Thoughts On The Melbourne game

[jenny61_99]

They were my 5 best players but not in that order.

Huddo had a corker of a last quarter to get us going from the centre breaks.

May not have been my order either! Just know they were the 5 that impressed me. Too bloody depressed to give them a rating!

 

[chopper55555]

I went. A whole-of-ground perspective - they manned-up, we zoned. They had much better disposal than us and it counted. We fumbled on a number of occasions, over-running the ball. They were fiercer at the ball for much of the time. When our attitude switched on we looked good.. too little, too late.

Our attitude let us down and Melbourne capitalized.

We played like rubbish and only lost by just over 2 goals, so there's hope.

 

[bus24]

We played like rubbish and only lost by just over 2 goals, so there's hope.

But boy, the result really flattered us. We didn't deserve to be any sort of position to pinch that game today.

 

[chopper55555]

Yep... signs of a good side showed, but I maintain we've been lucky so far... some of the games have been close and could have tipped either way.

 

[Filthy Fielke]

Well that was awful to watch!

Came home to watch the taped the game after working today and got totally smashed on the red wine in the 2nd quarter, damn that was hard to watch. We haven't been so comprehensively beaten (as we were in the 2nd) since Brissie in 2004. Bloody depressing!

Having said that I've since watched the last quarter of the Swans here in Sydney and hit the pub. I now feel I'm a little more objective, if way more drunk

The Demons were due for a win and are much better than their record would suggest. We were awful in the second and ordinary in the third, but if we'd kicked those easy ones, well who knows?

The Champions: Our veteren guns were switched on today. Edwards must have been reading Nikki's posts and pulled his finger out, Macca was his usual self although some of his disposals were a little less than vintage, Goodwin was !#@$%!! brilliant and Bassett did his usual stitch up on Robbo, although he didn't provide much run out of defence. I thought it was a good return by Roo, a couple of goals and a beauty of a handpass to Shirls to set up what should have been a gimme goal. The woeful commentators said he'd played all but 6 mins of the game (or 8, or 11, or.... ahh I can't remember- I'm smashed and they're stoopid- anyway he seemed to play most of the game!). As the cliche goes: he'll be better for the run!

The Backbone group: This is probably where we were let down. I think its a testament to themselves and our developing squad that we no longer rely on the Fab Five (yes I include Bassett) to win our games, nowadays we count on those who we used to call the 2nd tier.

Thompson was nullified by one of the in form taggers of the comp, and has already been mentioned he probably hasn't had to deal with the premier tagger much before. I think its a compliment to him that he was considered our prime mover and was tagged accordingly.

Reilly was injured early and it is arguable that he should not have been playing (did I spy a thread on this?). We have certainly missed his class recently.

Johncock was carved up by Davey, but I still think he did some good stuff. I don't agree with all of this 'he's fat' malarkey, he's coming back from injury after all (yeah alright he's a favourite!).

Apart from that awful shot on goal I thought Shirls was pretty good.

I don't think Doughty was bad, but his form has certainly dipped compared to the last couple of seasons. He still provides a hard body and commitment to the contest that only someone of his age can (oops I'm s'posed to say he's young aren't I?).

Truck did a good job on Melbourne's softly spoken captain, and I think he provided some creative play when we made our run on the last quarter.

I thought Mattner was OK, but he really does need to develop his right foot, even I can kick on my non-dominant side. I actually don't mind him in the back line

Torney was reliable as ever, no doubt he'll get noticed this week because of that goal.

Pity about Pez, I thought he might just have been winded but it looks like a shoulder injury by the way he was walking off. I hope its not a reconstruction. K Mac to come in next week.

I've always had a soft spot for Stevo, and I think he'll provide a good 3rd tall in attack option, replacing Bock.

In the past I've wanted Bock on the forward line, but I have finally gone with what quite a few have said around here, to the back lines Chicken Man. No way in hell was that a free, no hands and no push until the Demon had turned and was facing Bock. Still I understand why it was payed as at first glance it looked like the type of thing that the new rule was supposed to enforce (bull$#!^ rule that it is).

Welsh had a dirty day simple as that. He's won plenty of games for us in the last couple of weeks, and if I was that sort of person I might have said that his misses lost it for us this week. But I'm not that sort of person.

Huddo, well I have a bit of a man crush on him so we'll leave it at that

The Crushers: Porps was up there with the Champs, jeez he's good. He's got the skills, the hardness and the footy brain to be a star (and he's a good Westies lad!). Knights was a little off his form this year but was still great considering his experience. VB was OK, but has disappeared at times recently. Although he did come good in the 4th. Griff did well considering his preparation and we can expect a little bit of up and down at his level of development.

The Coach: A bit of a test for Craigie but he'll learn from the experience . I thought it was good he mixed it up a little bit (Thommo and Stevo to FF at times, Bock to defence, Roo in the middle when we needed a spark), after all if its all about the structure then we should be able to swap players around during the match.

My God look at how much I've written. Look at the time! I'm a drunken dribbling mess, sorry about that!

Good night all

 

[macca23]

^^^^

Drunk you may have been, but it was a damn good read, and pretty spot on.

Well done.

 

[samdaman_2]

as entertaining as it was if all our players played so well we should have won the bloody game!

we were awful yesterday! wen we have a team as skilled as we have why do we not take teams on and try and actually win the games ourselves? we waited til the last quarter to play any type of attacking football and i just dont get why we didnt take the game on from the word go. yes melbourne has a reasonable side despite their record but we are a much better side and we have to learn to play to win not block the opposition out then try and kick just enough of a score.

take on the bloody game craigy! sick of watching the crap you dish up each week. we played the 3 bottom sides the last week and have looked awful in every one of them. it was only a matter of time bfor we lost. i left the game at the 20min mark of the 3rd quarter it was that boring, embarrrassing and frustrating to watch.

i would rather see us lose taking the game and opposition on than watching us lose in a slow boring way. i could tell in the warm up yesterday they didnt look like they came to play. they were mucking around and didnt seem to be as focused as usual. especially wen all week they said it was a danger game.

we will not win a flag playing this boring shit we keep dishing up. i love adelaide but i want us to show the skills we have. we have some very highly skilled players and i believe we can match it with anyone so why dont we start moving the ball fast, attacking the game and see how high a score we can kick, rather than how low we ca keep the opposition score. lets be an attacking team rather than defensive. if we attack the defense will look after itself.

come on craigy show a bit of faith in the side.

 

[chopper55555]

if we attack the defense will look after itself.

come on craigy show a bit of faith in the side.

I don't think the 1st comment is strictly in accordance with modern footy outcomes. Can you define the things that changed the 2nd quarter into the last ? The defensive pressure and attack from defence appeared to heat up ?

The 2nd comment I wonder about... Craigy is noted for showing faith in the players... and he does know his side and does his homework.

Our attitude beat us this week. We could have pinched the game.

 

[- PC -]

Well I made it to Adelaide and sat down and watched the game. Looked like we were in trouble early but we got the lead for the 1st.

Second quarter showed a lot of things. We were not switched on and Melbourne had come to play. The chased they hassled they pressured and they won the ball...they also were lucky in that everything they tried came off and everything we tried went bad...

We looked like we expected to switch on and we didnt do the hard things. We looked like we were in defensive mode and not attacking..point incase Stiffys effort at marking the kick out... lazy at it and more concerned about the other body than the ball

The last quarter highlighted for me a few issues ( one I will talk about on Tuesday or Wednesday) but the one that annoyed me the most...you cannot expect to get the ball when you zone off. Melbourne can spend all day chipping the ball around and you wont get it unless they make a skill mistake...this skill mistake can be increased by manning up...and dont call me a grumpy old man who yells ''man up''...because I am right....football is still a game played by people who feel pressure when they have another body close to them.

I thought the reason for dropping Jericho was because it was a like for like swap...so from this we can take it that Luke would have started at FF?? BS.

I also thought that with Roo back Welsh would be free to play 2nd or 2rd forward and he would dominate...

People know my feelings on Welsh so I will just say he had a poor game.

The final point I want to make, and funnily enough I see this as a positive and also a challenge to the 2 named, but we can no longer say ..No McLeod,Edwards and Goodwin and No Adelaide... I think we need Thompson and Reilly more...and the challenge for Thompson especially is to learn how to play with the tag

 

[Damp Squarie]

Losing Thompson hurt us.
Do people realize how good he has been this year!

Melbourne were on a mission and full credit to Daniher but they didnt need coaching.

 

[SkinFeeling]

I also thought that with Roo back Welsh would be free to play 2nd or 2rd forward and he would dominate...

I thought that too.
But I suppose if he'd kicked at least 3 out of the 4(?) shots he had on goal, he wouldnt have done too badly.

 

[brown30]

No ...I had a direct view ...the umpire was in perfect position ...and look at Bock's reaction to the free kick ....it was "how dumb was I"

Oh dear.....

 

[brown30]

I thought the reason for dropping Jericho was because it was a like for like swap...so from this we can take it that Luke would have started at FF?? BS.

So who DO they drop then?

I mean fair chop. Ricciuto had to come back and someone had to make way. Jericho was the obvious one.

 

[- PC -]

So who DO they drop then?

I mean fair chop. Ricciuto had to come back and someone had to make way. Jericho was the obvious one.

Not so obvious to me.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

Good post Filthy.

I didn't think Craigy coached too badly yesterday. You could tell the players weren't switched. Maybe a case of just rock up and the scoreline will fix itself.

Nice to see no Craigy v Ayres comparisons after a disappointing loss for once.

 

[South East Young Gun]

Well what a depressing day ......having said that the game standard in the first half was a very good standard .....after half time a bit boring ....probably mainly due to Melbournes dominance and the gap in scores.

You can't win footy with half a dozen or so players not switched onto the contest .......Melnourne definately were the "hungrier" side today .......we played up to about the standard of the previous two games BUT this time we got caught out by a desperate side.

First qtr was pretty even with what apperaed a strategy to drag Melb defenders up the ground and then turn them ......worked Ok too .......however for the rest of the game what was noticable was that our forwards played from behind and were generally a kick & a half from the Crows player releasing the ball ....easy pickings for the Melb defence.

The other noticable thing was the upsurges in tempo, attack on the ball and urgency at varous stages of the game ............this is the problem ......why were there such variances in the Crows game, why were Melb the hunter on the day and the Crows the chaser ........why aren't we more consistent at attcking the ball and getting it first rather than apparently putting the foot on and taking it off the accelerator???????

There were many instances today where in critical passages our players were positioned either for the link handball or the receive only for poor foot & hand skills to create a turnover to Melb

The shortage of KPP pressure for spots is starting to hurt us .....and frankly I'm not sure we have the answers other than to get the existing KPP players back into some form..

OK for the players who just were not switched on ......and remember some had cameo prerformances BUT 10 minutes of footy isn't going to win many games particularly if there are half a dozen in the same boat.

Bock: Start of the season I saw him at training .....he was confident, aggressive and importantly using his strong 193cm frame to shrug tackles and take strong contest marks .......well he's a shadow of that player .....easily stopped by smaller players, not using pace to get free and SETTLE before kicking ....and that hands in the back free against was simply demonstrating that he's not in the correct frame of mind.

Didn't have to read any further. If your view is the equivilent of Darren Goldspink, who once again cost an interstate team victory in Melbourne then your opionion is not worth reading.

 

[Markthirtytwo]

Wasn't a free kick IMO. Held his ground but didn't use his hands.

The same thing with Rutten in the last qtr, used his body but was paid against for using his hands. Ridiculous.

On on that bloody rule, why is it in the back going for a mark, but when a player has the ball and is getting his kick away, someone using their hands in the back and no free kick. What gives here? Bloody ridiculous.

 

[Markthirtytwo]

Would give so much for Rutten! Ricciuto showed he still has it, kicked a ripping goal. Hudson won alot of hitouts, Griffin was only against Johnson, don't think you lost the game in the ruck. Thought the umps were good on holding the ball, can't remember too many today, in my heavily biase view i think they were poor but didn't favour anyone, amazing how many more frees you get when your winning (us in the 2nd, you in the last).

That's crap Thats correct..

Basically holding the ball rule is not giving the ball player a chance to get rid of it. As soon as someone grab the pill, the player sweating off until he tackles the ball player gets the better of the deal. Just plain unfair.

 

[Markthirtytwo]

I was greatly impressed by...................the new northern stand and the great small electronic scoreboard.

Thats it.

 

[Stiffy_18]

I'm bloody tired of reading that rubbish time and time again.

His form is very consistent and right up there with the best week after week.


He works his arse off to get the ball and while he makes some errors so do some of the players who get it about one third as much as he does.

Look he got a lot of it and he always does but my god did he **** up a lot of it on saturday. His decision making under pressure was back to the rabbit in the head lights stuff. So often he would pick the wrong option and so often he would kick a floater to one on one option when he had a team mate open in a better position and in his view.

No doubt he is a good young player but we are pointing out his weaknesses that were apparent to anyone that was at the game and paying any sort of attention to the game.

If Knight can tidy up that part of his game he will be a superstar of the competition. He is no doubt getting better at it. Its a slow and painful process but when he has one of "those" games we are allowed to criticize it, just as we are allowed to praise his excellent games of which he had a few this year.

 

[the egg]

fair to say daren goldspink kicked about 2 crucial goals for melbourne! he was their best player by far

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Look he got a lot of it and he always does but my god did he **** up a lot of it on saturday. His decision making under pressure was back to the rabbit in the head lights stuff. So often he would pick the wrong option and so often he would kick a floater to one on one option when he had a team mate open in a better position and in his view.

No doubt he is a good young player but we are pointing out his weaknesses that were apparent to anyone that was at the game and paying any sort of attention to the game.

If Knight can tidy up that part of his game he will be a superstar of the competition. He is no doubt getting better at it. Its a slow and painful process but when he has one of "those" games we are allowed to criticize it, just as we are allowed to praise his excellent games of which he had a few this year.

Well said ......we're all of the opinion he'll be a good player .....but his game against Meb needs to be critiqued not on quantity of possessions but there effectiveness ......it was an average game.

 

[South East Young Gun]

fair to say daren goldspink kicked about 2 crucial goals for melbourne! he was their best player by far

Agreed.

Lets have a look at Melbourne's three second half goals:

1) Robertson kicks the ball off the ground and through. Van Berlo immediately puts the hand up to signify touched. Umpires confer - goal.

I'm not upset about that so much, but exactly how did the tackled Melbourne dispose of the ball correctly?

He didn't!

2) Bock gives away a 'hands in the back' free in the goal square. I thought the umpire had to be in the right position to pay this, but silly me, it was Darren umpiring, and that plum pud wasn't. Easy goal despite it being a forearm, not hands.

3) Neitz from outside fifty. Great kick don't get me wrong, but that came directly after a Crows player was buried some 6-8 inches into MCG goalsquare at Punt Road end.

In the back?

Nah - try holding the ball.

While I don't think the Crows played thair best, I don't think they were given a fair go at the footy by the two men and one pudding in... I think it was green.

On the way to the Storm game I did hear one commentator say that Melbourne were first to the footy and deserved the frees in their favour, but if that is so, how come Adelaide led the hard ball gets throughout the day?

 

[Markthirtytwo]

More often that not, we were second to the ball and chasing jumpers.
And when we had it, they made us either cough it up with bad disposal or we did it all on our own.

To be honest, the only reason we got within pinching the game was they were tiring and we did start to put pressure on they started to get the wobblies.

Only Edwards played four quarters of football, and to those who knocked him for not manning up, he was peeling off his opponent and creating that loose link man, but we turned it over so many times, more often than not it was his opponent that received the ball and made him look slack.

Again honestly Goody only got his disposals ala Buckley style, they didn't hurt. Roo played pretty good for his return but was closely checked all day.

Bad decision making all day from the time Welshy played on and missed that goal in the 1st qtr.

 

[Eggzoi]

I don't think Doughty was bad, but his form has certainly dipped compared to the last couple of seasons. He still provides a hard body and commitment to the contest that only someone of his age can (oops I'm s'posed to say he's young aren't I?).

I think people forget how much Doughty improved last year, was averaging 12.7 touches a game in 05. I think I'll take his 07 form over that.