WATTS PAYS HIS WAY by George on the Outer

It was only 10 days ago that Jack Watts signed on with the Demons for another 3 years. They say that for many players a contract extension almost always ensures a subsequent drop off in form but not for our Jack. Against the Gold Coast Suns, he single-handedly won a game that was all but lost in the dying two minutes when he calmly slotted through a shot from a difficult angle to put the Demons in front and that was despite him being absolutely exhausted to get to the space and take the mark. Then a minute later, to take a match saving mark down the other end right in front of the opposition goal, meant that he has already paid Melbourne back for his contract extension.  

Those efforts from Watts gave the Demons the match, the four points and produced the best season performance for the club since 2006 although it was all nearly thrown away by Bernie Vince, who kicked a shocker to Tom Lynch with just seconds to go. The subsequent kick after the siren fortunately missed but for Bernie, that was the culmination of a simply forgettable game; his inability to provide any game influence over this and the preceding weeks is now becoming problematic.

In the middle, the Suns were missing their six best in Ablett, Prestia, Rischetelli, Hall, Saad, McKenzie and Currie all missing, plus O’Meara and Swallow unable to play all season.

With Max Gawn absolutely dominating hitouts (60!), both in the middle and around the ground, it should have been a one-way procession for the Demons all game.  But it was not to be, and despite the fact that Dom Tyson had 31 disposals, not sufficient of them were effective.  

It is worthwhile comparing the handball to kick ratio for Melbourne with that of Hawthorn this week, who are the benchmark in just about everything.  

Tyson 12 Kicks 19 Handballs.  
Shaun Burgoyne 16 kicks 9 handballs.  
Nathan Jones 9 kicks 14 handballs.  
Jordan Lewis 12 kicks 15 handballs. 
Jack Viney  7 kicks 10 handballs.  
Sam Mitchell 10 kicks 12 handballs.

The ratio should be about 1 to 1 for the mids, but Melbourne's are simply overusing the ball with silly handballs that cause turnovers and delays.  

In this match, they did exactly the same as the previous week against West Coast. Melbourne absolutely dominated nearly every statistic and at one stage had 50% more possessions than Gold Coast but again there was no equivalent domination on the scoreboard.  

We have fallen for the trap of trying to retain possession at the cost of attack.  Only Jayden Hunt and Christian Petracca seem capable of “taking the game on”.  There has become an unwillingness in recent weeks to take the risk, and reap the rewards. Without the skill levels of Hawthorn overuse of the ball will result in turnovers. Today five goals seven behinds of the Suns' score (more than 50%) came from Demon errors.

Against Hawthorn next week, we will see what the benchmark is like in reality.  Performances like those of the last few matches will result in a rout.  And we are facing the reality of many players putting in performances which are simply sub-standard.  

Jesse Hogan is surely injured and could barely raise a trot today after twisting and ankle early, and then crashing a goal post later.  Vince is running up and down on the one spot for most of the game. Chris Dawes had eight touches for the whole game: Jeff Garlett - 6!

The mantra coming from the coaches is that we only have a young side … which is true, but it is not the younger players who are letting the side down at the moment.  

Tom McDonald notched up his 100th game, and it is important to remember how young he is as well.  Brother Oscar and Josh Wagner are obviously being groomed for next year, but there is a lot of grooming needed, particularly for Oscar, who simply loses his man too often. 

Melbourne is better performed than last year and has uncovered some seriously good talent for the future but next week will show us exactly how far we have to go.  

Would it be a little bit too much to expect Jack Watts to pull another rabbit out of his hat?

Melbourne 1.3.9 6.6.42 7.10.52 9.12.66

Gold Coast Suns 3.3.21 4.6.30 6.8.44 9.10.64

Goals

Melbourne vandenBerg Watts 3 Dawes Kent Petracca 

Gold Coast Suns Garlett Lynch Matera 2 Grant Malceski Shaw

Best

Melbourne Tyson Watts Harmes vandenBerg O McDonald, Gawn

Gold Coast Suns Miller Rosa Lynch Harbrow Shaw 

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Gold Coast Suns Nil

Injuries 

Melbourne Hogan (left knee)

Gold Coast Suns Shaw (left ankle)

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Gold Coast Suns Nil

Umpires Fisher, Margetts, Foote

Official crowd 20,627 at MCG