MELBOURNE youngsters Angus Brayshaw and James Harmes will be rested for Sunday’s clash against Fremantle at Domain Stadium, as Paul Roos wants his side to get “angry” for its round 22 encounter.
Speaking on Roos’ Views, the coach spoke passionately about wanting his players to take it right up to the top of the ladder Freo this weekend.
“If I specifically talk about the players, I’d like to see our players get angry,” he said.
“Sometimes what happens with our player group – they start feeling sorry for themselves. We as a group of coaches and players have got to start getting angry when we lose – angry at each other, angry at the coaches and angry at the players – and get angry and get really fired up for the next week.
“That’s something that we’ll really look to address in the off-season as a coaching group, but I’d love to see the players get angry and come out and play angry on the weekend.”
Roos said the team needed to stop worrying if it was going to win or lose each week.
“I think it’s also getting away from the fear of winning or losing,” he said.
“What we’ve really got to continue to focus on – and I know it’s an old footy cliché – but probably never more true than at this football club is: the process.
“If we play angry and play aggressive – the scoreboard will tick over, whichever way it does. There is no doubt that we are still outcome focused and we’ve got to start to be process focused and make sure we get that right before we worry too much about outcomes.”
Roos said it had been frustrating having several key players sidelined.
“I think it’s pretty frustrating, because there are certainly guys who we feel were really going to be key players at the start of the year – [Sam] Frost, [Dean] Kent, [Aaron] vandenBerg and [Christian] Salem has just come back in to name a few,” he said.
“The other thing is that [we need to be mindful] of our young players. I’ve already spoken to Harmesy (James Harmes) and Angus [Brayshaw] this morning (Wednesday) about resting them this weekend.
“I’ve seen St Kilda do it and even the Bulldogs have done it. We need to do it and [take] care of the players. They are getting tired, particularly the younger ones, so we’ll rest James and Angus this week and try and freshen them up.
“Then within the confines of the restrictions we do have – just try and pick the best possible team we can for Freo.”
Roos said it was one of the challenges for all clubs – managing players, particularly youngsters, until the end of the season.
“I don’t think it’s unique to our footy team. We heard Pendles (Scott Pendlebury) talk about it on the weekend from Collingwood,” he said.
“I spoke to Bucks (Nathan Buckley) about it on Monday night, particularly when you do have a lot of injuries and you see Carlton, Brisbane Lions and the Suns – you just run out of cattle towards the end of the season.
“The trick is to pick your best team and most competitive team and get those guys ready to play and perform as best as they possibly can.”
With two matches remaining for Melbourne this year, Roos said it was imperative his side show some “real fight” against Fremantle and then Greater Western Sydney at Etihad Stadium in the final round.
“[I] just [want to see] some real fight – that’s what I’m hoping to get,” he said.
“[I hope] that the players and the coaches and everyone around the club says ‘we’ve got four hours’ [left for the season]. These are the most important four hours of game time – this week and next week.
“[I] just want to see some real fight and I want to see this footy club fight.”
