Post Match. Pies down to Dees. All comments.

[Mr Miyagi]

[piedys]

Exactly the point - who is selecting players with viruses and friggin' ankle injuries incurred the week prior, when we have perfectly fit players able to run out a game rotting away in the VFL!

It is self sabotaging idiocy which I thought we'd rid our club of since Buckley was ousted!

Melbourne; their grand final was 2021, and they iced it.
"Melbourne’s grand final"; that was the taunt we used to stir them with in years prior, when they'd be out of finals contention by the QB round.
Means absolutely nothing now, so we can shelve that one for a while.

[doriswilgus]

[doriswilgus]

Further to that,Mcreery probably shouldn’t have played at all,but with Elliott and Ginnivan both out ,we were running out of small forwards,and that’s probably why he was selected.

[Magpietothemax]

Great to hear from our beloved board bard again!

Cheers Piedys!♥

The blue-print was to strangle our ball movement; which they had the cattle to do all over the field. I'm thinking Godwin analysed those two prior losses to us in 2022 in depth during the week, to see exactly how we took those matches away from them in the final terms of both games.

Maybe, assuming that Goodwin is actually capable of undertaking any analysis whatsoever. But it is easy to say that the blue print is to "strangle our ball movement". How was that actually achieved? What if our mids were off just 5% for this game? What if our kicking efficiency was off just by 5%?

Adelaide will be just gagging for revenge for that loss a few weeks back; and no Sidey to produce any miracles this time. They systematically dismantled WCE over four quarters; we turned up for maybe two last week.
We lack the motivation to "slaughter the wounded lamb", so to speak.

Yes, they will be gagging for revenge, but remember it is on the G this time, and revenge on the G won't be easy. We also will be seeking vengeance for the loss today. We won't care that if Melbourne is not the opponent.

Once we plays the Cows and Port again, we will have a much more transparent understanding of where we stand in the flag race, and weather the player motivation observations of a certain jaded, burnt too often over the years fan, are a figment of his imagination, or otherwise.

Agreed. The loss today is not an indicator that we are lower in ranking than what we thought prior to the loss.

Our training loads aren't the issue; the players are as fit as they are going to get for the remainder of the season.
I think the point should have been go harder today, as we had the bye for optimal recovery, and should have left nothing on the park.

I disagree with this, from what I understand about the associated sport science. We are not right now as fit as what we will be in September. I don't think any team is. Part of getting into maximum fitness levels for finals is undertaking extra training loads during the year.
I could well stand corrected, but from what I understand this is the case.

I call it as I see it buddy; happy to throw the issue open to conversation, as controversial and polarising as it may be!
After all - we literally have nothing to talk about now for two whole weeks!
Our other option is to get out actual lives back; perish the thought!

Of course you call it as you see it Piedys. that is why everyone loves your posts. Go Pies!!

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Rest and re load is the only way

We will blitz it from here on in

[eddiesmith]

I know this will sound shit, but pre game, I just had a feeling the Dees would win in what will probably be Daniher's last Big Freeze. The poor guy is not looking good at all.

My bank account agrees!

[Pies2016]

You learn so much more from any loss ( particularly against a good team ) than any win. The club will have identified any player weaknesses when the heat was on and they will also learn from those successful opposition strategies that nullified our game style. In short, we were incredibly poor with our ball handling, ball use and decision making. We also lacked our usual overlap run that catches opposition defences out of position. We really didn’t do much right today but we can’t change the past, so maybe we should just remind ourselves what we can look forward to after the bye -

McStay will seriously straighten us up and help to hold our shape better inside our F50.
Lipinski was a welcome return. He’s easily best 22 and a genuine goal kicking mid.
DeGoey is a huge loss. He’s our impactor and punisher. We simply have no replacement for him.
Sideys composure and ball use will be sadly missed until his return.
Howe is a better option than Frampton.
Elliot replaces whoever he wants. He is still our leader in the forward line.
To be fair, all teams have injuries ( yes Dees included ) but we are missing a lot of quality, leadership and experience on nearly every line at the moment.
The bye couldn’t have come at a better time ( just ask Pendles ) and the cavalry of approx 1000 games odd is on the way.
Our biggest challenge will be to keep the injury gods at bay during the second half of the season.

[Pies2016]

Thought Harrison was pretty reasonable today. High pressure game against good opposition, huge crowd and only his second game of AFL footy. He used the ball better than most ( which is an indication of how bad we were ) and he stuck his tackles for a little bloke. If he is prepared to work his arse off in the off season, there’s no reason why he couldn’t hold down a regular spot in 2024. One to watch for next year.

[think positive]

Not surprised at the loss. Most of the year we have only been playing one quarter and a myth has emerged that we will win in the last quarter. Yes, we had some injuries and perhaps the effects of the flu, ( If this was an issue, then why select them when there have been players knocking on the door in the reserves) but it was too easy for Melbourne when it mattered and the injury excuse is to gloss over the holes in the team. Without a key CHF in particular, it is very difficult to win a flag. I hope Kreuger can fill the spot. Hill needs to stop trying to do the spectacular and Johnson needs to get on his bicycle. I have said this before, McInness speed, strength and skill is wasted. I recall that he was going to be a big bodied midfielder!! I just hope that what happened to Melbourne last year after we defeated them, doesn’t visit the pies this year. Still, the team fought it out and I guess you are entitled to have the odd poor game. However, I still stand by my observations.

Are you ignoring the 5 best 22 players missing from our team?

this this this!

take a chill pill guys, 4 points!! had we had a decent forward set up we win!

gees, what a pack of spoilt brats some have become in half a season! anyone would think we just fell out the 8!!

sick players, injured players, but they never ever quit! even with so many awful passes today it was just 4 points! yes they kicked shit, stiff shit!

[Magpietothemax]

You learn so much more from any loss ( particularly against a good team ) than any win. The club will have identified any player weaknesses when the heat was on and they will also learn from those successful opposition strategies that nullified our game style. In short, we were incredibly poor with our ball handling, ball use and decision making. We also lacked our usual overlap run that catches opposition defences out of position. We really didn’t do much right today but we can’t change the past, so maybe we should just remind ourselves what we can look forward to after the bye -

McStay will seriously straighten us up and help to hold our shape better inside our F50.
Lipinski was a welcome return. He’s easily best 22 and a genuine goal kicking mid.
DeGoey is a huge loss. He’s our impactor and punisher. We simply have no replacement for him.
Sideys composure and ball use will be sadly missed until his return.
Howe is a better option than Frampton.
Elliot replaces whoever he wants. He is still our leader in the forward line.
To be fair, all teams have injuries ( yes Dees included ) but we are missing a lot of quality, leadership and experience on nearly every line at the moment.
The bye couldn’t have come at a better time ( just ask Pendles ) and the cavalry of approx 1000 games odd is on the way.
Our biggest challenge will be to keep the injury gods at bay during the second half of the season.

Agree with this P2016.
Frampton seems like he plays ruck better than defence!!
Elliott is so important, not just for his ability and pressure, but also for his leadership role in the forward line. I am looking forward to see him return rejuvenated after a 3 week break.
I agree, we have no one player to replace JDG. For the next 2 weeks of his suspension though, I hope we give an opportunity to McCrae to play inside, and see if through some combination of our available mids see if we can create a JDG alternative reality in the short term. I feel we need to get games into MacCrae so that he can be at least depth in September.
Agree that Sidey is very much missed, and there is no way to replace both his ability and his leadership role.While he is absent, it will be up to coaches etc to find a combination of players to replicate Sidey's role (Crisp, JDaicos, WHE) to link up.
I would like to see us get some games into MacCrae and Carmichael in particular as we need them as depth.
Also don't forget Kreuger as a wild card. I would give him another game in the VFL, and see if he can maintain his excellent form. He is another who can potentially play a major role in the second half of the year.

[eddiesmith]

Not surprised at the loss. Most of the year we have only been playing one quarter and a myth has emerged that we will win in the last quarter. Yes, we had some injuries and perhaps the effects of the flu, ( If this was an issue, then why select them when there have been players knocking on the door in the reserves) but it was too easy for Melbourne when it mattered and the injury excuse is to gloss over the holes in the team. Without a key CHF in particular, it is very difficult to win a flag. I hope Kreuger can fill the spot. Hill needs to stop trying to do the spectacular and Johnson needs to get on his bicycle. I have said this before, McInness speed, strength and skill is wasted. I recall that he was going to be a big bodied midfielder!! I just hope that what happened to Melbourne last year after we defeated them, doesn’t visit the pies this year. Still, the team fought it out and I guess you are entitled to have the odd poor game. However, I still stand by my observations.

Are you ignoring the 5 best 22 players missing from our team?

this this this!

take a chill pill guys, 4 points!! had we had a decent forward set up we win!

gees, what a pack of spoilt brats some have become in half a season! anyone would think we just fell out the 8!!

sick players, injured players, but they never ever quit! even with so many awful passes today it was just 4 points! yes they kicked shit, stiff shit!

Exactly, the writing was on the wall during the week and the last game before the bye is always a danger game for a team flying.

Melbourne had everything to play for, we were thinking about a week in Bali!

[Jezza]

Disappointing result, but Melbourne deserved to win. Bad kicking from them kept us in it. I admire our ability to keep fighting even when we were down and out. Today was no exception on this front.

Melbourne's pressure was the best I've seen from any opposition this year. We never looked comfortable disposing of the ball and we were fumbling it around too often. Melbourne's ability to cut off our run and carry game through the middle also rattled our structures.

Our forwards were largely kept quiet from Melbourne's intercept defenders in May, Lever, Tomlinson and Salem. I was concerned about May and Lever pre-match that if we didn't make them accountable, our forwards would struggle.

The sky isn't falling in. Never a good feeling to lose, but we're still in a very good position going forward. We're on top and I expect to see several big name players back in the team post-bye. De Goey, Sidebottom, Elliott, Ginnivan, McStay and Howe will strengthen us significantly.

[watt price tully]

Depleted team got found out.
Amazed we only lost by 4 points.
Not only players missing (JDG, Sidebottom and Elliott) but as has been widely noted players with illness and injury not quite right.

Reef McInnes is an OK sub but he’s simply not good enough in my view. Serious selection error in playing him.

I didn’t expect to win but losing is always hard to take.

Thought IQ and Billy F were good today.
Worst game I’ve seen Pendlebury play.

Darcy Cameron was very good before he did his knee. He’s still a way off that form since his return.

[doriswilgus]

I don’t know what happened to Pendlebury today,but that was one of the worst games I’ve seen him play.I can’t remember him ever turning the ball over so much with so many dinky little kicks that went straight to the opposition.