BUILDING ROME by The Oracle

After the game, the coach explained:

''If the criteria was to have won 12 games by now, I don't reckon we would have taken Jesse Hogan at pick three and we sure as hell wouldn't have taken a kid that had two hip operations at pick four.''

He wasn't telling us that his arithmetic is poor or that his employers were idiots who can't count either given that he was commenting after just the 10th game of the season but that Rome wasn't built in a day. The problem is that when I visited the Italian capital city a few years ago, I saw a lot of ruined buildings and I'm worried that, at the pace with which the Melbourne is developing at the moment, the MCG might well look a little like the Colosseum when the Demons are next able to cope with the Hawks.

Well, enough with the poor attempts at sarcasm. The fact was there to see that despite Melbourne's best efforts, the team was monstered by a far more experienced and accomplished outfit which had more depth and was therefore able to overwhelm a young opponent early and without a great deal of trouble.

The best indicator of that was the difference between the playmakers of the respective teams. Brad Sewell (who could easily have been a Demon today but that's another story) picked up 31 disposals for the game and, in doing so, was in balance an attacking force for his team having a hand in setting up so many scoring opportunities in his team's easy win. Of course, he had plenty of classy midfielders around him as back up. On the other hand, Nathan Jones got his hands on the ball 28 times and while it was a tremendous effort on his part, his work was often the stuff of defending against the odds, under packs, under enormous pressure and just getting his team out of pickles caused by others making simple skill errors. Were he a Hawk, he would almost certainly have been best on ground but as a Demon, he simply didn't have the luxury of 21 others around him working their butts off as he does.

One bright light was the performance of Chris Dawes who provided a target up forward and a glimmer of what might have been had Mitch Clark stayed healthy for more than just the first four weeks. James Frawley and Colin Garland were grand defenders and will form part of a terrific defence one day when Rome starts developing a suburban sprawl and Jeremy Howe showed his potential at times. Dean Kent is a keep as well.

Other than that, there wasn't enough class and the work rate was still below what is expected to remain competitive with the lower ranked teams, let alone a premiership contender.

Melbourne 0.3.3 1.7.13 5.10.40 6.12.48

Hawthorn 3.9.27 12.10.82 14.14.98 21.17.143

Goals

Melbourne Davey Dawes Evans Howe Kent Watts

Hawthorn Breust 5 Roughead 3 Franklin Hill Puopolo Smith 2 Birchall, Burgoyne Grimley Lewis Simpkin

Best

Melbourne N Jones Dawes Frawley Garland Howe Terlich

Hawthorn Sewell Lewis Breust Puopolo Burgoyne Birchall

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn Nil

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn Nil

Umpires Hay Farmer Mitchell

Crowd 28,546 at the MCG

Signs today, in parts.

However, we would have to be the most frustrating side to ever play in the AFL.

We do SO many stupid things, which ruin such a lot of good, hard work.

Nathan Jones, you are a star.

Oh, and welcome back Chipper.

Towelled Buddy today, including a vintage chase and tackle up against the boundary line.

Praise the Lord.

Melbourne are absolute [censored]

Worst. Team. Ever.

Skills and Speed are both non-AFL standard. Players getting a game that never should or players playing who should be retired. The results are not surprising

Edited June 2, 201312 yr by Waltham33

Gobsmacked that Dean Kent has been sitting in the VFL.

Stepped up today, worked hard and an absolute JET!!!

Very impressive Dean, very impressive.

Big Chrissy Dawes, ya big beast.

Dominating forward, just inspirational.

We NEED desperately to get a midfield, shame Trav Boak didn't want to move back home.

Need someone like that, good performance today for some players.

Rodan tried hard, had 11 tackles.

Jones is a super star.

Frawley and Garland superb. Garland, in a better team, on current form, makes All Australian.

Dawes good, works hard, kicks like poo.

Another smashing. Another week where being a Melbourne supporter absolutely sucks!

One of the funniest aspects of the game is that Rodan got 110 dream team points.

Trengove should be trade bait

Signs today, in parts.

However, we would have to be the most frustrating side to ever play in the AFL.

We do SO many stupid things, which ruin such a lot of good, hard work.

Nathan Jones, you are a star.

Best game of a back man I've seen in a long time.

For all the supply Hawthorns fowards had, Franklin only had 5 shots on goal

and one came off an out on the full where Franklin was just the closest to the ball.

For Frawley to beat Richmond and Hawthorns best forwards - the best in the comp, massive effort.

Our backline done a decent job today.

Anyone have any comments to make?

Your input would be appreciated.

What can anyone say!

Liked the look of some of the backs, think they beat their opponents (bad luck Buddy).

A lot of negatives, however, I liked Dawes game today.

And yes, Melbourne are frustrating to watch...

Jones is a star. Watts looks real comfortable in the forward 50. Dawes was very good. Chippa made buddy look like the gimp from pulp fiction. Garland can hold his head up and every thing else about the game was pure rubbish/

Not much to say really .. but looking forward to what ever unfolds on monday

One thing I couldn't stand today was the kicking ino the foward line - shesh!

We continue to kick it to the pockets and it gets punched out of bounds - kick it to the hot spot!

Trengove should be trade bait

That is a wonderful idea...

Some players that can hold their head high today: Frawley and Garland superb, Dawes a colossus at CHF and Nate Jones an inspiration in the midfield. Dean Kent is cheeky, quick and skilled.

A few others were servicable, but the rest can go and GF.

Bye bye Mark Neeld.

Next year: Hogan FF, Dawes CHF, Watts floating, Clark as 1st ruck. Might see us more competitive.

I have one positive. We lost by 95. That is a 1 point improvement since the 1988 grand final. And we were good then....

BTW Clark, Dawes, Watts, Howe will be a very good forward line if it gets together this season

BTW Clark, Dawes, Watts, Howe will be a very good forward line if it gets together this season

With the ball never getting down there.

Signs today, in parts.

However, we would have to be the most frustrating side to ever play in the AFL.

We do SO many stupid things, which ruin such a lot of good, hard work.

Nathan Jones, you are a star.

Got to agree, so many good signs yet so many freaking brain fades. For all that called rodan a spud today, 24 disposals 11 tackles. Yeah he missed a bloody sitter goal, but 11 tackles and 24 touches are a pretty decent return.

Still wanna know what went on with watts at half time.

I shudder to think where we'd be without Garland and Frawley. They alone stop beltings becoming absolute annihilations.

Positives:

*We have something to work with, no doubt. Frawley was brilliant. Garlo was good. Jones as usual never stopped trying. Dawes looked great.

Negatives:

*We have a load of deadwood as well. Some of these blokes might try but we can no longer carry them: McKenzie, Bail, Strauss, Pederson, Fitzpatrick. Of those who didn't play: Spencer, Nicholson, Gillies, J McDonald, Sellar.

I won't go into gameplan, effort etc. That will be looked at in a new light come Monday.

Lots of clangers but can't dispute the effort.

Liked Evans game. It's our 5 - 7 fringe players that are no good.