Round 20 – Melbourne V GWS

Demons Last Minute Dash Just Fails To Topple Giants

Liam Chambers

Dees out of the blocks at a frenetic pace

With their Captain back in the team and only five games remaining, Melbourne had to throw everything at GWS in order to stay in touch with the top eight.

The Demons had the first goal after Kade Chandler kept the ball in play as it threatened to cross the boundary line, then he ran around the defence and snapped off his left boot.

The Giants responded five minutes later when Tom Greene was able to launch from 40m to send it straight through the middle.

Harrison Petty’s record from set shots this season hasn’t been the best but when he ran out to meet Jack Viney’s kick, his conversion was spot on. The next goal was similar to the previous effort, except it was Bailey Fritsch running out to meet Ed Langdon’s effort. The result was the same and Melbourne was fourteen points ahead.

Ed Langdon got a goal himself after Jacob van Rooyen handpassed into the goal square as the midfielder/wingman called for the ball. With less than two minutes remaining in the quarter, Jake Melksham took a clever contested mark in the pocket, then kicked an around the corner set shot to extend the lead to twenty seven points.

GWS lift their game and close the gap

In what seems like a rite of passage, ex Demon Toby Bedford took an uncontested mark inside 50, then went back to kick the 50m set shot. Sometimes it feels like former Melbourne players just can’t miss in those situations.

With GWS pushing hard, the Dees needed to weather the storm and somehow prevent the visitors from gaining too much momentum. Unfortunately they conceded a second goal when Brent Daniels collected the chaos ground ball, then turned and snapped from 30m in front.

Bailey Fritsch stole one back when he found himself alone in Melbourne’s forward 50, then took the mark and kicked the set shot.

Even though the name Toby hasn’t even made the top 1000 in recent years, the Giants have three of them. I’m not sure if McMullin is Toby 2 or 3 (obviously Greene is 1; though technically 4) but the young forward made sure of his 40m set shot after taking the uncontested mark.

Coincidently, the next goal was another Toby effort, this time from Greene himself. He collected the ball as it was tapped away from the pack, then ran goalward and scored.

With three minutes left in the half another former Dee took an inside 50 mark. Jesse Hogan then went back to kick his 50th goal of the season and take GWS to within two points of Melbourne.

Melbourne weather the storm but lag at the final break

Max Gawn is the inspiration behind many Demon victories and when he received the hand pass from Jake Melksham, the big fella launched from 20m to stretch the advantage out to ten points. That goal steadied the good ship Melbourne, but the orange tsunami kept threatening.

We held on and even had chances to increase our lead but eventually the dam broke when Toby Greene was able to draw a free kick and smashed an around the corner set shot to reduce the margin back to three points. Callan Ward gave the Giants the lead for the first time in the game when he marked, then kicked the 40m set shot.

Not for long though, as Jack Viney was able to pick up the ground ball and snap from 30m to restore Melbourne’s lead.

Then, in another twist, Jesse Hogan (using Gawn’s back for leverage) took the mark and kicked from just inside to notch up his second.

Dees just pipped at the post

Jesse Hogan started the fourth as he finished the third, by taking a contested mark inside 50. It was an easy conversion and just what we didn’t want. As if that wasn’t enough, GWS won the hitout and was immediately back inside 50, where Brent Daniels was able to collect the bouncing ball, then run around and snap his second to give the Giants a fifteen point lead.

Then Jesse Hogan twisted the knife, as he took yet another contested mark and again slotted the set shot. By now the temptation was to abandon all hope and head for the exits but it wasn’t over yet. Toby Greene collected his hat trick, after an admittedly brilliant smoother on a kick just inside 50. He then ran on to the square before getting on the end of a hand pass and tapping it through the uprights.

GWS almost an another but Melbourne was finally able to stop the rot and make some progress towards salvaging the game. They finally got some rewards when JVR marked the ball in the ruck, then launch from 20m to give the faithful hope. The renaissance was almost over before it began when Toby Greene tried to snare another. Fortunately Jake Bowey went above and beyond to get a touch on the sherrin before it crossed the goal line.

There was a couple of more chances for the Dees to further reduce the margin, but it was not to be.

Then Kade Chandler got his second when he kicked at speed just inside the arc and watched the ball sail through, reducing the gap back to fourteen points. With just minutes left, Kysaiah Pickett finally got on the scoreboard when he marked and converted from 45m out.

As the clock ticked down to the final minute, Alex Neal Bullen was able to collect the ground ball and snap it high and through the post to bring the Dees within two points of GWS.

Similar to the late dash against Carlton in Round 9, there was to be no fairytale finish for the Demons on this occasion either.

There are four games left in the season and the next two are against teams you are hitting their stride at the right time. Then there’s the Suns, who are rarely beaten at home and finally the reigning premiers Collingwood, and we write them off at our peril. With such a tight top twelve, we’re still in with a chance, but if we lose more than one of those games then a finals berth may be out of our hands.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!