A timely, old lesson reinforced from the Melbourne game: It's not what you do, it's how long it takes you to do it.
Like us, Melbourne move the ball faster than the opposition can set up. And in reverse, they setup faster than the opposition can attack.
Defence always wins… unless you can attack before they defend. Every attacking situation falls into 1 of 2 categories: When the oppo is ready or when they're not ready. If they're not ready to defend, it’s a matter of time. You're dead if you let them have time to deploy their team-wide defensive structure in your forward line. Because defence always wins.
Melbourne often used the forward handball as one way to attack quicker than the Bulldogs could defend. The ball regularly went 80m in 3 seconds. How long does it take for the oppo to react and close that space? Again, a question of time.
People tend to prefer the idea of manipulating space more than manipulating time. You can see things in the space in front of you. If you look for an answer through a perfect kick or a perfect mark, then you're thinking about manipulating space better than they can. That means you're thinking from a talent-based philosophy, where players are valued for their competence more than their effort or character. That’s generally associated with results-driven, authoritative, hierarchical business structures (picture Adelaide under Tex), as opposed to flatter, process-driven, more group-driven, collaborative ones. I watch the game and think about how Melbourne and us are preoccupied with manipulating time. I’m looking at how quickly a player does something, and both Melbourne and Richmond look like masters in this area - it’s about how long it takes you to fire up those flux capacitors.
Melbourne's game last night was more of the same. It's what we do. So, we just have to beat them at our own game. Preferably when the clock strikes 10:04pm, which we're primed to hit this year.
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