Match Report – Melbourne v Geelong

Liam Chambers

What can you say. It’s been a nightmare start to Melbourne’s 2019 campaign. I hate to write it but Geelong played brilliantly. We had some moments where our huge potential was on show but we just couldn’t put the points on the score board. There will be many questions raised about the Dees but there are a lot of players who’ve had pre season surgery and obviously they are struggling with a team not yet fully fit.

One of the those players is Clayton Oliver but he was in great form against the Cats with 44 disposals. Christian Salem was a stand out performer again and Angus Brayshaw’s work rate was unquestionable especially considering he was playing with a corked thigh. Max Gawn was better with 18 hitouts. Another positive were the young guns in Lockhart & Sparrow.

There were moments where we fought hard against a Geelong side that were definitely under estimated by the commentariat. The old warriors were there in Dangerfield, Hawkins and Selwood leading the charge.

We tried to make a game of it in the second quarter but we couldn’t convert our advantage. An interesting statistic shows Melbourne had 25 more inside 50s than Geelong but the Cats found a way to score the goals. The third quarter sealed the deal for Geelong and our three goals in the final quarter was way too little way too late.

Where to from here? It looks like May’s injury will keep him out for a few games when we desperately need him in defence. However, the Dees need to rediscover that brilliance they displayed in the last four games of 2018. Fans could be forgiven for asking if the Demons really want it enough, if they’re hungry enough and if they’re passionate enough to turn their season around.

They have to ignore the commentary both positive and negative. The expectation has been sky high and now we’ve crashing back to earth with the harsh reality of the week to week footy.

On paper we should be unbeatable but whether it’s a tendency to under estimate the opposition or lack of self belief, we keep getting beaten. In the JLT pre season games we had issues that we’d hoped would be ironed out by now but it looks like we need to go back to the drawing board and look again at our strategy; how can we adjust our game when the opposition keeps outmaneuvering us.

I’m an optimist and if we play to our potential we should have the first win under our belt when we play the Bombers on Friday night.

GEELONG 6.1 7.4 13.4 20.6 (126)
MELBOURNE 2.2 3.4 3.9 6.10 (46)
GOALS
Geelong: Rohan 3, Selwood 2, Dahlhaus 2, Hawkins 2, Dangerfield 2, Miers, Kelly, O’Connor, Duncan, Ratugolea, Parfitt, Menegola, Clark, Constable
Melbourne: Melksham 2, Weideman, Lockhart, Viney, Brayshaw
BEST
Geelong: Dangerfield, Kelly, Duncan, Dahlhaus, Selwood, Stewart, Constable
Melbourne: Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney, Harmes