Autopsy Port v Melbourne review

mic59

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I get extremely disappointed when players will not take responsibility. In the last quarter Impey made a run and broke clear with Melbourne defenders bearing down on him. He was just outside the 50 and as we know he is not a huge kick but there was no Melbourne player in the 50 and a long kick could have bounced through. Instead he tried to jig around and wait for support which did not come. Result : Melbourne clearance.
 

Harlott

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I get extremely disappointed when players will not take responsibility. In the last quarter Impey made a run and broke clear with Melbourne defenders bearing down on him. He was just outside the 50 and as we know he is not a huge kick but there was no Melbourne player in the 50 and a long kick could have bounced through. Instead he tried to jig around and wait for support which did not come. Result : Melbourne clearance.
It did come by the way of Dixon who promptly gave it back to Melb.
 

PJ Power

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I get extremely disappointed when players will not take responsibility. In the last quarter Impey made a run and broke clear with Melbourne defenders bearing down on him. He was just outside the 50 and as we know he is not a huge kick but there was no Melbourne player in the 50 and a long kick could have bounced through. Instead he tried to jig around and wait for support which did not come. Result : Melbourne clearance.
Impey runs toward goal until he crosses 50. Then he has this awful habit of changing his running course.

If he is really that fast, why not back himself to keep running in the straightest path to goal.
 

Harlott

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I saw an article in the paper this morning where Ollie Wines said he felt responsible for Port's midfield/contested ball battering at Melbourne's hands. It's nice and all that he says that but how many times have we heard it before? And I think that's the main reason why people are getting so disheartened by how this season has unfolded.

Jacob Surjan and Dougal Howard spoke at the Club 1870 event pre-match and they made a point of emphasising that Glenelg are the best contested ball team in the sanfl this year and how the effort against Centrals wasn't good enough. So Chad prepared them for the Bay game with a tough contested week on the track. They did the old Chad Cornes one-on-one challenge, full on tackling and competition and as Howard noted a few players came away with bloody noses and mouths. Even Stewie Cochrane copped some damage. Dougal gave the impression he enjoyed it.

Now as scrappy and sloppy as the game was for 3 quarters on Sunday, Port matched Glenelg all game long for contested ball. They went from contest to contest to contest until they broke the Bays late in the third quarter and trampled them in the last. That was what should have happened against Melbourne. I have no doubt Ken knew what to expect from Melbourne, he spoke about it in the press conference. But did they really, really prepare for such a game?
This tells me we're dealing with undisciplined minds and collective mindset. Who bears responsibility for this is for others to judge. If it takes a bloodbath training session to get em back on track then obviously you can't go doing that every 3rd week or so. I remember the 2004 season where we had some ugly, unconvincing wins but numerous commentators mentioned there was a definite, steely resolve that they were noticing. Probably the culmination of the previous three years of disappointment. Maybe there wasn't enough pain to go with the 2014 preliminary loss.
I don't see evidence of that resolve with this group yet. Sydney is probably the team that's currently showing it more than most.
 
Nov 5, 2010
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You can't blame everything on the forward structure. Charlie is well paid and we coughed up a bit to get him and we expect him to kick goals. He misses some very gettable shots - the first one of Saturday set the trend for his game.

As I've said before, these are not all or nothing propositions. Sure we know the forward set up isn't helpful but the player has to take some responsibility.

I completely agree with this. IMO this year plenty of blame has been attributed to Ken/the coaches and forward structure (with some merit at stages) but often inconsistency and individual errors are being ignored.

Dixon had a poor game. There were several instances he coughed up the ball with some horrendous passing, often when within range. That cannot be put down to coaching or even structure. Ken is not telling him to chip the ball 20m to allow Melbourne to take an uncontested mark.

Wines, Ebert and Polec were similar. They both lost in close early, and the response to this seemed to be to try to be more and more heroic. Multiple players tried taking on several tackles when there was an earlier option, and not surprisingly getting caught. Not to mention the disdain shown playing on straight into a tackle more than once.

We need to learn as a group how to respond when challenged or we're struggling to get into a game.
 

raglan road

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Stop wishing for it to happen, just make it happen.
They never acknowledge there's a pattern to all the loses to good sides. It's always one piece of spin for the week - we weren't tough enough being this one. While it's not untrue, it's only a small part of the problem. Doesn't fill me with hope they have any answers.
 
Travis Boak had about the ultimate captain's game. If you wanted to criticise you could say he could have taken a couple of shots at goal he tried to give off, but he still finished with 4 goals and almost single-handedly willed us into the game. If a few more had followed his example we would not have been in the hole we found ourselves. For all the talk of future captain this and future captain that, he was the only player - other than Jonas - who played like a leader.
 
I only saw limited parts of this game (the first half unfortunately), we just seemed to miss easy kicks and handballs, and they made us pay big time.
 
He has a big kick. Would have been better taking the shot. He had the space as the Melbourne players were busy trying to defend the exact kick Dixon was going for.

Totally. Even a point would have worked to our advantage given the context of the game.

I sometimes wonder if our players have been pummelled by the coaches for taking brash shots on goal.
 
Mar 10, 2008
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Impey stuffed that play by turning and running straight into a defender. What do you want Dixon to do? Kick backwards?

The ball was handballed to him and he didn't have room to take a shot.
 
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.... I remember the 2004 season where we had some ugly, unconvincing wins but numerous commentators mentioned there was a definite, steely resolve that they were noticing. Probably the culmination of the previous three years of disappointment. Maybe there wasn't enough pain to go with the 2014 preliminary loss.
I don't see evidence of that resolve with this group yet. Sydney is probably the team that's currently showing it more than most.

Tredrea often talks about how it was Primus that got them going in the 2004 pre-season camp when they had to climb that mountain. It's a long bow here but maybe we just need to put the players through their paces this off season with some gruelling exercises like that, with no computers or gps or monitoring, just a single objective that the group all finish together.

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Jun 12, 2012
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Totally. Even a point would have worked to our advantage given the context of the game.

I sometimes wonder if our players have been pummelled by the coaches for taking brash shots on goal.

We do seem to try and create that "perfect" shot for goal quite a bit. Unfortunately it often results in one too many kicks or handballs and we lose the opportunity to take the shot altogether.

Sometimes it's better to just pull the farken trigger farken.
 

mic59

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It did come by the way of Dixon who promptly gave it back to Melb.
The incident I'm talking about is the one where he had got the ball off Jordan Lewis and was going inside 50. He got it out to a Port player who was under pressure. This was not the time when Dixon had space and kicked to a Melbourne defender.
 

ctpower

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I just noticed Melbourne had 177 contested possessions to our 148.

They'll never play that way again for the entire year. That's finals intensity in a regular season match.

Goodwin must hate us as much as I hate him.
I hate him too ( Goodwin that is)
 
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I get extremely disappointed when players will not take responsibility. In the last quarter Impey made a run and broke clear with Melbourne defenders bearing down on him. He was just outside the 50 and as we know he is not a huge kick but there was no Melbourne player in the 50 and a long kick could have bounced through. Instead he tried to jig around and wait for support which did not come. Result : Melbourne clearance.
Yep. Should have had a ping there. So frustrating.

To be fair he probably has the caoches words ringing in his ears telling him to compose himself and lower his eyes.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

Harlott

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The incident I'm talking about is the one where he had got the ball off Jordan Lewis and was going inside 50. He got it out to a Port player who was under pressure. This was not the time when Dixon had space and kicked to a Melbourne defender.
The one he got off Lewis with Lewis trying desperately to drag it back in while lying on the ground, Impey had a ping at goals for a behind.
 
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Travis Boak had about the ultimate captain's game. If you wanted to criticise you could say he could have taken a couple of shots at goal he tried to give off, but he still finished with 4 goals and almost single-handedly willed us into the game. If a few more had followed his example we would not have been in the hole we found ourselves. For all the talk of future captain this and future captain that, he was the only player - other than Jonas - who played like a leader.
Gee he was good, was trying his arse off to try and get the boys up...too bad he didnt have many friends on Saturday.
 

B0ydmoan

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Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Charlie and he brings some great work to the table. By flaky the margin between his best and worst is very wide and he can produce either without warning.

For me, he's in the side as a goal kicker but in 6 of the past 7 games he's kicked a total of 5 goals. He had a day out against West Coast where he kicked 5 - so 10 in his last 7 games with one big haul inflating that total. In the 4 games before the goalless Essendon game he kicked 10 goals.
He's too far up field. For whatever reason. Defies all logic. It's like we're tanking
 
Apr 2, 2012
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I just noticed Melbourne had 177 contested possessions to our 148.

They'll never play that way again for the entire year. That's finals intensity in a regular season match.

Goodwin must hate us as much as I hate him.

It was a game between 2 sides fighting our for a top 8 and possibly top 4 position. Of course it was going to have finals like intensity, a poor reflection on us that we turned up not expecting that type of match, especially with them holding so many players back from the Darwin game the week before.

I get annoyed after losses hearing stuff like they wont play like that again, or we wont kick that badly again. Just sounds like an excuse and not addressing the real problems. This was the fifth time Melbourne have had at least 167 contested possessions, so to dismiss it as they won’t play like that again is ridiculous. With players like Viney and Oliver they are renown as a contested ball team so we should have been prepared for that and we weren’t.
 

Nemisis

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He's too far up field. For whatever reason. Defies all logic. It's like we're tanking
We're not tanking but it does defy logic that our leader isn't part of the main midfield set up.
Having Atley and SPP play his role is just stupid and pig headed. Apparently Boak and Trengove forward was a pre season master plan - well sometimes you gotta throw the plan in the bin and go back to go forward ... so to speak.
 

Power Girl

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It was a game between 2 sides fighting our for a top 8 and possibly top 4 position. Of course it was going to have finals like intensity, a poor reflection on us that we turned up not expecting that type of match, especially with them holding so many players back from the Darwin game the week before.

I get annoyed after losses hearing stuff like they wont play like that again, or we wont kick that badly again. Just sounds like an excuse and not addressing the real problems. This was the fifth time Melbourne have had at least 167 contested possessions, so to dismiss it as they won’t play like that again is ridiculous. With players like Viney and Oliver they are renown as a contested ball team so we should have been prepared for that and we weren’t.
Well said.

I think it is that kind of arrogant attitude where our coaches are so busy focussing on our gameplan and forgetting we have opposition that we need to consider and be wary of is why we are whinging and can't get the job done when we clearly should. Stop disrespecting your opponents Port.
 

B0ydmoan

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.
Ken is not telling him to chip the ball 20m to allow Melbourne to take an uncontested mark.

Well what is Ken telling him? It must be go into the centre and leave Houston furthest forward

And kick it to Sam gray, 1 on 7. Because that's what's happening game after game.

This will be controversial but on form Dixon has not earned his place out there and dixon should be dropped. Eddy would have scored as many as he did. 6 goals in 7 games??? Easy. And straightened us up.

Does that embarrassingly sad goal tally include the slaughter of north when grand mothers were getting goals? Seriously, we have no chance of winning a premiership if we don't have a forward. Dixon is now a midfielder come drop back defender. And isn't very good at that.

Other than 3-4 wow games, Dixon has been a massive spud for what we pay him and paid for him. Drops most of his marks, can't tap it out to the crumbing players, fluffs shots on goal, turns it over, abandons the forward line to the little midget brigade and a young defender. Oh, and he's a choker too. He did against geelong. Like westhoff who collapsed when the ball came to him.

Let's look at the numbers. Last year Aaron Young scored more than 20% more goals than he did. And you may recall young was in AA form.......and then Ken sent him to half back. 37 goals to Dixon's 30. Brent Harvey, who was axed by north, did too. Way more. Axed. Dixon was barely in top 50 goal kickers last season. 42ND I think. Do you know how low 42 is ?

We all know stubborn Ken the genius hates forwards and will only play one. Well then, in my opinion Brett Eddy would do better than Dixon.

Dixon, I'm sorry to say, is a spud, based on his performance. When Jake neade can score as many goals as Charlie Dixon does over the course of a few games, what is that telling you?

He's also dumb. Stands like a tree with 3 guys climbing him. Only dumber Is Ken. Who won't tell him if he stays home more and plays as our leading forward like we did with Jay Schultz he'll score 55+ each season

Based on performance, I have to conclude that the way Ken plays Dixon is tanking us

Come at me. Truth is in his very, very ordinary performance
 
Apr 2, 2012
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Well said.

I think it is that kind of arrogant attitude where our coaches are so busy focussing on our gameplan and forgetting we have opposition that we need to consider and be wary of is why we are whinging and can't get the job done when we clearly should. Stop disrespecting your opponents Port.

Yeah, I think it’s very noticeable there are games or periods in games where we are playing like millionaires or have the mindset of a team that is pretty comfortable of where it’s at (which i think is both a coaching and player issue, there is no doubt we have some very mentally fragile players).

Essendon was one where we came out expecting to easily get the job done and got embarrassed. For about 30 mins in the West Coast game we simply coasted after getting 4 goals up, credit to the boys they arrested the slide and won but there was no need to down tools after a good start, and again on Saturday it took over a quarter to realise we were in a contest and by then it was too late.

I understand it’s an even comp and we are not going to win 22 games. There have been losses where we have at least had a crack but weren’t good enough on the day (GWS and first showdown come to mind), its frustrating but you can at least cope with those losses. What I don’t understand is how we can be so comfortable every few weeks with what we have achieved and just rock up and expect to win without doing the hard yards first. We aren’t that good. Since Ken has come in we have reached 2 finals series, 1 prelim (in what was exciting circumstances), but at the end of the day we have accomplished F-all, certainly not enough to think we just need to show up and that its automatically going to happen.
 
It was a game between 2 sides fighting our for a top 8 and possibly top 4 position. Of course it was going to have finals like intensity, a poor reflection on us that we turned up not expecting that type of match, especially with them holding so many players back from the Darwin game the week before.

I get annoyed after losses hearing stuff like they wont play like that again, or we wont kick that badly again. Just sounds like an excuse and not addressing the real problems. This was the fifth time Melbourne have had at least 167 contested possessions, so to dismiss it as they won’t play like that again is ridiculous. With players like Viney and Oliver they are renown as a contested ball team so we should have been prepared for that and we weren’t.

It wasn't the fact they won contested ball so much as the fact that they managed to track back and defend when they didn't.

That being said - go back through the stats and tell me what the opposition managed to do with contested possession in those games. If they were within 10, it was just a scrappy game with a lot of stoppages. Actually, I've done it for you - the only games that were similar for Melbourne were Adelaide at AO, the Suns at TIO and the Bulldogs at Etihad.

So against the league leaders, the premiers and some hack team coming off the bye...and us.

And what happened in those games? Adelaide lost by 41, Gold Coast lost by 35 after leading by 17 at half time, and the Bulldogs lost by 57. In each of those games, they scored over 100 points.

What happened against us?

They had one quarter where they blitzed us early by 25 points and lost the remaining three quarters by a combined total of 2 points, and only scored 88 points. Because being a contested ball team + defending like they did is unsustainable.
 
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