PENDULUM by The Oracle

The nature of the NAB Cup dictates that, for a majority of clubs, it's more like a series of exhibition trial games and experimentation once the triple header season opener is out of the way.

And so was for Melbourne in 2013. The NAB Cup campaign was over on opening night. It managed to accumulate an irrelevant four points (which the football world rightly ignored because it was the sort of game usually reserved for yesterday's venue at Casey Fields) but if there was a silver lining it had to be that the Demons only put in two poor quarters for the journey and they were undermanned in both of them. The first was against a fresh Richmond in the opening quarter of week one, the other in the the second term yesterday.

Of course, that 10-12 minute patch against St. Kilda was a total disaster, reminiscent of all of the worst aspects of the past half decade. Melbourne fiddled with the ball, turned it over too easily and succumbed to pressure in the heat coughing up goal after goal. During that time the Demons were vulnerable in the midfield and gave away too many easy possessions (including an ungodly number of frees) that enabled the Saints to rebound with ease and dominate. In the batting of an eyelid the pendulum swung from a point where Melbourne doubled St. Kilda's score to exactly the reverse and the contest was over. I'm not sure what it means but during the rest of the game, the Dees were good but who knows these days, how much teams are really trying in exhibition matches of this sort?

What we do know is that, of the combatants, it was St Kilda that took what was close to its best line-up to Casey Fields with a strong and dominant midfield and its small forwards dominating when push came to shove (Milne and Milera kicking four goals during that purple patch) while Melbourne either rested or was forced to leave out players through injury who will at least be under strong consideration for selection in most post positions on the ground.

Three key position certainties were out of the action - Tom McDonald (defence) and Mitch Clark and Chris Dawes (forward). Given the contribution of the opposition small forwards to Melbourne's demise Nev Jetta and James Strauss would have been handy and Jordie McKenzie would have been able to annoy the living suitcases out of one of their dominant midfielders. And if you insert Jack Trengove, Sam Blease, Jack Viney and Rohan Bail into the midfield mix, you might just be able to blunt the sort of run on to which the team was subjected. Also rested this week was the kid from Clackline, WA Dean Kent who has impressed as a medium forward who knows how to kick a goal and who showed some promise in the earlier games.

But what about those who took part and what about the other 65-70 minutes of the game?

Melbourne started like a house on fire in the hot conditions with Mark Jamar owning the ruck and giving Nathan Jones and newcomers David Rodan first use of the ball. Two other recruits in Shannon Byrnes and Cameron Pedersen were giving the Saints plenty to think about and the Demons were out to a 22-point lead with the aid of the breeze by the halfway mark of the first term thanks to a 9 pointer from Lynden Dunn. They then lost the ascendency in the second half of the opening term and this lull in intensity probably set the scene for the Saints' revival in the second. Melbourne needs to learn from their relentless non stop push once they gained control. You rarely win if you cough up seven or eight unanswered goals to your opponent.

The Demons fought back in the third but couldn't peg back the Saints' lead sufficiently to fight their way back into contention despite making a fist of it in the last when the hot and steamy conditions had taken the sting out of the match. The pendulum was never going to swing far enough for the Demons.

Apart from Nathan Jones and Jamar (35 hit outs), Melbourne was well served by Lynden Dunn, Dan Nicholson and Colin Sylvia while Dean Terlich showed why he was plucked out of the SANFL to resurrect his career.

However, if the day is ever going to be remembered for anything other than the bunfight needed to get out of the car park at the end, it will be for that period during which the pendulum swung so dramatically against a hapless Melbourne. For them to improve this season, the Demons will need to eliminate the lapses although we shouldn't forget that the nature of the NAB Cup means that the makeup of teams will vary and they definitely came up against a team that was much closer to full strength on the day.

MELBOURNE1.2.2.23 1.3.4.31 2.5.6.54 2.7.6.66

ST. KILDA 0.1.2.8 2.6.8.62 2.8.8.74 2.10.13.91

Supergoals

Melbourne Dunn N Jones

St. Kilda Newnes N Dal Santo

Goals

Melbourne Sellar 2 Byrnes Hogan Rodan Tapscott Toumpas

St. Kilda Milera Milne 2 Dal Santo Dennis-Lane Gilbert Hayes Koschitzke Riewoldt

Best

Melbourne N Jones Rodan, Dunn Terlich Jamar Sylvia Nicholson

St. Kilda Dal Santo Newnes Montagna Milne Steven Geary Roberton

INJURIES

Melbourne Nil

St. Kilda Nil

Reports Nil

Umpires Stuart Wenn Ben Ryan Shane McInerney

Crowd 5,000 (est.) at Casey Fields

VIEW THE GAME

Quarter 1 - http://bit.ly/15FgNKw

Quarter 2 - http://bit.ly/15FgSOq

Quarter 3 - http://bit.ly/Y7z5B3

Quarter 4 - http://bit.ly/WBNDvq

STATISTICS

Disposals - Melbourne 247 St. Kilda 250
Kicks - Melbourne 137 St. Kilda 164
Handballs - Melbourne 110 St. Kilda 86
Free Kicks - Melbourne 10 St. Kilda 23
Clearances - Melbourne 23 St. Kilda 27
Centre - Melbourne 11 St. Kilda 7
Stoppages - Melbourne 12 St. Kilda 20
Inside 50 - Melbourne 37 St. Kilda 31
Marks in 50 - Melbourne 5 St. Kilda 4
Contested Possessions Melbourne 87 St. Kilda 94
Tackles - Melbourne 21 St. Kilda 51
Hit-Outs - Melbourne 36 St. Kilda 13

Melbourne [K H M HO T SG.G.B DT]

Colin Garland 13 2 8 0 0 0.0.0 64
James Magner 9 8 4 0 4 0.0.0 63
David Rodan 5 7 5 0 3 0.1.0 62
Dean Terlich 6 9 5 0 0 0.0.0 53
Nathan Jones 9 7 3 0 1 1.0.0 52
Lynden Dunn 11 3 3 0 0 1.0.0 48
Mark Jamar 3 3 1 32 0 0.0.0 47
Joel MacDonald 9 7 3 0 0.0.0 47
Colin Sylvia 8 4 2 0 2 0.0.0 43
James Sellar 4 4 3 0 0 0.2.2 40
Jack Grimes 5 4 2 0 2 0.0.0 38
Jeremy Howe 4 4 3 0 1 0.0.1 35
Matt Jones 6 5 3 0 1 0.0.0 35
James Frawley 6 4 2 0 0 0.0.0 33
Tom Gillies 3 8 4 0 1 0.0.0 33
Jack Watts 5 4 2 0 1 0.0.0 33
Shannon Byrnes 5 2 4 0 1 0.1.0 32
Cameron Pedersen 3 7 2 4 0 0.0.1 32
Daniel Nicholson 5 8 1 0 0 0.0.0 31
Aaron Davey 6 0 2 0 0 0.0.1 26
Jimmy Toumpas 6 5 1 0 1 0.0.0 26
Luke Tapscott 3 3 0 0 1 0.1.0 25
Jesse Hogan 2 0 1 0 1 0.0.1 14
Michael Evans 2 2 1 0 0 0.0.0 10

NAB CUP APPEARANCES - 2013

[Week 1 v NM, Rich, Week 2 v PA, Week 3 v STK - square = played game]

1 Hogan, Jesse (new) ■■■■
2 Jones, Nathan ■■ - ■
4 Watts, Jack ■■ - ■
5 Toumpas, Jimmy (new) - ■ - ■
6 Dawes, Chris (new) ■ - - -
7 Viney, Jack (new) ■ ■ - -
8 Frawley, James ■■ - ■
9 Trengove, Jack - - - -
10 Byrnes, Shannon (new) ■ - - ■
11 Clark, Mitchell - - - -
12 Sylvia, Colin ■■■■
13 McKenzie, Jordie ■■- -
14 Dunn, Lynden ■■ - ■
15 Rodan, David (new) ■ - - ■
17 Blease, Sam ■ - - -
19 Strauss, James - - ■ -
20 Garland, Colin ■■ - ■
21 Pedersen, Cameron (new) ■■■■
22 Magner, James ® ■■■■
23 Tynan, Josh - - ■-
25 McDonald, Tom ■■- -
26 Nicholson, Daniel ■■■■
27 Gillies, Tom (new) ■ - ■■
28 Macdonald, Joel - ■■■
29 VACANT
30 Sellar, James - ■■■
31 Grimes, Jack ■■ - ■
32 Evans, Michael ■ - ■■
33 Barry, Dominic (new) -- ■ -
34 Kent, Dean (new) ■ - ■-
35 Tapscott, Luke - - ■■
36 Davey, Aaron - ■■■
37 Gawn, Max -- - -
38 Howe, Jeremy ■■ - ■
39 Jetta, Neville ■■■-
40 Jamar, Mark ■ - - ■
41 Davis, Troy -- ■-
42 Spencer, Jake - ■■ -
43 Taggert, Rory -- ■ -
44 Bail, Rohan -- - -
45 Jones, Matt (new) - ■■■
46 Terlich, Dean (new) - ■■■
47 Couch, Thomas ® - ■■-
48 Fitzpatrick, Jack - - ■ -
49 Stark, Nathan ® (new) -- ■ -
50 Clisby, Mitch ® (new) -- --

Thanks for all that

On the stats we presented well in every aspect but tackles and frees

given the concentration on tackling and the apparent success at Renmark how did this difference manifest itself

Also what were the type of frees, what part of ground etc.

It's not just at the stoppages that we seem to be lacking but I noticed yesterday (and many times before) that when the ball was in tight situations, more often than not, it was a player in a Saints jumper that came out with the footy. I hope that improves with the return of Jack Trengove, Jack Viney and a couple of others but we really need to improve in this department.

... what were the type of frees, what part of ground etc.

The free count was 10-2 at quarter time and 15-5 at half time, both obviously in their favour.

In the first quarter, they just seemed to get the preponderance of frees; the obvious ones and all of those 50/50s that could have gone either way. The result was that we were limited to three goals when we had the wind at our backs instead of possibly seven or eight.

In the second quarter, I thought they got most of them across their half back line which gave them the opoortunity to move the ball forward quickly with the aid of the breeze.

After half time, I gave up ...

The reality is that we let ourselves down in a number of areas, especially in the second quarter but you can't discount the effectr of a 3/1 advantage in frees over a half. It wasn't because they were first to the ball on every occasion either.

Thanks PF

I hope someone at the club is monitoring these frees as it looks like it represents an extra player.

and as you say where they are given can totally destroy the structure that you are creating.

We have never seemed to get those 50/50 frees and often I see players from both sides uncertain this can also disrupt the structure from that stoppage and so we may ned to have a defensive stoppage tactic incorporated from the unexpected free or perhaps the proffesional free where we eliminate the 50/50 and make sure that there is a genuine stoppage.

The free count was 10-2 at quarter time and 15-5 at half time, both obviously in their favour.

In the first quarter, they just seemed to get the preponderance of frees; the obvious ones and all of those 50/50s that could have gone either way. The result was that we were limited to three goals when we had the wind at our backs instead of possibly seven or eight.

In the second quarter, I thought they got most of them across their half back line which gave them the opoortunity to move the ball forward quickly with the aid of the breeze.

After half time, I gave up ...

The reality is that we let ourselves down in a number of areas, especially in the second quarter but you can't discount the effectr of a 3/1 advantage in frees over a half. It wasn't because they were first to the ball on every occasion either.

It never is Dr Sigmund .

The AFL umpires always tend to be ruled by crowds and prevailing media perceptions.

The Meth Coke Eagles game last year was the most abysmally umpired game i have ever seen.

Once we win a few ,we will win a few .

Currently the umpires run out thinking "Demons Bad" "other team good".

The soft frees that go against us ,even goal umpiring decisions are atrocious due to the huge scrutiny we have been under .

Reversing the idea that we have to lose every contest ,decision and game will start to change.

All we can do as supporters is continue to support .

The players need to change the perception of themselves also .

On a side note ,KB and the constant rule changes are only causing errors in the umps decision making process.

Powerhouse clubs get more frees.

Clubs like us are seen as the "bad guys" equivalent in the Wrestling arena.

I agree with the above poster that we need to milk the system better and slow up /negate those frees we give away .