BOOST

[Demonland 71,622]

BOOST by The Oracle

Melbourne has been going through a rough trot since the balmy days of its magical three wins on end in April. The Demons' only win since then came in steamy Darwin when they fell in by a solitary point. There had been no victories in front of a home crowd for two and a half months when they took on the flagging Bombers at the MCG.

Two sides bereft of confidence facing off against each other made for a fascinating contest but which would emerge with the boost of a much needed win?

When Jared Rivers made a meal of a routine short pass to Jack Trengove after taking a safe mark early in the opening term, it was a case of deja vu all over again with Melbourne trailling by a goal in the first minute of the game.

Then they threw away the script. Colin Sylvia, coming back after several weeks with a freak toe injury, took a courageous mark and a 50 metre penalty to even the score and, not long after, a botch up from a Bomber defender gifted Brad Green his first goal. Melbourne was on its way to winning its first opening term in several weeks.

With Mark Jamar dominating the rucks, the Demons took a handy 16 point lead into the first break, a margin they managed to double thanks to some confidence boosting play led by veterans Green and Cameron Bruce aided by a lack of discipline from the Bombers that enabled Melbourne to benefit from a swag of 50m penalties.

During the second term, the fans were treated to some more happy glimpses of the future with first year player Jack Trengove converting a set shot and then setting up Liam Jurrah for his first goal of the season after missing the first four months after suffering a shoulder injury in a practice match. For a club that has been short on star quality for so long, the signposts are pointing towards the heavens but let's not get too carried away just yet!

After half time, the Bombers must have located the lost script from the first quarter when they kicked three goals in the first six minutes. They were almost back in the game when a lucky free kick and a goal to Jack Watts gave the Demons another boost. With Green starring in front of goal, they took back the initiative to have a handy buffer of 27 points at the final break.

The Bombers had compounded their woes with some poor kicking for goal but much of that could be attributed to the pressure applied by Melbourne's defence.

The Demons dominated the first half of the final term, scoring four goals and pushing their lead beyond 50 points before putting the cue in the rack. Given that they travel across the continent for next week's game against the Dockers, it was probably a fair idea to loosen the pressure rather than to move in for the kill. As a result Essendon scored six of the last seven goals in an elongated junk time.

Jamar in the ruck, Sylvia (29 disposals and two goals) and Green (five goals) were the stars and Lynden Dunn a quiet achiever but there were some great signs from youngsters Trengove, Tom Scully and Jordie McKenzie in the midfield. McKenzie's tackling was reminiscent of early in the season when his pressure was so important. James Frawley and Colin Garland were majestic in defence and Jurrah and Watts are heralding an exciting future for the Demon forward line.

A week's a long time in football. A week ago, we were wondering from where Melbourne's next win would come. If the Demons can break their away from home interstate hoodoo next week, they'll be a game and a half away from the top eight. In this season where we have seen unlikely and unexpected winning runs from Hawthorn, Adelaide and Richmond, who knows what could happen from there once a team receives a much needed winning boost?

Melbourne 6.2.38 10.6.66 14.7.91 19.8.122

Essendon 3.4.22 4.10.34 8.16.64 14.19.103

Goals

Melbourne Green 5 Bruce Jamar Jurrah Sylvia Trengove 2 Bate Bennell Dunn Watts

Essendon Neagle 3, Lovett-Murray Stanton 2, Davey Dyson Jetta Monfries Reimers Watson Zaharakis

Best

Melbourne Green Sylvia Jamar Bruce Trengove Dunn

Essendon Zaharakis Lovett-Murray Winderlich Watson

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Essendon Nil

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Essendon Scott Gumbleton, replaced in the selected side by Sam Lonergan

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Essendon Nil

Umpires Kennedy Armstrong Bowen

Crowd 49,203 at the MCG

[H_T 3,043]

Oracle. How dare you mention Liam Jurrah and "star quality" in the same paragraph. How dare you. You could get lynched around here for spruiking your thoughts of that nature.

[jayceebee31 759]

Oracle. How dare you mention Liam Jurrah and "star quality" in the same paragraph. How dare you. You could get lynched around here for spruiking your thoughts of that nature.

HT- a little over the top here- LJ will be a star, however, you could not say this after the last match.Two very easy goals , could not hold his marks and kicked badly-although ,naturally, first game back--The opposite could be said of Sylvia- just brilliant- "STAR QUALITY"

[Little Goffy 14,462]

Anyone else noticed than when we win, it tends to be a spanking big score all 'round?

In fact, the nonsense against Adelaide (good ol' Crowbots) is the only time we've won a game without kicking 100 points.

That ought to be entertaining, provided the win column keeps filling over the years to come, of course.