Practice Match Report: Essendon v Melbourne

SHEEP STATIONS by Whispering  Jack

Melbourne's pre season woes continued when the team lost its NAB Challenge match against Essendon by 40 points at Visy Park on Saturday and lost Cale Morton, Brent Moloney and Colin Sylvia to injury. However, the defeat was not a total disaster, the Demons were more than  competitive for most of the game and, but for the fact that the teams weren't playing for sheep stations, they would surely have rued their early missed opportunities in front of goal

The game was won and lost in the first twenty minutes. Melbourne was on top for the first ten minutes but scored just five behinds with a couple of easy shots missed from close in and one or two touched or stopped on the line by Bomber veteran Dustin Fletcher. Then Essendon took over and kicked six straight including a couple that dribbled along the ground and bounced into goal. A little after the 20 minute mark of the first quarter the Bombers were more than five goals in front and that was basically where the two teams were at for most of the game until the last 10 minutes when the team with the fresher legs burst away and kicked a few in junk time.

The team that the Demons put on the park will in no way match what we will be seeing during the season proper and therefore the result of the game was completely irrelevant. Still, it's funny how the media get it wrong so often. Every report I read or heard about the Geelong v Richmond practice match started off with a rider about the Cats having half their best 18 missing. On the other hand, the fact that Melbourne had half of its best line up missing was overlooked in reports about this game.  

The Bombers were fresher and had close to their best side with veteran Fletcher blanketing Liam Jurrah. The edge in experience, their stronger bodies and a solid attacking player in Pat Ryder was enough against an already inexperienced team that lined up without James McDonald, Brad Green and Aaron Davey. This left the Dees just one 100 game player in Brad Miller.

Still there were some highlights. Jack Grimes was outstanding with 32 possessions (11 in the third quarter), two goals and seven clearances. Ricky Petterd recovered after a wayward start to finish with four goals. Colin Sylvia was strong and the return of Mark Jamar which was significant.

One thing the media got hold of was the story of Essendon's big man dominance which was considered its weakness against West Coast. Notwithstanding, I thought Mark Jamar was the best of the ruckmen in a good first up performance. I thought Melbourne's midfield, which was so poor the week before, put in a highly creditable performance and, when the Russian was rucking to Grimes, the Demons looked particularly dangerous.

Daniel Bell (as a tagger), Nathan Jones at times, Joel Macdonald, Cale Morton and Addam Maric. Of the younger brigade, Tom Scully will be really good, Jack Trengove had his moments, Jordan Gysberts needs more time and James Strauss did some good things.

Disappointments were Stef Martin (who was scratchy up forward), Jamie Bennell (needs to work on his skill errors), Jurrah and Morton's knee injury late in the game.

All in all, an improved performance and it will be interesting to see how the group develops with the return of some of the club's more experienced and talented players in the weeks to come.

Melbourne  2.6.18   3.9.27  8.11.59  11.14.80  

Essendon 6.1.37   8.5.53  12.8.80 18.12.120

Goals

Melbourne Petterd 4 Grimes 2 Bell Jones Jurrah Maric Martin 

Essendon P Ryder 3 A Davey S Lonergan B Stanton J Watson 2  D Hille H Hocking M McVeigh A Monfries A Welsh M Williams J Winderlich

Best

Melbourne J Grimes M Jamar R Petterd C Sylvia N Jones T Scully J Trengove  

Essendon D Fletcher C Dempsey J Watson P Ryder B Stanton A Davey

UmpiresR Findlay J Dalgleish T Keating S Wenn

Injuries 

Essendon Nil

Melbourne Morton (knee), Brent Moloney (calf) Colin Sylvia (calf) 

Reports Nil

Official crowd 3000 at Visy Park.