LANDSLIDE by The Oracle

The cliff hanger result of the Federal election was a world away from the minds of the fans assembled at Adelaide's AAMI Stadium for the game between the Power and the Demons. They might have come expecting to witness a close, hard fought contest but instead it was a landslide for the home team as Melbourne wasted its early dominance in general play around the ground with some poor disposal and decision making up forward and then allowed Port Adelaide to dominate the scoreboard with the tired effort of a young team that's had a long, hard season.

The harsh realities of professional sport came home to the Melbourne Football Club early in the game. The young Demons have been displaying some pleasing form of late as they entered the home stretch of what many regarded as a "development" season. They've learned a lot.

However, although they've come a long way, their biggest lesson in the ned has been that there's still an enormous gulf between them and the professionalism required to play finals football, let alone to make it all the way to the top.

A truly professional side would have taken full advantage of the team's total dominance over Port Adelaide in the first 15 to 20 minutes of their contest at AAMI Stadium. During that time, Melbourne controlled the ball in a game that was played mostly in its own forward half. It was on top everywhere but it failed to translate that dominance on the scoreboard.

You simply shouldn't miss shots from 20 metres out as did Jack Trengove in the game's early moments. Cast your minds back to the mid season game against Carlton who I don't regard as being a particularly more skilled or talented team than Melbourne. The Blues turned their early dominance into a five goal to nothing start that virtually put the game beyond doubt in the first 15 minutes. After that, the scoreboard pressure and the elements kept the Demons at bay.

By way of contrast, Melbourne wasted its early chances this week and allowed Port Adelaide back into the contest and at quarter time, the home side had its nose in front despite the fact that the Demons held sway in most of the game's vital statistics including double the number of clearances. Port was given a second chance thanks to Melbourne's wasteful inefficiency and it took full advantage in the second quarter by kicking five straight goals. In that time Nathan Jones and Cale Morton had added to the list of easy misses and the Demons' overuse of the ball had become a mindnumbing contrast to the Power's efficiency. Little wonder that when they came into their rooms at half time, the locals were so chock full of confidence. They held a 10 point lead despite Melbourne having 15 shots at goal to 10 and a 70 possession advantage.

One aspect missing from Melbourne's game at most times when it has faced adversity this season has been a dominant key forward to help the likes of Jack Watts and Liam Jurrah in the early stages of their development. Port Adelaide's Schulz, whilst not a fashionable footballer, provided an example of the type of forward who might fill the bill in the interim. His five goals were the difference between the two sides and his type might well be on the Demons' shopping list in the post season.

Melbourne might have some excuse in that late season injuries have struck at the worst time. In the space of little over a week they have lost Aaron Davey, Colin Sylvia, Joel Macdonald and Jack Grimes reinjured his hmastring on comeback in the VFL. All four would have been handy yesterday but you have to make do with the material you have at your disposal.

After half time, it was Port that came out full of energy and it smashed the Demon resistance and in the end, the club's dismal record at AAMI Stadium just got worse. When the club plays its next game there in the season to come, it will be a decade between its last victory at the ground.

All that the Melbourne fans were to get from the last half of the game was the individual brilliance and the mark of the year from Liam Jurrah who actually backed up that effort with a straight shot for one of his four goals and some wonderful performances from veterans in Cameron Bruce and retiring skipper James McDonald who led the way in his 250th game for the club.

Next year, the Demons will be without Junior's professionalism and his leadership. For their sake, it is to be hoped that they take note of the example he has set throughout his illustrious career.

Melbourne 2.6.18 5.10.40 8.11.59 11.17.83

Port Adelaide 3.2.20 8.2.50 15.6.96 17.10.112

Goals

Melbourne Jurrah 4 Wonaeamirri 2 Dunn Green McDonald Scully Watts

Port Adelaide Schulz 5 Boak Gray 3 Broadbent Hitchcock Pearce D Stewart P Stewart Thomas

Best

Melbourne McDonald Bruce Jurrah Moloney Scully Rivers

Port Adelaide Schulz Boak Rodan Brogan Pearce Cassisi

Injuries

Melbourne Jurrah (hamstring)

Port Adelaide Ebert (knee)

Changes

Melbourne Sylvia (virus) replaced in the selected side by Bail

Port Adelaide Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

Umpires McLaren Hay Mollinson

Crowd 21, 086 at AAMI Stadium

The Melbourne football club has a responsibility to it's members to explain this deplorable and insipid side we keep fielding at AAMI.

Regardless of the opposition or the players we take over, the same team of half arsed limps give the crows or the Power a bye and leaves us chasing our wins from a reduced fixture of 20 games and starting from 50% percent behind.

We have turned enough of the list over for it not to be a list issue.

Blame now rests with the footy department and the coaching. They never get our players up for these games. Look at the pies, you can't tell me that they just get lucky and keep drafting players that travel well. Malthouse prepares ultra hard strategically and prepares the players mentally and they near on win them all. We must significantly change how we approach interstate games and we as a supporter group should demand explanations from the club we have all opened our wallets for in recent times.

To accept this twice a year every year for a decade is to accept mediocrity.

I've never seen a mediocre premiership team.

Time to start making some noise Dees supporters we have a genuine right for an answer from our footy department.

The Melbourne football club has a responsibility to it's members to explain this deplorable and insipid side we keep fielding at AAMI.

Regardless of the opposition or the players we take over, the same team of half arsed limps give the crows or the Power a bye and leaves us chasing our wins from a reduced fixture of 20 games and starting from 50% percent behind.

We have turned enough of the list over for it not to be a list issue.

Blame now rests with the footy department and the coaching. They never get our players up for these games. Look at the pies, you can't tell me that they just get lucky and keep drafting players that travel well. Malthouse prepares ultra hard strategically and prepares the players mentally and they near on win them all. We must significantly change how we approach interstate games and we as a supporter group should demand explanations from the club we have all opened our wallets for in recent times.

To accept this twice a year every year for a decade is to accept mediocrity.

I've never seen a mediocre premiership team.

Time to start making some noise Dees supporters we have a genuine right for an answer from our footy department.

Totally agree. Enough is enough.

The Melbourne football club has a responsibility to it's members to explain this deplorable and insipid side we keep fielding at AAMI.

.....

we as a supporter group should demand explanations from the club we have all opened our wallets for in recent times.

.....

To accept this twice a year every year for a decade is to accept mediocrity.

I've never seen a mediocre premiership team.

Time to start making some noise Dees supporters we have a genuine right for an answer from our footy department.

Awesome!!

Can we also take into account and review the opposition ?

I'm sure we don't actually plan to lose these games.

I agree that we have had issues at Football Park, but didn't really think through the consequences. When you put it as two games a year that we are guaranteed to lose for a decade, that equals 20 games. It's hard to believe we blow nearly a whole premiership season every ten years, because the club can't travel an hour west on a plane.

I'm stoked that we have had wins on the road in Darwin and Brisbane this year, and 2010 has been a success in so many ways for our club, but Adelaide is the next hurdle we have to conquer.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/100910/default.aspx

There is enough here from Bailey to suggest what went wrong today. Our execution let us down rather than any deplorable type of effort.

Way over the top and when you consider the side we might see run out in Round 21, 2011 could include names such as Grimes, Davey, Sylvia, Petterd, Blease, Gysberts, Tapscott, MacDonald in it when compared with the side today as well as Scully, Trengove, Watts, Jurrah, Wonaeamirri, Frawley, Garland all getting better and better. It is hardly time for explanations and the signs are all there to see.

There will still be bumps along the way until this team is settled with names above.

Get a grip Chicken Little

It was a poor effort. Several teams put in several of them each season. We will build on our consistency.

If we continue to double our win loss ratio each year I will have a happy member.

Get a grip Chicken Little

It was a poor effort. Several teams put in several of them each season. We will build on our consistency.

If we continue to double our win loss ratio each year I will have a happy member.

Yes it's been a poor effort over there in adelaide since 2001, not once have we ever been close to winning over there.

It is a full season of games just written off. Just letting the club know that it is an area that MUST improve.

Yes it's been a poor effort over there in adelaide since 2001, not once have we ever been close to winning over there.

It is a full season of games just written off. Just letting the club know that it is an area that MUST improve.

Glad we got that sorted, because the club was planning to just happily accept losses at AAMI instead.

Honestly, what a deplorable thread.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/100910/default.aspx

There is enough here from Bailey to suggest what went wrong today. Our execution let us down rather than any deplorable type of effort.

Way over the top and when you consider the side we might see run out in Round 21, 2011 could include names such as Grimes, Davey, Sylvia, Petterd, Blease, Gysberts, Tapscott, MacDonald in it when compared with the side today as well as Scully, Trengove, Watts, Jurrah, Wonaeamirri, Frawley, Garland all getting better and better. It is hardly time for explanations and the signs are all there to see.

There will still be bumps along the way until this team is settled with names above.

I'm sorry mate but Bailey is just regurgitating the same stuff he says after every loss. You can look at how different the side may be next year or the year after that but in reality the side is 100% different to the sides that ran out in 2002 and in 2006 etc but the results are always the same.

We never fire a shot regardless of the line-up or who we play. Adelaide and Ports best footy isn't as good as our best yet they both Pantsed us over there, why?

Because we have never played close to our best footy over there in a decade.

The sheer weight of games we have played over there since our last win is enough to have statistically and mathematically "accidentally" played well once but we don't.

We shouldn't be sitting here accepting this as just an inevitable loss when we are above port on the ladder and playing better football yet trot out the same garbage year in year out for a decade.

One thing is for certain supporters of Ess,Coll,Carl, wouldn't acceptthis happening and if we want to be a "powerhouse" club then we as supporters need to demand a higher level of performance from our club. High standards breed success and as supporters we set the level of the standards we are prepared to accept.

And 45 years without a flag suggests that we are too often prepared to accept sub standard performance.

Time to get some balls Melbourne people and demand the results we one day hope to expect.

Glad we got that sorted, because the club was planning to just happily accept losses at AAMI instead.

Honestly, what a deplorable thread.

why is it a deplorable thread 25??

Glad we got that sorted, because the club was planning to just happily accept losses at AAMI instead.

Honestly, what a deplorable thread.

So that would make you one of the multitude of Melbourne supporters that are happy with mediocrity?

It also makes you part of the problem.

why is it a deplorable thread 25??

I would say that it is because it runs on the assumption that we are willing to lose there. FFS the club doesn't sit down on a Thursday night before an SA visit and say "Meh. We never win there so why bother?" but when a bunch of supporters write them they will change plans and tell the players and coach to get serious.

If you don't think that the players and coaches are wondering why we have a problem at AAMI then you are not thinking things through.

I would say that it is because it runs on the assumption that we are willing to lose there. FFS the club doesn't sit down on a Thursday night before an SA visit and say "Meh. We never win there so why bother?" but when a bunch of supporters write them they will change plans and tell the players and coach to get serious.

If you don't think that the players and coaches are wondering why we have a problem at AAMI then you are not thinking things through.

I am sure the club has thought about it a lot, but over a decade we have been CANNON FODDER over there each time. FFS even Richmond win at AAMI and in the west for that matter.

I see nothing wrong with voicing disdain at today's performance-particularly as it was our captain's 250th..

It was shameful, sorry if you are offended, but i have had a gutful, as i bet the Bookies around the country have.

Betting should be suspended when we venture to AAMI.

So that would make you one of the multitude of Melbourne supporters that are happy with mediocrity?

It also makes you part of the problem.

No one is happy with mediocrity.

I am not happy with unnecessary alarmism from flighty supporters.

It was a bad game, we didn't play with the required intensity and they worried us out of it for most of the game.

Lets all give Dean a call tomorrow and let him know that when we play [censored] it's unacceptable and as member's we'd really prefer to see a win. I am sure it will make all the difference.

The bolded part, mate seriously....

I am sure the club has thought about it a lot, but over a decade we have been CANNON FODDER over there each time. FFS even Richmond win at AAMI and in the west for that matter.

I see nothing wrong with voicing disdain at today's performance-particularly as it was our captain's 250th..

It was shameful, sorry if you are offended, but i have had a gutful, as i bet the Bookies around the country have.

Betting should be suspended when we venture to AAMI.

Who's offended? You are not Robinson Crusoe on the feeling that things are not good when we travel there but what will telling the club we are [censored] off about it going to do that will change it? You either have faith that we are heading in the right direction - slowly - or you think the club is not working on the field.

You have to remember that Davey and Sylvia were huge outs, Moloney just didn't seem fit and we still lack a backup ruckman.

I'd be a lot more worried if we didn't show up against Nth next week.

Who's offended? You are not Robinson Crusoe on the feeling that things are not good when we travel there but what will telling the club we are [censored] off about it going to do that will change it? You either have faith that we are heading in the right direction - slowly - or you think the club is not working on the field.

You have to remember that Davey and Sylvia were huge outs, Moloney just didn't seem fit and we still lack a backup ruckman.

I'd be a lot more worried if we didn't show up against Nth next week.

But Port Adelaide are Rubbish, and we shouldn't just always wait to win at the MCG. somebody above said Port Adelaide worried us off the ball today, maybe thats right-Pretty damming if it is.

The MFC go to water in Adelaide-its pathetic that it has gone on so long. I am not Blaming anyone in particuliar- Senior players i thought would have had more pride for junior.

Who's offended? You are not Robinson Crusoe on the feeling that things are not good when we travel there but what will telling the club we are [censored] off about it going to do that will change it? You either have faith that we are heading in the right direction - slowly - or you think the club is not working on the field.

You have to remember that Davey and Sylvia were huge outs, Moloney just didn't seem fit and we still lack a backup ruckman.

I'd be a lot more worried if we didn't show up against Nth next week.

I would much rather we had won against Port than North next week, there are no guarantees there either. We are soft over in Adelaide, it seems we just go over to make up the numbers with some 70 point plus thumpings over the last 10 years. Geelong were in the same situation as us and it is only now they are a genuinely good side they can win there.

I don't accept the excuses that we get every time we cop a thrashing and would rather the club come out and say the "boys can't play outside the comfort zone of the G", it would at least be an honest assessment, Christ we can't even travel to the Dome without losing form.

...

Is this the same torch bearer that wanted the uprising on Bailey after Round 1?

Seen it all before.

Just letting the club know that it is an area that MUST improve.

What it did not know that??

Clearly the Club just accepts mediocrity and every other cliche under the sun.

Sampson does appeal to a certain demographic though.

No one is happy with mediocrity.

I am not happy with unnecessary alarmism from flighty supporters.

It was a bad game, we didn't play with the required intensity and they worried us out of it for most of the game.

Lets all give Dean a call tomorrow and let him know that when we play [censored] it's unacceptable and as member's we'd really prefer to see a win. I am sure it will make all the difference.

The bolded part, mate seriously....

Too much sense dandee.

In a previous thread about rating Melbourne's performance this year I rated their year lower than everyone else with a "C". I did this because I still believe they haven't changed the winning{losing} culture of the past 40+ years. That is not being able to play to a minimum required standard every week. The club can rise to occasion and play great footy like against Collingwood but don't come out to play against clubs we should have a realistic chance of beating. This goes for interstate games too. Why does this team need the extra incentive every week to play for 4 premiership points? I am getting a little underwhelmed by motivators like, "lets do it for Jimmy", "Collingwood", 'lets spoil the Dons 10th Anniversay party" etc. Why isn't winning 4 premiership points every week the prime motivator? If this attitude does not change I don't see Melbourne as a future premier. They will have a few good years in the finals at best and then fade away like they did in the Northey/Daniher years.

As has been said a number of times the team is young, inexperienced and they will be inconsistent.... The results have not been surprising overall.

In a previous thread about rating Melbourne's performance this year I rated their year lower than everyone else with a "C". I did this because I still believe they haven't changed the winning{losing} culture of the past 40+ years. That is not being able to play to a minimum required standard every week. The club can rise to occasion and play great footy like against Collingwood but don't come out to play against clubs we should have a realistic chance of beating. This goes for interstate games too. Why does this team need the extra incentive every week to play for 4 premiership points? I am getting a little underwhelmed by motivators like, "lets do it for Jimmy", "Collingwood", 'lets spoil the Dons 10th Anniversay party" etc. Why isn't winning 4 premiership points every week the prime motivator? If this attitude does not change I don't see Melbourne as a future premier. They will have a few good years in the finals at best and then fade away like they did in the Northey/Daniher years.

Please, we had a poor game, we were out-enthused and we couldn't kick a goal to save our lives....it is not the end of the world.........read also what Rhino said above........it happens

We've talked about this "hoodoo" so much, that I think the players have actually started to believe it

We play like poo over there, but we still made significant inroads this season when it comes to interstate travel, and a win at AAMI will no doubt come around shortly.

Yesterday was very disappointing, but it has nothing to do with where the game was played. Missing easy shots on goal and easy targets by foot is costly no matter what ground you play on.