Demons bounce back from horror show against winless Crows
Melbourne bounced back from last Thursday’s horror show to ease the pressure on coach Simon Goodwin – at least temporarily.
Melbourne bounced back from last Thursday’s horror show to ease the pressure on coach Simon Goodwin – at least temporarily – and thrust more on the winless Crows with a 51-point victory at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.
It was not the most convincing performance from the Demons until three-quarter time, when a gutsy Adelaide was still within three goals, but the floodgates opened in the last term as the Demons poured on seven goals to one.
Both clubs came into the match on the back of their worst performances of the season and backlash from within.
Adelaide’s 69-point loss to North Melbourne was so dire coach Matthew Nicks felt compelled to apologise to fans because the side was “nowhere near the level”, while Demons president Glen Bartlett called the team’s performance in their 51-point defeat to Port “disgraceful” and “soft as butter”.
The question was always going to be how the clubs would respond and the intensity was hot early.
Adelaide made nine changes, dropping four players, and started brightly but could not make the most of its early inside 50 ascendancy, kicking 2.4 in the first term.
Melbourne had Clayton Oliver to thank for bursting the game open.
He kickstarted the fourth-quarter onslaught when he kicked the first goal after receiving a free kick.
From there, it was all Melbourne and another nightmare for Adelaide, which moved to a 0-10 start and without a win since August 3 last year.
The debutants keep coming for Adelaide during this rebuilding season.
Harry Schoenberg and Lachlan Sholl were the latest to get an opportunity, taking the Crows’ tally this season to eight – the most debutants in a year for the club since nine in 1999. And both impressed.
Inside midfielder Schoenberg got plenty of opportunities at centre bounces, while half-back/wingman Sholl looked composed with the ball and used it well.
Adelaide’s other debutants this year have been Will Hamill, Andrew McPherson, Fischer McAsey, Ned McHenry, Kieran Strachan and Shane McAdam.
Adelaide had only won the clearance count once in its nine games prior to Wednesday night – against Fremantle in Round 5.
And the Crows had been on the receiving end of some lopsided tallies in every other match, losing the category 46-25, 39-30, 38-25, 31-22, 28-17, 36-31, 37-2 and 35-20.
On Wednesday night, they not only matched Melbourne’s midfield for most of the night, but were leading the clearances 23-19 at three-time quarter-time.
But the dam-wall burst in the last term, as Oliver, Jack Viney and Christian Petracca all fired.
Melbourne dropped Tom McDonald and went with youngster Luke Jackson and Sam Weideman in a two-prong tall forward line.
The decision paid off, as Jackson and Weideman both worked into the game and proved instrumental in the Demons’ win.
South Australian Alex Neal-Bullen might find himself in hot water with the Match Review Panel after a sling tackle on Hamill midway through the opening term.
Neal-Bullen, who was recalled to the Demons’ side for his first game since Round 2, threw the young Crow to the ground and gave away a free kick for a dangerous tackle.
The umpire did not report Neal-Bullen, but Hamill took more than a minute to get to his feet and appeared dazed when he did.
Moments later, Hamill came off the ground and did not return to the ground after quarter-time.
Fox Footy’s David King said of the tackle: “that’s the action we have to stamp out of the game”.
“The fines and the one-weeks (suspensions) are not a deterrent,” King said.
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