Etihad Stadium Blues

[Mental Magpie]

I believe there is a direct link with playing at Etihad Stadium and struggling the following week.
We seem to be really flat and lethargic in every game we play after having played there. If my memory serves me correctly, we've dropped more games than we've won for the last few seasons.

Any thoughts and or data on this topic?

 

[Pie eyed]

I believe there is a direct link with playing at Etihad Stadium and struggling the following week.
We seem to be really flat and lethargic in every game we play after having played there. If my memory serves me correctly, we've dropped more games than we've won for the last few seasons.

Any thoughts and or data on this topic?

I definitely feel we play poorly at Etihad in general but I'd be guessing as to why. Could be something as simple as the draw and the previous weeks opposition and game.

Although after looking at 2009 we actually do win at Etihad at least 60-40?

 

[collingwood1992]

I heard a stat (that mainly applies to the bulldogs rather than Etihad, but as we always play the dogs at Etihad it could apply here). That since 2008 85% of teams who play the bulldogs, win, lose or draw, lose the next week. Eg; last year after the dogs game (rd 15) I belive we lost to the hawks the next week (going off memory). And after the saints played the dogs last year, they only beat the swans by 1 point the next week.

Lets hope, as the hawks are playing the Dogs this week, they suffer from this

 

[Brad Goodman]

Interesting, before beating Melbourne we had lost our last 6 games the week after playing at Etihad...

Year	Rnd	Opponent	Score	Score	R
2010	R2 	Melbourne	86	85	W
2009	QF	St Kilda	52	80	L
2009	R16	Hawthorn	76	121	L
2009	R8	Carlton	        53	104	L
2009	R7	St Kilda	40	128	L
2008	R22	Fremantle	56	80	L
2008	R17	Essendon	80	128	L

Also, our we have a 5-7 win-loss record at Etihad from 2007-present.

 

[Professor Knowall]

I definitely feel we play poorly at Etihad in general but I'd be guessing as to why. Could be something as simple as the draw and the previous weeks opposition and game.

Although after looking at 2009 we actually do win at Etihad at least 60-40?

The OP is about playing at Etihad Stadium and then struggling the following week. - e.g we had a great win against the Bulldogs at Docklands - then came Melbourne ... .
Maybe it's the hard surface at Docklands coupled with playing against top teams there (e.g Bulldogs and the Saints this week) making it harder to recover. Six day breaks don't help either. Can't think of any other reasons

 

[mattys123]

Barry Hall was interviewed after round one (One week at a time was the show I think) and he said after 4 pre season games at the ground, he pulled up very sore, more so then anything he had experienced before.

He also stated though that the Bulldogs players had told him that once you had played 10-12 games on the ground in a relataively short time, you were "used to it" and you didn't pull up as sore.

We only play there 4 times a year, rarely twice in a row, and the difference between the MCG and Docklands is significant.

We are lucky Haawthorn are playing there this week too, takes that advantage away from next weeks game at least.

Another advantage for us next week is an 8 day break, after 2 back to back 6 day breaks.

 

[Pie eyed]

The OP is about playing at Etihad Stadium and then struggling the following week. - e.g we had a great win against the Bulldogs at Docklands - then came Melbourne ... .
Maybe it's the hard surface at Docklands coupled with playing against top teams there (e.g Bulldogs and the Saints this week) making it harder to recover. Six day breaks don't help either. Can't think of any other reasons

I got that, hence my bolding.

 

[swiftdog]

I thought about this a bit during the game and thought the change in ground dimensions may have an effect the following week. Our backs seemed to give a lot of space to their forwards and it could be due to MCG being the bigger deck. At Etihad the backmen may have been able to make the spoil due to the smaller dimensions.

Could be the surface, who knows. Looking at the stats we've lost to 2 very ordinary teams in Freo and essendon, almost lost to Melbourne the following week. Carlton/Pies games are a flip of the coin anyway, but we were comprehensively smashed and the Saints and Mayblooms would probably have smashed us anywhere.

 

[Mental Magpie]

The stats seem to support my theory.

I think it's more related to the hard surface than ground dimensions. It seems to take a lot out of the players.

 

[DaVe86]

Maybe the following week,

But I think we actually play Etihad better than the G.

Narrower, so we don't have to go so wide on the boundaries. At the Dome, the wings aren't so wide.

Also, the wide open spaces of the G exposes our lack of speed. At Etihad, it is smaller and flatter and quicker so our players aren't exposed. It's more about fast ball movement than it is about covering the ground.


But yes, all players seem to struggle after playing at Etihad

 

[soreplums]

Barry Hall was interviewed after round one (One week at a time was the show I think) and he said after 4 pre season games at the ground, he pulled up very sore, more so then anything he had experienced before.

He also stated though that the Bulldogs players had told him that once you had played 10-12 games on the ground in a relataively short time, you were "used to it" and you didn't pull up as sore.

We only play there 4 times a year, rarely twice in a row, and the difference between the MCG and Docklands is significant.

We are lucky Haawthorn are playing there this week too, takes that advantage away from next weeks game at least.

Another advantage for us next week is an 8 day break, after 2 back to back 6 day breaks.

And they play the Doggies.... let's hope that stat comes into play next week... history knows we need it!

 

[Football God]

True, we were shit in our goal kicking against richmond in the praccy match.

 

[magpielicious]

Intersting theory, but how do you explain teams who play at Etihad all the time ? Doesn't seem to effect St Kilda or the Bulldogs.

Unless off course they train differently during the week to relieve the hardness on their legs ?

 

[StillWaiting5689]

Intersting theory, but how do you explain teams who play at Etihad all the time ? Doesn't seem to effect St Kilda or the Bulldogs.

Unless off course they train differently during the week to relieve the hardness on their legs ?

As mattys123 pointed out, the bulldogs players told Barry Hall you get used to it after playing on the ground 10 or so times in a short space.
It takes teams a while to get used to it, remember when saints used to have injuries all the time and people thought it had to do with the harder surface at the dome.

 

[Mental Magpie]

Intersting theory, but how do you explain teams who play at Etihad all the time ? Doesn't seem to effect St Kilda or the Bulldogs.

Unless off course they train differently during the week to relieve the hardness on their legs ?

As stated below by StillWaiting and by matty in an earlier post magpielicious, the teams that play there regularly, must be more conditioned to the hard surface. They may also have a recovery method different to ours, that caters for the harder surface.

As mattys123 pointed out, the bulldogs players told Barry Hall you get used to it after playing on the ground 10 or so times in a short space.
It takes teams a while to get used to it, remember when saints used to have injuries all the time and people thought it had to do with the harder surface at the dome.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

coincidence and nothing more.

Stop making excuses.

 

[Mental Magpie]

Data outweighs coincidence.