ROUND 8 MATCH REVIEW By Darren Spence
Life wasn’t meant to be easy
Malcolm Fraser once said that ‘Life wasn’t meant to be easy’; well following Melbourne can be purely traumatic. The sad thing is that notwithstanding my devotion I had a sick feeling on Saturday (and no it wasn’t caused by imbibing too much on Friday night). My sick feeling was driven by an inner torment that last week’s heroics would come to nothing and we would lose to North Melbourne. All the signs were there; our poor record at Eithad and against the Roos, a bigger injury list than the Russians after WW1 and the fact that our consistency of late runs parallel with an English winter. All the signs were there and unfortunately my hardly Nostradamus worthy prediction came to fruition.
To add more heartache to the agony was that we absolutely blitzed the Roos in the first quarter to be over 5 goals up at one stage… I don’t know about you but it pains me more to be up by 30 and then lose by 40! But I guess that’s part ‘n parcel of barracking for a young up and coming team – inconsistency is just part of the deal.
Given our promising start to the game we do have some highlights to look at post match:
Frawley – Chippa played his best game for the year without a doubt and with our burgeoning injury list it isn’t before time. I just love the way he backs himself in and rarely gets defeated.
Jetta – I was very happy with his game. I think he laid the most tackles for our team. His aggression has definitely improved this year and I would love to see him string more games together in the red and blue
Jones – Led our possession count and is in a rich vein of form at the moment. He seems to have reinvented himself this year and arguably is in career best form at present.
Maric – Matching last week’s effort for most possessions in a game, Addam finished the game with a career high three goals. As I said last week I am rapt to see him finally reap the rewards of an outstanding pre-season. I for one am hoping that he is able to hold his form throughout the year and beyond.
Martin – Stef did an admirable job in the absence of the big Russian. Especially early in the game his contesting and hard work was an eye opener. One of the pleasing things about the season to date has been the obvious progress of some players who have been in the system for a few years – Maric and Martin are just two of those players.
Newton – well!!…what a start to the game!!!….the Juice had 44 Dreamteam points at the 10 min mark of the first quarter! I don’t know if that’s a record but it has to be close! He was hard at it; tackled and presented himself the like I have hardly ever seen. He even survived a circa 70s Crackers Keenan slap to the face. The big question mark now is – if he can do it for a quarter – can he do it for a whole game? I would love to see that!
Manlove 1 update – Luke had a solid game again and is gaining valuable experience. He is heavier in the tackle than Dame Edna Everage and continues to set the standard with his aggression.
Manlove 2 update – Jordan continues to rack up possessions at will. He gets his own ball and his delivery is exquisite. He is going to be an integral part of the team that pushes for the flag in the years ahead.
Watts – Killer had another eye catching game. I literally spilt my drink when he beat two North players on our CHF line and won the hard ball out. Again he took some contested marks and you can literally see his confidence growing game by game.
Now we look ahead to this week. Back at Etihad and back against a team that has the wood over us recently. An increased injury list, more suspensions and against a side that literally has their collective backs against the wall. So I hear you say does this mean I am foretelling another defeat??? Not on your life!!! This is the Demons we are talking about and while our form is harder to pick than a broken nose, I am confident that we do have sufficient cattle on the park to beat the Saints and I for one am expecting it.
ROUND 7 MATCH REVIEW By Darren Spence
In the annals of history a week is a long time. Just look at last week – we had 3 monumental and world changing events, all in the period of seven days. First the Commonwealth welcomed in a new Princess, the world’s most wanted man was finally tracked down and killed and by far the world’s most talked about event from last week – the Demons smashed the Crows by 96 points!…Big Jimma claimed that this was our best win in 3 years and I think there is no doubting that.
Let’s look at some of the highlights…
Bartram – Clint had a great game! He shut ex-Demon Scott Thompson out of the game and applied plenty of pressure throughout the match.
Flash – Flash played like we know and love. By far this was his best game for the season.
Green – a welcome return to form by Greeny! His jumper hugging after he kicked that goal sent shivers down my spine!! Welcome back Skipper!!
Maric – well and truly Addam’s best game for the Dees!!! Over 30 possessions is an awesome effort in anyone’s language. I am very happy for him as it is often told that he had probably the best pre-season of any player this year.
Moloney – Beamer is going from strength to strength!!….Quite conceivably he could have 12 Brownlow votes at this stage of the season!! His clearance figure of 19 is the 2nd best in the history of stats monitoring and is unbelievable. His connection with the big Russian is outstanding and the two of them undoubtedly are the best ruck/clearance combo in the league at the moment.
Petterd – I have to say I have been wondering why Ricky hasn’t been in our best 22 over the past few weeks. He was awesome on the weekend and his four goals should see him entrenched in the team.
Manlove 1 update – Luke continues to impress. His attacks on the ball and player are ferocious and his long kicking is penetrating and dangerous. He is a revelation!!
Manlove 2 update – another solid game from Jordan. Every game he plays he looks more and more at home at this level.
Watts – how exciting is this bloke!!! Jack is starting to string good games together and again he impressed on the weekend. His contested marking, pressure and running was fantastic. He is going to be a superstar!!!
Now we look ahead to the next game. Following the jubilation of Sunday’s win came the let down with some terrible news during the week. First Grimes is injured for the rest of the year and Spencer needs a reco. Trengove is cited for tackling and given 3 weeks and to top it all off the big Russian is out for 4 to 6 weeks with a bung knee!!
This all makes it tougher this week against a team that we haven’t beaten in what seems like decades and at a ground where our past form is even worse. But this week in many ways is more important that last week. We need to show the world that last week was not just an apparition and a reaction to our poor showing out West. We need to show the world that we are on the way up. The whole world is watching the Dees – come on boys don’t let us down.
Have lunch with Jimmy and watch a game….
Join Jim Stynes for lunch in the President’s Room before watching the Dees play at the MCG. The Presidents Club is hosted by Jim Stynes and includes lunch, afternoon tea and drinks in the Presidents Room and a premium reserved seat for the game. We have tickets available for each of the remaining six home games at the MCG: Carlton on 27 May, Collingwood on 13 June, Fremantle on 19 June, Hawthorn on 24 July, Richmond on 21 August and Gold Coast on 28 August.
If you are interested in buying tickets please email Jon at presidents-club@optusnet.com.au with your choice of match and number of seats required. Tickets to the big matches (e.g. Queen’s Birthday) are limited and sell out quickly. Last year every President’s Club event was a sellout.
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