FAT heads or big heads.
Neither is an endearing term, especially when they’re labeled towards any sporting team.
These terms came to the fore on Saturday at the MCG, when AFL great and Triple M commentator Wayne Carey said Melbourne played like “fat heads” against Essendon.
And if that wasn’t enough, he followed up with further commentary on The Sunday Rub, saying it was “one of the worst losses I’ve seen Melbourne have”.
Post-match, the ‘fat heads’ term was posed to Melbourne coach Paul Roos about his side, following its disappointing 13-point loss.
“Some of them would’ve gone in possibly thinking ‘yeah, it was an easy game’. Some of them were tired, so that’s a distinct difference, but it’s hard after the game to work out the 22 and put them into categories,” Roos said.
“[Angus] Brayshaw looked tired, [Clayton] Oliver looked tired and Jack Viney looked tired, so we’ve had a pretty big five weeks. Admittedly, it was only NAB
“But I don’t think he’s (Carey) far off the mark and I think there are some of them that would’ve turned up today thinking ‘it’s a pretty easy day at the office’. But we know with AFL footy, it can certainly bite you on the backside.”
Although Roos acknowledged that complacency had crept in – after an undefeated start to the year – he was adamant that no AFL opposition could ever be underestimated.
“The expectation was that you come to win the game, but the disappointing thing that we’ve touched on is that you have to respect the opposition. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against,” he said.
“I thought they (Essendon) played very, very well. They all played well and if you look through their stats sheet, [David] Zaharakis had 34 [disposals] … they had a lot of the ball and they used the ball well. I can see the Melbourne supporters’ frustration. It often comes on the back of a really good performance, so it adds to the frustration.
“We felt last week that the last month had been very, very good … and we like to think that we have come forward and that’s certainly from a coaching point of view. We’ll look at the reasons, but we’ve got to continue down the path we believe is the right path.”
And that path was set back in September 2013, when Roos was appointed coach and a revamped playing and coaching group started to take shape.
After inheriting a team that had endured the fifth worse season in the club’s history – just two wins in 2013 – there is no doubt progress has been made, even if there have been several frustrations along the way.
Four wins came in 2014 and seven last year, highlighting that fact, even if it’s been terribly testing for Melbourne fans that haven’t seen finals since 2006.
Until the weekend, Melbourne was also the only undefeated team in 2016, having won three NAB Challenge matches and the opening round against Greater Western Sydney. Fremantle and Collingwood, which won its three NAB Challenge matches, entered round two with defeats in the opening round.
Melbourne’s first bump in the road came on Saturday.
It wasn’t disastrous. It was terribly frustrating. Similar results like that for the remainder of the season would be disappointing, but to panic so early in the year would be folly.
So how does Melbourne react?
“It’s a good question. I think dissecting why is really, really important,” Roos said.
“The guys that you generally felt were tired, you’ve got to work out ‘ok, do you play them next week or do you rest them during the week?’ So there is definitely that factor with at least half a dozen of them. The ones that you thought were big-headed, you’ve got to sit them down and you say ‘you’ve got to respect the competition’, so there are a number of ways you’ve got to go about it.
“Clearly, from our point of view, it’s round two and we’ve had a good five weeks, so today is not acceptable. You’ve got to get back on the horse and work out ways to fix them.”
There is no other way.
