SAM Frost demanded his way back into the Melbourne team – for this Saturday’s clash against North Melbourne at the MCG – through strong form in the VFL and his work on the track, says his backline coach Troy Chaplin.
Chaplin said Frost had been knocking on the door of selection, after being an emergency in the opening two rounds.
“He’s had a good month of solid football and has performed really well at VFL level, in the practice matches. Even when he wasn’t playing there, he’s been a standout at training,” the assistant coach told Melbourne Media.
“We just felt that in the past North has given us some trouble with tall forwards and it was imperative that we got a tall in there, so Frosty has come into the team.”
Chaplin said he had been particularly pleased with Oscar McDonald in the first two rounds.
“Oscar’s had a good start to the season. He’s played on two key forwards – he kept Tom Hawkins goalless, which was really good, and it certainly went a long way to the game being closer,” he said.
“Hawkins has had some really good success against us in the past, so for Oscar to do a job there was great.
“Then Eric Hipwood kicked a goal for the Lions on the weekend, but that wasn’t directly against Oscar, so for Oscar to keep two key forwards to one goal in the opening two rounds has been great.”
Chaplin said boom recruit Jake Lever had also settled in well, lifting his game against the Lions last week.
“He’s instilled some real leadership after coming across from Adelaide,” he said.
“He’s a very vocal player and reads the play extremely well, so we think Jake and Oscar are going to be key pillars for the Melbourne Football Club for a long time.
“And this week, we add Sam Frost into the mix and we’re really hoping that these guys’ strengths really come on show this year.”
As for playing all three talls down back, Chaplin said it would be “a week to week proposition”, but he was confident Lever, McDonald and Frost would work well together.
“The first couple of weeks we played with two talls. We spoke to all of the guys throughout pre-season and said ‘some weeks we could play two or three, depending on the opposition’,” he said.
“Whatever way we go, they need to make sure they’re in good form. This week we’re going in with three talls in our defensive unit and we’ll see how that pans out.”
Chaplin said Frost’s inclusion was important, given North Melbourne’s tall timber duo, Ben Brown and Jarrad Waite, have previously produced strong performances against Melbourne.
“Brown and Waite have had good records against us in the past, so we know they’ve got a damaging forward line, but it’s not only that – their midfield is extremely strong,” he said.
“The Kangaroos love to get their hands dirty and contested football is a key focus against them, so we know our work is going to be cut out against them, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.
“I know it’s been a long time between drinks since we beat them, but for us to take the next step as a group, we need to start winning these games.”
