CLOSE ENCOUNTER by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 73,230]

Melbourne has pocketed the four premiership points and somewhat sheepishly walked away from its close encounter against the Gold Coast Suns, knowing that it worked hard for victory against an emerging young side at Heritage Bank Stadium and learned some valuable lessons along the way.

Twenty minutes into their fourth interstate clash in eight games, the Demons appeared in total control. They were doing the hard running, hitting their targets and while not exactly dominating the early clearances, their tall forwards were proving more than a handful for the Suns’ defence. They led 3.3.21 to 0.2.2 and were threatening to make the contest a rout, perhaps not to the extent of last week’s 15 goal thrashing of the Kangaroos, but nevertheless a heavy beating.

It was as time on in the first quarter began to tick over however, that the Suns decided they were not going to be bullied but rather, were going to fight the game out and beat their opponents at their own game. Their co-skipper Jarrod Witts was taking on the twin towers Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy in the ruck duels to the extent that his team ended up square in the hit out count (37 each) but more importantly, they won the clearances by 42 to 36. And they won the contested possessions!

That’s right - the Suns beat the hard bodied tough nuts Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Jack Viney and co by six clearances on the evening, even without their hard nut superstar Touk Miller. They did it mainly with their young wunderkinder Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson who are both rapidly coming of age.

Rowell started it with his five clearances by quarter-time, getting the ball directly into dangerous places up forward where the elusive Malcolm Rosas did damage with two goals followed by another from Mabior Chol to bring the margin to a solitary point before Kade Chandler broke away for a goal late in the term. Anderson kept getting better as the game went on and inspired his team against one of the competition’s toughest midfields.

The second quarter was much the same as the first with Melbourne asserting its authority again to build a three goal plus lead and Gold Coast pegged them back to seven points once more at the main interval. It would have been even closer but for the fact that Alex Neal-Bullen slotted one through with seconds left on the clock.

Kozzie Pickett was celebrating his new contract and proving a handful for the home side. He scored the first goal of the second half but the dogged Suns were determined. Their defence fought back to get on top and sensing victory, they clawed their way to a three quarter time stalemate, helped by three free kick goals during the term.

It was at this stage that the Demons had to assert themselves against a tiring young opponent. Petracca lifted them, kicking off one step from forty metres with the ball hooking its way through the big sticks and then an off-the-ball indiscretion from Levi Casboult gifted Max Gawn a goal and gave Melbourne a 14 point lead. Almost half of the final term had ticked away and the Suns had not scored in that time.

But there was still one more twist to come in the tale of this game. The ball was deep in Melbourne’s forward line when a desperate lunge by Jacob van Rooyen caused a crash and Suns defender Charlie Ballard had to be carried off with a neck injury. Things grew heated while the wounded Sun was in the hands of the trainers and the incident seemed to breathe life into the home side which went on to kick two goals while the Demons were only able to manage points.

The usually reliable Bayley Fritsch who had been kept quiet all day, was the main offender with three behinds for the quarter as he saw his long streak of kicking at least one goal a game come to an end. In a frenetic finish that saw a few bad Melbourne defensive errors, the Suns almost tied the game but Darcy Macpherson missed his chance to level the scores with 20 seconds remaining.

This wasn’t Melbourne’s greatest moment and the team was by no means at the top of their game. Their hard nosed defence has built a reputation of resilience by respecting its opposition but in this game, there were times when they perhaps underestimated them. Such as when Lachie Hunter held on for too long and got pinged for holding the ball or when a trio of Demons failed to see the ball out and unnecessarily cost the team a goal. Errors such as these can be even far more costly - hopefully, lessons have been learned.

After last week’s big win, some Demon fans expressed frustration at the narrowness of this win and the failure to put their opponents away after establishing a good early lead. We should never lose sight of the fact however, that Collingwood, one of their closest rivals is making an art form of and has earned the football world’s admiration for winning their close encounters, learning from the experience and moving on to their next challenge.

That’s what good teams do.

MELBOURNE 4.4.28 8.5.53 11.6.72 13.12.90

GOLD COAST SUNS 3.3.21 7.4.46 11.6.72 13.7.85

GOALS

MELBOURNE Gawn Grundy  Pickett 2 Bowey Chandler Jordon Neal-Bullen Petracca Sparrow van Rooyen

GOLD COAST SUNS Rosas 4 Casboult Chol King 2 Anderson Ellis Lukosius

BEST

MELBOURNE Petracca Gawn Oliver Brayshaw Sparrow May

GOLD COAST SUNS Anderson Macpherson Ballard Powell Rowell Lemmens

INJURIES

MELBOURNE Nil

GOLD COAST SUNS Ballard (head) Long (leg)

REPORTS

MELBOURNE Nil

GOLD COAST SUNS Nil

SUBSTITUTIONS

MELBOURNE James Harmes (replaced Daniel Turner in the fourth quarter)

GOLD COAST SUNS James Tsitas (replaced Sam Flanders in the fourth quarter)

UMPIRES Paul Rebeschini Jacob Mollison Brent Wallace James Strybos

CROWD 11,440 at Heritage Bank Stadium