Why are we so bad at Marvel Stadium?

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Triggering Tiger

Premium Platinum
Dec 24, 2022
15,479
12,946
AFL Club
Richmond
Fair dinkum I don't even have look at the record books to know this ground is our kryptonite ground and last night's smashing from an average footscray outfit was not the first time at this ground. I can remember getting belted by scats and the swans by more than three figures there many moons ago too and even by the saints in our 2017 premiership year. We just don't play well at this ground and we never have. I just can't understand the reason why it's such a phobia for us when we play there everytime, any thoughts on how we can fix it?
 
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Due to its smaller size, the best-performing sides at Marvel Stadium are those with strong-bodied players and those with good kicking skills in my opinion. We’re not a side with either of those - even in our Premiership years.

So we consistently do bad there. You can get away with having bad kicking or being smaller-bodied at the spacious MCG, but not at Marvel. You’d find we were probably last good there in 2018, which is the year our kicking skills were pretty good IMO.

Well, that’s my view on it at least.
 
I always felt like the size of marvel should benefit our game style. It makes no sense to me. Its gotta be mental.
 
Due to its smaller size, the best-performing sides at Marvel Stadium are those with strong-bodied players and those with good kicking skills in my opinion. We’re not a side with either of those - even in our Premiership years.

So we consistently do bad there. You can get away with having bad kicking or being smaller-bodied at the spacious MCG, but not at Marvel. You’d find we were probably last good there in 2018, which is the year our kicking skills were pretty good IMO.

Well, that’s my view on it at least.
Good reasoning but I don't buy it. We play excellent footy at metricon and the dimensions are near identical to marvel.
 
I’m sure it’s partly psychological, but I wonder if the surface has something to do with it too, not that it’s bad necessarily, just different to Punt Rd and the MCG. So many of our players seemed to lose their footing through then game, so few of theirs (apart from Bailey Smith, which was hilarious). Different dimensions, different surface, mental scarring, so if the oppo get a few goals on the board, players tighten up and momentum moves further to the oppo.
 
Good reasoning but I don't buy it. We play excellent footy at metricon and the dimensions are near identical to marvel.
Metricon is an outdoor stadium that’s the difference. One thing that I really noticed last night was how much higher the ball bounced compared with the MCG. Maybe the marvel surface is harder or drier but to me the ball bounces slower and more consistently at the MCG or most outdoor surfaces Therefore when you play and train in outdoor grounds most of the time I would suspect that unless you’re really switched on to the extra bounce and speed of the ball at Marvel you’re likely to fumble and Richmond does seem to fumble at Marvel
 
Good reasoning but I don't buy it. We play excellent footy at metricon and the dimensions are near identical to marvel.
Metricon is slippery, which promotes chaos. That’s the reason why I think that ground’s an exception IMO.

Marvel is dry, so bad kicking stands out there
 
I feel like it's all in the head a bit. could be the hard surface that our players don't like Melbourne sides that don't play on it regularly say they pull up bad from a game.

Wouldn't be surprised if it's why Cotchin & Martin didn't play.
 
I feel like it's all in the head a bit. could be the hard surface that our players don't like Melbourne sides that don't play on it regularly say they pull up bad from a game.

Wouldn't be surprised if it's why Cotchin & Martin didn't play.

There is another mental of psychological element to it ... the opposition.
Rival teams grow another leg against us and head into the game choc full of confidence.
Why?
Because our former coach openly told everyone 'we don't like playing at Marvel' ad our 'fans don't like marvel', giving them all the encouragement in the world not to turn up.
Not that teams wouldn't decipher things pretty quickly, but why would you be telling your opposition that we are no damn good at this venue and our fans won't be here???
 

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The lighting makes our fluro yellow look even more reflective and we cant see properly
 
Doesn't help when the former coach says straight into the cameras that he hates the place.
Reckon that got into the players' heads.
We've been crap there for longer than that though.
 
You need speed at Marvel and we always go in too big & too slow. Playing Nanksoldo at Marvel was amateur hour from the match comitee. Excaerbated by Pickett and an aging Riewoldt in the forward line and of course the undroppable Jack The Flash Graham on top of a slow-mid paced midfield and mid paced players like Ross & McIntosh (the other undroppable) in outside roles. It was always going to be a recipe for defeat and a blueprint for disaster.:$
 
Dimma's fault

Saying you hate the place was a dumb comment. It's a ground we have to embrace playing at, we are never going to get all our home games at the G. We will always have to play North, Saints and Dogs there because they have piss poor support.
 
Cause every team that we play there plays their grand final
Close thread,we have our answer.
Saints turn to play their little leggies off and umps swallow pips like cheezel snacks.
 
because the ground plays a lot quicker, we’re terrible at defending transition from our forward half. Plus our one paced midfield also gets exposed more so on the faster deck
 

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