NO REST FOR THE WICKED

[Demonland 70,247]

NO REST FOR THE WICKED by The Oracle

It was a diabolically clever move by the Melbourne brains trust to rest brilliant youngsters Jack Trengove and Tom Scully and to omit strong tackling surprise packet of the year Jordie McKenzie for the annual pilgrimage to Skilled Stadium where Geelong was already odds on favourite to commit the now routine ritual slaughter of a rival team on its own dung heap. The selections were indeed wise and intended to enhance the durability of the club's leading young talent but they also sent out some mixed messages.

For many Demon fans they were the final nail in the coffin if they were still toying with the idea of braving the cold, windy and rainy onset of winter and the hour's drive down a drab highway bereft of any decent scenery into the hell hole that masquerades as the State's second city. Most simply took the right-minded and sober decision not to turn up and risk a drenching and the possibility of contracting pneumonia for the simple pleasure of watching their team cop a drubbing especially if the game could be watched on one hour delay in the warm comfort of your own home or local pub. Well ... there are exceptions to the rule and your correspondent was one of them this week.

No rest for the wicked.

Actually, on the subject of rest, I have developed a theory quite early that the selectors had erred too much on the side of caution this time. The rigours of negotiating the energy sapping heat and humidity of the Top End as well as the travel and recovery time and regimen involved were always going to cause grief to a young side so patently outmatched by this machine sitting irresistibly on top of the table with an extra day's break and an average winning margin of 90 points from its three previous games at the Cattery. And if you needed any proof of the effects of tropical fatigue syndrome that affects teams travelling to the Top End you only needed to look at what was happening on the same afternoon elsewhere in the land when winless Richmond decimated the other survivor of last Saturday night's northern rumble.

The answer to all of this was quite clearly that the selectors should have been even more daring. They should have rested even more players in a move that, in my view, would have produced a much closer result than the eventual 54 point percentage killing defeat that that those of us who bothered to go the full distance managed to witness.

The Demons went into the game with a top heavy defence which was clearly an error when taking on a slick, well oiled attacking machine like the Cats on a ground where they can't be beaten even in a single quarter let alone for a whole match. One of those defenders could easily have been given the day off to play a round of golf back in town rather than to be monstered by a Podsiadly (was it Nathan Carroll who used to routinely do a number on him when he was a middle aged spud at Werribee?) or a Hawkins. Surely, a fresh Kyle Cheney or James Strauss would have provided a little more balance and allowed less latitude to the Cats (exception James Frawley who kept Johnson under reasonable check after quarter time) than our over-abundant defensive talls - especially given that the Casey Scorpions had the bye last week?

The same can be said up forward where the Melbourne forwards struggled to find the big sticks (exception Brad Green who has been a shining example of reliability this year). It would have been a brave act to rest Jamie Bennell after last week's four goal performance but he could have done with the break. Austin Wonaeamirri isn't quite up with the pace of the game after his lengthy injury lay off. I appreciate the fact that he had only played the one game in Darwin but I suspect that a few weeks back in the VFL would not have hurt him in his quest to return to his old powers. A fully rested Addam Maric, who has shown some recent form in the VFL, would have been an excellent replacement. I suppose in the final analysis the forwards had a good rest for most of the afternoon out there on the ground because they didn't have to do much other than watch their opponents clean up whenever the ball found its way into their vicinity.

My "give them all a rest" theory was, of course, vindicated by the performance of newcomer Jordan Gysberts who showed great composure for a first gamer, collected disposals at will and finished with a team-high 26 disposals. The promising first round draft pick from 2009 spent last week cooling his heels after three or four consecutive good performances with Casey. Apart from Green, he had few rivals for the mantle of his team's best player in an exciting debut game but next week, with the return of the Scullgoves and hopefully McKenzie, the future Demon midfield should be well and truly on display.

And the story of this game?

Geelong was in control from go to whoa kicking the first three and the last three goals of the game. If you were feeling charitable and took away those six goals then you might say Melbourne's performance was reasonable with all things considered. Hopefully, one day soon it won't be necessary to rationalise the outcome of games that way and - rest or no rest - we will be demanding a more full blooded contest from every Melbourne team that steps out on the field.

We saw what a great team like Geelong can do. They are wicked in the way they crush their opposition and, when you're that good, there is no rest for the wicked.

Melbourne 2.1.13 4.4.28 7.6.48 10.7.67

Geelong 5.5.35 9.6.60 14.8.92 18.13.121

Goals

Melbourne Green 3 Davey 2 Bennell Jetta Miller Morton Wonaeamirri

Geelong Podsiadly 5 Hawkins 4 Stokes 3 Ablett Johnson 2 Chapman Selwood

Best

Melbourne Green Gysberts Davey Moloney Frawley McDonald

Geelong Ablett Podsiadly Selwood Enright Stokes Chapman Varcoe Hawkins

injuries

Melbourne Garland (jarred knee)

Geelong Nil

Changes Nil

Reports Nil

Umpires Farmer, McLaren, Jennings

Crowd 24,525 at Skilled Stadium

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