GIVING HELL by Whispering Jack

Sitting in the stands last Saturday night at the MCG wasn't the most pleasant experience for those who go to the football to taste the aesthetics of the game. It wasn't the night for pretty football, for excitement and skills and we weren't witnessing a game made in heaven for either the participants or the viewers.

We are, after all the Demons and you could be excused for thinking that this was a game that those unfortunate enough to make it to that place, would spend countless hours playing this game out in hell.

When Paul Roos signed on to take over the mantle of coach of the Melbourne Football Club, he never promised anyone a rose garden and we should not expect overnight changes to make the team immediately perfect.

As far back as 2005 when he was with the Sydney Swans, Roos' coaching style was criticised by the then AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou who described his negative, defensive game plan as "disgusting" and "ugly". Those remarks were made during a game against St. Kilda which the Swans lost by seven goals but they appeared to be a catalyst for the team from the harbour city as they marched on to win the flag later that year. Not only that, but history records that the Sydney Swans scored only 8.10.58 to beat the West Coast Eagles by four points in the grand final.

When Roos was appointed coach last September, he said,

"It's going to be a huge challenge, there's no doubt about that.

"They're certainly not sugar-coating it - I know what I'm coming into. I know it's going to be a very difficult job.

"I'm really looking forward to setting a direction for the players and the football club, and setting some really high standards."

Paul Kelly once sang that from little things, big things grow and, back in those stands on Saturday night, it wasn't hard to notice that we were watching the very budding of those "little things".

Sydney came out of the blocks and had two goals on the board within five minutes thanks to a lucky bounce that favoured Luke Parker followed by an even luckier free kick and goal to expensive import Buddy Franklin. Melbourne was denied such luck in the opening term but it displayed some great resistance and aggression over the next fifteen minutes for a reward of a single goal to Shannon Byrnes while Jack Watts and Jeremy Howe dropped marks in front of goal that could have made a significant difference. They were made to pay when the Swans added two more in time on but the 4 - 1 goal scoreline was deceptively misleading.

The game got uglier in the second quarter when the Demons scored the only goal for the term in a defensive slugfest but when was the last time that they kept a top four contender goalless for an entire quarter?

So it went on, the Demons fought hard against the relentless strangulation of the Swans. Both teams played behind the ball, the visitors did it better and with the more skilled and experienced players, they ran out winners while the football world moaned at what it saw.

They spoke in the end that Melbourne's average score for the season was its lowest since 1919, a winless wooden spoon season in the club's return after a three year recess during the First World War.

But the Demons kept the Swans down to nine goals, a once unthinkable achievement and I suspect that we will soon see the silver lining to all of this. It might not be as dramatic as the rise to the top experienced by the Swans when their style was derided by Demetriou but I can see a continuation of the process to the point where one day a Melbourne side will strangle the life out of a good team with the dour, defensive style being introduced at present.

And then, with the introduction of young, talented players like Christian Salem and a bit of height and strength up forward and down back, the ugly demon ducklings will soon be giving others hell.

THE GAME

Adelaide v Melbourne v at Adelaide Oval Saturday 3 May, 2014 at 4.40 pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Adelaide 21 wins Melbourne 11 wins

At Adelaide Oval Adelaide 0 wins Melbourne 0 wins

Past five years Adelaide 4 wins Melbourne 1 wins

The Coaches Sanderson 0 wins Roos 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Fox Footy Channel @ 4.30pm (live)

RADIO - Triple M SEN ABC ABC Grandstand

THE BETTING

Adelaide - $1.07 Melbourne to win - $9.00

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Adelaide 18.12.120 defeated Melbourne 7.10.52 Round 22, 2013 at AAMI Stadium

Scott Thompson starred against his former club in a one team race from start to end that was a game best remembered for boring the living suitcases out of anyone who watched it.

THE TEAMS

Adelaide Crows

B: Sam Shaw, Daniel Talia, Matthew Jaensch

HB: Brodie Smith, Kyle Hartigan, Luke Brown

C: Sam Kerridge, Patrick Dangerfield, David Mackay

HF: Eddie Betts, James Podsiadly, Jared Petrenko

F: Tom Lynch, Josh Jenkins, Matthew Wright

FOLL: Sam Jacobs, Scott Thompson, Rory Sloane

I/C: Brent Reilly, Mitch Grigg, Rory Laird, Matt Crouch

EMG: Brodie Martin, Andy Otten, Ben Rutten

No Change

Melbourne

B: Tom McDonald, Lynden Dunn, Alex Georgiou

HB: Jack Grimes, James Frawley, Dean Terlich

C: Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince, Jack Watts

HF: Rohan Bail, Cameron Pedersen, Matt Jones

F: Jack Viney, Chris Dawes, Jeremy Howe

FOLL: Mark Jamar, Daniel Cross, Nathan Jones

I/C: Christian Salem, Neville Jetta, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Shannon Byrnes

EMG: Mitchell Clisby, Max Gawn, Aidan Riley

No Change

Preview

It almost seems forever since a Melbourne team ventured across the South Australian border into Adelaide and returned home unscathed. In fact, it's been so long that I can't even recall a match preview of a Demons' game played over there that doesn't include a mention of the curse of the city of churches or the fact that it was way back in 2001 that Andrew Leoncelli accepted a David Schwartz knock on and kicked a last gasp goal to beat the Crows at Adelaide's Football Park. So there you go ... it's been mentioned but the ground more lately known as AAMI Stadium is no longer in commission as an AFL venue and this week's game is taking place at the Adelaide Oval and the home side has never beaten Melbourne there so let's just forget this 17 defeats in a row thing and concentrate on the game at hand.

Young Adelaide star Patrick Dangerfield was asked earlier in the week why his team had made such a dramatic improvement after a poor start when it lost the opening three games of the season. His response was that the team was now sticking to the game plan and executing the plan better. He might also have added that they've also played much weaker opposition over the last these weeks than during the period in which they were losing but his point still holds good. It's all about staying the course.

If there's one thing that we can expect from Melbourne coach Paul Roos it is that the style of game and the effort demanded of his players will remain constant in this phase of development. In the short term this means that supporters need to lower their expectations - there will be the odd win here or there (perhaps even a surprise), some fighting losses and the really tough days at the office when the team gets thrashed. We've seen it all already this year and there will be more but the course has been set and it's not likely that we'll see a departure for the sake of producing a high scoring quarter of pretty football here or there as you will see from some coaches.

This is why it was so important for Melbourne to import the likes of Vince, Cross, Tyson, Georgiou and co who provide the extra depth and steel the club lacked in recent years. They are among the players expected to lift yet another notch if the team is to remain competitive against the surging Crows in front of their home crowd as they strive to emulate the top of the ladder local foe for home state popularity.

Melbourne needs to get more drive from its ruck division. Mark Jamar will relish the fact that he now has a run under his belt but he needs to hit his onball brigade more often in the ruck duels and the team can't afford a repeat of Scott Thompson's midfield dominance from their last outing. It won't be an easy task keeping up with the Crows on their home turf but if the Demons stay the course, it could be an interesting evening.

I think that in the end, Adelaide will have too much class and experience and therefore give ammunition for those who promote the curse of the city of churches but one day soon, all that talk will come to an end and, when the day comes, Melbourne will give them hell.

But not this time ... Adelaide by 25 points.

Great article WJ. Sure it was ugly but we near four goals down at quarter time and only lost by 30 points - against a side that as you say has top 4 pretensions. Against Gold Coast - a side with aspirations for the top 8 - we fell 4 goals behind and fought back to only go down by 8 points.Even against the eagles where we got pummeled, i thought we at least kept fighting.

For me this represents a huge step forward as over the last decade so often once we got to 4 goals down we just folded like a pack of cards. To keep fighting and scrapping right to the final siren is at the heart of the culture Roos is trying to instill, hence his comments about ignoring the score board.

We better get used to ugly games because there'll be a lot more. But nothing is as ugly as getting flogged by 1403 points as occurred against the bombers last year.

Great article WJ. Sure it was ugly but we near four goals down at quarter time and only lost by 30 points - against a side that as you say has top 4 pretensions. Against Gold Coast - a side with aspirations for the top 8 - we fell 4 goals behind and fought back to only go down by 8 points.Even against the eagles where we got pummeled, i thought we at least kept fighting.

For me this represents a huge step forward as over the last decade so often once we got to 4 goals down we just folded like a pack of cards. To keep fighting and scrapping right to the final siren is at the heart of the culture Roos is trying to instill, hence his comments about ignoring the score board.

We better get used to ugly games because there'll be a lot more. But nothing is as ugly as getting flogged by 1403 points as occurred against the bombers last year.

I think you might have a small error there binman

1403 points is 233 goals

Essendon would need to kick 1.94 goals / minute

Not even the Dees are quite that bad.

I think you might have a small error there binman

1403 points is 233 goals

It felt like 233 goals!

It felt like 233 goals!

It gave me the only laugh from that sorry match binman

Another ripper article WJ, nice one.

Last year we got beaten by the Swans by 31 points and I was thinking, wow, they played well, that was a great effort.

This year we lost by 31 points and I was very [censored] off that we didn't do better.

That illustrates how far we've come. The wheel is turning. It won't complete a revolution overnight but it will get faster as momentum is gathered.

I think you might have a small error there binman

1403 points is 233 goals

Essendon would need to kick 1.94 goals / minute

Not even the Dees are quite that bad.

Under Neeld - anything is possible (except success)

Nice to go into a game over in Adelaide not filled with dread and knowing days before the ball is bounced we will get smashed

We may not be kicking winning scores yet, but its been a nice change from previous years

I know we will fight til the end

We are slowly moving forward

wonder if Nate Jones will go to Dangerfield?

Did I hear correctly both teams unchanged

GIVING HELL by Whispering Jack

THE TEAMS

Adelaide Crows

B: Sam Shaw, Daniel Talia, Matthew Jaensch

HB: Brodie Smith, Kyle Hartigan, Luke Brown

C: Sam Kerridge, Patrick Dangerfield, David Mackay

HF: Eddie Betts, James Podsiadly, Jared Petrenko

F: Tom Lynch, Josh Jenkins, Matthew Wright

FOLL: Sam Jacobs, Scott Thompson, Rory Sloane

I/C: Brent Reilly, Mitch Grigg, Rory Laird, Matt Crouch

EMG: Brodie Martin, Andy Otten, Ben Rutten

No Change Melbourne

B: Tom McDonald, Lynden Dunn, Alex Georgiou

HB: Jack Grimes, James Frawley, Dean Terlich

C: Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince, Jack Watts

HF: Rohan Bail, Cameron Pedersen, Matt Jones

F: Jack Viney, Chris Dawes, Jeremy Howe

FOLL: Mark Jamar, Daniel Cross, Nathan Jones

I/C: Christian Salem, Neville Jetta, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Shannon Byrnes

EMG: Mitchell Clisby, Max Gawn, Aidan Riley

No Change

No change. Wow we

Adelaide unchanged as well. No Tex

No change. Wow we

Adelaide unchanged as well. No Tex

I actually prefer this approach - what we have seen in recent years is players being dropped for poor form, without anybody really being in better form below. This way, Roos has picked his 22 and is backing them until someone else turns out to be playing better.

Rather than Casey players waiting until they are called up due to the failures of others, they are now being required to lift their own standards and demand to be included.

That can only be a good thing.

No ins or out but there are some positional changes and emergencies are also telling.

Would love to see gawn and riley in for watts and byrnes!!

It'd be nice to see Clisby and Riley getting a run.

No one deserved a promotion more than someone deserved to be dropped.

.....that says plenty about our depth at the minute .

No one deserved a promotion more than someone deserved to be dropped.

.....that says plenty about our depth at the minute .

What about Gawn?

Thought another tall forward/ruck would be good.

Any known injury clouds suggesting late changes?

I wonder HM emergencies they take over? If only one I would guess Riley.

When do Scorpions play?

G'day Mike, Gawny has only played two matches since returning from a three-week hamstring injury. He's an emergency this week, so he's right on the edge of selection. I don't think it'll be too long before he gets a berth in the side. Matt burgans response about Gawn.

He also said Roos liked stability at sydney and think partly because Casey had a poor match last week and lost easily. Roosy is very keen on playing producing solid, consistent football at Casey before coming up. That makes sense.

Casey play Werribee on sunday

Edited May 1, 201411 yr by dees189227

Still don't get what Byrnes as to offer. Hopefully he is the sub

Still don't get what Byrnes as to offer. Hopefully he is the sub

Apart from being our leading goalkicker?

Apart from being our leading goalkicker?

Doesn't mean much I'm afraid

Doesn't mean much I'm afraid

Well, I'd suggest it means something to the selection committee!

As much as I personally don't think Byrnes should be playing, I think when a player earns a promotion from Casey, Roos is always giving at least two weeks in the firsts, which I agree with.

And I guess no changes isn't overly surprising given the competitive effort against the Swans and Casey copping a hiding.

Still don't get what Byrnes as to offer. Hopefully he is the sub

He keeps scoring goals, plain and simple. Whether they are gifted to him or not, he is our leading goal kicker at the moment. Sad, huh?

Edited May 1, 201411 yr by The Song Formerly Known As