Melbourne coach Mark Riley reviews Melbourne’s 64 point loss to the Kangaroos exclusively on melbournefc.com.au

Pre Match
-We had some experienced inclusions prior to the match. David Neitz and Brad Green came into the team after missing with injury the previous couple of weeks, and Brent Moloney came in for his first game since round seven.

-Had a different build up during the week, training indoors on Wednesday at MSAC and Trevor Barker Oval on Friday, due to the Junction Oval being unavailable because of Melbourne’s heavy rain.

-Russell Robertson was to play his 200th AFL match, making him only the 21st player in the history of the club to reach the milestone. This is a terrific effort, after he originally came from the Club’s rookie list.

-We gave the job of tagging Brent Harvey to Simon Godfrey. 

-Played Brad Miller in the defensive half and we started with Nathan Brown as a small forward, given Aaron Davey’s absence due to suspension.

-We continued the focus on having a high work rate on the offensive and defensive aspects of the game.  

-The Kangaroos are a very well disciplined team who were playing to win second position on the ladder. They had been playing very good, team orientated football for the majority of the season. We needed our 22 players to put in a strong even contribution if we were to get the points.

During the match
-Disappointing start to the game allowing the Kangaroos to kick the first four goals of the match. We lifted the intensity and work-rate to get back into the game before the first break. Our starts have been poor, and we may have to address this by using defensive structures and set ups at the start of games, and when the opposition get run ons. 

-Nathan Jones was solid through the midfield early, contributing to our late quarter momentum. We kicked the final two goals of the quarter to be down by 11 points.

-A five goal to two second quarter saw the Kangaroos take a 29 point lead. They were winning more of the ball and we didn’t give our forwards enough chances, only getting the ball inside our forward 50 metre area on five occasions, as opposed to their 12. 

-We went sideways far too much while in possession, and we will be encouraging our players to go at the game and get the ball deep into our fwd line. 

-We needed to lift our intensity in the second half, we kicked three goals for the quarter but the Kangaroos kicked five.  On a positive note, Brent Moloney was winning the ball, collecting nine possessions for the quarter. The Kangaroos had 11 shots in 13 entries. Our backs are just not defending well enough one on one, and there seems the need to restructure this area. 

-A disappointing last quarter saw the Kangaroos kick five goals to our two. We showed minimal fight  after half time, which is very disappointing and probably a reflection of where we are on the AFL ladder.

-Football is very much a game of intensity, and if you don’t bring it, you get touched up.  Our intensity levels are a sign of what type of character and how much fight we have in us. Injuries and age are not an excuse for a lack of intensity and committment.

-It is a fact that we will not participate in September action. All but three teams still have a sniff at finals action, so these teams have that intrinsic motivation to keep going hard.

-What we have must come from within and be born out of character and pride and respect. If we don’t, we will simply tread water, and if you have to tread water for too long you drown!

Post Match
-We were well beaten in most areas of the ground.  They had it inside their forward 50 metres, 49 to 43; however they took 20 marks inside their forward 50, as opposed to our 11.

-We made too many skill errors either by foot or hand early in the match.  Our intensity then dropped off for the remainder of the game.  We will look to improve on these areas over the next few weeks.

-We won the centre clearances 14 to 8.

-There were some positive signs from our younger players. We were pleased that Michael Newton responded from an ordinary game last week, kicking two goals and taking six marks.  He has improved in a lot of areas in the last 12 months and again over the last month of AFL football.

-Buckley played his best game in his short career, collecting 15 possessions and can move with the pace of senior football.  James Frawley was beaten on the day, but made his opponent earn every kick.  We decided to stick with this match up for the entire game as this would be a valuable learning experience.

-Nathan Jones and James McDonald were both solid contributors over the four quarters.  McDonald played with his usual high work-rate, while Jones worked exceptionally hard collecting 17 possessions, had 11 tackles, and also had seven clearances.  Junior McDonald is made of the right stuff.  He plays hard and tough, no matter the circumstances.  He is a very team orientated person who shows great care on the park for his team and his club. 

-It was also good to get game time into Brent Moloney, who played his first game in over two months.

-We will continue to look at improving certain areas each match.  We need to maintain a high intensity for four quarters, which will then allow us to improve certain areas of our game.  We will continue to work on our counter defence, along with kicking and hand skills.

-We will also look to improve our stoppages, and will focus on winning the contested ball.-There is a seven day turnaround until our game against Port Adelaide, which gives us a few sessions on the track to work on these areas.