Senior coach Mark Riley reviews Melbourne’s 44 point loss to Brisbane exclusively on melbournefc.com.au

Pre Match
- We had a good build up during the week, with training and preparation all focused on the Brisbane Lions.

- We were aware that Brisbane, although they haven’t had a lot of wins this season, were in reasonable form, especially after a terrific win in Perth against West Coast a week earlier.

- They have a very good midfield, and we needed to be extra diligent around the stoppages.  Simon Black, Luke Power, Nigel Lappin, and Jamie Charman make up a terrific on-ball group.

- We gave the job of minding Jonathan Brown to Brad Miller.

- Simon Godfrey had another big job for the day, having the task of restricting Simon Black’s influence on the game.

- Colin Garland came into the match to play his second AFL game, replacing Cameron Bruce who was a withdrawal with hamstring soreness.

- We had played reasonably good, high intensity football over the past few weeks, getting the points over Carlton after the narrow defeat to Essendon.

- We needed to continue to focus on a high work rate offensively and defensively, continue to win the contested ball and the stoppages, and also use the ball well through the midfield and forward line.

During the Match
- Had a poor start to the game, allowing Brisbane to kick six goals and five behinds to our one goal.  We lacked the intensity required to start the match well, and at quarter time we needed to lift in this area to compete.

- We had some undisciplined acts by a few players who were frustrated with how the game was heading.  We addressed this issue, and some will learn from the experience.

- We switched Nathan Carroll onto Jonathon Brown, who had kicked four goals from 11 disposals for the quarter.

- Brock McLean found the ball in the first quarter (10 possessions).  This was a positive sign for himself and the team, as he had struggled to do so over the previous few weeks.

- We improved after quarter time, kicking two goals to one for the term.   We didn’t make the most our opportunities, as we controlled possession, and probably could have gone into the half-time break closer to Brisbane than the scoreboard identified.  Our intensity increased and made it more difficult for Brisbane to score.

- At the beginning of the third quarter we had our fair share of the ball, and halved the stoppages and ball gets.  Late in the quarter for a ten minute period, the Lions dominated the play and finished with seven goals for the quarter.

- Our finish to the game was positive, kicking seven goals to Brisbane’s four.  This is something that we can take into next week’s game.

Post Match
- It was a disappointing start, allowing Brisbane to have 11 scoring shots to one in the first quarter.   Brisbane then kicked 12 goals to our 11 for the remaining three quarters of the game.  We can’t start a game like that and expect to remain in the contest.  It’s the third time this year on interstate games that we have had poor starts, and we need to improve in this area as we have three interstate games in the remaining fixture.

- It was positive to see the boys fight the game out and not roll over after the initial start to the match.

- We didn’t play with enough intensity or put enough pressure on the opposition. 

- Brisbane had the ball inside their forward 50 metres on 58 occasions, compared to our 47.   There wasn’t enough pressure on the ball carrier when the opposition took it  through the middle attacking their forward end, especially in the first quarter.

- Nathan Carroll did a reasonable job on Brown after quarter time, restricting him to two goals for the remainder of the game.

- James McDonald, Brock Mclean, and Jeff White were solid contributors throughout the game.

- We will continue to look at improving certain areas each match.  Will continue to work on our counter defence – when the opposition has the ball.

- We will work on our kicking skills to leading targets, to winning the contested ball, and improve our output from stoppages.

- We’ll continue to look at these improvements ahead of our Round 16 match against the Kangaroos at the Dome on Sunday.