It wasn’t meant to happen. It shouldn’t have happened. But it did happen.
by Darren Spence
I was confident leading into the game but there is always that niggling fear inside of me….can it happen again? It happened twice last year against Essedon and Caarlton. I could look up further occasions to illustrate my point but this would be strongly against the advice of my therapist who has spent countless years embedding the memories of games like the one on Sunday back in the recess of my brain for fear of a re-occurrence of uncontrolled tears and anger.
Without a doubt teams know about our inability to deal with favouritism and look to exploit this. And exploit it Hawthorn did getting out to a 35 point lead before the Dees finally kicked into gear (pun intended) and kicked 7 of the next 9 goals to get into a winning position. But alas it was too little too late and Melbourne went down to the Hawks by an agonising 3 points in yet what will be marked down as another win that got away.
This is not just some one eyed supporter’s comment when I seriously say that we could/should be undefeated after 7 rounds. We have been in front (or in this game level) at some stage in the final quarter of every game this year. Yes we can look back to the Pre-Roos era when we were belted every week and say look how much we have improved…..but the fact remains that opposition clubs will never fear the Mighty Dees when they know that they are only 1 bad quarter away from being back in the game….sadly something that has happened in 6 of the 7 games this year and the sole reason we are not undefeated.
On the weekend we won the clearances and had more inside 50s and this is a real credit to our midfield. Remember when Champion Data rated our midfield the worst and the Pies the best before the start of the season? How is that working out for them? I am not sure if this is a reflection of how they rate stats or even the importance of them?…..The only stat I really care about is the scoreboard at the end of the game!
However sticking to this stat theme we did have some impressive numbers. Viney played his best game for the year leading all-comers with 32 touches. Jones lifted as the side lifted after half time and finished with 27. Others with high numbers included Lewis (30), Vince with 31 and both Tyson and Oliver with 28 disposals. These players impressed me the most on the weekend with the addition of Frost who arguably played his best game for the club…..though overall it was a bitterly disappointing loss for the club.
We only have to wait 1 week for the opportunity for the boys to redeem themselves and what an opportunity! For the second game in a row we are up against a side that previously lost a game they were expected to win in Tassie as we head off to take on the ladder leaders in Adelaide. It is Bernie Vince’s 200th game and the boys will be making sure that they are switched on from the get go. Anything less than a full 4 quarter performance will see us lose again I fear, however if they play the full 120 minutes the way we know they can play then we will come off the ground victorious. It really is that simple!
Go Dees
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