GOOD ORDINARY SIDE by Whispering Jack

July 8Jul 8

The atmosphere at the Melbourne Football Club at the beginning of the season was aspirational following an injury-plagued year in 2024. Coach Simon Goodwin had lofty expectations with the return of key players, the anticipated improvement from a maturing group with a few years of experience under their belts, and some exceptional young talent also joining the ranks.

All of that went by the wayside as the team failed to click into action early on. It rallied briefly with a new strategy but has fallen again with five more consecutive defeats.

The team has followed certain patterns that we’ve come to expect as being part of the team’s nature as it develops into nothing better than a good ordinary side.

Sunday’s game against the more highly fancied Adelaide commenced in line with expectations, evolved into a surprising display of dominance (and a 28 point lead) against a highly rated opponent on its home turf at Adelaide Oval, and then deteriorated with twenty minutes of adversity. They maintained a glimmer of hope and played out the final quarter at a frustrating level that threatened a comeback but it never fully materialized.

However, the outcome would have been significantly better had the Demons capitalized on their dominance in the first quarter, rather than succumbing to routine kicking errors inside 50. The Demons held a strategic advantage in key defensive positions, with Steven May, Jake Lever, and Daniel Turner exerting considerable influence throughout the game, intercepting nearly every entry into the Crows' attacking half. A couple of lapses in defence late in the term resulted in the lead being relinquished to the Crows by the first break. Christian Petracca's post-siren miss further compounded the frustration after 30 minutes, with a return of 1 goal 6 behinds with two other gettable shots sailing out of bounds.

The opening of the second quarter saw a dramatic and powerful turnaround in the team’s fortunes. Everything clicked for a magical ten minutes when the Demons suddenly couldn’t miss as they piled on five goals to have the Crows on the ropes. During this period they had total control of the football with Kozzie Pickett and Jacob van Rooyen booting two goals each. Youngsters Xavier Lindsay and Harvey Langford added to the enthusiasm of the moment.

However, Adelaide slowly regained its composure, the Melbourne midfield made a few fumbly mistakes and Izak Rankine turned on his own piece of magic. At half time, the lead had been eroded to just five points and with Rankine continuing to dominate (and the Demons too slow to react), the Crows turned the game to their advantage after the break. The Demon cause was not assisted by some temporary injury concerns to Max Gawn and Jake Lever at different stages in Adelaide’s comeback.

Perhaps it might be time to give the club’s veteran skipper a week’s management after several interstate outings. Tom Campbell handled himself against North’s Tristan Xerri during the preseason and next week’s game is not exactly a big deal in the scheme of things.

To its credit, Melbourne demonstrated resilience and never gave up. The defenders continued to perform admirably, Jake Melksham delivered a four-goal effort to complement his five from last week, and together with Jack Viney's hard nosed work ethic, they came close to securing a comeback. Some goal reviews did not favor them, and they could have had more opportunities from Petracca and Clayton Oliver, but the resultant 13-point loss was consistent with expectations for a good ordinary side.

MELBOURNE 1.6.12 6.7.43 8.8.56 11.11.77

ADELAIDE 2.3.15 5.8.38 10.11.71 13.12.90

GOALS

MELBOURNE Melksham 4 Pickett van Rooyen 2 Fritsch Rivers Sparrow

ADELAIDE Rankine 5 Fogarty Keays Walker 2 Curtin Taylor

BEST

MELBOURNE May Turner Pickett Melksham Viney

ADELAIDE Rankine Dawson Keays Laird Soligo Peatling

LATE CHANGES

MELBOURNE Nil

ADELAIDE Wayne Milera (personal reasons) replaced in selected side by Lachlan Murphy

INJURIES