LEGENDS OF THE SKILLED

LEGENDS OF THE SKILLED by the Oracle

There's not too much to say about this game.

Geelong has beaten Melbourne by an average of nearly 10 goals in their past five encounters and the Demons have a poor recent record at Skilled Stadium having won only once there since the late '80s.

This week's hosts are the top of their form at the moment. They spanked Collingwood in their top of the table clash last Friday night and are aiming for their twentieth consecutive win at the Cattery.

The Demons also enjoyed a last up victory at the weekend but that game, played in far away Darwin in 30 degree heat and high humidity, is said to have knocked the stuffing out of the players. On top of that they had to travel halfway across the continent and back to take part in the game. Fatigue and a radically changed training regime to cater for the situation won't help their cause.

Although it was a young, keen and fit Melbourne side that went up to the Top End, you could literally see the strength leaving their bodies as the game wore on and, by the final quarter, they were all but spent. It took a miracle to get them across the line but the problem is that miracles don't happen often at Skilled.

The game has been variously billed as "Mission Impossible" and a "Super Challenge" for the young Demon side. Certainly, it will be a daunting task to take on the Cats on their home turf but it should be stressed that this remains a development year for the club. They're taking it seriously because they're training there tomorrow and staying in Geelong overning (god - please make sure they stick to the curfew). Whatever the result, the experience of mixing it with the best in the competition can only be a good thing for Melbourne's youngsters - particularly those in the midfield where they have some real up and comers like Jack Grimes although some of the other young midfield guns will be watching the game from the stands because they're being rested. Though I'm selecting Geelong to win, it's possible for there to be two winners in this game because the experience will be invaluable for the Demon team that remains very much a team of the future.

Geelong by 21 points.

Having disposed of the business of previewing the game it's important to point out that this is not a lost cause and it remains possible that the tiny number of Demon fans who fortunate enough to gain admission to the ground might leave Corio Bay feeling happy or at least not too disillusioned.

During the week, we featured Scoop Junior's original Demonland report from the drawn game of Round 21 of 2006 (see here). Below, he will describe the euphoria of that day in 2005 when he and many other Demon fans ventured down the Princes Highway to witness the club's only victory at the venue in almost a quarter of a century.

Then there's the little gem of a story from Whispering Jack about his trip to Geelong one day early in 2000 when he came back all smiles.

NEVER IN DOUBT by Whispering Jack

Melbourne's record at Kardinia Park where Skilled Stadium is located wasn't all that bad in the early days when the Geelong Football Club first played its home games on the eastern oval at Kardinia Park. The Cats moved there when their previous home ground, Corio Oval, was requisitioned for military use in 1941 (and just for the record, I wasn't around then).

When the Demons were a power house in the 1950's they rarely lost anywhere so a trip down the highway held no fear for them. Even in the sixties and seventies it was always an enjoyable trip down the Princes Highway to Sleepy Hollow although, if the team lost, the drive home in failing light always seemed to last forever.

I missed the win there on Anzac Day 1983 because the wife went into labour and delivered our daughter the following day. I still remind her of the significance of that birth date - a day after our expensive recruit Kelvin Templeton kicked eight goals and played his only decent game for us in a short and undistinguished career at the club. You have to get your priorities in the right place!

I can't remember much about our next win at Kardinia Park in 1988 but it was to be the last victory for a long, long time. I grew to despise the place over the years when it went through several name changes ending up as Skilled Stadium at some time in the last decade. We simply stopped winning games at the damned place!

During the pre season competition ten years ago (please don't ask me what the comp or the ground was called at the time) Melbourne was drawn to play Geelong at Kardinia Park in a semi final. The Demons had a good team in 2000 and, as I drove down the highway in the direction of the Ford Factory and Corio Bay, I was feeling supremely confident of victory at last. The day was fine and even the obligatory weekend road works that usually clog up the road and turn the drive into an horrific ordeal were missing. However, I should have known something was amiss when I managed to snaffle a parking spot in Moorabool Street immediately outside the gates of the stadium.

They let me into the ground for nothing because there was some doubt about whether the game would start on time, if at all. Turned out that one side of the ground was flooded when an underground pipe burst near a wing. We waited, waited and waited and nothing happened. People wandered around the ground inspecting the surface near the affected area. The PA system kept putting back the start of the game and, when a few of the players walked out, looked at the mess and shook their heads, I knew it was time to toss it in and drive home. At that stage, it was around 3.00 pm and I can truthfully say, the result was never in doubt.

I was cruising past Lara when they announced the game had been called off. The remainder of the return trip was a breeze compared to my many other hard slogs back into town after a heartbreaking defeat at that cursed ground so I was still smiling when I finally got to the front door.

Epilogue: A few nights later, the game was finally played at VFL Park in front of a pitiful crowd and guess what?

We lost, but at least it wasn't such a long drive home.

THE GAME Geelong v Melbourne at Skilled Stadium on Saturday 29 May 2010 at 2.10pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Geelong 121 wins Melbourne 83 wins 2 draws

At Skilled Stadium Geelong 33 wins Melbourne 17 wins 1 draw

Since 2000 Geelong 11 wins Melbourne 6 wins 1 draw

The Coaches Thompson 4 Bailey 0

MEDIA

TV Channel 10 at 3pm (1 hour delay)

RADIO K-Rock Triple M 3AW

THE BETTING Geelong to win $1.05 Melbourne to win $10.00

LAST TIME THEY MET Geelong 17.15.117 defeated Melbourne 11.5.71 at the MCG in Round 16 2009

By quarter time, the Cats had kicked seven goals and the Demons had yet to score a single goal. It was goal for goal for the rest of the game but few of spectators cared. It was a feast for Matthew Scarlett while Ablett and Chapman did as they wished. Cale Morton went forward for the Demons and kicked a few goals but otherwise the encounter was extremely forgettable (as was much of 2009).

THE TEAMS

GEELONG

Backs Darren Milburn Tom Lonergan Josh Hunt

Half backs Andrew Mackie Harry Taylor Corey Enright

Centreline James Kelly Cameron Ling Gary Ablett

Half forwards Mathew Stokes Tom Hawkins Paul Chapman

Forwards Travis Varcoe Cameron Mooney Steve Johnson

Followers Mark Blake Joel Selwood Jimmy Bartel

Interchange Shannon Byrnes Simon Hogan James Podsiadly David Wojcinski

Emergencies Mitchell Duncan Taylor Hunt Dawson Simpson

In Simon Hogan

Out Matthew Scarlett (hamstring)

MELBOURNE

Backs Clint Bartram Jared Rivers Colin Garland

Half backs Cameron Bruce Matthew Warnock James Frawley

Centreline Brad Green Jack Grimes Aaron Davey

Half forwards Jamie Bennell Brad Miller Jordan Gysberts

Forwards Nathan Jones Jack Watts Neville Jetta

Followers Mark Jamar Brent Moloney Colin Sylvia

Interchange Joel Macdonald James McDonald, Cale Morton Austin Wonaeamirri

Emergencies Lynden Dunn Addam Maric Jake Spencer

In Cameron Bruce Jordan Gysberts Matthew Warnock

Out Jordie McKenzie Tom Scully (rested) Jack Trengove

New Jordan Gysberts (Eastern Ranges)

FLASHBACK by Scoop Junior

When I reflect back on my most memorable home and away games over the last 20 years of watching Melbourne, two games automatically spring to mind. One was the win against West Coast at Subiaco back in 1998. Despite this now being 12 years ago, I would think that most Melbourne supporters would have pretty fond memories of this game.

I guess the 'memorable' factor was heightened for me as I was at the game, my first trip to Subiaco to see the Dees. But no one could deny how incredible that win was, as not only was it against a powerhouse in their own backyard, but Melbourne had a lengthy injury list featuring many of their best players and had been absolutely belted the previous two weeks against Geelong and St Kilda.

The other game that jumps up is the Round 20, 2005 match versus Geelong at Skilled Stadium.

After witnessing loss after loss at Geelong over the years, it was with a sense of deja vu that I arrived at Skilled Stadium that day to see the Demons try to get their finals hopes back on track. Deja vu on two counts - one, we had not won at Geelong since 1988 and another depressing drive back to Melbourne after the game looked on the cards, and two, we had lost our previous seven games (after sterling early season form had seen us climb to second on the ladder mid-season) and this appeared as though it was going to be number eight.

So, while in the context of the season the game was a massive one, there was always that feeling in the back of the mind that this was Geelong at Geelong and we simply do not win these games.

By half time my pessimistic pre-game thoughts were realised. Five goals down, only four goals kicked to half time, a number of behinds and mis-kicks as the team again struggled to deal with the local breeze and the narrow confines of the ground.

However, something special happened over the next 60 minutes of football that will be reflected on by Melbourne supporters for a long period of time. The Demons clicked into gear, Russell Robertson providing the spark up forward, and a six goal to two third quarter had the visitors in front at three quarter time to the stunned disbelief of the home fans (and it must be said the away fans as well).

But we'd been here before at Skilled, we've seen this a number of times. Geelong would quickly find their feet, gain the momentum and run away with a big win.

[Note: On Tuesday night on Foxtel they showed the Geelong-Melbourne match at Kardinia Park in 1994, where the Dees played some great footy in the third quarter and looked like winning it, only for Gary Ablett Snr and co. to go ballistic in the final quarter to win running away. So we'd seen this before, it was nothing new.]

However, the Melbourne side on this day were made of stern stuff and despite Geelong improving in the final quarter and threatening to sneak over the line, the Demons held firm and responded to everything the Cats threw at them. We (the few Melbourne fans that were there) were screaming our lungs out and praying for the boys to get over the line, but our cries were completely drowned out by the vocal home fans.

Then it hit me. Deep into the last term, for the first time I could remember since going to Geelong, I thought, "we can win this". But I should emphasize the word "can", because I still had the nagging thought that somehow the dark spiritual forces of Kardinia Park would combine to ensure that the Dees would go home empty-handed yet again.

And so it proved when Matthew Egan marked within shooting distance and the siren sounded with the Demons leading by two points. Oh, how cruel. We get to within a few seconds of winning at Geelong and have this happen to us. "We will never win here" I thought.

Football is about moments and the feelings that those moments elicit. As Egan's shot slowly faded to the left and the Demons players started celebrating the fact that they had won by a point, Melbourne fans had one of those moments. It was a feeling of sheer joy mixed with a sense of bewilderment and amazement. Did we just beat the Cats in Geelong? Surely not. Well to me it still felt that way (despite my jumping around like a lunatic suggesting otherwise), and it took about an hour to sink in that we had actually done it.

The Melbourne fans that were there hung around for what seemed an eternity after the game, singing the song and just lapping up the feeling of what they had just seen. It was about as surreal a feeling and an atmosphere as you could imagine.

The train ride home was also a fantastic experience. The club had organised a special train to take Melbourne fans back to Spencer Street (I think it was called the 'Demon Train'). The usual long trip home went by in a flash as repeated renditions of 'It's a Grand Old Flag' reverberated in the carriages filled with Demons fans who simply could not contain their excitement at what had been a most memorable day out.

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