THEY BURNT THE POWER

[Demonland 73,163]

THEY BURNT THE POWER by Pringle

​On the bus ride back into Darwin after the game last night, I stood next to an indigenous lady, her nephew and her little baby boy. The lady spoke in broken English that was occasionally difficult to understand. She told me that "they burnt the Power" tonight.

For three quarters, the Power was indeed being burned by a Demons team on fire. At three quarter time the game looked over as a rampant Melbourne ran rings around their opponents. Youthful exuberance, strong all over the ground pressure and swift ball movement had the

Dees up by nearly six goals at the final break and the result seemed a foregone conclusion. But as is often the way with a young side, they were unable to put the game away, and the more experienced Power heads stormed their way back into the game.

In fact, this was the pattern for most of the game. Melbourne started each of the first two quarters brightly and looked an inch away from breaking the game open. However the Demons were often wasteful going forward and the latter part of each quarter saw the Power make the most of scarce opportunities to remain in the game.

The first quarter saw the Melbourne come out hard and put a few goals on the board before the Power even stirred. The experienced James McDonald, Aaron Davey and Brad Green were well complemented by classy indigenous youngsters Jamie Bennell, Neville Jetta and (semi) local hero Austin Wonaeamirri, the later having not graced an AFL football field in over 18 months after a promising debut season.

Jack Watts and Brad Miller were combining well up forward and the Dees were on their way. But an early four goal lead was whittled away to two at the first break thanks to a couple of well taken chances against the flow of play by Port.

The second quarter was much the same, the Dees again breaking away with some early hard work to a five goal lead. Trengove, Green and Sylvia were coming into the game and using their silky footskills to great effect, whilst Aaron Davey and Wonaeamirri were showing the adoring fans why their local products are amongst the most exciting players in the AFL. Once again, however, the Power held their nerve when it counted and made the most of a couple of difficult chances and a lucky free kick in front of goal after McKenzie was penalised for a dubious holding the ball decision.

The margin at half time was once again two goals, however the third term saw a break in the trend of play. The Demons piled on five goals to Port's one and the game looked to be well and truly in the hands of the Demons, who were running rings around their opponents. Frawley, Macdonald and Grimes were comfortably on top of the Port forwards and it looked unlikely that the Power could rally to kick a winning score with a deficit of 33 points and only 8 goals to three quarter time.

Yet rally they did. Two early goals by Port were swiftly answered by the Demons through Brad green, but from there on it was all the Power. The predominantly pro-Demon crowd looked on helplessly as the Power piled on six unanswered goals in a 15 minute goal-scoring frenzy.

Suddenly, the unthinkable was happening and when Port Adelaide took the lead via a Rodan snap with still ample time remaining on the clock, it looked as if Melbourne might end up losing comfortably. But the "home" side fought back and edged in front again to give hope to the Northern Dee fans. After two heartbreaking losses to Collingwood and the Dogs in recent weeks, these boys had newfound steel about them. Port again edged in front with another goal but a Brad Green reply saw the scores levelled with already over 30 minutes on the clock. The quarter was to last nearly 35 nerve-racking minutes, but as the clock ticked down, Mark Jamar took a mark 10 meters from goal to surely seal the game for the demons. Once again, however, drama was to intervene, the ball adjudicated to have been touched and a ball-up the result.

Enter Jack Trengove, who showed maturity beyond his years, throwing himself into the ruck contest as the third man up to punch through what was to prove to be the winning point.

As I jubilantly rode the bus home, my scarf and Dees jumper proudly on display, the indigenous lady (who barracks for Essendon) told me her young son barracks for Melbourne now. He had been dressed in a home-made Demons guernsey. She pulled out her phone and proudly showed me two photos she had taken at the game. The stars in her eyes were plain to see.

The first was of our inspirational president Jimmy Stynes, who was only too happy to mingle with the crowd pre-game. His story resonates across all cultures. However her real pride and joy that night was being lucky enough to get a close-up shot of Northern Territory star.

Liam Jurrah. She and her son idolise Jurrah and Wanaeamirri and it was incredible to see the influence these young boys - who come from remote areas far removed from the life we know – can have on their kinsfolk. If anyone ever doubted the value of bringing the AFL to the Top End, you only had to see their faces glow as they talked about their heroes to realize what a difference a simple game with a simple ball can make in the lives of the traditional owners of this great land. Last night we not only "burnt the Power", but also lit a fire in many young people's imaginations… a fire that will hopefully burn red and blue for many years to come in this part of the world and elsewhere.

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Melbourne 5.2.32 9.6.60 14.7.91 17.9.111

Port Adelaide 3.3.21 7.6.48 8.10.58 16.14.110

Goals

Melbourne Miller 5 Bennell 4 Green 3 Watts 2 Jetta Sylvia Wonaeamirri

Port Adelaide Boak Hitchcock 3 Davenport 2 C Cornes Ebert Motlop Pearce Rodan Salopek Schulz Trengove

Best

Melbourne Sylvia Trengove Jetta Jamar Davey Miller

Port Adelaide Boak, Chaplin Cassisi Brogan

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

Changes

Melbourne Jake Spencer (back) replaced in selected side by Neville Jetta.

Port Adelaide Robbie Gray (back) replaced in selected side by Jay Nash.

Reports

Melbourne Brent Moloney for allegedly doing something.

Port Adelaide Nil

Umpires McLaren Sully Findlay

Crowd 8,848 at TIO Stadium

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