8½!

[Demonland 73,140]

8½! by The Oracle

The great Italian film maker Federico Fellini directed the classic movie 8½ in 1963 and today, this work is regarded by many film buffs as one of the great cinematic achievements.

The following has nothing in common with Fellini at all.

My story is about an achievement of sorts in another form of entertainment medium - the sport of football. For me, the number "8½" isn’t about scantily clad women and funny business at all but rather, it represents the number of wins Melbourne has achieved in the year to date after disposing of Richmond at the weekend.

You can call me a Phillistine or a primitive if you like, but my 8½ is what I call a remarkable achievement given from where the Demons have come this year and whether or not that number improves further by season’s end, it's going to be a great story - and one that will only get better in the fullness of time.

This story is about how the Demons got to 8½ but let me say from the outset that I'm not getting carried away by Melbourne's hard fought 29 point win over Richmond. Indeed, I consider the game as something of a let down. The let down we had to have, if you like.

The Demons won the game by overwhelming the Tigers in the final quarter when their skillful players took the game on and completely ran over their opposition but things were very different at the start.

I've been developing this theory that, in the second half of the season in particular, most teams will inevitably have their ups and their downs. Take the Bombers and the Saints over recent weeks. Each has enjoyed highs and lows of winning and losing big games. This phenomenon generally applies right across the board with the only exceptions being the teams at the extremes of the spectrum - Collingwood and West Coast. They're either very good all of the time in the case of the Pies or poor all of the times like the Eagles who seem to be heading for the wooden spoon (how on earth did we let them beat us on the G earlier this year?).

I took this theory on board during the week leading up to this game and was therefore concerned that the Demons were facing a danger game against the Tigers because this had to be the time for their scheduled downer.

My worst fears were realised from the start of the game. To paraphrase the words of a former coach, they "didn't come out to play"; the flair, the excitement and the precision play of the Swans game a fortnight ago were all missing.

There had been rumours that Mark Jamar would be a late omission from the team due to some sort of infection in his foot. The Russian duly appeared but he seemed out of sorts. His ruckwork wasn't up to the usual 2010 levels (he's obviously missing his mate Beamer who was the real late withdrawal from the team) and he failed to take a mark for the game. So for starters, the Demons lacked his usual drive in the ruck and therefore lost one of the key advantages they were expected to have over the Tigers.

In the opening half of the game it was Melbourne which struggled. Players had trouble keeping their feet, their delivery and decision-making were terrible, turnovers were committed and marks were dropped. By half time, the Tigers held an advantage of 8 inside-50s but remarkably led by a single point, thanks to the fact that the Demons were able to muster a few individual efforts that led to goals.

After the break, things slowly started to improve for the Demons but it remained a tough slog and they can be truly thankful for the sterling defensive efforts of James Frawley as he works his way into All Australian contention. Last week he did the job on Jonathan Brown and this week he blanketed Coleman Medal leader Jack Riewoldt, keeping him down to a single goal for the game.

At the other end of the ground, his team started showing the crowd of 45,844 the advantage of not being focussed on a single player to provide the goals. Lynden Dunn was having a good day and found himself at the end of some good forward movements, Brad Green continued to produce his dangerous form up forward and Liam Jurrah started to emerge after his early burst of two goals. For a while there, the Jurrahcane was struggling to hold his marks and then he had the kicking yips with four behinds in a row. Now he was beginning to threaten again.

A long goal from Dunn kicking from beyond fifty metres right on three quarter time gave the Demons a seven point buffer but the Tigers fought back to level the scores. Now was the time for the club's number one draft choices to put on a show.

Tom Scully (#1 in the 2009 national draft) was once again in sparkling final quarter form collecting 10 disposals. Jack Watts (#1 in the 2008 national draft) picked up eight including a goal after a beautiful blind turn and pass from Rohan Bail. Liam Jurrah (#1 in the 2009 pre season draft) was electric, adding two more goals to finish with four. Jack Trengove (#2 in the 2009 national draft) had been experiencing a dirty day on return from a hip injury also did some nice things in the final term. And let's not forget Aaron Davey (an early number in a rookie draft some years ago ago) who was in brilliant form all day. Suddenly, the Demons were five goals ahead and it was game over.

Now, if you add all the early numbers to the #3 of 100 gamer Colin Sylvia from back in the 2003 national draft and award half a point for Davey's rookie selection, you'll finish up with the magical 8½ that the Demons achieved on this cool August afternoon. That's not bad for an off day and if they can stay on song for the next few weeks the numbers will only get better.

Melbourne 3.1.19 7.5.47 10.10.70 16.13.109

Richmond 2.5.17 7.6.48 9.9.63 11.14.80

Goals

Melbourne Dunn 5 Jurrah 4 Green 3 Jamar Jones Watts Wonaeamirri

Richmond Cousins Graham King Morton White 2 Riewoldt

Best

Melbourne Frawley Dunn Bruce Green Scully Davey Jurrah

Richmond Morton Jackson Cousins Newman

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

RichmondNil

Changes

Melbourne Moloney replaced by Jones in the selected side

Richmond Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Richmond Nil

Umpires Schmitt Vozzo Jennings

Crowd 45,844 at the MCG