by The Oracle

What do we make of yesterday's debacle?

A team that is seemingly in control of a game for the best part of three quarters gets overrun in the last and is beaten by a goal kicked in the last five seconds.

What do you do?

You put it in the category of an experience that must partly be forgotten and partly be remembered. Forget that which occurred which was beyond your control and remember the things you did that you did wrong and you can do better next time and the time after that.

Melbourne was struck down in the end because its young group panicked under pressure in the late stages of the game while Hawthorn rode its luck to the hilt with two snapped goals from difficult angles and a mark to Jarryd Roughead after what should have been adjudged a free kick to Demon defender Stefan Martin when the Hawk forward put his hands in his back in the last marking duel of the day. You can't control a tunnel ball flick through the back of a pack (that might have caught the umpire's attention) or a fluky bounce of the ball through the goals and you can't change the mind of the umpire when a mark has been paid. Or that the Hawks had the majority of the 8,000 strong crowd behind them when the going got tough. Life sux but you get on with it.

You forget about the missed opportunities, the fact that you would have been playing in a high profile game in front of your supporters at Telstra Dome next week instead of some far flung corner of the country. You forget the additional prestige of playing in a NAB Cup quarter final against Carlton, the excitement, the extra publicity and media exposure, the membership sales and the attraction that such a scenario might have for the potential major sponsor that you don't have and need so badly.

What you remember is where you failed to lay a tackle properly, positioned yourself poorly, kicked to the wrong option, left your opponent for that split second and let your team down with poor disposal. And you remember the positives as well because, after all, yesterday was simply the first step in a long journey and it's important to remember that there are tougher and more important battles to be fought before the campaign of 2009 is over. Remember the pain and ensure that next time, it's your opponent and not you who comes out of the game screaming that "life sux".

The positives were that Melbourne was more than just competitive for the bulk of a game even allowing for the fact that the Hawks were missing several of their stars from their premiership side of last year. The Demons were also missing a number of automatic senior selections and were badly hit by injuries early in the game to their skipper James McDonald and in-form forward Austin Wonaeamirri who kicked four goals last week in an intra-club game and would have been a handy crumbing player in an area of the ground where the Hawks were in control, sweeping the ball out of defence time and time again when the ball hit the ground. Forget Roughy's five goals of which four were kicked from the nether regions, it was Melbourne's failure to convert clear scoring opportunities into goals that cost it the game in the end. Those wasted chances in front of goal came back to haunt them in the end. Dean Bailey, who I thought coached well for the most part, now knows that he needs to make some changes to the forward set up and he has very little time available to get it right but a nine goal haul from the opportunities presented in this game was inadequate and inexcusable.

Melbourne tackled harder and was more desperate at the contest for the first three quarters, something that has been missing in the team's makeup for the best part of two years. Put that down as a positive – particularly if it can be kept up throughout the season.

A clear positive was the form of rookie ruckman Jake Spencer who stamped his influence on the game immediately. Slightly ungainly, he nevertheless used his 203cm to advantage, actually palmed the ball to his rovers, marked strongly and played with aggression. It was no co-incidence that Hawthorn took control of the game after Spencer went off the ground for a few minutes early in the final quarter after he was struck by a blow to the face at a ruck contest. The fact that Brock McLean (whose strong form in the middle after a long break with injury was another positive) also started running out of steam at the same time giving Hawthorn's on ballers control of the game was enough to swing things around.

Unless one of its players is placed on the long term injury list, Spencer won't be available to play in the first half of the season but, even if that transpires, it appears that the club has found itself a ruckman and that is a huge plus in an age where there are some clubs that will pay a king's ransom to secure a player of that Ilk.

One of the highlights of a dismal year in 2008 was the gradual reconstruction of Melbourne's backline. That process continued yesterday when we saw the progress of players like Colin Garland and Stefan Martin, the emergence of James Frawley and promising signs from Kyle Cheney and Jack Grimes. Matthew Whelan held it all together with a great first half but he disappeared after that, possibly because his game time was being managed after last year when his season was marred by injury. One thing is for certain in my mind, Melbourne's defence will be a huge strength with the added experience of Whelan and a fully fit Jared Rivers.

We also saw the rebirth of Ricky Petterd and even a heavy knock just before half time didn't unsettle the courageous young Demon. Matthew Bate was the best of the Demon forwards with four goals, Brad Green was solid as usual and, while not outstanding Nathan Jones showed a bit yesterday. Rohan Bail made a short appearance and will benefit from the run.

There were, of course, some forgettable performances. Michael Newton again failed to impress (he simply doesn't know how to present in front of goal and someone needs to teach him soon) and Colin Sylvia was very disappointing. His missed shot for goal early in the last quarter could have iced the game. What makes things so frustrating for supporters is that both players have trained well so far. After yesterday, both of them will need to pull something out of the box in the NAB Cup Challenge to retain their places in the team for round 1.

Much has been said of the fact that it should have been Melbourne doing the overrunning at the end of the game because of its longer preparation time but I'm not so sure of that. I put the team's fadeout down more to inexperience and some bad breaks and it could just be that some readjustments to training patterns by the conditioning staff will take care of this problem.

The main thing is that the club will learn from the experience, remember its lessons and the hurt of a narrow defeat in these circumstances so that next time we won't have to walk away from a game of football muttering that life sux.

Melbourne 0.4.5 0.5.6 1.8.8 1.8.9 (66)

Hawthorn 0.4.0 0.5.1 0.5.2 0.11.3 (69)

GOALS

Melbourne: Nine-point goal: Bartram Goals: Bate 4, Green, Bartram, Johnson, McLean

Hawthorn: Nine-point goals: - Goals: Roughead 5, Stokes 2, Williams 2, Morton, Dew

BEST

Melbourne: McLean, Spencer, Bate, Green, Frawley, Garland

Hawthorn: Roughead, Mitchell, Dew, Sewell, Young, Suckling

INJURIES

Melbourne: Austin Wonaeamirri (hamstring), James McDonald (leg)

Hawthorn: Michael Osborne (knee), Chance Bateman (ankle)

REPORTS

Melbourne: Paul Johnson for striking Sam Mitchell in the first quarter

Hawthorn: Clinton Young for rough contact on Aaron Davey in the first quarter

FOOTNOTE: Another positive was the alternate strip - a big improvement on last year's ridiculous, silver bling item that has thankfully been consigned to the trash can. Also congratulations to the club for promoting the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal. Let's not forget that while the theme of my article is that "life sux" we are commemorating today the end of 200 lives in the tragic bushfires. Please give generously.

Good counterpoint Erasmus, but if the Second Life markets are so chaotic right now, Id rather have higher PED holdings that wouldnt be bouncing around so much.

Heh, MOPpet here gave me a whatthe moment and a good chuckle bumping this particular thread. Some food for thought too.