Changes vs saints

[Dory_77]

But the thing is, it’s not about selection is it? It’s about coaching what we have. It’s the midfield that is hurting us. I saw it first hand on the weekend. It’s not about pace or burning away all the time, we are lacking smarts. Who is looking after the midfield? Why do we see 4 Melbourne midfielders converge on 1 Bulldogs player who then fires a lateral handball to a target that can run? That target already has 5 paces on the Demons who all turn look and collectively scratch their heads.

We just aren’t playing smart footy. It’s a case of see ball get ball kick immediately. Case in point, JJ. How much loose ball did he just grab from errant forward entries? It was the same last year in round 2 when Tom Stewart had about 30 uncontested touches.

We haven’t taught our players how to play midfield. We’ve said ‘see ball get ball kick ball’. You don’t need to be fast to be an outside player. You just need to know where to go. Anyone can kick not under pressure. We are just not thinking. How can our midfield coaches not see this?

Good post. We are talented, but very dumb in how we set up and really don't seem to be able to balance out midfield at all. The Bulldogs played with the tactical nous of a country footy side, backing one or two players to win the contested ball and sitting a bloke out the back of every stoppage (or dropping off for a switch when they get it at half-back), and it worked so easily because we play like U/12s with everyone sucked into the contest and packing their dacks when under any pressure.

We've been sucked in too much by some stats. Winning contested ball and clearances is how you get clean, uncontested ball and create scores from those, not the direct way to winning games.

 

[bird_man]

Hannebery has been out for a while hasn’t he? Has he had much impact when fit for you? He seemed to have just got injured at Sydney and then fallen off a cliff.

Yeah he's been out for a while, was fairly handy without starring though. Would be good to have him in there with an inexperienced midfield.

Not suggesting he'd have a massive impact but it adds to the issue of a midfield that really lacks depth.

 

[mrmonkey]

But the thing is, it’s not about selection is it? It’s about coaching what we have. It’s the midfield that is hurting us. I saw it first hand on the weekend. It’s not about pace or burning away all the time, we are lacking smarts. Who is looking after the midfield? Why do we see 4 Melbourne midfielders converge on 1 Bulldogs player who then fires a lateral handball to a target that can run? That target already has 5 paces on the Demons who all turn look and collectively scratch their heads.

We just aren’t playing smart footy. It’s a case of see ball get ball kick immediately. Case in point, JJ. How much loose ball did he just grab from errant forward entries? It was the same last year in round 2 when Tom Stewart had about 30 uncontested touches.

We haven’t taught our players how to play midfield. We’ve said ‘see ball get ball kick ball’. You don’t need to be fast to be an outside player. You just need to know where to go. Anyone can kick not under pressure. We are just not thinking. How can our midfield coaches not see this?

Spot on don't need quick players to be a quick team. You need clean skills, decision making and ball movement. Doesn't matter if you're Usain Bolt you ain't out running a good 40m kick. We could play jayden hunt watch him hack kick it forward and watch how quickly it comes back. It's bizarre how we constantly get sucked into the contest this has been going on for years, at least since the start of 2018 from when I've noticed.

 

[Demon bhoy]

But the thing is, it’s not about selection is it? It’s about coaching what we have. It’s the midfield that is hurting us. I saw it first hand on the weekend. It’s not about pace or burning away all the time, we are lacking smarts. Who is looking after the midfield? Why do we see 4 Melbourne midfielders converge on 1 Bulldogs player who then fires a lateral handball to a target that can run? That target already has 5 paces on the Demons who all turn look and collectively scratch their heads.

We just aren’t playing smart footy. It’s a case of see ball get ball kick immediately. Case in point, JJ. How much loose ball did he just grab from errant forward entries? It was the same last year in round 2 when Tom Stewart had about 30 uncontested touches.

We haven’t taught our players how to play midfield. We’ve said ‘see ball get ball kick ball’. You don’t need to be fast to be an outside player. You just need to know where to go. Anyone can kick not under pressure. We are just not thinking. How can our midfield coaches not see this?

Selection is coaching, of course it’s about selection but in our clubs case it’s a symptom of the wider problem of incompetence, it’s not the biggest issue but repeatedly picking blokes who haven’t had a kick in 2 years is a root cause of what you described in your post and it feeds into what takes place on game day particularly against any team with a semblance of talent or structure.

 

[Major Colvin]

Saints will expose our slow midfield next week.

This is my sense of it as well.

The couple of times of watched the Saints this year I've been impressed by their speed. The definitely should have beaten the Lions last night (who are supposedly a top 4 team). The Saints are comfortably a 5-8 team who can challenge 1-4 on their day. We are probably sitting where we deserve to be, 9-12.

Expect the Saints to beat us comfortably

 

[demondavey]

Selection is coaching, of course it’s about selection but in our clubs case it’s a symptom of the wider problem of incompetence, it’s not the biggest issue but repeatedly picking blokes who haven’t had a kick in 2 years is a root cause of what you described in your post and it feeds into what takes place on game day particularly against any team with a semblance of talent or structure.

Correct. We aren’t getting anyone else on our list this year. We have what we have. Changing the team non stop isn’t creating balance. There’s the obvious two that I see having not much impact and that’s McDonald and Harmes. The only relief for Harmes is maybe he plays as a defensive forward?

Our issue is positioning and understanding what to do and when. We honestly need our midfield coaches to step up and identify this.

 

[demondavey]

Yeah he's been out for a while, was fairly handy without starring though. Would be good to have him in there with an inexperienced midfield.

Not suggesting he'd have a massive impact but it adds to the issue of a midfield that really lacks depth.

You seem to be flying along without him. No need to rush him back even when fit unless there’s an obvious need for him.

 

[demondavey]

I hope whatever happens we look at the tape of Geelong beating St Kilda and assess that.

 

[schmuttt]

We can beat the Saints if we play the controlled footy we've played previously this year. They really aren't that different to how they played under Richardson, they just have much better players for the gameplan.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

We can beat the Saints if we play the controlled footy we've played previously this year. They really aren't that different to how they played under Richardson, they just have much better players for the gameplan.

Could have said the same about the Dogs. But we can’t be trusted not to lapse, even if we outplay them for three quarters.

 

[demondavey]

We can beat the Saints if we play the controlled footy we've played previously this year. They really aren't that different to how they played under Richardson, they just have much better players for the gameplan.

I agree

 

[ABray10]

Like most games this year it seems like it just depends on which dees and which saints team turns up on the day. Everyone is pretty inconsistent.

We can play some pretty dumb footy which doesn't help, but Saints aren't peak Hawks either, they have been better than us but still a mystery until the game starts as to what they will be like each week.

 

[Toump Ass]

Like most games this year it seems like it just depends on which dees and which saints team turns up on the day. Everyone is pretty inconsistent.

I take offence at this comment.

We're clearly the most consistent team in the AFL.

0 wins against decent teams since 2018 and a perfect as far as shitting the bed in meaningful games go.

 

[pjfairbairn]

ugh I hate this

Perfectly encapsulates the experience of being a Melbourne fan

 

[CTHORANGE]

...It honestly comes back to using the pill better in the guts, we are too cute with the over the head handball or look away pass. We aren’t a team of Steve Johnson’s...

Yeh i was thinking this on the weekend as well, so many hail marys going on against the dogs, we couldn't even get the basics right let alone doing crazy loop hand-passes into teammates with 3 opponents and dinky kicks to packs of 3 defenders and 1 forward. Though this is still preferable to just blindly dump kicking it into forward 50 every time. It's why we appear to be such a dumb football team when we are struggling, when we are down we cannot create or execute basic options to stem the momentum.

 

[demondavey]

Yeh i was thinking this on the weekend as well, so many hail marys going on against the dogs, we couldn't even get the basics right let alone doing crazy loop hand-passes into teammates with 3 opponents and dinky kicks to packs of 3 defenders and 1 forward. Though this is still preferable to just blindly dump kicking it into forward 50 every time. It's why we appear to be such a dumb football team when we are struggling, when we are down we cannot create or execute basic options to stem the momentum.

I can’t believe that we have a group of guys that can’t play. That’s just not the case. Do we have genuine ‘stars’ like Richmond? No, but we have enough really good players to be able to execute the basic midfield tasks. The WB are a mid range outfit like we are, they’ve not done much since 2016 but they do think and are coached to not tie themselves in knots.

I keep going on about it, but who is looking after the midfield? I mean surely there’s extensive review of the footage against the Scray and we should be working on why this went wrong. Our development looks stagnant and we just don’t seem to LEARN.

 

[Crusty Demon]

I can’t believe that we have a group of guys that can’t play. That’s just not the case. Do we have genuine ‘stars’ like Richmond? No, but we have enough really good players to be able to execute the basic midfield tasks. The WB are a mid range outfit like we are, they’ve not done much since 2016 but they do think and are coached to not tie themselves in knots.

I keep going on about it, but who is looking after the midfield? I mean surely there’s extensive review of the footage against the Scray and we should be working on why this went wrong. Our development looks stagnant and we just don’t seem to LEARN.

We're kind of stuck though. We don't have the speed or mix that the better teams have. Goody could certainly try more rotations though. Like Salem, Melk or even Hannan in there for something different. Oliver was out of sorts last game. Would have been a good opportunity to try him forward for an extended spell and put a Salem in the middle maybe. Will take another couple of years to get that mix right, if we succeed at all. That Dogs game and most likely this weeks Saints game hopefully highlight to the club that we need a more balanced midfield.

 

[ImissFrosty]

We're kind of stuck though. We don't have the speed or mix that the better teams have. Goody could certainly try more rotations though. Like Salem, Melk or even Hannan in there for something different. Oliver was out of sorts last game. Would have been a good opportunity to try him forward for an extended spell and put a Salem in the middle maybe. Will take another couple of years to get that mix right, if we succeed at all. That Dogs game and most likely this weeks Saints game hopefully highlight to the club that we need a more balanced midfield.

I would love to see Salem in the guts a lot more seems like he's just in a holding pattern right now. He's not doing bad, but not where a player of his talent should be. He could play on a wing at centre bounces and rotate to become the loose at the back of the stoppage allowing him to get handballs from tracc and clarry if need be and generate scores going forward with his elite kicking. Maybe he just needs a slight role change to break out.

 

[Crusty Demon]

I would love to see Salem in the guts a lot more seems like he's just in a holding pattern right now. He's not doing bad, but not where a player of his talent should be. He could play on a wing at centre bounces and rotate to become the loose at the back of the stoppage allowing him to get handballs from tracc and clarry if need be and generate scores going forward with his elite kicking. Maybe he just needs a slight role change to break out.

I'd like to see how he goes playing around the ball a bit more. Play just outside the stoppage. Be that go to for the extraction players. Other clubs always seem to have those 1 or 2 blokes outside a stoppage. Salem needs to be one of those guys.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Yep. Salem has way too much talent to be ******* around doing nothing. He's currently playing what's probably the easiest role in modern footy, and he's breaking even doing it because there's not much scope to be doing anything more.

 

[TheCount]

Round 14 Injury Update | Two youngsters sidelined

Get up to date with Melbourne’s injury news ahead of Round 14

www.melbournefc.com.au

Sparrow out with a broken collarbone as expected ... but don't expect Jordon to replace him, as he's also out after having plastic surgery on his finger after a gym mishap, which I think we can all agree, the less details on that, the better.

 

[stEdy]

Rivers has to come in.

Would even love him playing on a wing if they're hell bent on keeping Harmes at half back. Has some dash and is a great kick.

Was playing around the footy in the recent scratchy too. Thought he was very stiff to be dropped for the Pies game.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Rivers has to come in.

Would even love him playing on a wing if they're hell bent on keeping Harmes at half back. Has some dash and is a great kick.

Was playing around the footy in the recent scratchy too. Thought he was very stiff to be dropped for the Pies game.

Can't just plonk him on a wing, it's such a specialised position these days.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Round 14 Injury Update | Two youngsters sidelined

Get up to date with Melbourne’s injury news ahead of Round 14

www.melbournefc.com.au

Sparrow out with a broken collarbone as expected ... but don't expect Jordon to replace him, as he's also out after having plastic surgery on his finger after a gym mishap, which I think we can all agree, the less details on that, the better.

* me, how Melbourne is this. One of our young players gets injured, and the guy he was drafted with who the coaches have said is second in line to his position gets injured at the exact same time.

 

[demondavey]

We're kind of stuck though. We don't have the speed or mix that the better teams have. Goody could certainly try more rotations though. Like Salem, Melk or even Hannan in there for something different. Oliver was out of sorts last game. Would have been a good opportunity to try him forward for an extended spell and put a Salem in the middle maybe. Will take another couple of years to get that mix right, if we succeed at all. That Dogs game and most likely this weeks Saints game hopefully highlight to the club that we need a more balanced midfield.

Another point you hit which I agree with; why isn’t Salem played on the ball? Is there a logical reason for not playing him there?