Roos, McCartney ponder art of AFL attack

Paul Roos says a scramble to mimic premiership teams and be the best defensively is to blame for falling AFL scores.

Melbourne coach Paul Roos watches his team during the warm-up session

Melbourne coach Paul Roos has a radical plan to make the AFL interesting again. (AAP)

Paul Roos has a radical plan to make the AFL interesting again.

The first seven weeks of the season have been dominated by low scores and underwhelming crowds.

Weeks after proposing to abolish the MCG scoreboard to ensure a focus on the performance and not the result, his latest idea would pack the stands and ensure the goals come flowing again.

It's a simple one: ban opposition teams.

"When we arrive at the MCG, (Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney) is going to come here too with his team," he said.

"That's where the problem arises.

"Come and watch any team train and we'll go through the corridor and kick plenty of goals ... it's bloody exciting footy; we're all playing exciting footy at training.

Roos' tongue-in-cheek suggestion made the point nicely - don't blame the chasing pack for falling scores.

Blame the teams that have been doing it for a long time - and winning flags because of it.

"History tells you the best defensive teams win premierships," he said.

"Good footy teams play combative football ... it's just that Hawthorn and Geelong have serious talent so, when they play a combative game, they still score 14, 15 goals."

Melbourne are the league's worst scorers and their Saturday night opponents, the Bulldogs, aren't pulling down trees in attack.

McCartney said both teams needed to teach their young lists to last the distance.

"There's not many teams that are running out two full hours of tough footy," he said.

"We both advocate a pretty combative style and we've both got to find ways to kick some more goals and get more reward for your work."

McCartney said he wouldn't expose his team to the tape of their 2013 round-14 loss to the Demons, remarkably the last time the Bulldogs set foot on the MCG.

McCartney said the Bulldogs' sole fixture there this year had the players fired up.

"If you're going to be any good in this game, you want to know you can come here and deal with the ground and being out here."

Their match will be preceded by the flooding of the MCG by up to 15,000 people in support of breast cancer support - representing the number of women who will be diagnosed with the disease this year.

McCartney said the staging of the Field of Women event for the first time since 2010 was a poignant reminder of what was important.

"It reminds you that life's tough in a lot of ways ... there's more to life than footy," he said.

Participants will be dressed in pink ponchos, filling out a silhouette of a lady on the historic ground.


Share

3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world