Aaron Davey holds ball up before kick in

[dreamin' man 0]

Flash did that annoying thing when a player holds the ball up to signal 'slow down play' or similar. It was three to four minutes before half time, a long time in a quarter, the Dees had the momentum & it proved the last time Melbourne had control of the game. The Foxtel commentators queried it & I heard Stan Alves question the value of the tactic, especially when there is quite a long time to go. Any views?

[rhaz 342]

There was ages left on the clock and i have no idea why he did it, both myself and my Hawks supporting mate instantly queried it as well. Was very strange. Probably not thread worthy but at least it only happened once.

Interestingly enough, we turned the ball over not long after and a Hawks player did a similar thing in the middle of the ground.

Edited April 3, 2011 by rhaz

[Swampfox 190]

Being an onfield leader yes i would say it was a signal to change to a defensive mode

We cannot play stoppage football like StKilda so why would we even try

the result was clear to see in the 3rd quarter

[H_T 3,049]

Flash did that annoying thing when a player holds the ball up to signal 'slow down play' or similar. It was three to four minutes before half time, a long time in a quarter, the Dees had the momentum & it proved the last time Melbourne had control of the game. The Foxtel commentators queried it & I heard Stan Alves question the value of the tactic, especially when there is quite a long time to go. Any views?

Yeah, I have a view. Firstly, we weren't in control of the game, even though we were in front (21 points). The last 5-6 minutes of the second quarter the Hawks had regained some ascendancy and run after we were out to a 21 point lead (50-29). Thankfully they missed their last two kicks for goal (2 points), Davey was showing some leadership (may have been given instruction) by slowing the game down and control the ball for a couple of minutes by keeping possession.

STan ALves is paid money to comment and query everything.

[dee-eee 231]

Flash did that annoying thing when a player holds the ball up to signal 'slow down play' or similar. It was three to four minutes before half time, a long time in a quarter, the Dees had the momentum & it proved the last time Melbourne had control of the game. The Foxtel commentators queried it & I heard Stan Alves question the value of the tactic, especially when there is quite a long time to go. Any views?

My thoughts exactly ! That's when the rot set in.....momentum gone, negativity takes over and scrappy football results. . Hawthorn gets a real sniff and goes into the break with renewed confidence.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Flash did that annoying thing when a player holds the ball up to signal 'slow down play' or similar. It was three to four minutes before half time, a long time in a quarter, the Dees had the momentum & it proved the last time Melbourne had control of the game. The Foxtel commentators queried it & I heard Stan Alves question the value of the tactic, especially when there is quite a long time to go. Any views?

There were 7 minutes left.

You could see. The dees were stuffed. Not only that but they were stuffed the whole rest of the game. Rotations perhaps? Or just need to put in bigger preseasons?

[ickey_11 145]

There were 7 minutes left.

You could see. The dees were stuffed. Not only that but they were stuffed the whole rest of the game. Rotations perhaps? Or just need to put in bigger preseasons?

the irony is that was one of the few times the team managed to move the ball from deep in the defense into the forward line

[nutbean 8,838]

Where we were sitting, we thought he put the hand up so abruptly, we got nervous that Flash had done something to himself. I am not convinced he didnt slightly tweak something because he looked a little proppy after that.

Edited April 3, 2011 by nutbean

[jnrmac 20,189]

Tempo footy.

Ha ha. Yeah we're good enough to do that.

[BAMF 4,387]

Was pretty clear that the hawks were pushing super hard. We had lost our run. Hawks were about to blast us.

[The Chazz 4,077]

God, I resisted getting on last night because I knew there would be some silly comments, and bugger me, this is the first one I've opened this morning and sure enough, some silly comments!

Flash showed great leadership by taking the kick-ins. We played amazing for the first 25 minutes of that quarter, but in the last 5 minutes, the momentum was swinging Hawthorn's way. I was wrapped with the fact that we tried this against a side like Hawthorn, becuase when we are a challenger, we will need to be able to do this. For the 5 minutes yesterday when we went defensive, we managed to slow their run right down, and ensured we went in to half time with a reasonable lead.

The idiotic comment about how it created a negative attitide - have a look at the replay and watch our boys walking in at half time. If you think the defensive play had a negative impact on them, just look at each of their faces. I thin kthe 2nd quarter had the opposite impact, we went in far too cocky.

[jackaub 1,402]

There were 7 minutes left.

You could see. The dees were stuffed. Not only that but they were stuffed the whole rest of the game. Rotations perhaps? Or just need to put in bigger preseasons?

Agree completely

From where i was (members wing) the teal was very tired Davey,tapscott and Garland particularly. Is aid to the Hakws fan next to me that they were in for a big win i just thought the whole team was done

[deanox 9,989]

The hold-the-ball-up-slow-it-down tactic used to be about chip kicking side to side in a game of keeping off. Now it is about slowing down, loading up and maintaining possession while pushing forward. It means, don't blaze away and kick to the opposition for the next few minutes, instead try and build something from the ground up. It gives the mids and defence a chance to get their breath back and rob the opposition of their momentum.

[Roost It 1,434]

I said to my friend "I hope that's not the white flag" At that point our 15 minutes on top was over and they were coming hard.

[JiveTurkey 8]

Hi there people, to start with a cliche long time reader first time poster.

I've never before particularly felt the need to post on these forum site's as my opinion is generally well covered within a collection of other posts made but this topic really annoyed me. I also thought it was great inititive by Davey to take it upon himself to slow things down.

I wonder how many posters actually play football or did so recently enough to remember how its done. 'Tempo Footy' which is just a buzz word used to name something that has probably always happened, for at least as long as i can remember anyway, is absolutely necessary. Unless you are playing a team that is completely inferior the momentum of games will always swing back and forth. Just as its important to capatilise on your chances when up and about it is just as crucial to limit the opposition when they are playing well.

The best way to do this is and i suspect always has been to control possesion and to play tight when not in posession. I think the end of the 2nd quarter was smart, effective footy. And the 3rd started similarly. It was our inability to do just those things (control the footy and play tight marking roles) that meant we couldnt squash the hawks momentum in the 3rd. It took the 3 quarter time siren to do that. So it isnt the idea that was off as far as im concerned but rather the execution.

Had we be able to perform this 'tempo footy' better in the 3rd the game may not have been iced at the 3/4 siren.

And before you claim that we dont have the ability to do this and therefore shouldnt i agree completely with an earlier post that we must learn how to do it properly and soon, because it is cruical to our future triumphs. I may only play in a lowly country victorian league but i can guarentee you we seek to do exactly the same thing. When the opposition gets a couple of goals you lock down on them, kill their momentum, then reset and go again yourself.

Just my opinion maybe but I felt the need to come to aaron's defence.