MELBOURNE’S goalkicking became a major talking point throughout 2019, but key forward Tom McDonald is confident his side will turn that around this season.
The Demons appointed Greg Stafford to take charge of the players’ conversion over summer, and McDonald has benefited from the methods he’s employed.
“He’s sort of taken an alternative view on it,” McDonald told Melbourne Media.
“We spent three months focusing on your own process and connection from ball to foot.
“We don’t ever worry about the goal, we judge ourselves on how it feels and if you stuck to your process in kicking it.”
While of course the result of the kick is what matters at the end of the day, focusing on the process will hold the boys in good stead long-term.
“The goals usually give you a good indication of if you’ve kicked it well, but it’s no always the case,” McDonald said.
“So, we’ve almost taken that out of the question and you judge yourself based on how it felt internally.”
Friday morning’s session on the Sunshine Coast saw the Demons complete a number of goalkicking drills and McDonald said some genuine improvement has been made by the forwards.
“I think we’re seeing some good results with that on the scoreboard, but it’ll be a work in progress,” he said.
“There’ll be guys who tinker with that and that’s been a big part of my pre-season and a few forwards as well – focusing on that part of the game.”
The Dees’ second main training of the pre-season camp had a strong focus on match simulation which helped the time pass quicker for McDonald.
“For some reason it’s mentally not as difficult because it’s a bit more fun than some of the more conditioning drills,” he said.
“I think today guys probably worked harder but didn’t realise they did, but yeah, horrible heat.”
The 27-year-old enjoyed the session as much as any to date, with the home and away season officially in sight.
“This part here feels like Round 1 to us because it’s the first time you actually get to be serious and have a real focus on what we’re trying to implement for the season,” McDonald said.
“Today’s probably the most exciting day of the pre-season to have 60-70 minutes of match play.”
Melbourne will have an open training session for local fans on Sunday morning from 9:30am at Maroochydore Multi Sports Complex.
