FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE

FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE by Whispering Jack

Empires come and empires go. They crumble like dust in the end but deep down lies the seed upon which to base the future. These were my thoughts when I left Etihad Stadium after what appeared on the surface to be yet another soul destroying debacle for the Melbourne Football Club. To understand those thoughts you need to go back a few hours.

Things didn't look promising from the minute I arrived at the railway station. The train which the sign said was due to arrive "now" didn't come until another seven minutes elapsed. When it finally arrived, my carriage was full of Eagles and Tigers colours but apart from my own scarf, there was no indication that the Demons were playing today. As we rattled on through Richmond Station, past the MCG and into the dark bowels of the city loop, it dawned on me that this wasn't really a home game at all. I usually don't mind viewing the footy at Etihad from Level Three but that was not to be this time. It was out of bounds so I found myself sitting at near to ground level directly in front of a couple of obnoxious Eagles fans who spent the afternoon complaining about the umpires. I guess I'll never know how they would have reacted had the final free kick for the day read in reverse of the 23 to 16 in favour of their own team. I was also expecting West Coast to come out in one of those insipid predominantly white away outfits that visiting teams (except Collingwood who hardly ever have to visit anyone) are forced to wear but not today. I wondered about that for a little while and then the game began.

The opening was very much in the same vein as last week against Carlton. Melbourne was winning early in the clearances and the possession count but struggled to find the middle of the big sticks. It took a while but Jeremy Howe finally snapped truly and ten minutes into the game the Demons led 1.2.8 to 0.1.1. There were to be no more scoring for the remainder of the term and beyond for the Dees but this was not due to a lack of opportunity. Two or three glaring ones come to mind. Jack Watts brilliantly chipped one to Cale Morton who needed only to run into an open goal but decided to roll it through a la Daniel Motlop when that player used to perform miracles. Soon after, Morton marked outside 50 but so low was his confidence level that he gave the ball off to Lynden Dunn whose kick slewed deep into a pocket where Howe marked and unselfishly passed to Clint Bartram. It was a great piece of play except for the fact that the recipient can't kick goals to save himself and the resultant shot from 30 metres missed everything. Sam Blease had no downfield targets so he let fly from a long way out and he was on target but a West Coast defender marked right on the line proving again that it's a game of centimetres.

By way of contrast, the Eagles managed to get their three goals for the quarter the easy way. The Demons moved out of defence with a string of possessions that resulted in a disastrous decision to switch play followed by a poor lateral pass that was intercepted and led to an easy goal to Nicoski. A minute later a soft free in front of goals to Le Cras gave the Eagles the lead. Nicoski's second goal came later in the aftermath of one of those Demon misses that was turned around by a long drive to the Eagle who had been unattended for what seemed ages. The quarter ended with Melbourne leading most of the game's statistics except the ones that count (and for the benefit of my neighbours, the frees for) - the scoreboard and the efficiency ratio. Melbourne was dreadful in that regard.

The second term was the one in which Melbourne meekly succumbed to the West Coast press. The Eagles scored at will racking up five goals six behinds to a single rushed point in the first 20 minutes to make it eight unanswered goals until Howe slotted his second. Those eight goals were the difference for the day because the scoring was fairly even from then onward.

Granted that the Eagles could have applied the gas pedal had they wanted to do so but the Demons' second half was so much better than the first. For starters, their ruck division got on top with Mark Jamar and Stef Martin shading their West Coast counterparts in Cox and Naitanui although the former managed a couple of cheap goals late in the game.

Melbourne worked so much harder at the stoppages and its defence, which had been so hard pressed in the second term, held firm against the tide of a more skilful opponent. As an aside, the game exposed some of the Demons' skill deficiencies but there was one that my whining neighbours missed. Melbourne players simply are not adept at the skills of milking free kicks when they're not there. It's something that only experience can teach and players like Daniel Kerr are masters at the game.

The third was Viney's first winning quarter as a coach, yielding 5.3 to the efficient Eagles' 3.0. Like the first, it could have been so much better. What on earth was Colin Sylvia thinking when he tried a near impossible checkside goal when he could have handpassed to an unattended Dunn? To me, it evoked memories of Ron Barassi dragging Malcolm Blight years ago when the North star tried exactly the same thing. The only difference was that Blight was good enough to kick the goal. What it demonstrated was the necessity for the club to secure a top flight coach for the future. There are too many of the older Demons who have been allowed to develop bad habits and to play selfish football. This trait has to be erased if the club is to progress in the future as otherwise the foundation commenced with the club's bright young talent will turn quickly into a crumbled empire.

The need for quality coaching was also highlighted by the fact that for all of the team's frailties, it has started brightly in the past two weeks, been blown of the park in each second quarter and been at least competitive after that. When Melbourne played West Coast in Round 6, it lost by 54 points and had 40 less disposals. This time, it lost by 48 points and had 39 more disposals. Testament to poor efficiency but also to a team that's working a lot harder under Viney than it was earlier in the year when it met the big guns.

The encouraging sign is that some of the most impressive performances came from the younger players. Blease was virtually on debut (his only previous game saw him as the substitute with limited game time) and shows that he has the makings of a star while forward Jeremy Howe was close to his team's best player. Jack Trengove, Ricky Petterd, James Frawley and Colin Garland all gave great cause for future expectations. Of course, as we've discovered to our pain, having a promising list means absolutely nothing unless they can be taught to use their natural skills and talent to the utmost.

That's when they can start building an empire.

Melbourne 1.2.8 3.4.22 8.7.55 9.8.62

West Coast Eagles 3.2.20 10.9.69 13.9.87 16.14.110

Goals

Melbourne Howe 3 Dunn Morton Petterd Sylvia Trengove Watts

West Coast Eagles LeCras Nicoski 3 Cox Kennedy 2 Embley Kerr Naitanui Priddis A Selwood S Selwood

Best

Melbourne Howe Frawley Trengove Blease Petterd Garland

West Coast Eagles Embley Gaff Priddis Kerr Shuey Hurn

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

West Coast Eagles L Shuey (hamstring)

Changes

Melbourne B Green (soreness) replaced by D Nicholson

West Coast Eagles Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

West Coast Eagles Nil

Umpires Ryan McBurney Kamolins

Official Crowd 15,739 at Etihad Stadium