Best 30 minutes of football ever?

[RedmanWasHere]

If the 30 minute burst from Melbourne was an artwork masterpiece, Footscray made it a disaster piece for themselves.

Through no fault of their own I should add.

Melbourne were relentless.

 

[Blackas87]

I don't think I'll ever see Melbourne play as well as that again.

That’s what i said after the 3rd quarter of the prelim.

 

[Ando727]

I think it will be remebered for the Doggies hitting the wall after crisscrossing the country.

That theory is dead-in-the-water by virtue of the Dogs destroying Port in the PF, then getting 2 weeks to prepare for the GF. No reason to hit the wall then. More reason to hit the wall in 2016 than this year.

There were no walls, just Melbourne flicking the switch like they did against Geelong in r23.

 

[dean33]

There has never been anything like that in any Grand Final ever.
Check the stats for 120 years.
No run of 16 goals to 1 has ever been done in a Grand Final.
(Geelong had a run of 14 to 1 during the 2007 GF).

Tigers scored 17 goals to 2 in 2019 so close although not in quick succession like the dees did. It was probably the most powerful last 40 mins ever seen in a grand final.

 

[windyhill]

1984 last quarter must get a shout.That was scary from Melbourne, so glad we weren’t on the end of it, it was astonishing,surely this list has two more in them ?

 

[Crusty Demon]

Since Gary Rohan kicked a goal to put Geelong 44 points up in round 23, Melbourne has scored 409 to 171, a percentage of 239.2

The most impressive thing about this stat, is the Dees did this to arguably the next 3 best teams in the comp. Unbelievable..

 

[Generation X]

That theory is dead-in-the-water by virtue of the Dogs destroying Port in the PF, then getting 2 weeks to prepare for the GF. No reason to hit the wall then. More reason to hit the wall in 2016 than this year.

There were no walls, just Melbourne flicking the switch like they did against Geelong in r23.

Melbourne was the wall

 

[Dazb86]

Complete domination from the middle of the ground. I thought we dropped our heads after conceding the first goal in the 4th quarter.

All the talk of the travel affecting us is garbage. We had 2 weeks off to freshen up. Melbourne just completely destroyed our midfield.

 

[Ando727]

Melbourne was the wall

Touché

 

[danster168]

The 30-45 mins of football was amazing but we had shown that we have this in our kit bag. We showed it only the week before.

I heard a lot of talk about the depth of the dogs midfield being better than ours and I agree that it somewhat is deeper but at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you have 3 gun mids or 15, you can only start 3 in the middle anyway. And every other mid will essentially be out of position. And none of the dogs mids have the explosive power of Petracca and Oliver.

Second to that, people always underrate the likes of Brayshaw, Neale-Bullen, Langdon and Harmes etc.

 

[Dazb86]

The 30-45 mins of football was amazing but we had shown that we have this in our kit bag. We showed it only the week before.

I heard a lot of talk about the depth of the dogs midfield being better than ours and I agree that it somewhat is deeper but at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you have 3 gun mids or 15, you can only start 3 in the middle anyway. And every other mid will essentially be out of position. And none of the dogs mids have the explosive power of Petracca and Oliver.

Second to that, people always underrate the likes of Brayshaw, Neale-Bullen, Langdon and Harmes etc.

Definitely. That was a show of brute force from Oliver and Petracca. I don't think any of our mids have that sort of physicality in their arsenal. Perhaps Dunkley when he's up and going but not at that level.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

It was phenomenal. Still wondering how the Dogs went from dominating to dominated like they did.

Im still not entirely sure what happened. It’s one of the biggest switches I can recall seeing. I mean teams get on runs, but for a side of the Dogs’ quality to just turn into witches hats at the snap of a finger defies explanation.

 

[danster168]

Definitely. That was a show of brute force from Oliver and Petracca. I don't think any of our mids have that sort of physicality in their arsenal. Perhaps Dunkley when he's up and going but not at that level.

I honestly would've put weightman in the guts at some stage. He has the speed and enthusiasm and he'd been useless all game anyway so may as well.

 

[bjwilliams]

The 6-6-6 rule allowed the Dees surge in the second half on Saturday night

Which is really interesting as after a decent 2018 which ended in you guys smashing us, we failed to adapt to the new at the time 6-6-6 rule and played horribly.

 

[Toff]

The 6-6-6 rule allowed the Dees surge in the second half on Saturday night

6-6-6 rule also allowed the dogs equal opportunity to take it out of the middle, but they couldn't do it

 

[BigVic]

The Eagles in 2019 took a step back due to the new 6-6-6 rule after the 2018 premiership

 

[Dazb86]

I honestly would've put weightman in the guts at some stage. He has the speed and enthusiasm and he'd been useless all game anyway so may as well.

I know this is trolling but Weightman has never ever been a midfielder. We would have been better off giving Bailey Williams a run through the middle even though he had a mare too.

 

[danster168]

I know this is trolling but Weightman has never ever been a midfielder. We would have been better off giving Bailey Williams a run through the middle even though he had a mare too.

lol. I actually wasn't trolling. Is it any different to Melbourne putting kozzie Pickett in the centre square though?

 

[Dazb86]

lol. I actually wasn't trolling. Is it any different to Melbourne putting kozzie Pickett in the centre square though?

Weightman has been a small forward his entire career at all levels. We've got plenty of other guys that would attend a centre bounce before him that were on the pitch and probably 4-5 that didnt play as well.

Think a change of tactics was probably needed when you guys were romping the goals in the 3rd quarter. Probably wouldn't have changed the outcome though.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Im still not entirely sure what happened. It’s one of the biggest switches I can recall seeing. I mean teams get on runs, but for a side of the Dogs’ quality to just turn into witches hats at the snap of a finger defies explanation.

And it’s not like the Dogs just gave up even trying. There was simply nothing they could do. It seemed like every random bounce of the Sherrin went Melbourne’s way.

 

[Tulip]

Up until now been too happy for Demon fans to even contemplate how Doggy fans are taking it.
To be up by 19 points half way through third quarter of grand final and losing by over 12 goals would take some getting over.
You got two things to get over. Not only the feeling you had grasp of a grand final and at least one hand on premiership cup and then to lose it.
But then to just be put away in such devastating fashion must make your head spin and hard to process how it happened and then deal with how you made to look like witches hats on biggest game of the year.
fu** going through that...
Will take forever to get over, if ever.

Will probably be easier given they've won a flag in the recent past. It's hard to imagine Melbourne will ever be that relentless again. Burgess going is a huge loss, albeit one we knew about all season and were able to replace him with/mentor one of the Brisbane gurus who helped get their list primed every year under Fagan. At the same time, I'm happy we'll have the motivation to do it in front of the fans next year in combination with the short-term certainty that the team at its best is a tier above the opposition. If we can polish off the 'easier' games next year (lost to Collingwood and Adelaide, drew to Hawthorn) then it could be another incredible season.

 

[Shane Heard]

There's always elements of luck fused into dominant passages of play by teams.

Collingwood's prelim against Richmond in 2018. The 5 or so minutes in the third quarter in the 2008 GF when Hawthorn broke the game open. Many other examples, but the consistent theme is that the ball on many occasions is just bouncing perfectly for players and goals which ordinarily wouldn't be kicked, are. If you're the opposition, sometimes there really isn't much you can do to combat it.

A few things happened at the end of that 3rd quarter which were very fortunate for Melbourne and resulting on them regaining confidence and then incredible momentum.

- a ruck contest on centre wing when it was 40-59, Viney and Bailey Smith both fumbled/overran the ball and it basically fell in Harmes hands - who delivered it perfectly to Fritsch. That was an incredibly important goal to as another to the Dogs (crazy as it sounds now) might have given them an unassailable lead. But Melb had some luck there.

- Next centre clearance - I believe Petracca belted it forward, Fritsch made a contest and the crumb basically bounced straight into his hands - another goal.

After that, apart from a missed free kick against Pickett (that I can recall), almost everything that could go right for Melbourne did, and conversely everything possible went wrong for the Bulldogs. You could play the last 10 minutes of that 3rd quarter 100 x and Melb would never replicate those seven goals especially against a team of the calibre of the Bulldogs.

The last goal of the quarter by Oliver, 9 times out of 10 he would probably miss that - not typically a strong finisher in front of goal. But by then they were simply in the zone and playing with any fear or doubt.

the 74 point margin looks unfathomable on paper, but it makes sense when put in the context of the psychological blow that ten minutes at the end of the third quarter had on the Dogs. I don't think they did a lot wrong - but they simply could not get their hands on it which was a combination of some good fortune for Melbourne which that capitalised on with some freakish skill.

the Frit aggressive jump at that ball could’ve been mark of the year had he held it…but to his credit he made sure he came down on two feet and was instantly moving forward to gather and kick quickly

That’s not luck. That’s premiership playing ..grand final discipline of the highest caliber

attack attack attack …have your team in possession of the ball as much as possible and create your own luck

 

[Shane Heard]

And it’s not like the Dogs just gave up even trying. There was simply nothing they could do. It seemed like every random bounce of the Sherrin went Melbourne’s way.

rubbish

 

[Shane Heard]

That theory is dead-in-the-water by virtue of the Dogs destroying Port in the PF, then getting 2 weeks to prepare for the GF. No reason to hit the wall then. More reason to hit the wall in 2016 than this year.

There were no walls, just Melbourne flicking the switch like they did against Geelong in r23.

yep…more disciplined, more aggressive, better teamwork backing up each other..and more defensive accountability when it was time to get the ball back off dogs hands

Just ..good football

 

[Shane Heard]

The Eagles in 2019 took a step back due to the new 6-6-6 rule after the 2018 premiership

everything in life is adapt or perish