Demons against North at Etihad next week

[dee-luded 2,959]

After the game, Michael Voss admitted his Lions had few winners.

Fevola finished with four goals but it didn't really happen for him or Brown, who looked hampered at times and was perhaps suffering from the ailment that prevented him from training throughout the week.

Voss said his skipper was fit and he didn't see his side's "inept" performance coming.

"It was embarrassing, the way we played," he said.

____________________________________________

Voss: "It's a very grinding season, and if you're five per cent off you're going to get a bit of a touch up.

"So this is a really good reality check for us."

______________________________________

Next week Melbourne will try to, make it four on the trot, when it plays North Melbourne. = Danger Game!

Melbourne 4.2.26 9.6.60 12.7.79 15.13.103

Brisbane Lions 2.3.15 3.6.24 7.9.51 7.11.53

GOALS

Melbourne: Sylvia 2, Trengove2, Petterd 2, Davey 2, Jamar, Green, McKenzie, Jones, Bate, McDonald, Scully

Brisbane Lions: Fevola 4, Brown, Clark, Drummond

BEST

Melbourne: Trengove, Jones, Green, Petterd, Davey, Sylvia, Jamar, McDonald

Edited April 26, 2010 by dee-luded

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

Congrats to the MFC on a fantastic win!! The game finished at 4:50am Seattle time, so you could imagine it was great news to wake up to!

On topic, North will be a danger game. We're hopeless at Etihad and we're even more hopeless against North - smashed in our last 5 games by them. A win would be another step forward, despite North being a poor side todate.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,088]

Thing is, North tend to match up really well against us. They've given us some very nasty experiences in the past. This is not a game we are guaranteed to win. I seem to recall that their ruck/forward type players have a nasty habit of tearing us apart.

[ucanchoose 1,816]

I seem to recall that their ruck/forward type players have a nasty habit of tearing us apart.

I recall our ruck/forward types playing like sacks against them. Doesn't seem to happen these days!

[dee-luded 2,959]

Thing is, North tend to match up really well against us. They've given us some very nasty experiences in the past. This is not a game we are guaranteed to win. I seem to recall that their ruck/forward type players have a nasty habit of tearing us apart.

This was their Rnd - 5 team.

North Melbourne

B: Firrito, Thompson, Rawlings

HB: Grima, Hansen, McMahon

C: Ziebell, Cunnington, Bastinac

HF: Edwards, Goldstein, Harvey

F: Wells, Hale, Warren

Foll: McIntosh, Swallow, Greenwood

Int: Anthony, Thomas, Adams, Urquhart

Emg: Smith, Wright, Garlett

In: Greenwood , Cunnington

Out: L. Harding , S. Wright

New: Cunnington (Geelong Falcons)

Not a bad side, at all. Lots of Maturity there, physically.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Footy's a funny game. The Roos are taking it up to a side that pounded us in round 1. They in turn got done more horribly than we have this season, in round 2.

The big thing here, is that up to 3/4 time (nearly), Macintosh (24) and Goldstein (20) have had 44 hitouts to 20. Now I know the Hawks have no ruckmen, but still. This may be Jamar's first real test... with the far greater one coming against Freo much further down the track.

If they beat him, or at least curtail him, that'll be likely to mess with our confidence out of the middle. Apparently the Lions beat us in clearances to 3/4 time, I believe.

This is not going to be anywhere near as easy a game as the Lions one. At Etihad? The forward line precision we've enjoyed may evapourate.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Footy's a funny game. The Roos are taking it up to a side that pounded us in round 1. They in turn got done more horribly than we have this season, in round 2.

The big thing here, is that up to 3/4 time (nearly), Macintosh (24) and Goldstein (20) have had 44 hitouts to 20. Now I know the Hawks have no ruckmen, but still. This may be Jamar's first real test... with the far greater one coming against Freo much further down the track.

If they beat him, or at least curtail him, that'll be likely to mess with our confidence out of the middle. Apparently the Lions beat us in clearances to 3/4 time, I believe.

This is not going to be anywhere near as easy a game as the Lions one. At Etihad? The forward line precision we've enjoyed may evapourate.

Yep, agreed. Our need is to find space to use the ball in, not easy for a young side to achieve.

Even harder to find space to run & carry at Eddies Hat restaurant.

[Choko 493]

Yep, agreed. Our need is to find space to use the ball in, not easy for a young side to achieve.

Even harder to find space to run & carry at Eddies Hat restaurant.

Yeh Roos are more impressive tonight than I thought they would be. They are inconsistent, and I'm hoping they will have to ork extremely hard into the breeze in the final quarter

Roos are getting crucified by the umps.

[Real Demon 232]

Good win by the Roos tonight.............next week won't be easy, and our first game away from the G for the year as well.

Danger game!

[Go the mighty Dees 0]

Footy's a funny game. The Roos are taking it up to a side that pounded us in round 1. They in turn got done more horribly than we have this season, in round 2.

The big thing here, is that up to 3/4 time (nearly), Macintosh (24) and Goldstein (20) have had 44 hitouts to 20. Now I know the Hawks have no ruckmen, but still. This may be Jamar's first real test... with the far greater one coming against Freo much further down the track.

If they beat him, or at least curtail him, that'll be likely to mess with our confidence out of the middle. Apparently the Lions beat us in clearances to 3/4 time, I believe.

This is not going to be anywhere near as easy a game as the Lions one. At Etihad? The forward line precision we've enjoyed may evapourate.

I doubt whether any of the players would describe the Lions game as "easy". Some of the most menacing running imaginable. The roos don't have the runners to stay with us if we play like saturday nite

[Eth 4]

If Russian can keep himself in the contest in the ruck (which I believe he can, considering his recent form) and if we can handball as swiftly as we did against Brisbane (which suits Etihad, it's a fast ground) we're in with a good chance. Especially considering our recent troubles against North were mainly to do with tall players, but now we have Frawley and Warnock to hold up Hale and Goldstein and Jamar can easily take MacIntosh IMO. But our ground work with the ball is now one of the best parts of our game and better than North's.

[DeeSpencer 26,081]

I'll be tipping North. Why?

Because they generally put on more pressure than the 3 teams we've beaten, and probably more than the Collingwood side we played. Pressure is our greatest enemy (see round 1), it's also our greatest strength at the moment. North don't have the talent of Brisbane, but they should bring more pressure. Our game plan is about smooth and quick transition from backline to midfield to mid-sized forwards (Petterd, Green, Sylvia, Bate being the 4 main ones). Getting bottled up, especially on the smaller Etihad ground is a real danger.

2 exciting young midfields, with very good young key defenders and modest forwards lines will be on display.

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Brisbane have as good a ruck combo as anyone but Mitch Clark kept trying to body Jamar at every bounce, and it simply didn't work. Jamar just kept stepping round him and had his way with the hitouts or got free kicks all night long.

Edited April 25, 2010 by forest85

[Swampfox 190]

No such thing as an easy game in this competition

Its a chance to play another team and test ourselves against their strengths

I do think the players realise that to win or at least have a winning chance you need to work hard for the whole game

After a gutsy win against good opposition i think this will be a tight game

looking forward to it

[Eth 4]

No such thing as an easy game in this competition

Geelong vs Richmond at Kardinia.

[dee-luded 2,959]

If Russian can keep himself in the contest in the ruck (which I believe he can, considering his recent form) and if we can handball as swiftly as we did against Brisbane (which suits Etihad, it's a fast ground) we're in with a good chance. Especially considering our recent troubles against North were mainly to do with tall players, but now we have Frawley and Warnock to hold up Hale and Goldstein and Jamar can easily take MacIntosh IMO. But our ground work with the ball is now one of the best parts of our game and better than North's.

I thought that Martin should probably go back to 'Casey', to further work on his forward skills,,, but after seeing some of Nth Last night, I think the Russian needs a chop out.

I think we could also use another elite kick in the team, Strauss,,, but for who?

[DirtyDees DDC 187]

Definitely a danger game. It's at North's home ground at the docklands; they have a very good record against us (won the last 5) and they have their tails up after a win against the hawks.

The had 58 fewer possessions than Hawthorn and 30 more tackles. They won because they soaked up the pressure on their backline and hit Hawthorn on the rebound, so watch out for a a lot of pressure on our running game. They don't have great stars but they are good enough punish our mistakes. It will be interesting to see if they are affected by the 6 day turnaround.

Crawford mentioned on the footy show that Melbourne scored 11 goals from outside 40 metres, but he thought the Melbourne forward coach would not be happy with this statistic. I thought it was great and reminded me of the Queens birthday match against Collingwood in 2006(?) when we kicked 7 goals from outside 50. We have a number of guys who can kick long so we can leave the forward line open and have shots on the run from 60+ mtrs, (I think it was Bate and Moloney in the last quarter). And how about Jordie's goal? Another kick from outside the 50.

[jayceebee31 761]

Yep, agreed. Our need is to find space to use the ball in, not easy for a young side to achieve.

Even harder to find space to run & carry at Eddies Hat restaurant.

Agree- but shouldn't Etihad suit our play. Right down the guts..to me is the best plan at any stadium.The talls- worry me a little -alot of them.

[e25 5]

Not worried about North.

They had a distinct advantage and not just in the ruck.

Renouf being a late withdrawal forced both Roughead and Hodge (!) to compete in the ruck.

Not only were they disadvantaged in the ruck, but they also didn't have Roughead and Hodge in their other usual positions.

I won't take the Roos lightly, but if we continue to do the things we've done the last 4 weeks we will win.

Maybe not by much, but I'm confident we will.

Should be a very interesting game.

Shame it's at Etihad (even if it will suit for us to run the other team off it's legs)

[dee-luded 2,959]

Agree- but shouldn't Etihad suit our play. Right down the guts..to me is the best plan at any stadium.The talls- worry me a little -alot of them.

It's narrow, & easy to choke up play. See the saints style of defensive play with rebound footy. Our backs should work fine, wehave to continue that hard midfield defensive pressure & cause those seagulls to cough up that Chip. Then the problem arises, getting through the traffic Jam of Nths.

We HAVE to work incredibly hard to create forward space with our leadup Half Forwards, so we need our full forwards to stay deep & spread. Davey & BENNELL will be incredibly important in this game, Davey hopefully pushing hard forward from the centreline into space @ around 45Mtrs.

I'd like to see 2 deep forwardswithin a 25 Mtr Arc from goal with a paddock beyond & our HFwrds out with the midfielders near the square coming into the forward zone. Wishfull thinking I know, hard to do, But, not impossible.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Not worried about North.

They had a distinct advantage and not just in the ruck.

Renouf being a late withdrawal forced both Roughead and Hodge (!) to compete in the ruck.

Not only were they disadvantaged in the ruck, but they also didn't have Roughead and Hodge in their other usual positions.

I won't take the Roos lightly, but if we continue to do the things we've done the last 4 weeks we will win.

Maybe not by much, but I'm confident we will.

Should be a very interesting game.

Shame it's at Etihad (even if it will suit for us to run the other team off it's legs)

Your right to take the approach of being Positive, and I hope our Boys do. But I hope they turn up full of respect for Nth & what they could do to us. Brisbane failed to show us enough respect early, & couldn't reel us in again..

That said I think we're a better side,,,, When we turn up right on the night.

[The Chazz 4,077]

Early prediction - Scully to get BOG and Rising Star nom after the Roos game. Why? He LOVES Etihad, rewind to state games last year; he played Etihad better than any of the other kids.

I'm hoping they will win - I am flying down from Qld to watch the game - haven't seen a live Melbourne victory since 2006 - would love to sing the song after the game instead of before it!

[titan_uranus 25,043]

We certainly can't afford to think this will be an easy game. There is still talent in this North Melbourne side (Harvey is on fire at the moment) that could burn us if we're even slightly off.

Having said that, North struggled to put away a side like Hawthorn with no ruckman, no full forward, no full back, their best midfielder missing, and their second best midfielder playing ruck, as well as the best small forward in the game playing as badly as one could hope for. They also struggled to beat West Coast in Melbourne, failed miserably in the second half against Sydney, and we all know how poorly they played against St Kilda.

Pretty simple: we have to approach this game just like the previous 4. Etihad doesn't seem to treat us well, but with our current playing style we should perform better this week than any time over the last 4 years.

I believe the Bulldogs game in 2007 (we all remember that one) was at Etihad/Telstra Dome. Which makes that our most recent win away from the MCG. Winning this week would be fantastic, especially since it would make us go into our only Friday night game this year on a 4 game winning streak against a premiership contender. Could get 50,000 to that game if all goes well.

The big thing here, is that up to 3/4 time (nearly), Macintosh (24) and Goldstein (20) have had 44 hitouts to 20. Now I know the Hawks have no ruckmen, but still. This may be Jamar's first real test... with the far greater one coming against Freo much further down the track.

Oh come on, you've answered your own question.

Of course Goldstein and McIntosh are going to get tonnes of hit outs. Their opponents were a full forward and a midfielder.

[Felix 92]

Early prediction - Scully to get BOG and Rising Star nom after the Roos game. Why? He LOVES Etihad, rewind to state games last year; he played Etihad better than any of the other kids.

I'm hoping they will win - I am flying down from Qld to watch the game - haven't seen a live Melbourne victory since 2006 - would love to sing the song after the game instead of before it!

I sure hope this ends the drought for you. I'm a little nervous about this game, north have been a difficult side for MFC. But the boys are playing a different brand of football... And IM LOVING IT.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Agree- but shouldn't Etihad suit our play. Right down the guts..to me is the best plan at any stadium.The talls- worry me a little -alot of them.

We move it wide to spread the opposition defence then draw it through the corridor forward. Etihad is a smaller ground than the MCG. I would prefer to play them on a bigger ground particularly when they are play 3 talls in Hale, Goldstein and McIntosh.

Have another look at the replay we rarely went right down the guts when we brought the the ball from defence.