OVERPOWERED by George on the Outer

[Demonland 73,140]

In a dismal display against Port Adelaide, Melbourne showed it had learnt nothing from their previous week’s loss to Brisbane.

Port, in contrast, after losing to St.Kilda, addressed their failings, and as a result made the Demons look like a second-rate side. 

Melbourne failed to score a goal in the first quarter, and the first time it seriously troubled the goal umpire was saved until a minute before half-time.  Did it get any better?  No with their meagre three goals for the second half scored in the final minutes of each quarter. 

The Demon fans would be familiar by now with this scenario.  Long periods of simply not scoring, despite multiple entries inside 50m, 31 this week with only 4 goals to show for it! 

The forward line, like the previous week was simply not functional.  The forward pressure, to keep the ball in the scoring area is non-existent.  Hannan, Melksham, Fritsch, Jackson failed to tackle a single player inside the 50m arc in four quarters of football. Weideman and TMac at least had one each and Pickett two.

Four tackles inside 50 for the whole forward line in the game!  Small wonder that Port had scored four goals alone from turnovers in our forward 50m up to ¾ time.  Melksham’s appalling statistic is that during the 2020 season to date he has tackled twice inside 50 in 8 games!

The mids aren’t performing much better.  Petracca managed to score a major, but once again the rest of the group didn’t provide any scoreboard output.  Compare that with Port, whose mids in Wines, Boak each scored majors, while Westhoff as backup ruck managed two.  Even a Port Defender in Mayes, managed to score as well!

While Max Gawn dominated the ruck, for the second week in a row, it was to no effect. Hitouts to advantage were evenly matched with Port, but he also managed four clearances on his own.  Like the Brisbane match, the Port mids simply sat on the outside and fed the ball out to runners, while Melbourne mids concentrated in a pack on trying to get the ball inside. 

This also demonstrated the lack of coverage from both the half back and half forward lines, as they watched their Port opponents swarm to the outside to receive the loose ball.  Multiple times Melbourne players were left rolling on the ground behind play where the ball used to be.

The backs were, in contrast, fantastic.  Port’s main target in Charlie Dixon was held to a solitary major, and while Port scored freely throughout the whole game, it was the wave of mids and others coming downfield to do the job.  Lockhart cemented his place in the side with his natural football nous putting himself in the right spot on multiple occasions.  Also a couple of goal-line finger touches from the backs prevented the Port tally from being even higher than it was. 

Port sit at the top of the ladder, rightfully so.  Melbourne sit in 13th spot rightfully so.

Performances like this one indicate that the 13th position might be an overstatement of their capability.  That the coaching staff haven’t changed the failings of the previous week in any way shape or form is deeply troubling.

The fans have heard the line about “learnings” too often.  It is obvious that nothing was learned.

With the next game against Adelaide, there is a real danger of being overpowered in the same way, unless multiple serious changes are made to the playing list.  It is simply unacceptable to have the same individuals doing the same thing week after week, and expecting a different result. 

MELBOURNE 0.2.2 1.3.9 3.5.23 4.8.32

PORT ADELAIDE 3.2.20 6.6.42 10.9.69 12.11.83

GOALS

Melbourne Weideman 2 Melksham Petracca

Port Adelaide Georgiades 3 Rozee Westhoff 2 Boak Dixon Farrell Mayes Wines

BEST

Melbourne May Salem Gawn Hibberd Petracca Lockhart

Port Adelaide Boak Wines Amon Georgiades Mayes Houston

INJURIES

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

REPORTS

Melbourne Clayton Oliver for striking Peter Ladhams in the second quarter.

Port Adelaide Nil

UMPIRES Robert O'Gorman Alex Whetton Robert Findlay

VENUE The Gabba