FIRST WE TAKE NORTH MELBOURNE …

by Whispering Jack

There I was, driving around looking for an amateurs footy game a long way from home and concerned I was lost (my godson was playing, the finals are getting closer and I had nothing much else to do) when I started listening to a Leonard Cohen compilation CD that I hadn't played for a while. That's what you do when you're driving aimlessly through the suburbs on a Saturday afternoon. Anyway, I was struck by the words to this song because it seemed to me they just about summed up the frustrating way in which the Melbourne Football Club always finishes its seasons lately: -

"Ah you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win

You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline

How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin

First we take North Melbourne, then we take …"

Well, he didn't really use the words "North Melbourne" but the rest of it wasn't too far off the mark. The Demons started the year poorly, they learned how to win and how to do that well and then, unexpectedly, circumstances started to conspire against them. Three weeks ago, as they performed a neat demolition of top four rivals, the Western Bulldogs, they appeared to be on track to easily achieve the all-important double chance and even possibly a home final in the first week of the business end.

Then came injury and a loss of form and with other teams hot on its heels, Melbourne's season started to unravel quickly - again! Worse still, the results of games appeared now to be all going the wrong way. On Friday night, Collingwood pulled the four points out of the fire against Port Adelaide with 19 seconds to spare. In the early stages of Saturday's games the Bulldogs and the Cats were heading their respective opponents.

Did we want those results? I thought not so I switched to the music and took on a more positive frame of mind. My only question was, which Melbourne would run out onto the ground on the Sunday?

As it happened, I didn't have to bother wondering because both of them turned up.

In the first half it was a positively lacklustre Melbourne that was run off its feet by a more desperate and determined Kangaroos that tackled and harassed, played with confidence and delivered the ball brilliantly to its forwards. The Demons struggled and overused their handball to get themselves into trouble. Halfway through the second quarter it looked almost curtains for the season as Kangaroo Leigh Harding lined up for what would almost certainly given his team a 32 point lead. The miss seemed to breathe a little life back into Melbourne as it held out the opposition to the main break and limped into the rooms still 20 points in arrears.

Then it was the turn of the other Melbourne to take the ground, the aggressive risk taking, hard running, thinking team led from the front by the skipper who booted four goals in an electrifying third term inspired by the returning Aaron Davey and by a trio of youngsters who have the whole world before them – Brock McLean, Matthew Bate and Nathan Jones. It was positively exhilarating the way they went about demolishing the 'Roos who looked spent by three quarter time, such was the enormity of the turn around.

Others to shine were Brad Green, who played well all day and fellow midfielder James McDonald who performed a total eclipse on the dangerous Daniel Wells and defenders Matthew Whelan and Nathan Carroll. Brad Miller played his best game for the year at centre half forward.

The return of Davey, Travis Johnstone, Whelan and Russell Robertson underlined how important it is to have your best side on the park at this time of the year. However, just when it seemed to be a case of happy days are here again, others started falling down like ninepins. Neitz, who finished with eight goals, was off with a hip injury while Bate and Jared Rivers limped off the ground in the final quarter with jarred knees. All are in doubt for next week's clash at Skilled Stadium against the Cats who still retain an outside mathematical chance of making the finals.

That game will come with only a six-day break and will precede another tough game away from home against Adelaide. The Demons have to win both to secure a top four placing and it will be a hard ask.

For the time being however, the work has begun.

First, they took North Melbourne, then they take …

Melbourne 2.3.15 6.4.40 14.9.93 20.12.132

Kangaroos 4.3.27 9.6.60 11.8.74 12.10.82

Goals Neitz 8 Davey 4 Robertson Yze 2 Bruce Godfrey Green Ward

Best McDonald McLean Neitz Bate Green Davey Whelan Jones

Injuries Bate (knee) Neitz (hip) Rivers (knee)

Reports Nil

Umpires McLaren, M Nicholls, Head

Crowd 29,457 at MCG