We just can't work out how to get to the right spots and then react quick enough to what is going on

It's called structures.

Early in the year we were good for a quareter and a half. we have now progressed to nearly 3/4 of a game.

JUst wait until we hold our structures for a whole game.

That's when we will be competitive and win games.

Misson came to the Dees with a reputation for conditioning teams that played tough hard footy from the first bounce to the final siren.

That he has not been able to get our players up to the fitness standards of the elite teams speaks volumes about our fitness levels in 2011.

Until we bridge that gap we won't be able to match the spread (ie running) of the teams that are at those elite levels for 4 quarters.

Give Misson another pre season and hopefully that fitness gap will close.

We just can't work out how to get to the right spots and then react quick enough to what is going on

It's called structures.

Early in the year we were good for a quareter and a half. we have now progressed to nearly 3/4 of a game.

JUst wait until we hold our structures for a whole game.

That's when we will be competitive and win games.

That is just how I see it. There is a lot of learning going on right now. I am hoping for a big second half of the year

Commentators talking about how slow a team is playing is my pet hate. Most teams look slow when they are struggling for form and confidence. Adding players or changing training loads has nothing to do with speeding a team up. It is all about ball use (our weakest point) and decision making (our second weakest point).

There was talk earlier in this thread about players' acceleration - in the pre-season, were they trained for this or did they do endurance running? Football is about acceleration, then slower movement, then acceleration etc. Team speed was also mentioned earlier - ball movement can easily account for player speed (a kicked ball moves quicker than even the fastest player) so skills training is essential. The total training load is important, but the type of training is critical.

What other club would waste 4 years of a rebiuld the way the MFC has?

Round 1 2008 will be repeated on friday night.

NOT HAPPY JAN.

You are entirely correct - our drafting over the past 4 years has proven to be ordinary in the extreme. One dimensional, not one gun.

Hawks have bullied us over that entire time.

Living in hope. FFS push em back

There was talk earlier in this thread about players' acceleration - in the pre-season, were they trained for this or did they do endurance running? Football is about acceleration, then slower movement, then acceleration etc. Team speed was also mentioned earlier - ball movement can easily account for player speed (a kicked ball moves quicker than even the fastest player) so skills training is essential. The total training load is important, but the type of training is critical.

Both, I think, but the greater emphasis was on repetitions of 200 & 300 sprints. There were also repetitions of 60-100 meter sprints. I think the first priority was to build endurance so that we could last the full four quarters. With the endurance built, faster players (Watts, Blease,Davey, Jurrah et al (highlight use of Latin abbreviation) can then better play their part.

As I said in the training OP, for the first time there was an emphasis on spreading which inevitably requires a full-speed sprint to either get into position or to close down the opposition's spread. Maybe this indicates that the coaches are happy about the endurance-building progress??

Both, I think, but the greater emphasis was on repetitions of 200 & 300 sprints. There were also repetitions of 60-100 meter sprints. I think the first priority was to build endurance so that we could last the full four quarters. With the endurance built, faster players (Watts, Blease,Davey, Jurrah et al (highlight use of Latin abbreviation) can then better play their part.

As I said in the training OP, for the first time there was an emphasis on spreading which inevitably requires a full-speed sprint to either get into position or to close down the opposition's spread. Maybe this indicates that the coaches are happy about the endurance-building progress??

Thanks Jimcor that's quite interesting. Someone made the good point that players take until the Thursday to fully recover from a game of footy so perhaps they are limited in how hard they can work the player in terms of building endurance during the season. However your astute observation about what type of running exercises they have been doing perhaps suggests a focus on endurance building continues from the pre season.

It also may support my (hopeful) theory of having a high load in the first half of the season before easing up iin the second half, freshening up the players and taking advantage of an easier draw. Dare i say it but perhaps we'll come home with a wet sail and talk about having to take Viney in the top 3 will be redundant.

It also may support my (hopeful) theory of having a high load in the first half of the season before easing up iin the second half, freshening up the players and taking advantage of an easier draw. Dare i say it but perhaps we'll come home with a wet sail and talk about having to take Viney in the top 3 will be redundant.

Thanks Binman, my hope as well.

We've also gone from three full sessions (9.45 to midday) a week to one open session. I think this reinforces the suggestion that match play is so much more more heavy-going (and valuable) than a training session. It may be that they're having a lot of closed sessions but I think it's more likely they're needing to recover.

Another great plus is that we've not really had much in the way of 'big' injuries to our core 22 and I wonder if that's a reflection of Misson's impact. I just touched wood in case I've tempted fate.

Fascinating article about Misson's current training regime. It would seem apparent that yes loads are very heavy now, much heavier than clubs who are top 8 chances and much higher than they will be during next season. Augurs very well for second half of season i reckon:

http://www.melbourne...wsid=136145

"Right now Melbourne is using the midweek session to train hard. This is different to what Misson faced at his two previous clubs, where mid-season sessions were more often a process of ticking the body and mind over.

At Melbourne each session is seen as another step towards helping players develop the sort of mindset needed to become an AFL player.

That makes them tough and the approach means training carries an inherent risk of injury. But it fits the long-term view the club is taking. .........

He knows that to create bodies and minds able to implement a game plan designed to stand up in finals testing midweek sessions are required. "[We want] to send a team out and send individuals out who know exactly what they need to do in [certain] situations," Misson said.

It might not be translating to gameday just yet, but the players are aware of the work required. ................

And it's part of the bigger picture that has Misson anticipating the future.

"A session like we had today where we are doing accountability drills, really strong, hard game running - next pre-season we are going to be able to do that all January instead of teaching structural stuff," Misson said.

"We are going to be able to have those hard running, hard spreading sessions [so] by the time games come along we are used to game running." '..................

"That is the challenge, sticking the journey," Misson said."

Fascinating article about Misson's current training regime. It would seem apparent that yes loads are very heavy now, much heavier than clubs who are top 8 chances and much higher than they will be during next season. Augurs very well for second half of season i reckon:

http://www.melbourne...wsid=136145

"That is the challenge, sticking the journey," Misson said."

It is a fascinating artlcle and seems they are looking to future seasons with this one setting the foundation and sorting out which players will be along for the journey.

Fascinating article about Misson's current training regime. It would seem apparent that yes loads are very heavy now, much heavier than clubs who are top 8 chances and much higher than they will be during next season. Augurs very well for second half of season i reckon:

Spot on Binman. I didn't get to training this week (hopefully next) but it was certainly obvious to me last week that the session was as tough and animated as the pre-season sessions. No wonder we have a lot of tired-looking players on game day. The coaches must be investing for next year (or hopefully later this season!) given that they are training like it's a 15 month pre-season. Anyway, it's great to see that there's actually some strategic thinking going on.

Spot on Binman. I didn't get to training this week (hopefully next) but it was certainly obvious to me last week that the session was as tough and animated as the pre-season sessions. No wonder we have a lot of tired-looking players on game day. The coaches must be investing for next year (or hopefully later this season!) given that they are training like it's a 15 month pre-season. Anyway, it's great to see that there's actually some strategic thinking going on.

'

I'll be interested in your reports from any training you get to. If i'm right about tapering off in the second half of the season i reckon they'll go really hard to the bye then start easing off

So... non-match day tanking?

Fascinating article about Misson's current training regime. It would seem apparent that yes loads are very heavy now, much heavier than clubs who are top 8 chances and much higher than they will be during next season. Augurs very well for second half of season i reckon:

http://www.melbourne...wsid=136145

"Right now Melbourne is using the midweek session to train hard. This is different to what Misson faced at his two previous clubs, where mid-season sessions were more often a process of ticking the body and mind over.

At Melbourne each session is seen as another step towards helping players develop the sort of mindset needed to become an AFL player.

That makes them tough and the approach means training carries an inherent risk of injury. But it fits the long-term view the club is taking. .........

He knows that to create bodies and minds able to implement a game plan designed to stand up in finals testing midweek sessions are required. "[We want] to send a team out and send individuals out who know exactly what they need to do in [certain] situations," Misson said.

It might not be translating to gameday just yet, but the players are aware of the work required. ................

And it's part of the bigger picture that has Misson anticipating the future.

"A session like we had today where we are doing accountability drills, really strong, hard game running - next pre-season we are going to be able to do that all January instead of teaching structural stuff," Misson said.

"We are going to be able to have those hard running, hard spreading sessions [so] by the time games come along we are used to game running." '..................

"That is the challenge, sticking the journey," Misson said."

So when do they get to recover for the next week? Wasn't it Craig whose team (Adelaide) collectively asked him to reduce the training load through the year?

Hmmmm

"A session like we had today where we are doing accountability drills, really strong, hard game running - next pre-season we are going to be able to do that all January instead of teaching structural stuff," Misson said.

Interesting - I took the kids down to see the team train three or four times in December/January and I saw them do a lot of full lap running - assuming the laps were 400 there must have been doing 800m or 1km, and then repeating them over and over with a short break after every second or third one. I know it was only three or four sessions but there was never a lot of "structural stuff" - it was an hour or so of running before some basic footy drills.

Spot on Binman. I didn't get to training this week (hopefully next) but it was certainly obvious to me last week that the session was as tough and animated as the pre-season sessions. No wonder we have a lot of tired-looking players on game day. The coaches must be investing for next year (or hopefully later this season!) given that they are training like it's a 15 month pre-season. Anyway, it's great to see that there's actually some strategic thinking going on.

I'm pinning all my hope to this...... If this is the reason for the poor performences, then I'll be happy to wear it......

There were some simply lazy efforts from a lot of players in the opening minutes of the game, the issue is not fitness.

There were some simply lazy efforts from a lot of players in the opening minutes of the game, the issue is not fitness.

I disagree - the opening minutes were the best of it. Had Howe kicked straight, and Davery's running shot streered a metre to the right we'd have been right with them.

It was quite clear the players were trying to spread more than they have in those first 10-15 minutes. Don't want to think about what happened after that, after their fragile confidence was shot.

Pitmaster I have a habit of seeing the first 15 minutes in this light as well, I think it boils down to it being the only point in each game we are not being flogged on the scoreboard. However after having gone back and watched in the knowledge we lose by 100 pts, we were still terrible for the first 15 mins against the swans and those two shots would have made little difference. And for the 100th time Howe will be useless up forward til he works on his set shot kicking! Terrible, just terrible.....

Pitmaster I have a habit of seeing the first 15 minutes in this light as well, I think it boils down to it being the only point in each game we are not being flogged on the scoreboard. However after having gone back and watched in the knowledge we lose by 100 pts, we were still terrible for the first 15 mins against the swans and those two shots would have made little difference. And for the 100th time Howe will be useless up forward til he works on his set shot kicking! Terrible, just terrible.....

The effort was there early. It wasn't there when OKeefe was allowed to mark on the goal line, or when no-one shepherded through Magner's shot that was touched on the line -- by then they weren't thinking at all. But they started with intent I reckon but they are so easily beaten down now I wonder how Neeld can get them up even for a full quarter effort - real lack of grit in face of adversity.

i believe that they are running like they are on the beach in deep dry sand at the moment

Being belted on the track

After the bye they will all be running on top of the ground and we will win five to six games with a positive entry into the next pre season

If I hear one more MFC player or coach refer to "training going really well", I will legitimately lose my [censored]. Walls will be smashed.