develop physicality around the ground and throw his weight around to look after the young ones.
Davis - on late. Would have swapped him in earlier.
Delivery into forward line sux.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Owies did well, more of a link up player than small forward.

Vanished into thin air at half time.

 

[Jed Clampet]

McCarthy was great, so glad we picked him up.
Chesser was good, if he keeps that up he will get a contract extension.
Cole was good except that kick on goal.
Not an Owies fan but he worked hard.
Hewitt good.

I know Maric gets a bit of the ball but frustrates the sh1t out of me.
Bailey Williams is not a ruckman, maybe if you’re getting beaten be next to Gawn and learn something.

If I was Jack Williams I’d walk into Mini’s office and tell him to play me in the ruck, I won’t be any worse than the crabs that we use now.

 

[Avalor]

- Gross got 1 solitary CBD all game. After all the talk of him filling the void of no Harley, this is the opportunity he gets?? Go look in the mirror McQualter.

- This whole Hough midfield thing is a waste of time. I'm all for just leaving McCarthy there and Hough goes back into defense where he's played his best footy.

- Tall forwards have an excuse as they're only young, but Williams letting Gawn do whatever he wanted all game in marking contests was abysmal. Drop him plz.

- No real green shoots. Good to see A.Reid get more of an opportunity in the ruck, and good to see McCarthy get 4 CBA's finally, but for anyone who didn't watch this game you miss absolutely nothing. Nothing good. No shoots, nothing worth looking at again. Give it a miss.

- Cripps, Owies just awful again. Cripps is totally getting an extension given he's leading our goal kicking, so be prepared for this pairing again come round 1 next year.

- Trounced in the midfield, uncompetitive at CBD's. Would love a coaching and stoppage shakeup because it's not not feasible or good enough.

- First quarter was one of the most pathetic displays of a footy team I've seen this year. I questioned how the AFL can actually let us even be a part of the comp still with how we played. The fumbles, the skills, the lack of direction and game plan... Just pathetic.

- Maric annoys me. It's harsh, but I don't care if he gets 50 touches a game, his defensive efforts and decision making isn't wining me over. I'd prefer he got it less tbh. 7 direct turnovers, excluding the dumb kicks to a 50-50 which get spoiled and turned over as well.

- Davis as sub. Why? You give a young player a go to see what they can do, especially this late in the year, so what is he going to show in 1 quarter ffs. Should've been Owies.




+ McCarthy bounced back after a quiet couple weeks with some dare and dash. Actual elite kicking, as opposed to what Maric does.

+ Happy for Chesser. I do expect he'll get an extension, I said as much even before this game. Hopefully he can carry on with it for the final 3 game.s

+ Cole was good. Rarely gets praise on this board but deserves it. 24D, 9 intercepts, 3 tackles. Solid.

+ Career high disposals for Hewett. The build continues. Just gonna have to be patient.

100% on all of this!

 

[Astro7]

Pretty dour interview post game. Coach keeps saying 'clearly not good enough, we have to get better'. Been saying that all season. Says we have to show something that we can bank on over the last few games, said that last week. Says they're not tough enough as a team. At this stage of the season, with the remaining team we have, it's like trying make a silk purse from a sow's ear? You have to be realistic, surely as a coach you can see the talent pool is shallow and mainly young, nothing substantial will come of it against top sides over last few games, just more of the same?
I guess he has no other choice but to continually roll out hopium.
Tough corner for him to be in...looks like it will spiral down to a dismal end of season.
Expecting a big shake up post season!

 

[MeltMan]

another weekend another night shift that meant i sleep through our game.
tossing up between watching only the highlights package, the minimatch, or just Alesana footage of our vote getters.
11am match means they can probably fly home today, is that a positive?

 

[Avalor]

Post game, the coach was well and truly pissed off. So he should be - woeful! But woeful from him too. Losing faith in Mini. Selection and tactics are wanting!

 

[Westend]

Post game, the coach was well and truly pissed off. So he should be - woeful! But woeful from him too. Losing faith in Mini. Selection and tactics are wanting!

really? looks like he is too soft with the playing group

he hasn't improved the list as of yet

 

[ukurrie]

+ just like the AFL strategically scheduling games in Tassie in the middle of winter, we’re equally playing 4D chess by stinking the league out at the end of the season to get some priority picks

- I think there’s been a change in the interpretation of push in the back but it appears the clubs’ are unaware. But what makes me pause is that, each time, only one of three closest umpires - often the one furthest away - thought it was push in the back. It’s not a conspiracy (we lose the argument when we bed wet like that), but it is absolutely incompetent

 

[Barrybran]

Pretty dour interview post game. Coach keeps saying 'clearly not good enough, we have to get better'. Been saying that all season. Says we have to show something that we can bank on over the last few games, said that last week. Says they're not tough enough as a team. At this stage of the season, with the remaining team we have, it's like trying make a silk purse from a sow's ear? You have to be realistic, surely as a coach you can see the talent pool is shallow and mainly young, nothing substantial will come of it against top sides over last few games, just more of the same?
I guess he has no other choice but to continually roll out hopium.
Tough corner for him to be in...looks like it will spiral down to a dismal end of season.
Expecting a big shake up post season!

It would be a tough gig at the moment. He knows where the holes are and that he can't do anything about them until November. He knows he can't just throw ALL of the kids in there; he needs some senior representation. And he's just lost his most influential midfielder for the year. There aren't too many levers left to pull this year.

That said, he's still trying things. Archer as second ruck. Baker back in the middle. Dewar up forward. McCarthy into the middle. All he can do at this point is try things out and see how players respond and try to keep up morale until more troops arrive.

 

[WCEswift]

No one should be shocked the big midfield teams smash us, add in graham going out and it got worse, add in harley injury it was almost certain. their smallest mid is bigger than our biggest, we got bullied

 

[Tugga27]

Post game, the coach was well and truly pissed off. So he should be - woeful! But woeful from him too. Losing faith in Mini. Selection and tactics are wanting!

Knew we should've kept Culley

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

We got beaten for effort today. Melbourne applied much more pressure than we did, ran harder both ways, tackled with intention, were first to the footy most of the time and fought harder for the footy than us when they weren't.

I can accept being beaten. I know we have a young team on the park so i am not expecting miracles. But being beaten for effort by that kind of margin is unacceptable and McQualter needs to make sure the players know that.

 

[mattyc75]

Vanished into thin air at half time.

Much like 95% of the team