HERE’S the scenario: Team A kicks 7.3 to Team B’s 2.6 in the first half.
The second half produces 13.5 to 1.5.
Naturally Team A extends its lead, running away with a massive win after booting 13.5. Right?
Wrong!
Team A (Melbourne) “capitulated” – in the words of coach Paul Roos – as Team B (Greater Western Sydney) booted 13.5 in the second half, including a whopping 14 goals straight from the 29-minute mark of the second quarter until the 12-minute mark of the final term to defeat Melbourne by 45 points. That’s a 78-point turnaround, when you consider Ben Newton put the Demons up by 33 points at the 27-minute mark of the second term. (For the record, Newton’s two goals were the bookends of GWS’ 14 goals)
It was quite simply a tale of two halves. And unfortunately for Melbourne, its second half was woeful, after a most encouraging first half, particularly the opening term.
Melbourne had six scoring shots in the first quarter, posting 4.2 to 0.2.
In fact, it took five minutes into the second term before GWS opened its account via outstanding midfielder Dylan Shiel, who booted the first of three goals, and was arguably his side’s best player.
Although Melbourne won the second quarter by three points, the Giants had six scoring shots to four, but failed to fully capitalise. And then it turned sour for the Demons …
So what happened?
The strong theme from coach Paul Roos was that it came down to a lack of effort in the second half and the Giants simply upped their work rate.
GWS’ ability to kick four goals in the opening 10 minutes of the third quarter and another four goals in six minutes during time-on was critical.
And when the Giants added another four majors in the first 12 minutes of the last term, the match was well and truly over.
In the finish, statistics showed Melbourne lost the tackle count (76 to 59) and contested possessions (137 to 127) after winning them both in round one.
“We didn’t have many good players over four quarters,” Roos said post-match.
“The difference last week was that the majority of our players were very, very good, whereas the majority of our players had poor patches after half-time.
“But I thought Tommy McDonald, Jack Viney and Hoges (Jesse Hogan) [played well] under difficult circumstances.”
McDonald, who has been Melbourne’s best player so far after two rounds, said a loss of confidence “definitely” played a part in the second half, once GWS’ momentum took over.
“We lost confidence too quickly and once they kicked a couple of goals, guys went into their shells a little bit,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“[Some players] don’t want to take the kick that’s a little bit harder or you don’t want to be aggressive, but it probably just comes down to more effort than confidence though.”
No doubt both areas – work rate and keeping the confidence levels up – will be two major focuses for Melbourne this week, as it sets out to make round two’s second half fade-out a one-off.
And the test will come against the top-of-the-table Crows at the Adelaide Oval this Saturday.
