It’s hard to know where to begin. How about some Nathan Jones comments:
At the moment, with emotions running high, it’s probably one of the worst losses I’ve played in.
And I don’t think that view would have changed having slept on it. As I said yesterday, last night was an opportunity on prime time national television to make a statement over in Perth. Instead, the whole of the football public now knows that at the moment we are well off the pace in terms of finals calculations.
The first quarter was abysmal. 5 goals to 0 was one thing, but we were literally letting them do as they pleased out there. They were breaking tackles like we weren’t even there, and were finding free players at will. When we finally managed to get the ball we either bombed it straight back to them (God forbid we have a forward who actually holds his position) or were caught in possession trying to run it out with backwards handballs. We weren’t helped by the worst umpiring decision in the history of the game which gifted LeCras a goal from directly in front, but you can’t say they didn’t deserve it the way we were playing. At quarter time the game was all but over.
We needed some sort of spark at the start of quarter 2, and Jones provided it with a fantastic running goal. They hit back almost immediately and from there the quarter was pretty even. Colin Garland did well in defence playing a sweeping role of sorts across half-back. I can’t remember too many times where he was beaten in a one on one, so he can hold his head high. Jack Watts was also having a very good game by his lofty standards, taking strong contested marks and disposing well by foot.
So 26 points down at half time and in true Melbourne fashion we were playing shit football, were never going to win, but were just close enough to keep you interested in the the second half. Dean Bailey doing an interview just before the third quarter began was not a great look in my opinion. I’m all for players and coaches giving media greater access on game days but he needed to be 100% focused on the game at that point.
As for the second half? We needed a good start to the 3rd quarter but instead they kicked a couple of quick ones and the game was over. Tee fact that they subbed off LeCras at 3/4 time said it all. It was threatening to get really ugly at the start of the 4th, but at full-time a 54 point margin flattered us in my opinion.
I do, very quickly, want to talk about the umpiring. The certainly did not cost us the match last night, but you could tell they were very influenced by the home crowd. The LeCras free in the first quarter was one of the worst I have seen. When the umpire blew the whistle he had a look on his face which showed that he knew he had given the free kick away, as did the entire crowd and the Channel Ten commentators (enjoy calling the netball next year). A disgraceful decision.
The other one I want to bring up is the Garland out on the full one. Yes it was the right decision, but the boundary umpire had made his decision, only to be overturned by a field umpire who after hearing the reaction from the crowd, looked up at the replay and then changed the call. Are they allowed to change decisions after looking at replays? Definitely not. Would it have happened at the MCG. Not a chance. As I said, I don’t think for one moment they had any impact on the result, but just as players and coaches get criticized for their performances, so should the umpires.
And now back to the real issues of the game. Comments from Dean Bailey:
It is a poor performance. We need to get back on the training track and, not only get confidence there, but lift our intensity.
When you travel interstate you obviously want to get off to a good start, you want to win a couple of the really key indicators in the game like contested possessions and you want to get your accuracy right and your tackling right.
Particularly when you travel interstate those areas are really important and in the first quarter that’s what let us down. We turned the ball over too much… and turned it over trying to go inside-50 too often as well.
If we knew what we needed to do at the start of the game, why then did we give up a five goal to nothing first quarter? It is inexcusable after four years of senior coaching experience for your team to come out like that at the start of a game. The fact is these types of performances have occurred far too frequently since Bailey has been in charge. Already this season we we have had the 1st quarter against West Coast, the 3rd against Hawthorn, the 1st against Brisbane, the 3rd against Gold Coast and parts of the 1st and 3rd against Sydney. These kinds of moments are costing us games and it is just so demoralizing for supporters to see it happening again and again. Why does it keep happening?
Plenty of supporters are calling for Bailey’s head right now, and after that performance I don’t blame them. I’m not quite ready to start joining Facebook groups as I think we should be giving him at least half the season, but if things are still going the way they are by then I think his head will be very much on the chopping block.
It doesn’t help when your players give you that kind of an effort. Can I ask what has happened to Brad Green? Last year he couldn’t be stopped, now he can’t seem to get into games. His goalkicking is really struggling, but it doesn’t help when most of your shots are taken from the boundary. Lead to the middle for Christ’s sake and make it easier for yourself.
And what about Jack Grimes? Top kid and all that but in what way does he impact games? All he does is get cheap kicks in defence and half the time he turns it over. I’m not really sure what his role in the team is.
Onto next week, and we’re back at home finally against Adelaide. It will have been a whole month since we’ve played at the G’ and despite last night, I’m looking forward to the game. Changes will need to be made. Ricky Petterd must come back in. Not sure who comes out, maybe Wonaeamirri. But the fact is we need to see some sort of sign that we have turned the corner. We don’t want to hear any talking from anyone at the club. Just put in the hard yards this week on the track, and let the football do the talking.
Tags: 2011, round 6, west coast
