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How to beat Melbourne

spirit of norm smith
spirit of norm smith
in Melbourne Demons

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5 things to beat Melbourne 

1- pressure pressure pressure 

melbourne players revert back to bad habits of bombing the ball or handballing to other players under pressure. Melbourne mids do not have sharp skilled delivery

2- play a “sweeper” in defence

Melbourne loves an open forward line and to run handball handball the ball into the final 15 metres from goal. The sweeper takes the bombed footy into 50

3- Defensive frailty 

Jetta and Hibberd are all Australian class defenders  but with Tom McDonald moving forward & Lever injures, the tall defenders are frail as has been evident in their losses. Use your key forwards inside 50 and isolate their defenders 

4- outside pace

Melbournes mids are strong inside (Oliver, Jones, Viney, Tyson) but the lack of pace and are exposed to a run and spread game 

5- Melbourne drop off for periods of the game

usually Melbourne has lapses and fall away in intensity and concentration. There are periods usually in the last 5 minutes of a quarter where Melbourne drops off

our solutions ???????

 

 

Edited by spirit of norm smith
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    I think the easiest way to beat us is to play accountable football for 4 quarters. That's contributed to a number of our losses this season.

    Mind you, when we play 4 quarters of accountable football we win. Pretty hard to knock us off when we are up.

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    7 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

    5 things to beat Melbourne 

    1- pressure pressure pressure 

    melbourne players revert back to bad habits of bombing the ball or handballing to other players under pressure. Melbourne mids do not have sharp skilled delivery

    2- play a “sweeper” in defence

    Melbourne loves an open forward line and to run handball handball the ball into the final 15 metres from goal. The sweeper takes the bombed footy into 50

    3- Defensive frailty 

    Jetta and Hibberd are all Australian class defenders  but with Tom McDonald moving forward & Lever injures, the tall defenders are frail as has been evident in their losses. Use your key forwards inside 50 and isolate their defenders 

    4- outside pace

    Melbournes mids are strong inside (Oliver, Jones, Viney, Tyson) but the lack of pace and are exposed to a run and spread game 

    5- Melbourne drop off for periods of the game

    usually Melbourne has lapses and fall away in intensity and concentration. There are periods usually in the last 5 minutes of a quarter where Melbourne drops off

    our solutions ???????

     

     

    1 - Obvious, obvious, obvious. Tell me a team that wins applying no pressure. Their pressure didn't win it our lack of pressure lost it.

    2 - Man up stop playing 3 talls Weideman is useless at ground level, bring in a crumber or 2.

    3 - Bring in Mr Dependable Keilty. Just tell him to stop his man don't worry about possessions, the problem is McDonald and him are similar and don't get a lot of the ball, but coaches are obsessed with zoning off and getting the ball like Lever. We can't replace Lever no one zones and reads the play like he does. Get Hibberd to zone off. Let our keys play to their strengths allow for McDonald and Keilty to get 4 touches as long as they beat their man that's the main thing. Hibberd needs to rebound more as does Salem Baker to play Hunt's role off half back\wing.

    4 - Bringing in Stretch, Spargo and Baker should help this problem even Garlett and Frost if they want to bite the bullet.

    5 - Every team drops off but the better team's stop momentum before it gets out of hand we have been unable to do that. That's were leadership comes in. Viney never tag again and play like you did in the last quarter, Lewis and Jones must lift. Gawn to reach greater heights if that's possible and most importantly spread like they did against Adelaide stop being obsessed with the inside ball stats and work harder on the spread. 

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    We seem to be a team relying on confidence.
    When we are hitting the opposition we get on a roll. If they hit us we fall off and start stuffing up. Our games can turn on a bit of luck or bad luck, umpiring decisions, classy play or mistakes. We often can't easily turn the tide if it is going against us. We can be off or on for part or all of a quarter and during those last 5 minutes. 
    We need a greater work ethic and to stop believing we are naturally better than the other. Result come from desire and putting it all on the line. Not cruising along thinking it will happen because we are skilled, well trained and have a brand. 

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    This is the kind of topic I'd expect to see on an opposition web site.

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    1. Ask the media to write flattering articles about Melbourne.

    2. Deliver 22 copies to AAMI Park 

    3. Turn up game day

    4. Run harder than Lance Whitnell 

     

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    The opposition just runs harder than us and pressures us for 4 quarters. 

    Its not hard to beat us unfortunately. 

    Edited by DemonOX

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    Yes was thinking of Solutions

    1- learn to deal with pressure. Work it out.  Getting your arms free to dispose of the footy is the modern solution.  Watch Dangerfield, Pendlebury, Fyfe.  

    2- Our footskills must still improve. Richmond has shown how much it counts.  It can take an average side to the top.  

    The opposition plays a sweeper because we don’t use the overlap runner.  No Bombs. Lower your eyes when kicking into the 50

    3- backline: the loss of Lever hurt. Really hurt.  We need Frost to now play on the big guys and let omcd develop.  Omcd is still not confident and needs support.  Jetta and Hibberd are very very good.  We can only play either Lewis or Vince across half back. Vince may have to go forward for a few games. He is our best kick and smart.  Salem across half back still works for me 

    4- we need more pace. Only one or two needed on the spread.  Hunt being out is another loss.  He is definitely in my best 22.  Stretch must be given 3-4 games and told to run and run and spread. We will get it to him (he should watch Isaac Smith and the way he plays). If Stretch doesn’t show it, then we make the tough call. Baker will develop but is not quite ready. 

    5-  mental lapses. Bath water syndrome. Lack of concentration. Whatever. We must turn up EVERY WEEK FOR 4 QUARTERS. Perhaps it is leadership and knowing the standard is relentless. It’s 2 hours of high standard team performance required for 26 weeks a year. 

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    Hope Ross Lyon isn’t reading this! ?

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    • Haha 1

    9 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

    1 - Obvious, obvious, obvious. Tell me a team that wins applying no pressure. Their pressure didn't win it our lack of pressure lost it.

    2 - Man up stop playing 3 talls Weideman is useless at ground level, bring in a crumber or 2.

    3 - Bring in Mr Dependable Keilty. Just tell him to stop his man don't worry about possessions, the problem is McDonald and him are similar and don't get a lot of the ball, but coaches are obsessed with zoning off and getting the ball like Lever. We can't replace Lever no one zones and reads the play like he does. Get Hibberd to zone off. Let our keys play to their strengths allow for McDonald and Keilty to get 4 touches as long as they beat their man that's the main thing. Hibberd needs to rebound more as does Salem Baker to play Hunt's role off half back\wing.

    4 - Bringing in Stretch, Spargo and Baker should help this problem even Garlett and Frost if they want to bite the bullet.

    5 - Every team drops off but the better team's stop momentum before it gets out of hand we have been unable to do that. That's were leadership comes in. Viney never tag again and play like you did in the last quarter, Lewis and Jones must lift. Gawn to reach greater heights if that's possible and most importantly spread like they did against Adelaide stop being obsessed with the inside ball stats and work harder on the spread. 

    Couldn't agree more Werri

    Man up the talls with Oscar and Keilty and allow Hibberd to play his natural run off game he is not a one on one defender

    The zone is not working how long before the coaches do something about it

    The set up and coaching plan is a major problem

    The players know it and as you say it's obvious

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    43 minutes ago, DubDee said:

    Hope Ross Lyon isn’t reading this! ?

    He could be in an induced coma and still know this stuff!

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    As soon as opposition sides set up to block Melbourne's game plan, Melbourne goes to water. That said, if we can ever find a way to improve our efficiency going forward, we will win a lot of games. Our wasteful forward thrusts are absolutely killing us.

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    Geez, I wish this thread hadn't been opened !!! Now everyone will know how to defeat us !!!!

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    1 hour ago, Moonshadow said:

    He (Ross Lyon) could be in an induced coma and still know this stuff!

    Isn’t that his baseline state?

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    • Like 1

    12 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

    5 things to beat Melbourne 

    1- pressure pressure pressure 

    melbourne players revert back to bad habits of bombing the ball or handballing to other players under pressure. Melbourne mids do not have sharp skilled delivery

    2- play a “sweeper” in defence

    Melbourne loves an open forward line and to run handball handball the ball into the final 15 metres from goal. The sweeper takes the bombed footy into 50

    3- Defensive frailty 

    Jetta and Hibberd are all Australian class defenders  but with Tom McDonald moving forward & Lever injures, the tall defenders are frail as has been evident in their losses. Use your key forwards inside 50 and isolate their defenders 

    4- outside pace

    Melbournes mids are strong inside (Oliver, Jones, Viney, Tyson) but the lack of pace and are exposed to a run and spread game 

    5- Melbourne drop off for periods of the game

    usually Melbourne has lapses and fall away in intensity and concentration. There are periods usually in the last 5 minutes of a quarter where Melbourne drops off

    our solutions ???????

     

     

    Spot on Norm. 

    As they say, its not rocket science. You can see what the problems are by going to a match and by observation. 

    Most Demon watchers don't need statistics and complex analysis to see what is happening. 

    Opposition coaches must love us.  We make their job so simple. 

    Its all so bleeding obvious, unfortunately, the solutions are not.  

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    6 - Play us at the MCG, which unfortunately happens to be our home ground and where the GF is played. We get found out there for lack of speed and lack of spread.

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    You have to admit the lapses where we get 5-6 goals kicked against us in a row have stopped since earlier in the year. If they can fix that issue, they can fix some of these others.

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    Not sure if it means anything or is just a frivolous stat, but we've gone from 'conceding' the 14th most bounces by opposition players in a game last year to 3rd this season - rest of the top five Brisbane, Gold Coast, Freo and Carlton. 

    If you can run quickly then football skills may be optional against us. Should have known something was up when Billy Hartung played like Robert Flower for the first half against North.

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    Nah dont play 1 spare in def, play 3-4 and they'll kick it straight to you and you'll rebound it out record amounts of times and win after conceding 60+ entries.

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    On 7/4/2018 at 3:08 PM, billyblanks29 said:

    You have to admit the lapses where we get 5-6 goals kicked against us in a row have stopped since earlier in the year. If they can fix that issue, they can fix some of these others.

    Great. Now if we can just fix the way we go 2-3 goals down and stay that way for the rest of the afternoon, I'll be rapt.

    Edited by Chook

  • Quote
    On 7/4/2018 at 7:36 AM, DemonOX said:

    The opposition just runs harder than us and pressures us for 4 quarters. 

    Its not hard to beat us unfortunately. 

    In our defense, we don't allow opposition teams to go on long streaks of 6-7 goals. We haven't allowed that since the Hawthorn game. It was a massive issue last season and in the first few rounds this year. We know how to stem the tide. our problems now reside in conversion i50, and opposition transition. An easier fix imo as momentum is hard to stop when a team gets on a role. We can still kick goals and stay within striking distance. 

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    We played poorly against the Pies and really missed Lever.

    Against a tall Port forward line we were to short, no crumbers in forward line and Tyson is in the guts or not on the field, as he is too slow on the wing. Even with this selection problems, we played well and got killed by the umpires.

    Then went too tall against Saints, no crumbers, Tyson on wing, and Petty put in before his team. We also didn’t chase and still only lost by two points.

    A well balanced team and hopefully the backline will not press too high, lower the eyes going forward, and we chase, will make us a lot harder to beat! 

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    How to beat Melbourne?

    Just turn up ready to play!!

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