Round 17 – GWS Vs Melbourne

Liam Chambers

Both teams needed a win to stay in the running. For the Dees though, there would be no more second chances. Melbourne got off to a great start when Oskar Baker held his nerve to kick a set shot from a difficult angle and secure his first goal.

The Dees contained the Giants with some good tackling, pushing forward and attacking the Giants’ defence. Christian Petracca, looking determined early on, was also a good sign. Clayton Oliver landed a nice kick to Alex Neal-Bullen which he marked and converted from forty metres out for number two.

Up the other end, Toby Greene missed a sitter, letting the Dees off the hook. On occasion, Melbourne string a run of play together that is just pure poetry. This time, Kysaiah Pickett started by running through the pack just inside 50 and scooping up the ball. He then handed it to Aaron vandenBerg, before running on to receive it back again, accelerating and lobbing it to Sam Weiderman. Weiderman thumped it to Charlie Spargo who controlled the bounce on the run before straightening up and kicking directly through the uprights.

In a tough decision against Jake Lever for making contact after the ball was marked, Daniel Lloyd was awarded a 50m penalty. He couldn’t miss from that distance. A minute later the Giants had a second when Harry Perryman took an opportunistic kick in the middle of a scrum in front of goal.

After that GWS piled on the pressure but it was Jayden Hunt at the other end who got the next goal. To round off the term, Christian Petracca controlled a great one handed pick up and snapped one in from forty metres to put the Dees seventeen points in front.

There was no time to relax though, especially after Brent Daniels’ kick from the pocket got a lucky bounce to tumble in the right direction towards goal. Would have been a great score if we did it. Melbourne knew they couldn’t sit back and wait for a good last quarter performance. Applying some really intense pressure, they fought like demons around the goal square; especially Pickett who seemed to have the ball every time a Giant lost it. Eventually though it was Oskar Baker who struck, scoring his second banana.

Steven May was again having a stellar defence game but eventually Zac Williams snuck through when the guard was down, marking the ball twenty five metres from goal. GWS were again inspired to pile on the pressure but against the run of play Petracca was able to kick the ball towards the goal square. Waiting was Jayden Hunt who tapped the high bouncing ball towards Kysaiah, who ran it into the goal.

However, Lloyd was having a good game and snapped a goal from the 50m line to keep up the pressure. Then Jeremy Finlayson was able to cruise behind the defence and kick another from twenty metres out. Disappointingly both goals had come from Melbourne turning the ball over. Matt De Boer was lucky to be awarded a free after Jake Melksham was harshly pinged for a questionable infringement. De Boer converted and GWS took the lead for the first time.

Simon Goodwin opened a fresh packet of chewing gum.

With the scores even steven going into the second half, there were more than a few nervous Demon fans. One factor in our favour though was Toby Greene’s inaccurate kicking on the day. One player not having an off day was Trent Rivers and his first goal in AFL was a beauty.

Undeterred, the Giants were back up the field, pressuring our defence and culminating in Brent Daniels kicking his second. Then Zac Williams also got a second and when Jeremy Cameron added to the tally, it started looking bleak for the Dees with the scores at 66-54.

We needed to go hard and did, defending and tackling well before going on the attack. Christian Salem, after grabbing the ball on the edge of the 50m line, launched a powerful volley to sneak one in. He doesn’t score many goals but when he does, they are spectacular. With GWS getting the most points on the board for the previous two quarters, Melbourne needed to throw caution to the wind. They would have to go for it or go home.

They say that good things come in small packages and Charlie Spargo proved that by kicking his second from a forty metre a set shot. With both sides desperate for a win, every goal now was precious. When Bailey Fritsch marked cleverly thirty metres from goal and converted, it was back on for the Dees.

With so much on the line, both sides were making sloppy errors. Melbourne got the ball up the field only to see GWS bring it back down again. Then Rivers, on his left foot, kicked the goal of the night for the Dees and increased the volume to eleven (points). Kudos to Ed Langdon for his part in the goal. His hard chasing got the ball into a scoring position.

With Goody shouting from the sidelines, Brent Daniels managed to claw one back with thirty seconds to go. Then the Giants threw the kitchen sink at Melbourne but the seconds ticked down in our favour for a famous win.

We play Essendon in our last game. We have to win and hope the Bulldogs lose. Alternatively we have to win by a significant margin and hope the Giants beat St Kilda by thirty or forty points. Then we could slip through on percentages.

Just because the Bombers have been lacklustre over the last few games and been accused of not turning up, we underestimate them at our peril. Essendon have some good players and we need to play like the opposition are on top of the ladder (and I don’t mean how we played against Port Adelaide).

Go the Mighty Dees!!!