Melbourne's Physicality

[rick James]

Freo should be wary. Many are mentioning injuries as a reason for St Kilda's loss, and it's a fair point.

What they aren't mentioning is that all of those injuries were new, and procured during the course of the game - most at the hands of Nathan Carrol and Brock McLean.

St Kilda fans, even their moderators, had mentioned in the lead up to this game that they didn't view Melbourne as a tough side - I am tipping some opinions were changed Friday night.

*Just an observation, but is Kosi continuosly off balance or what? The guy is seriosuly uncoordinated, he makes Aaron Sandilands look like Vince Carter. Seeing Brock poleaxe him, I almost felt guilty. But alas, hje should have played basketball.

In summary, Melbourne are tough. St Kilda aren't.

 

[Neutral_observer]

Melbournes toughness is the reason that Ko****zke, Gehrig and the Clarkes all went off the ground on Friday night


So there is no excuse for the Saints. There injuries were not bad luck. Melbourne caused them., and deserved the win

Freo will be ****ting themselves

 

[Z_K]

St Kilda had 17 fit players and Grant Thomas in the box and you won by what, two goals?

Fremantle. By cricket scores. And you know it.

 

[Major Colvin]

St Kilda had 17 fit players and Grant Thomas in the box and you won by what, two goals?

Fremantle. By cricket scores. And you know it.

Ah the injuries excuse. Pay attention to them at your own peril

 

[La Vache]

Fremantle won't be concerned by Melbourne's physicality.

 

[rick James]

St Kilda had 17 fit players and Grant Thomas in the box and you won by what, two goals?

Fremantle. By cricket scores. And you know it.

Three goals.

And we put those players on the bench, through our physical play. What makes you think we won't do it to Freo as well?

 

[YelloMit]

Oh, but rick, you forgot something.

Freo have The Carr bros, Cook, Crowley, Farmer, and Dodd... Just to name a few.

 

[ViaLoop]

Oh, but rick, you forgot something.

Freo have The Carr bros, Cook, Crowley, Farmer, and Dodd... Just to name a few.

Byron has them covered. Just ask Crowley.

 

[Z_K]

Three goals.

And we put those players on the bench, through our physical play. What makes you think we won't do it to Freo as well?

Gehrig hurt himself. Clarke got a sore back from a clash that happens 400 times a week. Hammill cannot run. Kosi hurts himself reading the paper. Melbourne weren't breathing fire or bashing bodies. In fact, if I am being honest, you had more than your fair share of frightened women out there. The Yze, Johnstone, Davey, Green. All timid females.

If it wasn't for a good North Western suburbs boy like Brock, you lose.

Hang on, who mentioned Dodd as a tough Freo player? He ducks his head more than any footballer in the game. He is petrified!!!

 

[Jarka]

The Yze, Johnstone, Davey, Green. All timid females.

You didn't watch the game, did you? If you just had of said Yze and Davey then I would have agreed with you but Green put his body on the line all night.

 

[Z_K]

You didn't watch the game, did you? If you just had of said Yze and Davey then I would have agreed with you but Green put his body on the line all night.

Yeah, but I don't like him. So there.

 

[JeffDunne]

Melbourne did well - injuries hurt us but we couldn't match their intensity for 4 quarters.

Melbourne have the game to beat Freo but it will be a tough ask. Both teams have had a history of being exposed mentally but I was impressed with Melbourne's stickability on Friday night. They didn't panic. If they can stay with Freo early then I reckon they are a real chance.

 

[HKW1]

i reckon friday will turn into a last man standing afair.

melbourne will target freo's young players. freo will target white, jouhnstone, bate

it could become real ugly

 

[RoosterLad]

Rick James you better win this week after so many pointless melbourne threads. And now a warning about melbourne being tough? Why did a badly out of form Adelaide THRASH melbourne a bit over a week ago???

Melbourne are soft, cant travel, they lack mental toughness and will go nowhere near winning the flag.

Melbourne = ****

 

[Pipefitter]

I dont understand the saints supporters. Every time we beat you its like "oh you only beat us by 13 points, and we had grant thomas etc". You are missing the bottom line, we keep beating you. End of story.

 

[JeffDunne]

I dont understand the saints supporters. Every time we beat you its like "oh you only beat us by 13 points, and we had grant thomas etc". You are missing the bottom line, we keep beating you. End of story.

I don't understand where you got that one from.

Melbourne are clearly a team we have problems with - so what's your point?

 

[Grechy]

Rick James, Neutral AKA Twiddle-Dee Twiddle-Dum. Do you plan these threads together or something? Your team is not tough in any way, shape or form. You're meant to be Melbourne supporters yet you know nothing about your very own team. Melbourne are good when they can use their clean footskills and precision footy. Otherwise you would have to be the softest side in the comp.

Robertson, Johnson, Yze, Bruce, Green, Davey? Hardly tough.

Please don't say Byron Pickett. Only tough when the team is actually performing around him otherwise goes into oblivion. More of a head hunter then anything else.

That being said I believe you have a pretty good chance against Freo who I don't rate finals wise.

 

[HKW1]

Rick James, Neutral AKA Twiddle-Dee Twiddle-Dum. Do you plan these threads together or something? Your team is not tough in any way, shape or form. You're meant to be Melbourne supporters yet you know nothing about your very own team. Melbourne are good when they can use their clean footskills and precision footy. Otherwise you would have to be the softest side in the comp.

Robertson, Johnson, Yze, Bruce, Green, Davey? Hardly tough.

Please don't say Byron Pickett. Only tough when the team is actually performing around him otherwise goes into oblivion. More of a head hunter then anything else.

That being said I believe you have a pretty good chance against Freo who I don't rate finals wise.

melbourne used to play a soft brand they dont anymore. green is not a soft player either. i dont know why people think he is soft. because and essendon thug punched him in a final or because he was a small forward.

melbourne are actually pretty tough now. they have a scragging no name defence. strong bodied young midfielders. they have some good outside players as well. thats why they made the finals.

 

[rick James]

Rick James, Neutral AKA Twiddle-Dee Twiddle-Dum. Do you plan these threads together or something? Your team is not tough in any way, shape or form. You're meant to be Melbourne supporters yet you know nothing about your very own team. Melbourne are good when they can use their clean footskills and precision footy. Otherwise you would have to be the softest side in the comp.

Robertson, Johnson, Yze, Bruce, Green, Davey? Hardly tough.

For a start, it's Johnstone. With a t.

Green soft? Clearly you don't watch football, see him throw his body head first among St Kilda's feet in the last?

The Melbourne you describe is the Melbourne of 2003/04 - we are a vastly different team who love the physical contest. We have the best tacklers in the comp.

In contrast to your stupid list of names:

Neitz, Miller, Pickett, Moloney, Sylvia, Bate, Jones, Whelan, Rivers, Carrol, Ward, McLean, Bartram, McDonald

 

[Falchoon]

In summary, Melbourne are tough. St Kilda aren't.

What Melbourne learnt this year, which St Kilda haven't is to dump and stop a player who has disposed of the ball and do it hard, much along the lines of what Brisbane did for 5 years.

In terms of being tough over the ball they are still one of the poorest teams around, particularly amongst the usual suspects, who when the game was tough early clearly refused to put their bodies on the line, unlike a X Clarke for all his critics (more Milne like).

They proved they can win without those guys performing which is a plus, though the hero worshipping of those type of players coming to the fore when the physicality has gone from the game is of long term concern.

What we needed was someone to take White and McLean out semi legitimately, but it just doesn't happen, Matthews and Brisbane made it an art form.

Agree with one thing though, that McLean is a player.

Had to laugh at Carroll, tough, tries to stomp on Gehrigs ankle after half time, Gehrig attempts to corky him back and his hands are out to the umpire, tough man?

 

[Falchoon]

For a start, it's Johnstone. With a t.

Green soft? Clearly you don't watch football, see him throw his body head first among St Kilda's feet in the last?

capital S soft, I sat on the fence and some of his efforts early were terrible.

He was great with the rest of them when the sting was out, as per usual

 

[Grechy]

I forgot to mention how tough I think Ben Holland is too.

 

[yulong]

Agree entirely Rick. That and Danners out-coached Thomas. Playing the kids in the centre from the start and roughing them up physically left us able to rotate experienced stars with kids later in the game and run it out. As soon as we realised they'd gone in underdone and set the plan up it was over. I wasn't worried we'd lose at any point during the game.
StKildonan posted this earlier in the week. It quoted something he'd written after their loss to us during the season with additional comments about how much tougher they are than us.

Last year, Melbourne came out in the second match and tried to be tough.
They were dismal failures at it, and we laughed at their pathetic attempt.
This year, they tried the same thing - something I haven't seen them do against any other team - and this time they roughed us up.

Maybe they see the Saints as a team that can be rattled. I don't know.
I think they were intimidated by our physicality earlier in 2005 when we first met. They were trying to match us physically in that second match. They thought they could match it with us in skill, but we toughed them out of it.
That second game was a joke - and they were at the butt end of it.

I have NEVER thought of Melbourne as a tough team.

WE are the tough team.

When we play our best when we're tough and uncompromising.

Last year we were led in the toughness stakes by Lenny Hayes and Aaron Hamill. We miss them for this. Also we had Guerra, who was a tough little bugger and very solid. These guys weren't our only hard nuts, but they led the pack and they intimidated. Kosi loves the tough stuff as well. He's not intimidated by a bit of bump and grind, he takes it as a challenge.

We are missing some of our hard nuts, but this doesn't mean we can't be tougher than last week. I was appalled that a wussy team like Melbourne could intimidate the Saints.

I reckon the bigfooty "crash" after the game was a Saints Hacker destroying evidence of the Saints fans game "knowledge" shown in the week previous to the game. What a shame.

The win was Melbourne's ninth victory from 11 encounters against the Saints and it was the third time the Demons had knocked off St Kilda in three finals.

 

[Jarka]

Yeah, but I don't like him. So there.

Can't argue with that

 

[Junkie]

. You're meant to be Melbourne supporters yet you know nothing about your very own team. Melbourne are good when they can use their clean footskills and precision footy. Otherwise you would have to be the softest side in the comp.

Robertson, Johnson, Yze, Bruce, Green, Davey? Hardly tough.

Please don't say Byron Pickett. Only tough when the team is actually performing around him otherwise goes into oblivion. More of a head hunter then anything else.

That being said I believe you have a pretty good chance against Freo who I don't rate finals wise.

You're clearly living in the past Grechy.....it's 2006 champ..check your calendar

Melbourne would be close to the hardest team in the comp. Their tackling is second to none and the harder it gets the more they seem to enjoy it. Your embarassing yourself by stating Robertson is soft. How can someone who throws himself at the highball everytime be soft? Your a clown, its pretty simple

Johnstone, Davey and Yze are far from the hardest blokes going around but balance is required and they do have something going for them (your not that stupid that I need to point these characteristics out are you????).

I actually thought Johnstone was a bit better in close than what he showed on Friday night but lets be honest, he sets up the play as well as anyone in the league.

Its time for people to accept that Melbourne are no longer a soft team