DEATH BY A THOUSAND KICKS

DEATH BY A THOUSAND KICKS by Scoop Junior

It was the same old story against Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, with the Dees ending a bad week on a low with a thumping 79-point loss.

Although the score may have created a feeling of de ja vu for those unfortunate enough to have witnessed Hawthorn treating us like a bunch of schoolboys over the last five years, the manner and pattern of the thumping was different this time. In fact, while the Hawks have totally dominated us since 2007, what is interesting is the fact that it hasn't always been the same modus operandi - it hasn't always been the same type of kill.

There have been games against them when their bigger bodies have smashed us around the stoppages and in the contested parts of the game and there have been others where they have applied manic forward pressure to force us into repetitive turnovers in our back half. In this respect, I'm sure I'm not the only one with recurring nightmares of the third quarter of last year's game against them where we could not get the ball out of defence and had they kicked straight could have put through 15 goals in that term alone.

This time, however, it was death by a thousand cuts, or make that kicks. Other than probably the first half of the first quarter when we were blown away, I thought we matched the Hawks in getting hands on the footy at the stoppages and were relatively even in the contested footy stakes. However, the difference in composure and ball use was almost comical, with Hawthorn kicking the ball around the ground to unmarked players in what looked like a training drill while we struggled to string together more than two or three uncontested mark chains.

The other notable difference between the two teams was in ball handling. I lost count of the number of times a Melbourne player would try to pick the ball up and either fumble or fail to dispose of it effectively, and then a Hawk would swoop, pick it up cleanly and clear the ball all in one motion. Part of this was excellent pressure by Hawthorn around the ball, but this doesn't excuse a really poor execution of one of the most basic and important skills in football - clean hands.

However, what was even more disappointing was the defensive side of our game. The way the Hawks shrugged our tackles made it look like men against boys and the way they cut our zone to pieces with their precise chip kicking was really disappointing. Space just seemed to open up for them to run into and we were constantly caught out by their spreading and speed of kicking.

It was pretty obvious to anyone that was at the game that on this ocassion our zone was not working and that something needed to be changed to try to prevent the uncontested possession chains that were not allowing us to get near the footy. Perhaps man on man may have helped, or even pressing further up the ground to try to pressure their backs into making execution errors.

But if we mug supporters can see this, then there's no doubt the coaching staff are well on top of it. And in this respect I liked Mark Neeld saying after the game that he wanted to stick with our structure and game plan and take advantage of the fact that this was a NAB Cup game where you can afford to try different things. I like a coach who is strong with his game plan and confident in his methods and he is trying to get us to play a brand of footy that he thinks will be successful.

I don't think there's any doubt that had this been a home and away game, we would've seen a change in tactics fairly early on (perhaps even from the start of the match given Hawthorn's 'chip the ball through the zone' tactic was one they employed successfully last year). We also woudn't have seen our best tall defender subbed off at half time and we wouldn't have left a 19 year old second gamer on a rampant Hale who was marking everything in sight.

And that probably leads me into the only positive of the night, that it was only a pre-season match and that things will be done differently once the real stuff starts. But apart from that there wasn't much else you could take out of this game, other than the Hawks showing what a strong, talented and committed team they are and Buddy Franklin displaying freakish athleticism and football skills. It was just a good old fashioned shocker of a performance from Melbourne and something we can only hope we don't see too often again.

As for the players, I don't believe that there were any winners out there. I'm going to take the unusual step of not even naming a best - while some like Lynden Dunn and Nathan Jones worked hard, I just don't think that performance warrants players to be named in the best.

I was disappointed with Brent Moloney, who again failed to perform to his best against an A grade midfield. His vision was poor and he blazed away a few times when there were other (better) options available. Colin Sylvia was also disappointing, another who has too often followed up great games with an anonymous performance.

Jack Watts was lively and handy in the first half but didn't have much impact after half time. Mitch Clark competed well and was a good target but he really should have taken at least 4 or 5 of the marks he dropped. He had a size, weight and experience advantage over his opponent but could not dominate his position (unlike Hale up the other end). I also thought he was selfish on two occasions - one where he snapped for goal over his head and another where he could have dished off near the boundary but instead chose to attempt a near-impossible shot at goal. After the second one, Hodge let him know that it was a selfish decision, pointing to the top of the square where the kick should have gone. But he did show promise by getting to the right spots and three goals on a night where he didn't play at his best and the delivery was terrible at best is a good effort.

It was a pity James Magner was injured early as he had probably been our best player over the last two weeks. I was keen to see how he would fare against an elite opposition midfield. He appears to be the best rookie midfielder available at present. Tom Couch is honest and has a dip but the question is whether he has the pace and class, while I haven't been impressed with Dan Nicholson this pre-season as his ball handling and kicking have regularly let him down.

Anyway,  strangely enough I am actually looking forward to when we play Hawthorn in the home and away season as I think from a tactical perspective it will be fascinating to see how we try to combat their game style. It would also be nice if we don't give them a five or six goal head start which is what we usually do against them. 

With the game in Adelaide this week, the next time we see the boys run around in a competitive match will be at the MCG in Round 1 against Brisbane. So what I'd like to hear from the game this week is a real solid effort, a much improved defensive performance and (obviously) no further injuries. The scoreboard is irrelevant this week but I do think it's important that we put in a solid four quarter effort to allow us to build into the new season with a bit of confidence.

Melbourne 0.2.3.15 0.4.6.30 0.4.7.31 0.6.8.44

Hawthorn 0.6.2.38 0.10.4.64 1.12.8.89 1.17.12. 123

Goals

Melbourne Clark 3 Watts 2 Dunn 

Hawthorn Franklin (supergoal) Hale 6 Franklin 4 Breust 2 Bruce Hodge Lewis Puopolo Sewell

Best

Hawthorn Franklin Hale Suckling Hodge Birchall

Injuries

Melbourne Magner (dislocated finger)

Hawthorn Nil.

Reports

Melbourne Nil.

Hawthorn Nil.

Umpires McInerney Kamolins Orr

Official crowd 10,600 at Etihad Stadium