A GAME OF TWO HALVES

[Demonland 73,209]

A GAME OF TWO HALVES - Part One by Whispering Jack

Sometimes you get the best and the worst when you go to see a sporting contest. This usually means that you get the best from the winner and the worst from the loser. However, on Sunday in the game between Melbourne and Fremantle, we saw the best and the worst from both teams.

The Dockers blew the game open when they took a 27-point lead into the first break and by half time they led by fifty points. Such was their dominance that they were threatening a victory of such gargantuan proportions that it would have made the Hawks' 104 point opening round win on this same ground and against the same club look paltry and insignificant.

There is no need to describe what transpired in the game's first hour from a Melbourne point of view because it was all too familiar. We've seen it time and again in the first six rounds - an orgy of errors, ineptitude (one centre square clearance in the first quarter and a half!) and, at times, downright incompetence from a home side that this week managed a meagre three first half goals and conceded eleven, of which many were a result of stupid stuff ups. In other words, much of the misery of the home team's fans - many just sat there with heads cupped in their despairing hands - was self-inflicted. Was it my imagination that the birds circling the ground at the main break drew near bore a closer resemblance to vultures than the seagulls that normally emerge out of the skies at around that time every week?

I spent a great deal of main break searching for a food stand on the ground floor of the MCG, the powers that be having made the decision to close the one they usually operate on most match days in the Redlegs area on level one. Presumably, they did so because they expected the handful of members and supporters in attendance might as well be as starved for food as they were of enjoyment for the game.

It was a bleak scene down there in the bowels of the great stadium; there was no sweet perfume in the half time air but there were so many blank looks and sad faces among those who had answered the call to come and support their team. Most were looking for some sort of sustenance or relief from the gloom of the day's events while some were simply looking for a way out of the ground.

At moments like these, some unusual thoughts can pop into your head. Such as the fact that the single most enjoyable moment of the day so far had come when the trumpeter was blowing his way through a rendition of the tune to the club's song. His performance probably had some artistic merit, but what I found entertaining in a devilish sort of way was the sight of this bloke in the red jacket whose face was becoming progressively more blue with every note he played. Similar to the colour of my face when Jeff Farmer intercepted an errant handball to run into an open goal in the second quarter.

"Keep your eye on the red and the blue."

Which was exactly what we try to do each week but it's a hell of a way to spend an afternoon these days.

A GAME OF TWO HALVES - Part Two by Whispering Jack

I have no idea as to what was happening below us in the Melbourne rooms during the main break but when the team came out for the start of the third quarter, a momentous change came over the game. Suddenly, the Demons were winning the ball out of the middle thanks to Mark Jamar's strong and heroic ruck work and Brock McLean's grunt at the stoppages. Cameron Bruce and Brad Green came alive and the burden of the club's disappointing start to its 150th anniversary season seemed to lift and disappear into thin air.

It was as if a whole new life had been breathed into the side as players who were dropping marks, fumbling handballs and fluffing their kicks half an hour ago came out of their collective shells and suddenly, everything started falling into place. Players were suddenly hitting their targets by foot and by hand. Goals which had been so hard to come by for most of the season, started to come at a regular rate.

Was a miracle about to happen?

Brad Green and Brad Miller scored important early second half goals, followed by Robbo and then we saw a touch of brilliance from Aaron Davey who twice ran rings around the Docker defences. One of his goals, from 50 metres after selling enough dummies to stock a sizeable nursery, must be a goal of the year contender. Matthew Bate and Brent Moloney lost the hesitation that marked their play earlier in the game. They became the danger men with their long kicking to position. Miller controlled centre half forward and was taking telling marks on a lead as well in contested situations.

The crowd was getting involved too as the Demon surge continued but just when it looked as if the visitors might be completely overrun, Matthew Pavlich chipped in with a couple of goals before the final change of ends. The Dockers led by 32 points and their temporary crisis appeared to be over.

But Melbourne wasn't finished yet and its final quarter onslaught was a thrilling nine goal performance - one that stunned the football world (not to mention the 19,423 punters at the ground). Moloney and Miller scored goals but the quarter really belonged to Robbo and Tiwi Island rookie Austin Wonaeamirri who each snagged three goals. Austin's crumbing goals and his effervescent enthusiasm in their celebration were infectious and they lifted the side and the crowd and they carried the club to its greatest fightback win ever.

The true Demon faithful spilled onto the hallowed turf as the trumpeter blared out the theme song and they covered the entire surface of the MCG. I was out there on the ground with them and, when I looked up, the vultures had disappeared.

Melbourne 1.3.9 3.8.26 8.15.63 17.17.119

Fremantle 5.6.36 11.10.76 13.17.95 15.23.113

Goals

Melbourne Robertson Wonnaeamirri 4 Davey Miller 3 Green 2 Moloney

Fremantle Pavlich 5 Tarrant 3 Farmer 2 Bell Ibbotson Mundy Palmer Solomon

Best

Melbourne McLean Wonnaeamirri Robertson Davey Miller Bruce Green

Fremantle Pavlich Solomon Palmer Sandilands Bell Ibbotson Tarrant

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Fremantle Luke McPharlin (corked buttock)

Changes

Melbourne Matthew Whelan (gastro) replaced in selected side by Daniel Bell

Fremantle Des Headland (knee) replaced in selected side by Daniel Gilmore

Reports Nil

Umpires James Stewart Avon

Official crowd 19,423 at MCG