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Some positives from Melbourne's huge loss to Collingwood at the MCG

POSITIVES and Melbourne. The two words haven't been mentioned in the same sentence this year.

Melbourne v Collingwood,
Melbourne v Collingwood,

POSITIVES and Melbourne.

The two words haven't been mentioned in the same sentence this year. So let's indulge for a minute with some glass half-full thinking for Demons fans.

This will require you to momentarily forget the scoreboard.

For the opening 30 minutes yesterday Jack Trengove looked like that kid who burst onto the scene in 2010, he was light on his feet and had eight possessions for the term.

Ben Kennedy celebrates a goal.
Ben Kennedy celebrates a goal.

 Jack Watts looked like he cared and was causing Collingwood all sorts of problems across half-forward.

Boom recruit Chris Dawes was having an impact. His coat-hanger on Marley Williams was spectacular and then he had the members' on their feet when he started some biffo with Pies captain Nick Maxwell.

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Twice in the first quarter Scott Pendlebury was caught for holding the ball. That says something about Melbourne's pressure given it normally happens about twice in a season.

At quarter-time the Demons led the contested possessions 36-25, the tackles 13-8 and clearances 8-5 and were only one point behind.

All that says is the effort was there.

That was highlighted brilliantly by Matt Jones late in the second quarter when he refused to give up on a chase and pulled down Paul Seedsman who was cruising into an open goal.

 Jack Trengove takes a high mark over Paul Seedsman
Jack Trengove takes a high mark over Paul Seedsman

Feeling warm and fuzzy? Well, strap yourself in because it's now the glass half-empty time.

At the one-minute mark of the third quarter young Demon Tom McDonald cut across brilliantly to mark infront of Pies spearhead Travis Cloke. He then played on and attempted to kick the ball across ground to a teammate in the opposite back pocket.

Somehow he failed to see Harry O'Brien who easily intercepted the kick and strolled into an open goal.

In many ways that piece of play summed up the Demons. They worked so hard to do the right thing and then immediately stuffed it up.

Almost half of Collingwood's scoring came from turnovers. They simply waited for a Melbourne error and then took off unchallenged down the other end.

The Demons didn't kick their second goal for the game until the 22-minute mark of the third quarter. (The first came at the 12-minute mark of the first quarter).

By this time Dawes had been subbed off the ground with a knee injury, Watts had gone back to the disinterested version from a few weeks ago while Trengove had only found the ball five more times.

There was too many look-away moments in the final quarter to mention.

Chris Dawes and Nick Maxwell say hello.
Chris Dawes and Nick Maxwell say hello.

One that stood out and illustrated what Melbourne was serving up came at the seven-minute mark when big man Jack Fitzpatrick, who'd actually done a couple of good things, was required to execute a simple handball to Colin Sylvia.

The Demons had numbers ahead but Fitzpatrick missed Sylvia from one-metre away. The ball was turned over straight away and led to a Josh Thomas goal.

Sylvia gave his big ruckman a fearful spray and then put his head down and not for the first time wondered what he was doing playing for Melbourne.

Remember those stats from the first quarter, well, they didn't look so pretty in the end.

Collingwood had 90 more possessions, 13 more tackles, 11 extra clearances with an incredible inside 50m count of 66-35.

And that scoreboard? It was 83 points in the end which followed up from last week's 95, the week before that it was 90.

How's that glass looking now?

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/mark-neeld-in-the-gun-after-another-massive-melbourne-loss/news-story/b8d33d0b9e3408e8b0f58fb5568bbc8a