You learn more from a loss than a win and a loss could be a good thing as it's just a trial and even early rounds see very high error rates as new combinations and match fitness take time to grow so no need to panic. Tigers are much stronger this year and Galvin looks like he will continue to improve, so many good things started with him. Terrell May was also huge for them and I wish we went after him.
A cornerstone of Melbourne's success is accountability and rarely losing 2 games in a row. Can Ryles bring a similar culture in his first season, probably not straight away with many players used to the no accountability era of BA likely to struggle. What will happen this year though is he will see who is buying in to new structures and his expected levels of accountability. I expect a few mid season taps on the shoulder and more turnover next year before we see what Ryles can do.
The storm hold honesty sessions regularly where everyone watches video as a group and criticise individual and team efforts. It makes players want to identify short comings in their game before others point it out and accept responsibility for their errors. I also think it is why Melbourne has so many ex and current players who have great game awareness and will end up future coaches. They can pick weaknesses to target in players and see what players need to improve.
Some players won't be able to buy into this new level of accountability Ryles will hold them too. BA loved the effort from the boys even after shocking losses but Ryles won't cop it as neither Roosters or Storm where he spent a lot of time accept poor results or effort, I'm thinking Matto in particular won't like being told what he does wrong and will agitate for a release, but hopefully it helps players like Lussick want to really work on his passing, Kelma on his effort in defence and the whole team improve their handling. We have already seen better levels of scrambling in defence and fitness in most players. The evidence will be how we respond after a loss.
With Melbourne first up record I think we will have an early gauge of how the transition to Ryles era will go when we see who steps up and responds in round 2 but it could take a few rounds for Ryles to find the best starting 17. I don't think he will be scared to drop players and give others an opportunity if they warrant it.
Replies
Very much agreed here. Going to be another rebuilding process. Would help though Brown to make a decision move on and get out the media.
Great Blog, watching last night amid the excitement is a realisation that all them bad habits are still around from years of being coached under BA- expectations have to reasonable, short term pain for long term gain, Ryles will have a complete season to instill new system, higher standards and like you said accountability. This team is not Jason's, players will be released probably sooner than we first thought which I don't mind, we need to be patient and trust the process, I have complete faith in what the new coaching set up it's trying to implement.
If Ryles can get us to NOT leak back to back tries every game, that'll be a good start. The old switch off for 5-10 minutes still looks like it's there.
There's still a few less than good players in the top 30 that should not get another contract.
Hopefully, the poor handling and high missed tackle count last night was due to being 2nd up after a spell.
Looking forward to seeing what changes stick yet expecting that bad behaviours from the last few years will re-emerge when these guys are under pressure in games.
He has got the switch off timer from 20mins to 10mins lol
Last night showed, we are not a top 8 club yet.
To be in the top 8 and play finals footy requires a good footy team of firsts and then depth in the reggies, playing the same system.
Last night showed individuals that lacked the abilty to pass a ball, to hold a pass, whom decided to walk back to a defensive line, to lie down after making a tackle and were guilty of missing tackles consistently.
A 62% completion rate makes it impossible to have enough ball to be competetive.
and 41missed tackles shows we have issues
If you need a club system with first grade players and good depth behind to make the 8, we are just not there yet, with the players on show last night.
To be honest last night looked more like Ryles deciding who was going to play themselves out of the team, as much as whom was playing themselves into the team. It was very insightfull actually and shows that there are more players who will be looking for new clubs sooner rather then later.
A couple of things that looked good, Iongi is showing he is capable of first grade, Rylie Smith has shown he deserves a chance, a lot of boys looked fitter, our play the ball speed has never been quicker in the last 10 years. Matt Doorey had a good game, The Cooma Stallion Williams is a workhorse and Hopgood is a class above most.
We have a team of firsts that can play finals footy perhaps, but do we have the depth when injuries / rep season come about.
Last night's performance actually hit home, at how short we are in a couple of positions, and too much of the Brad era, I hope it was just knocking out the cobwebs, tualagi very disappointing along with the ponytail giant (looks like Tarzan runs like Jane) seems quite lazy., Volkman too appeared quite lost and inept last night.....jack williams a gun.....hope we don't burn him out
surprisingly I thought Hopgood had a poor game too . Hope it is just match fitness coming back from injury.
I agree I thought Hopgood wasn't great but you could clearly see he was gassed and short of a gallop, he will improve quickly though with match fitness
Hopgood hadn't played in up to 6 months also, will take a while. Some forget he has only had 1 and a half seasons in NRL. You could slightly classify him as a seasoned first grader. Oppose to say Paulo who is better equipped to having no football for a while then coming back and doing alright.
Tuivaiti is who you're referring to regarding the ponytail. He's just turned 20 and is still eligible for Flegg.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next