Swan Song Or Is There Still Hope?
Round 21 – Melbourne Vs Sydney – Swan Song Or Is There Still Hope?
By Liam Chambers
I want to be optimistic but that was a golden opportunity missed considering the other results in Round 21. The Crows ruled themselves out of contention, the Roos lost to the less fancied Bulldogs and Geelong were unable to rein in the Hawks. Plus of course Port’s narrow loss to the Eagles. Everything was in our favour but somehow Sydney found a way to win. Experience counts of course but the impression was the Dees lacked self-belief. They let their nerves get the better of them on the day. We have some great talent who’ve learned how to work together as a team with some brilliant individual players but somehow we failed to rise to the occasion.
It’s perfectly understandable how a mostly young team would feel so overwhelmed when the prospect of playing finals is so close. Goals that should have easily slotted home went wide for a behind with depressing regularity. The ball was fumbled and kicks seemed to fall into Sydney’s hands way too often. We needed to play without any fear but that’s very easy to say when you’re in the stands or sitting on your comfortable lounge at home.
Still where there’s life there’s hope. To say that we will be the underdog against West Coast in Round 22 is an understatement but that may be our biggest strength. The weight of expectation is now well and truly off their shoulders. I really hope they just relax, enjoy themselves and play just for the sheer love of the game because I truly believe that would give us the best chance of an upset in Perth. We know we can win and West Coast have been defeated at home this season.
Ditto the Giants. The experienced players like Nathan Jones, Jordan Lewis, Cam Pedersen and Bernie Vince can be a great inspiration at this time. Simon Goodwin needs to dig deep to rally his troops to believe anything is possible. Alternatively, we can hope that Port Adelaide and North Melbourne both lose their last two games and Essendon lose against Richmond in Round 22. All very possible and that’s where our percentage would see us scrape into the final eight but I would much rather we beat the Eagles and the Giants. Let’s remember the old adage “The bigger they are the harder they fall”.
One huge positive about today’s game was how we played ourselves back into the game in the final quarter. Yes, it was a case of way too late and many missed opportunities but we did come quite close by the end. There was a dogged determination there and that’s the spirit we need to tap into next week. Let’s unleash the demons within.
MELBOURNE 2.6 3.12 7 .14 10.18 (78)
SYDNEY 1.1 7.2 13.6 13.9 (87)
GOALS
Melbourne: vandenBerg 3, T.McDonald 2, Petracca, Hogan, Pedersen, Garlett, Jones
Sydney: Papley 3, Heeney 2, Franklin 2, Cunningham, Hayward, Hannebery, Dawson, Kennedy, McCartin
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