A SERIES of confronting meetings late in the 2014 season will mean nothing unless they lead to action on the ground, according to Melbourne midfielder Dom Tyson.
The 21-year-old revealed that the players and coaching staff ramped up the truth telling as the Demons struggled to find form late in the season, a losing streak that had stretched to 10 by year's end.
Melbourne found itself in a position to win against Port Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions in rounds 18 and 19 but did not take their chance. They also performed well against the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne without winning.
"We had some confronting meetings which were beneficial but it probably takes time still for it to kick in," Tyson told AFL.com.au.
"At the end of the day, you can say as much as you like but if you are not implementing it and performing on game day, it is a bit irrelevant."
Melbourne showed improvement in 2014 under Paul Roos, winning four games and being competitive in more than half of its 22 games.
The Demons played most games with a makeshift forward line and made a promising start to the overhaul of its list.
However they could not close out games as effectively as they would have liked, and Tyson is the first to admit as much.
"[It comes down to] a bit of composure," he said.
He said a sense of panic crept in at times late in tight games that saw the team move away from what had got it into a winning position. He said that only hard work would solve the problem.
"In the NBA there are teams that can close out a game, train for situations, practice being in that situation and repeating it…doing what got us to that stage," Tyson said.
He said the young Demons had benefitted from the input of senior players at that difficult time of the season, and such feedback was building the capacity to demand more from each other.
"I’ve gotten a lot more feedback from teammates this year than I had before," Tyson said.
After being traded from Greater Western Sydney in 2013, Tyson had an excellent season finishing runner-up in the club best and fairest and polling 11 Brownlow votes, including three best on grounds in losing teams.
He achieved that after having his pre-season interrupted when he injured a hamstring just days before starting training with his new club. The injury stopped him from joining full training until Christmas.
"I actually felt like I was getting fitter each game so I was a little bit underdone in the early part of the year," Tyson said.
He underwent surgery to fix a tendon injury in his finger and didn't expect it to disrupt his pre-season – he is yet to complete a full one in his AFL career.
"I’m excited to do the hard yards and feel fit … to feel like I am running well and being able to match it with the really fit guys in the league," Tyson said.
The Demons have added Heritier Lumumba, Jeff Garlett, Sam Frost, Ben Newton from other clubs in the off-season, and recruited the highly rated Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw.
