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HEAVENS ABOVE by Molly Melbourne

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Who said the football gods and scoreboard attendants at the MCG don’t have a sense of humour?

The gods spent a whole week teasing Demon and Bomber fans alike about Saturday night’s game. About how the entire match would be dominated by the hulking, brooding figures of 205cm Sam Draper and his 2IC Peter Wright lapping it up in the absence of Melbourne skipper and the club's No.1, No 2, No 3 and No 4 ruckman Max Gawn in the wake of that ankle injury. They painted pictures of Simon Goodwin nervously sending a bevy of undersized makeshift ruckmen out into a gunfight with a defective Swiss Army knife. 

The end result in this scenario would be painful for the ailing Demons already without another superstar in Christian Petracca and with Clayton Oliver well down on form while the Bombers’ own newfound midfield gods were propelling them into the stratosphere of a potential top two finish.

For Demon fans, the script provided for more doom and gloom in an already derailed season that spelled an end to its mini “dynasty” of one flag, the hopes of seeing more premiership success on their beloved home of football at any time soon.

But the gods were about to have their laugh by moving the goalposts somewhat. The MCG scoreboard attendants were in on the joke. They put it up there on the big screens for all to see in the form of Australian band when they played the 1983 hit of legendary Antipodean rock band Dragon, simply titled “Rain”.

It was already coming down in buckets before the game started and Bayley Fritsch managed to allay some early fears when he spun around for the first goal but it didn’t take long for Draper to stamp his dominance in the ruck. This soon became panic stations when Melbourne’s defensive structures fell down and Essendon began to pick free targets at will to kick three goals in quick succession. The doomsday script was seemingly on track. It took two goals late in the term to all but even things out at the first break … and then the gods and Goodwin had their laugh.

The heavens opened again. It teemed down and the Demons teamed up, playing good old fashioned contested football with acting skipper Jack Viney, Trent Rivers (who was already having a good game), Clayton Oliver (coming out of his shell) and Alex Neal-Bullen going in heads down, bum up winning the clearances and rattling opponents while Harry Petty and Jacob van Rooyen nullified the Bombers’ height advantage to the point where Brad Scott was forced to dispense with Two Metre Peter altogether in the third term as he was becoming a liability. 

You can’t underestimate the value provided by van Rooyen in the heat of the battle. Nor the work rate of Ed Langdon (31 disposals and a goal) and Caleb Windsor who was not as prolific as his team mate on the other wing but he was so polished. Then there was Kozzy Pickett in his 100th game who shone out in the difficult conditions with some sublime passages of brilliance which put the fear of god whenever he was thereabouts. 

Melbourne kept its two to three goal buffer throughout the third term, adding marginally to its lead and then went on a scoring spree in the first half of the last quarter when it jumped out to a 41-point lead on the back of some goal kicking accuracy and heroics from Jake Melksham, Fritsch and Turner. 

Whether it was the six-day break, the younger bodies or a surge of umpiring decisions that went against them, it’s hard to tell but once again they leaked goals at the end, losing valuable percentage in what will remain a tough race to make the final eight.

Until that late Bomber surge, the Melbourne defence was virtually impenetrable with its key players Steven May, Jake Lever and Tom McDonald holding sway and Judd McVee acting ever so coolly as the smiling assassin of the Bombers attack.

In the end, the big figure was Melbourne’s +12 advantage in clearances and not the -16 deficit in hit outs. It remains a mystery as to how the final margin was so close but even this was probably the result of some Demons up in the heavens having a laugh.

MELBOURNE 3.2.20 6.6.43 8.6.54 13.6.84
 
ESSENDON 3.3.21 4.5.29 5.7.37 10.7.67
 
GOALS 
 
MELBOURNE Fritsch Turner 3 Melksham Pickett 2 Chandler Langdon Windsor
 
ESSENDON Martin 4 Duursma Langford 2 Durham Jones
 
BEST 
 
MELBOURNE Rivers Oliver Langdon Melksham Windsor Pickett
 
ESSENDON Ridley Martin Merrett McKay Shiel
 
INJURIES 
 
MELBOURNE Nil
 
ESSENDON Nil
 
REPORTS 
 
MELBOURNE Nil
 
ESSENDON Nil
 
SUBSTITUTIONS 
 
MELBOURNE Taj Woewodin (replaced Andy Moniz-Wakefield in the fourth quarter)
 
ESSENDON Nick Hind (replaced Peter Wright in the third quarter)
 
UMPIRES Nick Foot Andrew Stephens Nathan Williamson Cameron Dore 
 
CROWD 52,866 at The MCG
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    • Demonland changed the title to HEAVENS ABOVE by Molly Melbourne

    Always enjoy the Demonland match reports, but this one goes to the top of the pile.

    and who says we don’t play wet weather footy??!! ❤️💙

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    6 hours ago, Demonland said:

    MELBOURNE Fritsch Turner 3 Melksham Pickett 2 Chandler Langford Windsor

    @Demonland, Heads up that Lingers may be a bit offended by the confusion with Langford.

    That said, I love reading these match reports and marvel at the consistent high quality of analysis and prose, particularly the metaphors - thanks!

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    1 hour ago, Spirit of the Demon said:

    And what's the correct way to spell Kozzy. Is it that or Kozzie or Kossie?

    IMG_4713.thumb.jpeg.f0d58c5ef17d03292683f85203ad8329.jpeg

    LOL...because in the first instance it gifted Essendon a goal and in the second instance it may have gifted Melbourne a goal...DUH! 

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