15 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Just simply needs to go the easy first option more often and kick more often. Then he'll not only be racking up the stats, but actually making us a much better team.

I think he's being told to take more time and break into space...so many on here have criticised him for being too quick to handball in the past.

I just don't think he has the balance right yet but will do and be a better player for it.

Agree with 'A F' that he's key to our midfield. Tracc gets the glory but Oliver is every bit as important if not more so.

Edited March 20, 20214 yr by rjay

1 hour ago, ProperDee said:

There is one word that as a Demons’s fan I would like to see mentioned in any win we have - “clinical”. I doubt I will ever see that word used to describe our team’s game performance.  The better teams can get the job done with precision without any attempted cute moves or OTT celebrations. Richmond, for example, seem to turn it on at will.

We have a lot of talented footballers at Melbourne but they need to up the psychological maturity and switch on. Some of the boys need to become men on the field. May and Lever are our only “clinicians” at the moment. 

The win was great to see but I worry for the immediate future. 
 

 

In 2018 we had a number of clinical wins where we simply out-worked our opponents and through sheer grunt destroyed them.

However, the problem always was (as mentioned often at the time by myself) if we couldn’t out-work our opponents we didn’t have the skill and composure to beat our opponents without simply over-running them.

Edited March 20, 20214 yr by Clint Bizkit

Should preface all this criticism by saying it's only been one game so far, which we still won. If these issues remain for the next few rounds then I'll be much more concerned

Such a weird performance where our strength was actually our weakness, but we still got the win. I’ve always said we are too reliant on contested footy and that it isn’t sustainable, so it was nice to get a win through other means.

In saying that, better teams will punish us if we play like that too often. And thank god for May and Lever, they were absolutely massive yesterday.

9 hours ago, A F said:

Brayshaw and Jones on the wing signals to me that we don't really have a new plan for addressing our lack of run to support Langdon either.

It's been talked about in the press that the plan is for T Mac to play wing.  Not having BBB and Weid has probably resulted in a reprioritisation of where he plays at this stage. 

There’s something genuinely good about winning despite our woeful stoppage work yesterday. 

I haven’t seen the stats but I’d suggest we generated a fair few scores from the back half of the ground. 

For too long Goodwin has tried to make us a forward half only side, and we’ve struggled to turn intercepts into scoring chains. Yesterday we did that. 

There’s a defensive set up and system there that we were able to rely on when our clearance game was being blown apart yesterday that should, if maintained this year, keep us in good stead. 

32 minutes ago, rjay said:

I think he's being told to take more time and break into space...so many on here have criticised him for being too quick to handball in the past.

I just don't think he has the balance right yet but will do and be a better player for it.

Agree with 'A F' that he's key to our midfield. Tracc gets the glory but Oliver is every bit as important if not more so.

Yeah that's a fair call, the problem though is he's generally standing still or running in circles at the moment and then handballing to someone under pressure. Once he backs his instinct more often, runs OUT of trouble and kicks it we'll have an absolutely unbelievable player on our hands instead of a very very good one.

33 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Agree he does seem to go under the radar as he just does it week after week, but I'm not sure I would be patting him on the back for his disposal too much for that game. 25 of those touches were handballs and pretty clearly not many of them were very productive for us. This is one of the reasons disposal efficiency is a useless stat. Handballing to someone 1 metre away who immediately gets tackled is still an 'effective disposal' stats wise, but it's really not useful at all for us.

Just simply needs to go the easy first option more often and kick more often. Then he'll not only be racking up the stats, but actually making us a much better team.

Bit harsh on Oliver.  He could not touch the ball in the first 10 minutes of the game and at that stage Freo were 8-0 in clearances.

Clayton was getting held so often at stoppages.  Freo never really let him do as he pleased there.

The bigger issue was Harmes playing on the outside....He got pushed into the contest so many times it was ridiculous, it just kept happening and it freed up the outside for them nearly every time.

Oliver did not win a heap of clearances but his work rate all over the ground was exceptional.

35 disposals at 80% efficiency and 9 score involvements says he really was an influencial player.  He was pretty much tagged all over the ground but still managed handballs that put team mates into space.

If he won more at the clearances /stoppages like he normally does he would have had 50+ possessions.

Was watching him very closely as i had $ on him to get most possessions....If he continues to play in such a manner, he will be firmly in Brownlow contention.  His work rate was off the chart and he was bobbing up all over the place and i believe he will only get better if he continues to work so hard.

He hardly deserves criticism for such a game anyway....If it were Jones or Hunt i could understand.

14 minutes ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

Bit harsh on Oliver.  He could not touch the ball in the first 10 minutes of the game and at that stage Freo were 8-0 in clearances.

Clayton was getting held so often at stoppages.  Freo never really let him do as he pleased there.

The bigger issue was Harmes playing on the outside....He got pushed into the contest so many times it was ridiculous, it just kept happening and it freed up the outside for them nearly every time.

Oliver did not win a heap of clearances but his work rate all over the ground was exceptional.

35 disposals at 80% efficiency and 9 score involvements says he really was an influencial player.  He was pretty much tagged all over the ground but still managed handballs that put team mates into space.

If he won more at the clearances /stoppages like he normally does he would have had 50+ possessions.

Was watching him very closely as i had $ on him to get most possessions....If he continues to play in such a manner, he will be firmly in Brownlow contention.  His work rate was off the chart and he was bobbing up all over the place and i believe he will only get better if he continues to work so hard.

He hardly deserves criticism for such a game anyway....If it were Jones or Hunt i could understand.

I'm only saying if he improves his decision making he will be incredible.

Didn't say he had a poor game or he is not a good player.

A win is a win is a win. Better than a loss.

Positives:

Spargo - clean, composed, we have to get the ball into his hands as much as possible

Jordon – excellent debut, used the ball well, some nice I50 deliveries and kicked his goal

TMac – couldn’t give him away during the trade period but we lose that game yesterday without him. He’ll make me eat my words if he keeps this up.

Real defensive solidity. Teams will find I50 marks hard come by against us this year.

Smashed in the clearances but still won. Not sure if that’s a positive or negative but Yze needs to work overtime this week to sort out that hot mess. Gawn will dominate again against the saints. We have to figure out how to translate his dominance into winning clearances.

Negative:

Our goal kicking. It’s putrid. I can’t understand how professionals can be so poor in the absolute fundamental requirement of the game, kicking the ball between the big sticks. Fritsch again was very wayward (but not alone). How is this being coached? Is the problem between the ears? Probably worthy of a separate thread.

Onward to marvel we go. The saints are there for the taking.

3 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

I'm only saying if he improves his decision making he will be incredible.

Didn't say he had a poor game or he is not a good player.

100% agree he can become an incredible player for us.  His work rate has gone up a few notches and he did wheel out of some contests and into space which is something we have seen rarely over last few years.

I too rate rate some of our guns pretty highly and likewise expect more from them.

Like Salem ...yesterday had a good solid game but went missing for large chunks of it.

Petracca had a good/average game but was still quite effective.

All 3 of these players can improve quite a bit.   If and when they do, we have the nucleus of a very dangerous team with May/Lever/Gawn.

Seeing Tmac rediscover some form is also really exciting for us.  He needed that confidence boost more than anyone i can think of on our list!

If people cant see the value of Charlie Spargo by now they never will.

Imagine our forward 50 entries if he wasn't in the team. 

17 hours ago, Tom Dyson said:

Demons - Win 

Gawn - Dominant 

Steven - brick wall 

hotel - trivago 

Gawn was one of Freo’s best players!

14 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Quoting this post but have seen it mentioned multiple times in this thread

Freo were not injury riddled. They had a couple of key players out, same as us. They still had a top notch midfield in there in Fyfe, Mundy, Brayshaw, Cerra.

Freo have 11 on their injury list including 6 forwards and they had to play a first gamer in the ruck. The defender they decided to play fwd then went down with a knee.  Agree their midfield is still strong but they were impacted more by injuries than we were

Edited March 20, 20214 yr by DubDee
Typo

2 hours ago, Lampers said:

Agree, reminds me of the rolling mauls of junior footy or basketball where everyone ball hunts.

Hungry dogs going at a piece of meat.

I can’t believe Yze can’t see it and doesn’t give the feedback, and numerous commentators called out Melbourne getting pushed close into the contest by Freo.

Maybe there’s some subtle genius tactic of increasing predictability by allowing comprehensive clearance defeats... probably not. It does assist the intercept mark statistics.

Probably give Yze more than 1 game. He rotated half the size through the centre square so clearly there's a plan for more variety and surely more team work.

Apart from some better coaching I'd be writing to the AFL every week about the ridiculous amount of holding Oliver is subjected to. Let him gather the ball without someone grabbing him and he'll be in and out of the contest in a flash.

Happy to get the win no doubt about that but it was ugly. Although we won it still worries me about how we played. 

A team like richmond would make us pay for our turn overs. 
Our forward entry was trash. 
our backline though was fantastic. Lever and May are brilliant.

Our mids looked a little lazy.

kozzie looked fired up and when he was up and about we looked so much better 

8 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

We have an incredible retention rate of members. We've played finals once in over a decade and still putting up consistent membership numbers.

Peter Jackson's aim for the club was to be a bespoke club that got a whole lot better at footy but didn't try to be bigger than it was. Pert's plan so far is to try to mcfranchise it like he and Eddie did at Collingwood.

It's disappointing to get such a low crowd but for many Melbourne supporters the MCG and the way they go to the MCG is a decades old tradition. It is after all our home ground and always has been, we aren't tenants.

 

If we want to keep it that way we need to show we deserve it or the MCG and the MCC along with the AFL will move right past is while we're stuck valuing our decades old traditions of lunch in the dining room, beers at the bullring and maybe catching some footy along the way.

15 hours ago, Nasher said:

I didn't log on once during pre-season. I thought I'd take a bit of a Demonland break.

I watched round one and saw us cruise to an easy win, that never at any stage looked remotely in doubt, that should have been bigger than it was. I saw Steven May and Jake Lever lead defensive team put on an absolute clinic. I saw an extremely exciting debut from James Jordon. I saw TMac and Nev Jetta back to close to their best.

I read the posts on here and the rate in which my mood sank was actually tangible. You guys have become so jaded, that you have actually become physically incapable of just enjoying good things when they happen. And when you do it, it rubs off on me. You make me feel ****ty. I honestly did not feel one shred of anger and disappointment, until I logged on to Demonland.

I'm out. And you have no idea how sad that makes me.

Sorry to hear that mate. The veil of negativity has been around all preseason for many on here. Not exactly sure why, covid, the disappointment is of last year. 

it’ll turn though, once we show on field our improvement, the belief will grow. 

Many are positive on here about our chances this year, including myself, although I still love to have a rant when things are going wrong. Try not to let it impact your mood, it is just people venting 

33 minutes ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

100% agree he can become an incredible player for us.  His work rate has gone up a few notches and he did wheel out of some contests and into space which is something we have seen rarely over last few years.

I too rate rate some of our guns pretty highly and likewise expect more from them.

Like Salem ...yesterday had a good solid game but went missing for large chunks of it.

Petracca had a good/average game but was still quite effective.

All 3 of these players can improve quite a bit.   If and when they do, we have the nucleus of a very dangerous team with May/Lever/Gawn.

Seeing Tmac rediscover some form is also really exciting for us.  He needed that confidence boost more than anyone i can think of on our list!

Salem doesn't hurt the opposition 

Plays too safe never takes the game on! Has the skills don't understand why

 

Watching the replay this morning the performance was nowhere near as bad as many here are making out. Our touch was off which made things look worse than they actually were and the clearances were poor. Other than that we controlled the game, May, Lever, Jetta and Tomlinson controlled the backline and were a brick wall stopping the exits from our forward 50. They can keep winning clearances but if we're intercepting and rebounding it doesn't really matter.

Plenty to like in the games of Pickett, Jackson, Jordon, Rivers etc

We really missed plenty of easy shots at goal, convert even half of those and the scoreboard and I assume the perception of the performance changes dramatically. Yeah Freo missed a few easy shots too but really that should've been a 50-60 point win.

Still got Viney, Weid and Brown to come back not to mention Hibberd and Melksham if they can regain some of their previous form - some better touch from our mids (particularly Trac, Oliver and Brayshaw) and we have plenty of scope for improvement.

I loved Kozzie starting the square, gives us some real pace and skill which we sorely lack. His kicking is really good which helps cut the angles through the middle of the ground.

Special mention to Spargo as well, directly created 3 goals (Kozzie in the 1st, Jordon in the 2nd and Fritsch in the 3rd) as well as getting on the end of one himself. Our best user with ball going inside 50 yesterday.

Interesting game.  Could easily see it as a poor performance/lucky win against decimated opposition.  I think the ‘bones’ of what we want to do is there, we just had too many rusty players.  The solid defence and its capability to push up and defend at the wing to lock the ball in worked well.  When may and Lever (and Tommo) control the air in the defence, we look very good.

Most of the issues I saw were players attempting skills that eluded them, hopefully mainly because it was the first game of the year.  Work rate looked good across the board.  Hunt and Harmes probably had ‘bad days’ with some patches of light.  Kozzie was good, Dogga OK with some glimpses.

I felt that we were pressured a couple of times, but never really threatened.  The game style reflected this, and is welcome for the first game of the year.

Our biggest issue remains our centre clearance work.  The freo midfield are young but fairly high quality - but they smashed us.  We keep getting all sucked into the contest and allowing ourselves to be tackled or left behind if the ball gets to the outside.  Max has no plan B, and we look static in our set ups and activity at the bounce.

A mixed bag of skills, but a win with good work rate, outstanding defence, and a lot of the game played in our half.  I imagine those things alone are pass marks for the team in that game.

3 hours ago, ProperDee said:

There is one word that as a Demons’s fan I would like to see mentioned in any win we have - “clinical”. I doubt I will ever see that word used to describe our team’s game performance.  The better teams can get the job done with precision without any attempted cute moves or OTT celebrations. Richmond, for example, seem to turn it on at will.

We have a lot of talented footballers at Melbourne but they need to up the psychological maturity and switch on. Some of the boys need to become men on the field. May and Lever are our only “clinicians” at the moment. 

The win was great to see but I worry for the immediate future. 
 

 

There is a good deal of truth in what you identify. 

1 hour ago, rjay said:

I think he's being told to take more time and break into space...so many on here have criticised him for being too quick to handball in the past.

I just don't think he has the balance right yet but will do and be a better player for it.

Agree with 'A F' that he's key to our midfield. Tracc gets the glory but Oliver is every bit as important if not more so.

I'd like to see him break into space without jumping into the tackler, did it heaps yesterday and once he's off his feet it reduces the effectiveness of his disposals.

42 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Freo have 11 on their injury list including 6 forwards and they had to play a first gamer in the ruck. The defender they decided to play fwd then went down with a knee.  Agree their midfield is still strong but they were impacted more by injuries than we were

Walters, Lobb and Darcy vs Viney, Brown and Weid. Who else did they have missing from their best 22?

58 minutes ago, Better days ahead said:

A win is a win is a win. Better than a loss.

Positives:

Spargo - clean, composed, we have to get the ball into his hands as much as possible

Jordon – excellent debut, used the ball well, some nice I50 deliveries and kicked his goal

TMac – couldn’t give him away during the trade period but we lose that game yesterday without him. He’ll make me eat my words if he keeps this up.

Real defensive solidity. Teams will find I50 marks hard come by against us this year.

Smashed in the clearances but still won. Not sure if that’s a positive or negative but Yze needs to work overtime this week to sort out that hot mess. Gawn will dominate again against the saints. We have to figure out how to translate his dominance into winning clearances.

Negative:

Our goal kicking. It’s putrid. I can’t understand how professionals can be so poor in the absolute fundamental requirement of the game, kicking the ball between the big sticks. Fritsch again was very wayward (but not alone). How is this being coached? Is the problem between the ears? Probably worthy of a separate thread.

Onward to marvel we go. The saints are there for the taking.

Totally hear you on this.

I was sitting directly behind many of our wayward kicks for goal which were occurring at city end on MCC side of ground. I called all of them during their run up before they kicked it that it was gong to go through the left point side (players perspective looking at goals) because instead of their run up being in a straight line, they were going 5-10° to the right, which naturally means they kick left in an arcing trajectory.  This is why Petraccas last shot after the siren was called play on and thus not allowed, he ran to the right of the man on the mark. The umpire even told him (I assume, as he gestured that Trac had to go in a straight line) to stay on line, which Trac immediately ignored. The ump was standing right behind him watching for him to go offline.

So your question absolutely stands, who's coaching these guys on this fundamental skill?