SQUAWKING by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 72,185]

This match report on the Round 20 game between Melbourne and Hawthorn opens with a definitive statement:

"Forget about all of this baloney about Melbourne being scarred by tanking talk.

That controversy was five years ago, and to raise it now simply smells of a club looking for excuses."

The excuse-making and squawking after last week's pathetic capitulation to the Brisbane Lions was hopefully an aberration on the part of Demon coach Paul Roos which will not be repeated. He may not have been aware of it, but his comments would open up old wounds and allow some to approach their soap boxes and raise old agendas that need to be set aside if the club is to progress.

Moreover, telling players publicly that they are wounded by a long gone event that happened when only 20% of the current list was at the club (including some of its better players who are by no means haunted by the experience) is likely to be counterproductive. It certainly turned out that way in the game against Hawthorn.

The Hawks dominated from go to whoa and at times, toyed with the Demons whose play was still very much defensive and stilted in style and which contained the fair share of hesitation, skill errors and turnovers. Thankfully, some of the changes to the line up necessitated by last week's fiasco, gave the team a harder edge and we saw less of the bumbling and stumbling that highlighted that performance.

Of course, that was a necessity given that the Demons were playing the top of the ladder Hawks rather than the lowly Lions of a week before. In the end, Melbourne lost by 50 points but it was one in which it would have succumbed by double that only twelve months ago.

The team once again failed to score even ten goals and there was little to suggest any impending improvement in its forward potency. Chris Dawes continues to disappoint as the team's only true key forward. He did have an interrupted preseason but he doesn't seem to be playing with his earlier zest and needs the back up of at least one or two other effective talls up forward if there is to be improvement in this department. Max Gawn's return to the team after a strong month in the VFL was a promising start.

Again, quoting from the above article:

"Five of Melbournes first seven goals came from direct kicks to the space in front of the goalsquare, and yet that particularly option seemed the one they were least inclined to take.

"Instead, there were numerous passages of play where Melbourne second-guessed itself. At one point in the second term Chris Dawes came streaming up the wing, marking beautifully on the lead. His first instinct was to then turn around and kick it 45 metres backwards, prompting booing from the Members Stand."

... and ...

"There were even instances where Melbourne players were in the clear within 30 or 40 metres of goal, and rather than taking the shot, they looked to handball to a teammate under even more pressure."

Clearly, none of this has anything to do with what might have taken place in the "vault" at the Junction Oval or how a team that lost 11 out of its first 12 games in Dean Bailey's second season as coach and which culminated in an expression of dismay by the tanking accusers that Melbourne had the temerity to lose its last game of the 2009 to top-of-the-ladder St. Kilda. To suggest otherwise is, at best, indulging in fantasy.

The Demons were well served by its usual midfield guns in Nathan Jones and Dom Tyson while Neville Jetta continues to shine and demonstrate why he is easily the club's most improved player. As mentioned above, Gawn helped to improve the forward set up and Aidan Riley had a real impact when he was substituted into the game.

One expects the club will continue to give its young players every chance for the rest of the season instead of those who have been around, had their chances and failed to deliver in the past. One also hopes that somehow, the team will play with some more positivity when going into attack from now on as it would, at the very least, give the club's success-starved fans something to look forward to for the remainder of the season and beyond.

Melbourne 2.1.13 4.5.29 7.8.50 9.11.65

Hawthorn4.4.28 10.8.68 15.8.98 17.13.115

Goals

Melbourne Gawn 2 Dawes Frawley, Kennedy-Harris Kent Riley Tyson Viney

Hawthorn Roughead 5 Breust 3 Hill Smith 2 Hale Lewis Puopolo Schoenmakers Shiels

Best

Melbourne Tyson Jetta, N. Jones Howe Gawn Cross

Hawthorn Lewis Shiels Roughead Smith Hodge Birchall

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn Nil

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Hawthorn J Roughead for tripping D Tyson in the second quarter

Umpires Nil

Hawthorn Ben Ryan, Jeff Dalgleish, Nicholas Foot

Crowd 37,082 at the MCG