Tony Tea

I have a student who went to school with one of the Demons' recent high draft picks. For the sake of propriety I will call the prominent draftee Oliver Reed. My student often says things like "Oliver Reed was blind last week" and "Oliver Reed was at The Hot Night Spot off his face" and, worst of all, "Oliver Reed is a great guy", which is young bloke code for "Oliver Reed is a party animal".

You put your finger on the right something, if a little belatedly. We have lacked aggression since Northey was coach. Flat track bullies, down hill skiers, April premiers, take your pick. This current undersized squad will need to bulk up significantly for us to challenge for a flag in the next few years. At least this mob has age on its side and last year's draft selections indicate that Melbourne are at least thinking big. Jack Viney is reputedly a grunt player, too. The current apparent lack of muscle has been exacerbated by the pruning of McDonald, Miller and, although he was never a heavy hitter, Bruce. (There could well be salary cap issues with their delistings.) The more I think of Melbourne, ahem, going forward, the more I think Bailey may mirror Matty Knights: clean out the dead wood, stock up on youth, get replaced just as the players are ready to roll. To give Bailey credit, it was a massive gamble to delist the above three players, but he has put Melbourne's future ahead of his own prospects and that needs due recognition.

In the same vein, Paul Johnson and Jake Spencer also killed Fraser: http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/2009/041120090404.html

I'm not suggesting we ignore tactics. What I am saying is the footy is a legalised punch-up and the strongest and nastiest team generally wins the chocolates. Tactics-wise, and as far as I am concerned, you can put an asterisk next to Hawthorn 2008 so future historians can argue the merits of the Hawks' fluke flag. Port, too, in 2004, thanks to Brisbane falling over through injury.

I agree with Hannabal about the man-on-man. Slick tactics come and go, but man-on-man, especially in big games and finals, has been winning matches since Sir Walter Raleigh played kick-to-kick when the Spanish Armada hove into sight. You can have all the transition, free up the loose man, one-two shift overlap zone-based coverage rebound fast break full court ironing presses you like, but in a big game coaches say "go out and stop your bloke" and if you are not ready to duke it out you will lose. Malthouse knows it, Worsfold know it, Sheedy knows it, Roos knows it, Pagan knows it, Matthews knows it. And guess what: they've won nearly all the flags over the last 20 years.

Scully is still 6 weeks away. (Like I wrote on April 1st.)

Aaron first did his hammy at Etihad (Colonial? Telstra?) in 2004, his first season. He did it again in 2007 and at training in 2008. He has also had a knee injury and broke his leg last year.

The key to beating a tag is to run to the ball. Aaron (and Travis before him) runs to space. That is not the way to beat a tag. Taggers can block your lanes, scrag you and get between you and the ball, which makes getting the ball awkward. The good players who beat tags go to the ball. The closer you get to the footy, the harder it is for a player to legally impede your progress and it is easier for your teammates to run interference. Aaron's also slight, which means that if a bloke has similar pace, similar fitness and is stronger, he will beat Aaron one-on-one through strength alone. The guys who beat tags (Judd, Cousins, Diesel, Black, Ablett, Mitchell, etc) fight their way to the ball, grab the agate, then get the ball away. They also have protection (blocking, etc) from their teammates as well as other teammates to often take the tag. They are also in perpetual motion; they are not necessarily quick, they just keep moving. And they desperately want to get at the footy no matter the attention. You can't let a tagger get up your sneezer.

Revealing that Garry Lyon on Footy Classified talked about Melbourne's propensity to drop these games and also mentioned the Sydney 1993 match.

Round 13 1993. Two weeks before we beat Collingwood by 51 points. The next week we beat eventual premier Essendon by 34 points. The week after the Swans we beat St Kilda by 46 points. The following week we beat Geelong by 14. And yet, right in the middle of that run we lose to a side that wins one match for the year and haven't won a match for ages. http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/1993/111619930627.html Richard Osborne kicks 10, Swans kick a lazy 10 in the 3rd quarter, we are filth.

For the record, the first time Melbourne played Brisbane at Carrara, Brisbane won. Round 5 1987. Brisbane 86 -v- Melbourne 81. http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/1987/021119870426.html As I said the other day before the Brisbane match, Melbourne have an unparalleled ability to lose these games. Don't get ahead of yourselves.

Got a bit sick of the commentators droning on about Brisbane's lack of experience, while never mentioning Melbourne similar circus-pants.

Watching the replay it is interesting to hear the commentator congratulate Brisbane on their holding tactics on Davey.

Speaking of imbeciles and cretins, at least we were spared the Friday night "rock" music.

The so-called entertainment is for imbeciles and cretins. I guess a game of football is not entertaining enough for football fans who go to the football to watch a game of football.

That goes without saying. Whenever Alistair Lynch commentates a Brisbane game it is a Lions love-in.

Melbourne, more than any of the traditional sides, is prone to lose these sorts of games.

Can't see us streeting the Lions for a win that is enough if it rains a lot tomorrow.

Would that be the same Andrew McKay who is the AFL's game analysis manager? Why yes, it would: Andrew McKay is the AFL's game analysis manager.

To quote Mike Sheahan: "I'll believe it when he signs."

When sides have dreadful years (like Brisbane this year) you can bank on one certainty: Melbourne is a big chance to lose to them.

To quote a less-that loquacious league footballer who once came to our school clinic: "What he said."

The big question is: can Bailey massage our transition-based attack into a Collingwood-like forward pressure attack? Or maybe something in between? Bailey's gameplan has always been to sit back and wait for the opposition to give you the ball in your backline, but can he modify that so as to have the team go and get the ball? There is no doubt Melbourne are aware the league's prevailing gameplan has changed from Geelong's to Collingwood's over the last three years, and it is why Melbourne have been subtly playing down expectations for 2011. Please treat 2011 as a year of consolidation, and do not get ultra shirty if we do not storm the ramparts this season. We do not have the players with the requisite strength to duke it out over a full-court press - yet. Our list is still very much a work in progress.

Given the importance I place on grunt players, I can't see all of Davey, Bennell, Jetta, Morton and any other slight player I can't think of at the moment, existing together in a premiership-challenging side. Big match footy is all about body-banging. You have too many lightweights (in the defined sense) in your side and you will not win a premiership.

I love it that when I type "Air Jurrah" into my local Google machine my blog is the top ranked listing.