THE BAD AND UGLY CURSE OF THE SLOW START

[Demonland 73,140]

THE BAD AND UGLY CURSE OF THE SLOW START by Whispering Jack

This year's curse seems to be the slow start - it's bad and it's ugly and it's not good!

In round one against the Sydney Swans, Melbourne was slow off the blocks early, spent most of the game playing catch up football, overcame a 25-point deficit late in the third quarter and hit the lead late in the game before allowing a couple of points through to finally register a tied result.

In round two, the Demons conceded the first eleven scoring shots to the Hawks in the first half of the opening stanza. That they were able to recover and, at one stage managed to hold a 27-point lead a little more than half an hour later, was due in large measure to the opposition's poor kicking for goal. In the end, they were blown away with ease.

Finally, Melbourne managed its first win for the season over the Brisbane Lions at the MCG but the result was unconvincing and came after it allowed the Lions the luxury of a five goal start early into the second term. Brisbane got away to a flyer with a five-goal-to-one first quarter in which the visitors' dominance was there to see in the statistics. They had 30 more disposals for the opening term, had more than double the marks (40-19) and led the clearances by ten to six. It should be remembered that this was a team that one week earlier had meekly surrendered by 78 points to the Western Bulldogs, who had themselves been thrashed a week earlier by an emerging Essendon team.

A great deal of desperation and the fear of humiliation in front of their own fans then drove the Demons for two very productive quarters leaving them 14 points to the good at the final break but, even then, they simply couldn't allow their fans to breath easily. Another goalless 20 minute period left red and blue hearts pounding away nervously before a long kick from Brent Moloney was safely shepherded through by Liam Jurrah for the team's only final quarter goal and they prevailed by 12.10.82 to 11.5 .71.

Moloney was the star of the day picking up a game-high 37 possessions on his way to his best start for the club since early in his debut year with the club of 2005 after crossing earlier from Geelong. He led a much maligned midfield division that was completely smashed in the final half last week and for the first quarter or so this week. Nathan Jones was strong with 27 disposals and fourth games Jordan Gysberts took up where he left off in mid season last year with 25 touches.

The on ballers were given an armchair ride by Mark Jamar continuing on from his stellar 2010 and now very ably assisted by Stef Martin who is fine when allowed to play ruck or defend and not so crash hot whilst up forward.

Their ascendancy came at an important time because early in the game the team was being carved up by a couple of old stagers in Simon Black in midfield and Luke Power up forward. Having lost skipper and experienced power forward Jonathan Brown after the opening round, I don't know what Brisbane will do if it loses either of these two as well.

Liam Jurrah was the most important forward line in an attack that continues not to do enough on a weekly basis. Jurrah snagged five goals for the day. He was devastating in the second quarter comeback and the last of his goals came early in the third term. Ash McGrath then had him seeing stars with a questionable head high bump and Jurrah faded a little allowing others to do the work for the third term but he was back in excitement mode late in the game when he shepherded Moloney's rolling long bomb which became the match winner.

The club goes into next week's groundbreaking game against the Gold Coast Suns with some problems that need attention and of course, the brains trust will be trying to work out what to do about the slow starts. Then there's the problem of the midfield still not performing anywhere near as well as it should especially given that, for the most part, it has been playing to a winning ruck.

Then there are the leaders, particularly Brad Green and Aaron Davey who have failed to stand up for a full 120 minutes. Green has been pedestrian this year in comparison to the lofty standards he has set in recent yeares and uncharacteristically has missed some easy shots at goal including one that could have sealed the game in the last quarter.

Hawthorn had it worked out last week and once again, Aaron Davey had a tagger in Andrew Raines who wore him like a glove and kept him out of the game. There are creative ways to break tags and hopefully, the football department will concentrate on helping Davey through close tagging situations and if this doesn't work, then have a strategy to put the taggers out of business (legally of course).

The forward line set up is also an issue as Melbourne lacks a strong forward who can be relied upon to contest marking situations and to keep the ball inside the 50 metre arc. The return of Austin Wonaeamirri will help things at ground level but we simply cannot afford to rely predominantly on Liam Jurrah's heroics every week. The way the Demons play the game, returns of 11, 12 and 12 goals are not enough in today's football.

Above all, the team needs to be persistent and consistent with its attack on the football. Even against an inexperienced outfit like next week's opponents, the Suns, the team must play four good quarters of good football together. This is what Gold Coast skipper Gary Ablett is demanding of his team heading into this weekend's fixture against Melbourne at the Gabba and it is no less what is to be expected of the Demons at the same time... right from the start of every game.

Melbourne 1.1.7 6.3.39 11.7.73 12.10.82

Brisbane Lions 5.2.32 7.3.45 9.5.59 11.5.71

Goals

Melbourne Jurrah 5 Bennell Dunn Grimes Gysberts Moloney Sylvia Wonaeamirri

Brisbane Lions Power 4 Banfield 2 Clark Leuenberger Polkinghorne Redden Rockliff

Best

Melbourne Moloney Jurrah Rivers Jamar Jones Gysberts

Brisbane Lions Clark Adcock Power Rockliff Black Leuenberger

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Brisbane Lions Nil

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Brisbane Lions Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Brisbane Lions Nil

Umpires Schmitt Chamberlain Keating

Crowd 24,380 at the MCG