NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE?

[Demonland 73,208]

NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE? by the Oracle

Seven days after the debacle by Corio Bay, six days after the sacking of Dean Bailey as coach, five days after the appointment of his temporary replacement Todd Vine, four days after the recriminations began in earnest, three days after Garry Lyon was dragged into the picture amid more news of  the ill-health of the club's president, two days after a dramatic selection meeting saw the loss through injury of an All Australian ruckman, the omission of the club's most dynamic but erratic player, its leading goal kicker and two others and one day after a final training session attracted the football world's media voyeurs and their paparazzi who had spent the week determined to make the most of stories of rifts within the club and revive old news about the tanking issue, the Demons returned to the field and lost to the Blues by 76 points (ironically, the team that tanked hard and often not so long ago while an AFL, determined to see their return to the ranks of successful clubs, turned a blind eye). 

With so much bubbling in the background to the game, did anybody notice a difference in Melbourne's performance under caretaker coach Viney?

There are many who would give an emphatic "no" for an answer to that question. To lose by almost 13 goals on the MCG with the memory of the "bruise-free" allegations of the earlier clash between the sides, to capitulate so badly in the second term and indeed to lose by a margin even greater than that of the round 10 "bruise-free result", was as shameful as the debacle of last week.

But there was some silver lining there for sure. If I had to put it to you before the game that Melbourne would finish with a close inside 50 count and only six less scoring shots you would surely have taken it after last week's 186? 

There's no doubt that Carlton's superior skills against a less experienced, mentally hurt Melbourne bereft of true leadership might explain it's better accuracy in front of goal (last week it kicked 2.8 with its first 10 shots at goal, this week it was 8.1 just two minutes into the second term) but it was also just one of those days when, in addition to that, everything went right for the Blues and everything wrong for the Demons. 

Let's look at the first quarter when, after Mitch Robinson's opening goal, Melbourne had all of the momentum and dominated the moves forward (15 -10 inside 50's for the term) but failed to make an impact. Easy set shots were missed by Jack Watts (after receiving a brilliant pass from James Strauss), Lynden Dunn and Brad Green, a Nathan Jones helicopter went up in the air and failed to find a teammate let alone score and a Stef Martin kick sailed out of bounds on the full.

What was evident at this stage of proceedings was that the Demons were more direct in their play and were less inclined to revert to overusing handball which had been a feature of their game during the Bailey regime. We were also treated with some signs of brilliance, especially when Watts sold candy to Brock McLean (who copped abuse all day from my Carlton supporting neighbour) and rammed home an inspirational goal but its impact was immediately nullified by the horrid injury to Strauss which gave the Blues the opportunity to regroup and retain their composure. 

With a little over two minutes left the scoreboard read:

Melbourne 3.6.24 Carlton 3.1.19.

Then, Max Gawn was awarded a free kick in the middle of the ground and instead of looking upfield to his forwards, he handballed laterally to Nathan Jones who had a Carlton opponent on his hammer. A few movements of the ball later, Carlton was a point in front after an Andrew Walker goal. The next play resulted in Luke Tapscott attempting a long shot for goal from outside 50 which resulted in a rushed behind. Chris Yarran's long kick off sailed over Joel Macdonald's head and found Jeff Garlett who carried the ball 100m with just two bounces (you do the math), the last 35 of which he fumbled the ball in the air, regained his balance going the distance without penalty and passing forward eventually finding Ellard for his second goal of the game. There were 54 seconds on the clock, just enough for another goal on the siren to Thornton. The quarter had lasted 35 minutes and 49 seconds and the score was:

Melbourne 3.7.25 Carlton 6.1.37.

I won't bore you with hard luck stories but a more mature team could easily have headed Carlton by four goals instead of trailing by two but football is full of coulda, woulda and shoulda stories and the Blues, thanks to Judd's brilliance, put Melbourne away in the second term anyway. They kicked 8.1.49 to 0.3.3 for the term and from there, it's needless to say, that they went on to win comfortably by 21.8.134 to 7.16.58. Judd finished with 31 disposals - 18 of them contested and if he didn't pick up the three Brownlow votes there will be an investigation. Had he not played, the game could have gone either way in my view.

As it was, Melbourne fought it out in the second half despite being outclassed and despite a few free kicks going Carlton's way for goals. In the end, it was the last two minutes of the first quarter and the entire second that accounted for much of the difference in the two teams' scores.

The faint hope that Melbourne could possibly make the finals if it somehow fell in against West Coast and then beat Richmond, Gold Coast and Port Adelaide is probably gone as a result of Essendon's win yesterday but who really relishes the prospect of going into a finals game at Patterson's Curse Oval against the Eagles in September?

Only the Demons' young uns like Watts, Trengove, McKenzie, Howe, Gysberts, Tapscott (until injured) Gawn and Scully (although I suspect the latter might have other things on his mind). Players like Frawley, Garland, Martin and one or two others. 

They were well beaten out of the middle thanks to Warnock winning the tap outs and, well …  Judd but the Blues were always going to be the winners with a clean sheet on the injury front. They were able to make 151 interchanges on the day to 117 – a significant difference and, in light of all of their advantages on the day; the final inside 50 count of 52 to 47 was incredibly close. The problem being that Carlton converted 40% of their inside 50's to Melbourne's 14%. The latter stat has generally been a highlight for the Demons this year but their forward disposal let them down this time, particularly from set shots where they were deplorable while the Blues simply couldn't miss from whatever angle or distance.

The other difference between Melbourne of last week and this week is that the disposal count was nowhere near as skewed (370-332) indicating the Demons were having more of a dip and in that regard, the team's youngsters were truly impressive.

Jack Watts and Jack Trengove were terrific competitors and are the club's future. Words can't express how they have come on for the club this year.

But as for the team leaders, they are struggling and would have been ashamed last night that the only true leadership shown at this club was from its ailing President who insisted on going to the game and who spoke at the end of how proud he was of his players. 

Melbourne 3.7.25 3.10.28 6.12.48 7.16.58

Carlton 6.1.37 14.2.86 18.7.115 21.8 134

Goals 

Melbourne Dunn Watts 2 Green Davey Green Howe

Carlton Ellard 3 Garlett Gibbs Judd Scotland Walker 2 Betts Henderson Joseph Kreutzer McLean Robinson Thornton Warnock

Best 

Melbourne Watts Trengove Garland Frawley Macdonald Dunn

Carlton Judd Gibbs Murphy Warnock Scotland Ellard

Injuries 

Melbourne Strauss (broken leg) Tapscott (neck)

Carlton Nil

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Carlton Dennis Armfield (ankle) replaced in Carlton's selected side by Ryan Houlihan

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Carlton Nil

Umpires Donlon Bozo Jeffery

Crowd 42,342 at the MCG