THE PAIN KILLER by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 64,813]

Fremantle set out to teach Melbourne a lesson in their clash at Patersons Stadium and the Dockers well and truly did this from the first minutes of the game.

It started when the usually reliable Michael Barlow errantly passed the ball coming out of defence directly into the waiting arms of Jack Watts for Melbourne's first goal. From that brief but painful beginning for the home team, the Demons took the lead from their hosts and stumbled, fumbled and turned over the football to their opposition gifting away goal after goal to give them leads of 40 and 71 points respectively at each of the first two breaks.

Surprisingly, Melbourne won the premiership quarter and narrowed the deficit by a few points in the third before the inevitable fall off at the end which resulted in a thumping defeat that filled the heart of the faithful with enough pain and provided the club with a further dose of humiliation. It was a result which almost certainly will hasten the end of the coach's career.

One senses that the silence coming from both the Board and the newly appointed and temporary CEO points to the fact that the end will inevitably come shortly and all that remains to make it complete is the bean counting on the final settlement and the finalisation of the name of the fill in coach.

That will be a sad day for the club because Mark Neeld has had the unenviable task of changing what for lack of a better description can be termed "the club's poor culture". This is something that requires more time than seems available to him as the naysayers gain the ascendency in the debate about his future.

Other than that, there's not much to write about this game from a Demon perspective although I continue to be impressed with Jack Trengove, a young man who has been given a job that would be difficult on many other older and more experienced shoulders. He has carried himself well both off the field and now on the field this week and he must become one of the club's spearheads for its ultimate revival. I loved Jeremy Howe's work especially given that he looked gone going for the obligatory weekly mark of the year after suffering a tunneling attack from a Docker opponent. The two Jones boys worked hard but for most of the rest, it's the failure to work hard that again brought the team undone.

That, and the lack of progress under Neeld is testament to the fact that the Board and CEO will most likely act soon to put an end to the pain.

But will that course of action be the pain killer?

Melbourne 1.1.7 2.2.14 5.3.33 6.4.40

Fremantle 7.5.47 13.7.85 15.11.101 19.16.130

Goals

Melbourne Howe Trengove 2 M Jones Watts

Fremantle Ballantyne Mzungu 3 Crozier Mayne Pearce 2, Barlow Crowley Fyfe Hannath Ibbotson Mundy Silvagni

Best

Melbourne Howe Trengove N Jones Magner McKenzie M Jones

Fremantle Mundy Fyfe Barlow Ibbotson Pearce Mzungu

Injuries

Melbourne Dean Terlich (ribs)

Fremantle Nil

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Fremantle Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Fremantle Silvagni in the second term for rough conduct on N Jones.

Umpires Hay Farmer Fisher

Crowd 32,950 at Subiaco.

[DemonOX 8,530]

THE PAIN KILLER by Whispering Jack

That, and the lack of progress under Neeld is testament to the fact that the Board and CEO will most likely act soon to put an end to the pain.

Amen to that WJ