EMOTIONS by Whispering Jack

Posted June 30Jun 30

From the start, Melbourne’s performance against the Gold Coast Suns at Peoples First Stadium was nothing short of a massive botch up and it came down in the first instance to poor preparation.

Rather than adequately preparing the team for battle against an opponent potentially on the skids after suffering three consecutive losses, the Demons looking anything but sharp and ready to play in the opening minutes of the game.

By way of contrast, the Suns demonstrated a clear sense of purpose and will to win. From the very first bounce of the ball they were back to where they left off earlier in the season in Round Three when the teams met at the MCG. They ran rings around the Demons and finished the game off with a dominant six goal final term. This time, they produced another dominant quarter to start the game, restricting Melbourne to a solitary point to lead by six goals at the first break, by which time, the game was all but over.

If the coach deserves credit when a team wins then he must accept responsibility when things go askew. He bore the ultimate burden of maintaining the energy, enthusiasm and skills of the Melbourne list over the fortnight of the club’s midseason bye and it was no use speaking after the game about watching with mixed emotions:

"That first quarter was unacceptable in terms of our ability to win the ball, our ability to pressure the ball, our ability to get our hands on the ball.

"Gold Coast were unbelievable, but we were miles off early in the game, and clearly that was the game".

The only emotion that was mixed was the anger of the fans that subsided somewhat as the team made its way back into the game to stage a couple of minor comebacks, the first being to get to within three goals just after halftime and then late in the game when the heat was off when they narrowed the final margin to a respectable 19 points. By then, there was no emotion left.

It was always going to be a hard day at the office for Melbourne on a day in which skipper Max Gawn only broke even in every aspect of his ruck contest with Jarrod Witts. The task was made that more difficult when his back up ruckman Harry Petty was concussed in a double blow when defender Blake Howes was subbed off for the same reason in the second term.

To his credit, Max continued to lead from the front and with Jake Melksham and Kozzy Pickett in form around goals, and Christian Petracca and Jack Viney standing firm and making a case for the team, they almost got themselves back in the game.

Then came the scrap involving most of the players on the field with the Suns running out winners in that battle with a long play on run out of the confusion that ensued. The goal turned the pendulum back in favour of the home side at just the right time. For Melbourne, it was the wrong time to show frustration and get into a fight.

Still, with the veteran Melksham playing one of his best ever games, the Demons managed to lift to a point where, had he lived up to the tag attributed to him earlier in the week of the club’s best kick inside 50, they might have been a chance. Instead he finished the game with 5 goals 6 behinds.

It was close to a best on ground performance but the inaccuracy in front of goal summed up exactly the team’s standing over most of the past few seasons. Midway through the third quarter, Melbourne’s score was 7.4.46 but it finished off the term with three straight behinds while the Suns booted three straight goals. The Demons managed 5.9 from that point to the end of the game. Something like 9.5 might have done the trick.

Leaving aside emotions, the club is underperforming on the objective level of the game. Call it the business of football that necessitates teams to perform at the highest and optimal level. At every stage, there were too many fundamental errors where the preparation, the skill and the effort were simply not good enough.

MELBOURNE 0.1.1 5.3.33 7.7.49 12.13.85

GOLD COAST SUNS 5.7.37 8.9.57 14.11.95 15.14.104

GOALS

MELBOURNE Melksham 5 Pickett 3 Fritsch 2 Gawn Petty

GOLD COAST SUNS King 3 Ainsworth Humphrey Long Walter 2 Budarick Jeffrey Miller Read

BEST

MELBOURNE Melksham Pickett Bowey Petracca Rivers Viney

GOLD COAST SUNS Rowell Noble Miller Flanders Humphrey Fiorini

INJURIES

MELBOURNE Blake Howes (concussion) Harrison Petty (concussion)

GOLD COAST SUNS Nil

REPORTS