PATTERNS

by Whispering Jack

"From the moment of my birth

To the instant of my death,

There are patterns I must follow

Just as I must breathe each breath.

Like a rat in a maze

The path before me lies,

And the pattern never alters

Until the rat dies"

- Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel – "Patterns"

I gave up looking for the ultimate answers about life a long, long time ago. I prefer to leave that sort of stuff to the existentialists while I enjoy my family, go to a good movie, listen to my music, discuss and debate politics, eat decent tucker and enjoy my footy. The rest of the time, I work for a living and occasionally do charitable work. I should have been a Saint but I'm a Demon – I can't help it. I think I was born that way.

This all means that if you happen to be looking for the ultimate answer as to why Melbourne is performing so badly entering its 150th season, you might have to look elsewhere. All I can do is give my opinion to the effect that yesterday's second consecutive thrashing at the MCG – this time at the hands of the Western Bulldogs by 24.17.161 to 9.12.66 followed a pattern that was set a long time ago. And the pattern is not likely to alter until a certain event happens.

Until the rat dies.

Yesterday's game followed a predictable course for the most part. That course was set through the pre season and was firmly established last week when the team capitulated to the Hawks by 104 points. Yesterday's game saw a similar result although the opposition was in my estimation, only a middle of the range side that will struggle to make the eight. The Bulldogs did however, have the benefit of entering the game on a high after a last gasp victory over Adelaide the week before. It helps when you come into a game chock full of confidence and with your leaders setting the sort of example that the likes of Brad Johnson and Scott West set for their club.

The game itself was not one of two halves but more one of three phases: -

Phase 1 – The Competitive Phase

The game opened up in positive fashion. Dean Bailey had set the team up well with his best 18 on the ground, a spare man in defence, had discarded one of his talls from the forward line and replaced him with a crumbing forward in Aaron Davey. It worked for most of the first quarter while the players showed some accountability. The midfield won the early clearances and Davey booted the first goal. Had Paul Johnson been more accurate, the Demons could have even opened up a nice early lead. Still, one could notice a tiny bit of passion, aggression and even a flicker of inspiration but sadly, it lasted only a brief moment in time. The mistakes slowly started creeping in and these resulted in a couple of self-inflicted Demon wounds that were the Bulldogs' only goals for the quarter.

The competitive phase ended with the siren and Melbourne was unlucky not to have won its first quarter for the season. The Western Bulldogs were in front by a solitary point. The Demons were well served by Nathan Jones who was a terrier in the middle and by defenders Nathan Carroll and Paul Wheatley (the spare man in defence).

Phase 2 – The Decline Phase

The onset of decline came almost imperceptively. Early in the second term you started to get the feeling that the Bulldogs were going to gradually take control and they did. Again, it started with the help of some own goals on Melbourne's part. When you're in danger of entering the decline phase, you need your leaders to stand up, be unselfish and not fumble or drop marks or handpass direct to the opposition. Let's just say that while they fared a little better than last week, the leaders still failed to live up to the expectation.

Despite maintaining control of the clearances, the team was breaking down across half forward. The pattern was set for slow, stop-start football and the mistakes kept coming with greater frequency. This is another part of the pattern that we have to expect because of the presence of several youngsters in a team that's not really playing as a team but more as a group that shows little semblance of passion or unity of purpose.

By half time, the Doggies had moved to a 25 point lead but, in my estimation, they were a little fortunate to be that far in front as a couple of their goals came gift wrapped courtesy of fundamental errors by their opponents and at least one from a poor umpiring decision. That's life and you take those advantages when you'e given them.

Phase 3 – The Earth Hour Phase

The main feature of the pattern is in that the final half of each game the team enters its own "Earth Hour" – an hour in which the power is turned off and the team is completely overrun. There may be some variations to the theme before that event but the final half score line of 15.8.98 to 4.4.28 in favour of the Bulldogs is a pattern that Melbourne fans will have to get used to as the season unfolds.

The good news is that this pattern will moderate and things won't always be that bad but for the moment, the Demons are suffering from the fact that so many of their key players had interrupted pre seasons. Too many of them are underdone, a result of not enough hard work and match conditioning. Last week it was Cameron Bruce who came back with limited pre-season preparation, this week it was Clint Bartram, Lynden Dunn and Colin Sylvia. Next week it's likely to be Jared Rivers and possibly Matthew Whelan. Further, there are a few youngsters in the side at the moment, notably Jace Bode, Colin Garland and Isaac Weetra who are clearly not ready for the big stage. All of these factors, with the added problem of an aging leadership group that has shown itself to be unable to get fired up or set an example of accountability to the rest of the side will ensure that the pattern of decline and fade out will continue for a little while yet until the elders either shape up or are culled from the group and the younger players learn what it's all about. That might still take more than a little time so Melbourne supporters will feel some more pain in the months to come.

The game was a sad 200th for James McDonald who played his heart out as usual but the good form of Paul Johnson and the continuing improvement of Cale Morton were both encouraging.

Less encouraging was the form of Brock McLean, a youngster who has an enormous weight of expectation on his shoulders and is looking decidedly sluggish. He seemed to be running faster and harder when he was being interchanged on and off the ground than while in general play. One has to wonder whether he's enjoying his football these days.

I know this business of interchanging and rotation is in vogue at the moment but I just don't get it. If the idea is to keep your players fresh so that they can see out a game of football, why do the Melbourne players look so washed up in that final phase of the game?

I don't have the answer to that question and, as I indicated earlier, I don’t have the ultimate answer either. But I've been told that looking for ultimate answers is a little like looking for a black cat in a dark basement at night when the black cat isn't really there. It's an absurd quest and it certainly can't be answered overnight and most definitely not next Sunday when the team travels to Geelong where they will find some real cats.

To achieve success from Melbourne's position, it is necessary to bring in a complete sea change and that takes time. To understand that, you only had to watch St. Kilda overrun Carlton last night. The Saints have been learning their style of game for over a year under Ross Lyon and last night, they played a type of game that was not that dissimilar to the one that Melbourne is attempting to play - except that they got every split second decision right while the Demons get most of them wrong at the moment. When they finally get things right, they will have crossed the fine line that you need to cross in order to alter the pattern. At that point, the rat dies.

Melbourne 2.4.16 5.8.38 7.9.51 9.12.66

Western Bulldogs 2.5.17 9.9.63 18.13.121 24.17.161

Goals

Melbourne Neitz Robertson White 2 Davey Green Jones

Western Bulldogs Murphy 4 Akermanis Cross Hill Johnson Welsh 3 Giansiracusa Gilbee Griffen Hahn Wight

Best

Melbourne Wheatley Carroll Jones P Johnson Morton McDonald

Western Bulldogs Cross Murphy Cooney Hill Gilbee Griffen

Injuries

Melbourne Davey (ankle)

Western Bulldogs Higgins (ankle)

Reports nil

Changes Jace Bode replaced Michael Newton in Melbourne's selected line-up; Tim Callan replaced Nathan Eagleton (ankle) in the Western Bulldogs' selected line-up

Umpires Farmer Kamolins Ryan

Crowd 27,821 at the MCG