A STEP BACKWARDS?

[Demonland 73,140]

A STEP BACKWARDS? by The Oracle

After a relatively impressive showing in Adelaide, Melbourne's undeafeated NAB Cup run came to a shuddering halt yesterday when it ran into a fitter faster Essendon at Etihad Stadium.

Not only did the Demons look positively sluggish (make that pedestrian) against the Bombers, their skills and decision making were reminiscent of the way they went about things two or three years ago in the club's darkest hours. We thought we had gone past the days of hesitant play, poor disposal, panic under pressure across the backline and gifting away easy goals through shambolic turnovers but they were all back with a vengeance last night.

Coach Dean Bailey said it all after the game when he told the media:

"The stats tell the facts of the game, the tackling, contested possessions, clearances and inside 50s just weren't good enough,"

"We had a poor start and poor finish."

That just about sums it up, but he could also have added that what he was describing was an exact facsimile of the way his team played in the bad old days suggesting that, despite the aspirations of the club and the hopes of the supporters, the reality might be that the team is going backwards. Of course, the excuse can be given that it's just the pre season, that we were experimenting, yadda yadda etc but actually, it was Essendon that was doing the experimenting as it rested some of its beetter players to give youth a go and it paid off handsomely. Perhaps Melbourne would have done well to give Sam Blease and Lucas Cook a go on the big stage this time as well and then the excuses might have been valid.

After his charges capitulated to a 39-point loss, Bailey could also have added that he was outcoached by his counterpart James Hird.

All Australian Mark Jamar dominated the hit outs in this game but, apart from very brief periods, the snappier and more desperate Essendon on ball brigade was too good.

The Bombers started brilliantly with the opening two goals but the Demons fought back to get their noses in front. This was partly through the sublime brilliance of Liam Jurrah and the improved Addam Maric up forward but they had little else up forward. They began bombing the ball high and hoping on a wing and a prayer that something would happen but it was often to little avail. Jack Trengove and Jack Grimes were good for the team but too many players were quiet and the Bombers had all the answers as they forced an indecisive Melbourne into errors.

Of course, many errors were also self-inflicted as hesitancy and poor skills saw the ball being coughed up to opposition forwards enough times to ensure that the catch up Demons would never get back into the game and allowied the Bombers to eventually run away to an easy win - 1.17.10 (121) to 1.11.7 (82).

Melbourne was truly pitiful in the final term when mistakes gifted two early goals away after it had fought hard to reduce the margin to just 10 points at the last break. The final term was particularly disappointing as the opposition piled on six goals to one as a tired and undsciplined Melbourne revived too many haunting memories of its recent past ensuring that the team is relegated to the backblocks for the rest of the pre season.

Knowing how nasty the authorities can be, there is every chance the club and its number one draft choice of 2009 will end up facing the dark side in Blacktown next week.

The players deserve it.

Melbourne 1.3.1, 1.6.3 1.10.5, 1.11.7 (82)

Essendon 0.7.3, 1.8.5, 1.11.9, 1.17.10 (121)

Super Goals

Melbourne A Maric

Essendon M Hurley

Goals

Melbourne L Jurrah 3 L Dunn A Maric 2 N Jetta C Sylvia J Trengove J Watts

Essendon P Ryder 3 A Davey D Heppell A Monfries 2 T Bellchambers T Colyer S Crameri B Howlett L Jetta B Stanton M Williams J Winderlich

Best

Melbourne J Grimes J Trengove B Moloney L Jurrah A Maric

Essendon P Ryder B Stanton A Davey M McVeigh L Jetta.

Injuries

Melbourne Garland (calf)

Essendon Colyer (leg) Dempsey (concussion)

Reports

Melbourne nil

Essendon nil

Umpires Rosebury Nicholls Ritchie

Official crowd 13,863 at Etihad Stadium