Melbourne: what do we make of them

[Topkent]

That's an interesting point. I tend to think the Dees are playing at (or very close) to 100%. And it's only May. I don't think the other contenders are at that level yet.

So can the Dees maintain their form for the remainder of the season (including finals)? Keeping in mind that they're at almost at full list. Viney is the only one of note out that I can think of. That's certainly not the case with the others. No one knows what will play out between now and finals time.

Like I said earlier though...enjoy the ride. It's a great start to a loooong season.

Yeah nah, no one thinks they are going 100 but we have just put Brown and Weid in so our forward line isn't functioning yet. Literally had a new combination almost every week for the first 9 weeks.
Our defence is close to 100% sure. The midfield and forward line could easily improve.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Yeah nah, no one thinks they are going 100 but we have just put Brown and Weid in so our forward line isn't functioning yet. Literally had a new combination almost every week for the first 9 weeks.
Our defence is close to 100% sure. The midfield and forward line could easily improve.

given that our defence is literally the stingiest in history by a long way even if we are at 100% we could probably afford to drop down to 75% and still be okay lol

 

[G String]

We'll know a bit more after RD12 - after they play Lions and Bulldogs - to this point they've had a pretty soft draw - coming up against sides at the right time.

They are also having a good run with injuries - most other clubs are really struggling with a lot of key injuries at this time of year. Having a few injuries at this time of year is not such a bad thing for a side wanting to play finals as it actually gives the players a break mentally and physically. Players cant keep up form and full fitness for 25+ weeks of the year. The best thing to happen to Geelong this year is having Danger out - watch out when he gets back after the bye refreshed and fit. Same with the Tigers, if they can get there midfield back after the bye they'll be looking good for a another tilt.

I expect the Demons to drop off but may bank enough wins to be top 4 - I'd be pretty confident that the more seasoned sides that are pacing themselves like Tiges, Cats, Bris, Port, WCE could knock them off in the finals at this stage

 

[Chinacats]

9 zip should be primed for a top 4 finish. And in pole position to avoid an interstate final too. prelim should be the minumum at this stage. Looking like the dogs and Dees to be at least prelim. 5 others fighting for top 4 rights.

 

[Topkent]

I expect the Demons to drop off but may bank enough wins to be top 4 - I'd be pretty confident that the more seasoned sides that are pacing themselves like Tiges, Cats, Bris, Port, WCE could knock them off in the finals at this stage

Yeah I'm ******* pissed we are winning games early when they're only worth half the points.

 

[LBJ6]

Yeah I'm ******* pissed we are winning games early when they're only worth half the points.

More seasoned sides like Brisbane - fairly sure we've won more finals games than them in the last 3 years.

 

[bjwilliams]

I'd be pretty confident that the more seasoned sides that are pacing themselves like Tiges, Cats, Bris, Port, WCE could knock them off in the finals at this stage

Can you explain teams 'pacing themselves' to me in this context? Are you saying it's better to lose games right now and not try to win too much? Or are the coaches advising the players to only go at 90% to not burn out by the end of the year? I don't understand how any team could be pacing themselves exactly.

 

[old55]

They kind of struggled to put away North and Carlton, even Sydney who aren't really a top 8 team.

A legit 9-0 team would have gave those North and Carlton sides good 10-15 goal hidings.

You'll get the opportunity to see them live this weekend - let's see if you're right next week ...

 

[G String]

Can you explain teams 'pacing themselves' to me in this context? Are you saying it's better to lose games right now and not try to win too much? Or are the coaches advising the players to only go at 90% to not burn out by the end of the year? I don't understand how any team could be pacing themselves exactly.

Training loads and fitness levels are all moderated throughout the season. Teams that are premiership threats will modify their training loads to try to peak later in the season - teams that have had a longer pre-seasons are more likely to peak early and bank early wins like Sydney and Melbourne this year - they will naturally drop off and other teams will catch up.

 

[old55]

We'll know a bit more after RD12 - after they play Lions and Bulldogs - to this point they've had a pretty soft draw - coming up against sides at the right time.

They are also having a good run with injuries - most other clubs are really struggling with a lot of key injuries at this time of year. Having a few injuries at this time of year is not such a bad thing for a side wanting to play finals as it actually gives the players a break mentally and physically. Players cant keep up form and full fitness for 25+ weeks of the year. The best thing to happen to Geelong this year is having Danger out - watch out when he gets back after the bye refreshed and fit. Same with the Tigers, if they can get there midfield back after the bye they'll be looking good for a another tilt.

I expect the Demons to drop off but may bank enough wins to be top 4 - I'd be pretty confident that the more seasoned sides that are pacing themselves like Tiges, Cats, Bris, Port, WCE could knock them off in the finals at this stage

We won in the first 5 or 6 weeks of the season with our 2 first choice key forwards out injured.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Yeah nah, no one thinks they are going 100 but we have just put Brown and Weid in so our forward line isn't functioning yet. Literally had a new combination almost every week for the first 9 weeks.
Our defence is close to 100% sure. The midfield and forward line could easily improve.

Good point re: your forward line. I agree your backline is excellent. May and Lever are a great combo. And the run is very good. Your mids are obviously very good.

If Brown hits his straps (more so than Weid) then I imagine it will benefit the team more. He only needs to play a role and your small forwards can reap the benefits. If he starts clunking marks and kicking goals, all the better. Let's not forget a marking KF at finals time is a huge plus.

 

[old55]

Training loads and fitness levels are all moderated throughout the season. Teams that are premiership threats will modify their training loads to try to peak later in the season - teams that have had a longer pre-seasons are more likely to peak early and bank early wins like Sydney and Melbourne this year - they will naturally drop off and other teams will catch up.

Wow thanks - Darren Burgess will be amazed to hear this!

 

[G String]

Wow thanks - Darren Burgess will be amazed to hear this!

he'll be fully aware and preparing for a drop off - hopefully for the Demons they can mitigate the drop off and find a way to sustain their levels for 25+ weeks without too much damage - but I suspect they be expecting a drop off. Winning early is great for the marketing and membership depts though

 

[Demonic Ascent]

That's an interesting point. I tend to think the Dees are playing at (or very close) to 100%. And it's only May. I don't think the other contenders are at that level yet.

So can the Dees maintain their form for the remainder of the season (including finals)? Keeping in mind that they're at almost at full list. Viney is the only one of note out that I can think of. That's certainly not the case with the others. No one knows what will play out between now and finals time.

Like I said earlier though...enjoy the ride. It's a great start to a loooong season.

We're not playing at our best at the moment. Not close I don't think. We still have a couple of gears to go up particularly in the midfield, our ball movement and our forward line cohesion.

 

[Boristown]

Yeah I'm ******* pissed we are winning games early when they're only worth half the points.

Why so passive aggressive bruh?

 

[old55]

I expect the Demons to drop off but may bank enough wins to be top 4 - I'd be pretty confident that the more seasoned sides that are pacing themselves like Tiges, Cats, Bris, Port, WCE could knock them off in the finals at this stage

Training loads and fitness levels are all moderated throughout the season. Teams that are premiership threats will modify their training loads to try to peak later in the season - teams that have had a longer pre-seasons are more likely to peak early and bank early wins like Sydney and Melbourne this year - they will naturally drop off and other teams will catch up.

he'll be fully aware and preparing for a drop off - hopefully for the Demons they can mitigate the drop off and find a way to sustain their levels for 25+ weeks without too much damage - but I suspect they be expecting a drop off. Winning early is great for the marketing and membership depts though

I think with Burgess in control the exact opposite of your prediction is a more likely outcome. Melbourne have banked wins and therefore we can afford to have a heavy training load and the potential performance drop off associated with it, in the early back half of the season to enable us to peak in the finals. We don't need to peak for 25+ weeks. Other teams who are not winning now will be scrambling for wins to make top 4. I think MFC and the Dogs are in the best positions to peak in September at the moment.

 

[G String]

I think with Burgess in control the exact opposite of your prediction is a more likely outcome. Melbourne have banked wins and therefore we can afford to have a heavy training load and the potential performance drop off associated with it, in the early back half of the season to enable us to peak in the finals. We don't need to peak for 25+ weeks. Other teams who are not winning now will be scrambling for wins to make top 4. I think MFC and the Dogs are in the best positions to peak in September at the moment.

best of luck

 

[Demonic Ascent]

We'll know a bit more after RD12 - after they play Lions and Bulldogs - to this point they've had a pretty soft draw - coming up against sides at the right time.

They are also having a good run with injuries - most other clubs are really struggling with a lot of key injuries at this time of year. Having a few injuries at this time of year is not such a bad thing for a side wanting to play finals as it actually gives the players a break mentally and physically. Players cant keep up form and full fitness for 25+ weeks of the year. The best thing to happen to Geelong this year is having Danger out - watch out when he gets back after the bye refreshed and fit. Same with the Tigers, if they can get there midfield back after the bye they'll be looking good for a another tilt.

I expect the Demons to drop off but may bank enough wins to be top 4 - I'd be pretty confident that the more seasoned sides that are pacing themselves like Tiges, Cats, Bris, Port, WCE could knock them off in the finals at this stage

"Pacing themselves"

Some of what you say may have merit but don't think that just because other teams aren't performing as well it is by design. It's not like Melbourne are going balls to the wall either, we're grinding games out with a sound defensive system rather than blitzing teams off the park. We're pacing ourselves just fine I think.

 

[nineteen eighty]

We're not playing at our best at the moment. Not close I don't think. We still have a couple of gears to go up particularly in the midfield, our ball movement and our forward line cohesion.

Forward line cohesion I absolutely agree with. Midfield I'm not so sure.

Time will tell. I think it's a fascinating season.

Like I said, enjoy the ride. Been a fantastic start for the team and its supporters.

 

[Imet Hassa]

Okay then it's Melbourne's premiership to lose. Anything short of a GF is a monumental failure from this point. No excuses.

When losing a reasoned argument pull the hyperbole card.

 

[Ando727]

It's such an after the fact take. So only good teams can be fit then? Maybe everyone is buying in now. Maybe just having done 7 pre seasons has made them fitter. Maybe the confidence of winning makes them wanna run more.

Are you saying you haven't observed a big jump in our ability to run out games this year? Of course I can't pinpoint the exact moment that happed because of the shorter games last year (and because it isn't an exact moment anyway), but I'm confident it did happen at some stage. 2 years ago we used to look very flat at the end of games that we were still in. Now we look like we are still powering on and that makes us more likely to overwhelm the opposition. I don't think improving our team is solely for responsible for that. I think the fitness is evident. I was at the North vs Melb game and in the last quarter, North looked stuffed. Hands on hips, puffing. Our boys looked fresh as a daisy by comparison. The way we were actually playing that day, I think we might have lost that game if North were as fit as we are - or at least it would have been a lot closer. There are a number of games this year where we didn't play that well, could have lost, but we kept motoring on better than the opposition.

Richmond never had Burgess, nor did Hawthorn or Geelong.

No, but they probably had a good fitness guy too. Nobody said Burgo is the only good one. Only that some teams don't have good ones, and they suffer for it.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Why so passive aggressive bruh?

You still haven’t learned what that means

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Forward line cohesion I absolutely agree with. Midfield I'm not so sure.

Time will tell. I think it's a fascinating season.

Like I said, enjoy the ride. Been a fantastic start for the team and its supporters.

Unless you haven’t watched us in the last four years I’m not sure how anyone could think our midfield can’t go to a higher level. They’ve over corrected early to become more defensively minded which has proven to be more successful, but all of our midfielders are still 25yo or under, there’s plenty of improvement left to come in terms of getting that attack/defend balance right, and we’ve shown in the past four years that we can be much more potent than this offensively. No Melbourne fan thinks our midfield is playing that well atm. If this is the best we can do, we won’t ever win a flag.

 

[Lampers]

Forward line cohesion I absolutely agree with. Midfield I'm not so sure.

Time will tell. I think it's a fascinating season.

Like I said, enjoy the ride. Been a fantastic start for the team and its supporters.

I think there’s not much improvement for transition ball movement in the midfield. Almost all midfielders are playing at or above anticipated levels in open play.

There is still room for improvement at stoppages. They are very much on the pendulum of defensive setup to minimise risk of clean opposition clearances. Maybe that’s deliberate to allow the defence the best chance to intercept, or maybe Viney missing is part of it. But the exact same players have been a dominant clearance team only a couple of years ago so they can improve offensively (but at the cost of giving up fewer total clearances, but more clean opposition clearances I suspect).

Forward line has a long way to improve, who knows what the right tall/small and personnel mix is.

Hard to see the backline getting much better.

 

[Topkent]

Why so passive aggressive bruh?

You learn a new word last week and decide * it I'll use it as often as possible?