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It took a 27-point defeat at the hands of Essendon in the Gather Round at the Adelaide Oval for Melbourne bomb out in a number of different ways on Saturday. The Demons bombed out of the media’s assessment as “Premiership Favourite”. The entire side bombed out with their contested champions aspirations and the backmen bombed out in their reputation of being solid and reliable defenders after conceding 100 points in a game for the second time in three years. All around the ground, players were far below their best. Individually, they looked lethargic with the only exceptions being Clayton Oliver and Ed Langdon, who continued to provide drive and output, while all around them were bombing out. In a remarkable Clarrie performance (as if most of his performances aren’t remarkable) he had only two touches in the opening quarter but at game‘s end he had amassed 41 disposals, including an incredible 25 contested possessions! On the wing Langdon notched up 24 touches and topped the metres gained chart, usually reserved for the on-ball brigade, at 549m. He was at his best, providing the outlet so sorely needed in the game. Pity was that the performances of others was so grossly below standard. In the backline the structures that the side have come to rely upon so much, simply fell apart in the absence of Jake Lever. Harrison Petty tried his hardest, and despite being off the ground for a good length of time due to injury, managed twelve intercept touches to keep the team in the game when all seemed lost. As one of the few contributors, he was then moved forward to provide something, just something that had been missing for the whole match. Tomlinson came in to cover for Lever, but made multiple errors which resulted in opposition goals. It was the simple pressure applied by Essendon up the field which just kept pumping the ball toward their goals and eventually the dam wall broke. One could argue the coaches were lax in providing or trying out options, especially when Petty was off the ground. Van Rooyen was moved back, but Tom McDonald, at least a known entity as a defender, was left in the forward line, starved of opportunity. It was not until the final quarter that this move was made. Similarly, Brodie Grundy was left in the ruck position for basically the whole game to face the two Essendon rucks in Phillips and Draper. The result was 24 hitouts to him, while his opponents managed 39 together. McDonald contributed three, most of which came in the forward line. He just needed to be used to relieve Grundy more during the course of the game, which would have brought him more into the action. The absence of Max Gawn has impacted the side badly, none so evident as in the aerial contests. In this game, most of the statistics were matching with the opposition, but contested marks favoured them 11 to 7 and critically marks inside 50, favoured Essendon 15 to 9. Another failing was the tackling inside 50 which dropped from an average of 14.4 per game to 10 in this match. It wasn’t helped when Charlie Spargo was subbed out at half time, as he is a regular contributor in this area, but Jake Melksham continued with zero tackles in a game yet again. The remainder of the forwards failed to produce anything which looked threatening. The inside 50 count for both sides was similar, but the contested marks by the Essendon rucks which produced five goals was ultimately the difference between the two sides and Melbourne had nothing similar to add. In any event, it cannot depend upon the return of Gawn alone to solve this problem. Now with a nine day break until the game against Richmond, the side hopefully can rejuvenate. There seems to be a good chance for the return of Gawn, Brown and Lever which can only strengthen those areas the team was so badly lacking in this game. The big question for the selectors will be the group of not quite right players being used who continue to be found out on the big stage. Cameo performances are not enough, hard work and contest is what AFL is about at this level. Without that, the side will bomb out again, and the danger is if it is allowed to continue, they may well bomb out of finals contention. MELBOURNE 4.2.26 7.5.47 7.7.49 11.11.77 ESSENDON 5.4.34 9.10.64 12.13.85 15.14.104 GOALS MELBOURNE Fritsch Melksham Pickett 2 Chandler Jordon Neal-Bullen Petracca van Rooyen ESSENDON Draper 3 Hind Langford Martin Phillips 2 Jones Perkins Snelling Stringer BEST MELBOURNE Oliver Petracca Viney Langdon Neal-Bullen ESSENDON Merrett Draper Parish Shiel McGrath Setterfield Laverde Phillips INJURIES MELBOURNE Spargo (concussion) Brown (back) replaced before the game ESSENDON Jones (ankle) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil ESSENDON Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE James Jordon (replaced Charlie Spargo at half-time) ESSENDON Nick Hind (replaced Harry Jones in the third quarter) UMPIRES Simon Meredith Nathan Williamson Nathan Toner Matthew Young CROWD 45,115 at Adelaide Oval (Gather Round double header with Port Adelaide vs Western Bulldogs)