Beat me to it.

Can someone please explain to me the benefit of chipping the ball sideways and backwards?

Yes you still have the ball, but the ball is usually in a shitty position.

The other team can't score if they don't have the ball

having the skills of an under-13 side is clearly the biggest problem

next biggest worry is our inability to lay proper tackles, and to hold up under physical pressure. The amount of times you see us tackle a bloke to the ground, yet he still manages to handball effectively to a teammate is pathetic. Also we have almost NOBODY that can stand up in a 1-on-1 contested mark situation, at either end of the ground

huge problems

The other team can't score if they don't have the ball

1) Melbourne can't score if the ball is continually in their back pocket and HBF.

2) Over possessing tends to lead to turning the ball over more, in a worse position.

3) If you are gong turn the ball over, it is better to do it in the forward line where there is at least some chance of scoring and the opposition is under some pressure.

I disagree, I think it's the work rate that makes or breaks a team. A team that runs hard to get to the contest to outnumber the opposition generally wins, Geelong does this well. Players makes mistakes when they're under pressure.

i concour. there is a reason why we had 84% efficiency with our disposal against west coast (the best of any side this year). these players are all top line afl players. yes the general standard of disposal will vary from player to player and from team to team. but the biggest problem isnt that the skill set is so much lower, its that when you are playing well you have numbers which means you have more time. when you are playing badly, you are under pressure and have less time. and even when you have no immediate pressure, there is perceived pressure: the players know that they have been stuffing up, which makes the next kick even more important.

skills in match conditions and pressure, is different to general skills.

1) Melbourne can't score if the ball is continually in their back pocket and HBF.

2) Over possessing tends to lead to turning the ball over more, in a worse position.

3) If you are gong turn the ball over, it is better to do it in the forward line where there is at least some chance of scoring and the opposition is under some pressure.

That's too intelligent for many on this forum, or for that matter, our coaching panel.

Our answer to modern football is to have our players gut run to areas of the ground that won't hurt the opposition on the scoreboard. Then we slag off players like Yze who have the nerve to run to positions where we might actually kick a goal, and accuse them of front-running.

In the words of Malcolm Blight from a few weeks ago during the Coll. v Ess. game, "Stop stuffing around with it, and just kick the ball long and tell your forwards to play in front". Essendon proceeded to kick 5 goals in 7 minutes by doing just that.

The games made complicated by coaches who are trying to justify their jobs.

In the words of Malcolm Blight from a few weeks ago during the Coll. v Ess. game, "Stop stuffing around with it, and just kick the ball long and tell your forwards to play in front". Essendon proceeded to kick 5 goals in 7 minutes by doing just that.

There appears to be this paranoia these days when it comes to stats, especially disposal efficiency and clangers.

The problem is, a kick sideways or backwards in the back pocket to an uncontested player is considered efficient, while a long kick to a contest in the forward line isn't efficient, despite the fact that the kick into the forward line has achieve far more - even if the ball ends up in a contested situation.

I have no doubt that coaches look at these stats and make assessments on players performances on them.

Moreover, there is a paranoia about worrying about opposition teams, instead of just going out and playing how you want to play. The Geelong game a couple of weeks ago was a perfect example where it appeared that Melbourne were playing with five or six taggers.

P.S. Dennis Cometti summed up the Melbourne v Freo game earlier in the year when talking about Melbourne in the last quarter he said along the lines of "They are kicking it long to the square and kicking goals".

I think we all know what happened in that second half of football.

Similar thing with St. Kilda (v Adel today) as the game went on...

Similar thing with St. Kilda (v Adel today) as the game went on...

Funny you should mention that.

I was listening to 774 in the car before and I heard Stan Alves talking about that game (without seeing it myself) and he basically said that once St Kilda had options up forward and stopped chipping the ball around sideways and backwards they ran over the top of the Crows.