Melbourne loses the battle of mind power in two-point loss to Fremantle
THE enigma that is the Melbourne Football Club resurfaced and the two-point loss to a more desperate Fremantle was the result that long-suffering Demons fans feared.
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NO Gawn, no Lewis, no Hogan ... no more excuses.
The enigma that is the Melbourne Football Club resurfaced on Saturday like a well-worn nightmare with a very familiar conclusion.
Seemingly coasting and leading by 27 points in the dying moments of the second term off the back of hard work and quick play, a moment of lapsed concentration allowed Fremantle to sweep the ball forward.
As the time ticked down in the first half, the ball somehow landed in Lachie Neale’s arms and his goal after the siren must have frustrated the hell out of Demons coach Simon Goodwin.
There were no boos at halftime, but there were plenty of “friendly fire” boos at three-quarter-time.
For in the half-hour that followed the long break, the Demons almost ground to a halt, their link-up work was as slow as treacle and they coughed up seven goals to nil in the third term.
And even though Melbourne came out with a different sort of intensity and mindset in the final quarter — regaining the lead with a Jack Viney goal at the 27-minute-mark before relinquishing it with a Cam McCarthy major two minutes later and almost pinching it again with a late James Harmes kick — the real damage had been done the previous term.
Their two-point loss to a determined, more desperate Fremantle was the result that long-suffering Demons fans feared, and a few may have suspected.
Was the turnaround as much Freo’s ability to cut and run and their relentless pressure as it was with the Demons’ dismal third term? Perhaps.
But Goodwin would have been frustrated with some of the efforts during that third quarter, with Triple M’s Brian Taylor saying it had as much to do with attitude as anything else.
“They have come out here with massive heads and they have been belted around the earholes,” Taylor said during the three-quarter-time interval after the Dockers had opened up a 22-point lead — a 43-point turnaround in a quarter of football.
Sure, the ill-discipline, and suspensions metered out to Jordan Lewis and Jesse Hogan a fortnight ago hurt the team.
Those issues were avoidable, but not so last week’s hamstring injury suffered by Max Gawn, who the Demons are going to have to live without for the best part of three months.
But as good as those players are, it still doesn’t excuse the third quarter brainfade that would have infuriated the coach because it cost them four premiership points, leaving the Demons 2-2 ahead of the Anzac Eve clash with Richmond.
It should have been a better ledger, but you get what you deserve in football.
For too long the Demons have given up losses in games they were meant to win.
That might be downplaying some of Fremantle’s influence from its big-game players including Lachie Neale, Nat Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands and David Mundy.
But in terms of maturity, and even allowing for those absent, this was a game Melbourne could have, and should have, won.
Expecting to flick a switch and turn games on at a whim never works. And being comfortable at a club that has not played in a final for 11 years should never be an option.
Hogan returns next week, Lewis the week after.
But Gawn’s long-term absence is an ongoing concern, even though Jake Spencer (two goals) — in his first AFL game in 594 days — was serviceable against the man mountain Sandilands, with the Dockers’ big man having 53 hitouts to 15.
But in many ways — and this sums up the Demons for more than a decade — this was not so much about manpower but mind power.
MELBOURNE 2.5 9.7 9.10 15.14 (104)
FREMANTLE 3.2 6.4 13.8 16.10 (106)
GOALS
Demons: Garlett 3, Harmes 2, Spencer 2, Petracca 2, Watts, Kent, Neal-Bullen, Watts, Salem, Viney
Dockers: Neale 4, Mundy 3, McCarthy 2, Kersten, Fyfe, Balic, Walters, Crozier, S.Hill, Grey
BEST
Demons: Oliver, Tyson, Garlett, Petracca, Harmes, Salem
Dockers: Neale, Fyfe, Mundy, Weller, Sandilands, McCarthy, Blakely
INJURIES
Demons: Nil
Dockers: S.Hill (corked thigh)
Reports: Nil
Official crowd: 27,829 at the MCG
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