2 Week Wrap Up

It has been two long weeks in the AFL since the last post here on Melbourne Footy.

With plenty happening in two rounds, there is too much to talk about, so I will talk about what most of you want to hear, and that's Melbourne.

Well, Melbourne vs Hawthorn, what a disappointment. After the build up and hype that surrounded the game, the first half was what the Melbourne fans wanted to see. It was an improvement on the first round draw and looked to be setting us up for the win, or to go very close. We played the counter-attacking footy that Melbourne was known for and the fans loved, which was seen through the noise coming from the outnumbered Melbourne fans.

Then came one of the worst quarters I have ever suffered through as a Melbourne fan. A 52 point turnaround in the 3rd quarter was handed to an overwhelmed Melbourne side. However, this could of been a lot worse. Hawthorn had 72 more kicks, 71 more handballs, 43 more marks and 10 more clearances than a Melbourne side who showed they still had a lot to learn. This, coupled with Hawthorn's dreadful inaccuracy infront of goal (kicking 16 goals, 26 behinds) limited the result to a 45-point loss for Melbourne, and the knowledge that we still had a long way to go to match it with the big boys.

However, there was some good signs in a terrible performance. Colin Sylvia played his normal game, racking up 26 disposals, 12 of them contested, and 5 clearances. Stefan Martin also showed glimpses of the player he will be, showing his improvement in pace and understanding of the game from the off season, also picking up 4 clearances and showing Melbourne what we have to look forward to in the future.

But the bright star of the game had to be the big fella, Luke Tapscott. He showed that his round 1 performance wasn't a fluke, picking up 23 possessions, 9 of them contested and showcased that his match-ready body and ability to read the play is a force to be reckoned with, giving something to the Melbourne supporters that they could take away from the game.

But always the optimists, many Melbourne fans looked to the fixture, and the next two games in particular. Brisbane at the MCG, then Gold Coast at the Gabba. Two easy wins many would say.

However, we had to work for our first win of the season. With many believing that more negatives came out of it than positives (the biggest positive being the 4 points).

After a controlled first few minutes, leading to two Jurrah marks inside 50, and a scoreline of 7-0, things went downhill very quickly for Melbourne. Yet again the slow start allowed an accurate Brisbane to kick 5 first quarter goals and go in to the break with a 25 point lead.

Then, after a spray from a usually calm Dean Bailey, Melbourne picked up the pace in what should be known as "Jurrah's quarter". Melbourne kicked 5 in the quarter, including 3 from the boot of Jurrah who was running rampant in Melbourne's forward 50, and brought it back to a 6 point deficit going into the major break.

In the third quarter, Melbourne came out and quelled the fears of the supporters of a Hawthorn-esque 3rd term, kicking 5 more goals in the quarter, and creating a 16 point lead for the final quarter.

And what a tense last quarter it was, Brisbane kicking 2 goals to Melbournes 1. However Melbourne came out with an 11 point win, and 4 points on the board.

The best players in my view are Moloney (no matter what he did in the post-match celebrations) with 36 possessions, 12 contested, and 7 clearances. Other notable players were Nathan Jones (27 disposals) and Gysberts (25 disposals) in his first game for the year.

However, in my opinion, the back line saved us. Rivers being among the best, with a contested mark that  saved the game, James Frawley and Clint Bartram (6 1%er's).

Overall, in two games, Melbourne has left plenty to be desired, but shown enough to keep the supporters coming back.

Nick.