HOW SWEET IT IS

[Demonland 70,166]

by the Oracle

At long last a win.

I've been saying it on a weekly basis for as long as I can remember this year and it finally came true at the G yesterday. With every passing week, a Melbourne victory was getting closer and the Demons' hard-earned 17-point victory against Adelaide was as sweet as they come.

It was sweet because in many respects it was a mirror image of last week's one point debacle against the Kangaroos. This time however, it was Melbourne who fought hard to hold the ascendency at the final break. The Demons were at it tooth and nail for the first three quarters as they worked desperately for every touch of the football, tackled hard and tirelessly worked the ball up the ground to their advantage. This time the floodgates opened up in Melbourne's favour with an eight goal second quarter that virtually blew the then third placed Adelaide off the park. And this time, it was the Dees' fans whose hearts fluttered as the opposition made their comeback in the final quarter and it was their own team that went ultra defensive in an attempt to stave off defeat.

Even the umpires went about their duties in total contrast to the way in which they officiated last week's game. For the first three quarters, holding the ball had vanished from the rulebook but it came back with a vengeance in the last (to Melbourne's detriment I might add). As far as the hands in the back rule is concerned, it comes and goes into and out of vogue like ladies' fashions. You just never know when it's going to be paid (although in David Neitz' case you don't even have to wonder because he never gets them).

A 44 point lead is hard to crack at the best of times and fortunately for the home side it managed to cling on grimly even if it had to produce some really ugly defensive football at the end to effectively deprive the Crows of possession in the final two minutes. Still, given that Neita had already slammed one through from 60 metres out, I don't quite get why he didn't give it a crack after he marked from about that distance out late in the game.

Throughout the long weeks when its injury crisis was at its height, we knew Melbourne was going to come good once some semblance of its team could be put together on the park.

However, the situation was seemingly becoming more and more desperate as with every player returning from injury, another was falling by the wayside. In recent weeks we've seen the return of David Neitz, Russell Robertson and Brock McLean. Yesterday's inclusions were Matthew Bate, Colin Sylvia and Paul Wheatley. Nevertheless, the injury list at the club still sits at eleven - Clint Bartram, Ryan Ferguson, Ben Holland, Mark Jamar, Brad Miller, Brent Moloney, Jared Rivers, Isaac Weetra, Matthew Whelan, Adem Yze and rookie Daniel Hughes (and you can make the suspended Byron Pickett the twelfth man unavailable).

The club's continuing inability to select so many players all made yesterday's win even more meritorious.

Although neither Neitz nor Robertson is setting the world on fire, their mere presence has changed the equation on the Demon forward line. Suddenly opposition defences have to hold down two potentially dangerous forwards and this allows others the opportunity to chip in and cause damage. Neita and Robbo are slowly coming good and will cause plenty of headaches to opposition defences from now on. And what a captain's goal that was when the skipper sealed the game in the last quarter?

Similarly, Brock McLean's return to the midfield has been an absolute revelation. The cobwebs are still there after his lengthy lay off through injury, but the youngster is all class and his 50th game was typical of what the emerging young future leader brings to the team. And he has a great sidekick in Nathan Jones who improves as each week goes by. Both of these kids are as hard and tough as nails!

One of the by products of coming into a game against a top four prospect like Adelaide when you're sitting on a record of 0-9 is that sometimes your opponent will refuse to show you any respect. That's the impression I had of Adelaide, particularly at the start of the game. The Crows looked as if they came to this city carrying a smug disregard of Melbourne's capacity to compete with them. They made little attempt to cover the Demon playmakers and, as a result Brad Green simply ran rampant all day on his way to 37 disposals and 18 marks, some of which were as courageous as they come. Cameron Bruce was also allowed to do as he pleased and he amassed 29 touches and 10 marks. With these two getting their hands on the ball, the team's confidence grew and grew until it was too late for the Crows to readjust to the fact that they were facing disaster.

On the other side of the ledger, Melbourne did a good job covering Adelaide's danger men in McLeod, Ricciuto and former Demon Scott Thompson who was restricted to just four kicks and eight handballs by Simon Godfrey, a player who continues to wrack up an impressive list of scalps on his way to his 100th AFL game. Godfrey himself only managed six disposals but he was as tight as the proverbial and he would have relished the fact that he was playing on such a nice guy like Thompson who, unlike some of his recent opponents, resisted the urge to sink his elbow into Godders' orchestra stalls.

Then there was Daniel Bell who was simply magnificent and miserly in defence against Scott Welsh who usually destroys Melbourne. The sight of Bell running him down on at least two occasions was a revelation to those who have waited patiently for such a day as this. The young bloke has arrived!

If Bell's arrival has been long awaited, what can you say about Paul Wheatley? His game was laced with long accurate disposal: he got the ball 22 times and he provided something that has been missing in Melbourne's make up all season: a player who could move the ball with pace and gain plenty of distance with his kicks. Wheatley, who has endured a couple of years of persistent injury woes, was written off by many at Melbourne but after yesterday, they will have to think again.

A couple of youngsters who impressed were 2006 National Draft choices Rickey Petterd and James Frawley who will be looking forward to long and successful careers at the club after each experienced his first victory on the big stage.

Next week it's Collingwood in the Queens Birthday clash of rivals. For the first time this season, the Demons will be playing in front of a crowd in excess of 50,000 - in fact it should go well beyond that figure. The Pies are sitting close to the top with a 7-3 record and, based on ladder position, the game looks like a cakewalk for the black and the white. But there is no team in the competition that Melbourne likes beating more than the old enemy and a repeat of yesterday's performance would be equally as sweet.

Melbourne 2.3.15 10.5.65 12.10.82 13.11.89

Adelaide 3.1.19 4.5.29 5.8.38 10.12.72

Goals

Melbourne Neitz 3 Bate Jones Robertson 2 Bruce Davey Petterd Wheatley

Adelaide Porplyzia Ricciuto Stevens 2 Doughty Perrie Torney Welsh.

Best

Melbourne Green Bruce Bell Wheatley Carroll Jones

Adelaide Goodwin Edwards Johncock Doughty Porplyzia

Injuries

Melbourne Davey (ankle)

Adelaide Perrie (shoulder) Reilly (ankle)

Umpires Margetts Hendrie Goldspink.

Crowd 23,657 at MCG.