DOZEN FOR THE DEES by George On The Outer

[Demonland 73,140]

Melbourne stormed to its twelfth win for the 2022 season after finally putting the Crows away in the final quarter of their clash at Adelaide Oval.

The 29-point victory was by no means an easy one for the Demons who went into the game without a recognised ruck and a forward line with a solitary tall. With a patched-up structure of Sam Weideman and Mitch Brown in the ruck, it was not surprising to see Adelaide dominate these contests.  

However, despite 48 hitouts alone to Adelaide’s Reilly O’Brien, only 16 were to advantage as the Melbourne midfield bulls of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney well and truly made up for this disadvantage. Once again they put together a staggering 95 disposals between themselves, which is becoming standard operating procedure.

Petracca, in particular, returned to some of his best form, having also rediscovered his kicking boots in front of goal, putting three through the big sticks after failing to bring up the goal umpires two fingers in his past five games. It was indeed a welcome change.

The makeshift forward line, was similar. Ben Brown once again found himself double and tripled teamed at times, so while it was not surprising he could only manage three marks, he still hit the scoreboard with two majors and even Mitch Brown kicked a couple, despite only 62% game time, most of which was in the back-up ruck role. For the second week, the side depended upon the input from the mids, so eight of the 14 goals came from within that area.  

Things looked doubtful for the Demons at times and even in the final quarter the Crows came within five points, but they prevailed in the end with Fritsch marking strongly and nailing the resultant chance to put the game beyond doubt.  

The backs were in trouble early with Tex Walker having a quarter out, courtesy of a number of dubious umpiring calls. Steven May then responded well, and buried him for the rest of the game, ably helped out by the intercepting trio of Lever, Brayshaw and Petty. Incredibly between the four they amassed 43 intercepts, which simply broke the Crow hearts again and again.  

Yes the Demons walked away with the four points and their twelfth victory of the season to  guarantee another finals appearance.  

But to take full advantage of the season, more than that is required. They need to hold on to top four and ultimately top two position.  

Next week against Geelong, who have a dream run into September with five of their last 8 games at home in Mordor, otherwise known as Kardinia Park or GMHBA Stadium, the task will not be an easy one. Certainly, without a proper ruck offering, the Demons would be facing a monumental task. They got away with  a Weideman/M. Brown combination this week, but Stanley and Blicavs are a much more formidable combination not to mention the physical mismatch when Hawkins takes the forward ruck role. It is therefore hoped that Gawn and Jackson overcome their injuries in quick time.

The Cats will remember the damage done to them in R23 and the finals last year, when they thought they had the wood over the Demons. If that happens again, then it will be the Bakers dozen (13) of wins for the MFC as it marches onward to the end of the 2022 season.

MELBOURNE 5.1.31 6.3.39 9.9.63 14.10.94

ADELAIDE 4.0.24 6.2.38 7.4.46 10.5.65

GOALS

MELBOURNE Petracca 3 B Brown M Brown 2 Bedford Fritsch Harmes Langdon Pickett Sparrow Viney

ADELAIDE Keays Walker 2 Dawson Fogarty Laird Milera Rachele Thilthorpe

BEST

MELBOURNE Petracca Oliver Langdon Brayshaw Harmes Viney

ADELAIDE Laird Dawson Walker Keays Doedee O’Brien

INJURIES

MELBOURNE Luke Jackson (knee) replaced in selected side by Mitch Brown

ADELAIDE Fogarty (finger)

REPORTS

MELBOURNE Nil

ADELAIDE Nil

SUBSTITUTES

MELBOURNE Adam Tomlinson (unused)

ADELAIDE Lachlan Sholl (unused)

UMPIRES Chris Donlon Jamie Broadbent Paul Rebeschini

CROWD 30,702 at the Adelaide Oval