SUDDENLY, THE CUP RUNNETH OVER by George on the Outer

Posted April 17, 20169 yr

All of a sudden the Demons are blessed with a bounty of riches!

Despite the heartache of a last gasp loss to North last week, they have bounced back in an emphatic fashion to completely obliterate Collingwood, and send them spiralling toward the bottom of the ladder.

Much rested upon this match for the Demons; another loss would have put them in a similar position to the Pies, with both sides having just scraped over the line for their solitary win to date.

But that was not to be and a first quarter blitz of six goals to one solitary major from Collingwood, almost had the match sewn up at the first change. Another five straight in the second quarter should have sealed the game but a series of awful turnovers saw five of Collingwood's next six goals come directly from Melbourne errors.

The accuracy of the Melbourne forwards put plenty of breathing space between the two sides, with Jack Watts contributing four up to the major break, including two pearlers from on the boundary line.

Even though Collingwood were pressing, it was these clutch goals that just kept on putting them “back in their box”. Fortunately, they also provided some classic howlers in their backline to give easy goals to Jack Viney and Dean Kent.

The second half became much of a slog with really no change to the quarter time margin, but again for the Melbourne supporters, it was comforting to see players still putting in for the whole game. No more head-dropping as we are now seeing a new confidence building among the playing group.

Collingwood seem to have long passed their premiership window and are quickly heading for a long time in oblivion. Without Swan and Pendelbury injured, they lacked any real ball getting ability. Now with Cloke also injured and mostly disinterested, they don’t have too many other options up forward either. A truly delightful situation!

Contrast that with the situation in which the Demons now find themselves. Despite some misgivings, the coaching staff introduced two new additions to the side in the past fortnight- Josh Wagner and Jayden Hunt. They held their spots admirably; Josh Wagner in particular with 24 possessions in defence.

And the backline is looking much more solid with each of the defenders working as a team to nullify the opposition’s chances. With Lynden Dunn back on the goal line the team just looks so much more stable. It gives Tom McDonald the opportunity to take those critical marks and spoils in front, and Dunn's kicking gives more options to exit the defensive zone.
If Nev Jetta could switch on some time before half time, the whole unit would be even better. His position and role must be under threat from Jack Grimes next week following a good game at Casey.

And after a solid win like this one, it is such a contrast with the situation we faced last year and the year before and ... boom recruit Christian Petracca is in the background steadily mounting a solid case for a senior spot with Jack Trengove doing likewise. Even more satisfying is the fact that Jeff Garlett and Aaron vandenBerg should be available for next week together with last year's best and fairest winner Bernie Vince returns from suspension ... and we have Grimes and Viv Michie named among the best at Casey also in the mix.

Our cup filled up during this game. Confidence is building and the competition for places is getting seriously hot.

If this translates into the ruthless game style that we saw during the first quarter of this match, then Richmond are facing another miserable result next week, to top off the shellacking they copped at the weekend against the Eagles.

That would really make out cup run over ...

Melbourne 6.2.38 11.2.68 14.4.98 16.6.102

Collingwood 1.2.8 6.5.41 8.10.58 9.13.67

Goals

Melbourne Watts 4 Hogan Pedersen Tyson 2 Brayshaw Frost Gawn Kennedy Kent Viney

Collingwood Cloke Sidebottom 2 Fasolo Moore Sinclair Treloar Varcoe

Best

Melbourne Gawn Viney Watts Wagner Tyson N Jones Bugg

Collingwood Pendlebury Treloar Sidebottom Adams Langdon

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Collingwood Goldsack (illness) replaced in selected side by White