Having a look at the points total against Melbourne and we've had only 483 kicked against us. This ranks us 9th in the competition & only 60 odd points away from the top rated defensive teams.

I'm very impressed with this considering that Frawley has been playing forward and Garland has been injured.

The team first defending has been great, pressuring the ball carrier from the center and our defensive structures have been working.

Couple this with the quiet efficiency of McDonald and Georgio ect....well maybe there is life after Frawely if he chooses to leave?

Now all we need to do is learn how to move the ball into the forward line and kick a few goals and we might win another game.

Whilst it's good to see some progress and I agree, there has been, we haven't really played any of the power teams yet. Wait until we've played, Port, Hawthorn, Geelong and even Collingwood before we talk percentage. It could take a walloping in those games.

THIS.

I can't remember a Melbourne team that has been able to do this.

The defence has been solid, but the real improvement has come from the midfield. They've made it hard for oppositions to get the ball forward. And when they have got it forward they have made the entries difficult, not 30 m directly in front lace out.

While a lot of behinds have be kicked against us I'd love to see some stays on those: distance, angle, crumb/loose v mark and also shots from free kicks (I feel we've had a disproportionate number of goals kicked against us either directly from a free kick or from a free kick which gave them the forward entry - which has the result of disrupting our defensive set ups).

We need to work a bit harder on running and presenting when moving ball between the arcs. And we need to work better on delivery into the forward 50. Quicker transitions will help and these should come as we start to run for each other and present better.

I can see us on the right track.

Agreed.

I've seen opponents' possession chains breaking down, stuttering, stopping, switching backwards/sideways way, way, way more frequently this year than in the past. In 2012-2013 we had clubs just stream through the middle as if we were witches hats. This year, we've even had Sydney stopping and propping and trying plan B a few times. It's a huge part of modern football and a huge part of why we're not conceding stacks of goals.

As Roos has said, though, we're not translating our pressure into enough turnovers that themselves translate into scores. That's to come (hopefully).

Whilst it's good to see some progress and I agree, there has been, we haven't really played any of the power teams yet. Wait until we've played, Port, Hawthorn, Geelong and even Collingwood before we talk percentage. It could take a walloping in those games.

True, we haven't played some of the best yet, but compare this year's efforts to last years':

177 points against West Coast, who finished 13th

103 against GWS

122 against Brisbane

121 against Carlton

114 against Gold Coast

106 against Richmond

104 against St Kilda

100 against Bulldogs

94 against Brisbane

150 against North Melbourne, who finished 10th

124 against GWS

90 against Gold Coast

120 against Adelaide

107 against Bulldogs

So, as you can see, even against the middle of the road sides we were leaking points. I expect us to lose to Hawthorn, Geelong, Port Adelaide, Collingwood, Fremantle and probably Essendon too by loads, and we're likely to concede 100+ in most of those games. But the fact that we're not conceding big scores against the sides we shouldn't be conceding big scores to is a huge improvement for us.

The problem was not that he didn't know good systems or gameplans, Neeld's problem was that he couldn't sell it.

Sell it and get buy in.

Game plans and styles of play aren't that complicated or hard. I'm not even so sure that the defensive mindset of Neeld is that much different to Roos. The difference is that players are responding to Roos where Neeld was basically given the middle finger.

Sell it and get buy in.

Game plans and styles of play aren't that complicated or hard. I'm not even so sure that the defensive mindset of Neeld is that much different to Roos. The difference is that players are responding to Roos where Neeld was basically given the middle finger.

Yep.

Exactly.

Even when people were saying port were a basket case and that the club was in strife they were still higher on the ladder than us. We are coming from a fair way back it was never going to happen over one pre season

Most of this thread is discussing the Roos gameplan and systems as they apply on field. However, when Roos is talking about "locking in a system and gameplan" my suspicion is that "system" refers to off field issues such as fitness, development, recruitment, relationship with the VFL team, culture and player professionalism (ie, not misbehaving in public places). That's a lot of stuff to get right.

He's already spoken about the development role of Casey in terms that suggest he's not happy with it as it currently stands.

If my suspicions are correct, I 100% support him. It doesn't matter how sophisticated a gameplan is if the foundations upon which it is built are flawed.