by Scoop Junior

On a balmy evening at the MCG, the Hawks played some of their best footy of the season in a rampant first half that resulted in a 22-point defeat of a plucky Melbourne outfit.

Quite simply, Hawthorn was too good. The reigning premier did what the reigning premier should have done against last year's and this year's (current) bottom-placed side.

While no one could question Melbourne's effort and endeavour, the Hawks produced a brand of footy with a team chock full with talent that was simply too much for the Dees to handle. Right from the start, the Hawthorn midfield was on top at the stoppages, with Mitchell and Sewell getting first hands on the ball and displaying clean ball use. And when the ball was loose, Hawthorn's greater pace won out. This pace discrepancy was noticeable on a number of occasions and in particular where a Hawthorn player started a few metres behind his Melbourne opponent yet won the foot race to the ball. Pace is no doubt a key issue for the Demons, but it is one which has been identified by the coaching staff and steps have been taken to improve in this area.

With the Hawks' dominating the first half, the Dees went into their shells and stopped taking risks and displaying the free flowing corridor footy that served it well in recent narrow defeats to the Eagles and Bulldogs. The Hawthorn zone was doing its job and the Demons were struggling to move the ball with the required speed to penetrate the zone.

On top of this, when Melbourne did get the ball forward, it made a number of elementary mistakes which cost the side easy goals. Matthew Bate missed from 15 metres out, Brad Miller stuffed up an impressive piece of play by Addam Maric by handballing well wide of Robbo and Robbo himself turned an impressive trademark hanger into an embarrassing miss by making the ridiculous decision to play on despite lying on the ground.

Nevertheless, Melbourne did display a commendable level of fight and while at one stage the Round 1 2008 result looked set to be repeated, the Demons fought back well in the second half and gave the scoreboard some respectability in reducing the final margin to 22 points.

While the final margin did not reflect Hawthorn's early dominance, it did reflect the fact that the Dees lifted their game in the second half, started to take risks and moved the ball better. It was very pleasing to see this attitude despite the game being effectively over at half time. Despite the basic errors in the first half, the forwards worked hard to finish with a respectable scoreline after being held to just four goals at half time.

Stefan Martin provided a target in the last quarter and kicked a remarkable snapped goal after taking a clever mark and deciding (somewhat curiously, but nothing in comparison with Robbo's earlier decision) to play on.

It was not really a great performance from Melbourne's marking forwards. Brad Miller, while working hard as usual, lacks the key ingredients of a good forward - creativity and firepower. We all know about his lack of goals but it's also a lack of genuine forward footy smarts that continues to hold him back.

The midfield was beaten by a far superior opposition midfield, but their effort and work rate did not wane. McLean was busy, as was Green in his first game back from injury, while Moloney also put in a reasonable performance. With the pace issues mentioned previously and the fact that none of the above players possess raw speed, it may be that one or two of the bigger bodied slow-paced midfielders that Melbourne seem to have in abundance may make way in the coming seasons for quicker, fresher legs.

While Nathan Jones' courage and work rate is to be admired, he makes a number of mistakes and is often caught with the ball due to a failure to make the correct decision quickly enough. I think there were about five turnovers in the first half that came directly from Jones - he will need to improve this aspect of his game to retain his place in a developing midfield.

Without a doubt the star of the show was Colin Sylvia, who put in a game that actually matched one of Yze Magic's countless pre-game prediction posts that have been a regular occurrence since 2004. 37 possessions, 4 goals and 4 assists was the culmination of a brilliant performance that supporters have longed to see from Col for five years. In one blistering spell, he kicked three goals in a row to try to ignite his side. The most pleasing aspect of his game was the amount of possessions, as Sylvia has never been a high possession winner. While he has always won his fair share of contested ball, he has struggled to get easy, uncontested possessions in his time at the club. Given his good ball use, the more possessions the better. Hopefully this will be the start of a consistent run of form for him.

The defenders recovered well after being worked over by Franklin and Roughead early. Warnock did a solid job on the dangerous Roughead and a return of three goals to the Hawk was a win for the Demons. Frawley and Rivers both spent time on Franklin, with the latter in particular making some good spoils in the second half.

So in the end the Dees move on to Round 10, with another (somewhat) honourable loss in the bag (which isn't necessarily a bad thing - but I won't go there!).

The continued improvement of young players such as Bennell, Grimes and Morton (though all three didn't have their best games on the weekend) should provide fans with something to get excited about. Maric is another youngster showing good signs and after a few poor games he has started to show why he was highly rated in the 2008 draft. His decision making and execution appear to be first class and something usually happens when the ball is in his hands. It is young players like this that the Dees are pinning their hopes on in their attempts to build something special at the club.

Melbourne 2.5.17 4.6.30 8.10.58 13.14.92

Hawthorn 6.2.38 11.7.73 16.9.105 17.14.116

Goals

Melbourne Sylvia 4 Martin Robertson 2 Bate Bruce Johnson McDonald McLean

Hawthorn Franklin 4 Roughead 3 Bateman Guerra Rioli 2 McGlynn Muston Osborne Williams

Best

Melbourne Sylvia Green McLean Warnock

Hawthorn Lewis Muston Sewell Morton Rioli Franklin

Injuries

Melbourne Robertson (cramp) Whelan (nose)

Hawthorn Stokes (hamstring tightness) Moss (leg)

Reports

Nil

Changes

Nil

Umpires Rosebury Hay Avon

Crowd 39,395 at the MCG

I just hope that this turns out to be a case of wrong place, wrong time, but from the sounds of it, I doubt it.

I mean, who goes missing for days and then turns up "cowering" under the bed of a bikies pad?

I just hope that this turns out to be a case of wrong place, wrong time, but from the sounds of it, I doubt it.

I mean, who goes missing for days and then turns up "cowering" under the bed of a bikies pad?

Indeed.