How GWS coach Leon Cameron started preparing to face his side’s MCG hoodoo midway through last week’s match
It was a little strange watching it all play out. After dominating for three quarters, GWS completely changed its game style against Carlton. Why? In his exclusive column, Mick McGuane believes he’s cracked the case.
If the GWS Giants finally exorcise their demons at the MCG on Sunday, I reckon we will be talking about one of the coaching masterstrokes of the season.
Perhaps my eyes were lying to me, but I am almost certain Leon Cameron started preparing his players for busting their MCG hoodoo at three-quarter time in last week’s win over Carlton.
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GWS appeared destined for a record-breaking win over the Blues, but I reckon the Giants took their foot off the throat to prioritise rehearsing the method of play they’ll need to execute when the heat is on against Melbourne this weekend.
The Giants took 154 marks last week against Carlton but gathered a stunning 55 of them in the final term. Watching that last quarter, I felt there was an overemphasis put on practising ball security and getting the game into a bit of tempo control.
The first three quarters were embarrassing to watch from a Carlton perspective. The Giants were going at their trademark breakneck speed. The orange tsunami was in full force.
But then suddenly for the last term they went into a bit of slow ball control and I reckon it was a plan to try and spread the ground, use the width, and essentially use Carlton as witches’ hats to train and rehearse for the MCG experience they will face against Melbourne.
I think Cameron saw it as an opportunity too good to waste. Essentially it became a glorified training session under match conditions. It felt like the Giants changed their mode and method.
Only 48 hours earlier we witnessed the West Coast Eagles get 27 uncontested marks in the last quarter against the Demons to gain control and get over the line. Before then it had been an arm wrestle.
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The template had been set for GWS to follow. The Giants are about the contest. When they get beaten, they are outscored after giving the ball back.
Cameron was coaching with one eye to the MCG, and the 55 final-quarter marks are evidence of that. The focus turned to areas they’ve struggled in at the MCG.
The Giants are one win from their past nine matches at the MCG since 2015, when they became competitive.
Matt de Boer used the words “colosseum and aura” in describing the MCG earlier this year and that language probably signals their mindset, in the sense they do see it as a big challenge before they even step onto the ground.
That might be reading too much into it, but the reality is they have to start mastering these demons.
If you want a medal around your neck, at some stage in your footy life you have to plant your feet and say enough is enough: because the MCG is where grand finals are played.
Having said that, I’d be surprised if Cameron raised the psychology side of it.
The messaging he has to sell is about belief. Sell the message that “we are a good team. We are a mature team. We have to be an anywhere, anytime team. We can’t accept losses anymore, wherever we go. We can’t put our hands in the air and say this is too hard.”
It will only take one good win to give GWS the belief that they can play at the ground of the Holy Grail.
BUDDY NONSENSE
This suggestion that Lance Franklin coming back on Friday night against Collingwood is going to somehow suppress the growth and development of others in the Swans’ forward line is wishy-washy.
It’s been floated that John Longmire should shift Franklin out to the wing. That’s pie-in-the-sky stuff. When push comes to shove, Buddy has to be in the forward 50.
With Buddy in that forward six, they will be a much better team, without question, and the rest is just drivel.
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