Round 3 Adelaide vs Melbourne

[Barra13]

I apologise for not being able to do a bit of a preview on last round, work got in the way. But here is the next one.

Halfway through the second quarter at StarTrack Oval last Saturday, the Demons were seemingly cruising through their game against the Giants. Leading by five goals and having kept their opponents down to a solitary goal, they loosened their hold on the game after Jeff Garlett had goaled at the ten minute mark. They allowed GWS too much latitude and it was only their poor finishing that kept them at bay.

Late in the quarter and against the run of play, Ben Newton goaled to give his team a game high lead of 33 points in the shadows of half time. The game's defining moment however, came a minute and a half later when Cam McCarthy was provided with the opportunity to reply before the half time siren, the first of fourteen unanswered goal before Newton chimed in with his second and his team's last in a humiliating stanza of play.

The pattern that was set late in the second term was familiar. Melbourne fans saw it some weeks ago during the NAB Challenge match in Ballarat against the Bulldogs when the team let slip an even larger lead standing by helplessly as that game was almost lost to another avalanche of goals.

In other games, we have seen the team also commit dramatic lapses in play - in the first round at home, they were good enough to come back from these on three occasions but the question now is whether the pattern set at grounds far from home will be repeated and what can the coaches and players do to arrest a disturbing situation in which opposition teams are able to cut the team like butter through a knife.

It won't be easy this Saturday against an in-form Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval because the Crows have established a pattern of their own which is to destroy all that comes before them.

THE GAME

Adelaide v Melbourne v at the Adelaide Oval Saturday 18 April, 2015 at 2.10 pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Adelaide 21 wins Melbourne 12 wins

At Adelaide Oval Adelaide 0 wins Melbourne 1 win

Past five meetings Adelaide 3 wins Melbourne 2 wins

The Coaches Welsh 0 wins Roos 0 wins

PREVIEW AND TEAM SELECTION TO BE LOADED WHEN DETAILS COME TO HAND

[Ricochet]

This won't help

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-16/bad-break-for-viney

MELBOURNE has suffered a major injury blow with midfielder Jack Viney to miss at least four weeks after scans revealed he had a small fracture of his right fibula.

[Barra13]

Definitely not. He has been good this season, was excellent on Ablett, shutting him down and getting more possessions than him.

Although not too bad, would mean Brayshaw can come in and have a full game. Made an impact whenever he was on the ground in my eyes. He had 9 tackles to 3/4 time before he was subbed off in the first game.

[Purple 77]

Great preview Barra, if I'm honest I didn't totally recognise that our fadeouts have potentially formed a pattern until now.


Viney was looking good too :( still, I guess it could be worse, its only 4 weeks. And our list is (touchwood) in pretty good nick. Someone was bound to get injured sooner or later.


Does Grimes come in now? Or JKH? I want ....James, to gain confidence at VFL for the next... rest of year. So I hope we don't rush him back.

[LF]

Nice one Barra
You have been doing a great job in the Dees boards all preseason and it has been much appreciated

[Big Mac]

Great preview Barra, if I'm honest I didn't totally recognise that our fadeouts have potentially formed a pattern until now.


Viney was looking good too :( still, I guess it could be worse, its only 4 weeks. And our list is (touchwood) in pretty good nick. Someone was bound to get injured sooner or later.


Does Grimes come in now? Or JKH? I want ....James, to gain confidence at VFL for the next... rest of year. So I hope we don't rush him back.

We need a midfielder to replace him though - So I think Voldemort might have to come in. The alternative is someone like Michie or Riley which I wouldn't be too opposed to either

[Purple 77]

I would like to see Michie finally get a proper chance tbh, I still think he hasn't got one yet.

[tbagrocks]

JKH should get a game because he was fantastic against us last year whilst Jetta probably best on ground for them, it will be wet, very wet so Viney will really hurt!

Uncle Phil has stressed ALL Pre-season about not losing these sort of games and they wont!

[Purple 77]

While it's fresh, I just wanna say that Melbourne matched it with Adelaide today, the only difference, is that Adelaide kick goals whilst melbourne kept missing from simple opportunities.

That was the only difference IMO.

I might also say Adelaide was a little bit, but not much, more classy than us.


I'm disappointed. A loss is unacceptable. However, this was much, MUCH better than last week, and I thought it was a 4 quarter effort like round 1, where the only difference was goal kicking efficiency.

So overall, it was a good effort.



Individuals of note:
Bernie Vince (he played the villian perfectly, and then some. His job on Danger was fantastic)
Angus Brayshaw (deserves a full game next week, lets not hold him back for the moment Roos please)
Tom (All-Aus) McDonald.
I also think Garland has re-cemented his spot. Has had a good year.

There are plenty that had good games, but the above 4 were my highlights.

The villians (other than the good king ala Vince)
Garlett (2.4, atrocious, and has been like this for all his 3 games... but still creates)
Watts (possibly his worst game ever, he single handedly cost us 2 goals in the last quarter... which was crucial in a game like this)
JKH and Kent (small forwards, with Garlett, were not good enough today)
Dawes (can't put my finger on it. Just doesn't seem to do enough)

[Big Mac]

We need to get rid of the idea that Dawes is somehow helping Hogan

Hogan is getting the no.1 defender each week - all Dawes is doing is getting in his way

[Purple 77]

We need to get rid of the idea that Dawes is somehow helping Hogan

Hogan is getting the no.1 defender each week - all Dawes is doing is getting in his way

That's a good point. Hogan has officially attracted a fresh All-Australian defender in his 3rd AFL game.

And boy, (apart from that miss), isn't he doing well! I LOVE HIM!

[Big Mac]

We need to get rid of the idea that Dawes is somehow helping Hogan

Hogan is getting the no.1 defender each week - all Dawes is doing is getting in his way

That's a good point. Hogan has officially attracted a fresh All-Australian defender in his 3rd AFL game.

And boy, (apart from that miss), isn't he doing well! I LOVE HIM!

Yep he is a star in the making

Very happy we have him when I watch guys like Daniher, Boyd etc

Hogan is streets ahead already

[Purple 77]

We just need to get Barra and MTTY to have gifs about him and we can be his official fan club :P

[Purple 77]

Pedersen for Dawes?

I like big Cam, he should get another go.

[Big Mac]

We just need to get Barra and MTTY to have gifs about him and we can be his official fan club :P

Hahaha  ;D

Pedersen for Dawes?

I like big Cam, he should get another go.

I think Dawes stays this week - Pedersen in for Frost maybe though

I keep thinking about Watts - What exactly does Roos tell him when they're reviewing his game? "You see, you have the numbers here and all you need to do is bring the ball to ground and your teammates can do the rest. Instead, you stood there, and pretended to look angry when your opponent took an uncontested mark" Wtf was Watts thinking I don't even get it. It's not like he could've been confused about who was going for the mark either (miscommunication) - He was the tallest one there, he should back his teammates in to crumb it

Referring to the Talia mark just on the 50 btw