dlanod
Moderator
- Sep 14, 2006
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- #1
Preview by DERRINALPHIL - Many thanks!
Melbourne supporters have a certain reputation for not going to games. I was invited into the member’s a year or two ago for lunch and then to watch the Melbourne match. It was a very good lunch with expensive wines to go with it. I sat next to a Melbourne supporter, a charming, blond woman from South Yarra who admitted while having a membership, she rarely went to a game. Her late husband never missed a game.
“When did you last go to a game?”, I asked.
“Oh, many years ago when I was a young girl”, she replied with a smile. “it was when Melbourne won the Grand Final”.
It was nearly that long ago when Mitch Robinson was saying, in the Melbourne press, that Melbourne played “bruise free footy”. Anyone who watched the Demons taking the Doggies apart on Friday know that we are in for a football treat whenever and wherever the match will be played. Anyone who has watched the Dees this year has seen their discipline and adherence to their team structure. We are in for a ‘bruising encounter’.
Why have the Dees come on so much this year? I think that they have under-performed badly in the last two years and so this season is a return to their rightful position. I have heard, via a Dees player, that last year he, and many of the other players, were motivated by fear and so played a selfish game. Everyone was worried primarily about their own position.
Melbourne’s fortunes this season can be attributed in my opinion, in no small feat, to the addition of ‘Choco’ Williams to the coaching staff. He has injected a want to play together for the good of the team and to play a role.
So, the two in-form teams meet somewhere rather than Alice Springs.
What of Melbourne? I looked up their stats on Footywire. They lay more tackles than everyone and they are tackled less than anyone else. Gawn wins more hit outs, but of late the clearances have not been as good as they would like. They commit the most clangers and all my Melbourne mates say they are unreliable in front of goal. The rest of their stats are what you would expect from the top team.
Oliver and Petracca lead their on-ball brigade. Oliver is a ‘contested beast’ and a ‘tackling machine’ but it has been their all over all ground pressure that has been so evident. They are a bit short down back since Adam Tomlinson went down. They have a wide spread of goal kickers, but Fritsch is the only major weapon up forward. They may play Weideman or Ben Brown and so go tall as we have several tall defenders injured but Lester should play if fit.
For the Dees, Salem was rushed back into the side and should be better for the run, and it remains to be seen who will replace the in-form winger Ed Langdon.
I think we have one advantage. We have more forwards that can dominate a game. Hipwood, Charlie, Daniher and now Bailey could kick multiple goals. Melbourne have only Fritsch. The game seems to me to be pitting Melbourne’s pressure game against our key forwards but Melbourne’s pressure choked off the most lethal running game (The Doggies) last week. The Doggies had more inside 50’s etc, but pressure strangles teams.
My predictions
Melbourne supporters have a certain reputation for not going to games. I was invited into the member’s a year or two ago for lunch and then to watch the Melbourne match. It was a very good lunch with expensive wines to go with it. I sat next to a Melbourne supporter, a charming, blond woman from South Yarra who admitted while having a membership, she rarely went to a game. Her late husband never missed a game.
“When did you last go to a game?”, I asked.
“Oh, many years ago when I was a young girl”, she replied with a smile. “it was when Melbourne won the Grand Final”.
It was nearly that long ago when Mitch Robinson was saying, in the Melbourne press, that Melbourne played “bruise free footy”. Anyone who watched the Demons taking the Doggies apart on Friday know that we are in for a football treat whenever and wherever the match will be played. Anyone who has watched the Dees this year has seen their discipline and adherence to their team structure. We are in for a ‘bruising encounter’.
Why have the Dees come on so much this year? I think that they have under-performed badly in the last two years and so this season is a return to their rightful position. I have heard, via a Dees player, that last year he, and many of the other players, were motivated by fear and so played a selfish game. Everyone was worried primarily about their own position.
Melbourne’s fortunes this season can be attributed in my opinion, in no small feat, to the addition of ‘Choco’ Williams to the coaching staff. He has injected a want to play together for the good of the team and to play a role.
So, the two in-form teams meet somewhere rather than Alice Springs.
What of Melbourne? I looked up their stats on Footywire. They lay more tackles than everyone and they are tackled less than anyone else. Gawn wins more hit outs, but of late the clearances have not been as good as they would like. They commit the most clangers and all my Melbourne mates say they are unreliable in front of goal. The rest of their stats are what you would expect from the top team.
Oliver and Petracca lead their on-ball brigade. Oliver is a ‘contested beast’ and a ‘tackling machine’ but it has been their all over all ground pressure that has been so evident. They are a bit short down back since Adam Tomlinson went down. They have a wide spread of goal kickers, but Fritsch is the only major weapon up forward. They may play Weideman or Ben Brown and so go tall as we have several tall defenders injured but Lester should play if fit.
For the Dees, Salem was rushed back into the side and should be better for the run, and it remains to be seen who will replace the in-form winger Ed Langdon.
I think we have one advantage. We have more forwards that can dominate a game. Hipwood, Charlie, Daniher and now Bailey could kick multiple goals. Melbourne have only Fritsch. The game seems to me to be pitting Melbourne’s pressure game against our key forwards but Melbourne’s pressure choked off the most lethal running game (The Doggies) last week. The Doggies had more inside 50’s etc, but pressure strangles teams.
My predictions
- The losing team will complain about the umps
- All the on-ballers will get 20 to 30 disposals
- The winning team’s on-ballers will get the votes
- Brisbane to win comfortably
