The Melbourne Coaching Panel gives their insight into the Round 5 loss to Carlton.

Round 5
MELBOURNEfc v Carlton
MCG, Sunday 20 April

Pre Match
- We had an eight day turnaround, which gave our players a good opportunity to recover from a physical encounter against North Melbourne.

- The preparation for Round Five started early, when we travelled as a group to the MCG to watch Carlton play Collingwood. We thought it was important to have our players watch our opponents in the flesh, so that they could understand exactly what the Carlton players did off the ball  – it’s an advantage that you don’t get by watching them on T.V. 

- Our skill execution has not been at a great level, and did let us down against North Melbourne. We will always put a big focus on our skills during the week, and our players worked really hard on improving that in the leadup to Carlton. We believe the only way to improve our skill execution is to practice and gain confidence on the training track.

- We brought in Brent Moloney and James Frawley at the expense of Brad Miller who was out with suspension and Chris Johnson who was omitted. It was good to have Brent Moloney back in the side, as his aggressive style of play is a positive for the team. James Frawley was added to the team after gaining confidence with several strong performances at Sandringham, and we needed him to utilise his speed and dash from defence.

- We knew that Carlton would be full of confidence, but to beat them we had to lock down on their key players in the midfield - players such as Judd and Stevens. They have been a very good team around the stoppages, and this has allowed Fevola plenty of space as they have players who burst hard out of the stoppage. This helps to give their forwards - such as Fevola and Fisher - good service and space in which to work. We have also been good around the stoppages in recent weeks, with Jeff White consistently getting his hand on the ball. We were also conscious of how often they look to go to Fevola when going inside 50. We will set up so that we have some defensive support blocking Fevola’s space.

- Restricting the influence of Chris Judd and Brendan Fevola was a priority. They are both match winning players, and it was important to limit their influence. Brock McLean was handed the big task on Chris Judd, while Nathan Carroll was matched up on Fevola. We had Bruce set for Stevens. It was also acknowledged that Carroll would require help from his fellow defenders, and excellent pressure from our forwards and midfielders to get the job done.

During the Match
- We started poorly, with Carlton kicking the first three goals - two to Fevola and one to Judd. We then settled, with James McDonald pushing forward to score our first goal. Unfortunately, some poor finishing in front of goal saw us 12 points down. We were blocking their space in their forward line well, with Rivers doing a good defensive job. Sylvia was also performing well down back and Robertson looked dangerous up forward. Bruce and McLean were doing the job on Stevens and Judd.

- We started very well in the second quarter, and had all the momentum. Goals to Robertson and Green put us six points in front, and it looked like the game was going to break right open. We were going forward, but not capitalising. Judd had a 10 minute patch and was the one to turn the match. They kicked two goals from the centre clearance, and then kicked the next five to make it seven in a row. A number of these goals were from free kicks - This is an area of our game we need to improve. We are giving the opposition free shots at goal from undisciplined play.  This was extremely disappointing, as we looked like the team that had momentum.

- At the main break, we talked to the players about some positional changes. Davey and Wheatley were having quiet games so we pushed Davey into the midfield and Wheatley up forward. We also were turning the ball over with poor skill execution and we needed to be cleaner with our ball movement.

- In the third quarter, Carlton did all the attacking. They went inside 50, 15 times to our nine. Again, our kicking for goal let us down, with just four points being kicked for the quarter. Both teams had numbers behind the ball, but Carlton was cleaner with their skills, and using their spare numbers offensively better than us. We were bombing the ball in when we needed to be more patient. Some lack of discipline from our defenders handed Fevola an easy goal after Judd had just scored. Despite them dominating the quarter, these were their only two goals for the period.

- In the last quarter, we needed to attack, so we had a more conventional set up. We pushed Sylvia, who had played well in defence, forward, and Green - who had kicked two goals - also went deep forward. It was pleasing to see the team lift. We started to win the centre bounce clearances, and we were finally giving our forwards some clean ball in space. Green kicked two for the quarter (to finish with four), and Robertson’s output was better this week. Moloney played an accountable role and kept Scotland - who had been damaging - quiet. It was also encouraging that James Frawley played well and was given a role to play on Fevola in the last quarter. There will continue to be an emphasis on giving our young players opportunities. To win the quarter was pleasing, but too little too late.

Post Match
- Even though our skills improved a little bit from last week, they're still not good enough or acceptable enough for AFL, and it is again something we will continue to work on at training during the week.

- The second quarter was a major factor in the final result. We worked hard to hit the lead and were right into the game after kicking the first three, but allowed Carlton to dominate the clearances around the ground.  Combine that with a couple of undisciplined free kicks and 50 metre penalties, and they kicked the next seven to take control of the match.

- We were happy with Brock McLean’s efforts on Chris Judd. Judd is the kind of player who only needs one or two bursts, and he can make an impact, but we thought McLean’s work rate was outstanding and that he held his own. Brock’s performances under duress over the last four weeks have been really pleasing, and he is showing why he is one of the game’s elite midfielders.

- During the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach, we were able to trial a couple of our younger players on some of their more experienced counterparts. We moved James Frawley onto Brendan Fevola, and were pleased with the outcome. James was able to out-position him on a few occasions when the ball was travelling inside 50, and he will be better off as a player with the experience. We also moved Cale Morton onto Nick Stevens to see how he would handle being the ‘tagger’. We feel that with Morton’s endurance, he can be a really dangerous option as a tagger, because he has the ability to run off his player and creating attacking thrusts.

- Finally, we just wanted to say a big thank you to all of our members who turned up to the game on Sunday - your support was really appreciated by everyone inside the Club. We just ask you to stick with us, there is no doubt that we are going through some tough times.  There are clearer skies ahead and we’re heading towards those clearer skies, but we just need you to stick with us and continue to support the Club.