TIME IS A TRAVELLER by Whispering Jack

A bronze statue of Ron Barassi stands on the concourse outside the MCG. I walk past and close my eyes in order to better capture the memories and the life-like image of my boyhood hero. There he is in full flight crashing through a pack of men in black and white striped guernseys who part obligingly in the wake of his muscled body. There's a cold, steely stare of determination etched on the leader's ferocious face; one that evokes a feeling of comfort that tells me this Demon is a winner. His team is supreme.

The moment vanishes. I open my eyes and suddenly, I realise that I've travelled through time to a new space. My four year old grandson clutches my hand in excitement on the way to his first game at the G. It's Queens Birthday and he wants his face painted red and blue because it's also Jack's game and, like his new hero, he's wearing the number four today for the first time.

But Jack Watts' big day ends in the wet and the final result is a humiliation for his team. Collingwood is merciless booting seven goals to nil in the opening term and, despite a brief comeback in the second, the Demons succumb by 11 goals.

The Magpies win all over the ground with a single exception. One Demon has faced his own demons and is starting to overcome them. Colin Sylvia collects 17 kicks, 15 handballs, 11 marks and kicks three booming goals. Mark Jamar wins more than his share of hit outs in the ruck duels but many are stolen by the Magpie midfield. Cameron Bruce, Brent Moloney and Nathan Jones try hard but the team is crushed. If not beaten by the opposition, then beaten by its own insipid performance wracked with poor disposal skills and senseless decision making.

Dean Bailey's team is putting in what is by far its poorest effort for the season. The fall away in intensity, the lack of tackling and pessure on opposition players is alarming. They are so much on the nose that even the football refuses to bounce their way. There are no targets up forward (and even if they were there, they would have struggled to claim many marks given the shoddy delivery), no crumbers, no initiative and no leadership.

It was revealed at the weekend that some time ago the leadership group took Sylvia to task for not putting in the hard yards to enable him to live up to the expectations we all had of the club's number 1 draft pick in the year that he was recruited. Today the same people must look him in the eye and assure him that they are up to much the same task.

So now the team sits last on the ladder and is placed to win nothing from the season, except perhaps a priority draft pick. Overall, the Demons give the appearance of having done some time travel of their own - all the way back to round 1, 2008. Not a good day to be on football's main stage unveiling this year's number 1 draft pick amid the hype that suggests he may be the club's next hero.

Sport thrives on its heroes. We had them once but that was somewhere deep in the past and our searching in recent times has failed to bear fruit to date. But heroes don't just grow on trees and before the golden era of the mid 50s and early 60s, we had to experience the lows. In 1953, the year of Ron Barassi's debut, Melbourne finished second last. Two years later, the club had a wealth of new heroes and the Demons were premiers.

The youth at the club, including Watts, are showing brief glimpses of what might be but they are still light years away from being the heroes of old and there's much work to be done to get there. For them, the bronze statues must wait for us to travel much further in time.

Melbourne 0.4.4 5.6.36 6.9.45 8.12.60

Collingwood 7.4.46 10.7.67 16.11.107 19.12.126

Goals

Melbourne Sylvia 3 Bate 2 Bruce Jones Robertson

Collingwood Dick 5 Anthony Lockyer 3 Didak 2 Clarke Cloke Davis Pendlebury Sidebottom Swan

Best

Melbourne Sylvia Jamar Moloney Davey Grimes

Collingwood Pendlebury Swan Didak Davis Dick Lockyer Fraser Shaw O'Brien Anthony

Injuries

Melbourne - Nil.

Collingwood - Nathan Brown (jarred knee)

Changes

Nil

Reports

Nil

Umpires

Stevic H Ryan S Ryan

Crowd 61,287 at MCG

Match review v Collingwood

Must you?

Must you?

There were some positives today.

In fact the story of the day is Colin, Jack, Scully & Butcher.

There were some positives today.

Sylvia.

Jamar.

We can stop speculating about Daniel Bell's future.

We have lulled Collingwood into a false sense of competence.

There were some positives today.

we got rain for once

we got rain for once

lol

i honestly barely saw any positives.

Please add Jack Grimes to that too.

The kid is a gem!

Oh and Watts didn't get injured, and we made a profit.

... and we're one game closer to picks 1 & 2

... and we're one game closer to picks 1 & 2

lol, as much as I hate to admit it, the priority picks are making it a lot easier to get through this season

I reckon Kyle Cheney is a good chance of playing 200 games for the MFC. Plenty to be pleased about with his game today.

I reckon Kyle Cheney is a good chance of playing 200 games for the MFC. Plenty to be pleased about with his game today.

One point in the game he (cheney) kicked the ball off the ground to the boundry, dane swan ran straight passed him to get the ball and it ended up in a goal.

Cheney didnt even try to run with him.

bar Sylvia, grimes, burtcher and scully

NONE!!!

ummm...lets see.

I learnt NOT to buy a 'cheese and beef' burger from the tuck shop.

One point in the game he (cheney) kicked the ball off the ground to the boundry, dane swan ran straight passed him to get the ball and it ended up in a goal.

Cheney didnt even try to run with him.

I was disappointed in that play by Cheney too. That type of lack of urgency was endemic today.

That type of lack of urgency was endemic today.

Exactly

ummm...lets see.

I learnt NOT to buy a 'cheese and beef' burger from the tuck shop.

The Hot jam donuts were pleasing today!

One point in the game he (cheney) kicked the ball off the ground to the boundry, dane swan ran straight passed him to get the ball and it ended up in a goal.

Cheney didnt even try to run with him.

Good idea! Let's pick one passage of play from each young player in our side and condemn them on that basis.

I've got one: Jack Watts will be a spud because he missed a shot from 40m out in the second quarter that any No.1 draft pick should nail.

[/sarcasm]

If, as supporters and critics, we allow our opinion of young players to be clouded by errors of judgement, we're doing both ourselves and them a disservice.

What about the time in the first quarter (I believe, or it could have been the third) that Cheney backed into a congested Collingwood forward line to mark over his head, without flinching?

Or the clever kick out in front of Bate to find the boundary line when there were no options ahead of him during the second half? Or the poise he showed working the ball out of defence on several occasions?

Should we just forget about those good pieces of play because he made a mistake on one occasion?

Being a critic means thinking critically - not negatively.

bar Sylvia, grimes, burtcher and scully

NONE!!!

ll Bell did wa turn the frickin' ball over ....................OUT

I was disappointed in that play by Cheney too. That type of lack of urgency was endemic today.

It wasn't a pandemic of swine effluant?

Positive for mine was seeing the MFC really get behind the VWFL. A match was played before the big game between two of the VWFL sides and then all of the teams in the VWFL competition did a parade lap around the G. I thought it was fantastic to see and the ladies all looked like they were having a great day. Was out having a gasper or two and a couple of the teams were out having a kick to kick at half time, they can't get enough of the game. Hopefully the Dee's really try and push this association home to gain some new mad supporters.

The only positive is that there have been few days like that this season.

And this is why I keep telling some of you that we are the worst team in the league.

Took a couple steps backward today, but we are ahead on the year.

Good idea! Let's pick one passage of play from each young player in our side and condemn them on that basis.

I've got one: Jack Watts will be a spud because he missed a shot from 40m out in the second quarter that any No.1 draft pick should nail.

[/sarcasm]

If, as supporters and critics, we allow our opinion of young players to be clouded by errors of judgement, we're doing both ourselves and them a disservice.

What about the time in the first quarter (I believe, or it could have been the third) that Cheney backed into a congested Collingwood forward line to mark over his head, without flinching?

Or the clever kick out in front of Bate to find the boundary line when there were no options ahead of him during the second half? Or the poise he showed working the ball out of defence on several occasions?

Should we just forget about those good pieces of play because he made a mistake on one occasion?

Being a critic means thinking critically - not negatively.

condemn ? bit over the top.

All I did was comment on one passge of play. I did not even comment or say he played badly. I just thought that one piece of play was VERY poor.

reading a bit too much into that one.

Serious question... who was Bell on?

Otherwise, I would have said Jamar was about as effective as half the squad today. We quadroupled their taps and look where it got us.

I thought Moloney was in it a bit, and Jones had a bit to say too.

Was funny watching about 20 Melbourne supporters run enmass out the gate after the siren so they didnt have to hear the collingwood song

Sylvia flattening Maxwell.

Robbo left the door open for either Newton, Jetta or Jurrah.

I thought he had dislocated his shoulder at one point, but it seems he was just enjoying his last smell of the MCG grass.....or looking for his heart I couldn't tell.

Go Dees - Building for the Future

Sylvia flattening Maxwell.

Robbo left the door open for either Newton, Jetta or Jurrah.

I thought he had dislocated his shoulder at one point, but it seems he was just enjoying his last smell of the MCG grass.....or looking for his heart I couldn't tell.

Go Dees - Building for the Future

G'day toad. I thought exactly the same thing, he slapped the ground with his hand, out of frustration & just lay there. That was the Worst example of leadership i've seen from Robbo. Very disappointing.

I think he's forgotten the smell of the MCG air & wants the tranquility of Casey luxurious surrounds.

He looked incredibly unfit & slow,,,, & overweight.

Edit: Ah yes, positives. - Playing the kids. A few little bits 'n' pieces from many. Marics contested mark , Richmond end.

Jamars screamer, members wing. Jamars centre tapwork & 2nd efforts.

Sylvia's improving all over play & goal scoring.

Davey's improvement to leadership group standard.

Sylvia flattening Maxwell.

Robbo left the door open for either Newton, Jetta or Jurrah.

I thought he had dislocated his shoulder at one point, but it seems he was just enjoying his last smell of the MCG grass.....or looking for his heart I couldn't tell.

Go Dees - Building for the Future

Doh!! I forgot to add Miller to that list.

Go Dees - Building for the Future