No Oppo Supporters General AFL and other clubs discussion thread. **Opposition fans not welcome** Part 7

[The hands of stone]

Gibcus for the Tigs looks a likely type

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I'm sensing you haven't got much time for the Dees SYL.

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I don't have a lot of time for them as a club, that's no different to pretty much every other club, but I know they're a very good side.....that's not to say that I don't think that they've had a very good run with injury though.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Gibcus for the Tigs looks a likely type

He's going to be a star.

 

[Billyc]

The gap between Melbourne and the rest is currently large. There’s months to go for them to slip up or for others to improve but right now, they’re absolutely cruising. They’re doing that thing great sides do which is play 1-2 unbelievable bursts each week and that’s enough to win comfortably.

Fortunately unlike the Richmond era, they play attractive footy

 

[Simon Crawshay]

The gap between Melbourne and the rest is currently large. There’s months to go for them to slip up or for others to improve but right now, they’re absolutely cruising. They’re doing that thing great sides do which is play 1-2 unbelievable bursts each week and that’s enough to win comfortably.

Fortunately unlike the Richmond era, they play attractive footy

Also I think Casey are undefeated as well this year.

It's interesting to note how often the last 10 years have had really good AFL sides with very good VFL sides (Hawks/Box Hill, etc).

Shows the importance of having depth in your list.

 

[TylerDurden]

The gap between Melbourne and the rest is currently large. There’s months to go for them to slip up or for others to improve but right now, they’re absolutely cruising. They’re doing that thing great sides do which is play 1-2 unbelievable bursts each week and that’s enough to win comfortably.

Fortunately unlike the Richmond era, they play attractive footy

Injury is the only thing that could get them.

 

[SA HAWK]

Injury is the only thing that could get them.

Only takes 1 bad game or opposition playing out of their skin ala 2018 & 2019 prelims.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

The gap between Melbourne and the rest is currently large. There’s months to go for them to slip up or for others to improve but right now, they’re absolutely cruising. They’re doing that thing great sides do which is play 1-2 unbelievable bursts each week and that’s enough to win comfortably.

Fortunately unlike the Richmond era, they play attractive footy

Melbourne is remarkably similar to Geelong in 2008.
They're winning through sheer weight of numbers. If they don't correct it, it will cost them at the end of the season

 

[Argy]

I found the game pretty boring. A bit different to the start of the year. It looks like coaches have worked out how to shut stuff down.

 

[play2win]

Although it’s early days melbourne are miles in front of the pack, can’t see them losing it unless they get a pile of injuries.

 

[MasterSamurai]

We're one side that can really trouble the dees with our aerobic style of play that allows us to run out qtrs til the end . And our frwds are super dangerous and our backs super quick.

 

[chopflop]

He's going to be a star.

I knew he had to have something when KM said he would barely take him second round.

 

[The hands of stone]

Dees are miles better than anyone else , probably 5 goals clear of the next best side.
But its very early in the season , plenty of time for things to happen and change.

Big gap , yes but nowhere near the engraver cranking up .
How often do you see in sport the best/unbeatable side not win at the end of the day ......its actually not uncommon

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Although it’s early days melbourne are miles in front of the pack, can’t see them losing it unless they get a pile of injuries.

Reality is that 2-3 key injuries, and they’d fall back to the pack.

Imagine if they lost Fritsch, Gawn and Oliver for a period of time(our Lewis, Reeves and Mitchell).

 

[Pessimistic]

We're one side that can really trouble the dees with our aerobic style of play that allows us to run out qtrs til the end . And our frwds are super dangerous and our backs super quick.

Would be more confident with reeves v Gawn but still hope we have a red hot crack

 

[play2win]

Reality is that 2-3 key injuries, and they’d fall back to the pack.

Imagine if they lost Fritsch, Gawn and Oliver for a period of time(our Lewis, Reeves and Mitchell).

They can lose those players and still comfortably make top 4, it’s whether those players are out come the business end of the season and even then it just makes it closer. Easily the best team since our peak era, they just need to produce the silverware (this year?) to prove it.

 

[Billyc]

Melbourne is remarkably similar to Geelong in 2008.
They're winning through sheer weight of numbers. If they don't correct it, it will cost them at the end of the season

In 2008 there was a clear challenger though. Same as 2011 for Collingwood. It’s not just their dominance it’s the relative weakness of the chasing pack

At the moment I am not sure who that challenger is as the rest seem quite a distance behind.

As well as injuries, the big curve ball this year remains covid. Always possible it runs through the squad and wipes 5-6 key players in a final

 

[Mitchell Madness]

In 2008 there was a clear challenger though. Same as 2011 for Collingwood. It’s not just their dominance it’s the relative weakness of the chasing pack

At the moment I am not sure who that challenger is as the rest seem quite a distance behind.

As well as injuries, the big curve ball this year remains covid. Always possible it runs through the squad and wipes 5-6 key players in a final

We really weren't a clear challenger though. In fact, our losses during the season had all come against the other top 4 teams (plus richmond)

At this stage of the season we were sitting in a similar position to what Fremantle are now. Look promising, but no idea which way it'll go.
At the same time, Melbourne are in 2nd gear and cruising, and not being challenged. They're also peppering the goals at every chance. It wasn't uncommon to see Geelong during that era win by 10 goals but have a scoreline of 20.20

Bad kicking doesn't come back to bite until you're challenged

 

[KermitJagger]

Dees are miles better than anyone else , probably 5 goals clear of the next best side.
But its very early in the season , plenty of time for things to happen and change.

Big gap , yes but nowhere near the engraver cranking up .
How often do you see in sport the best/unbeatable side not win at the end of the day ......its actually not uncommon

Bearing in mind also that this is who Melbourne have beaten so far - I think they're the best in the league at the moment but until they test it against the form teams it's still too early.

 

[Brishawk]

There are two keys to beating the dees. You have to be able to find a way to score against their defence and you must neutralise their scoring threat from the centre bounce.

Teams have generally achieved the later outside of some moments. But no one has really found a way to score against them. The dees conceded 80 or more points only 3 times all last season and lost all three games. Incidentally. They drew with hawthorn scoring 79 points.

The dees kicked 80 points or more 15 times and won 14. Typically, the dees score at around 50% of the time they enter forward fifty. And the usually generate over 50 entries per game. They usually win the number of entries per game based on stoppage wins and a defence that wins the ball back through the middle of the ground.

The dees are prone to kick a lot of behinds. This is going to happen when the opposition turn the ball over in the middle of the ground and push back hard so essentially the whole side plays defence. To my eye the dees take a lot of shots from out wide. When the dees kick accurately, they are tough to beat due to the volume of shots they have!

Teams tend to contain them for a half but in order to represent a scoring threat against the dees, teams need to run hard forward. But to stop conceding a lot of scores on the turnover, teams have to run back hard. I think a lot of teams simply get tired or lose their nerve to keep attacking. In short, the consistent and immense pressure wears teams down and that is when Melbourne become a scoring threat.

I will be very interested to see how we go v the dees. We can concede more entries than most teams and still be a scoring threat due to our interceptors and running half backs. We can score very efficiently on a goals to behinds basis due to generating easy shots at goal and having a couple of class finishers. I think we can be a real threat out the back given Melbourne tend to defend high. If we get flogged at stoppages, none of this will do a lot of good but I think we have the game to knock them off if all goes well and we get Lewis back.

 

[TylerDurden]

If you bomb it in, you get rolled every time. Our new ball movement strategy will challenge them. It's the only way to score against them really.

 

[Sixpence]

Bearing in mind also that this is who Melbourne have beaten so far - I think they're the best in the league at the moment but until they test it against the form teams it's still too early.

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Kinda funny that their beaten opponents all sit together on the ladder!

I agree that who they've beaten isn't anything special, but they still look better than anyone else. And even then, they haven't looked super amazing. Hasn't looked like a year for high quality skills so far.

 

[A Cut Above]

In 2008 there was a clear challenger though. Same as 2011 for Collingwood. It’s not just their dominance it’s the relative weakness of the chasing pack

Exactly. People judge top teams in isolation but the strength of their main rivals is equally important.

$wans, Carltank & ourselves are too inexperienced, Brisbane are chokers, Port & Doggies have psychologically imploded, St.Kilda & Free are fool's gold, and the Handbaggers & Tiggers don't have enough left in the tank. The only team that can prevent a 2022 Melbourne Premiership is Melbourne.

 

[KermitJagger]

Kinda funny that their beaten opponents all sit together on the ladder!

I agree that who they've beaten isn't anything special, but they still look better than anyone else. And even then, they haven't looked super amazing. Hasn't looked like a year for high quality skills so far.

As bad as we looked, St Kilda played the best footy I've seen this year when they beat us.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

They can lose those players and still comfortably make top 4, it’s whether those players are out come the business end of the season and even then it just makes it closer. Easily the best team since our peak era, they just need to produce the silverware (this year?) to prove it.

I reckon that’s arguable.

Pretty much every topline team needs to be at full strength to keep other sides at bay. Richmond always had a very good injury list during their run, and Melbourne did last year too.