Melbourne coach Paul Roos realises his latest thought on helping the Demons might not meet with universal AFL approval.
“I’d love to take the scoreboards down in our games and I say that in all seriousness,” Roos said with a hint of a grin.
“I don’t know whether I can that across the line – we’re playing at the MCG, it’s a bloody big scoreboard they’ve got there.
“Maybe I can talk to Andrew (Demetriou), he’s leaving at the end of the year, I can get him to whip it down.”
There is sound thinking behind the bizarre notion.
Roos wondered whether his players focussed too much on the score and not on what they had to do next last Saturday night in their narrow season-opening loss to St Kilda.
Certainly it was an ugly scoreline for the Demons, who had three more scoring shots than the Saints but kicked a wayward 6.15 (51) to lose by 17 points.
“We really didn’t lower our eyes and hit targets as much,” Roos said.
“When you have a smaller forward line, you just can’t bomb it in.”
Roos said the early signs were positive that Jack Fitzpatrick (concussion) and Tom McDonald (corked leg) would recover in time for Sunday’s MCG match against West Coast.
The Eagles have started the season with a bang, dispatching the Western Bulldogs on Sunday by 65 points.
But Roos described this weekend’s challenge as exciting and, as always, was trying to boost the confidence of his players.
“There was certainly a lot to be happy about, but you want to get a result because the players have been bashed around a bit – just teach them how to win,” he said.
No player better personifies Roos’ mission than Jack Watts.
Roos said the No.1 draft pick probably had his best game for the club in Saturday’s loss.
Given Watts played so well through the midfield, Roos is not keen to send him forward to boost their options there.
“Jack has been smashed around – he can’t play forward, he can’t do this,” Roos said.
“I wouldn’t want to take him now out of a position where he’s starting to get some real confidence.”