Review Round 15, 2022 - Melbourne vs. Brisbane Lions

[martinson]

Not much to be said.

They have too many good strong players in the M/F and once they got a sniff our judgement ,disposal and overall attack on the ball just fell away.

They are just a class above us. At least we now know.

Every time we chip it around in the backline it ends badly. Maybe we have no other options.

We've been drinking our own bathwater with quite a few players but to look for positives Payne at least might be able to hold down a spot , Rayner never gives up and was the one player who tried to make something happen all night , Oscar tried his heart out (sans Gawn ) .

McCluggage got in there often ,getting possession and just got monstered by 2 or or 3 tacklers.

They showed us the intensity required to be a Premiership contender. Tonight we were nowhere near it . I keep hearing about our elite forward line. There's a lot more to forward play than just kicking goals. Tackling and chasing come to mind.

Not to worry. We need to address our lack of bulls around the ball and that could take more than this season to work it out.

And why we kept kicking it to Lever with no one on him don't even ask.

 

[mattsmob]

Payne's best game I thought.

Was Adams-like tonight, marking high balls he had no right to

 

[Elixuh]

I thought it was odd that we debuted a player when we were forced to replace 3 senior players, two of whom bolster our midfield rotations. Not sure what the thinking was there.

Aside from the obvious on the scoreboard, I'm not sure what to takeaway from that game.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

"best round of footy in years"

We love to * things up

 

[TS13]

I know the stats show that Lyons and McCluggage are decent tacklers but my eyes deceive me, I just don't see it.

JL gets all his tackles in those contested spots where the ball barely comes out, if the ball is out, he's chasing shadows.

 

[TS13]

If Rich and Kiddy are the best kicks out of defence, Noah and Adams (not so much tonight) are absolutely doing their best to counteract that

 

[Lions Flag 2020]

I thought Andrew’s and Payne good tonight. Hugh tried hard. Not the right game for a debut.

 

[SizeMatters]

We have so many average footballers who just don't have any great/elite qualities.

Then don't get me started on the bring in a youngster and they are to play a role. FFS, let them play to their strengths not something that Fagan dreamt up the night before the game. I'm so sick of seeing young players chucked into the forward pocket or way out on the fat wing where they can't provide anything. How does that instil confidence? How does that develop them? We are going to see a few more Ben Keays

2

Ben Keays

Age

27

Ht

186cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.1

3star

K

5.8

2star

HB

7.3

5star

M

2.3

2star

T

3.9

5star

G

0.4

3star

D

13.7

3star

K

8.7

3star

HB

5.0

3star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.7

4star

G

0.3

3star

D

13.0

4star

K

4.8

2star

HB

8.2

5star

M

1.4

2star

T

4.4

5star

G

0.4

3star

type situations over the years...

 

[KissKiss]

Pretty disappointing coming home from that game. Apart from a few defenders who were under siege there wasn't a lot of effort. Coming off a bye there's not really any excuse for the complete lack of running and effort put in.

Also really have to question the coaching and the game plan. Constant go slow down the wing has been shown not to work again. It just doesn't stack up against teams that work hard. Minimal tactical changes could be seen until late in the game when we started dropping a spare back to preserve %. Poor choice to debut a player tonight. Rough but should be straight out.

Payne was good. Should stay in the team.

Really need to rethink our wing usage.

 

[McIvor]

Hopefully that's the reality check this group needs. Plenty of talent but that alone won't be enough, we need a big to lift our intensity and work ethic.

The reality check should have been against Geelong, Dockers and bloody Hawthorn - sorrry, but how many reality checks does this group need. There is something wrong with this group or groups of people somewhere in the club.f other teams can cause upsets, why cant we? Is it skill or mental or both. On paper we look good - up until about the 16th player but fall away - you have guys that might not be world beaters such as Matho and Ah Chee who always give there all and we dont play them. Matho is no Cameron, but god he leaves it all out there - how many guys can you say that about?

 

[TS13]

Is McStay worth a 600k/5yr contract if he can't even get up to the wing to effect those long kicks DTL? Joe and Hippy had the May/Lever matchups, surely our one "difference" to the rest of the comp is our 3rd tall that's suppose to overwhelm and make the Dees backline accountable

 

[martinson]

Tunstill is the most baffling selection I've seen in recent years. You could see straight away that physically he's just nowhere near. Not that it made all that much difference.

 

[wikinick257]

I know this will annoy some people but I don't mind this loss, in the fashion it became.

Feel like we've been poor for a while without being punished and we got punished tonight. Thoroughly belted and a real lesson given. This is a club that prides itself on learning from lessons though. So bloody well learn that we need to be better if we are to win a cup with this group.

It's one game though. Let's not throw the toys out of the cot and start replacing players and coaches. Definitely a wake up call for those at the club dozing off behind the wheel a bit.

It’s not just one game though - third quarter against Fremantle, first quarter against GWS, third quarter against Sydney. We’ve lapsed in almost every game this year, Melbourne were just the first team to really take advantage of it.

 

[lioninthesand]

Also - McStay being worth some bidding war/mega contract is laughable. 4 years, $400k or they can have him.

 

[Toffee Lion]

It’s not just one game though - third quarter against Fremantle, first quarter against GWS, third quarter against Sydney. We’ve lapsed in almost every game this year, Melbourne were just the first team to really take advantage of it.

As I said in my post, "Feel like we've been poor for a while".

I agree we've had some real poor periods for a while now. Hopefully this will be the wake up call.

 

[Melbourne Lion]

I think we do have the leg speed, they're just not being utilised well enough while giving guys where leg speed and spread is their biggest weakness the most opportunity.

To the naked eye we certainly often 'look' slow defensively but agree do have some quick players, so some of it might be work rate/two-way running though.

It'd be interesting to put a stopwatch on Charlie (and usually Bailey for that matter) running into open space on a ground ball towards goal, vs how they clock in chasing back defensively as the opposition streams and links up through the middle.

I'm guessing the delta would be akin to a race between Usain Bolt vs Con the Fruiterer.

 

[lioninthesand]

Tunstill is the most baffling selection I've seen in recent years. You could see straight away that physically he's just nowhere near. Not that it made all that much difference.

Was T Berry was selected due to the pink round?

 

[mattsmob]

Tunstill is the most baffling selection I've seen in recent years. You could see straight away that physically he's just nowhere near. Not that it made all that much difference.

Agree it wasn't a good decision but he was put in a position to avoid most of the physicality and still didn't take a backwards step. Thought he showed he could read the ball in play and found a bit of space which is what he's done well in the VFL. Still not sure why Prior and Ah Chee aren't in over he and Robbo though.

 

[Tom14]

If Payne would learn to actually push back from the mark instead of drilling it right into an opponent in D50, he’d be worth persisting with.

We were on top/level when we actually stuck tackles and pressured - when that fell away we totally crumbled. Very similar vibe to the Prelim in 2020.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Most teams spoil to the boundary... except when they play us. Punch it back into the middle and just waltz forward.

 

[mattsmob]

To the naked eye we certainly often 'look' slow defensively but agree do have some quick players, so some of it might be work rate/two-way running though.

It'd be interesting to put a stopwatch on Charlie (and usually Bailey for that matter) running into open space on a ground ball towards goal, vs how they clock in chasing back defensively as the opposition streams and links up through the middle.

I'm guessing the delta would be akin to a race between Usain Bolt vs Con the Fruiterer.

I think it's more our faster players aren't put in a position to use it, they're stuck in a forward pocket where they can sprint for maybe 20m before the ball is out of their zone and they need to set up rather than running back in transition with oppo mids.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Zorko, Bailey, Ah Chee, Wilmot, Matho and Fort for Tunstill, TBerry, Robbo, Lyons, Answerth and Oscar

 

[Tom14]

Was T Berry was selected due to the pink round?

That is such a disgusting thing to say. He was pretty useless but reserves form was worthy of being the next one up with two out of the forward -mid mix.

 

[martinson]

Was T Berry was selected due to the pink round?

They're doing a Keays with him.

He's not a small forward.

 

[Gadzorks]

Bringing in berry and a debutant against the Dee's at the G was arrogant.

We needed players who can keep calm under onslaught, and that comes with experience. Also need a big mid field bull who can throw their weight around and make space for/protect the fancy ball movers.

Surely matho has to get a game now. His disposal isn't worse than a lot of what we saw tonight, and he isn't going to give up or panic at the sight of the opposition coming at him full bore.

Our depth is nowhere near our glib talk.