END GAME

[Demonland 70,249]

END GAME by Whispering Jack

I debated with myself for several weeks on the subject of whether or not I should book a flight to Adelaide for Sunday's historic Adelaide Oval clash against Port Adelaide but, in the end I decided: why bother?

I had liked the idea of viewing an AFL match from the outer one more time and there were some real traditional values in attending a game at this venue especially given that they're going to spend squillions on turning this charming old ground into just another concrete cauldron by 2014.

After all, Port Adelaide is a proud old football club whose initial incarnation happened circa 1870 which makes them almost as old and as proud as us.

However, any thoughts I might have had of going interstate for the final game of the season were obliterated when 186 happened.

The club fractured (yet again), more players were injured and others appeared to be going through the motions. All of a sudden, the end of the season couldn't come quick enough and I put an end to thoughts of a cheap flight and a cheap hotel and decided instead that I would watch this last game of the year in exactly the way in which the AFL wants us to watch it - live on television (unless you happen to be situated in parts of NSW or Queensland where you watch a delayed telecast or please yourself).

When I made the decision to stay put and watch this spectacle from the comfort of my own home, I also realised this clash had more to offer in terms of traditional values than I first thought.

Looking at ladder positions and a future for each club of no finals with nothing to look forward to but the draft combines, the trade week and ultimately the national draft, I knew that there was indeed reason to go back to the traditional values of a few years ago to reintroduce that famous match day tactic - the tank.

Would Port go for first round national pick # 4 ahead of # 6 ahead of avoiding the wooden spoon or would Melbourne opt for a spot close to the top eight ahead of pick # 12 in the event that it lost?

In the end, these vexing questions were made irrelevant as the matter was taken out of the hands of the combatants by one of the most diabolical displays of pathetic umpiring ever seen on an AFL/VFL ground. You might think I'm bitter and twisted at the final outcome. Clutching straws at a traditional default position of the typical angry, beaten football fan so I'll simply quote straight from that staid old newspaper, the Melbourne Age, whose correspondent stated in muted tones:

"For the record, the final free-kick count was amazingly one-sided, 28-13 in Port's favour."

This understatement describes the sort of thing that you might expect when a highly partisan crowd is packed into a ground like sardines helping the adjudicators make decisions but surely it's not too much of an ask to expect consistency in decision-making from the umpires on simple holding the ball and marking decisions?

Of course, Melbourne can't blame the umpires alone because it's own incompetence had as much to do with the outcome as anything else.

The Demons kept the Power down to 43 inside 50s against its own 54 which usually heralds a win of significant proportions. Instead, the scoreboard tells a story of inefficiency in front of goal but that's only a part of it.

The failure of the midfield to win the ball is demonstrated by the fact that the rucks dominated the hit outs 55-37 but the clearances were lost by 41-43. Earlier in the year, this sort of thing was killing the team against the stronger sides but now it's happening even against the lower ranked clubs.

Melbourne was dominant in the early stages of the game but was wasteful in front of goals. By halfway through the opening term, the game should have been blown away from Port's grasp but instead, through poor finishing and some inept decision-making, Melbourne led by only 2.6.18 to 1.0.6.

The telling blow was the innocuous free paid late to Port's Travis Boak right on the quarter time siren. He took his kick from well outside 50 but you just knew, as he lined up for the torp, that it would sail through right over the goal umpire's hat and that this was exactly the lift that would propel the home team to a handy lead by halfway through the second quarter.

The Demons rebounded well after Brad Green's first goal and the goals came more freely but the team was still unfortunate not to have been further in front than a single point at the main break.

There was definitely a smattering of déjà vu in this game as umpire Schmitt, who should have been sent no further west than Bordertown to umpire this week after what he served up against the Demons last week when they took on the Suns (why do we get the bozos two weeks in a row?), robbed Jeremy Howe of what should have been mark of the round and a certain team lifting goal at a telling point of the game.

And so it went on. Port regathered the momentum, Melbourne responded and almost got on top before a soft free or two or a Demon fumble and turnover changed the tide for the last time and, even in the dying moments, they were spraying their shots at goal.

Melbourne finished with more of most things in the game but not the four points. It was exposed in all of the places where it has been exposed for most of the year. The leadership was poor, the midfield inadequate and without any guns up forward. This was expected perhaps, in the light of the number of players missing but even with Brent Moloney, Jack Trengove, Jordie McKenzie and Nathan Jones working their hardest, the team lacked the polish necessary to get the ball cleanly out of the stoppages.

The defence held up well in the circumstances. James Frawley and Jarrod Rivers kept their opponents in check and were their usual reliable selves. Unfortunately, Sam Blease copped a knock on the head and couldn't replicate last week's rising star heroics before he was subbed off.

The season that promised so much in February when the Demons last ventured into Adelaide and beat both of its AFL teams in the NAB Cup opener is over.

That it turned out to be something of a disaster is also an understatement. I certainly never expected things to pan out so poorly and my only hope is that it was an aberration - a darkness before a brand new dawn. We took five first year players over for the game. Jack Fitzpatrick is raw but I sense will one day form part of a very formidable ruck/forward combination with Max Gawn who was left in Melbourne where he put in an impressive solo ruck effort in the VFL. The young talent is there but it needs a Svengali-like coach and strong on-field leadership to take the next step forward.

The lessons of 2011 need to be learned. We started the year believing we would be improvers, that the finals were waiting for us but, in the end, the scenario was reminiscent of this saying:

"If everything is going well, you've obviously overlooked something."

In the optimism and euphoria of February, it's clear that so much was overlooked and the year's end game gives the ultimate proof to that proposition.

Melbourne 3.6.24 7.11.53 10.12.72 15.14.104

Port Adelaide

Goals

Melbourne Green Jones McKenzie Martin 2, Bate Fitzpatrick Howe Jamar Jetta Morton Trengove

Port Adelaide Westhoff 4 Ebert 3 Boak Rodan 2 Banner Gray Lobbe Motlop Salopek Schulz

Best

Melbourne Moloney Trengove Bate Rivers McKenzie Frawley Jones

Port Adelaide Westhoff Ebert Gray Motlop Carlile Trengove Boak

Injuries

Melbourne Blease (slight concussion)

Port Adelaide Carlile (thigh) Butcher (back) Surjan (ankle/cut leg)

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

Umpires Stewart Ryan Schmitt

Crowd 29,340 at Adelaide Oval