THE RIGHT RESULT by Whispering Jack

Until this meeting, Melbourne had not tasted victory over Carlton since the infamous "Kreuzer Cup" affair in the final round of the 2007 season and to this day, I'm still not sure if that game was a victory (it must have been because the AFL which claims that "integrity" is one of its strong suits still records this sham of a farce as win for Melbourne). Anyway, we're in a new age now and neither of the protagonists has come out of that period in their respective histories with the fruits of their endeavours in list management, culture and team building. This game might have been billed by some as the "Wright Cup" but one can only hope that we go the right result this time.

The start wasn't very promising and I recall sitting there cringing at about the five minute mark when the Blues already had two goals on the board while hardly a Demon player had touched the ball, let alone have the ball in attack or effect a score. As I uncupped my head from my hands, I thought I might capture this moment for posterity and this screenshot from my AFL IPhone App says it all:-

Then something unusual happened and it was the turning point of the season. Instead of accepting the situation and fading away into complete insignificance as it did a fortnight ago against West Coast, Melbourne went into resistance mode and fought back. At the midpoint of the quarter, the sun suddenly burst through the clouds and the gloom and doom enveloping the MCG and the club to which the ground rightfully belongs lifted. From that time on, Melbourne turned a 12-point deficit into a shock 23-point win and pushed Mick Malthouse and his men into deep crisis.

And after the game magnanimous Mick praised the victors and vainly tried to reassure what was left of the Carlton faithful that all was well in the world and that for seven years he has coached his teams into finals. Sorry, Mick but Demon fans know plenty about seven years of famine and we can see what's coming.

The interesting thing about this game is that it was a mirror image of the team's season opener with the Blues bursting out of the blocks with two quick opening goals and the Dees fighting tooth and nail to get back into the game by quarter time. This time it was Carlton that suffered the early injury (and more of those came as the game wore on), Melbourne hit the front early in the second term (with a ripper of a goal from the skipper) and never looked back while the hapless Carlton kicked itself out of any chance of getting back into the game.

As in the opening match of the season, it was the skipper of the winning team who shone like a beacon in gathering 28 disposals and, at the same time performing a near perfect blanket job on his Carlton counterpart Marc Murphy. It's high time that his (Jones, I mean) elite status is afforded due recognition and I hope the club starts pumping him up for All Australian status some time soon. Well, perhaps I'm being a tad premature but let's see how he fares against his fellow nude nut and opposition skipper next week.

The game was certainly a scrappy affair with the odd highlight but this is the way of Paul Roos in the early stages of building a side. The presence of Chris Dawes and James Frawley up forward made a world of difference in that it gave the team some focus going forward. They picked up two goals each and were matched by the same number from Rohan Bail and Jack Watts who were both handy. The addition of Jordie McKenzie and Jack Viney gave Melbourne the advantage in close and Daniel Cross continues to provide inspiration to the younger Demons. Don't underestimate the role of Dom Tyson who was afforded the honour of being tagged in just his fourth game at the club, yet still made a meaningful contribution while his teammates were freed up to assist in the team effort.

Despite holding a handy lead at the final break (considering it was a low scoring game), it took the Demons a long time to shake off the errant Blues to record their 12.9 (81) to 7.16 (58). A lot of that was also due to Jake Spencer's lion-hearted performance in the ruck after being towelled up last week by Shane Mumford. His part time assistant Cam Pedersen also defied the critics and plucked out the miracle goal that put the game beyond the opposition's reach.

And so, the sum of all of our fears that the club would go through 2014 has been allayed and the monkey is now on someone else's back.

The result result was achieved this time.

Melbourne 3.2.20 6.7.43 10.8.68 12.9.81

Carlton 3.4.23 5.9.39 6.11.48 7.16.58

Goals

Melbourne Bail Dawes Frawley Watts 2 Dunn N Jones Kennedy-Harris Pedersen

Carlton Ellard Yarran 2 Casboult Henderson Murphy

Best

Melbourne N Jones Frawley McDonald Watts Grimes Bail

Carlton Yarran Curnow Walker Gibbs

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Carlton Mitch Robinson replaced by Nick Graham

Injuries

Melbourne Terlich (hamstring)

Carlton Menzel (left thigh) Thomas (left shoulder) Jamison (shoulder)

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Carlton Robert Warnock for striking Jake Spencer

Umpires Jeff Dalgleish Jacob Mollison Andrew Mitchell

Attendance 37,323 at the MCG