\n Media Conference\n <\/p>\n
\n Interim coach Troy Chaplin says Melbourne is ready to embrace the Friday night stage against Collingwood\n <\/p>\n
MELBOURNE will close out its season on Friday night with a blockbuster clash against Collingwood, and interim coach Troy Chaplin says his side is determined to deliver a performance supporters can be proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing the season ends this week, but it\u2019s also exciting,\u201d Chaplin said. \u201cFriday night footy, against a team playing for top four, on the big stage with a big crowd – it\u2019ll be great for our young guys to experience that. We really want to finish the season with a win and put in a performance that our fans can be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bouncing back<\/p>\n
After a flat outing against Hawthorn, Chaplin said the Demons had been focused on correcting their ball use and defensive structures.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of it was our execution. Hawthorn punished us for that, and we know Collingwood will do the same if we don\u2019t get it right,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to use the ball well, defend their handball and run, and create opportunities the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lessons to be learnt<\/p>\n
Melbourne went down to Collingwood by a single point earlier in the season, and Chaplin said while there are positives to take from that clash, the approach will be tweaked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are things we can take out of that game, but we\u2019ve also changed a few things since then,\u201d he said. \u201cGenerally, our games against Collingwood have been tight, and we\u2019re making sure we bring that same intent this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Collingwood Challenge<\/p>\n
Chaplin understands the challenge Collingwood presents under Friday night lights, but he\u2019s eager to attack it head on.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur players are right in for this week,\u201d he said. \u201cThey understand what\u2019s at stake for Collingwood. We spoke about being the team that can knock them off, but it\u2019s clear they\u2019re starting to find some form again. We know that when the Pies get up and going, they can be really formidable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growth as a coach<\/p>\n
Chaplin also reflected on his three-week stint as interim senior coach, describing it as a valuable learning experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly different – you\u2019re doing a lot more thinking and contemplating around certain things,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed it and had a lot of support from people within the club. I\u2019ve got aspirations to be a senior coach one day, but I\u2019m not in a rush either. This period has been really important for my growth.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Media Conference Interim coach Troy Chaplin says Melbourne is ready to embrace the Friday night stage against Collingwood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":["post-81533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}