by Darren Spence
Isn’t it fantastic to read copious amounts of articles (positive) about the Dees since last Sunday? I think I have read and watched every bit of information I could find (sometimes twice) about how our beloved boys won on Sunday locking in a finals spot for the first time since 2006!
2006 was a long time ago. I was living in the UK then and was listening to the game through the AFL site via a link to the footy radio stations (no AFL Live streaming back then!), in fact there wasn’t even an IPhone back then; which ironically many of you are probably reading this on. 2006 was a long time ago. I read that if you added the total number of games played by the 22 on Sunday it comes to 1964. What an omen that was!
It has been a tough road for long suffering supporters since we last played in September. Let’s look at all the coaches we have had since then. Daniher, Riley, Bailey, Viney, Neeld, Craig, Roos, Goodwin. And our ladder positions? 14th, 16th, 16th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, 17th, 13th, 11th, 9th. It doesn’t make for pleasant reading does it? All that was forgotten however on Sunday night as I sat amongst a group of Eagles supporters cheering for joy for the Mighty Dees!
In front of a parochial home crowd it was important we got a fast start and fast we did start as we had 26 on the board before the Eagles even scored. Much has been said about our failure to perform in big games, some even saying we are ‘mentally weak’ and I must admit that I did start to worry after the Eagles hit the front but the boys dug deep and skipped away again to win probably our most important game since the 2006 finals.
I never liked Melksham when he has at the Bombers (don’t like any of their players..period) but I do now. He is such a crucial player to our side and never more so than on the weekend with 4 goals and 2 of these after the Eagles hit the front. Harmes has improved out of sight this year and is in the form of his life and had the pill 28 times. Gawn was prolific with 39 hit outs and 20 disposals, Brayshaw was everywhere and TMac and Hannan were dangerous with 3 goals a piece. In fact every player played their role in a fantastic win. It was a grand old day for the Melbourne Football Club and let there be many more!
This Sunday (why do we always play Sunday?…It makes my Monday’s so much tougher!) we are at home versus the Giants. Whilst a finals berth is finally now guaranteed, now is not the time to go through the motions. We need to win this and have strong winning momentum going into September and win we will.
LUKEY TAPSCOTT VOTES (Rnd 22)
MELKSHAM 5
HARMES 4
GAWN 3
BRAYSHAW 2
JONES 1
LUKEY TAPSCOTT LEADERBOARD
Oliver 56
Gawn 39
Brayshaw 38
Hogan 32
Melksham 20
Jones 18
Harmes 17
Petracca 16
T.MacDonald 16
Salem 12
Viney 11
Lever 6
Jetta 6
Fritsch 6
Garlett 6
Hibberd 4
Neal Bullen 4
Hannan 3
Tyson 3
Bugg 1
O.MacDonald 1
ANB RISING STAR VOTES (Rnd 22)
HARMES 5
BRAYSHAW 4
HANNAN 3
TYSON 2
OLIVER 1
ANB RISING STAR LEADERBOARD
Oliver 68
Brayshaw 49
Hogan 40
Harmes 25
Petracca 23
Salem 23
Fritsch 19
Viney 16
Tyson 16
Neal Bullen 12
Lever 10
Hannan 7
O.MacDonald 3
Bugg 2
Smith 2
Spargo 1
Gawn moves into outright 2nd in the ‘Lukey” whilst Oliver and Brayshaw have locked away the top 2 positions in the ANB Rising Star.
GO DEES!!
Round 22 – West Coast Eagles Vs Melbourne – The Eagle Has Landed (For The Demons)
By Liam Chambers
Well, we finally beat a top eight side. Not only that but we beat a top two side and we did it at one of the most difficult and hostile home grounds in the country.
One enduring memory of my three years in Perth was how parochial their sporting fans can be. When you have fifty thousand plus Eagles fans baying for the opposition’s blood it can be a tad unsettling. Melbourne handled the pressure well and didn’t buckle as they would have done in previous seasons. This was a huge game for the Dees not only because it secured a top eight berth but also because they proved to themselves that they can win the tight games against quality sides.
The disappointment and frustration of losing by two points to Geelong twice (!) and battling valiantly again Port Adelaide only to be ten points behind on the siren. Even last week when we mounted a spirited comeback against the Swans in the latter part of the final quarter, we couldn’t quite make it over the line. Then at Optus Stadium, as West Coast took the lead by a single point with twelve minutes to play, you could be forgiven for thinking the finals dream was slowly ebbing away.
Three goals in just over six minutes for the Demons changed all that. First Jake Melksham, then Dean Kent, then Melksham again put the result beyond doubt. Finally the Melbourne faithful had something to celebrate. The joy on Nathan Jones’ face was a sight that will live in Dee’s fans memories for a long time. He was expressing what we were all feeling. The long drought was over. The years of humiliating losses and the slow climb back to being a competitive team were forgotten the instant siren sounded.
Melbourne has made the finals. There’s still a long way to go and there may be more upsets to come. The Dees have been playing better as a team this year and are now starting to believe in themselves. Last week was billed as a must win game and they struggled to find a way to defeat the Swans. In Perth the expectations on Melbourne were greatly reduced and it freed the players up to just go for it.
From the opening bounce the Demons were determined to take the game to the Eagles and when the inevitable pushback came they handled it well. The third quarter was especially eventful but Melbourne didn’t panic and there was a calmness to the team. Christian Salem typified the attitude with some clever passing in tight circumstances. Jake Melksham was again pivotal with four goals and Weideman was impressive; he will be crucial now that Jesse Hogan is out. Harmes and Brayshaw were inspiring and Tom McDonald is kicking better. Next week we play the Giants at the MCG. A win could possibly see us secure a top four spot. Now that would be interesting.
WEST COAST 3.0 5.4 11.6 14.7 (91)
MELBOURNE 4.4 7.6 12.8 16.12 (108)
GOALS
West Coast: Rioli 3, Hutchings 2, Masten, Ah Chee, Cripps, Vardy, Sheed, Yeo, Venebles, LeCras, Ryan
Melbourne: Melksham 4, McDonald 3, Hannan 3, Weideman, Harmes, Brayshaw, vandenBerg, Jones, Kent
In Jakarta I run a start up company with 20 employees.
by Darren Spence
It is a good challenge and I work with a bunch of eager locals. They are always coming up with new strategy suggestions. One of my mantras back at them is no strategy is any good unless you can execute and more often than not their ideas are not executable. You could say the same thing about the Dees at the moment. Our attacking brand of footy resulting in large number of inside 50s means nothing if it only results in 10.18. You aren’t going to win too many games with that type of conversion let alone against a team like the Swans.
I watched the game with 2 mad Swans fans. With their mob having 2 out of the game and the Dees kicking the first in the second they both had given up on their boys. 6 goals in 16 minutes certainly changed their tune. A late fight back in the last gave us a little bit of hope but at the end of the day it was just more heartbreak as we lost another close one and our finals hopes now hang on tenterhooks.
Brayshaw again was great with 25 touches and 6 clearances, Tyson probably played his best game of the year, Harmes is showing some great form of late, Oliver had plenty of it as usual and Salem was important in another disappointing result.
It certainly isn’t an understatement that this weeks’ game is big. Our form over in the West has been fantastic recently with a win last year and a loss by a goal the previous year. I am picking us to rise the occasion….It’s about time we did!!
LUKEY TAPSCOTT VOTES (Rnd 20)
BRAYSHAW 5
HARMES 4
TYSON 3
OLIVER 2
SALEM 1
LUKEY TAPSCOTT LEADERBOARD
Oliver 56
Gawn 36
Brayshaw 36
Hogan 32
Jones 17
Petracca 16
T.MacDonald 16
Melksham 15
Harmes 13
Salem 12
Viney 11
Lever 6
Jetta 6
Fritsch 6
Garlett 6
Hibberd 4
Neal Bullen 4
Hannan 3
Tyson 3
Bugg 1
O.MacDonald 1
ANB RISING STAR VOTES (Rnd 20)
BRAYSHAW 5
HARMES 4
TYSON 3
OLIVER 2
SALEM 1
ANB RISING STAR LEADERBOARD
Oliver 67
Brayshaw 45
Hogan 40
Petracca 23
Salem 23
Harmes 20
Fritsch 19
Viney 16
Tyson 14
Neal Bullen 12
Lever 10
Hannan 4
O.MacDonald 3
Bugg 2
Smith 2
Spargo 1
For the first time this season we see identical votes in both awards. Brayshaw also ties Maxy for 2nd in the “Lukey”.
Go Dees!!
Round 21 – Melbourne Vs Sydney – Swan Song Or Is There Still Hope?
By Liam Chambers
I want to be optimistic but that was a golden opportunity missed considering the other results in Round 21. The Crows ruled themselves out of contention, the Roos lost to the less fancied Bulldogs and Geelong were unable to rein in the Hawks. Plus of course Port’s narrow loss to the Eagles. Everything was in our favour but somehow Sydney found a way to win. Experience counts of course but the impression was the Dees lacked self-belief. They let their nerves get the better of them on the day. We have some great talent who’ve learned how to work together as a team with some brilliant individual players but somehow we failed to rise to the occasion.
It’s perfectly understandable how a mostly young team would feel so overwhelmed when the prospect of playing finals is so close. Goals that should have easily slotted home went wide for a behind with depressing regularity. The ball was fumbled and kicks seemed to fall into Sydney’s hands way too often. We needed to play without any fear but that’s very easy to say when you’re in the stands or sitting on your comfortable lounge at home.
Still where there’s life there’s hope. To say that we will be the underdog against West Coast in Round 22 is an understatement but that may be our biggest strength. The weight of expectation is now well and truly off their shoulders. I really hope they just relax, enjoy themselves and play just for the sheer love of the game because I truly believe that would give us the best chance of an upset in Perth. We know we can win and West Coast have been defeated at home this season.
Ditto the Giants. The experienced players like Nathan Jones, Jordan Lewis, Cam Pedersen and Bernie Vince can be a great inspiration at this time. Simon Goodwin needs to dig deep to rally his troops to believe anything is possible. Alternatively, we can hope that Port Adelaide and North Melbourne both lose their last two games and Essendon lose against Richmond in Round 22. All very possible and that’s where our percentage would see us scrape into the final eight but I would much rather we beat the Eagles and the Giants. Let’s remember the old adage “The bigger they are the harder they fall”.
One huge positive about today’s game was how we played ourselves back into the game in the final quarter. Yes, it was a case of way too late and many missed opportunities but we did come quite close by the end. There was a dogged determination there and that’s the spirit we need to tap into next week. Let’s unleash the demons within.
MELBOURNE 2.6 3.12 7 .14 10.18 (78)
SYDNEY 1.1 7.2 13.6 13.9 (87)
GOALS
Melbourne: vandenBerg 3, T.McDonald 2, Petracca, Hogan, Pedersen, Garlett, Jones
Sydney: Papley 3, Heeney 2, Franklin 2, Cunningham, Hayward, Hannebery, Dawson, Kennedy, McCartin
Round 20 – Melbourne Vs Gold Coast Suns – Dees Strike Gold
By Liam Chambers
On paper this was a game that was never seriously going to test Melbourne. The one thing the players and fans have come to realise this season though is to never take anything for granted. The Suns had a win against an under preforming Swans in Round 18 so the Demons were best advised to leave nothing to chance.
Happily, Melbourne came out firing and the first goal went to captain Nathan Jones. Jonesy has waited 12 long years for the Dees to again finish in the top eight and so far 2018 is shaping up as their best chance. We did ourselves a huge favour with the size of the win against Gold Coast boosting our percentage to 132.8. With several sides snapping at our heels that superior percentage will be hugely important once the dust settles after Round 23.
The Dees have been guilty in the past of capitulating to teams they should have been assured of beating. This season they mostly overcome that handicap with the exception of our 2-point loss to St Kilda. Our critics have yet to be convinced that we deserve to be in the top eight; the ninety-six-point margin against the Suns probably won’t have changed too many minds either. Having said that though, I was very impressed by how we continue to gel as a team, with the possible exception of comeback kid Aaron VandenBerg. I don’t think he got the memo about passing the ball to other players who may have a better chance of scoring. Of the nine goals delivered by the Dees in the first quarter, seven were by individual players, with Alex Neal-Bullen and Charlie Spargo both scoring two each.
It’s good to see Jesse Hogan moving more freely and back to his winning ways. His four goals against the Suns brings his tally to forty-six for the season. He’s still in contention to win the Coleman Medal so come on Jesse and get a triple hat trick against the Swans in Round 21. Melbourne didn’t have it all their own way however and the Suns pushed back somewhat in the third limiting the Dees to just two goals for the quarter. Only Jesse and Jeff Garlett managed to put the sherrin between the big sticks. Garlett’s goal came after some nice team work from the Dees, culminating in an unselfish pass from Jesse Hogan, allowing Jeff to walk in the goal. We came home strong in the fourth quarter, giving the fans plenty to celebrate.
Anyway, all of that is irrelevant unless we win at least one of the final three games. We face the Swans next which won’t be easy after their comeback game against Collingwood. Don’t believe the Buddy is injured story. He looked fairly fit after kicking six goals against the Pies. A tactical move by the Coach to throw the Magpies off? We’ll have to be on our best form and show no mercy. Go the Dees!!!
MELBOURNE 9.3 14.6 16.12 21.17 (143)
GOLD COAST 1.0 4.2 5.4 7.5 (47)
GOALS
Melbourne: Hogan 4, Harmes 3, Spargo 2, Oliver 2, Garlett 2, Neal-Bullen 2, Jones 2, Petracca 2, Salem, Brayshaw
Gold Coast: Sexton 5, Holman, Rischitelli
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