Opinion Was Melbourne's pandemic premiership a flash in the pan?

[NetworkNerd]

Last time I checked, every team played under the same conditions.

I keep telling myself, don't bite. Don't bite.

Every flag in existence has an *. This is bigfooty

Although to be fair I would struggle to think of an * for Brisbane if they win it.

 

[iameviljez]

No flash in the pan. Plenty of sides had average years after a flag and came back to win later ones (West Coast 93, Norf 97, Hawthorn 2008).

Most of the ingredients are there, but they desperately need Tom McDonald

25

Tom Mcdonald

Age

32

Ht

195cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.4

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

6.7

4star

M

5.6

5star

T

1.9

4star

MG

261.8

4star

D

8.0

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

3.0

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

0.6

1star

MG

135.6

2star

D

13.8

4star

K

6.8

3star

HB

7.0

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.4

4star

, and for Steven May

1

Steven May

Age

32

Ht

193cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.7

4star

K

10.5

4star

HB

4.2

3star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.5

3star

MG

307.3

4star

D

15.5

4star

K

12.1

5star

HB

3.4

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

0.5

1star

MG

378.4

5star

D

12.4

4star

K

8.8

4star

HB

3.6

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.8

4star

to chill out.

 

[OniAu]

Will be top 4 easily next year. If they sort their forward line out they will be better again

Not a flash in the pan at all , will be back stronger

 

[00Stinger]

Every flag in existence has an *. This is bigfooty

Although to be fair I would struggle to think of an * for Brisbane if they win it.

Do they have any academy players?

If yes, then there is the *

#BigFootyLogic

 

[Percel]

Amazing team, just need a game day coach when brilliance doesn't cut it for them

 

[99cents]

It all stems from Bailey Fritschz's non handball to Petracca...

never thought they'd be in it after I witnessed that. Petracca in his calm way seemed shocked also

 

[Defabs]

Last time I checked, every team played under the same conditions.

I keep telling myself, don't bite. Don't bite.

Reality is there is a massive asterix besides it. A game length was the equivalent of 3 full quarters with 16 minutes of play still remaining in the 4th.

None of the crowd numbers, head to head or lowest ever scores records will ever stand.

It was nice that footy was played to keep us distracted but I don’t hold the season in any higher regard than the old pre season cup.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Last time I checked, every team played under the same conditions.

I keep telling myself, don't bite. Don't bite.

Totally agree re 2020 - the fairest year ever

Everybody played everyone once - totally fair - and thus every game became super important - you couldnt afford a surprise Loss ( where as in a 22 season you can get away with 1 or 2 of those )

And what 80-90% of the games were on neutral grounds - i think that passes the fairest test - Cats had i think 2 games at KP yet we are relentlessly told that it is only the KP home ground advantage why we finish high up on the ladder - well 2020 knocked that observation on the head because we made the GF

If we had won the premiership - i would have valued that flag tremendously

 

[lumpinee]

reminded me of Richmond 2018,coach expected same 22 to get it done,only have to go back and look at Hawks most successful period '83 - '91
minimum of 4 changes required for premiership sides to salute again

Edit: Essendon had 7 different players line up in the '85 GF as compared to '84,went BTB
Hardwick tried to get it done with only Higgins & Short the new inclusionsin '18,was never gonna pull it off
dont know how many different players melbourne introduced,obviously not enuff

 

[Jimthegreat]

They have a flag so they wouldn't care what people thought.

They were up there but often the year after a flag the same hunger isn't always there. The ol' premiership hangover nails different clubs at different times.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Well at the moment it’s a flash in the pan, but if they win the next three… it won’t be.

 

[melbournemartin]

How do you figure that?

Exactly as I wrote in the post. Zero home finals despite finishing first.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Exactly as I wrote in the post. Zero home finals despite finishing first.

But isn't it relative?

 

[PhatBoy]

Thought I was in the Bay as soon as I saw the word pandemic

F***ing grow up

 

[melbournemartin]

But isn't it relative?

Yes. Relative to other teams that finished first and had at least 2 home finals, we had zero, making it tougher.

 

[chunkylover53]

Nah they'll still be contending for a few years yet.

I do think their fwd line is concerning though.

As well as the ageing of Gawn and now Jackson leaving.

 

[Ricky Vaughn]

Every flag in existence has an *. This is bigfooty

Although to be fair I would struggle to think of an * for Brisbane if they win it.

Eric Hipwood and Keidan Coleman.

 

[Tulip]

Being rinsed by someone called 'GC2015' is genuinely worse than going out in straight set

 

[Freddy Swift]

‘Pandemic Premiership’, what rubbish. You wouldn’t be calling it that if GC had won. Why do people always want to belittle teams that win a flag? Just jealous.

Melbourne will be thereabouts again next year I think. Need to do something about their forwards though.

It is not an easy thing to go b2b premiers. So much has to go right. If your team does win a flag the supporters need to really take it all in, the atmosphere, the euphoria, the premiership merchandise, because you never know if or when it’s going to happen again.

 

[Tackle Bag]

Good side and will be in the mix for a few years. We’ve forgotten how hard it is to win back to back premierships because we’ve seen a few great sides do it in recent times.

 

[PhatBoy]

Reality is there is a massive asterix besides it. A game length was the equivalent of 3 full quarters with 16 minutes of play still remaining in the 4th.

None of the crowd numbers, head to head or lowest ever scores records will ever stand.

It was nice that footy was played to keep us distracted but I don’t hold the season in any higher regard than the old pre season cup.

Did all the teams in the competition play the same amount of games under the same conditions or not

 

[Dee Train]

OP can join the discussion if and when his plastic franchise of a ‘club’ actually plays in a final. Not worthy to tie the Dees bootlaces, let alone post troll threads.

 

[mcgarnacle]

They were fairly dominant in the first 10 games. Perhaps the High Performance approach was different without Burgess and they ran out of pepper. Perhaps the players got a bit too comfortable. Who knows? There are so many variables. It ended up being 6 wins from 13 to finish off the season. That form wouldn't get you into finals if you extrapolate it over 22 games. They fell off the rails. Petracca was on one leg for two finals. For a guy who was so dominant for them last year, that would've hurt the Dees. Oliver was down too. Can the squad get the hunger back for next year? Every season is an opportunity lost whether you were the favourite or eventual wooden spoon. As a player, you can't get that back. These Melbourne players probably haven't realised that.

 

[PhatBoy]

Interesting that based on the length of games in 2020 some people think it is an illegitimate competition - even though everybody played everybody once.

Yet different game times in another season where the draw is imbalanced and everything is fine

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Yes. Relative to other teams that finished first and had at least 2 home finals, we had zero, making it tougher.

I'm not sure that's relative at all. Melbourne's actual opponent in the GF didn't play a Home final, and actually played all of their finals up until the GF at their opponent's actual home ground.

Geelong don't get home finals. They finished on top only 2 years ago, and actually played their first 'home' final at their opponent's home ground!

Docklands tenants don't get home finals either. In fact, those team often play 'home' finals at their opponent's actual home ground too.