B.T.D.T (been there, done that) by George on the Outer

[Demonland 64,416]

To quote from Demonland's own Oracle in his Match Preview:

When, in recent history, has Melbourne ever won a game starting as the favourite?

Once again the Demon supporters who have B.T.D.T knew all too well what was going to happen.

Essendon on their knees, lost their captain, the club under a long-running drug investigation, senior players missing through injury, a 110 point thrashing the previous week, and not having a win since Round 8. Surely the reinvigorated Demons would be a certainty to chalk up the win, and better their whole season's performance from 2014?

And as the Oracle noted, that a similarly depleted, (or even more depleted) Essendon side won against the Demons in the pre-season - another certain win that was just as equally squandered.

But the heart won out for the Oracle over the head, with his final prediction of a Demon win, and guess what? Yes, the Demons managed to resurrect the career of James Hird, and shatter, yet again, the Demon supporters hopes.

The first half of the match was a shocker for both sides, with both managing a meagre 3 goals each.

Meanwhile the umpires (how do we manage to get Justin Schmitt as the senior umpire again?) were putting in a similar shocker to the Richmond-Carlton game the night before.

Thirty-eight thousand plus spectators witnessed the first goal of the game to James Gwilt as being positively over the line on multiple replays, but miraculously the video umpire struggled to determine where the white line was. Simple for thousands but obviously not for one!

A deliberate out of bounds against Essendon was not called until the field umpire who was 10 metres away from the action checked with Schmitty who was 100 metres away! What are these people paid to do?

But it was Melbourne which was gradually throwing the game away in front of goal. Ultimately twenty-five scoring shots including three "posters" and a few more which went OOBs on the full, should have seen an easy win to the Demons but not when you can only muster 7 majors from such an effort!

And ultimately it was effort which was severely lacking. With young kids like Harmes, Stretch, ANB, Brayshaw and Hogan in the side, the effort part of the game has to come from those of more experience.

Yet not a peep came from Dawes, Garlett, Howe and a few others. ANB only got 8 touches, but he had more tackles (6), than Cross, Dawes, McDonald, Watts and Jetta all combined! All on a day where tackling was an easy option, with the congestion and slippery ball.

In the ruck Max Gawn has cemented his position as our number 1 with an extraordinary 58 hit-outs. Now, all of them werent to advantage, and a fair number were toward exactly the wrong side of the contest, but at least he was giving us opportunities, particularly in the middle. If he can finally get a full pre-season, he will be a category 1 player for us in 2016.

The return of Aaron Vandenberg was a positive and the efforts of Jones, Viney, and Vince in the middle and around the ground were of their usual high standard. Vineys work to limit Heppel was good, but he needed more support and at least and equal amount of effort from others in the side.

The forward line was dysfunctional, as evidenced by the scoreline, and was shown up even more when Tom McDonald went forward in the last quarter and nearly won the game if only he had kicked straight!

The fact that he was able to lead and mark when other couldnt for ¾ of the game was a tragic indictment on them.

Yes, once again we managed to lose a game that screamed out as a certain 4 points. Once again the players approached the game with only a half-hearted demeanour, and they got the result that type of attitude produces.

The game of AFL is to be played at 100% effort, for 100% of the game.

We the supporters know that all too well, because too often we have seen those players in the Red and Blue do exactly what they did today. And each and every time the result is the same.

Too often we have B.T.D.T.!!!

Melbourne 1.3.9 3.9.27 4.13.37 7.18.60

Essendon 1.3.9 3.4.22 9.7.61 10.9.69

Goals

Melbourne Garlett Hogan Howe Jetta McDonald Tyson vandenBerg

Essendon Daniher 5 Edwards 2 Heppell Howlett Stanton

Best

Melbourne Gawn, Vince, Jones, vandenBerg, McDonand Dunn Viney

Essendon Hurley Daniher Stanton Goddard Heppell Gwilt

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Essendon Nil

Substitutions

Melbourne Jay Kennedy-Harris replaced James Harmes in the third quarter

Essendon Jason Ashby replaced Alex Browne (concussion) in the second quarter

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Essendon Alex Browne (concussion)

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Essendon Nil

Umpires Schmitt Mitchell Deboy.

Official Crowd 38,861 at the MCG.