THE UGLY, THE BAD AND THE GOOD by The Oracle

Quote from the coach at the end of the match:

"In this game, you have to learn how to handle failure and adversity if you're going to be any good. And we've got something to handle just at the moment.

"It will be our next challenge as a group, to regroup after that sort of performance. It was as bad as we've put on display for a long time."

He's talking about his team's ugly performance at the MCG but thankfully the speaker is Adelaide coach Neil Craig whose head is likely to be one of three or four on the media chopping block this week instead of Melbourne coach Dean Bailey who went through the wringer last week.

The Demons are sitting in seventh position on the AFL ladder with 3½ wins from six matches, a healthy percentage closing in on 120 after a thumping 96-point win over the Crows. However, in this caper, unless you have put the score on the board consistently over a long period, a record of three wins from your past four matches (two of them by 15 goals or more) all amounts to naught. Put in another inspid performance against North Melbourne next week and Caroline Wilson, every other panellist and half the supporter group will turn ugly and be after the coach's blood.

The bad, apart from the early injury to Jack Grimes, the handful of dropped marks in front of goal, the poor kicking for goal, the ordinary umpiring (I can say this after a 16 goal win without it sounding like sour grapes) was the dismal Adelaide side and the fact that many of the pundits are excusing the Crows because of their youth and inexperience as if the Demons aren't the most youthful and inexperienced side in the competition next to the Gold Coast Suns.

The bad was pointing out the Adelaide coaches failed to exploit all of the aspects of Melbourne's game that Alistair Clarkson and John Worsfold have done to perfection earlier in the season.

Which brings us to the good and you have to start with how the coach, the football department (including new football el supremo, guru and saviour Jimmy) and the players responded to last week's humiliation.

You have to hand it to the way Brad Green, Aaron Davey, Nathan Jones and ... yes Brent Moloney (with an amazing 19 clearances) came back to show leadership and add inspiration to the group. Beamer must be up there with Judd and Watson for early Brownlow favouritism!

And what about the way important players in James Frawley and Colin Sylvia overcame criticism over their recent poor form and how youngsters Jack Watts, Jack Trengove, Jordan Gysberts, Luke Tapscott, Rohan Bail and especially Addam Maric responded to the challenge and how Ricky Petterd came back from a stint at Casey with four goals?

The good was also the fact that Mark Jamar rucked all day and beat his counterparts hands down and, although not at the top of his game and inaccurate in front of goal, Liam Jurrah was always dangerous up forward and the fact that he kicked a miracle goal near the end after stealing the ball from an Adelaide defender.

Bailey's use of Clint Bartram who came to the club as a midfielder showed he could be flexible and that was good too! The move of Matthew Bate into defence for a while was also smart and creative.

And how good after last week was the record of 73 inside 50s?

However, as we know full well, the good can turn bad and ugly in a very short space of time.

The team needs to earn the trust of its supporters. I suspect that it wasn't just Mothers Day and the rain that kept the attendance down to under 20,000 when memberships number 35,000. Melbourne has a big challenge next week against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium against a team that thinks it owns us. A win in that sort of game can provide some legitimacy and respect to the team. Some of this was restored in the effort against Adelaide but greater consistency will remove the ugly stigma of the curse of Pattersons Stadium.

Melbourne 2.7.19 6.11.47 14.16.100 22.17.149

Adelaide 2.0.12 5.3.33 6.4.40 8.5.53

Goals

Melbourne Petterd Sylvia 4 Jurrah 3 Green Watts Wonaeamirri 2 Bartram Bate Dunn Jones Tapscott

Adelaide Tippett 3 Reilly 2 McKernan Thompson van Berlo

Best

Melbourne Moloney Sylvia Green Jones Petterd Frawley Maric Jamar

Adelaide Van Berlo Reilly Jaensch iSloane.

Injuries

Melbourne Grimes (ankle)

Adelaide Dangerfield (concussion) Thompson (calf) Wright (ankle)

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Adelaide Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Adelaide Nil

Umpires Stevic Jeffery Keating

Crowd 19,987 at the MCG

The Good

A great 4qtr performance

Not letting off the throttle

Watts!

Petterd!

Maric

Senior guys standing up

That Tapscott goal

The Bad

Bate

The final 3mins of the 2nd qtr

The Ugly

Jack Grimes being injured so early

Graham Johncock

you forgot Tappscotts 200m goal.

you forgot Tappscotts 200m goal.

ooh, i did, editing that

Jurrahs amazing steal and goal in the last quarter wow...

Moloney 19 clearances. (The record is 22)

Good : Jamar - Moloney was a huge part of our dominance.

Moloney 19 clearances. (The record is 22)

Like he said

The bad - less that 20,000 there today.

And even Bate, who was clearly W.O.G for us (worst.on.ground), tried hard. The 3 consecutive tackles he put on early in the last (I think) were awesome. Sure, he looked lost and not up to it, but it was nice to see our worst putting in such a huge effort.

Was great to see Jurrah's defensive efforts improve through the game, with a few huge tackles later on.

Tapscott's goal was great. His game was better.

Chippa delivered. Big time. Didn't always make the right decision in playing the man (against McKernan) rather than the ball, but in all other aspects, was BACK!

Bail is a freak runner.

While Warnock can look clumsy (very clumsy), he did well today. Can you honestly say he looks worse than Presti? Against the right teams, he might be quite valuable.

The umpiring was...creative (to be generous).

Like he said

Likewise again.....but isn't he a C-grader?

Moloney 19 clearances. (The record is 22)

Put Beamer back in the leadership group tonight. Just Do It!

The Good

Pressure on the ball carrier

Contested possessions

Tackling

Inside 50's

Work rate

The Bad

Grimesy

The Ugly

Bater trying to take a contested mark

At least he contested and brought the ball down to ground level, last week we wern't even doing that.

Matthew Bate should get a game next week, sure he was a bit rusty at that tempo but he did contest and lay tackles. Our forward 50 pressure today was spot on from the first bounce.

They can do it.

I really don't get the Bate bashing I'm seeing here. He's not a great overhead mark, but everything else he did well. He was great at applying pressure in the forward line and used the ball really well. His work rate was way up too. It's a bit pathetic that after we win by 96 points people are still reaching for something to complain about.

I really don't get the Bate bashing I'm seeing here. He's not a great overhead mark, but everything else he did well. He was great at applying pressure in the forward line and used the ball really well. His work rate was way up too. It's a bit pathetic that after we win by 96 points people are still reaching for something to complain about.

I don't think anyone is complaining, just pointing obvious things out. Bate had like 2 possessions at half time, and was clearly struggling to find his feet. So much so Bailey put him down back.

Things are never as good or as bad as they seem. We certainly should be happy and proud of this effort but it means nothing if we get comfortable and come out with a pathetic display again next week. We have to strive for perfection from everyone in the team or we'll never be real contenders.

Bate had a poor game in comparison to his teammates. He also hasn't played all year so you expect he'll take a few weeks to warm up. I just question whether we get any value out of Bate and Dunn in the same forwardline at the expense of Martin, when Jamar could hardly walk in the last quarter. I think both are third talls who can do the defensive thing well, and kick us some goals, but two of them are an overkill for me.

Imagine if it was Jamar who went down in the first quarter with an ankle injury.

Edit: BTW I think Bate absolutely deserved a game after his efforts last week in the VFL, but I don't know whether it was the right move to keep Dunn and use him as a second ruck. Obviously everything came off today but I don't think it's a long term strategy.

Edited May 8, 201114 yr by Jaded

Now will Caro and her minions cackle and put Voss, Craig and Eade into the pot and stir.

The win by Bailey today was emphatic (if you're gunna blame him for the loss last week you have to pat him on the back today), but I'd be worried if I was a Bulldog, Lion or Crow supporter, I wonder whether they will get the same "crisis" treatment this week !

The Ugly

Bater trying to take a contested mark

The Uglier

Bater trying to take an uncontested mark

The bad

Wonaeamirris fitness.....why?

Edited May 8, 201114 yr by Demon Den

The ugliest of all:

The Adelaide fan sitting behind me. No doubt she was from SA

Good.

20 of our 22 were good today, but special mention to:

Bail.

Watts. Very composed and efficient. And I loved that bit of arrogance where he kicked the ball into the stands. We need a bit of this.

Trengove.

Moloney and Jamar (if other teams target these two we may be in serious trouble)

Davey returning to running-bounces.

Frawley demonstrating his dash and confidence.

Maric. This was an important game for him.

Bad.

Grimes. It was great to see him start in the middle, though.

Those three dropped marks close to goal - Wonna, Jurrah and Watts.

Ugly.

Dunn's moustache. Yep, I still hate it.

Last quarter - Crows reading Jamar's ruck work.

.

Can't believe no-one has included Chunks goal in the last!

Can't believe no-one has included Chunks goal in the last!

Good call...Chunks played a ripper today and that goal in the last after his head was almost removed got a standing ovation from me!!!

Could almost be a case of the old under 13's rule.. name everyone in the best players ("team effort"). So hard to leave out Bartram, Garland, Bail (1st half job on Dangerfield was awesome!!), plus Brad Greens first quarter to set the tone. Superb response. So proud today.

GO DEMONS!