Adam The God

Then we're getting down to semantics, R. As we often do on Demonland. To me, a Plan B, C or D are these contingencies within a game style.

Yeah, going one on one is probably the other way to go, once we've tried the 8 man defence, deeper press and tempo footy. We seem determined not to go one on one though. Tempo footy is certainly a Plan B and the teams you've mentioned above have certainly employed this when the tide has turned against them. Equally, one on one has been employed too. These are strategies and back up plans that provide contingency to the main attacking game plan. But I also concur that when these momentum swings occur, it is off the back of our players' own inconsistencies within game. It's frustrating because I'm not really sure why it's happening. Why are experienced players in Lewis, Jones, Vince (on Zorko), Melksham, Jetta and even Hibberd all struggling to maintain consistency?

I thought it was just media pundits and opposition fans that failed to realise how good Clayton Oliver is. But it's not just them. There seem to be a lot of MFC supporters that fail to recognise just how brilliant this kid is.

I think this is a great post, mate, but I'd say we do implement a Plan B, which is moving the press deeper and playing an 8 man defence. What happens is, our pressure completely drops off, we fail to lay tackles and fumble the ball and/or bomb long to 2 on 1s. Lewis has been responsible for two momentum swings, two weeks in a row. Vince killed Zorko in the first half, but when Zorko got off the chain, Brisbane got off the chain. Jones generally fumbled most of the night and can often make poor decisions under pressure. These are our three more experienced players. They are our leaders. They deserve to be questioned. They don't stand up when we need them. At one stage last night, Jones tried to play tempo footy, but kicked it to a contest that we lost and Brisbane got a goal from it. So clearly, we try to slow the tempo at times, but our coaches either need to put something else in place too or we need to get better at playing tempo footy. We should be able to do it with the experience of Lewis and Vince kicking behind the ball, but these two often turn it over back there. It's a hard one. I suspect the coaches shift to an 8 man defence and push the zone back and expect that our leaders should be able to do the rest with a bit of tempo footy and calm ball use. Having written this post, I'm wondering whether it's not a Plan B that we need, but a Plan C and D!

Good post, TU. I have a feeling 2018 is all about finding balance. As long as we can keep winning early on, we'll hit our straps at a point and both ends of the ground will gel and we'll be formidable. At the moment, our defensive unit hasn't played a lot of football together and I think we've tweaked our press to sit deeper. This will take some time to implement consistently. The addition of Lever is also a personnel change that will require some time to gel. We got the defensive area of our game right for 4 quarters in a row (the second half of the Geelong game and the first half of the Brisbane game). Unfortunately, the forwards and mids were wasteful of opportunities in those 4 quarters. We should have been out of sight in both games. Our accuracy has been a big plus for us in the past, but this year it has noticeably dropped off. Improve this area of our game and we see us smash sides. The other aspect to our game style that still requires gelling is the forwardline. When our tackle pressure in the midfield but also forward of centre diminishes, our entire game style falls over and we get scored against heavily. So laying tackles is paramount, but also connecting between centre and half forward to goal is really important. Guys like Melksham, Petracca and (even) Fritsch are really good at this. Little lead ups to centre wing and high half forward and then clean ball use inside 50. We had real difficulty all of last week with these connecting players. Petracca managed it on occasion, but Melksham really struggled. But if we get consistent output from our forwards, they lay tackles and help connect as they should, then our entire team is helped. At this stage though, I'd say there's too much room for error in our game style, but there was far more last year. I think we've worked on a Plan A and B as I said last week, and these two presses will be implemented depending on the strength of the opposition. With more game time and experience, our players should be able to show a greater level of consistency and therefore execute the game plan most weeks. I really believe we're getting there and will get there. It might take another year of patience though. But let me be clear. I expect finals this year.

Oliver isn't playing in a team that is as dominant, so no, but that means little IMO.

Give Clarry another year or two and let's have the conversation again. In only his third year, Clarry's start has been every bit as good as Judd's. And statically, he's miles ahead of Judd at the same stage. With more experience, Clarry's impact will be even greater. He's our most important player IMO.

RE: Vince and Lewis. Vince was used to tag Zorko and Lewis was used as the defensive anchor. I think they play different roles, but I agree with the sentiment that when Viney is fit, we won't be able to play both of them. It will say something about Harmes, Neal-Bullen, Salem et al, if we're playing Vince AND Lewis in the same team come Round 23.

At this point, Hunt is giving us no rebound and no running bounces (and is a terrible kick), so we may as well play Frost and give ourselves a bit of defensive flexibility. You're right. It was a really good game. He frustrated me because he should have had 7, but we got the win and he was an important part of that, so it's all okay this week. Absolutely. And he gave away another free kick for mouthing off to the umpire and handed the opposition momentum. The guy is a deadset liability at the moment.

I'm sorry but Jones, Lewis and Vince are terrible leaders. When we needed a steadying head, they fumbled the ball more than anyone. Lever really struggled again too. Why have we not figured out how to keep one player down when 3 of us go up? Thought our first half was a little wasteful offensively, but defensively superb. We played that aggressive high press that I expected us to play and predictably, Brisbane's skills weren't up to picking their way through. Our forwards brought much better pressure than last week (ie they actually laid some tackles) and our defence was really well organised. But in the second half, we dropped off through the middle, we fumbled and our forwards struggled to lay tackles. Petracca had a bit of it, but continues to float in and out of games - I'm still waiting for that break out game, where he takes it by the scruff of the neck. Harmes and Neal-Bullen had it a bit, but didn't impact. Fritsch, Salem and Bugg struggled to get into the game. When your forwards and mids aren't laying tackles, no game plan will hold up to that. Harmes and Bugg have to be on the fringe again. Both are not up to it IMO. Both butchers and both poor decision makers. Harmes will stay because at least he got it a bit. Truthfully, aside from Oliver, Gawn and Hogan, we had far too many players that went in and out of the game or had no consistent impact. Salem and Hunt in particular were simply horrible too. We do thank Jeffy for winning us the game though and had Jesse kicked straight from 30m directly in front at the start of the 4th, it would have saved us some stress. But a win's a win. I'll take it. We MUST start to play four quarters soon though. Almost every team in this competition will make you pay if you don't. Next week, that is our challenge. Otherwise, I reckon we lose. Oh, and Oliver is a genuine star and the best Melbourne midfielder in my thirty year lifetime. 35 touches and 8 tackles. What an absolute gun.

Sorry, why did you tip the Lions? We won...

New favourite commentator. Nick Riewoldt. Insightful, thoughtful. He's dominating this commentary team at the G and they're throwing to him regularly.

Carlton are terrible, particularly without Kruezer, but the pressure that the Gold Coast midfield and forwardline have brought is what we need to emulate. It's Richmond-like. We were nowhere near this last week. We need to bring it all year.

Their mids and half backs turn it over far more than ours. Today's results will bear me out, mate.

No way their mids have better skills than ours. Their skills are terrible and it's the main reason we'll win easily.

Didn't you have a completely different attitude a fortnight ago?

This isn't 2017 though. Our younger talented group have anothet pre season under their belts. As @Dr. Gonzo said above, there's nothing stopping these guys from proving themselves matchwinners this year.

I'm not a fan of this argument, OD. In fact it's slightly absurd. Just because these guys didn't win us the game last week doesn't mean they're not match winners. Geelong don't win every week. By your logical Dangerfield and Selwood can't be match winners either then.

Just not a great kick of the football. Let's hope he kicks it properly on Saturday.

Oliver is a match winner, as is Gawn and it won't be long before Petracca completely turns a game. They're there. Take Oliver out of our midfield (and Viney) and I don't think we can compete against 12-14 midfielders in the competition.

Disagree with this, bb. We saw the emergence of a plan B and to me that's exciting and at least in coaching terms, clear progress from 2017 MFC. In the second half, we implemented a zone that was much deeper and less aggressive than 2017 and it resulted in a strangulation of the opposition and had we kicked straight (even with Menzel's misses), we win comfortably. With time to digest the frustration of Sunday, I can't wait to see what we dish up this weekend. I expect us to strangle Brisbane and come away with a solid win.

El oh el at Tyson's selection. Where's @stevethemanjordan? A pest is a muppet in a Melbourne jumper. A sniper is a pest in a non-Melbourne jumper.

Reckon we'll win by 5+ goals** by playing an aggressive press against a side who will be helped by the wet weather, but still unable to skillfully pick their way through the press. **I said we'd win last week too. ?

Pressure acts and tackles are all that matters for guys like Hannan, Melksham and Garlett IMO.

Yep, I said the same thing to my old man on Sunday. His one good game for the season. And dadsy said at least he's doing it. Unfortunately, none of our smalls had anything like his impact. Still, he's a muppet.