THERE haven’t been many social media posts since Round 1 without a comment about Melbourne’s wasteful forward 50 entries.
So, Josh Mahoney, the club’s GM of Football Operations, jumped on the Inside Melbourne podcast to ensure fans this issue is on the agenda.
“It is something that’s being addressed,” Mahoney said.
“We’ve just got to keep training our connection between our midfield and our forwards.
“It’s been something we’ve been continuously working on and we’ve shown some really good signs in the pre-season games.”
When going forward in 2019, the Demons had the worst conversion rate of any side in the league, kicking just 223 goals from 1187 inside 50’s.
Fast forward to the opening game of 2020 and fans were disappointed to learn that not much had changed.
The Dees proved wasteful in Perth, managing just seven majors from 45 entries, but it is a small sample size.
“The West Coast game we didn’t play well, and West Coast are very good at intercept marking,” Mahoney said.
“So, it probably showed out that we didn’t do that well and we bombed when we didn’t really want to.
“It’s something we’re working on and it’s still been a focus for us to make sure we get that connection.”
While it’s no secret Melbourne’s midfielders will be looking to tidy up their delivery, it’s important to understand that sometimes the long kick is necessary.
“The whole term of ‘bombing it inside 50’, is, there’s times where you do kick the ball long inside 50,” Mahoney said.
“I mean, it’s still a bit of a territory game.
“The teams that have the ball inside 50 the most generally win the game.
“In an ideal world you get it in there and you score straight away, but sometimes it’s just about having the ball in that area as well.”
Watch the Inside Melbourne podcast below as Josh Mahoney breaks down more of the issues that the club is facing this season.
