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.
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