IT'S A HORROR MOVIE

[Demonland 70,326]

IT'S A HORROR MOVIE by Grazman (our man on the spot in the National Capital)

If I were to describe Sunday's game at Manuka Oval between Melbourne and Sydney I would label it "Horror Movie"

This wasn't because our forward line had as much life in its as the late and lamented former front man of Skyhooks, but rather, because like most Hollywood schlock that is passed off as horror, it was just oh so predictable!

Even though he was at Port Adelaide at the time, I'm sure someone at the club slipped Dean Bailey a copy of "The Demons House of Manuka Horrors circa 2007". Like all Hollywood sequels there was no need to dig to deep for originality - there wasn't any. The setting hadn't changed (it was still cold and inhospitable), there was a relatively new cast of young innocent characters for the blooding, and the plot borrowed heavily from it's predecessor. Against a professional and well drilled outfit, to be any chance of surviving on the scoreboard we'd have to go toe to toe in the intensity stakes.

Unfortunately the first quarter was pretty much what we've come to expect of the Demons lately. MIA for 20 minutes... game over.

I was bemoaning the fact that PJ would never ever take another mark above his head, that Barry Hall was monstering poor Matty Warnock and Colin Garland was being torn to pieces by Micky O. Just like the horror movie when you think the young innocent is finally safe, so too we would conspire to turn potentially exciting passages of plays at the last gasp into costly turnovers due to poor skills.

That was the story of the afternoon.

Sydney had two marking forwards, with over 1,000 AFL goals and 500 AFL games between them while Melbourne had a makeshift forward come ruckman as its one genuine marking option inside the forward fifty while Matthew Bate and Brad Miller had to push hard up the ground in search of kicks because the midfield was given a lesson about intensity and taking the front position.

While it was not necessarily reflected on the scoreboard, the second quarter showed a marked increase in work rate, effort and intensity. Bate and Lynden Dunn were the stand outs; these kids are going to be good. Bate was in everything, and while Goodes looked set to have another typical outing for him at Manuka as he got off to a flyer courtesy of some dumb free kicks and umpiring generosity, Dunn did well to negate his effect. CJ was doing a job on O'Keefe which he did well all day and while Warnock and Garland were clearly not strong enough to compete in one on ones with the Swans forwards, they ran to provide options and showed some real poise coming out of defence.

The most surprising thing for me was that PJ actually started to take some marks in front of his face and was presenting really well. In general I would say he had the better of Leo Barry who found him just too tall to spoil.

The third quarter was easily Melbourne's best with the boys actually moving to make space and leading their opponents to the ball. The midfield started to break even and the Swans looked a little lacklustre when it was their turn to chase. The Dees continued to push, and the script suddenly took a new turn. The Dees were up and about and looked to have found some self-belief.

The start of the fourth quarter was a continuation of the third, but unfortunately the wind was taken out of the Demons' sails by some desperately unlucky breaks and a couple of Swan goals against the tide. By the end both sides were playing out time, and while this wasn't quite the one that got away for the boys, there was definitely a sense they were the architects of their own demise by letting their fears take control. It's clear where the team is heading and how Dean Bailey wants them to play and there are some very encouraging signs for the future.

In general it was a day where the midfield was well beaten, where the forward line functioned sporadically though not always systematically and the backline was under constant seige, yet we were able to close to within 2 goals and keep the final margin respectable. It was a horror movie alright, it didn't end well for the young innocents and it was predictable, but at least for this Demon fan this was offset because at least this weekend I didn't have to "Watch it right there on my TV."

Melbourne 2.2.14 5.3.33 10.5.65 11.8.74

Sydney Swans 7.2.44 10.5.65 12.10.82 17.12.114

Goals

Melbourne Bate 4 Wonaeamirri 3 Bruce P Johnson McLean Miller

Sydney Swans Hall 5 Buchanan Mattner O'Loughlin 2 Goodes Jolly Malceski R O'Keefe Playfair Roberts-Thomson

Best

Melbourne Bate Dunn Garland C Johnson P Johnson Warnock

Sydney Swans Hall Kirk Mattner Jolly C Bolton O'Loughlin

Injuries

Melbourne nil

Sydney Swans nil

Reports Nil

Umpires Sully Grun Head

Official crowd 11,437 at Manuka Oval