THE STREAK AND HOW IT ENDED

Posted May 1, 201015 yr

THE STREAK AND HOW IT ENDED by The Oracle

The wise heads have been saying that developing teams often lack consistency of performance and this proved true of Melbourne whose three-game "winning streak" came to an abrupt end when the team was well and truly derailed by its 26-point victory loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.

The Demons started well enough when Brad Green posted the game's first goals but the next 50 minutes of football belonged to the Kangaroos whose harder bodies prevailed through hard tackling and relentless pressure. Their dominance was so comprehensive that by the five minute mark of the third quarter they held a 46-point lead that could have been a lot greater had they been a little more accurate in front of goal.

Melbourne went into the game with Jared Rivers replacing an injured Jordie McKenzie who led the club's tackle count for the season to date. It was the second consecutive week that a midfield player was involved in a late replacement by a taller man and the immediate thought was that the balance of the team that swept aside Richmond and Brisbane was upset by a definite loss of run. The selectors clearly wanted Jared Rivers in the side after a brilliant display for the Casey Scorpions the week before but the resulting change in the team's structure wasn't to its advantage.

Moreover, a number of players were down on their form of previous weeks. James McDonald, Brent Moloney and Jack Trengove all received that special Brad Scott attention and, fresh from his appearance on The Footy Show. Colin Sylvia was in the wars with his disposal. For the first time this year Mark Jamar didn't have things all his own way despite being the best of the big men in statistical terms. The Demons also didn't seem quite at home at Etihad Stadium but they are going to have to come to terms with playing on grounds other than the MCG. They have yet to win away from home under Dean Bailey.

The good news is that this Demon team did not capitulate in the way that it would have done when confronted by this situation in 2008 or 2009. Rather, it stuck to its task and performed a meritorious comeback which saw it peg back the deficit to 14 points at the last break thanks to a six goal burst, three of them from Green who along with Aaron Davey (nine possessions in the third quarter) was instrumental in the team's fight back.

Melbourne had "won" the final quarter of each of its five games to date and with this thought in mind, the confidence of the Demon fans was uppermost in their thinking that their team was about to bring off a famous victory. However, it was North Melbourne that had all the answers against the inefficient Demons who wasted an advantage of around sixty possessions through poor disposal by hand and foot brought about by the pressure that was brought to bear upon them by a persistent opposition. The Roos scored two opportunistic goals to push their lead beyond four goals and that was enough to put the game beyond doubt. With Matthew Bate well down and Ricky Petterd well covered and then winged by what appears to be a serious shoulder problem, Melbourne was crying out for a tall, marking forward. Does anyone know where such a player can be found?

The Demons were well served by Clint Bartram who seems to have returned to the high standards of his debut season and who kept Brent Harvey relatively quiet. Jack Grimes was good again in defence and Tom Scully showed his usual high quality. Cameron Bruce got a lot of the ball.

The Demons missed a major opportunity to establish themselves among the competition's upper echelon. In doing so, they showed they were not quite ready or up to the task. Then again, that should have been obvious when three games was considered a "winning streak" rather than the routine.

Melbourne 2.1.13 3.3.21 9.4.58 12.6.78

North Melbourne 3.3.21 8.7.55 10.12.72 15.14.104

Goals

Melbourne Green 4 Petterd 2 Bartram Bate Dunn Jamar Sylvia Trengove

North Melbourne Hale Wright 3 Anthony Wells 2 Goldstein Harvey McIntosh Swallow Warren

Best

Melbourne Green Grimes Bartram Bruce Davey Scully

North Melbourne Swallow Thompson Firrito Wells Anthony Adams

Injuries

Melbourne Petterd (shoulder)

North Melbourne Hansen (nose)

Changes