Coach Neale Daniher reviews Melbourne’s disappointing 49 point loss to Richmond, exclusively on melbournefc.com.au
Pre Match
– We had a good build up during the week, with training at a high intensity and everyone hoping to continue the momentum and good football which had seen us defeat Adelaide and Collingwood over the past fortnight.
– We were aware that Richmond had only been beaten by a small margin in a lot of games this year and that bottom of the ladder wasn’t a true indication of their ability and output for the year to-date. Richmond has led in six of their 11 matches during the final quarter, had been level in another, and been down by less than a goal against West Coast again during the last quarter – so they have been really competitive without winning.
– We’d had played reasonably consistent football over the past six weeks with just the one poor performance against the Eagles in Perth, otherwise having two very good wins and three losses by a kick or less.
– Needed to make sure our players came to the game focussed and ready for a hard, intense game of football, especially coming off no football the previous weekend because of the split round.
– Byron Pickett was included in the team after his club suspension and had played good football for Sandringham in the VFL. Adem Yze was also included in the line-up.
– However we lost David Neitz with a finger injury which occurred during the previous game against Collingwood and Travis Johnstone didn’t come up with an achilles injury.
– Needed to stop the influence of Matthew Richardson, so we went with Ben Holland who has been in good form on opposition tall forwards this year.
– Continuing to focus on a high work rate offensively and defensively, and needed to continue to win the contested ball, and use the ball well through the midfield and forwardline.
During the Match
– Had a poor start to the game, allowing Richmond to kick six goals to our two in the first quarter. Overall, we predominately have been good starters this season, with exceptions against West Coast in Perth and the Swans in Sydney.
– We didn’t put enough pressure on the opposition early in the game and Richmond thrashed us at all the stoppages. Their midfielders had too much of the ball in the first quarter without enough pressure from our players.
– They were a lot harder at the ball and simply wanted it more, and won it at most contests around stopped plays.
– The second quarter was a replica of the first, with Richmond’s midfielders again winning the stop plays and moved it quickly to their forwardline. We weren’t getting our hands on the ball enough to attack our forwardline.
– At half time, we encouraged our players to lift their work rate, run and tackle harder, and start with winning the ball at contests.
– We started the third quarter well, kicking goals and winning the ball, and restricting Richmond’s scoring opportunities. We kicked six goals to two for the quarter and we were playing with higher intensity and were putting a lot more pressure on the opposition.
– We switched Ben Holland to the forwardline which worked for us, he kicked three goals for the term and gave us a big target to kick to.
– The final quarter was even, but the damage was done in the first half. Richmond kicked four goals to three in the final quarter. Our second half saw us outscore Richmond by 15 points kicking nine goals to six. You can’t give any side a huge margin to start with, and expect to get back into the match.
Post Match
– Disappointing and embarrassing loss after initially finding some good form recently against Collingwood and Adelaide. We had the opportunity to win three in-a-row.
– We lost the game because we were no where near hard enough in the first half.
– Richmond were more determined to win the hard ball, they worked harder than us to win the ball and when they had the ball. We didn’t play with enough intensity or put enough pressure on the opposition.
– Richmond had the ball inside their forward 50 on 64 occasions while we had it inside 50, 54 times.
– Richmond was well on top at stoppages all over the ground. There wasn’t enough pressure put on the ball carrier when entering their forward line.
– We will regroup this week prior to our round thirteen match against Essendon on Friday at the The Dome. Our players are very disappointed with what we produced on the weekend and can’t wait for Friday to come around.
