WHAT ME WORRY? by Whispering Jack

I was sitting at my desk on Tuesday afternoon and I tapped out the usual message that directs me to the footy news. The headline that flashed across the screen said "Trengove set to miss rest of 2014 season" and, given that the site was that of the Melbourne Football Club and the colours of the livery around the page were red and blue, I figured it couldn't be Port Adelaides Trengove and we had another player in trouble.

The shocking depth and volume of mishaps that have afflicted the Melbourne Football Club in recent years have been so breathtaking in number that the loss for a season of another impressive young man barely touched the senses.

In past times, the news would have created an enormous feeling of loss, panic and a touch of paranoia followed by anger but these days, it's no more than another sad footnote to a sorry chapter of events presumably conjured up by sadistic football gods determined to beat us senseless because we chose Melbourne as the team to support (or perhaps it's the Curse of the Red Fox*)

The combination of all of those heavy blows that have rained down upon us has left no room for anger and while once, we might have adopted the style of Peter Finch in Network by getting out of our chairs, going to the window and shouting "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!", we now remain calm and dignified.

I'm not mad any more.

Yes, it is another crushing blow to a fine young man, but Jack Trengove will heal and he will come back. In some ways, I think it might be a relief to discover what suddenly and mysteriously caused him to lose the dynamism that had Matt Burgan likening him to Nathan Buckley in his 2009 AFL Phantom Draft ("Trengove has excellent speed, endurance and leadership. He can also play midfield, forward or back").

I now realise we need to accept that injury and other disappointments are mere setbacks that are part and parcel of the game that must be accepted in the same vein as the good things that happen - like winning the four points on offer from a side that won a final last year.

Once we realise that and refuse to wallow in self pity about the disasters that befall us, then we can shrug off the curse and start to become winners once more.

* THE CURSE OF THE RED FOX

There's an excellent article in this week's Inside Football by Brett Anderson who is a Demon supporter and who attributes our woes to the sacking of Norm Smith in 1965. He maintains that this curse is real.

Following is a sample of the bad luck, or in some cases bad decisions, of the past half century. They can be broken down into two categories: misfortune and mismanagement.

Let's start with misfortune.

In no particular order there has been David Schwarz's three knee reconstructions just is he was on the verge of rivaling Wayne Carry as the best centre half forward in the game; star wingman Stephen Tingay falling through a plate glass window, severing tendons in his wrist and taking a chunk out of his thigh; Paul Prymke's rheumatoid arthritis; Garry Lyons broken leg, then chronic back; Sean Charless multiple injuries; Allen Jakovich's back; Luke Molan's broken

There was the ill-fated Energy Watch sponsorship deal; Jim Stynes running across the mark in the '87 prelim; the Bali bombing where Steven Armstrong was burnt; the death of young defender Troy Broadbridge in the Boxing Day tsunami; Liam Jurrah's off-field woes; the deaths of former Irish imports Sean Wight and Stynes and former coach Dean Bailey of cancer, the ill-health of ex-mentor Neale Daniher; and finally Mitch Clark's early retirement.

Then we look at the things that could have been avoided, or managed differently, but weren't - the things that are our own fault.

It started with the recruitment and failure of Diamond Jim Tilbrook; trading Martin Pike to Fitzroy, letting Scott Thompson go home to Adelaide without much of a fight; the early draft busts/disappointments - Nick Smith. Colin Sylvia, Brock McLean, Jordan Gysberts, Lucas Cook. Cale Morton, Matthew Bate and Addam Maric; the decision to knock back a move to the Westpac Centre (then Glasshouse) prior to It being offered to Collingwood.

Many people don't believe in curses. I am cynical about them too, but the longer things last, and the more woe is suffered, the easier it is to starting believing.

And now Jack Trengove. No wonder we just shrug the news of his injury off without so much as a thought.

THE GAME

Melbourne v Gold Coast Suns at the MCG Sunday 20 April, 2014 at 3.20 pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 3 wins Gold Coast Suns 2 wins

At MCG Melbourne 2 wins Gold Coast Suns 1 win

Past five years Melbourne 3 wins Gold Coast Suns 2 wins

The Coaches Roos 0 wins McKenna 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Channel 7 & Fox Sports 3 @ 3.00pm (live)

RADIO - Triple M, 3AW

THE BETTING

Melbourne to win - $3.75 Gold Coast Suns to win - $1.60

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Gold Coast Suns 13.12.90 defeated Melbourne 10.17.77 Round 20, 2013 at Metricon Stadium

The Demons were in this game all the way thanks to Colin Garland and Jordie McKenzie giving Gary Ablett Junior a working over. However, others in the Suns' midfield stepped up. Jack Viney played the best game of his brief career and Nathan Jones worked his butt off. The game was Campbell Brown's last - he was suspended for a vicious kick at James Strauss then offended in the off season and was duly sacked by the Suns.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B: Alex Georgiou, Tom McDonald, Lynden Dunn

HB: Dean Terlich, James Frawley, Jack Grimes

C: Jack Viney, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince

HF: Jack Watts, Cam Pedersen, Jordie McKenzie

F: Jeremy Howe, Chris Dawes, Rohan Bail

FOLL: Jake Spencer, Nathan Jones, Daniel Cross

I/C: Jay Kennedy-Harris, Matt Jones, Neville Jetta, Michael Evans

EMG: Shannon Byrnes, Jack Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Toumpas

IN: Neville Jetta

OUT: Dean Kent (calf)

GOLD COAST SUNS

B: Matthew Warnock, Steven May, Greg Broughton

HB: Sean Lemmens, Rory Thompson, Trent McKenzie

C: Matt Shaw, Gary Ablett, Jarrod Harbrow

HF: Aaron Hall, Tom Lynch, Danny Stanley

F: Luke Russell, Sam Day, Brandon Matera

Fol: Tom Nicholls, Jaeger O'Meara, David Swallow

I/C: Jack Hutchins, Kade Kolodjashnij, Michael Rischitelli, Dion Prestia

EMG: Tom Murphy, Timmy Sumner, Jeremy Taylor

IN: Brandon Matera

Out: Clay Cameron (shoulder)

OPENING DOORS

It was only a matter of a few hours before the news of Jack Trengove's navicular bone fracture broke (pun not intended), that I wrote in response to a reference about Neville Jetta getting a run for Melbourne,

"Unless another long term injury opportunity opens up Nev can't play until round 12 when we will automatically be able to elevate another rookie."

I was clearly tempting fate and suffering from temporary amnesia about the Curse of the Red Fox and it took no time for that LTI to surface (really sorry Jack).

It took not that much longer for Jetta's elevation onto the senior list and some more hours later he was in the squad of 25 to take on the Gold Coast Suns. He'll play on Sunday.

Neville Jetta is a survivor. When chosen at 51 in the Watts/Naitanui draft at the end of 2008, he (along with Jaimie Bennell) joined the club's tight knit indigenous heroes in Matty Whelan, Aaron Davey and Austin Wonaemirri. Soon after they were joined by the enigmatic Liam Jurrah, literally plucked out of the desert of Central Australia via the next preseason draft. There was a promise of indigenous excitement and there were certainly some moments but one by one, they disappeared attended by fragments of tragedy, by sadness and by injury. At the end of last year they were all gone - Jetta, who suffered his share of injuries throughout his career and was thought to be lacking in pace, delisted in October after 41 AFL games.

However, he managed to gain a reprieve in December via the rookie draft and immediately set about the process of rebuilding his career with a full preseason including some starring roles in his practice matches at Casey. These were followed by two outstanding performances with the Scorpions playing both forward and back (he was a major contributor in his team's opening round win over Essendon) and when the door closed on Jack Trengove's 2014 season, it opened for Jetta.

Such is the changing face of the game.

The same changes are in the air for Jetta's club. Despite losing two team leaders of who much was expected in 2014, the "Roosification" of the Demons is starting to take hold even if it's only happening in small steps.

Suddenly, this week's game against the Gold Coast Suns takes on a completely different complexion. Whereas, the equivalent match up twelve months ago saw the fledgling AFL club come of age with a then record 10 goal victory, this time it's Melbourne that is threatening to break out of the shackles of mediocrity.

The Suns are a much better team in their home state where they have played three of their four games and recorded their two wins to date but last week they were dismembered to the time of 99 points by the all conquering Hawks.

Very few teams recover from such shattering defeats (and let's face it the current Hawthorn side will do that to most opponents) so it's incredible to consider that the bookies have the Suns as such a firm favourite to win. It must surely be the Ablett factor because his presence makes that midfield superior to that of the Demons but it also means that if he can be covered the game is eminently winnable. And Melbourne's midfield with the addition of Tyson, Vince and Cross and a fit hardnut in Jack Viney is an entirely different one to that which capitulated so easily last year.

It's true that Melbourne still has lots to do to get up to par after so many seasons in the football wilderness. The team still ranks 17th in the competition for inside 50s this year at an average of 42.5 per game (compared to Gold Coast's eighth at 51.5) but that figure is coloured by the fact that until the recent forward line renovation which included Chris Dawes' return last week, the Demons weren't all that fully focussed or equipped to move the ball into attack despite the fact that they were getting greater use of the football. Further, Melbourne's disposal efficiency rate of 72.5 per cent (7th overall) eclipses that of the Suns who rank last at 66.2%.

I expect Melbourne's home ground advantage, renewed confidence, rebuilt midfield, "Roosified" team structure and our cooler climate to cause Bluey's Suns to become unhinged enabling the door to open for yet another breakthrough after last week's win over Carlton.

Melbourne by 30 points.

I have a good cure for the curse as handed down to me by an old Creole lady from New Orleans.

First, you gather thirteen chicken bones and put them in the sun to dry for three days. Then when they are ready, you work yourself up into a frenzied lather to add to the potency of the cure. You then began the incantation saying, 'With these bones I now do crush this curse and all my enemies".

Then you take a hammer or alternatively use your feet to stomp and crush the bones as if they were your enemy.

When you are completed, you sweep up the dust and place it in a bag.

You then sprinkle the dust and remains of the bones on your enemy's property or, as in this case, around their grounds.

Anyway, that should do the trick.

What about swinging live chickens in the air and genuflecting?