STATISTICALLY, our round seven match against the Crows was a remarkable match.
Plenty of season-best figures were achieved by the team and individual players, plus it was our biggest winning margin since round six, 2004.
But first, time to clear up a misconception regarding rotations which needs to be straightened out a little.
Quite often we see a player kick a goal and immediately come to the interchange bench. Obviously this has increased as the rotation numbers have gone to the next level over the past few years.
Melbourne fans witnessed this first hand when Liam Jurrah kicked the first Demon goal in round four against the Gold Coast. As soon as he split the middle he was summoned to the bench as part of a deliberate rotation.
But you often hear football commentators bemoaning the fact that players can kick a goal then miss the next phase of play because they’re on the bench.
Surely they should be given an opportunity to kick another goal while they’re still “up and about”? Why not make the most of their momentum and leave them on the ground?
Well, there are a number of reasons, none more so than the fact that the majority of clubs carefully plan their interchanges so that all players are given the right amount of rest and game time.
Often they’ve been told to come off well before they manage to score, so the fact they’ve kicked a goal becomes irrelevant.
Importantly, a goal is the perfect time to come off the ground since the play is stopped for close to 40 seconds. If a player decides to wait until the next opportunity, he might not get a chance until ten minutes later. Often it becomes a struggle to get players off the ground, if the ball is stuck on the outer wing amongst a string of stoppages.
The consequences of breaking these rotations affect more than just the goalkicker - the player on the bench due to come onto the ground (fresh and ready to go after their pre-determined break) doesn’t get his chance until minutes later.
And then the next player who is in line to replace him has to stay on the ground longer. And so on.
The other major factor in sticking to rotations, regardless of a player kicking a goal, is the fact that a lot of rotations are done in ‘teams’.
You can’t just replace a defender with a midfielder because you could end up with a disastrous mismatch. Breaking the rotations threatens to derail all your plans and leave everything out of synch. All because someone scored a goal?
You might end up leaking two goals to your opponent in the process.
And would the player have kicked a goal in the first place had he been the victim of too many consecutive minutes on the ground?
Perhaps he may have been too fatigued to have an impact on the contest because the club decided to roll the dice after scoring a goal. All interesting theories and open to debate.
Rotations have become so important that most clubs run specific software packages to help them out. No more spreadsheets or paper and pens, these custom rotations programs typically display an oval ground with all players in position, obviously including the bench.
They display the time players have been on and off the ground, and the fitness staff monitor closely.
Sneak a look down towards the bench when you’re at your next match and you’ll notice all the technology making its way down there. And there’s even more in the coaches’ box.
So how are the interchange figures looking this year?
Last weekend, the Demons unfortunately lost defender Jack Grimes to a foot injury only a few minutes into the first term.
Despite this, the rotations still managed to reach 121, five more than the AFL average of 116 this season.
The 2010 average was 117, so we can already gather that the substitute rule has had the predicted plateau effect on the numbers without decreasing them dramatically.
The Demons currently rank six in average interchanges this year with 119 thus far. The Bulldogs lead the way with an average of 135, while the Brisbane Lions rank 17th with 104.
And we can’t finish this week without looking at some of the incredible figures from our round seven match on the weekend.
The Dees have been criticised for their lack of pressure up forward in recent weeks.
This form turned around last Sunday with 27 forward 50 tackles over the four quarters. Only the Blues have notched up more in a single match this season, remarkably also against the Crows.
Midfielder Brent Moloney was credited with a massive 19 clearances, which leaves him second of all-time for clearances in a match behind Paul Salmon’s amazing 1998 effort (22 clearances in total) against North Melbourne.
Addam Maric had a career-high 31 disposals, 10 Inside 50s and 15 score involvements.
Only Colin Sylvia has had more score involvements in a match this season with 17 against the Suns in round four.
And probably the best of them all - the Demons had 73 Inside 50s for the match, beating the round four figure of 66 against the Suns.
But amazingly, last weekend’s total is our highest tally since the Grand Final year of 2000, where Melbourne notched up 77 Inside 50s against the Eagles in round seven.
In recent seasons our best result has been 60 inside 50s, so this is a significant step up in terms of numbers.
The Demons might now have a fair few injury (and unfortunately tribunal) worries, but hopefully this result sets the standard for the rest of the year.
It’s a big test this week against the Roos in a rare Saturday afternoon match.
See you all there.
Don’t forget to follow @StatsIncredible on Twitter.
Plenty of season-best figures were achieved by the team and individual players, plus it was our biggest winning margin since round six, 2004.
But first, time to clear up a misconception regarding rotations which needs to be straightened out a little.
Quite often we see a player kick a goal and immediately come to the interchange bench. Obviously this has increased as the rotation numbers have gone to the next level over the past few years.
Melbourne fans witnessed this first hand when Liam Jurrah kicked the first Demon goal in round four against the Gold Coast. As soon as he split the middle he was summoned to the bench as part of a deliberate rotation.
But you often hear football commentators bemoaning the fact that players can kick a goal then miss the next phase of play because they’re on the bench.
Surely they should be given an opportunity to kick another goal while they’re still “up and about”? Why not make the most of their momentum and leave them on the ground?
Well, there are a number of reasons, none more so than the fact that the majority of clubs carefully plan their interchanges so that all players are given the right amount of rest and game time.
Often they’ve been told to come off well before they manage to score, so the fact they’ve kicked a goal becomes irrelevant.
Importantly, a goal is the perfect time to come off the ground since the play is stopped for close to 40 seconds. If a player decides to wait until the next opportunity, he might not get a chance until ten minutes later. Often it becomes a struggle to get players off the ground, if the ball is stuck on the outer wing amongst a string of stoppages.
The consequences of breaking these rotations affect more than just the goalkicker - the player on the bench due to come onto the ground (fresh and ready to go after their pre-determined break) doesn’t get his chance until minutes later.
And then the next player who is in line to replace him has to stay on the ground longer. And so on.
The other major factor in sticking to rotations, regardless of a player kicking a goal, is the fact that a lot of rotations are done in ‘teams’.
You can’t just replace a defender with a midfielder because you could end up with a disastrous mismatch. Breaking the rotations threatens to derail all your plans and leave everything out of synch. All because someone scored a goal?
You might end up leaking two goals to your opponent in the process.
And would the player have kicked a goal in the first place had he been the victim of too many consecutive minutes on the ground?
Perhaps he may have been too fatigued to have an impact on the contest because the club decided to roll the dice after scoring a goal. All interesting theories and open to debate.
Rotations have become so important that most clubs run specific software packages to help them out. No more spreadsheets or paper and pens, these custom rotations programs typically display an oval ground with all players in position, obviously including the bench.
They display the time players have been on and off the ground, and the fitness staff monitor closely.
Sneak a look down towards the bench when you’re at your next match and you’ll notice all the technology making its way down there. And there’s even more in the coaches’ box.
So how are the interchange figures looking this year?
Last weekend, the Demons unfortunately lost defender Jack Grimes to a foot injury only a few minutes into the first term.
Despite this, the rotations still managed to reach 121, five more than the AFL average of 116 this season.
The 2010 average was 117, so we can already gather that the substitute rule has had the predicted plateau effect on the numbers without decreasing them dramatically.
The Demons currently rank six in average interchanges this year with 119 thus far. The Bulldogs lead the way with an average of 135, while the Brisbane Lions rank 17th with 104.
And we can’t finish this week without looking at some of the incredible figures from our round seven match on the weekend.
The Dees have been criticised for their lack of pressure up forward in recent weeks.
This form turned around last Sunday with 27 forward 50 tackles over the four quarters. Only the Blues have notched up more in a single match this season, remarkably also against the Crows.
Midfielder Brent Moloney was credited with a massive 19 clearances, which leaves him second of all-time for clearances in a match behind Paul Salmon’s amazing 1998 effort (22 clearances in total) against North Melbourne.
Addam Maric had a career-high 31 disposals, 10 Inside 50s and 15 score involvements.
Only Colin Sylvia has had more score involvements in a match this season with 17 against the Suns in round four.
And probably the best of them all - the Demons had 73 Inside 50s for the match, beating the round four figure of 66 against the Suns.
But amazingly, last weekend’s total is our highest tally since the Grand Final year of 2000, where Melbourne notched up 77 Inside 50s against the Eagles in round seven.
In recent seasons our best result has been 60 inside 50s, so this is a significant step up in terms of numbers.
The Demons might now have a fair few injury (and unfortunately tribunal) worries, but hopefully this result sets the standard for the rest of the year.
It’s a big test this week against the Roos in a rare Saturday afternoon match.
See you all there.
Don’t forget to follow @StatsIncredible on Twitter.
