On Monday night, the Melbourne Football Club handed out four life memberships. Two of those awards went to men who are long gone. Charles ‘Chubby’ Forrester and James ‘Jas’ Byrne played for the club in the 1870s, even before the Victorian Football Association was formed. The other two are current skipper Max Gawn and swingman Tom McDonald, who almost left the club at the end of the pandemic-affected 2020 season. Some fans might have raised their eyebrows and wondered whether the emphasis on history might have been a subtle message to the two surviving players but on Friday morning, both of them had left little doubt that they are definitely part of the Demons’ immediate future. The roles they played in their team’s 14.9.93 to 12.10.82 practice match victory over reigning premiers Richmond were significant.
Gawn was not only outstanding in the ruck but he was also able to go forward and back to take vital marks. In doing so, he kicked a couple of goals and saved a few as well. Meanwhile, the trimmed down McDonald showed that he still had a lot to give to the club. His confidence has returned, he’s taking marks that were spilled in the past few years and he roamed far and wide across the expanses of Casey Fields to good effect.
Together with young ruckman/forward Luke Jackson and the lively Bayley Fritsch and surprise packet Kade Chandler and Charlie Spargo, they assured the Demons of some potent attacking strength that many despaired might be missing in the absence of injured forwards Ben Brown, Sam Weideman and Jake Melksham and young small forward Kozzy Pickett, out for personal family reasons.
At the other end of the ground, Jake Lever dominated in the rebounding defender role for which the club recruited him from Adelaide and he combined well with Steven May who also looks to be in for a fine season.
Melbourne received great drive from Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in the middle, Ed Langdon on a wing and Christian Salem and Jayden Hunt coming out of defence. They were helped out by Tom Sparrow and James Jordan and Trent Rivers looking to build on his exciting debut season.
The above might sound like a glowing endorsement coming at end of February and mindful of the old adages about practice matches, March champions and April Fools. After all, the Tigers were coming off a premiership game at the glittering Gabba in their last match and here they were playing in a tree lined setting in late summer. For a club known for their attacking intensity, when the pressure valve is set at perhaps 10% below their best, the result of the contest often will lose its meaning. And the Demons still need to resolve a few problem positioning issues with their small defenders.
In light of the fact that it’s still very early days, let’s put it all down to a good opening hit out with the main positives being evidence of a faster, smoother transition into attack from a team that has finally come to terms with the rules that changed the game after their break- out 2018 season and that the subsequent fall from grace might have finally been consigned into Melbourne’s history books.
Melbourne 3.2.20 5.4.34 10.8.68 14.9.93
Richmond 2.3.15 6.5.41 9.7.61 12.10.82
