COACH Paul Roos says Metricon Stadium doesn’t hold any fears for his side, but he’s preparing for a “fired up” Gold Coast after Geelong thrashed the Suns by 120 points at the Cattery last round.
Speaking at AAMI Park on Wednesday in the lead-up to his team’s clash on Saturday afternoon, Roos said playing interstate was a great opportunity for his charges.
“I think having played in Tassie a few weeks ago against North [Melbourne] helps,” Roos said.
“The difference at Etihad [Stadium last round against St Kilda] was quite dramatic because the roof is closed and it’s a faster game. With Subi (Subiaco, Domain Stadium) it’s the size [of the ground that makes a difference], so they’re all different.
“I don’t think the ground at Metricon [Stadium] holds many fears – it’s more the opposition [that we need to be concerned about]. We need to play really well against Gold Coast, because as [its coach] ‘Rocket’ (Rodney Eade) said, they had a poor week last week and they’re going to be pretty fired up.
“[We’ve played] Richmond, Collingwood and St Kilda, when they’ve all come off losses, so it’s not something we haven’t experienced already. It’s more about the opposition and setting our team up and making sure we’ve got a lot more energy, and picking the right side,” he said.
“Going up there is really, really important. The guys having played three weeks ago on a foreign venue and doing pretty well against North [Melbourne] – hopefully they take some confidence out of that.”
Roos said Monday’s review of its 39-point loss to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium was a pretty sharp one. But he reinforced that despite a 3-3 win/loss record to start the season, Melbourne was still in an education phase among an even competition.
“We felt we didn’t cover the ground well enough and we didn’t get to enough contests. St Kilda ran a lot better than us,” he said.
“Football is complicated, but in some ways, it’s pretty simple. If the other team beats you to all the contests over the ground, it’s pretty hard to win and I think that’s what St Kilda did. That’s one area we really spoke about on Monday.”
Roos said it was hard to win a shootout at Etihad Stadium.
“We don’t play there enough, but [if you attempt] a shootout against St Kilda, [then] good luck [and the same against] the Bulldogs and North [Melbourne].”
