Saturday 29 April 2006
MCG
Pre Match:
• With only six days to prepare after a bruising encounter against the Swans recovery was a huge focus during the week.
• Wanted to have a training run at the “G” to familiarise ourselves with the new surface and surrounds as well as the new changerooms. Were able to do this on Friday which was great.
• Frank Davis came down to present first gamer Matthew Bate with his Guernsey. Frank played in the 1964 premiership team and was Captain of the club for 3 years in the early 70’s. He played 168 games and was a tough & reliable defender. He spoke with passion and you could tell from what he said that he treasured his time at Melbourne.
• From a performance perspective we were aiming to maintain the improvement we had displayed in recent weeks. We had to restructure our forward set up without Neita & Paul Johnson and included Brent Moloney for the injured Brock McLean.
• Our main concerns in relation to the Kangaroos was limiting the influence of Harvey, Wells & Grant, keeping Thompson & Rocca under control and winning the centre bounces, an area the Kangas are rated No 1 in the AFL.
• This was sure to be a tough game with the stakes so high. The Kangaroos are a dangerous team when their backs are to the wall. Win and we are back in the hunt lose and we start to fall behind the pack. It was the same scenario for our opponents.
During the Match:
• Not happy with our defensive work rate in the first quarter. Fortunately the Kangaroos didn’t make us pay. We were a long way off the intensity we displayed last week against the Swans and I let the players know in no uncertain terms how disappointed we were with their efforts at the quarter time break.
• Good response in the second quarter. We fought much harder to keep the ball in the forward line and we really put the Kangaroos under some genuine pressure. The result was a six goal quarter. Adem Yze was on fire and another highlight was a great running goal by Matthew Bate with his first kick in AFL footy. The effort by Aaron Davey to set this up was sensational. A twenty point lead at the long break was a pleasing turnaround.
• Encouraged the players to continue in this vein in the third quarter and reminded them that the Kangaroos would come out hard and throw everything at us.
• That’s exactly what the Kangaroos did. We were flat footed and second to the ball. In the blink of an eye they kicked four goals and had themselves back in front. They had around twenty more touches than us in the first 10 minutes of the quarter which is very disappointing. Our players did well to slow the game down and managed to recapture the lead only to have Casey Green steal it back again on the three quarter time siren.
• The fourth quarter was a war of attrition with the Kangaroos getting out to a two goal lead and looking very much like winners. In a similar manner to last week we managed to keep ourselves in the game. A number of our senior players lifted and Aaron Davey produced some magic to set up a goal for Paul Wheatley then kicked two himself, to put us back in front. Thompson replied for the Kangaroos to tie the scores then kicked a point to give the Kangas the narrowest of leads. Enter James McDonald who crumbed a long bomb from Bate to bang through the winning goal. A just reward for a magnificent team player.
Post Match:
• Excellent character again shown by the boys. This was a dangerous game given the situation our opponents found themselves in and the fact that we had just come off two hard contests on the road. It is a credit to our fitness department, Glenn Turner, Brentan Parsons & Adam Paulo that we were able to finish over the top of the Kangaroos. The work they did with our players to help them recover after the Sydney match was fantastic.
• Very pleased that we were able to keep dangerous Kangaroo players such as Wells, Harvey & Grant under control. James McDonald, Nathan Brown, Clint Bartram & Simon Godfrey had these roles and did an excellent job as well as winning a bit of the ball themselves.
• Our indigenous players set the game alight which must be exciting for our supporters. Byron was outstanding, Aaron brilliant in the final quarter and Matthew Whelan was solid and dependable all game. Adem Yze also made a fine & important contribution up forward and helped make up for the loss of Neita.
• Whilst we didn’t win the centre bounce clearances we managed to win more clearances overall on the day 30 – 27. At the moment we are ranked fourth overall for clearances in the AFL which is a big improvement on 12th in 2005. There is still a lot of the season to go but the signs are positive in this area. Anthony Rock our midfield coach has worked tirelessly with the players on this aspect of our game and these efforts are being rewarded.
