Scoop Junior

Our defensive problem is two-fold. One, we play a high press reliant on keeping the ball inside our forward half and forcing any opposition exits to be rushed. Hence we take aggressive defensive positions to chop off the rushed exit. But when you're not dominating the contest/clearances and not applying enough forward pressure, the opposition exit cleanly and then it's game over. Once they're out, our lack of leg speed means we aren't going to catch them and the high press and aggressive defensive positions means the opposition have loose men streaming inside their forward 50. With no pressure on the ball carrier it's just handball-chip kick all the way to an easy mark inside 50. The joke was this was happening in the first 5 minutes of the game! In the first quarter alone they constantly had loose options inside 50. The worst thing you can do when you play a low-on-confidence side is give them easy goals to get their adrenalin flowing. Guess what - we did just that in conceding 6 goals in the first quarter. The question is how can your structure be so easily dismantled by an ordinary side in the first quarter of a game? It's mind boggling. The problem was there for all to see last year. It happened enough times to be worrying. But our contest work and inside 50 pressure was so good that it masked the problem. So far this year we haven't reached anywhere near those levels in our contest work and inside 50 pressure work so the problem of our defensive structure rears its ugly head. I just find it astonishing that we've seemingly been happy to move into season 2019 without any tinkering to this area both in terms of structure and personnel (other than the recruitment of May). It's just unrealistic to expect to dominate the contest every single week. We needed to find a way of absorbing pressure when the opposition gets on top, when we lose the clearances and contested ball, when we can't retain the ball in our forward half. But we are so easy to transition and score against and not only is it giving the opposition confidence but it's deflating ours as well. The second problem with our defence is that when we are finally able to get a one-on-one or a legitimate contest, we have a combination of horrible one-on-one defenders and out-of-form defenders. 20 goals against a previously-struggling Essendon is putrid stuff. This after 20 goals last week in wet conditions. We will not go anywhere unless we can limit the scoreboard damage when the game is not on our terms.

Agree with this. If there is one thing we Melbourne supporters are exerts in, it's experiencing pathetic performances and enormous losses. This was not one of them. Yes, it was an 80-point loss on the scoreboard but it was far from an 80-point loss on the performance and balance of play. Make no mistake, we were nothing flash, but we weren't nearly 15-goal losers. A nice little statistic I look at after games is the expected score vs actual score (based on teams' usual goal-kicking accuracy probabilities). The expected score was a 44-point loss to Geelong. As usual against us, they could barely miss on their home turf, kicking snaps and goals from the boundary in the wet. We, as usual against Geelong down there, missed a number of easy chances. So ignoring any other factor, on just goal-kicking accuracy probability alone, the deficit would've been halved and would've IMO more accurately reflected the state of the game. That period in the third quarter summed up the game. We dominated the early parts and should've been back to within 2 goals - instead, we don't score, the Cats go bang, bang, bang from 3 entries and all of a sudden it's 7 goals the difference and game over. We crumbled too easily at the end but it's human nature to drop off when you put so much effort in for no reward and you see the game slipping away. Despite all this, we clearly have key issues to address at both ends of the ground. Structurally we were an absolute mess up forward - probably the best indication of this was the number of times we kicked it inside 50m and the next player to touch the ball was a Cats player (it seemed to happen all the time). The mids just hacking it in without looking certainly didn't help, but it almost looked like they were told just get it in at all costs given our desire to play a forward-half game. Problem was we showed absolutely no ability to lock it in there and Geelong are probably the best team at setting up a defensive structure to deal with hacked kicks forward. We currently look stodgy up forward, predictable and devoid of X-factor and flair. And defensively we are almost in as bad a shape as up forward. Geelong's forward line is hardly imposing, especially when their best forward Hawkins is nullified by the weather. But they scored 20 goals from 48 entries - a quite ridiculous statistic in the wet. Port the same. Richmond the same in JLT 1. Brisbane the same in JLT 2. Essendon have really struggled with their inside 50 efficiency so far this year so if we can't improve in that area next week we are in a fair bit of trouble.

I think this is a common early-round occurrence and is raised most years - in hot and sunny conditions on dry decks with teams at different levels of fitness, often the outside game dominates and the fitter, faster, harder-running sides do well. But I reckon in every season, once teams are on more of an equal-footing with regards to fitness, the cooler weather kicks in and teams are more match-hardened and with their skills/decision making refined, the better contested teams start to shine through. And there's absolutely no doubt that come finals time, it's contested footy that wins the day. Having said that, it doesn't mean we don't need to improve our outside game (particularly with regards to our defensive spread in transition). We were poor at times in this area last year and have been again so far this year. Clearly teams have identified this as our weakness. But I wouldn't be changing our primary game plan focus on contested footy and winning it inside as season after season has shown that this is a successful formula.

I'm not so concerned about the result - Round 1 can be overrated because of the focus on it and both Grand Final sides lost their Round 1 games last year. What was concerning was the way we lost, especially having a middle of the road interstate team run rings around us on our home deck (after the Lions did the same thing in JLT 2). Once again our defensive transition was found out - I know it was only JLT but in both those games and today we were so easy to counter attack against from half back. Chain upon chain of easy uncontested possessions. They have all been like the St Kilda game last year where Goody was furious with our defensive work ethic. After that game we seemed to fix it but it has been back on display in 2019 so far. What was the cause for this? Attitude or fitness? I almost would prefer it to be an attitude thing as that can be fixed up - but it looked more of a physical fitness thing and that's more concerning as it does take time for that to turn around. Our guys just looked like they were running in quick sand for most of the day. We looked terribly underdone (no doubt due to the number of post-season surgeries) and in an even competition with a modern game that relies on pressure you just won't beat many sides when you are giving away a significant difference in fitness levels. How long does it take to get up to speed after a difficult pre-season? Hopefully not too long! We broke even in contested ball and clearances so we were not disgraced in these areas, but we were far from the rabid contested side of last year. We clearly have the personnel so I'm not too concerned about this but it obviously needs to get better.

One of my favourite games - a narrow victory over the Blues at Optus Oval. James McDonald kicking that goal to bring us level which looked like it went through for a point. Garry Lyon laying a crunching tackle near the end. And a young blond ponytailed Nathan Brown making his debut. ND's first year and what a great year it was after a number of shocking seasons in the 90s.

Saty - which group has Fritsch been training with? Given he played initially as a forward last year, then went on to the wing, and then to half back, I'm interested in any indication as to where the coaching staff believe he will play this year.

He was instrumental in three key plays late in the third term that established our 32 point lead. First, he sprinted after Gunston who was running into an open goal. That little bit of pressure was enough for Gunston to look back just before kicking, which seemed to affect his easy shot. A goal there and the margin was 9. We then get a goal at the other end and at the next centre bounce, Worpel was about to walk out of the centre and deliver deep inside 50m but Viney dived in the air and caught him in a tackle, affecting the kick and preventing an inside 50 for Hawthorn. We then kick the next goal. Then, he wins the hard ball at half forward, dances through traffic and throw it onto his boot. Brayshaw marks and the lead is beyond 5 goals at 3/4 time. And I thought in the first half he was the one midfielder really keeping us in the game when Hawthorn were on top. He was absolutely phenomenal tonight.

More than 2 minutes left and only 11 points up...maybe I'm scarred from too many painful losses but even at this stage I was still thinking the Eagles could easily kick two and win by a point. But when Petracca hit up Melksham 15 metres out, with 1:30 to go, then it was party time!

It's never good to lose a player of Jack's importance, but I disagree in relation to the timing. I think the timing of the injury may not be as bad as it could've been. In the next month, we have the bye, Hawks, Swans (SCG) and Pies. With the bye he misses only three games instead of four. You would also think we'd be fairly long odds to beat the Hawks and Swans even with Viney. So for me he is only missing one 50-50 game (Pies) when it could've been four. And the Pies have their fair share of injuries as well.

Yep. I think this discussion can be assisted by breaking X factor down into football X factor and athletic X factor. Sylvia has athletic X factor with his strength, power and leap but I don't think he has footy X factor. The players r jay listed - Rioli, Motlop, Ablett Snr - have footy X factor, such as vision, awareness, goal nous, etc. No doubt atheltic X factor is very important, as guys like Rioli and Motlop have that athletic X factor with their speed and lateral movement which makes them what they are. However unlike Sylvia they do seem to possess that footy X factor as well.

Sylvia is not a natural footballer. He has great skills and is a terrific athlete with his high leaping and his strength and power, but he has never really displayed the pure football instincts that the top players have. Things like awareness, peripheral vision in tight contests, the ability to deliver a handball in traffic to release a teammate. I didn't see him play in the under 18s but I wouldn't be surprised if it was his brute power and strength that regularly resulted in his high possession totals, rather than genuine footy nous. There's no doubt that recruiters would look at how a player gets his possessions at under 18s level and consider the reasons why that player is getting a lot of the ball or isn't getting a lot of the ball. This would be far more important than simple stats like how many contested possessions or clearances a particular player averaged over the year.

I don't regard Betts as the type of small forward we need. He is more a lead-up player and would get a fair share of his goals from marks. He can crumb, and he has pace, but I don't think he is at the same level in these two attributes as the better small forwards in the competition. I also think he lacks that element of magic and X factor that the better small forwards have. We have marking power in our forward line but a genuine lack of pace and X factor at ground level. Betts, for me, would not fulfil this role.

Bloody Arsenal!

How about Rooney breaking his foot in the first game like Brock McLean did. Then Ronaldo sent off and missing for three games. Saha and Solskjaer already injured. No firepower whatsoever, just like the Dees without Neitz, Robbo, etc. 2007 has not been a good year for my teams! I like the Spurs, they've got a good squad and they really should push for 4th this year.

Cook was a PSD pick, Powell was traded. I don't think Moorcroft even lasted 5 minutes. Craig Smoker - great start to 98, booted 4 at the Gabba in about Rd 3 and didn't do much after mid-98.