THAT’S ALL FOLKS

THAT'S ALL FOLKS by Whispering Jack

We all knew that 2010 would be a difficult season for the Melbourne Football Club as the team moved into its next phase of development. We expected patchy form and inconsistency of performance but in many ways, the 10 point loss at the hands of North Melbourne in the final game played at the MCG at twilight, stood as a typical example of a club in transition.

Gone are the days when the opposition would completely monster a Melbourne team completely bereft of skill, talent, strength and fighting spirit. The team suffered its biggest defeat (56 points) in the opening round against Hawthorn but there were no 10 goal plus thrashings. There were still plenty of quirky efforts and never knew quite what to expect on a weekly basis other than the unexpected but some patters did emerge when things got tough.

While there signs of improvement were everywhere and this delivered more winning performances over the course of the season, it still didn't guarantee a seamless or speedy rise from easy beats to regular winners.

Against the Northerners, Melbourne started the game as it has on so many previous occasions this year. The team is one that enjoys taking risks and when they fail to work, the opposition can hurt you going the other way. Accordingly, the scoreboard after ten minutes or so had a familiar ring about it. The Kangaroos were 3.1.19 to the Demons' 0.0.0. How many times have we seen that before in Melbourne games this season?

Then, when the Demons finally got going and started looking like they might start troubling the scoreboard attendants, James Frawley drifted down to score a point and Brad Green sprayed a shot out of bounds on the full before the process of clawing back the opposition lead truly began for the day. Seen that sort of thing a few times although not necessarily from the same actors.

The script demanded that Jurrah and Green would eventually atone for their team's early waywardness and finish with five goal hauls each as the momentum of the game shifted several times over the remainder of the day. Melbourne's exciting running game got it in front by the middle of the second term thanks to a purple patch from Lynden Dunn who soccer goal across the body and through the air was World Cup class. Pity he missed the free kick gifted him immediately after by a frustrated Michael Firrito.

Then there was Tom Scully providing the run and carry in the midfield with the assistance in that division of two promising young team mates in Jack Trengove and Jordie McKenzie. And Colin Sylvia came back from his illness to give them a boost with his strong marking and running.

But for all their exciting play and the dogged determination of retiring skipper James McDonald the Kangaroos were able to match them in the middle and overall won the stoppages on the day with their extra strength and muscle which enabled them to maintain a two goal lead at the half time break.

The same strength of spirit enabled them to stay close after the Demons dominated the last ten minutes of the third quarter. It was a dominance that should have earned Melbourne a lead of three or four goals at the final break but an inability to convert when the ball was being pumped down with such regularity would prove costly.

The paradox for Melbourne is that at the end of a promising season, it lost the last three matches, was beaten badly at the stoppages in all of them and yet its midfield showed enormous development along the way (which just goes to show how poor a base we were coming from).

It's a hard luck story that you'll hear at many clubs but the circumstances would surely have been different had Dean Bailey only had a fit Aaron Davey and a Jack Grimes at his disposal, had Brent Moloney's fantastic season not been hampered by that corkie suffered at Subiaco or Colin Sylvia not gone down with a virus last week. Like all clubs, Melbourne could always use some extra class in the midfield but, with so many youngsters on the books and waiting in the wings, it will only get better and better internally with another pre season of weights, sprints and hard endurance work behind it, notwithstanding the departure of the club's great skipper.

Melbourne's defence has become more solid this year and a measure of its strenght is the fact that Matty Warnock struggles to find a place in that division. Mark Jamar has been a revelation in the ruck this year an All Australian recognition beckons. The forward line continues to improve with Jack Watts and Liam Jurrah underlining the promise and Brad Green having the fifty goal plus season that we always knew was inside of him if only he was given a gig up forward. Another strong tall goalkicking forward wouldn't go astray but that's different story altogether.

The 30,000 plus fans at the ground witnessed an absorbing arm wrestle in the first ten minutes of the last quarter. Melbourne drew away to a ten point lead at one stage but was clearly tiring. The loss of Nathan Jones to what appeared to be a serious injury when he was crunched from behind was costly as it loosened his tag on Brent Harvey (as an aside the incident highlighted the inconsistency of the umpiring in adjudicating in the back infringements with some after some crucial soft ones had been paid the other way). Michael Newton seemed to be struggling with what appeared to be a calf injury, Colin Garland had limped off at one point and Austin Wonaeamirri seemed almost immobile

in the end.

So it came to pass that North Melbourne got its second wind while a tired Melbourne couldn't blow out a candle. It went from leading by ten points to trailling by three goals in the blink of an eye. There was a late flurry and a goal to Brad Green but the ending came fast and the final siren sounded.

The year was over - that's all folks!

Melbourne 3.3.21 8.7.55 12.10.82 15.13 103

North Melbourne 5.4.34 10.7.67 12.8.80 17.11.113

Goals

Melbourne Green Jurrah 5 Dunn 3 Bate Morton

North Melbourne Harvey Jones 3 Campbell Swallow Wright 2 Edwards Goldstein Greenwood MacMillan Warren

Best

Melbourne Scully Sylvia Jurrah McDonald Dunn Green

North Melbourne Harvey Swallow Rawlings Greenwood Warren Wells

Injuries

Melbourne Jones (back)

North Melbourne Harding (ribs)

Changes

Melbourne Nil

North Melbourne Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

North Melbourne Nil

Umpires McLaren Ryan Keating

Crowd 31,064 at the MCG