Opinion The Difference

[_RT_]

Watching us piss fart around in the last quarter when we had a chance to bury the Dees got me thinking about the difference between us and the other contenders for the top 8.

So far this year the Dees have played Essendon West Coast and Carlton that are top 8 contenders, in each of those games when they were given the chance these sides put the Dees to the sword and buried them through a combination of them scoring and also restricting the Dees scoring.

In round 2 the Bombers kicked 15.10 in the second half while keeping the Dees to 1.1 on the way to a 25 goal win. The following week the Eagles kicked 17.9 to 3.3 in the second half after only being up by 10 points at half time on their way to a 16 goal win. Just 2 weeks ago Carlton kicked 10.9 to 5.5 to turn a 27 point half time lead into a 10 goal win. Yesterday we led the Dees by 7 points at half time and ended up winning by 34 after kicking 8.7 to 4.4.

Now some might wonder what is the problem we won comfortably and now sit 5-3. My issue is with how we played out the final quarter, in particular the second half of that quarter. You could see that the Dees were ripe for the picking after putting up a decent effort for the first 3 quarters. However from 16.07 until 28.18 we failed to have 1 scoring shot in that time while we had players racking up possessions as we chipped the ball around the back line(along the way stuffing up and allowing the Dees a cheap goal).

For me if we are to genuinely become a top 8 side we need to get back to being ruthless when given the opportunity to put a side to the sword, for that could well be the difference between making the 8 and making up the numbers.

 

[Dragonss]

Well said ma boy. Tell that to Dimma.

 

[sante]

Those stats actually show that the Dees are getting better every week...

 

[Spluff]

How we play against shit sides when we're in an unassailable position really has nothing to do with whether we're going to play in the 8 or not. It's how we play against good sides when the game is still is on the line that will make the difference. People on this board just wanted to watch a 100-point flogging, and are now venting their disappointment.

 

[Bojangles17]

I missed game yesterday live watched it however u miss the setups. From reports it appears melb put on a uba flood much moreso than earlier games which fits tuggs earlier comments that they came into game to limit the damage...we played well with exception of set shots... We re better than that

 

[_RT_]

How we play against shit sides when we're in an unassailable position really has nothing to do with whether we're going to play in the 8 or not. It's how we play against good sides when the game is still is on the line that will make the difference. People on this board just wanted to watch a 100-point flogging, and are now venting their disappointment.

Had little interest in a 100 point win, what I did expect was a 10 goal win and a nice little % boost. If you look at the stats below we certainly had the chance to turn a 6 goal win into that 10 goal win if we had of put the foot down rather than spend 12 minutes of chipping the ball around the back half.


If another top 8 contender had that sort of statistical dominance against the Dees or another bottom 3 side, odds are they kick 4-6 goals for the quarter and make them pay. We on the other hand didn't take the opportunity to boost our % a little and come the end of the season it may well cost us, especially when we have only 4 cracks at the bottom 3 this year. Right now we have the 2nd worst % in the 8 and the 5th lowest of the top 13 sides with all bar Gold Coast a realistic chance of making the 8 this year.

 

[TheProwler]

i guess the question you should be asking is if we had the gas still in the tank halfway through the last why didn't we use it earlier?

 

[tugga]

No reason why we can't make up for it by thrashing a decent side. We did beat Hawthorn by 72 last year remember?
I was more disappointed with the Dogs game than yesterday. IMO we were clearly a 100 point better side that day. yesterday we were clearly only a 6 goal better side and it showed on the scoreboard.

 

[Bojangles17]

Had little interest in a 100 point win, what I did expect was a 10 goal win and a nice little % boost. If you look at the stats below we certainly had the chance to turn a 6 goal win into that 10 goal win if we had of put the foot down rather than spend 12 minutes of chipping the ball around the back half.
View attachment 18770

If another top 8 contender had that sort of statistical dominance against the Dees or another bottom 3 side, odds are they kick 4-6 goals for the quarter and make them pay. We on the other hand didn't take the opportunity to boost our % a little and come the end of the season it may well cost us, especially when we have only 4 cracks at the bottom 3 this year. Right now we have the 2nd worst % in the 8 and the 5th lowest of the top 13 sides with all bar Gold Coast a realistic chance of making the 8 this year.

If melb were to place 18 players in defensive half against anyone then to answer your question, not too many sides would kick more than 5 , conversion is what cost us..

 

[jko'neal]

We can't compare Sundays Melbourne with other games previous, they just simply gave up in games e:g the WC game.

 

[_RT_]

No reason why we can't make up for it by thrashing a decent side. We did beat Hawthorn by 72 last year remember?
I was more disappointed with the Dogs game than yesterday. IMO we were clearly a 100 point better side that day. yesterday we were clearly only a 6 goal better side and it showed on the scoreboard.

Fair call, but what are the odds of that happening again? My point isn't that we should have turned a 6 goal win into an 8-10 goal win by keeping the foot down when given the chance and it's not just against Melbourne that either. It needs to be against any side that gives us the opportunity to go for the kill. For mine it's the killer instinct that we're lacking that we need to develop to take the next step.

If melb were to place 18 players in defensive half against anyone then to answer your question, not too many sides would kick more than 5 , conversion is what cost us..

Sorry Bo I don't buy the conversion cost us excuse, it's too easy an out. Fremantle have killed us with that tactic the last 3 times we've played and now the Dees have effectively stopped us from having a % boost by doing the same thing. We need to be smarter about how we deal with it and if we are then I have no doubt we'd still kick the 5 goals we should when we have that big an advantage in the stats.

 

[CQTiger]

Are we capable of 100+ victories ?

 

[_RT_]

Are we capable of 100+ victories ?

Given the opportunity you'd like to think we are but that's not what this is about.

 

[Livonski]

Are we capable of 100+ victories ?

You know we're on a journey when that question actually doesn't make you laugh

 

[Bojangles17]

Fair call, but what are the odds of that happening again? My point isn't that we should have turned a 6 goal win into an 8-10 goal win by keeping the foot down when given the chance and it's not just against Melbourne that either. It needs to be against any side that gives us the opportunity to go for the kill. For mine it's the killer instinct that we're lacking that we need to develop to take the next step.

Sorry Bo I don't buy the conversion cost us excuse, it's too easy an out. Fremantle have killed us with that tactic the last 3 times we've played and now the Dees have effectively stopped us from having a % boost by doing the same thing. We need to be smarter about how we deal with it and if we are then I have no doubt we'd still kick the 5 goals we should when we have that big an advantage in the stats.

We kicked 15g 16 that less than 50% conversion...we re generally better than that, our other key indicators from the game were all compelling I50 , contested ball , clearances , 100 more possies...maintain that differential ea week and u dont lose many

 

[Damo80]

See where you're coming from, RT, and agree to a degree - we could've gone for the jugular late rather than chipping it around, and playing out time. But as has already been said, it was a far more determined and dogged Demons outfit that turned up to play yesterday, so I really don't see much point in the whole "their win was bigger than our's" arguments.

 

[theflea]

How we play against shit sides when we're in an unassailable position really has nothing to do with whether we're going to play in the 8 or not. It's how we play against good sides when the game is still is on the line that will make the difference. People on this board just wanted to watch a 100-point flogging, and are now venting their disappointment.

True but what it shows is we have NO killer instinct.

 

[Nuffers]

It seems that we manage to play at the level of our opposition. We can take to up to any team in the comp. It must be a psychological thing the guys need to get through.

 

[getthefooty]

Much ado about nothing with regards to the margin imo. I posted this on the other thread and tug has covered it pretty well but the circumstances simply didn't permit a big win. Dees put numbers behind the ball and were only interested in limiting damage. They were also unusually efficient on the rebound when they got the chance. We were never going to really thrash them, but were also never going to lose.

Had little interest in a 100 point win, what I did expect was a 10 goal win and a nice little % boost. If you look at the stats below we certainly had the chance to turn a 6 goal win into that 10 goal win if we had of put the foot down rather than spend 12 minutes of chipping the ball around the back half.

What's the % difference between a 6 and 10 goal win anyway? Like 1, maybe 2% max? Doubt it will have any impact on our season whatsoever.

 

[CQTiger]

Hopefully the difference is not 8th and 9th ladder position come year end. That is the crucial thing

 

[Harmichael]

People on this board just wanted to watch a 100-point flogging, and are now venting their disappointment.

Too ****in' right we did and too ****in' right we are!

 

[_RT_]

Much ado about nothing with regards to the margin imo. I posted this on the other thread and tug has covered it pretty well but the circumstances simply didn't permit a big win. Dees put numbers behind the ball and were only interested in limiting damage. They were also unusually efficient on the rebound when they got the chance. We were never going to really thrash them, but were also never going to lose.



What's the % difference between a 6 and 10 goal win anyway? Like 1, maybe 2% max? Doubt it will have any impact on our season whatsoever.

We win by 10 goals and our % would have gone from 111 to 116. It's much easier to make up % now than trying to do it later on in the year.

 

[Damo80]

We win by 10 goals and our % would have gone from 111 to 116. It's much easier to make up % now than trying to do it later on in the year.

The mathematics don't work like that. Come end of year, and extra 20 or 30 points in a single game's margin does not make up a 5% margin.

 

[CoggaRules]

lmao...RT, here is a theory...all of your "contenders" except 1 that smashed the dees, came out the following week and lost. The one that didnt lose we all know are on performance enhancing drugs, so we obviously looked at this "phenomenon" and decided to cruise through the last in lieu of next weeks game..

 

[Joker91]

1. Melbourne had a massive flood on in the last quarter to slow down the bleeding.
2. That was one of the best games Melbourne have played all year.
3. We beat bulldogs by 10 goals, Geelong beat them by 3 goals... So with your info we should beat Geelong by 7 goals. Oh wait, they beat us by 6 goals.