NO MEDALS OR DUCKS, JUST A FOOTBALL PRACTICE MATCH

by The Oracle

Almost the entire population of the City of Melbourne seemed preoccupied this week with opening ceremonies, winged trams, ducks and a series of sporting events (some of which are very obscure to say the least) that all seem to end with a victory dais, golden spoils for the winner and large heaps of national and international recognition for those who achieve. Yesterday however at Princes Park, it was different. The result of the nab challenge match between 2005 AFL finalists Melbourne and the Kangaroos meant absolutely nothing. Jack Squat. The importance of the afternoon was simply in assessing how the teams were shaping up in their last dress rehearsals for the forthcoming season.

After a disastrous departure from the AFL pre season series in Adelaide last week Melbourne at least regained some face when the final scoreboard put it in front by 22 points - 19.7.121 to 15.9.99 but very few questions were answered as the football's new year looms within the span of a fortnight.

The Demons started every quarter bar the second with a withering burst that was enough to ensure that they would lead the game from go to whoa. Their five goal opening charges in each of the first and third quarters were blistering reminders of the start of their Telstra Dome game against the Tigers in mid season last year. A lot of that had to do with the first signs of form being shown by veterans David Neitz and Jeff White who have both had lacklustre starts in the pre season. White, who has been held back to allow Mark Jamar more time in the thick of things in the ruck, is slowly returning to his old effectiveness while the Russian is still being worked hard as a follower. Skipper Neitz, who was about as mobile as one of the behind posts in his first two games, opened with three early goals and was too strong for the Ross’ new recruit Jonathan Hay. With Aaron Davey zipping around the field and finding the goals, we saw two key elements back in the Demon forward line that were missing late last year when the captain was injured and The Flash was missing shots for goal that he would normally have for breakfast.

The Kangaroos were effective in closing down the game after quarter time when they went with a spare man in defence. Hay tightened up on Neitz, a tag was put on Davey and suddenly the Demons were being forced into error as the Roos came back to be down by 18 points at the main break. Both midfields waxed and waned and the football was not pretty with poor disposals out of stoppages being par for the course. Melbourne can thank Nathan Brown, Clint Bizzell, Matthew Whelan and Daniel Ward for their efforts in at least helping to stem the tide.

The Dees swung into action early in the third quarter with Byron Pickett putting on a bit of cameo and he was capably backed up by Shannon Motlop who is clearly showing the benefits of a full preparation in the off season this year. At one stage the Melbourne lead was up to 48 points before the Kangaroos took over with the next six goals starting with a soft free to Corey Jones. During this period, the Demon backline was exposed particularly at the hands of the Kangaroos' tall forwards Thompson, Rocca and Petrie and the margin was reduced back to 10 points at three quarter time.

There is no doubt that, in today's football, the midfield is all-important. However, all that means very little if your defence can be exposed by the opposition's high marking forwards and this is a worrying sign for the Demons, especially while Jared Rivers is out with injury and Alistair Nicholson and Ryan Ferguson (who was not playing yesterday) are totally out of form. I'm afraid the club will have to improvise if it can’t get more out of these blokes in key defensive positions and I can see Brad Miller being drafted out of the forward line often to plug the gaps here. Nathan Carroll and Clint Bizzell are not big enough to always be the answer here either.

The Demons forged ahead after three quarter time, thereby snuffing out any chance of a Kangaroo revival and players like Colin Sylvia, Chris and Paul Johnson and youngsters Nathan Jones and Clint Bartram were all impressive. Matthew Bate continues to show that he could be a player.

I wouldn't make a big deal about the result of the game even though the Kangaroos were close to full strength with only their captain missing while Melbourne still has a number of players, notably Cam Bruce, Brock McLean and Daniel Bell to come back into the side while Russell Robertson and Miller were rested and Benny Holland is still to be seen in the forward line. A few players can still be tested at Sandringham over the next week or so but it will only be when the real thing starts that we can start thinking about winning and glory. For the time being, we’re a fair distance away from that.

Melbourne 7.2.44 9.4.58 14.5.99 19.7.121

Kangaroos 2.2.14 6.4.40 12.7.79 15.9.99

Goals:

Melbourne: Neitz 5 Davey 4 Pickett 3 P Johnson 2 Sylvia 2 Green McDonald Yze

Kangaroos: Thompson 5 Rocca 2 Archer Green Harding Harris Co Jones LeCras Petrie Sansbury

Best:

Melbourne Sylvia Neitz Davey Ward White Whelan Brown

Kangaroos Thompson B Rawlings Grant Harris Sinclair Gibson

Injuries:

Melbourne Wheatley (finger) Bizzell (leg)

Kangaroos Smith (ankle) Archer (concussion)

Reports - Nil

Umpires - Donlan Head M Nicholls Wenn

Crowd - about 1500 at Princes Park