WHAT, NO BLOOD? by George on the Outer

The feeling when turning up to the MCG on a Saturday night to play a top four side in Richmond, while the Melbourne sits cemented in close proximity to the bottom of the table is like attending the Colosseum in Ancient Roman times. The expectation is that a bloodbath is about to occur.

There are 100,000 Richmond members and 50,000 Melbourne members, and despite the fact that it turned out to be a wet night after half-time, a crowd of only 37K bothered to turn up. That should never have happened. 

This should be a warning to the AFL that something is seriously wrong with the way they are running the game, after a smaller crowd indoor at Docklands on Friday night, even after stacking the numbers with Medallion club seats.

Then Melbourne came out and held the Tigers for the first half to a meagre three point lead at the mid-way point.  That shouldn’t have happened.

The umpires were trying to make sure that the result was going to be as expected after awarding 12 frees to Richmond in that first half, while the Demons were given a paltry 4, despite the scores being within a couple of points.  That shouldn’t have happened.

Then the Bureau of Meteorology got it wrong and down came the rain during the half-time interval.  That shouldn’t have happened.

Was there some hope for the Melbourne faithful, especially after one of them won a brand new Jaguar just for coming to the match? Surely the Richmond mosquito squad would be slowed.  Surely the tall Richmond forwards would struggle now in the wet?  Well Lynch and Riewoldt barely got a touch in that second half, but the Richmond runners weren’t hampered by the wet conditions.  That shouldn’t have happened.

More importantly, it was Melbourne who failed to start playing wet weather football.  It is pretty simple as any U10’s coach, player or spectator will tell you. Just kick the ball as far as you can, kick it off the ground instead of trying to pick it up, don’t handball just get boot to ball.  That should have happened, but only one side was doing it….the Tigers.

The result was a five goal third quarter to Richmond, while Melbourne could only manage one major.  The Demons have been put in this situation on a number of occasions in season 2019, and each time they didn’t change the way they played to suit the conditions. Surely the coaches and players would have learnt their lessons?  They didn’t, except for the old head, Jordan Lewis. Again, it shouldn’t have happened.

Well the Toiyges ran out winners, not unexpectedly.  It wasn’t a blood-bath that the crowd (as such) had come to see. Melbourne can pin some hope on the fact that it wasn’t.  It can pin some hope on the appalling injury list that the side has had all season.  It can pin some hope on the emergence of players like Petty and Dunkley.

What it can’t pin any positives on was the lack of pressure.  Across the board, in those wet conditions, that lack of tackling was telling. Jones and Viney failed to both the statistician in this regard, yet others like Brayshaw and Harmes led the numbers for both sides. It all cannot be expected from one or two.

It has to be a team effort.  It shouldn’t have happened.

Without May and Jetta, the backline looked weaker, not unexpectedly.  But then the ease of entry and two targets in front of goal made Richmond look the goods.  Remarkably, neither Lynch nor Riewoldt troubled the scorers in the second half.  It was all those Tiger running players and small who were being let loose by their Melbourne opponents. Without tackling from the Melbourne opponents, and without playing that wet weather football, they had a field day.  Martin, Prestia and Edwards all had over 30 touches while Clayton Oliver was the only Melbourne player with 30.  The next best was Hibberd, and he is a back man!  The other mids struggled to get 20 touches each!  That shouldn’t be happening.

The bloodbath didn’t happen.  The season still cannot come to an end quickly enough for the Demon supporters.  And after the performance of 2017 ... that shouldn’t have happened.

Melbourne 3.1.19 6.2.38 7.4.46 9.6.60

Richmond 3.2.20 6.5.41 11.9.75 13.15.93

Goals

Melbourne Fritsch 3 Dunkley Lewis 2 Brayshaw C Wagner

Richmond Lynch 3 Graham 2 Bolton Caddy Castagna Chol Lambert Martin Rioli Soldo

Best

Melbourne Gawn Oliver Fritsch Salem Harmes Jones

Richmond Martin Houli Edwards Prestia Vlastuin Lynch

Injured

Melbourne Nil

Richmond Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Richmond Nil

Umpires Foot, Rosebury, McInerney

Crowd 37,254 at the MCG