DEAD CALM

by The Oracle

On my way to the MCG yesterday I heard the commentators on SEN delivering their previews of the Melbourne v Richmond game. It was obvious what they were looking for in this game - any sign that one of the teams, Melbourne, was deliberately going out to set up a loss to gain a benefit in the national draft at the end of the season.

Two and a half hours later, they had in their own minds what they had been looking for all afternoon - an opportunity to attack the Melbourne Football Club for doing its best to lose the game. Every move, every change and every nuance made by coach Dean Bailey was examined and analysed with suspicious intent so that the entire exercise of describing the game became a self-fulfilling prophecy. But in the end, the commentators who slammed the Demons for tanking were an embarrassment to themselves. The practice they were describing has been going on for years with the full approval of the governing body which continues to strongly deny that clubs "tank".

Kevin Bartlett, the former Tiger champion and coach, has absolutely "cracked it" over his belief that the Demons were doing things that caused him "alarm" but that only belied the fact that his old club - the one that he alienated himself from because it sacked him after a fruitless period at the coaching helm - was facing a barren and bitter future. If the final siren sounds and you're not in front of a team that's trying to lose as badly as Bartlett and others are suggesting, then what does it say about the Tigers?

That's the crux of my review of a game that by their reckoning, Melbourne should have lost by eight or ten goals. In fact, it was only won by Richmond by the narrow margin of four points in the last play of the game with a Jordan McMahon kick after the siren.

Like many in the football world and particularly among the AFL hierarchy, Bartlett has been in denial for far too long about the state of play insofar as priority picks are concerned. Why now and why Melbourne? Where were they when Carlton famously imploded in the last half of 2007 ending in the infamous twilight game of round 22 of that year but really culminating in the recuiting of Chris Judd and the drafting of Matthew Kreuzer?

The Demons had a swag of players missing for one reason or another - mainly injury - and by the end of the game a bench full of more injured players. So Demon coach Dean Bailey experimented with some unusual team placements. Did he have much of a choice in the circumstances? Did he have the luxury of a Tuck, a Bowden, a Coughlan or a Richardson in his club's VFL partner? Did he retire off a player who kicked five goals in his last match to ensure defeat or put his champion goalkicker in mothballs as other clubs have done in recent years? Does he pompously lecture the world on the evils of tanking while enjoying the fruits of his own priority pick "earned" in what might also be described as dubious circumstances just two years after a second consecutive grand final appearance?

And just where does it say that sportsmanship, fair play and a level playing field has a role in this competition these days? Not if your playing programme is dictated by financial criteria. Not when an ambassadorship with Visy (for doing exactly what?) is worth a packet outside the salary cap. Come on down and have a cup of tea Karmichael Hunt. You still want fair play? Then give the game back to the people and not those who follow the trail to the money.

Oh yes. The game.

Melbourne was never out of it by more than a goal and a half and held the lead on numerous occasions. There were mistakes galore, some poor disposal and woeful decision making and that's pretty much what you would expect when the twelfth placed side meets the bottom team. But the standard was not appreciably lower than two or three other encounters in this round. Neither side managed no goals and nine behinds and one out on the full in a quarter. The result, a 12.14.86 to 12.10.82 win to the Tigers was not that dissimilar to the Demons' eight point win that stymied Terry Wallace's career earlier in the season. There was no shortage of highlights including some intriguing contests, heavy physical clashes, miracle goals from Lynden Dunn and Nathan Brown and plenty of emerging players of the future on display. There was excitement and tension, a sensational late game rally from Melbourne with two memorable goals, one to the rapidly developing Jack Grimes, who marked a kick-in and goaled with all the poise and balance of a veteran, and another to Ricky Petterd, who struck immediately afterwards and put his team two points up with 1 minute and 40 seconds remaining on the clock. Then, the fateful goal that sealed the game for the Tigers.

Melbourne's best included skipper James McDonald, Aaron Davey, Grimes, Petterd, Nathan Jones and Lynden Dunn. James Frawley and Matthew Warnock continued to show their development and some versatility when moved forward and Jake Spencer, though visibly tiring at the end, gained valuable game time. This is precisely what Bailey has been telling the world he was planning to do and kudos go to him and his team for persevering and for finishing within a split second of a win.

When Ron Barassi famously experimented in a grand final and implored his charges to handball, handball, handball and the result was a premiership, the football world applauded and called him a genius. When Bailey remains dead calm in the coach's box, experiments with his team and almost pulls off a remarkable victory, Kevin Bartlett pulls out what's left of his hair and calls it a joke. He should go back to trying to get Kevin Sheedy in the coach's box at Tigerland because the joke's on him!

Melbourne 2.0.12 4.3.27 8.7.55 12.10.82

RIchmond 1.5.11 4.8.32 7.10.52 12.14.86

Goals

Melbourne Dunn Miller Petterd 2 Bate Davey Grimes Newton Jetta Jones Newton

Richmond Brown 3 Deledio Morton 2 Hislop McMahon Nahas Riewoldt Vickery

Best

Melbourne Petterd McDonald Grimes Davey Petterd Bate Cheney

Richmond Deledio Cousins Brown Thursfield Morton McGuane Tambling

Injuries

Melbourne Bennell (knee), Whelan (foot), Martin (corked calf)

Richmond Riewoldt (concussion)

Changes

Melbourne Morton (heel) replaced in selected side by Spencer.

Richmond - nil

Reports

Melbourne Davey for wrestling King in the first quarter

Richmond King for wrestling Davey in first quarter.

Umpires Keating James Farmer

Official Crowd 37,438 at MCG