ABANDONED by The Oracle

2 hours ago2 hr

Mars is not usually a place known for lighting strikes but on Friday evening it happened twice in the vicinity of the stadium in Ballarat that carries the name and is a half completed building site with limited capacity for spectators.

This was reason alone to avoid playing the game in the former goldfields city; the natural elements provided a second. Ironically, the rain that threatened never came although the swirling wind had an effect and then there was the lightning.

The first strike occurred on the distant horizon two minutes and 20 seconds into the practice game between Melbourne and Richmond, by which time the 5,000 capacity sell out crowd (limited because of the construction) had already witnessed the drama of Demon forward Luker Kentfield being taken from the ground with a suspected concussion and a knee injury after an awkward landing in a marking contest.

His free kick was taken by Harvey Langford who kicked truly to give the team the lead which was never relinquished until the second lightning strike put an end to the game six minutes into the third quarter. By that time, the Demons led by 35 points and were declared victors of their Community Series contest and the game was abandoned with the scoreboard showing Melbourne on 12.6.78 to Richmond 6.7.43.

The Demons continued where they left off last week at Casey Fields but this time around the charge was sparked by different heroes.

Skipper Max Gawn who has been critical of the changes to the ruck rules seemed to relish the opportunity to play under them, his superb ruck craft demonstrating that there is absolutely nothing to concern him about the hierarchy’s decision to instigate change.

Gawn gave his on ballers plenty of opportunities to take the ball from the stoppages and young midfielder Caleb Windsor was in everything early with ten disposals, seven score involvements and a goal in the opening term. The new look midfield which also included Kozzie Pickett, Jack Steele, Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow and Langford was in fine fettle and fed the ball towards multiple goal kickers including Jacob van Rooyen who was the pick of the forward crop with three goals. Bayley Fritsch is also back to his former dangerous self in attack.

It was a good all round performance from the defence who held firm in the tough conditions. Unfortunately, a couple of first year players in Xavier Taylor and Tom Matthews missed out on game time due to the shortened match while Kentfield’s injury put a dampener on the winning celebrations, particularly coming after injuries to other key forwards in Brodie Mihocek and Matt Jefferson in the course of the previous week.

The abandoned match also provided the fitness staff with another headache as they left Mars Stadium. How to ensure that the team is cherry ripe for its first game in a fortnight’s time?