Vipercrunch

MFCSS is proving more contagious and difficult to shake than the flu going around Victoria at the moment.

To keep a culture strong, you have to be impartial when it comes to addressing slip ups. The personalities and short-term affects can't come into it or the whole thing erodes away. Yes, it sucks not having May this week, and who knows, it might cost us a win, but from a long term perspective, it it the right call without a doubt.

Great summary and explanation. I wonder how many will accept it... It just surprises me firstly how few supporters aren't aware this goes on as it it talked about often in interviews with staff and players. Not the nitty gritty of it all (the IP) but in more genral terms suchs as "heavy training blocks" etc. And secondly, it surprises me the so many supporters are resistent to it being a contributing factor to our form this year. Last year we went 4W-1D-4L (plus our bye) in rounds 10 to 19. Why is it hard to accept that we are doing something similar this year and have some level of confidence that come the last part of this seasons H&A and then finals we will really start to hit our straps from a fitness persepctive? Yes, there are other things we need to get right, but of course we are preparing fitness wise the same way.

Couldn’t this simply be a case of many Melbourne supporters are waiting for September while supporters from most other clubs are playing for September? Perhaps this will prove to be misguided arrogance, but let’s see how many tickets aren’t sold in September.

Perhaps heavier than usual training loads ramping up in the 4 weeks leading up to the bye is the ideal time to do it so the bye weekend can be used as the recovery week? We can then do another load up block rounds 15-19 and be cherry ripe for the finals?

The forward half is definetely our area with the greatest room for improvement, both with method and personel. We have 10 games to tinker with things to get them as good as can be for the finals.

Why on earth would anyone think they need to declare anything of the sort in mid June?!?!?

Loading causes the players to fatigue quicker and fatigue causes skill errors and the loss of ability to cover the ground which drastically affects our defensive structure and our ability to score on the turnover.

As per the graphs above though, it's not just one load up then taper. It works so much better if there can be several cycles. I'm just a hack runner, but I do use training programs and the longer ones all have multiple load then taper cycles that slowly build you up to race day.

Either side of our wins against the Dogs and the Lions were losses to Adelaide and Collingwood though which are very hard to explain.

Perhaps because of our shortened preseason this time round and because we started 10-0, the fitness staff are squeezing in an extra 4-5 week loading block in? The conjecture is fun, but hopefully one day we get to read all about what's actually going on in 5 time premiership coach, Simon Goodwins memoirs.

They were both very strange games indeed. It might be pure fantasy, but how good would it be if Goodwin was playing funny buggers all along and despite saying we always treat the oppisition with respect, he was actually toying with them all in preparation for another onslaught in September? We can only dream lol

I noticed in the Freo game we were moving the ball far quicker than normal. It stuck out like a sore thumb. It also wasn't working and I was yelling at the telly to slow it down. I'd love to know the reason for it though. Coaches instruction or individuals trying to play champagne football and score heavily? Arrogance? Deliberately not showing our hand to contenders? Who knows but it was a huge difference and it seems to have come unstruck.

Players and coaches from teams that lock in finals early have openly talked about heavy training periods done in season for many, many years. Sometimes they directly call it "loading", other times they call it "heavy training blocks". It's definitely no secret. It is a luxury that teams that bank wins early have and is why teams that have some poor performancess in the middle stages of the year come out and smash teams in finals that have had to fight all the way just to make finals. Flirting with form comes with risk, as does the increased risk of injury, but if you are in it to win the major prize, not just make up the numbers in September, it is well worth the risk.

I facepalmed that too, although an eye-roll would have been more suited to such an childish offering.

Our foward half is definetely frustrating to watch at the moment so I hope the coaching group is looking at something fresh up there. And Petty did show plenty of promise up there a few years ago. However, unlike with Salem's absence in the backline being covered quite well, I am not sure we can cover Petty not being in the backline. May is our absolute key, and with Lever seemingly out of form, Petty imho is now our number two big backman. And I don't trust Tomlinson. Maybe it's time for Turner? Perhaps adding Majak to the lineup will allow LJ or Gawn to play as key forwards? Anyway, it's good to see some others here who are brave enough to post ideas about what we can change to try and imrpove. The resistence to new ideas from many here cracks me up. The competetion is way to good to stop exploring new ideas of where we can improve.

Rounds 10-19 last season we went 4W-1D-4W (plus the bye). Hopefully it’s because we’re loading them up on the track again.

So many mistakes in the last quarter. I hope it was because we’re loading up on the track and we were just exhausted. Sparrow and Lever had some horrible moments in the last quarter and we missed some very easy kicks at goal at crunch time.

My main observation in the second half was we seemed so rushed with our ball movement when Freo got on top. So many quick play ons without much forethought of where to next. It was so out of charachter to what we have been doing recently when oppisition sides have had some momentum. I was shouting at the tv for them to just slow it down. That and a big loss of composure was flashback time to darker days. Not panic stations yet by any means though.

Thinking outside the box a little bit, I wonder if ANB might be our best short term cover for Lingers if he misses. He's already an up and back player and one of the fittest at the club. Spargo, another up and back player could be his backup as I doubt ANB could do 100% TOG like Lingers does. This would make Bedford the obvious IN to play half forward, with Laurie replacing him as medi sub. Longer term, I've really sweetened on the idea of Salem playing half forward. Angus and the whole backline is doing great and JJ is playing the wing role well. Our BIGGEST and most obvious weakness is F50 entries and Salem is the best player on our list to fix this. Yes, Salem is a great defender and stiff not to AA last year, but the backine is NOT our weakness.

Poor effort going back with the flight by Dunstan. He’s not winning me over.

Did Brayshaw step straight into Salems role, or did Bowey do Salem's role while someone else (Brayshaw/Hunt/others) cover Bowey's? Good chance it was a mixture of all of that. We certainly haven't seemed to miss a beat, especially considering Salem wasn't the only premiership backline player missing.

Although he is approaching 30, so maybe it's Geelong?

I heard part of an interview on the weekend with someone from the Suns coaching group (it could have been Stuart Dew, but I missed the start). He was asked about how the Suns wanted to use Jack Lukosius. The response was that they wanted the best ball users in the front half/third of the ground. It got me thinking about where we should play Salem when he returns. The obvious answer is to plug him straight back into the backline and get on with it, but I wonder if he could be better used in the front half. Reasons for shifting Salem to the front half: Decent forward entries have been an ongoing and frustrating struggle of ours. Spargo is very good at it, but it is still hit and miss with many others. I reckon our forwards would love Salem delivering the ball to them. Salem was so important in the backline because he is a great ball user and our backline was really lacking in this area. Jake Bowey has now arrived on the scene and is a great ball user, as is Brayshaw who has slotted in back there to great affect this year while JJ stepped up on the wing. Do we still need Salem back there? Our backline has performed in Salem's absence. We are still keeping the opposition's score low, and have rebounded well. Reasons against shifting Salem to the front half: Why change a premiership winning role? If he was to play forward, you'd think it would be in the place of Spargo, Kozzy or Nibbler (ANB). We hear all the time from the coaches that the main focus of those players is to put pressure of the ball coming out of our forwardline to create forward half turnovers. Can he provide the forward half pressure required? Salem seems to get banged up a bit. There is a theory (or perhaps myth) that players are somehow less likely to get hurt in collisions when they play as a backman than a forward. Supposedly backman need to be more mindful on where the opposition players are at all times, which lessens the possibility of collisions, where forwards are more focused on the ball so they get hit more often. It was meant to be why playing Paddy McCartin as a backman was going to be safer for him. We all know how that ended up.... I think the club needs to always look for areas to improve. Just because something worked, doesn't mean it can't be improved on.

This is my understanding too. A question to Yze suggested both Lever and Viney could have played last week because the rules in Victoria for close contacts had changed. Yze replied that they couldn't play because they were both positive cases, not just close contacts.