MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

by The Oracle

It was not so long ago that St. Kilda ventured out west to play a rampaging Fremantle under lights at Subiaco Oval in Round 20. The hosts inflicted a clinical 58-point thumping on the visitors whose coach Grant Thomas complained after the game that it felt as if his team had been hit by a truck. This week, Melbourne has a tough assignment. It must avoid the same heavy vehicle and return to Victoria unscathed and ready to take part in further battles in its 2006 campaign. I believe it will accomplish this mission comfortably.

Like the Saints, the Demons also succumbed to the Dockers at Subiaco in the second half of the season but in that Round 16 match up, they were not demolished as were the Saints. In fact, Melbourne's 29-point loss was more self-inflicted than caused by the superiority of the home side. It was an ordinary effort all the way from the team selection, to the coaching on the day, to the game plan, the set ups, some poor individual efforts, undisciplined play, poor kicking for goal - everything went wrong. So much so that the team as a whole and several of the individuals who make up the team have the incentive of making up for past errors and in particular of redressing the damage done on that fateful day.

The Demons came home the following week and did a number on the Western Bulldogs but they lost three stars to injury that week. In the absence of Aaron Davey, Travis Johnstone and Byron Pickett, the injury depleted Demons lost their next two games including what should have been a certain win against the bottom team Carlton at the Telstra Dome where they lost two more players. As a result, instead of challenging for a top two spot or at least securing a double chance and finishing top four, Melbourne plummeted to seventh. The team lost valuable ground and allowed teams like Fremantle and Sydney overtake them so that they must now defeat both sides away from home to earn a chance for premiership glory. That's a pretty tough challenge and naturally we’re taking things one week at a time so where do we start if we’re to win tomorrow night’s game?

I have little doubt that the Melbourne charge will come from the big man department where it has a ruckman with a wealth of finals experience (in which he's often had to go it alone) who has also had the benefit of a much lighter preparation for the pressure of finals this year than in the past. Jeff White will play in Friday night's semi-final against Fremantle without his injured partner in Mark Jamar. His new partner Nick Smith hasn’t played an AFL game since Round 22 of 2003, was recruited as a defender, has played many games as a key forward and is likely to get not much more than half an hour of game time. White will have his work cut out for him under lights at Subi.

But that's not a problem for the Demon veteran because the time is ripe for him to take the role of flying almost solo in the ruck against Freo's Aaron Sandilands and Justin Longmuir. It might be a big ask after Sandilands beat White and Jamar the last time they met but I'm not worried. Jeff is always at his best in the tough, hard grind and the previous game was nothing more than an aberration in which the Russian barely bothered the statistician. Smith doesn’t have to do much to match his output in that game.

It seems that every second Demon fan is wringing his or her hands in despair at the thought that White might have to shoulder most of his team's ruck burden but he's done it before, done it well and Melbourne has usually performed at its best under those circumstances. Over at West Coast, star ruckman Dean Cox didn't create anywhere near the same amount of angst among Eagles fans when he recently declared that he was happy to go it alone in the ruck during the finals so what's the big deal?

White is going to have a much better midfield around him this weekend than the last time around. Brock McLean and Matthew Bate missed out when the teams last met and they effectively replace a good solid worker in Simon Godfrey and a little pest in Phil Read. But McLean and Bate are in form and they bring youthful exuberance, strength, toughness and skill into the team. We know all about McLean who showed his brilliance at the stoppages against St. Kilda but Bate’s influence cannot be underestimated either – a fact that has been acknowledged already this year by Docker coach Chris Connolly. The presence of the two youngsters will augment the multitalented assets that Cameron Bruce, Travis Johnstone and Brad Green bring to the midfield. And newcomer Nathan Jones is also a handy acquisition to the boiler room.

The ruck and midfield division have a great deal of improvement in them compared with the way in which they performed in round 16. Take Green for example. There is no way that he will lose the plot like he did last time when he tarnished his previously-spotless playing record by head butting Fremantle's Ryan Crowley late in the second term to give away a goal in the shadows of half time. Green is committed to doing penance for that costly lapse and will be one of many Demons out to atone for a poor performance that day.

Could anyone imagine David Neitz playing as poorly as he did last time against Freo when he kicked 0 goals 3 behinds? The entire forward line struggled that day and managed only 9 goals 13 behinds against a superbly accurate home team that scored 15 goals 6 behinds. So despite playing at its worst for almost three months, Melbourne still managed more shots on goal than the Dockers. This time, the Demons have Brad Miller playing back at the scene of his 2006 indiscretion - a jumper punch that cost him a two-week suspension initially but ended with him spending several more weeks in the wilderness playing at Sandringham. He won't want to repeat the mistake he made last time he graced this arena.

Then there's the Aaron Davey factor and the X factor of Byron Pickett. Davey played poorly last week and responded badly to a combination of the heavy checking meted out by St. Kilda tagger Steven Baker and some adverse umpiring decisions. To his credit, he came back and was involved in a brilliant passage of play that led to the goal that finally put his team in front. Davey is champing at the bit to atone for his uncharacteristic behaviour. Friday is going to be his day!

Pickett had a poor game in Round 16, he was pretty much ineffectual and was on the way to that hamstring injury which more or less put paid to the rest of his season until last weekend when he showed that he had regained his self-belief and had a few of the Saints players quaking in their boots and looking over their shoulders. He's back to the form that intimidated the Dockers earlier in the season at the MCG and there will be a few of them running around wondering if they're about to be hit by the force of a truck.

Those who haven't blanked the last meeting out of their memories might also recall that the club owes its supporters big time for deciding to use the Heritage Round as an excuse to reprise that abominable red and royal blue guernsey worn by the team in the dismal years of the '70's and '80's. It was the gear of a losing team and the Demons will be more at home in their traditional red and navy blue drag. The players will look better and feel better and, in the end, they'll steamroll their more fancied opponents.

I haven't said much about the Dockers players. Yes, they are a talented and skilful bunch this year and they played with new flair in the second half of the season. Players such as Pavlich, Farmer, Bell, McPharlin and others will give the Demons plenty of trouble on the day. But the pressure is well and truly on Connolly and his men. They have never won a final series game and looked overawed against Adelaide last week in the windy conditions. Coming off a six-day break and having played in those conditions, I believe has taken the edge of the team that was dominating just a few weeks ago. They’ve done their dash while the Demons look determined to recover pride in their personal performance and to make up for the time lost when last they ventured out west.

Melbourne by 15 points.

FREMANTLE v MELBOUNRE

Where & When: Subiaco 8.30pm AEST Friday 15 September 2006.

TV & Radio:

TV - Channel 10, Melb (8:00pm) live, Adel (7:30pm) live, Bris (10.35pm), Perth (7:00pm), Sydney (10:35pm), Foxtel, NSW, ACT, QLD (8:00pm AEST)

RADIO 3AW ABC National, K-Rock, Triple M, 6PR, NIRS Brisbane (10.35pm)

Head to Head: Played 18, Fremantle 9, Melbourne 9

Last time they met: Fremantle 15.6.96 defeated Melbourne 9.13.61 in Round 16, 2006, at Subiaco

The betting: Fremantle $1.30 Melbourne $3.30

The Teams:

FREMANTLE

B: Johnson Parker Hayden

HB: M Carr McPharlin Mundy

C: Black J Carr Peake

HF: Headland Polak Pavlich

F: Farmer Murphy Longmuir

FOLL: Sandilands Cook Bell

IC: Crowley Dodd McManus Schammer

EMG: Medhurst Walker Webster

IN: Murphy Polak

OUT: Grover (back)

Hasleby (osteitis pubis)

MELBOURNE

B: Ward Carroll Holland

HB: Bruce Rivers Bell

C: Green McLean Brown

HF: Yze Miller Pickett

F: Robertson Neitz Davey

FOLL: White Jones McDonald

IC: Bate Johnstone Smith Sylvia

EMG: Godfrey C Johnson Warnocl

IN: Brown Smith

OUT: Jamar (broken foot)

Whelan (shoulder),

UMPIRES Goldspink McInerney Vozzo