Geelong to go undefeated in 2024??

[Kobe Gryant]

Actually no. Collingwood pretty much won the flag out of form last year.

2021 finals were played in WA. Because of covid. = covid season.

186 is in our lifetime. That’s why I mentioned it. Who cares if you have more flags? I’ve seen more that you have.

Ablett wasn’t even a top pick at the time.
They didn’t come good until they all put the hard work in.
If Melbourne had gotten those players, with their culture at the time, they wouldn’t have won anything.
Cheers

Conveniently brings up father sons who would've been picks in the 30s & 40s (Ablett, Scarlett) but refuses to agknowledge his club won a flag largely off priority picks and tanking.

Just hilarious delusion.

 

[My Tilly]

Ashcroft, Andrews has been a strong player for a long time, McCluggage has been nominated for the AA side 4-5 times, Zorko is a c**t and well past his best but was a decent player. Sorry they don’t fit your criteria at this precise second but they don’t have to have been insanely good at this exact moment for me to have begun to like them in the past, old boy.

McCluggage is a decent player but exceptionally good?
He racks up a lot of footy I guess. Not sure he's in a class of his own though. They're a dime-a-dozen at every club (Guthrie for us).
I think Ashcroft is tracking along very nicely.
Andrews is a gun.
Zorko is hardly great at all. As you said, he was a very good player but I'm still waiting for you to list me 'lots' of exceptional Brissie players.

Surely you won't name Daniher or Bailey

 

[Jock1eyemcpie]

Geelong have literally played 5 of the bottom 7 sides, and the bulldogs, who are just inside the 8 on percentage. I highly doubt they go undefeated.

 

[Jock1eyemcpie]

Yeah that Lobb decision was a little bit like Grundy, just didn't make much sense either, especially with Darcy who's going to be a gun. You were a lot closer to winning last years flag than most people realise, this is where sometimes in life you just need to be a bit luck. Which includes Brayshaw going down as in last half of Collingwood game in which you completely dominated play and you 'desperately' needed someone like Brayshaw to lower the eyes, 'use the angles' and hit a target. You really should have never lost that game, you had players on the fat side but time and time again you refused to use them to open up the forward line..... dumb coaching is what I thought at time along with Brayshaw being unfairly knocked out is what killed you, plus recruiting Grundy.

Melbourne just bomb the ball forward, it’s been their issue for a few years now and clubs with good defenders will eat that up.

 

[Cleansweep17]

Hardwick I always loved early on and during the dynasty years, but seemed to get a bit irritable towards the end, maybe person issues off field played a part with his divorce etc.

I actually haven’t listened to him much since he joined suns.

In saying all this I do have a bit of a man crush on Scotty, not sure if you are aware he also donated his entire 2020 salary back to the club to help during covid. Also not sure I have ever seen another coach during a grand final go to the opposition coaches box and congratulate them like he did in 2020?? At least I haven’t see. It occur. Think the guy is all class with his appearances and demeanor.

Bevo.. have you listened to some of his media?? He is very cringeworthy towards the press and often snaps or remarks at them if the question isn’t to his liking.

Wow didn’t know about the salary thing. Classy indeed.

Yeah Bevo bites back a lot. I loved when he tore Tom Morris to shreds like a few days before he got fired

 

[Cleansweep17]

No, Its danster168 v Geelong, Top contributor to this thread. He is rivalling you!!

Danster and Xtreme are factually the smartest non-Richmond supporters on this forum. We’d form an unstoppable alliance.

 

[PhatBoy]

McCluggage is a decent player but exceptionally good?
He racks up a lot of footy I guess. Not sure he's in a class of his own though. They're a dime-a-dozen at every club (Guthrie for us).
I think Ashcroft is tracking along very nicely.
Andrews is a gun.
Zorko is hardly great at all. As you said, he was a very good player but I'm still waiting for you to list me 'lots' of exceptional Brissie players.

Surely you won't name Daniher or Bailey

Ok mate.

 

[Freomaniac]

Adelaide had much more experience in those years (were only as low as 7th overall in age in 2009), they're one of the least experienced sides in 2024 (15th in experience, 14th overall in age).

Because Geelong is such an aged group (1st in experience, 2nd in age), that's why it's surprising they were able to get competitive again. Last year, they were 1st in both.

Yeah I remember the crows under the neil craig era.

Riccuito retired in 2007. McLeod, Tyson Edwards and Simon Goodwin were in their 30s helping the younger mids. Edwards retired in the middle of 2010, the other 2 retired at the end of 2010.

I thought the cats were gonna drop too.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Wow didn’t know about the salary thing. Classy indeed.

Yeah Bevo bites back a lot. I loved when he tore Tom Morris to shreds like a few days before he got fired

"Fox backs me"

 

[Mr Meow]

We just need to be healthy. Anything can happen on the day which is why the straight sets thing is such bulldust. We had 3 of our starting 6 forwards out vs carlton We had brayshaw out in the first 5 mins concussed vs collingwood. We had Fritsch injured but played through it and got surgery as soon as the season finished. To not factor this in is just foolish. All whilst having to deal with losing Jackson and Grundy being a scrub and sending the AA ruckman out of his position.
If the afl was a series like the NBA then the best team would always win but in the AFL it doesn't work like that. Anything can happen on the day that are out of our control. We squandered 2023 moreso than Collingwood winning it. We dictated both finals games but just missed the shots on goal. Bad kicking is bad football and we kicked poorly at goal, on the night.

I don't know what to tell you. Carrying broken/cooked/injured players into finals and missing other pieces is not exclusive to the Melbourne football club.

Kicking badly at goal, delivering poorly to the forward line and having a poor forward line system with an average cast of players has been a common theme with Melbourne. Its inefficiency was predictable, not an outlier.

The only thing you really got right is the bad football part. Melbourne have looked to lack believe in finals at the G. They had their mojo in Adelaide and Perth in 2021. It just didn't last.

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

Danster and Xtreme are factually the smartest non-Richmond supporters on this forum. We’d form an unstoppable alliance.

Falcon/cleany, is this you calling yourself “smart”?

Have I read that correctly?

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Wow didn’t know about the salary thing. Classy indeed.

Yeah Bevo bites back a lot. I loved when he tore Tom Morris to shreds like a few days before he got fired

Ahh good memory, that is one that springs to mind!! Was great in hindsight given the stuff that came out but wasn’t a professional look at the time.

 

[My Tilly]

Ok mate.

Your words not mine

I think they have a lot of exceptional players

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Danster and Xtreme are factually the smartest non-Richmond supporters on this forum. We’d form an unstoppable alliance.

You can do better than Melbourne supporters. Bit of a nothing vanilla club with a drug culture problem.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

You can do better than Melbourne supporters. Bit of a nothing vanilla club with a drug culture problem.

As a general rule, Melbourne supporters are some the best on this site IMO.

Maybe the years of pain neuter you a little bit, but very rarely are they boastful, arrogant, or delusional for mine.

Old mate Danny is doing his best to change that singlehandedly though.

 

[PhatBoy]

Your words not mine

Yes as in the club has a lot of exceptional players. They don’t have to be at the peak of their powers at this instant for me to have forged a decent respect for them over the intervening 5-6 years where they have been thereabouts. Hell even Daniher himself was an AA player last year: that puts him, for that season, in the top 2.5-3 per cent of players within the competition.

 

[danster168]

I don't know what to tell you. Carrying broken/cooked/injured players into finals and missing other pieces is not exclusive to the Melbourne football club.

Kicking badly at goal, delivering poorly to the forward line and having a poor forward line system with an average cast of players has been a common theme with Melbourne. Its inefficiency was predictable, not an outlier.

The only thing you really got right is the bad football part. Melbourne have looked to lack believe in finals at the G. They had their mojo in Adelaide and Perth in 2021. It just didn't last.

incorrect. Melbourne was not a bad converter in front of goals before last years finals. it's a myth that people just got sucked into.

And dismissing the injuries we had is just being ignorant. We had far more injuries than any other team in the finals.

 

[danster168]

As a general rule, Melbourne supporters are some the best on this site IMO.

Maybe the years of pain neuter you a little bit, but very rarely are they boastful, arrogant, or delusional for mine.

Old mate Danny is doing his best to change that singlehandedly though.

Why? Simply because I stated that Geelong have had the easiest fixture run thus far and you got triggered?

 

[Mr Meow]

incorrect. Melbourne was not a bad converter in front of goals before last years finals. it's a myth that people just got sucked into.

And dismissing the injuries we had is just being ignorant. We had far more injuries than any other team in the finals.

Sure, you're the one person to see the light and rightly Melbourne should have three flags already from it's mega haul of top 10 and priority draft picks. Everyone else is buying into anti-Demons propaganda.

Joke forward lines are lucky to win one flag, let alone three. Big Ben fired up in 2021 but should've been put out of commission a while ago.

"The real test comes now" for Geelong? The real test has come for Melbourne since 2018 and they have had exactly two credible finals series.

 

[Mr Meow]

Why? Simply because I stated that Geelong have had the easiest fixture run thus far and you got triggered?

The Geelong thing is a constant obsession though. You're another Falcon.

 

[danster168]

Sure, you're the one person to see the light and rightly Melbourne should have three flags already from it's mega haul of top 10 and priority draft picks. Everyone else is buying into anti-Demons propaganda.

Joke forward lines are lucky to win one flag, let alone three. Big Ben fired up in 2021 but should've been put out of commission a while ago.

"The real test comes now" for Geelong? The real test has come for Melbourne since 2018 and they have had exactly two credible finals series.

who are these highend picks that you speak of? Cale Morton? Toumpas? Scully? Trengove? Watts? Hogan? Yeah they dominated in 2021. lol

Secondly, a Geelong fan is the last person who should be criticising a team without a dominant key forward. Not all clubs get gift wrapped a generational key forward with pick 40+ through a flawed father/son system. Take Hawkins out of your team and rely on Shannon Neale and then talk to me

 

[PhatBoy]

who are these highend picks that you speak of? Cale Morton? Toumpas? Scully? Trengove? Watts? Hogan? Yeah they dominated in 2021. lol

Secondly, a Geelong fan is the last person who should be criticising a team without a dominant key forward. Not all clubs get gift wrapped a generational key forward with pick 40+ through a flawed father/son system. Take Hawkins out of your team and rely on Shannon Neale and then talk to me

Most of them get gift wrapped the chance to draft a reasonable approximation at some stage if they’re smart enough to pick them. It’s not like there’s been a chronic shortage over the last 20 years.

 

[Mr Meow]

who are these highend picks that you speak of? Cale Morton? Toumpas? Scully? Trengove? Watts? Hogan? Yeah they dominated in 2021. lol

Secondly, a Geelong fan is the last person who should be criticising a team without a dominant key forward. Not all clubs get gift wrapped a generational key forward with pick 40+ through a flawed father/son system. Take Hawkins out of your team and rely on Shannon Neale and then talk to me

The point about the high and assisted picks is Melbourne were given the chance to keep playing the lottery on the highest rated kids in the country until it worked. Just from being a terrible organisation. I have no doubt that awful development ruined what would have been a number of solid careers. Even after all that it took Roos to probably stop Melbourne still sitting down there with NM right now. So a return of advancing to more than 2 prelims is needed to shake the pretender tag on this squad, yes. Melbourne remain one of the terrible clubs of the 21st century so far.

 

[danster168]

Most of them get gift wrapped the chance to draft a reasonable approximation at some stage if they’re smart enough to pick them. It’s not like there’s been a chronic shortage over the last 20 years.

Also the term gift wrapped makes no sense. In order to get the high draft picks we had to endure year/s of poor performance. So it's not like we didn't deserve them. Getting Hawkins for free, I.e. without deserving him, is an absolute disgrace. It's equivalent to the dogs getting Ugle-hagan with a 3rd round pick

 

[Mr Meow]

Also the term gift wrapped makes no sense. In order to get the high draft picks we had to endure year/s of poor performance. So it's not like we didn't deserve them. Getting Hawkins for free, I.e. without deserving him, is an absolute disgrace. It's equivalent to the dogs getting Ugle-hagan with a 3rd round pick

Hawkins for pick 40 I see as a suitable reward for a club that is the antithesis of the tainted tanking era.

Sides like North Melbourne now and Melbourne back then ruin the competition and stop talent making it's way to clubs who can develop them.