Round 9 – Melbourne V Carlton

Liam Chambers

Every game so far this season we’ve seen Melbourne adapt to the circumstances. I remember reading about Game Theory in Uni many years ago and the parallels are striking. I don’t know if Simon Goodwin has been studying John Nash’s work or whether the players have just clicked naturally but it’s working. The implicit trust that everyone working together improves the outcome for the whole team is on show week after week. The cooperation is reaping benefits and it’s a sight to gladden the hearts of Demon fans.

I have to admit I didn’t know that each time Melbourne has won the first nine games, they’ve gone on to win the Grand Final. The crowd at the MCG was eerily quite for the first half. It was as if they felt that too much noise would break the spell and ruin our chance for glory.

It started well though with Bailey Fritsch marking 35m out and scoring from the set shot. An error in the Dees’ defence saw the ball pass over the heads of the players bunched together reaching for the mark, allowing Matthew Owies the chance to run behind the pack and scramble through to score. Then the legendary Eddie Betts poached the ball in mid air as Jayden Hunt tried to kick it out of defence. Betts didn’t waste the opportunity.

Melbourne had some decent chances but were unable to connect. A long kick up the field from Ed Langdon bounced nicely for Hunt who got it to Charlie Spargo inside 50. Unfortunately Charlie’s shot bounced off the woodwork. Max Gawn managed to intercept the ball on the way to goal guru Ben Brown. BB had a second chance a minute later when he marked on the 50m line but he put it just wide. Marc Pittonet was awarded a 50m penalty for one of those confusing infringements and kicked number three for the Blues.

After some good boundary line passing, the Dees managed something out of nothing with Alex Neal-Bullen taking a mark 40m out from a well placed Ed Langdon kick. Again, good team work. Then the wonderfully composed Christian Salem delivered an impressive kick to Neal-Bullen who threaded it through to the goal square where the forwards got in each other’s way. Luckily Clayton Oliver collected the ball as he ran passed and booted in number three for Melbourne. Sam Weideman’s kick to Tom McDonald was marked 30m in front of goal and converted after the siren sounded.

Carlton applied some intense pressure at the start of the second term but the Dees soaked it up and headed back towards their forward half where McDonald targeted Bailey Fritsch. It was a case of karma when Fritsch was awarded a 50m penalty after Kade Chandler played the same trick that got him penalised in the first quarter. Eddie Betts weaved some more magic but his brilliant manipulation in front of goal fell just short. Levi Casboult did manage to put Carlton back on the scoreboard though when he marked from 25m in front of goal.

Tom McDonald is having the season of his career. His difficult angled kick from the pocket was perfect. When Kysaiah Pickett’s not setting up scoring opportunities, he setting up other players for scoring opportunities. His vision and skill in picking out McDonald was pure genius. T Mac was able to run through an open inside 50 to score his third.

Carlton again piled on the pressure but Steven May and the other key defenders were too good. Eventually, the Blues’ insistent drive paid off and Liam Stocker snapped one through to stay in touch with Melbourne. Carlton upped ante and had the Dees scrambling before Harry McKay (carrying a shoulder injury) marked the ball 25m out and kicked around the corner to reduce the margin to seven points. Melbourne was able to redress the balance after a Clayton Oliver kick was marked by Jayden Hunt who converted from the set shot.

Oliver was also involve in the Dees’ first goal of the second half when Pickett spun almost 360 degrees before kicking the ball to the midfield who booted it on to Ed Langdon who scored from the set shot. With the rain coming down, Melbourne appeared to be controlling the play better. Neal-Bullen got a surprise uncontested ball and basically walked into the open goal.
The Blues didn’t concede too easily though and kept pressing although they were unable to hit the target.

Melbourne got their third unanswered goal when Bailey Fritsch slipped a mark in the wet conditions but was able to collect the ball and snap it through the uprights. Harry McKay got his second after being awarded a 50m penalty and kicked from point blank range. Then he got a more impressive goal when his kick from the 50m line sailed through. You could say he had the long and short of it within a minute.

While Kysaiah Pickett is a great play maker, his goals can also be impressive. He must have been inspired by Eddie Betts when he ran around the traffic to beautifully control the ball along the ground and score from 30m out. Sam Weideman had a chance to score on his return to the top flight but his shot after the siren just veered wide. Charlie Spargo is an opportunistic goal scorer and when the ball was kept in by Weideman near the goal square, Charlie seized his chance to kick his sixth of the season.

So far this year Melbourne haven’t lost a final quarter but when Carlton clawed back two late goals the sides were thirteen points apiece so it was a close run thing. All in all it was a business like performance from the Dees. They did as much as they had to and had enough in reserve if it was required.

They travel to Adelaide in Round 10 to take on the Crows. Again, Melbourne won’t be taking anything for granted but they’ll have one eye on the following Friday night when they take on probably the best side in the competition. The Bulldogs are looking formidable and it will be interesting to see how or if the Dees’ change their game to suit the circumstances.

There will still be the naysayers but there’s a belief and confidence that hasn’t been in the side for a long time.

Go The Mighty Dees!!!

Nigel Dawe

I wasn’t going to write just yet, I was going to hold off for a while and see how the next few weeks pan out; and then I thought – ‘No, you know what, while things are rolling the way they are, 9-from-9 to start the season – now is absolutely the time to capture something of this very moment!’

To add another precursor of sorts, I’m not saying for an instant the Dees are any certainty to etch their name in diamond-encrusted platinum by going through a season undefeated (a ‘feat’ as yet unrealised, in over 120-years of the VFL/ AFL competition).

But for just a second, for one almighty miniscule fraction of old man time’s most precious commodity, let’s consider the potential of such a prospect. In the emboldened spirit of William Ellery Channing, who once roared: “Fix your eyes on perfection and you make almost everything speed towards it.” Why not dare, to at least unpack or remotely engage with what such an achievement might potentially look or even feel like. At the end of the day, you only ever hit what you aim for.

While there is no precedent in our code (at its most elite level) for a team that has gone from start to finish without feeling the cold slap of defeat at some stage; there are examples of ‘perfect’ seasons in other codes. In American Football for example, the Miami Dolphins ‘sailed’ through their season of 1972 taking all before them, achieving what no other side has done, before or since in that sport – and that is win – one week at a time, for each and every week of a given season. 

Arsenal, likewise in the English Premier League, won (well didn’t lose, they drew against some teams) by going ‘undefeated’ in all 38 of their games in season 2003-04, a feat which also earned them the title ‘The Invincibles’ and a special (never before given) gold-plated version of the Premier League trophy.

While our red and blue ‘crusaders’ of season 2021 have plenty more ‘immediate’ and pressing considerations to factor in to their collective focus for the year, like getting into September safely first; one nice ‘aside’ along the way, is the potential for achieving the ‘unprecedented’, and stamp their name for all-time on the very cliff face of the game itself.

It’s not unreasonable to consider a perfect season, it might be highly unlikely, even borderline ludicrous: but if the Dolphins of ’72, or if Arsenal of ’03/04 had thought leading in to round 10 of their respective undefeated seasons – ‘We couldn’t possibly do this, could we?’ Then guess what…? A loss would’ve certainly met them, with full ferocity ‘half-way’ along the rocky road of their own self-doubts.

At the original stadium of Olympia, the ancient Greeks had an altar set up in clear sight of all, but essentially it was for the competing athletes, in honour of ‘Kairos’, their mighty little god of luck and opportunity. Often depicted with arrows drawn and wings on his feet, because back then, as now – luck and opportunity have to be ‘taken’ on the fly, and seized without second thought or hesitation.

As such, right now is the ‘opportune’ time for the Melbourne Football Club to take its chances and play with absolute abandon; go out of your way boys – make it 10-in-a-row… we have nothing to lose or fear, except for loss and fear itself. In the purest spirit of one of the ancient world’s most popular sayings, which hasn’t lost any of its fitting gloss, since the ferocious old days of the Colosseum itself…

‘Fortune favours the brave.’

Round 8 Melbourne V Sydney

Liam Chambers

As the Dees weathered the Swan’s storm footy fans knew not to underestimate the Swans. This season’s Sydneysiders don’t scare easily and they’re definitely not intimidated by the MCG. Richmond expected a comfortable win in Round 3 but came away licking their wounds.

Sydney also had Lance Franklin back in the squad and he was oiled up and ready to go. Steven May had the job guarding Buddy and ensuring he didn’t cause too much mischief. The start was almost a carbon copy of last week’s game when Justin McInerney scored after the Swans got the advantage from the centre bounce. A few minutes later Will Hayward double Sydney’s advantage when he kicked from a set shot on the 50m line.

Melbourne fought back and Jayden Hunt managed a clear run through the middle kicking the ball to Alex Neal-Bullen on their forward 50m line. Neal-Bullen spotted Tom McDonald 35m in front of goal tapped to to the key forward. Tom kicked it straight through the uprights for the Dees first.

The Swans were playing high pressure football but Jake Melksham managed to take a mark 40m from goal after a perfectly timed jump to grab the ball. His ensuing kick was precise and Melbourne was back within a point. The game continued at a frenetic pace and Sydney was kicking well but they were unable to break through. The Dees’ third came after a run through the corridor where Charlie Spargo managed to get a kick to Ben Brown as he was just on the verge of being run down. Brown marked it 25m out and converted to give Melbourne the lead. Tom Hickey got one back just before quarter when the ruckman’s round the corner kick from 35m out sailed through the posts.

The second quarter started well for the Dees. They looked comfortably in control and started to create more chances. Tom McDonald has been improving steadily since the start of the season and his movement around the ball has become more fluid. He’s creating chances for himself and his fellow players. His targeted kick to Ben Brown inside 50 was taken one handed, enabling the big forward to kick his second from 35m out. He was also influential in Melbourne’s next goal when Jake Melksham’s running kick to inside 50 was tapped by McDonald to Christian Petracca who snapped it straight through the uprights.

While the Swans continued streaming into Melbourne’s defensive 50, the Dees’ back line was holding up well. At the other end Sydney was fending off attacks as well but Melbourne’s shots kept missing the target in the wet conditions, allowing the Swans to stay in the game.

Only trailing by eleven points, Sydney started the second half applying major forward pressure. Wave after wave of Swans threatened Melbourne’s defence. Finally, Will Hayward broke through for the first goal of the quarter and Sydney’s first since the opening term. Swans’ joy was short lived however. After a chaotic passage of play, a brilliant kick by Christian Salem to Ben Brown gave the new recruit his hat trick.

Then Tom McDonald showed his versatility and mobility by running around and through Sydney’s defence to kick his second. Melbourne’s game had gone up a notch and they seemed to be pulling further away from the Swans, playing more flowing football. McDonald was really stamping his mark and his 45m set shot form the pocket stretched the Dees lead to twenty two points.  Of course you never write off the Swans too early and true to form, they hit back with two late goals. First Jake Lloyd kicked one from 40m out before a great goal on the run from the Tom Papley clawed the margin back to ten points.

Starting the last quarter leading by less than two goals and with the Swans breathing down their neck, the Dees needed an early break. Instead they got off to the worst possible start with Callum Sinclair scoring after the centre bounce went Sydney’s way.

Demon fans often hold their breath at the start of a quarter or after their team scores knowing an immediate response is possible and sometimes the opposition gets two goals in quick succession. Those pesky centre bounces are the one chink in Melbourne’s armour. Though struggling at times, Melbourne managed to hold off the onslaught from Sydney and maintain their slim lead.

Though the Swans were determined to win, they couldn’t get the contested mark inside 50 and score from a set shot. The Dees’ defence was too good. When Charlie Spargo was able to kick through traffic to score a vital goal, it gave Melbourne some much needed breathing space. Unfortunately Callum Mills spoiled the early celebrations by marking and converting to bring the margin back to under a single goal.

James Harmes, who was having a brilliant game on his return from injury, tipped the balance back in Melbourne’s favour when his kick to Tom McDonald was beautifully marked 15m in front of goal. The key forward got his fourth of the night and probably cemented his place up front for the foreseeable future. With literally seconds to go, the recently renewed star midfielder Christian Petracca went down with what initially looked like a knee injury. Demon fans held their collective breath but it appears it was simply a corked thigh, very painful initially but manageable.

We face Carlton in Round 9. The Blues may have only won three games so far this season but Simon Goodwin’s players won’t be underestimating any side in the competition. What matters is how we’re playing as a team and how we can change our game to suit the circumstances. That’s been the difference this year. A loss will come eventually but I’ll happily take a few losses on the way to the Grand Final, as long as we take home the big prize. Go the Mighty Dees!!!

Nigel Dawe

The great Norm Smith, and ever-reigning coach of the Century, once snarled: “Winning isn’t everything, but it’s a bloody sight better than what comes next!” And, having stuck by our boys in the red and blue for the best part of the last four decades, I can vouch for Smithy’s comment, in a way that he couldn’t have remotely imagined when he said it at the time.

And so, without getting swept away by the first two absolutely fantastic ‘loss-less’ months of season ’21, and not to downplay or feign indifference to such a non-mean feat (because 8-in-a-row is sterling stuff) we have a long way to go; but what a trip we’ve been afforded thus far. One that’s starting to push our current crop of players into the realm of club record territory.

You’d have to have just come back from a trip to Mars to have not heard our best start to a season was back in 1956 – an ‘Olympic’ and truly halcyon year in which the Norm Smith-led, Barassi, Beckwith and Co gladiators notched wins in all of their first 13 matches, eventually going down to the Bulldogs in Round 14 by 13 points.

But one incredible ‘accompaniment’ to this statistical morsel, is the fact Melbourne also won the last six matches of season 1955, to create the most successful winning streak in the club’s history (19-games straight). The attached visual of ‘The Demon Comet’ and Beckwith with the ball-on-a-string appeared in The Age, 11 ‘supersonic’ games into that majestic season of 1956.

Having said that, the Cats of 1952-53 are the game’s true ‘astronauts’, albeit golden boys when it comes to stringing the W’s together in the win-loss column of ladder histrionics. This incredible dark blue-hooped bunch from Corio Bay fronted up for 23-games straight, without a loss. Next on the all-time list are those Bomber boys of 2000 (and how could we forget), but they amassed a mammoth 20-games straight from Round 1 through to Round 20 (dropping just that solitary outing for the entire year) – the most successful season of any side in the history of the game.

To paraphrase our more than canny current coach, Simon Goodwin, and his chief playmakers – Petracca and T-Mac from after the match last week: ‘To a person at the club, it’s about taking a 0-0 games won approach into each and every game – there is no next week or last week, winning streak or even Shit Creek, there is just an all-important right here and NOW, to be met, overcome and WON!’

Which is an approach and a convictional resolve that surely stirs not just the spirit, but the supreme example of Norm Smith to life, having once echoed: “Clubs must try to build a winning tradition, and develop to the highest degree a fierce pride in their team. If a club’s not a proud one, it has little chance of success.”

So, here’s to the pride required to rise, and prove to one’s self and the entire football world – that the team of the red and the blue have what it takes, to keep winning – one week at a time, for a long time to come.

Round 7 – North Melbourne v Melbourne

Liam Chambers

7th Heaven in Van Demon’s Land

Melbourne travelled to Tasmania to face a side that has stubbornly refused to conform to expectations in recent years. Surely this year would be different. The Dees were coming off six wins on the trot and the Roos had yet to win a game. Top plays bottom.

Fans could be forgiven for thinking the players had swapped guernseys before the game, as North Melbourne got off to a flying start. The Roos got the advantage from the first centre bounce, getting the ball into their forward 50 and into the hands of Tom Campbell. His score form set shot was perfectly shaped kick and North was on the scoreboard. While the Dees were digesting that first strike, Shaun Atley received the sherrin after some dexterous play and ran in the Roos’ second.

To add to Melbourne’s woes, Adam Tomlinson injured his knee after a seemingly innocuous slip and was taken down to the rooms for assessment. Unfortunately it was determined that he had ruptured his ACL and he was devastated to learn that his season was over. Tomlinson has played brilliantly this season after slotting into a key defender role alongside Steven May and Jake Lever. He will be sorely missed and we wish him a speedy full recovery.

The Dees managed to wrest some control back when a clever tap from debutant Ben Brown to Bailey Fritsch enabled the forward to turn and snap in Melbourne’s first goal. Two minutes later, Max Gawn dropped a catch inside 50 which Fritsch collects to run in his second. Then Luke Jackson got a lucky ball which fell behind the group going for the mark in front of goal and and tapped in the third for the visitors.

North wasn’t deterred though and Tom Campbell slotted another from 45m out after the home side got the advantage from the centre bounce. It was all even at nineteen points apiece but North took a five point advantage into quarter time after a Tom Powell goal.

After the break, North continued it’s winning ways with Jy Simpkin marking and converting from 40m out. Melbourne kept in touch though when Kysaiah Pickett capped off a brilliant run with an angled kick to Ed Langdon, who scored from the set shot after a great mark.

Ben Brown’s first goal for his new club maybe wasn’t what the fans were expecting. He can kick them with precise accuracy from 50 plus metres but his debut score was a soccer kick inside the goal square. It took forever for the ARC to determined that the sherrin hadn’t been touched but in the end the goal was awarded and Ben was on the score sheet.

Max Gawn wasn’t having the best of days and his normally clean hands were dropping seemingly easy marks. Pickett on the other hand was involved in some great displays of footy and when he scored at the end of the chain after a centre bounce, he showed how important he is to the Dees flowing game.

Unfortunately the Roos again took back control and scored the last three goals of the half. First Cameron Zurhaar scored after some good ball movement. Then Ben Cunnington collected a crumb when the ball was launched to inside 50. Finally Nick Larkey scored after some relentless pressure from the Roos.

Leading by fifty nine points at half time, North Melbourne had the belief that they could cause the upset of the season; Simon Goodwin had one major reset to do with his team if they were going to arrest the slide in the second half.

Melbourne needed to regain the momentum and they did. Again it was Pickett who was instrumental in keeping the ball alive when he bounced it through to Bailey Fritsch from the boundary. Fritsch picked up the loose ball to run in his fourth. The Roos weren’t done yet though and Jack Mahony kicked one through traffic to restore their half time margin.

From there the game started to turn in Melbourne’s favour. Pickett’s second goal was a thing of beauty. Running, passing and receiving the ball from the wing to inside 50 and again to collect the ball just outside the goal square. When Ben Brown was awarded a free from 35m out, he scored his second and Melbourne’s eleventh form the set shot. North were now making errors with Fritsch allowed an uncontested mark 30m out from goal to kick his fifth.

Finally Max was starting to mark more consistently and had a shot from 50m line. Unfortunately he couldn’t replicate his stunning goal from the same position last week. However, the Dees were digging themselves out of a hole and looked well place going into the final term with a lead of thirteen points.

Melbourne were starting to look more comfortable in defence as the quarter progressed. Steven May was getting more of the ball and Tom McDonald had dropped back to cover Adam Tomlinson’s absence to good affect. Luke Jackson was also playing well and the Dees looked like a team more in control. However it was the Roos that got the first goal when Ben Cunnington gathered another crumb and managed to fumble, run and eventually kick the ball high through the uprights.

It was also to be North’s last goal of the game as the Dees moved up a gear when James Jordan slotted his first of the afternoon. A minute later, Clayton Oliver snapped one off his left boot after a good run up the field. Bailey Fritsch wasn’t finished either and took a mark to kick his sixth and cement his place as the Dees’ highest goal soccer so far this season. Kysaiah Pickett saved his best for last with a lovely opportunist goal to again ice the cake for Melbourne.

After a scare from the cellar dwellers, the Dees found a way to win and that’s a mark of a great side. It won’t be the last game where they’ll have to dig deep but they’re proving every week that they’re up to the challenge. So far this this year, Melbourne have won all of their fourth quarters.

We face the Swans in Round 8 and they’ve shown they have what it takes to keep fighting. It’ll be another tough test for the Dees but we know now what they’re capable of. Congrats to Tracca on signing his new contract with Melbourne for the next seven years.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!