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SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL by Whispering Jack Since time immemorial, pre season practice matches, be they the intraclub variety or contests between clubs played for trophies or otherwise, have always needed to be looked at with a dose of skepticism. Coaches and clubs use these games for different purposes, teams are often of different strength and there's plenty of experimentation. I will not therefore allow myself to get too carried away with Melbourne's big second half effort to defeat Port Adelaide 0.15.5.95 to 1.10.7.76 in its opening NAB Challenge match of 2016. By the same token there were some excellent signs from the team that missed the bulk of the older, more experienced heads of its list that give cause for some optimism for the year ahead. We know that Paul Roos historically is known to place very little store on winning these pre season games but his stand in Simon Goodwin was a bit of an unknown on that score. After his charges started slowly and hesitantly on the large sized Playford Alive Oval in Elizabeth SA, they regrouped in the second term and ran over the top of what was a close to full strength Port Adelaide team in the last half. The turnaround was huge. For years, the Demons have been unable to mount come from behind victories. Nor have they been able to master the type of grounds where there's extra space and greater distance to goal. It requires the ability to get the contested ball in the first instance and fitness and hard running on the outside to bring the ball into the forward line quickly and decisively. The dominance of big Maxy Gawn in the ruck (42 hitouts, mainly in the first three quarters because he sat out most of the last) gave Jack Viney who had 16 contested possessions in a game high 28, Dom Tyson, Aaron vandenBerg and recruit Clayton Oliver an armchair ride at the stoppages. They got the ball out to the likes of Jack Watts, Matt Jones and hard nosed newcomers in Tomas Bugg from the Giants and Ben Kennedy from Collingwood and if they didn't score, their work was usually finished off by the likes of Jeff Garlett, Dean Kent and James Harmes. Collectively, they stunned the crowd of just under 5,000 and the many more viewers of Foxtel and a few here and there who watched on pirated broadcasts. Port Adelaide clearly planned their defensive game on shutting down Jesse Hogan and they achieved that by double and triple teaming him (at times with questionable methods). In the past when Melbourne had few dangerous options up forward, that tactic might have worked. The fact that the Demons are developing a good array of attacking weapons saw them to victory in this instance. And we know that there's plenty more to come. Melbourne's defense was tidy after the poor start. In the opening stanza they were far too loose but, led well by Tom McDonald, Colin Garland, Lynden Dunn and Neville Jetta, they tightened up and ultimately strangled the opposition keeping it scoreless in the the third quarter. When was the last time Melbourne did that in any game? The loss of Angus Brayshaw in the opening piece of play followed immediately by a hard hit on Tyson which saw him momentarily dazed followed by three goals (one of the super variety) to the home state side spelled doom and disaster. Demon fans of the fisted forever school were already foretelling that world was at an end - Armageddon had arrived ten minutes into the season. It was good then to come out with the non-existent four points and a medical report on Brayshaw that suggested a low level medial ligament injury that might see him back by round one of the real thing. There is of course a lot to work on - Hogan's key forward partner is more likely Cam Pedersen than Sam Frost at this stage. I would like to see the club give one of its tall forwards in waiting (Sam Weideman or Liam Hulett) a cameo run next week. Perhaps some fine tuning with the midfield mix and the second ruck - these games are practice matches after all and we can't get carried away - yet. Melbourne 0.2.2.14 0.4.3.27 0.10.5.65 0.15.5.95 Port Adelaide 1.3.3.30 1.6.5.50 1.6.5.50 1.10.7.76 Goals Melbourne Garlett 3 Kent Pedersen vandenBerg 2 Harmes Hogan Kennedy M Jones Salem Tyson Port Adelaide Boak Westhoff 3 R Gray Schulz White Young Best Melbourne Gawn Viney Watts vandenBerg Garlett Grimes Tyson Port Adelaide R Gray Boak Toumpas Pittard S Gray Broadbent Injuries Melbourne Brayshaw (left knee) Port Adelaide Nil Umpires Chris Donlon Jacob Mollison Craig Fleer Nick Brown Crowd 4,981 at Playford Alive Oval

NET GAIN IN THE WEST by George on the Outer Apart from the hope of a win to start the 2015 season, was there anything to be gained or learned from the match against the Dockers? The Demons were playing against a team with a home ground advantage, in fact a home training ground advantage, who had finished 4th in 2014. The Demons, remember, finished a lowly 17th with a meagre 4 wins. Surely, a one-sided contest could have been expected? Well, it was a NAB Practice match and while the stifling conditions and the missing players from each side make it nearly impossible to assess if there is something better to hope for in 2015 for the Demon fans, the answer must be that there is. The 18 point margin in the end could have so easily been in the Demons favour, could they have been able to execute some really simple tasks. Twenty metre kicks that missed targets by ten, three set shots at goal from inside thirty in the final quarter that failed to produce a solitary score, a single point from the whole second term, these were the things which let them down in the end. By way of contrast, Fremantle made the most of its opportunities when it had them, and made a habit of hitting targets when most needed. In the end it produced the scoreboard results to win the game. But it was not all doom and gloom. Although Fremantle must be questioning the value of these events, when injuries to Barlow, Mundy and Duffield have compromised the start of their season. For the Demons, there were too many players who simply did not contribute at all during the game, yet others lifted beyond expectations to show their tardy team-mates the amount of effort required to play at AFL level. Heritier Lumumba showed he will be a positive live-wire in the back line and up the ground. Sam Frost, likewise was a force to be reckoned with for his first outing in the red and the blue (or in this case, the red, white and the blue. Dom Tyson was superb and Nathan Jones was his usual self showing the way. Aaron vandenBerg, coming off the rookie list can see an early elevation if he performs like this again in his next match, and Ben Newton showed more than enough until taken from the ground injured. Paul Roos played a lot with positioning in the first half, which didnt always play to the team's strengths, but these games are the only chance to do exactly that without consequences. Jeff Garlett in the middle, Frost up forward, Lumumba all around the place were all experiments to see what alternatives could be used during the season proper. When he returned to a more stable structure, the game started to swing Melbourne's way, kicking 3.4 to 1 point in the third term. The finishing let them down in the end and must be worked upon and while a win would have been good, the team remained competitive and was never blown away as we have seen all too often in recent times. Bring on the next game! MELBOURNE 0.3.1 0.3.2 0.6.6 0.6.7 (43) FREMANTLE 0.3.2 0.7.4 0.7.5 0.9.7 (61) GOALS Melbourne: Dawes, Hogan, N Jones, Kent, Newton, vandenBerg Fremantle: Pavlich, Taberner 3, Crozier, Mayne, Walters SUPERGOALS Melbourne: Nil Fremantle: Nil BEST Melbourne: N Jones, Lumumba, Tyson, Cross, T McDonald, Newton Fremantle: Hill, Taberner, Neale, Pavlich, Mzungu, Sutcliffe INJURIES Melbourne: Newton (cut head) Fremantle: Barlow (right ankle), Mundy (ankle), Duffield (left shoulder) SUBSTITUTES Melbourne: McKenzie replaced Newton at half-time; vanderBerg replaced Jetta at half-time Fremantle: Blakely replaced Barlow at three-quarter time; Smith replaced Mundy in the fourth quarter Reports: Nil Umpires: Farmer, Dalgleish, Stephens, Edwards Official crowd: 8000 approx. at Fremantle Oval