WASTIN' TIME

[Demonland 73,140]

by J.V. McKay

"I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay

Watching the tide roll away

Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay

Wastin' time"

- Otis Redding and Steve Cropper (as recorded by Otis Redding December 7, 1967, just three days before his death in a plane crash outside Madison, Wisconsin)

When Melbourne last crossed the Nullarbor Plain to confront Fremantle in an AFL game in Perth it was there to play in a semi final at Subiaco. That was a little under a year ago and the match ended the Demons' season. The Dockers had one final fling a week later in the preliminary final in Sydney but in the end, both sides were wasting time, especially Melbourne.

The two protagonists meet again at the same venue on Saturday afternoon and this time both of them are definitely wasting time as the result has no bearing on anything in particular although some Docker fans might argue about their team still having a chance to make the finals thanks to the theory of mathematical possibility. Sure, if my auntie had hairy armpits, well … I won't go there!

A lot has happened in the interim since the two teams clashed on that balmy September night. The summer that followed promised much for both of them but with the coming of autumn, the promises shrivelled up and died along with their prospects of glory and with those hopes went the coaches – Connolly and Daniher.

Both men are out of their respective coaching jobs, both are looking elsewhere and ironically, in the case of both men, "elsewhere" means their old homes. Connolly is on the Melbourne shortlist of five coaches while Daniher is one of the favourites for the Essendon job.

For some very strange reason Connolly doesn't seem to have captured the hearts of the Melbourne supporters and I can't for the life of me quite figure out why.

Chris Connolly came to Melbourne from its country zone around Shepparton in the early days of the Barassi coaching era. He made his debut in 1982 and retired in 1989 after missing all of the club's grand final season of 1988 with a knee injury. He played 84 games and kicked 38 goals and was a small defender and a midfielder. After a break of one year, the still young Connolly was appointed as an assistant coach to John Northey at Melbourne before going on to coach TAC Cup Under 18 team Eastern Ranges team in 1992. In 1995 he was coach of the Victoria Metro team in the National Under 18 Championships. Coaching was in his blood; his father had a distinguished record as a coach in the bush.

Connolly was appointed Hawthorn reserves coach in 1996 (the merger year) and was elevated to the number one assistant coaching role with the Hawks in 2000. The following year he coached them to a win over Carlton in the absence of regular coach, Peter Schwab, who was suffering from an irregular heartbeat. His team won with an after the siren goal from Ben Dixon.

In 2002, Connolly took over the coaching reins at wooden spoon club Fremantle which won only two games the year before he arrived in Perth. He took the Dockers to their first ever finals appearance in 2003 but they slipped to 9th and then 10th in the following two seasons. Bolstered by some high profile assistants in Mark Harvey and Robert Shaw, Connolly's charges stormed into the finals with a club record nine consecutive victories to finish third at the end of the 2006 home and away season. They then lost to Adelaide before securing their first finals victory against the Demons on that balmy September night. In a short span of a few years Connolly had lifted his club from the depths to one of the AFL's financial giants and a team with a strong list holding the respect of its peers.

With the advent of Chris Tarrant and Dean Solomon from other clubs at the start of the year, the feeling was that Fremantle's day was coming.

But that was Connolly's undoing as a coach because the Dockers struggled in the early stages of 2007 and he was put under constant scrutiny for failing to do better with a star studded side. The end came last month after a narrow loss at home to the Kangaroos. Connolly announced that he would resign immediately and was replaced by his assistant Mark Harvey who is a red-hot certainty to get the job on a permanent basis.

One thing that Connolly had going for him at Dockerland was his domination as a coach over the Demons. During the Connolly/Daniher era at the two clubs, they met on nine occasions with Fremantle winning seven of those games and four of the last five. To put it crudely therefore, Daniher was Connolly’s "bitch".

It makes one wonder therefore why Connolly is not more popular with the Demon fold. My theory is that they don't appreciate his showmanship which is a la Kevin Sheedy but without the class and panache. Some flinch at the fact that that he couldn't get the best out of a strong list in 2007 while others point to the discipline problems at the club. The coach cops the blame when his boys play up and a few of the Dockers played up under his watch.

But Connolly has certainly expressed his fervent love for the club where he played his footy and where he is a life member. He remains in the running for the coaching position. One wonders whether, like the 44 players who will be running around on Saturday at Subiaco, he too, isn't wasting his time.

THE GAME Fremantle v Melbourne at Subiaco - Saturday 25 August 2007 at 4:10pm (AEST)

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Fremantle 11 wins Melbourne 10 wins

At Subiaco Fremantle 5 wins Melbourne 3 wins

Since 2000 Fremantle 7 wins Melbourne 5 wins

The Coaches Harvey 0 wins Riley 0 wins

MEDIA

TV Fox Sports 1 4.00pm (live)

RADIO SEN

THE BETTING Fremantle to win $1.15 Melbourne to win $4.75

LAST TIME THEY MET Fremantle 21.11.137 defeated Melbourne 13.14.92 at the MCG Round 4, 2007.

Two of the teams that were widely tipped a month earlier to make the top four were fighting to break the ice in Round 4 when the Demons played host to the Dockers. It was a depleted Melbourne team that was missing skipper David Neitz, Russell Robertson, Brock McLean, Clint Bartram and Colin Sylvia and things got worse during a game in which the home side lost four more players by the main break. Des Headland was in superlative form having gotten off a six-week suspension as a result of one of the AFL Tribunal's more puzzling decisions. He starred with three goals while his skipper Matthew Pavlich booted six. Adem Yze returned to form with a high possession game but that wasn't enough to save the sick and sorry Demons from a 39-point touch up. Even at this early stage of the season it was all doom and gloom for the Demons and their fans.

THE TEAMS:

FREMANTLE

Backs Scott Thornton Antoni Grover Steven Dodd

Half backs Roger Hayden Michael Johnson Ryan Crowley

Centreline David Mundy Dean Solomon Heath Black

Half forwards Peter Bell Chris Tarrant Des Headland

Forwards Luke McPharlin Matthew Pavlich Troy Cook

Followers Robert Warnock Josh Carr Paul Hasleby

Interchange Jeff Farmer Daniel Gilmore Shaun McManus Brett Peake

Emergencies Andrew Foster Garrick Ibbotson Byron Schammer

In Dodd Headland

Out Matthew Carr (adductor) Ryan Murphy

MELBOURNE

Backs Nathan Carroll Ryan Ferguson Nathan Brown

Half backs Chris Johnson Brad Miller Cameron Bruce

Centreline Brad Green Travis Johnstone Daniel Ward

Half forwards Byron Pickett Russell Robertson Michael Newton

Forwards Colin Sylvia David Neitz Paul Johnson

Followers Jeff White Brock McLean Nathan Jones

Interchange Mark Jamar Simon Buckley Jace Bode Lynden Dunn

Emergencies Colin Garland Clint Bizzell Matthew Warnock

In Cameron Bruce Simon Buckley Chris Johnson Paul Johnson Brad Miller Daniel Ward

Out Matthew Bate (corked thigh) Daniel Bell (back) Aaron Davey (knee hamstring) Ben Holland (shoulder) James McDonald (shoulder) Paul Wheatley (calf)

THE GAME

I haven't said much about this game yet because, quite frankly, I'm embarrassed that earlier in the year I tipped both of them to finish top four and in fact I could swear that my bones were suggesting in the strongest possible terms that they would be playing off for this year's premiership. I was wrong and I've already apologised to those of my friends who had sufficient faith in me to go off and punt their hard earned cash on the possibility of a purple, green, white, red and blue grand final. They too were wasting their time.

One group of people who were never going to be wasting much time this week were the Demon selectors. Once it was apparent that six players from last week's losing 22 against Collingwood were out with injury, it would have taken virtually no time to pick this week's team. With Matthew Bate, Daniel Bell, Aaron Davey, Ben Holland, James McDonald and Paul Wheatley all out with assorted ailments to join an already bloated injury list that includes Clint Bartram, James Frawley, Simon Godfrey, Brent Moloney, Ricky Petterd, Jared Rivers, Matthew Whelan and Adem Yze there wasn't much left from which to select.

Thankfully, Cameron Bruce comes back into the side along with four players who were pulled out of the Sandringham team after Friday night's injury toll became clear. Chris Johnson is the only "in" who actually played football last week. Jeff White is the only player at the club who will have appeared in every game this year (assuming he doesn't confront the same ladder on the way to the ground that the rest of the team apparently walked under before the season started).

Now I'm going to make a comment that could very well rock your socks off the dock of the bay but I don't believe the Melbourne team looks all that bad on paper given that long injury list. I'll go even further to say that this game will be a lot closer than the bookies' odds of $1.15 for the home side to win and that it won't surprise me if the Demons give this game a shake.

Of course, it will all depend on the Demon midfielders being able to cope with the ground and the conditions but let's not forget that the team has been primed for this game since the start of pre season in November last year. The suggestion at the time was that the team was learning this new caper of run and carry football that would get them over the mental hump they faced on foreign territory.

Melbourne still has some not inconsiderable talent in the midfield with Brock McLean, Nathan Jones, Travis Johnstone, Cameron Bruce and Brad Green while Jeff White will be relieved to find that his 2006 nemesis Aaron Sandilands and his 211 cm frame are out of the frame. White is backed up by Mark Jamar and Paul Johnson and they should be far too strong in the ruck for their hosts who have the lightly built Robert Warnock holding up the fort.

David Neitz, Russell Robertson and Michael Newton are all capable of kicking goals up forward. Melbourne fans have been holding out for a big game from Byron Pickett and this could be his big week while Lynden Dunn and Colin Sylvia are continuing their slow but steady development.

Nathan Carroll, Ryan Ferguson and Brad Miller make up a reasonable defensive line up and one of them will have the big job on Matthew Pavlich. Meanwhile, Nathan Brown has been drawing rave reviews in the twilight of his career as a link up defender. He could have the toughest assignment of the lot on his former teammate in Jeff Farmer.

The more I think about it the more I reckon that Melbourne just could pull off the upset of the year and win at Subiaco against the Dockers who, for once, will not have the formidable coaching talents of Chris Connolly to guide them to victory. Fremantle was disappointing last week against St. Kilda when it had so much to play for so how will it go now when finals glory is out of reach? Not all that well I suspect. And Mark Riley will relish his return to WA where he must be hoping for another hamburger "with the lot". The five hour plane trip is a long way to travel for a dodgy burger so "Bomber" will be hoping that, at least he's not wasting his time.

There are however, a number of Demon fans who would shudder at the thought of a win for their team. This is the group who think that a priority pick at the beginning of the second round of the draft is worth the trouble of losing on a regular basis. To them, a Melbourne victory would be a waste. To others, it would make attending the following week's game against Carlton more worthwhile because the team could go all out for a fair dinkum win. And that, after all, is what footy is all about, week in, week out!

Melbourne by 1 point.

[titan_uranus 25,043]

There are however, a number of Demon fans who would shudder at the thought of a win for their team. This is the group who think that a priority pick at the beginning of the second round of the draft is worth the trouble of losing on a regular basis. To them, a Melbourne victory would be a waste. To others, it would make attending the following week's game against Carlton more worthwhile because the team could go all out for a fair dinkum win. And that, after all, is what footy is all about, week in, week out!

Spot on - go Dees!