HALF HEAVEN

[Demonland 65,643]

HALF HEAVEN by Whispering Jack

There were three minutes left in the opening game of the season when Brad Green happened to be in the right place at the right time to be on the receiving end of a long kick from debutant Luke Tapscott. His desperate lunge produced the soccer kick (ironically, Green could have played that game but chose our sport instead) that put Melbourne in front of Sydney for the first time in the match. The margin was just two points at the time and the goal heralded an excruciatingly painful period during which the ball was mainly at the Swans' end and they scrounged around long enough to bring about the AFL's first Round 1 draw in 29 years.

The final siren immediately placed a myriad of thoughts in the mind and most of them started with the words "what if". Naturally, the "what ifs" applied equally to the situations of both teams and it's fair to say that, like the result, they all balanced in the end.

Both sides had their opportunities to put the game beyond doubt had they only kicked more accurately for goal or made better decisions or received kinder decisions from the umpires.

That's life!

When all is said and done, it has to be remembered that Melbourne is still very much a young developing team that has been hit by a string of injuries to key players including All Australian defender James Frawley, early draft selections Cale Morton and Tom Scully and strong tackling young midfielder Jordie McKenzie.

As coach Dean Bailey pointed out after the game, this team would not have been capable twelve months ago of fighting back to from a 25-point deficit late in the third term to salvage a tied result.

However, that is exactly what his team did and that they did so against a team which, like their opponent next week, made it to last year's semi finals, will hold them in good stead for the rigours of the season ahead.

The club's hero in this game was big bodied midfielder Brent Moloney who took charge of the packs and constantly drove the ball forward to advantage when the revival came. In the final quarter, a constant target was substitute Ricky Petterd who took off the green top at the final break and picked up six possessions and set up some vital goals in an inspiring but brief cameo passage that was his first game in almost eleven months.

A couple of highlights coming from the game were the outstanding debut of Tapscott, a strong bodied long kick in the mould of Moloney. Tapscott marked strongly and handed out bumps and bruises in a manner befitting a 100 game veteran and showed he will be an acquisition. His old school mate Jack Trengove is showing signs of class and maturity well beyond his years and, in these two teenagers, we can see the basis of the club's future - a future's that's looking very good.

We also saw the coming of age of Stef Martin as second ruck to Mark Jamar. Martin now has the body shape of an AFL footballer and he has come on in leaps and bounds improving every facet of his game since arriving as a gangly young ruck prospect from Old Hailybury Under 19s. In fact, if he can continue to produce efforts like this game on a regular basis, the Demons will have a ruck division capable of mixing it with the best under the new regime which includes the controversial substitute rule.

Melbourne did struggle early conceding the first two goals in a repeat of so many of last year's games. It was catch up football and they trailed at every change with Adam Goodes holding the ascendency in the early going. Colin Garland grew in stature as the game went on and finished up shading the Brownlow Medallist, a not inconsiderable achievement.

Melbourne needs to get more from its experienced placers including the skipper who had a so so day and Aaron Davey who (pardon the pun) flashed in and out and was well tagged by Rhys Shaw. The same can be said of Colin Sylvia who had some quiet moments interspersed with some brilliant patches. Liam Jurrah bagged two goals but was worn like a glove by Ted Richards and only really looked dangerous once Petterd was on the field.

Jack Grimes got a fair bit of the ball and, like others in the team, did make some mistakes. At the same time, he also demonstrated his sublime skills and Grimes is another who will play a major role in the future of the club and why we can take so much away from this game for the days, weeks and months ahead.

The team is technically in the "eight", there's room for improvement there especially if and when the Demons can field close to a full list, and the Dees are slowly moving away from hell. In fact, you could say they're halfway to heaven.

Melbourne 3.2.20 5.8.38 8.12.60 11.18.84

Sydney 5.3.33 7.5.47 10.14.74 11.18.84

Goals

Melbourne Dunn Green Jurrah 2 Bennell Jetta Jones Moloney Sylvia

Sydney Bolton McGlynn 3 Goodes 2 Everitt Reid White

Best

Melbourne Moloney Jamar Davey Green Trengove Garland

Sydney Bolton O'Keefe McGlynn Goodes Grundy Shaw

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Sydney Nil

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Sydney Nil

Reports

Melbourne Davey high contact on McGlynn in the second quarter (you're kidding umpire, right?)

Sydney Nil

Umpires McBurney Armstrong Jeffrey

Crowd 33,951 at the MCG