I am now certain that the decline in fortunes of the Melbourne Football Club from a premiership power with the potential for more success to come in the future, started when the team ran out for their Round 9 match up against Carlton last year. After knocking over the Cats in a fierce contest the week before, the Demons looked uninterested at the start of play and gave the Blues a six goal start. They recovered to almost snatch victory but lost narrowly with a score of 11.10.76 to 12.5.77.

Yesterday, they revisited the scene and provided their fans with a similar display of ineptitude early in the proceedings. Their attitude at the start was poor, given that the game was so winnable. Unsurprisingly, the resulting score was almost identical to that of last year and for the fourth time in succession, the club has lost a game against Carlton despite having more scoring opportunities. 

That’s the problem with Melbourne these days. It keeps repeating the same errors, time and time again, expecting a different outcome but things never change. And it no longer has the killer instinct so evident in a club like Collingwood that would never lose a game like this one.

That’s what made it so unpalatable. It wasn’t just the poor conversion against straight shooting or the sloppiness and lack of direction further downfield or that the team failed to handle the conditions. It wasn’t even the team’s inability to handle pressure because the Blues weren’t all that good in applying pressure themselves. What really hurt was that it was against an opponent that was down in the dumps, low on confidence and the opportunity was there to make an early statement. But the Demons simply weren’t switched on and ready for the kill. They blew it. 

In fact, they allowed the Blues to take the initiative in the early going, giving the out of form Charlie Curnow the opportunity to kick his first goal in over a month. By the six minute mark, he had his second straight and things flowed that way until he kicked the sealer, his third straight, late in the game. Between them, Brisbane, Collingwood, Port Adelaide and even North Melbourne had kept Curnow to a goalless 0.9 but it was Melbourne that faltered to a switched on Carlton. The Blues took the advantage in the second quarter by allowing no breathing room for lazy, insipid play.

The were a few bright lights in the mess. Kozzy Pickett was in rare form and a danger man from the start. He came to the rescue almost single handedly early in the third quarter after the team’s lacklustre first half. His pressure and accuracy in front of goal helped put the team in front during a four goal spree that should have caused Carlton to crumble. Max Gawn, with 19 disposals and 38 hitouts progressively grew in influence with his ability to maneuver across the ground and Bayley Fritsch’s resurgence continued with his attack on the ball and his  proficient conversion. 

Once again however, it was all left to far too few. The Blues were led brilliantly in defence by All-Australian Weitering who lowered the colours of everyone he played on including Jake Melksham who has been in rare form lately. The young Demon keys were given a lesson and, with the exception of Harvey Langford who continues to show maturity beyond his years, the team’s younger brigade appeared tired and listless. 

There were far too many changers committed in the game and you can’t blame the umpires for the free kick count and 50 metre penalties when you’re often second to the football. There also seems to be a tendency for the team’s intensity and skill sets to drop dramatically after a strong run of goals. It happened once again in the third quarter after Kozzy kicked the team’s fourth goal for the term at the twelve minute mark. They had the Blues by the throat but in the next twenty minutes of play both sides had four shots for goal. The Blues scored 3.1 to the Demons’ 0.4. Good sides don’t allow that sort of thing - Melbourne does it far too often.

Clayton Oliver worked hard in his 200th game but his energy and enthusiasm was not enough to bring victory for his coach in his own 200th for the club. 

With five games remaining, it's time to explore some alternatives. Perhaps, the introduction of more pace, something different in the way of personnel and who knows? A bit of a shakeup at this time might bring more desperation, a fresh attitude and some positive results.

MELBOURNE 3.0.18 3.3.21 7.7.49 10.10.70

CARLTON 4.2.26 6.4.40 9.5.59 12.6.78

GOALS 

MELBOURNE Pickett 5 Fritsch 2 Jefferson Melksham van Rooyen 

CARLTON Moir 4 Curnow 3 Carroll Cerra Docherty Evans Young

BEST

MELBOURNE Pickett Gawn Oliver Fritsch Rivers Salem

CARLTON Weitering Cripps Carroll Moir Cerra Curnow Docherty 

INJURIES 

MELBOURNE Nil

CARLTON Evans (concussion)

REPORTS 

MELBOURNE Nil

CARLTON Nil

SUBSTITUTIONS

MELBOURNE Xavier Lindsay (replaced Koltyn Tholstrup in the third quarter)

CARLTON Corey Durdin (replaced Francis Evans in the third quarter)

UMPIRES Tom Bryce Craig Fleer Eleni Tee Cameron Jones

CROWD 40,869 at The MCG

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

I am now certain that the decline in fortunes of the Melbourne Football Club from a premiership power with the potential for more success to come in the future, started when the team ran out for their Round 9 match up against Carlton last year. After knocking over the Cats in a fierce contest the week before, the Demons looked uninterested at the start of play and gave the Blues a six goal start. They recovered to almost snatch victory but lost narrowly with a score of 11.10.76 to 12.5.77.

Yesterday, they revisited the scene and provided their fans with a similar display of ineptitude early in the proceedings. Their attitude at the start was poor, given that the game was so winnable. Unsurprisingly, the resulting score was almost identical to that of last year and for the fourth time in succession, the club has lost a game against Carlton despite having more scoring opportunities. 

That’s the problem with Melbourne these days. It keeps repeating the same errors, time and time again, expecting a different outcome but things never change. And it no longer has the killer instinct so evident in a club like Collingwood that would never lose a game like this one.

That’s what made it so unpalatable. It wasn’t just the poor conversion against straight shooting or the sloppiness and lack of direction further downfield or that the team failed to handle the conditions. It wasn’t even the team’s inability to handle pressure because the Blues weren’t all that good in applying pressure themselves. What really hurt was that it was against an opponent that was down in the dumps, low on confidence and the opportunity was there to make an early statement. But the Demons simply weren’t switched on and ready for the kill. They blew it. 

In fact, they allowed the Blues to take the initiative in the early going, giving the out of form Charlie Curnow the opportunity to kick his first goal in over a month. By the six minute mark, he had his second straight and things flowed that way until he kicked the sealer, his third straight, late in the game. Between them, Brisbane, Collingwood, Port Adelaide and even North Melbourne had kept Curnow to a goalless 0.9 but it was Melbourne that faltered to a switched on Carlton. The Blues took the advantage in the second quarter by allowing no breathing room for lazy, insipid play.

The were a few bright lights in the mess. Kozzy Pickett was in rare form and a danger man from the start. He came to the rescue almost single handedly early in the third quarter after the team’s lacklustre first half. His pressure and accuracy in front of goal helped put the team in front during a four goal spree that should have caused Carlton to crumble. Max Gawn, with 19 disposals and 38 hitouts progressively grew in influence with his ability to maneuver across the ground and Bayley Fritsch’s resurgence continued with his attack on the ball and his  proficient conversion. 

Once again however, it was all left to far too few. The Blues were led brilliantly in defence by All-Australian Weitering who lowered the colours of everyone he played on including Jake Melksham who has been in rare form lately. The young Demon keys were given a lesson and, with the exception of Harvey Langford who continues to show maturity beyond his years, the team’s younger brigade appeared tired and listless. 

There were far too many changers committed in the game and you can’t blame the umpires for the free kick count and 50 metre penalties when you’re often second to the football. There also seems to be a tendency for the team’s intensity and skill sets to drop dramatically after a strong run of goals. It happened once again in the third quarter after Kozzy kicked the team’s fourth goal for the term at the twelve minute mark. They had the Blues by the throat but in the next twenty minutes of play both sides had four shots for goal. The Blues scored 3.1 to the Demons’ 0.4. Good sides don’t allow that sort of thing - Melbourne does it far too often.

Clayton Oliver worked hard in his 200th game but his energy and enthusiasm was not enough to bring victory for his coach in his own 200th for the club. 

With five games remaining, it's time to explore some alternatives. Perhaps, the introduction of more pace, something different in the way of personnel and who knows? A bit of a shakeup at this time might bring more desperation, a fresh attitude and some positive results.

MELBOURNE 3.0.18 3.3.21 7.7.49 10.10.70

CARLTON 4.2.26 6.4.40 9.5.59 12.6.78

GOALS 

MELBOURNE Pickett 5 Fritsch 2 Jefferson Melksham van Rooyen 

CARLTON Moir 4 Curnow 3 Carroll Cerra Docherty Evans Young

BEST

MELBOURNE Pickett Gawn Oliver Fritsch Rivers Salem

CARLTON Weitering Cripps Carroll Moir Cerra Curnow Docherty 

INJURIES 

MELBOURNE Nil

CARLTON Evans (concussion)

REPORTS 

MELBOURNE Nil

CARLTON Nil

SUBSTITUTIONS

MELBOURNE Xavier Lindsay (replaced Koltyn Tholstrup in the third quarter)

CARLTON Corey Durdin (replaced Francis Evans in the third quarter)

UMPIRES Tom Bryce Craig Fleer Eleni Tee Cameron Jones

CROWD 40,869 at The MCG

I’m 💯 with you and I see this as our biggest issue, we just don’t seem to have a thirst for the contest like we once did. We were a brutal team not that long ago and for some reason we can’t or don’t want to play that way anymore.

7 hours ago, Demons11 said:

I’m 💯 with you and I see this as our biggest issue, we just don’t seem to have a thirst for the contest like we once did. We were a brutal team not that long ago and for some reason we can’t or don’t want to play that way anymore.

Drank too much bathwater?

I think in reality the game moved away from what we were good at.

Teams want it fast and that's not our style

45 minutes ago, Golden fist said:

Drank too much bathwater?

I think in reality the game moved away from what we were good at.

Teams want it fast and that's not our style

I think maybe you’re right but I still think we like the desire to pressure and tackle, which still holds up