Compare that to their guys who'd invariably have a range of options in the forward line. It was clear to me, and you accuse me of being visually impaired.

I couldn't make it to the game this week but I'm not surprised to hear this.

I wasn't sure that Neale was coaching at all yesterday!! Just reacting.

Seriously, he has become so concerned with what other teams are doing in the last couple of years that he has taken his eye off the ball completely.

Let me explain.

In 2004 we had a team renowned for its exciting, fast, take them on and attack at all costs style of play, and before a stumble, found itself sitting on top of the ladder. Since then Neale has been completely pre-occupied with 'doing what the premiers are doing' and trying to change our game style to match theirs instead of developing on his own game plan and style to BEAT theirs.

He has become a sheep and is now just playing 'follow the leader'. Either his own ideas have dried up or he doesn't believe they are good enough to beat the serious contenders.

Last year it was 'tempo football' that threateded to de-rail out season. This year it is 'run and carry' and 'rotations'.

Am I the only one to have noticed this?

Yesterday was the first game I have seen live this season.

I didn't recognise the team that wore the red and blue for the way they were playing. In fact it took me until about quarter time to get over the shock at how they were going about it and how different it was to what I was used to. I know we didn't have our 'A' team in but that should only effect the execution of the game style NOT the style itself.

And talk about rotations. The very first happened directly after Aaron Davey's goal. Less than 20 seconds into the game!!!

I think Neale has done a fantastic job of promoting the MFC and bringing the supporters back during tough times. But I think his time is fast coming to a close.

My only concern is that all the injuries at the moment are going to 'cloud' reality and unfairly take the heat off him. :angry:

I believe we have the players to challenge the best but I'm not convinced about the coach anymore.

Go Dees

[quote name Toad 33

I agree, Toad. And did you notice how poorly we defended their point kick-ins! This particularly hurts after players miss sitters, like White and Pickett in Q 1.

Thanks for giving your opinions to my questions guys, its greatly appreciated !!!

[quote name='QueenC'

Srry, Queen. I reckon we'll let him finish out his contract, as he richly deserves. In my opinion , we're unlikely to re-sign him, unless he agrees to a very significant pay cut.

I'd like to see how he goes at Essendon, which might help me see whether the tactics I've criticised recently are due to him, or poor execution of his gameplan by our players.

I wasn't sure that Neale was coaching at all yesterday!! Just reacting.

Seriously, he has become so concerned with what other teams are doing in the last couple of years that he has taken his eye off the ball completely.

Let me explain.

In 2004 we had a team renowned for its exciting, fast, take them on and attack at all costs style of play, and before a stumble, found itself sitting on top of the ladder. Since then Neale has been completely pre-occupied with 'doing what the premiers are doing' and trying to change our game style to match theirs instead of developing on his own game plan and style to BEAT theirs.

I don't necessarily agree. We did adopt a more Sydney style last year and we have adopted a more WCE style this year.

But I think the Sydney style (2006) suited us. We have recruited hard-bodied midfielders of late with our early picks - Sylvia, Bell, Moloney, McLean, Jones, Bate. It all stems back to the 2000 GF when Essendon's bigger bodies mauled us. We needed to get harder.

We played a pretty attacking style of footy in 2004 and 2005. But our defensive structures weren't good enough. We conceded too many points a game. In order to take another step, we needed to improve defensively all over the ground and find a style that suited our new hard-bodied midfield.

In 2006, we became much better defensively. We conceded lower scores each game. We were the number one tackling side. Our defensive work rate was generally good. We played a style of footy that suited the midfielders we targeted. We made games a tough scrap and closed down the space. Quicker teams were strangled and the games were arm wrestles which suited our slower but bigger-bodied midfield.

But the coaching staff may have read too much into the Freo final. Yes, Freo out-ran us. But, we did not lose the game because of lack of run and carry or speed. We lost because Freo were a more mature side, in better form, were at home and were arguably just too good on the day.

The wash up was all about endurance and having the legs to run. This was the pre-season focus. We dropped weight and increased our speed. But did we overlook the fact that we had recruited and assembled a team of hard-bodied players that needed to play a more intense, workmanlike style of game than a free-flowing running game?

Premierships can be won in many ways. From the muscly and intimidating Brissy Lions to the high-possession and run game of Port to the grinding style of the Swans to the speed and carry of the Eagles. In the meantime, our team was being built along the lines of Brisbane and Sydney rather than the fleet-footed Power and Eagles. As a result, we need to play a game style that suits OUR team.

It's still early to make the call. But perhaps the whole focus should have been on getting better at our 2006 style rather than adapting a foreign style that didn't suit our players.

[quote name='QueenC'

Srry, Queen. I reckon we'll let him finish out his contract, as he richly deserves. In my opinion , we're unlikely to re-sign him, unless he agrees to a very significant pay cut.

I'd like to see how he goes at Essendon, which might help me see whether the tactics I've criticised recently are due to him, or poor execution of his gameplan by our players.

Cheers Jack !!!

John Northey blind?

yep

I don't necessarily agree. We did adopt a more Sydney style last year and we have adopted a more WCE style this year....

IMO When Melbourne played well last year they were playing nothing like Sydney.

Melbourne played like Melbourne.

They always looked to attack, move the ball forward and play positive football.

They introduced "tempo football" and the result was what we saw from about the 3rd quarter onwards in the first game against St. Kilda.

"Tempo football" had nothing to do with better defensive skills. It's about controlling the "tempo" of the game. Melbourne's better defensive skills came from being accountable when they didn't have the ball.

That is, they continually looked to attack, but when the opposition had the ball they were accountable for their players, tackled hard and created immense pressure for opposition sides.

EDIT: In a way Melbourne were more like Sydney with their defensive pressure, but that's just about tackling hard and being accountable. Not "tempo football".

In 1998, 2000 and 2002 we won games by playing an attacking style of game we out played our opponents with hard running long kicking, take them on type of footy. Everytime we look serious premiership contenders this is the style we play even the past 3 years. They other style ND has tried to introduce, stop start more accountable close in style never works for us. This year the biggest disappointment to me is our players aren't skilled enough to compete. From round 1 to last Sunday it has been frustrating to watch our team consistantly miss targets or kick the ball so the leading player has to stop and wait or even worse we adopted a game plan that has handpassing as a key component, we miss targets two metres away by hand. If we don't have the skill level you can't play the second style because it is about maintaining possesion of the footy. We spent the preseason practising this game plan but we don't have the skills to execute it and lack of skills is not caused by injury, every player on you list should be able to kick, mark and handpass at a very good level.

The other thing of note, we are 0-4 with not one first gamer. Buckley and Petterd should of debut over the past two weeks, at least new players give the supporters some hope for the future. It is a fine line for ND he has to try and win games but I think Buckley and Petterd could be no worse than some players that have lined up over the last 4 weeks.

Hey, Rhino and Mickrocks.......you haven't told me whether you were happy with our kick-ins and defence of kick-ins last Sunday.