GIVING HELL by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 65,317]

Sitting in the stands last Saturday night at the MCG wasn't the most pleasant experience for those who go to the football to taste the aesthetics of the game. It wasn't the night for pretty football, for excitement and skills and we weren't witnessing a game made in heaven for either the participants or the viewers.

We are, after all the Demons and you could be excused for thinking that this was a game that those unfortunate enough to make it to that place, would spend countless hours playing this game out in hell.

When Paul Roos signed on to take over the mantle of coach of the Melbourne Football Club, he never promised anyone a rose garden and we should not expect overnight changes to make the team immediately perfect.

As far back as 2005 when he was with the Sydney Swans, Roos' coaching style was criticised by the then AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou who described his negative, defensive game plan as "disgusting" and "ugly". Those remarks were made during a game against St. Kilda which the Swans lost by seven goals but they appeared to be a catalyst for the team from the harbour city as they marched on to win the flag later that year. Not only that, but history records that the Sydney Swans scored only 8.10.58 to beat the West Coast Eagles by four points in the grand final.

When Roos was appointed coach last September, he said,

"It's going to be a huge challenge, there's no doubt about that.

"They're certainly not sugar-coating it - I know what I'm coming into. I know it's going to be a very difficult job.

"I'm really looking forward to setting a direction for the players and the football club, and setting some really high standards."

Paul Kelly once sang that from little things, big things grow and, back in those stands on Saturday night, it wasn't hard to notice that we were watching the very budding of those "little things".

Sydney came out of the blocks and had two goals on the board within five minutes thanks to a lucky bounce that favoured Luke Parker followed by an even luckier free kick and goal to expensive import Buddy Franklin. Melbourne was denied such luck in the opening term but it displayed some great resistance and aggression over the next fifteen minutes for a reward of a single goal to Shannon Byrnes while Jack Watts and Jeremy Howe dropped marks in front of goal that could have made a significant difference. They were made to pay when the Swans added two more in time on but the 4 - 1 goal scoreline was deceptively misleading.

The game got uglier in the second quarter when the Demons scored the only goal for the term in a defensive slugfest but when was the last time that they kept a top four contender goalless for an entire quarter?

So it went on, the Demons fought hard against the relentless strangulation of the Swans. Both teams played behind the ball, the visitors did it better and with the more skilled and experienced players, they ran out winners while the football world moaned at what it saw.

They spoke in the end that Melbourne's average score for the season was its lowest since 1919, a winless wooden spoon season in the club's return after a three year recess during the First World War.

But the Demons kept the Swans down to nine goals, a once unthinkable achievement and I suspect that we will soon see the silver lining to all of this. It might not be as dramatic as the rise to the top experienced by the Swans when their style was derided by Demetriou but I can see a continuation of the process to the point where one day a Melbourne side will strangle the life out of a good team with the dour, defensive style being introduced at present.

And then, with the introduction of young, talented players like Christian Salem and a bit of height and strength up forward and down back, the ugly demon ducklings will soon be giving others hell.

THE GAME

Adelaide v Melbourne v at Adelaide Oval Saturday 3 May, 2014 at 4.40 pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Adelaide 21 wins Melbourne 11 wins

At Adelaide Oval Adelaide 0 wins Melbourne 0 wins

Past five years Adelaide 4 wins Melbourne 1 win

The Coaches Sanderson 0 wins Roos 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Fox Footy Channel @ 4.30pm (live)

RADIO - Triple M SEN ABC ABC Grandstand

THE BETTING

Adelaide - $1.07 Melbourne to win - $9.00

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Adelaide 18.12.120 defeated Melbourne 7.10.52 Round 22, 2013 at AAMI Stadium

Scott Thompson starred against his former club in a one team race from start to end that was a game best remembered for boring the living suitcases out of anyone who watched it.

THE TEAMS

Adelaide Crows

B: Sam Shaw, Daniel Talia, Matthew Jaensch

HB: Brodie Smith, Kyle Hartigan, Luke Brown

C: Sam Kerridge, Patrick Dangerfield, David Mackay

HF: Eddie Betts, James Podsiadly, Jared Petrenko

F: Tom Lynch, Josh Jenkins, Matthew Wright

FOLL: Sam Jacobs, Scott Thompson, Rory Sloane

I/C: Brent Reilly, Mitch Grigg, Rory Laird, Matt Crouch

EMG: Brodie Martin, Andy Otten, Ben Rutten

No Change

Melbourne

B: Tom McDonald, Lynden Dunn, Alex Georgiou

HB: Jack Grimes, James Frawley, Dean Terlich

C: Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince, Jack Watts

HF: Rohan Bail, Cameron Pedersen, Matt Jones

F: Jack Viney, Chris Dawes, Jeremy Howe

FOLL: Mark Jamar, Daniel Cross, Nathan Jones

I/C: Christian Salem, Neville Jetta, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Shannon Byrnes

EMG: Mitchell Clisby, Max Gawn, Aidan Riley

No Change

It almost seems forever since a Melbourne team ventured across the South Australian border into Adelaide and returned home unscathed. In fact, it's been so long that I can't even recall a match preview of a Demons' game played over there that doesn't include a mention of the curse of the city of churches or the fact that it was way back in 2001 that Andrew Leoncelli accepted a David Schwartz knock on and kicked a last gasp goal to beat the Crows at Adelaide's Football Park. So there you go ... it's been mentioned but the ground more lately known as AAMI Stadium is no longer in commission as an AFL venue and this week's game is taking place at the Adelaide Oval and the home side has never beaten Melbourne there so let's just forget this 17 defeats in a row thing and concentrate on the game at hand.

Young Adelaide star Patrick Dangerfield was asked earlier in the week why his team had made such a dramatic improvement after a poor start when it lost the opening three games of the season. His response was that the team was now sticking to the game plan and executing the plan better. He might also have added that they've also played much weaker opposition over the last these weeks than during the period in which they were losing but his point still holds good. It's all about staying the course.

If there's one thing that we can expect from Melbourne coach Paul Roos it is that the style of game and the effort demanded of his players will remain constant in this phase of development. In the short term this means that supporters need to lower their expectations - there will be the odd win here or there (perhaps even a surprise), some fighting losses and the really tough days at the office when the team gets thrashed. We've seen it all already this year and there will be more but the course has been set and it's not likely that we'll see a departure for the sake of producing a high scoring quarter of pretty football here or there as you will see from some coaches.

This is why it was so important for Melbourne to import the likes of Vince, Cross, Tyson, Georgiou and co who provide the extra depth and steel the club lacked in recent years. They are among the players expected to lift yet another notch if the team is to remain competitive against the surging Crows in front of their home crowd as they strive to emulate the top of the ladder local foe for home state popularity.

Melbourne needs to get more drive from its ruck division. Mark Jamar will relish the fact that he now has a run under his belt but he needs to hit his onball brigade more often in the ruck duels and the team can't afford a repeat of Scott Thompson's midfield dominance from their last outing. It won't be an easy task keeping up with the Crows on their home turf but if the Demons stay the course, it could be an interesting evening.

I think that in the end, Adelaide will have too much class and experience and therefore give ammunition for those who promote the curse of the city of churches but one day soon, all that talk will come to an end and, when the day comes, Melbourne will give them hell.

But not this time ... Adelaide by 25 points.