A DEVIL OF A TIME

[Demonland 73,140]

A DEVIL OF A TIME by Whispering Jack

MFC supporter group, the Devils Advocates held a dinner for Demon supporters connected with the legal fraternity on Tuesday night and I attended as usual. No lawyer jokes please, but putting on such a function after the events of last week at least proves that the profession doesn't have a particularly good sense of timing.

The mood was sombre as we shuffled into the Essoign Club, a club for barristers and judges that has a rule that anyone caught answering their mobile phone in the restaurant must buy each adjoining table a bottle of wine. It was five days after the Patersons Stadium massacre and the rule was not in danger of being applied. Nobody was ringing Melbourne supporting members of the legal profession. Like the footy team we follow, we're friendless at the moment. They should try our counterparts from the team that beat is last week. I presume they're called the "Legal Eagles".

Demon legend David Neitz was compere for the evening and the guest interviewee was Todd Viney, the club's General Manager for player development. The text below is taken from the question and answer session with both David and members of the audience and I hope my notes faithfully follow the way in which the issues for discussion were dealt.

Todd's current role at the club is to ensure that every player at the club has his own individual development plan. Like Neita, he is a former Melbourne star who skippered the club and a member of its Team of the Century as well as the Hall of Fame. Two old teammates who were clearly unhappy with the circumstance of their club being in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

There was no hiding from that game in Perth. The night before, the football panel shows were in overdrive trying to work out the source of Melbourne's current ills. This rarely happens when the team in question is currently in the top eight but Monday's experts were more concerned with statistics like:

Tackles 17th

Contested Possessions 15th

Hard Ball Gets 16th

Clearances 15th

Loose Ball Gets 17th

Inside 50's 15th

Those are the club's figures for the year but the focus is on the game in Perth.

The other stat that everyone was talking about was the first quarter inside 50's of 3 to 22 which compared unfavourably with the numbers of the newbies from the Gold Coast against Essendon which lost their first quarter by 93 points.

There's no single explanation for a performance as dismal as that which the Demons produces in Perth. You can choose to name any number of factors from the coach to the leadership to the playing group to the unfamiliar surroundings to the weather to the umpires to inexperience to the food, training and mindset of the players and lots more.

These things need to be analysed in a review of the team's performance and Viney explained that the review process started immediately after the game. On the plane home, the line coaches were working on their laptops with Dean Bailey looking at overall picture view of key performance indicators for each line. Viney said that this process applies every week, win or lose.

The coaches then meet the players in their lines after the weekend to discuss how they can go forward.

Looking back at the game v the Eagles, it was necessary to bear in mind that young teams often struggle when travelling interstate and Melbourne is the second least experienced club after the Suns. Obviously, this doesn't answer everything but Viney recalled Hawthorn making a shorter trip to Adelaide a year before it won the flag in 2008 and the result was an absolute shocker of a 100 point loss on the road. Even the current day Saints who are an experienced group looked poor in the first quarter against the Crows in Adelaide. They were able to fight their way back because of their experienced players but didn't win the game.

This time round we left Melbourne on the Tuesday and, as part of its preparation, trained in Perth the day before the game. The club will take that back with it and evaluate how best to travel for interstate games.

The key to performing well interstate is also to be prepared mentally for these games and experience plays a big part in this regard. At Melbourne we have very few players with 100 games plus experience. Statistically, a younger side will lack size and body strength. As a club we're aware of the need to get better in these areas but the game in Perth was not typical. Against the Swans in the first round, our young group beat them in the hard ball gets. We've had some very good quarters of some of our games but it's time to put it together for four quarters.

With the heat turned up on the club, Dean Bailey and his assistants called for harder training this week in the wake of Perth. Ultimately, the way you perform depends on how you train. You have to have the right mindset; there are no excuses. If you get your preparation right then you'll be ready to perform. Neitz joked with Viney about players having to take their mouthguards to training this week but I suspect that was no joke for the players who were taken through some tough contested footy and solid tackling sessions.

Viney also spoke of the evolving game and how it is adopted differently by the teams. Developing the forward press which is currently in vogue takes time and is obviously a more difficult task with younger sides that are still to reach the optimum in the strength and body size needed to make it all work.

Although the club is reasonably well off injury wise, the midfield which is so important in this day and age is missing the skills of a young Tom Scully and the tackling of Jordie McKenzie. Perhaps the mix of players needs to be looked at and Viney hinted about possible changes at team selection this week but not wholesale changes. If you're going to include someone, then who do you leave out? The answer to that can be seen in the team below.

This week's team to take on the team that Viney left to rejoin the Demons has a more experienced and a stronger look and we have the benefit of a wise head in the coaching group who has an intimate knowledge of how the opposition works. We can expect a different group to come out onto the MCG this Sunday and I'm betting they'll go inside 50 more often and be a lot harder at it than they were 10 days ago in Perth.

THE GAME

Melbourne v. Adelaide at the MCG 8 May 2010 at 2.10pm (AEST)

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 10 wins Adelaide 19 wins

At MCG Melbourne 6 wins Adelaide 5 wins

Since 2000 Melbourne 5 wins Adelaide 11 wins

The coaches Bailey 1 win Craig 3 wins

MEDIA

TV Channel 7 (delayed at 3.00pm AEST)

RADIO Triple M 3AW

THE BETTING Melbourne to win $1.72 Adelaide to win $2.13

LAST TIME THEY MET

Adelaide 16.21.117 d Melbourne 11.7.73 Round 13, 2010 at AAMI Stadium

This was one of Melbourne's worst performances of the season and a major reversal for coach Dean Bailey and his players. The team started sluggishly as it often tends to do on interstate jaunts and the game was over by the main break. There were minor signs of resistance in the third and last quarters but the only thing that prevented the game from turning into a complete massacre was Adelaide's poor kicking for goal. The result was almost as pathetic as that of last week's Perth trip.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

Backs James Frawley Matthew Warnock Clint Bartram

Half backs Nathan Jones Colin Garland Luke Tapscott

Centreline Ricky Petterd Jack Grimes Colin Sylvia

Half forwards Jack Watts Liam Jurrah Addam Maric

Forwards Brad Green Matthew Bate Aaron Davey

Followers Mark Jamar Brent Moloney Jack Trengove

Interchange Jordan Gysberts Lynden Dunn Austin Wonaeamirri Rohan Bail

Emergencies Joel Macdonald Michael Newton Neville Jetta

In Ricky Petterd Matthew Bate Matthew Warnock Addam Maric

Out Jared Rivers (ankle) Cale Morton Stef Martin Jamie Bennell

ADELAIDE

Backs Graham Johncock Ben Rutten Michael Doughty

Half backs Matthew Jaensch Luke Thompson Nathan van Berlo

Centreline Brodie Smith Brent Reilly Ricky Henderson

Half forwards Chris Knights Shaun McKernan Richard Douglas

Forwards Taylor Walker Kurt Tippett Matthew Wright

Followers Sam Jacobs Scott Thompson Patrick Dangerfield

Interchange Jared Petrenko Christopher Schmidt Rory Sloane Brad Symes

Emergencies Jack Gunston Ivan Maric James Sellar

In Jared Petrenko Rory Sloane Christopher Schmidt

Out, Phil Davis (Shoulder) Brodie Martin Richard Tambling (Suspension)

IN THE DETAIL

Todd Viney has been involved in the coaching system at two clubs, Hawthorn and Adelaide and was asked to compare where the club was situated at the present time. He pointed out that the club can and will improve but noted that it has just gotten out of debt and there's a lot that has to be done. An example is the computer ware at the club, one of only two that don't have the latest in camera technology (costing $500k) for use at training show players what has to be done.

There was the inevitable question about Jack Viney who recently signed on to the club under the father/son rule. Jack recently turned 17 years of age and is in year 11 at Carey Grammar but, although committed to the club, can't play until 2013. Prior to committing to the Demons, there was some pressure on him as other clubs tried to lure him away under AFL rules relating to the entry of Greater Western Sydney. Jack and the family spent time at the club with Dean Bailey and Chris Connolly and when he returned Jack didn't want to go anywhere else and felt comfortable that he was coming to a well run and well resourced club.

He has had some minor injury problems but just returned from the AIS-AFL Under 17 tour of London, Milan where exhibition games were played and Turkey where the lads took part in the Anzac Day dawn service at Gallipoli and is hoping to play for his school, the Oakleigh Chargers and the Under 18 Vic Metro team.

Neita briefly interviewed some of the players on hand at the function. Jack Trengove spoke of the club's very thorough post match review after the Eagles game and of how the coach had worked them hard during the week. He is convinced better things are around the corner.

Rookie Michael Evans is studying law part time and has been playing well at Casey. "Pickles", as he is called, sustained a broken leg and a hip injury in 2010 but was happy to be drafted to the Demons and hasn't looked back since. My mail is that Evans, a pacy midfielder, would almost certainly have been drafted very high but for those injuries that kept him off the radar for many clubs.

Jack Grimes was impressive as usual in speaking of the pressure from last weekend. "The playing group didn't play the way he (Bailey) teaches us to play." Grimes said the players took full responsibility for last week and said the team will definitely perform much better this week. He also spoke about Brent Moloney and the difficult decision the leadership group made about the vice captaincy after his night club incident before the Gold Coast game. He said that Beamer Is an inspirational leader and has responded well. The team needs him as a leader and Grimes believes that he will fight his way back into the leadership group. Grimes also said he has done a bit of work with the midfield line at training and is looking forward to getting an opportunity there at some time in the near future.

Stefan Martin, another law student, is one of the club's big improvers (despite his omission for this week) and he spoke of how his improved fitness had helped him and how he is learning more about what it takes to play in the ruck.

All of the players were impressive and confident of the club's future and there was no suggestion that they were affected by the week's hype and media scrutiny in any other way than to be positive about putting in some bright performances in the coming weeks.

The evening ended with a successful auction conducted by Phil Kingston of Gary Peer & Associates who successfully sold some items for the club and showed his selling skills when he knocked down a pre match session with the coach above the reserve. Considering the hammering that Dean Bailey's gotten over the past week that was a devil of an effort.

As far as the game is concerned, I think it's a tipster's nightmare. Both clubs are enigmatic. Adelaide has beaten both Hawthorn and St. Kilda – both clubs touted as top four contenders in the early betting. In between, the Crows lost to Port Adelaide which lost the following week to the Suns. Melbourne's situation has been well documented and you only need to read the above to realise that anything could happen on Sunday at the MCG.

I have no idea why I'm doing this but I'm tipping the Demons to win by 10 points. I suppose it's because I have enough faith in Brad Green and Aaron Davey to turn things around and that the club's inclusions give it some in form players and, in the end, the home ground advantage means a lot to this team. The comfort of the trumpeter, the raising of the flag and the odds set by the bookies have swayed me.