NATURAL SELECTION by The Oracle

[Demonland 64,761]

Melbourne's third venture for the year into the Northern Territory has again ended in pain.

All three matches, starting with a NAB Challenge game against Geelong in Alice Springs on 28 February and finishing with the Round 16 fixture against Fremantle in Darwin were defeats. The first saw an injury to key forward hopeful Jesse Hogan that severely curtailed the start of what is hoped to be a stellar career, the second (against Port Adelaide) showed hope of brighter things to come and the third was a major reality check that demonstrated how far the club must go to reach the dream of a finals appearance.

Fittingly, in a place named after the great English naturalist whose evolutionary theory gave rise to the phrase "survival of the fittest", the two combatants, Melbourne and Fremantle played out their game as a demonstration of Darwinian theory.

It doesn't really matter if the coach is Mark Neeld, Paul Roos or Ross Lyon. The rigours of learning the defensive style can be strength sapping from both a physical and mental perspective. The stronger, more experienced and classier sides will wear the other down and once that other's energy reserves are low it will pounce, strike and cut it down mercilessly as we saw with Fremantle. In this game, Melbourne barely lasted a quarter and a half.

Last year's grand finallist has grasped the importance of finishing high in the top four and the previous evening's result with Hawthorn saw the doors open. Even without Pavlich and Hill, the Dockers were never going to let the opportunity out of their grasp.

And, in the broader meaning of the word "fittest" (which covers more than simply the physical sense but all attributes required to be successful in the sport), that is exactly what they were - the fittest.

So they wore the Demons out in the first half and crushed them in the second. The lesson for Melbourne is that having wasted substantial and significant opportunities in drafting and trading over the past decade, it needs to be right on the mark when the next round takes place. The defence looks solid but will possibly lose one of its number soon, the midfield is improving but still has a way to go and the forward line ... well, just take a look at the scoreboard.

At least one third to one half of the current list fails to come up to the standard by which we require players to be defined as "the fittest". The club must discover and develop its own species like Nathan Fyfes if it is to find its way to the top echelons and therefore many on the current list be be gone before the Demons next challenge for a finals berth.

Melbourne0.2.2 1.5.11 3.7.25 4.10.34

Fremantle 2.1.13 6.3.39 13.5.83 15.7.97

Goals

Melbourne Bail Dawes Jamar Kent

Fremantle Ballantyne 3 Clarke Mzungu D Pearce 2 Barlow Mayne Neale Sandilands Suban Sutcliffe

Best

Melbourne McDonald M Jones Vince N Jones Tyson Frawley

Fremantle Fyfe Barlow Neale Ibbotson Muzungu Suban

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Fremantle Clancee Pearce

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Fremantle Matthew Pavlich by Michael Apeness

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Fremantle Nil

Umpires Jeff Dalgleish, Dean Margetts, Jordan Bannister.

Crowd 9,290 at TIO Stadium Darwin