Where we need to get to

[MTTY]

Despite the win last night, as good as it was, there is one thing that continually bothers me as of late.

Whenever we win games, the focus is never on our win, but rather the losing team's loss. This needs to change.

We need to get to the point where losing to the Demons does not become humiliation for the other team, or where opposition supporters class the loss as the losing team's fault rather than Melbourne's performance on the night.

Both of our wins this season (v Carlton and Adelaide) have had neutral supporters dub Carlton and Adelaide as pathetic (or along those lines). Add to this that the supporters of Carlton and Adelaide (in some, not all cases) do not acknowledge how sound our game was, but rather call our game pathetic too. If we are to be taken serious then we need other teams' supporters, after we win, to be able to say that they were outplayed on the day, by a better team.

While this was not entirely the case last night, it was for most of the Carlton game. Last night however, we were better than the Crows (EASILY) for the first half. Watching the game, we dominated around the ball and with our movements forward. We had better players who won their respective duels. The second half was the Crows half, but it is not Melbourne's fault that Adelaide could not kick straight (when they had the opportunity), whilst we took our chances in the first half.

You simply cannot say that we did not deserve that win, after the football we played in the first half and the dismal kicking display from Adelaide in the second half. There were very few Melbourne players who were passengers last night and were not up to AFL standard. Vince, Jetta, Cross and Grimes all did important shutdown jobs, which was a part of why Adelaide played how they did. This is what good AFL teams are able to do, in that they make the other team play worse than they are, or they force the weaker players into bigger roles by shutting down the better players.

I look forward to the day when neutrals praise us, rather than put us down or criticise our performance after a win. Because right now, a win, in some ways, feels exactly like a loss when you're a Demons supporter.

[Purple 77]

Yeah the exact same thing bothers me too MTTY.

Just this morning I take a gander at the Adelaide section of the forum, with some suggesting it was their worst loss since Fitzroy beat them? Give me a break.

Melbourne deserved to win, we applied pressure for ALL of the game. Yes we lapsed in the 3rd quarter where they kicked 3.6, but what people disregard when they see that figure is that Adelaide missed a large majority of their chances due to OUR pressure. We never gave up. IMO, in the second half in general, melbourne dropped of a little bit, but Adelaide lifted a lot. It was our backline's ability to absorb the Adelaide attack and stay composed that got us the win in the end.

It will take time to finally gain back respect, but our last month shows that we are slowly getting there, and if we continue that football, we will start to earn back respect.

On a side note, that spoil Jack Grimes did on Patrick Dangerfield in the last quarter was... special. That will remain a highlight for me when I look back on the 2014 season in August.

[Mailman the 2nd]

All of Melbourne's wins have been deserved.

I mean for the rest of the comp, if you get beaten by Melbourne you certainly deserve to lose :P

[Toga]

I agree. Melbourne's first half was fantastic, you certainly outplayed the Crows and deserved the win.

But hey, a lot of stories you read nowadays focus on negatives. That's just how the media works, don't take it personally. If I'm not wrong it was exactly this that caused Jack Riewoldt to decide not to get involved with any media this year.

[Ziplock]

I really enjoyed the melbourne highlights. How JKH just seemed so unbelievably composed :P

[MTTY]

Yeah the exact same thing bothers me too MTTY.

Just this morning I take a gander at the Adelaide section of the forum, with some suggesting it was their worst loss since Fitzroy beat them? Give me a break.

Melbourne deserved to win, we applied pressure for ALL of the game. Yes we lapsed in the 3rd quarter where they kicked 3.6, but what people disregard when they see that figure is that Adelaide missed a large majority of their chances due to OUR pressure. We never gave up. IMO, in the second half in general, melbourne dropped of a little bit, but Adelaide lifted a lot. It was our backline's ability to absorb the Adelaide attack and stay composed that got us the win in the end.

It will take time to finally gain back respect, but our last month shows that we are slowly getting there, and if we continue that football, we will start to earn back respect.

On a side note, that spoil Jack Grimes did on Patrick Dangerfield in the last quarter was... special. That will remain a highlight for me when I look back on the 2014 season in August.

Exactly! Whenever we managed to win, I make my way around a few of the opposition forums and some of the time it is basically the above.

That Grimes spoil was epic. Jamar's mark and goal and Tyson's curving goal were brilliant too.

[MTTY]

I agree. Melbourne's first half was fantastic, you certainly outplayed the Crows and deserved the win.

But hey, a lot of stories you read nowadays focus on negatives. That's just how the media works, don't take it personally. If I'm not wrong it was exactly this that caused Jack Riewoldt to decide not to get involved with any media this year.

Yeah I do get that with the media, but also supporters tend to focus on being negative too. In terms of losing to a bottom team (like Melbourne), so they must have played poor. There's no possible way that Melbourne could have played well...

Nice to see that other neutrals though we played well last night (in patches).  :)

[MTTY]

I really enjoyed the melbourne highlights. How JKH just seemed so unbelievably composed :P

I did enjoy JKH's game, he gives us what we've been lacking in the middle. Tyson also provides some of this, while it's what we have been hoping Watts could do.

[Bill Manspeaker]

Melbourne finally gets back on the winners list and all the talk is on how bad Carlton were and what needs to be changed. makes me sick

shows you the 'experts' only concentrate on the bad, instead of the good

(talking about the footy shows on Sunday)

agree with you 100% mate. said that after your first win. it really does make me sick. 0.2% is on Melbourne's good win, how they won, how they played and so on, then for the 99.8% it's about how bad the loser played.

[MTTY]

Melbourne finally gets back on the winners list and all the talk is on how bad Carlton were and what needs to be changed. makes me sick

shows you the 'experts' only concentrate on the bad, instead of the good

(talking about the footy shows on Sunday)

agree with you 100% mate. said that after your first win. it really does make me sick. 0.2% is on Melbourne's good win, how they won, how they played and so on, then for the 99.8% it's about how bad the loser played.

I actually read this when you first posted Brad, emphasises exactly what i'm feeling happens. Should have quoted it in my initial post, but forgot, which thread I read it on.  :)

[Barra13]

I really enjoyed the melbourne highlights. How JKH just seemed so unbelievably composed :P

+ Dawesy's tackle. That was like a freight train coming through.

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-05-03/highlights-adelaide-v-melbourne

[quinny88]

You have to be realistic though guys.. Adelaide are a team that are trying to make the top 8. Melbourne have barely won a game for years. Of course it was a major upset and there was going to be backlash towards the Crows.
Dont think anyone thinks Melbourne didnt deserve to win but Adelaide are a far more advanced side and should be doing away with a bottom 4 side pretty easily on there home deck. Regardless it was a great win by the Dees and good on them. Making some in roads but you dont gain respect back over night

[ossie85]

Adelaide imo have greatly overrated where they are in the comp

Melbourne win was deserved,  and in my mind this was just one bottom 10 team beating another

Once melbourne beat a team that actually plays finals that year,  then people will start avoiding the 'disastrous loss' talk

[Nige]

Adelaide imo have greatly overrated where they are in the comp

[kilbluff1985]

Adelaide imo have greatly overrated where they are in the comp

not by me