LIFE AND DEATH (IN TWO ACTS) by Whispering Jack

The headline in the Gold Coast Weekend Bulletin announced "AFL alive at Carrara" and for the first half of St. Kilda's "home" fixture against Melbourne it was indeed a game that was not only pulsating with life but also one that was full of exciting, pressure football that was played at breakneck speed.

In this respect, the game was more closely akin to a top of the ladder clash than one between teams occupying the two extremes of the AFL ladder: first against last. It was a truly compelling contest of wit and will and when the siren sounded at half time the Saints were on top but nowhere close to being in control of the game as they had been in most of their previous nine games for the season.

Certainly, the score line of 7.8.50 to 6.6.42 was suggestive of the fact that AFL was most certainly alive on the Gold Coast. However, as the game unfolded it became clear we were watching an event that was more in the nature of a two act tragedy because, unexpectedly and dramatically, it expired during the main break. By the time the teams ran out to herald the start of the second half, rigor mortis was already setting in.

It was a case of life and death in two acts.

The Demons simply ran out of the legs and the class to match it in the second act with the likes of Nick Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes and Brendan Goddard. St. Kilda took control of the stoppages and attacked for most of the third quarter leaving Melbourne to sink into a defensive mindset, heavily flooding the back line and overusing its handball.

The game was turned into an ugly scrap that could be won only by the side with the most talent and skill. The Demons failed to enter their forward fifty until the 23 minute mark of a third term in which the Saints booted three goals to nil. The defensive mood continued and St. Kilda scored the only goal in the last half hour, a period punctuated by atrocious kicking for goal. They romped to their tenth consecutive win, the margin was a comfortable 37 points.

For their part, Melbourne could content itself with a strong first half showing and the fact that it had kept its opponent to its lowest number of goals for the season.

The Demons' younger brigade also showed something on the night with Jack Grimes, Addam Maric and Jamie Bennell continuing to display more than a few glimpses of future stardom and James Frawley and Cale Morton demonstrating more of the class they have been putting on show throughout the season.

The return of Mark Jamar to the ruck for the first time this year was also a bonus as it gave the Demons a winning edge in this department for probably the first time in 2009. Jared Rivers, Brock McLean and Brad Green worked hard as usual and showed out with some classy play and Matty Whelan was hard and tough in defence but many of the team's more experienced players let the team down with costly turnovers and the team lacked a focal point up forward in the absence of Russell Robertson and with the shading of Brad Miller at centre half forward.

After the game, coach Dean Bailey lamented his team's dreadful use of handball at times.

"I think our ball use was really poor in the second half, we had too many handballs, which really put us under enormous pressure,"

Bailey said.

"They counter-attacked on our turnovers pretty well and you can't turn the ball over against the good teams, they make you pay."

The trouble is that we've heard this all before during the course of the season and the problem keeps recurring. Too often the players were handballing because there were no teammates running and making space further afield. At other times, they got themselves into trouble playing too wide and bottling themselves up in pockets and on the flanks instead of going direct. And when they do kick the ball, the delivery is often lacking in precision (compare how the ball was often delivered high and slow to Melbourne's forwards while Riewoldt was regularly receiving the ball in front of the chest to outstretched arms).

There's still a lot to learn and a long way to go and, in the meantime, the team continues to sit at the bottom of the pack as the curtain begins to fold on the first half of the season.

Melbourne 4.5.29 6.6.42 6.6.42 6.10.46

St Kilda 5.3.33 7.8.50 10.11.71 11.17.83

Goals

Melbourne Bate Bruce Frawley Green Maric Sylvia

St Kilda Riewoldt 4 Goddard 2 Geary Gwilt Koschitzke McQualter Ray

Best

Melbourne McLean Green Bruce Frawley Jamar Rivers

St Kilda Hayes Riewoldt Montagna Goddard Dal Santo Ray C Jones

Injuries

Melbourne McDonald (knee)

St Kilda Gilbert (ankle)

Reports Nil

Changes

Melbourne – nil

St Kilda Stephen Milne (leg) replaced in St Kilda's selected side by Jason Gram

Umpires James Grun Kamolins

Crowd 9,112 at Carrara Gold Coast

Life an death.

The crowd figure doesn't look too healthy either!

The trouble is that we've heard this all before during the course of the season and the problem keeps recurring. Too often the players were handballing because there were no teammates running and making space further afield. At other times, they got themselves into trouble playing too wide and bottling themselves up in pockets and on the flanks instead of going direct. And when they do kick the ball, the delivery is often lacking in precision (compare how the ball was often delivered high and slow to Melbourne's forwards while Riewoldt was regularly receiving the ball in front of the chest to outstretched arms).

Exactly right WJ. Almost every week now we hear Bailey say something along the lines of how we're overposessing or using the handball too often, yet it continues to happen.

I think the problem last night was, again, that there was no target up the ground. At stages last night the commentators were berating us for not having anyone forward of the centre. It's happened many times this year, the forwards get sucked up the ground chasing their opponents and don't hold position. That means our defenders and midfielders look up and see nothing, so they handpass and go backwards/sideways. Our poor skill just exacerbates the problem.

On a positive note, at three quarter time we became eligible for the Federal Governmen stimulus money...

I watched Bennell pretty closely today and finally got an answer to my nagging doubt about him - his disposals tend not to find teammates as often as would be ideal.

I've concluded that the reason for this is that he tends to get the ball at times when really it shouldn't have been possible.

With the cab to Coolangatta Airport beckoning, I thought I might complete my Gold Coast diary and provide some of the atmosphere from last night's game.

Before the game, I was contacted by a Saints fan who asked "when are you going to be back in town?" and I replied, " probably 2011 or 2012". On further questioning I realised he was asking about me personally rather than my football team so I told him, "Sunday evening." Anyhow, I was soon to discover how close the Demons were to being "back in town."

I hadn't been to Carrara since 1991 when Peter Daicos put on a show and booted 13 goals to destroy the pitiful Bears by more than 100 points. I watched the game in the outer with the drunken yobbos and was determined that next time things would be different. This time I secured some good tickets and watched the game in a corporate box with, er, um … the drunken yobbos.

Demonland, Blistering, SidVicious and I joined a group comprised mainly of Demon supporters with a smattering of Saints fans and a Tiger. The food was sparse and barely passable but the drink was unlimited until the minute when the final siren sounded. There was a lot of drinking, singing and dancing going on in the box and, for most of the second half, things inside the box were more exciting and animated than outside.

I personally stuck to the Diet Coke and was last man standing, apart from the Tiger fan who came to life when he received an SMS that told him that Richmond had grabbed the lead in the third quarter of its game in Perth on the other side of the continent.

After the siren we headed off to the Emerald Lakes Gold Club where the Queensland Demons were having an unofficial post game function. DemonDeb, gsmith and tilly18 were there along with Jake Spencer's

parents. The place was packed with after game revellers and most were concentrating on the final stages of the Dockers/Tigers game.

It's probably a measure of what our game has become when such a fixture, about which very few would have given a rat's toss bag about in other days, was viewed with such intense interest. The cheers when Mitch Morton slotted the winning goal, and again on the final siren, were deafening. It was strange to hear the jubilation given that a win just strengthened Melbourne's stranglehold on the wooden spoon, albeit at what is still an early stage.

I'm still not sure about that. Leaving aside their Round 4 victory, the first half of the season will have seen them play eight times against 2008 finalists except for out of state fixtures in Adelaide and Perth. The draw in the second half of the season will be somewhat less difficult.

They say it ain't over till it's over and there's a long way to go before the season runs its course. For me however, the trip to the Gold Coast is, sadly, over ...

Thanks for the in depth write ups WJ. At half time, I thought you were in for birthday gift. However, not only did the Dees run out of legs, but some costly, and I mean costly turnovers through bad hand balling and skill errors soon became over bearing as the Saints applied score board pressure. Had the Saints kicked straighter it would have turned 'ugly' after such a promising 1st half of football.