MUCH like its opponent Brisbane, Melbourne finds itself back in another AFL Women’s decider after the heartbreak of last season\u2019s loss to Adelaide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Melbourne assistant coach Tamara Hyett<\/em><\/strong> believes that despite Melbourne being the \u201cperennial almosts\u201d since the establishment of the competition, she does not believe that adds any pressure to her side coming into tomorrow\u2019s clash, because of the number of list changes they have to make every season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also said that the mood in the Dees camp is \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c(We) took a lot of learnings from the game against North, so being able to look at some vision and areas we can improve, but the girls are really up and about and there\u2019s a nice calmness amongst the group and the coaches, so yeah it\u2019s good,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hyett said that the disappointment of losing last season\u2019s decider did not necessarily have a mental effect on the team, but \u201cit was more the disappointment that we knew that we had the style of play to compete, (we) just didn\u2019t execute. That was probably the most disappointing thing was the fail to execute, so that was a really good learning.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI feel like the team is a little bit mentally tougher this time around, been working on ways that not just scoreboard but other areas where they feel like they can get some fulfilment, and I think that\u2019s helped,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Rather than kicks marks handballs, there\u2019s other areas of the game we want to do well at, and it\u2019s something that the whole team\u2019s on board with, so that has been a nice mindset shift going into this season as well, especially after I guess that all happened after Round 4\u2019s game. Just a bit of a mental tweak of what we value and since then it\u2019s been pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hyett is defensive coach at the Dees, which means she is in charge of the strongest defence in the competition, and is excited about the challenge of coming up against the competition\u2019s strongest offence tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an awesome, awesome matchup, but we\u2019ve got a point to prove\u201d she said. I think the backs sort of lowered our colours the last time we met, just some areas we just needed to improve on, and we\u2019re happy to be stingy again this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe whole team defence has been working really well, and the backs\u2019 job is a lot easier when there\u2019s pressure on the ball, so it\u2019s not as easy coming in. But they\u2019ve got a lot of weapons, and they\u2019re all different Brisbane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They\u2019ve got good talls, good ground level players, speed, but we\u2019ve also got a good variety of players down back that I think there\u2019ll be a few different roles and we\u2019ve just got to play to our strengths as a back group and I think that will assist in nullifying their strengths as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hyett praised the season of young defender Tahlia Gillard<\/a>, who has really made the most of regular game time afforded to her by the injury to Gabby Colvin<\/a>. However, Hyett is not surprised Gillard is having such a good season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah Tahls is super talented, but also she\u2019s in the off season really knuckled down hard on her game,” she said. \u201cShe\u2019s got fantastic support and a good role model down there in Libby Birch<\/a>. She\u2019s worked a lot with Libby, but the biggest thing for Tahls is she\u2019s not a fluke that she\u2019s having a good season, she\u2019s put in the work that she\u2019s doing. She\u2019s got a lot of strengths, then also using those strengths as a weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s 19, and playing on the key forward every week, Randall<\/a> and King<\/a> last week, Davidson<\/a> and Wardlaw<\/a> [this week], and in her first year\/second season, there\u2019s not too many players that can compete against those week in and week out and she\u2019s really done a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hyett believes that if her Dees stick to their roles and work for each other, this will counter the evenness across the field and see the side triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n