THE YELLOW AND BROWN JERSEY

THE YELLOW AND BROWN JERSEY by The Oracle

For Melbourne, the game against Hawthorn was always going to be as daunting as the toughest mountain bike ride. The enemy presented the most daunting physical and mental obstacles and the Demons lacked the experience and the championship qualities of a Cadel Evans to help them overcome such adversity.

Hawthorn entered the fray coming off the rest of a bye welcoming back three of their finest players in Rioli, Lewis and Sewell - the freshness in their legs placing them all in the top six in the day's Champion Data rankings.

On the other hand, the Demons came into the game recovering from the heat and humidity of Darwin and losing two playmakers in Liam Jurrah and Tom Scully to injury.

It was a tough ask to take on the team that already wore the yellow jersey (admittedly with a touch of brown) but made doubly hard when the young Demons stumbled and fumbled their way through early turnovers to concede the game's first five goals. In those vital early stages of the match when the terrain should have been even, it was Hawthorn's efficiency against Melbourne's ineptitude that determined the shape of the game to come. The Hawks were decisive when going into attack, the Demons predictable, bombing the ball in long when a lowering of the eyes might have made things easier when it came to finding the right target. The decision making was off.

Melbourne mounted a great comeback midway through the opening quarter that started with a long goal from Lynden Dunn. Two more followed and the gap could have been narrowed further but for a costly miss followed by a turnover that resulted in the Hawks' sixth goal. While they were the better team in the first quarter, the lead of 16 points flattered them but it set the tone for the game. The Demons were chasing and the gap would not significantly narrow at any stage of the race. By half time it was already 25 points.

When these teams met earlier in the season, Hawthorn's kicking for goal had been abysmal, particularly in the first half. This time it was the opposite with Cyril Rioli's opener setting the scene and Buddy Franklin capping it off with those long raking shots that never looked like missing. Still, there was some hope for the Demons who kept plugging away and sometimes were on the verge of threatening.

All that was snuffed out in the blink of an eye halfway through the third term thanks to two monumental blunders at crucial times when Melbourne’s opportunities to attack for goals were turned into easy Hawthorn goals, following which the wheels fell off and the race was effectively over.

Firstly, the ball was heading towards the Demons’ goal square when Luke Tapscott clashed with Michael Osborne. As often happens, it was the instigator who was rewarded as a result of impetuous retaliatory action. To compound the error, Osborne won a 50 metre penalty paid when Stef Martin threw the ball back in the wrong direction. Osborne ended up close enough to Hawthorn’s goal for a score.

Soon after, the Demons were again in a position to attack when a Colin Sylvia pass was intercepted and the Hawks streamed forward to goal. The punishment that resulted from two comical errors was enough to effectively put an end to the race with the Demons losing touch and then appearing to run out of wheels.

All the while it was Hawthorn that was more full of purpose, more skilful and able to play according to a well thought out plan while all Melbourne could do was to go into damage control and even that was ineffective. The Demons had hit the wall and the leaders in the yellow and brown jerseys raced away to a comfortable win.

Brad Green toiled hard with four second half goals. Stefan Martin worked hard in the ruck but was shown up by Max Bailey who even ran him down in the last quarter despite starting with an escort. Nathan Jones tried and Ricky Petterd’s goal-saving smother was the highlight of what was an otherwise dismal day for the club whose finals aspirations are slowly fading in the slipstream of other more fancied candidates.

To make matters worse, they have to travel down the highway to Skilled Stadium next week to meet the rampant Cats who, like the Hawks, will be welcoming back three stars in Ottens, Ling and Johnson. Given the club’s abysmal record at that venue, it’s hard to see anything that will break the cycle in the near future.

Melbourne 3.3.21 6.3.39 9.4.58 12.6.78

Hawthorn 6.1.37 10.4.64 16.6.102 20.12.132

Goals

Melbourne Green 4 Howe 3 Dunn 2 Bate Petterd Sylvia

Hawthorn Franklin 5 Breust Rioli 3 Hodge Osborne 2 Mitchell Ellis Hale Lewis Mitchell Smith

Best

Melbourne Martin Green Howe Petterd Jones Dunn

Hawthorn Mitchell Sewell Rioli Lewis Birchall Franklin

Injured

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn Savage (shoulder)

Changes

Melbourne Liam Jurrah (flu) replaced by Jamie Bennell

Hawthorn Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn Nil

Umpires McBurney Kamolins Meredith

Crowd 39,782 at MCG