COACH Paul Roos says the club has spoken to Jesse Hogan about his on field body language, but insists it is isn’t a major issue.
Speaking on Melbourne TV, Roos said he understood the reasons behind some of Hogan’s demonstrative actions during the heat of battle.
“You understand why that takes place, because there are a lot of people commentating on football … so we’ll address that with Jesse, but I see that more as a development,” he said on Roos’ Views.
“He’s more of a competitive player and I don’t see it as a pattern that’s going to continue. He clearly is frustrated and we tend to see it with bigger players, who come into footy and have got to play a slightly different role.
“A midfielder like [Angus] Brayshaw or [Clayton] Oliver comes in and can win his own ball around the contest. He’s got to step-up, but fundamentally he’s doing the same thing.
“It’s something we talk to Jesse about because of the development of his all-round game, but it’s not a concern at the moment. We’re confident that Jesse will come out and play really well this week.”
Reflecting on last round’s disappointing 13-point loss to Essendon at the MCG, Roos said it was a “big change” from the way Melbourne played in round one, when it defeated Greater Western Sydney.
“Even though we had a couple of down quarters against the Giants, overall we were really pleased with our effort,” he said.
“We didn’t play great footy last weekend, but it showed [last round] – not just in our game – that if you don’t bring your A-game … the competition is tough.
“I know people have been putting Essendon down a bit, but they showed on the weekend that their best footy is very, very good.”
Roos said the first 24 hours after the loss was “unbelievably disappointing”.
“That’s probably the first part of it. Everyone is scratching their heads trying to work out what’s going on. Then the analytical side kicks in, when you start to watch the game and look at the review,” he said.
“Probably the main message is to the players and that is that each individual player needs to address their own performance first. What do they think changed from the week before? Is it during the week? Is it their mindset?
“We’ve had some really good discussions with our leaders and some good discussions with the players. We’ve identified some areas that they need to get better. We’ve got some areas we need to get better as coaches.
“So there has been some really honest discussion and I think the consensus is that we’re on the right path – we’ve just got to do it better more consistently.”
In regards to commentary suggesting Melbourne played with ‘big or fat heads’ last round, plus the fact that Roos believed some of his players were tired against the Dons, in hindsight, he said it was a combination of both.
“There’s no doubt. When I talked about tired players, I think we did have a couple of young guys who [shouldn’t have played]. We probably shouldn’t have played Angus [Brayshaw, as he wasn’t quite ready after injury]. That was a selection error on our behalf,” he said.
“With Clayton [Oliver], you never know [how he will go in] week two after his first game. He looked really, really tired. [It was] some of our younger players … and it wasn’t relevant to the more senior players.
“In terms of the ‘big head’ [theory], it’s hard [to know]. If you’re a commentator, they’re the things that get thrown out there – which of the guys took it pretty easy. I’m sure there were a few of them. I can’t tell you exactly which ones they are, but there is no doubt there would’ve been a few of them.
“All of those comments are relevant. Part of what we want to do is be consistent and [Fremantle coach] Ross Lyon has a great saying ‘anywhere, anytime – it doesn’t matter who you play’. We’re still learning to deal with that and cope with that. Certainly for us, we’ve got to carry that baggage of when we go in as favourites, we don’t play as well and you’ve got to change perception. We’ve got to start to perform better in in those games.”
