Round 1 – Melbourne V GWS

Liam Chambers

Demons keep their cool as Giants surge

After a traumatic second half to the 2024 season, where we only won four out of twelve games, expectations of victory against a highly fancied Giants side were tempered to say the least. When Simon Goodwin announced his side for the Round 1 match, those expectations were further reduced. Six debutants and no Steven May! The gamble almost paid off though, and fans were left with a feeling that our future may be brighter than we previously dared to hope.

The Demons opened the scoring after only twenty five seconds when Matthew Jefferson crumbed the ball from a Jacob van Rooyen tap down and slotted it from 15m metres out.

Four minutes later Aaron Cadman almost took a mark close to the goal square but still managed to get a boot to the favourably bouncing sherrin, steering it across the line. Having assisted in the Giant’s first goal, Toby Greene got one for himself when he was given way too much space in front of goal. His mark and conversion from 15m out, gave his side a five point advantage. Jacob Wehr made it three in a row for the visitors when his round the corner snap from 30m out landed in the square and bounced across the line.

Melbourne was under some major pressure, with an orange tsunami threatening to overwhelm their defensive half. 

Cool heads prevailed however and eventually the Dees’ got their second, when another debutant Jack Henderson, seized the moment to make the most of a lucky bounce to tap the ball home.

Welcome back Tracca

At the start of the second term, neither side looked to have the advantage and they appeared quite evenly matched. Then a rejuvenated Christian Petracca, doing what he does best, pounced on the loose ball and launched from 30m to send it high and through the uprights.

The signs were good for Melbourne fans. Their side looked hungry and willing to play and tackle hard, running down their opponents when the opportunity presented. GWS is an impressive side but the Demons were equal to the task. Importantly the Giants were finding it difficult to locate the space between the uprights. Melbourne refusing to make it easy for them.

Then Harry Sharp became the third Debutant to score a goal for his new club when he found himself unguarded in the goal square and tapped the loose ball over the line. A minute later and Petracca had his second of the quarter when he gather up the ground ball and snapped it in from the edge of the square.

Not to be outdone, GWS’s number five Aaron Cadman took a mark on the behind line, then curled the set shot through the posts. Just before half time, Stephen Coniglio kicked an opportunistic goal from 10m to level the numbers.  After the bounce, Toby Greene was a awarded a dubious free kick in front of goal by leaving his arm on Harrison Petty, making it look like he was being held. The Ref agreed and Greene had his second goal.

Melbourne seize the momentum

Though trailing by seven at the start of the second half, the Dees wasted no time in reducing that deficit to a single point when Caleb Windsor burst out of the centre, before launching from just outside the arc to put his name on the scoreboard. Incredibly the Demons had two goals in thirty seconds after Petracca exploded out of the circle, before handpassing to Tom Sparrow. The midfielder then snapped a bullet from just inside the arc and drilled it through the uprights. 

Then, another minute later Max Gawn’s set shot from 60m sailed towards the goal square where it was punched out to a waiting Jake Bowey. The defender marked and then snapped the ball over the line. There was a review of the goal to determine whether the ball had been touched, but the footage was inconclusive and the Dees were ahead by eleven points.

Stephen Coniglio clawed one back for the Giants when he gathered up the ground ball and snapped an around the corner kick. Jacob van Rooyen had kept a low profile for much of the afternoon but when he saw the ball land in the square, he pounced straightaway and tapped it into the open goal.

The next goal was even more opportunistic, when another debutante Aiden Johnson ripped the ball off defender Jack Buckley, then turned and snapped it through by the barest of margins. Melbourne was now seventeen points ahead and looking to be in total control.

Unfortunately, we were unable to retain the momentum and GWS reduced the deficit to ten points, when Coniglio got his hat trick after he tapped the ball in from 20m.
After that goal, the rains came down but the scoring dried up, despite Petracca’s best efforts to claim his own hat trick.

Giants claim victory in the dying seconds

The signs were good for Melbourne heading into the final term, but experience tells us that we faltered many times last season when the fourth quarters proved to be our undoing.

Sure enough, Tom Green closed the gap to five points within the first minute, when his banana snap from 40m evaded the touch of Jake Lever, whose leap on the goal line was optimistic but ultimately futile. After the goal, GWS went up a gear and threw everything at the Dees’ defence.

Despite the Giants control of territory, Melbourne was able to let the visitors know that we were still in the game, when Jefferson kicked his second after marking inside 50 and then slotting the 45m set shot. The visitors kept chipping away at Melbourne’s lead but with ten minutes remaining, we were still looking good.

Then the player everybody loves to hate, Toby Greene, got himself into the perfect position to mark the ball on the arc before running on and snapping from 40m. It was a great goal but devastating form Demons fans, as our advantage was cut to two points.

When Aiden Johnson marked in the pocket, Melbourne fans everywhere held their collective breath. Sadly the shot veered to the right for a minor score.

Predictably, the ball went straight up the other end and was marked in the pocket by Lachlan Keeffe; coincidentally, in a very similar spot to Johnson’s attempt. As some of the home spectators covered their eyes to the impending tragedy taking place on the field, Keeffe went back and slotted the 40m set shot.

Though the ending was heartbreaking, Demons can be justifiably proud of their players on the day. We fought hard and deserved the win but that’s footy folks.

Next up we travel to Marvel stadium to face North Melbourne. If we play as well as we did against the Giants, then we will come away victorious.