The pressure is on Richmond, we fell into the finals remember?
Can't remember the exact words, but I recall an interview with Lethal a few years back, and he reckoned the whole "pressure is on them not me" argument is a cop out. He said to really deal with it properly, you needed to accept it and face the pressure head on. Wish I could remember more of what he said. Make no mistake, the boys know they've cheated death, and they need to confront this properly, and head on. The whole "we have nothing to lose" argument doesn't wash with me. They have plenty to lose.
First off, we had 7 of our best 22 not playing, then Brock Maclean went down in the first quarter. Second, except for 20 mins in the second quarter and about 10 minutes in the last, we played all over them. Finally, it was only when we decided to knock Simpson out, the only Carlton player actually trying to win the game for us, did Essendon get over the top of us.
Pretty much agree with that - we did more than enough to win this game by 5 or 6 goals.
I remember David Parkin a few years back talking about his time in footy as a player, coach, commentator and mentor. He said that every single aspect and skill required of an AFL player had improved considerably over his time in the game, except goal kicking.
- convincing songwriting across a variety of styles
- reportedly great live
In spite of all these things, I never really got into them. I could never really figure out what they were about, what they stood for. Much of it seems a musical flexing of the muscles as an end in itself, because they were good enough to do it. Once I got past the flashy bits, there wasn't much there to hold me in. Maybe I didn't look hard enough.
Close checking from a tagger is one thing. It's fine to keep body contact on your opponent and wear them like a glove. And like all good mids, it's an occupational hazard and Murf needs to get better at dealing with it.
The scragging, pinching, punching etc. is another thing altogether and needs to be addressed asap.
And how about the other guys giving Murf a chop out or a block once in a blue moon ?
Much respect for Marc toughing it out this season with a broken jaw and bung knee, some players sook over a sore toe.
First of all - it was a cheekbone, second of all, if his knee has been so bung that even his 2 week layoff with the cheekbone didn't help it at all.....whereby in fact since coming back from the cheekbone he's looked lame almost......well then - he gets absolutely no kudos from me for labouring with an injury which prevents him training a full week, every week & is causing his onfield performances to drop below an acceptable level. If you're injured, can barely train & this is clearly reflected on gameday for all & sundry to see AND to the detriment of the team.....I'm hardly gonna be congratulating him for that. You're easily pleased mbb......
The history of AFL footy is filled with stories of players playing through injury, rightly or wrongly. If he pulled out with a sore knee we'd all be complaining that he's a sooky la la.
Much respect for Marc toughing it out this season with a broken jaw and bung knee, some players sook over a sore toe.
Agree, he's three feet nothing, decent, fair player, captain and look like a 12 year old boy. Always going to be an easy target for opposition slime balls.
The 3 amigo's are really starting to p155 me off. get rid of at least 1 of them , if not 2.
What a difference a few weeks make eh? 8 goals between them in a one point win over North, the team who beat Geelong on Friday night, and 6 last week in a 7 goal win. We had a bad night as a team last night, it happens when you're a middle of the road side playing against a genuine Premiership chance, but tipping buckets on our good players won't change the fact that we have an average list. We can't sack 20 players.
Agree with this.
We were very competitive for 3 quarters against a clearly better team. 4th quarter fade out was bad, but the fitness base (and possibly interest base) is lacking for some reason.
As an aside, I think Pav is holding the Frockers back - they look a lot hungrier when he's not there. Just a theory.
As a small aside - I've been watching MM's pressers all year, and I'm a little concerned - he never seems to remember players names, never remembers stats, last night didn't even know the final score. Should we be worried about this ? Because I am.
3 Amigos - apart from Garlett's goal on the bell, all three were disappointing gibbs - not bad, but not flash either watto - not bad up forward - who would've thunk it ? Kudos to Blue Phantom for calling it earlier scotto - very good game - barely put a foot wrong - shame to see him go next year, if he does. jamo - meh judd - another typical judd game - tried valiantly all night, did some ok things, but not much influence murf - not a great captains game, but can't fault his effort - something somewhere ain't right krooz - absolute lion heart and always gives 110%, and actually not bad, but doesn't influence the game enough for mine - if we could clone his ticker and share it round the team, we might really have something. hendo - has been a revelation this year, and tried tonight, delivery was poor, not one of his good games carrots - non event 2E - great game - now this guy has serious ticker and can play walks - not a good game from him. Would love to hear from DOA regarding what the players think of MM roweyerboat - tries, but not up to it lucas - did ok IMO armfield - ok curnow - not tonight Josephine
are we seeing the start of MM losing his senior players, like Den Den before him ? Boy they looked lost and disinterested tonight.
And I hope no team coached by Toss Lyon ever wins a flag - they are taking our once great game to an extremely ugly place. I can't bear the thought of 17 copycat teams mimicking that style of play if they win.
Kicked away in the last to make it a big win. GC are still developing, and will be a little "one step forward one step back" for a while. 40 scoring shots to 22 is pretty food going though.
