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BENNELL BRILLIANT BUT DEMONS DELIGHT
Melbourne versus Gold Coast
1:10pm, Sunday, 5 August 2012
Melbourne Cricket Ground
It was never going to be a ‘match’ that stopped the nation. And not even Match of the Day, let alone Match of the Round either. 16th versus 18th never will be. But from my vantage point on the couch in my home in Brisbane, the MCG looked picture perfect on the telly and Melbourne seemed to be putting on a beautiful Sunday afternoon for the Gold Coast boys. It wasn’t the most pleasing news for me, however, as I was hoping for a cold and wet weathered day to make my beloved Dees feel right at home while being quite a shock to the system for a bunch of boys from sunny Queensland.
Alas, the game commenced and I was quickly glad of the fine conditions. Melbourne looked surprisingly precise with their disposal and were regularly hitting targets by foot and by hand. The pressure around the ball was good also and the Suns were looking a little confused in their decision-making despite some beautiful early touches from Gary Ablett. And so it didn’t take long before James Sellar of all people marked on the lead and kicked truly for the first goal of the game.
The first quarter continued in that vein and I found myself actually enjoying a Dees game rather than verging on states of anger and frustration. Brad Green then popped up with a mark and goal before big Jake Spencer kicked truly, if you could call his technique ‘true’, for the first goal of his career. Melbourne’s midfield was dominating through the likes of Nathan Jones and Colin Sylvia before two opportunist goals from Sam Blease finished off the quarter with scores reading six majors for the Dees but only two behinds for the Suns.
The second quarter began with a quick Melbourne goal to Sylvia before Ablett snapped truly out of congestion to register the Suns first. Gold Coast had obviously been given a serve by their coach at the quarter break and their intensity around the stoppages in particular was much improved. Ablett and a fast-spreading Harley Bennell were crucial to this and it culminated in a three-goal burst in only two minutes for the Suns thanks to majors to Jared Brennan, Michael Rischitelli and Bennell.
My nerves were quickly calmed though by a long bomb from Luke Tapscott and the likes of Jones, Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove appeared to be everywhere with a number of crucial tackles and desperate smothers. Trengove’s hard work was then rewarded when he kicked a goal just before half-time after floating forward and taking a strong pack mark.
After the long break, the Suns again came out firing and peppered the goals for what seemed like an eternity for very little result. Brendan Matera in particular missing three shots at goal in as many minutes. However, as the quarter progressed Jones and Grimes were again being prominent for Melbourne and some nice skills from both resulted in Green kicking another two goals. For the Suns, Bennell continued to have it on a string but James Magner was doing a fine job on Ablett and his influence had certainly waned.
By the time the last quarter commenced and the light tower shadows were appearing across the ground, the game was effectively over already with Melbourne holding an eight-goal lead. The Suns did kick a few goals early on with Bennell, Luke Russell and Matt Shaw taking the game on and showing some good glimpses. A crunching hip and shoulder from Tapscott on Russell soon changed all that though and the Dees kicked a couple of regulation goals in reply soon after. All that before the customary Jeremy Howe screamer was taken in the last minute (making us wait all day) and he kicked truly for goal as the final siren sounded.
A good win for Melbourne then as they showed some real skill and run throughout the game, elements that have been lacking for most of the year. And especially good for supporters such as myself to hear “A Grand Old Flag” sung again for only the third time this season. Conversely, a disappointing result for Gold Coast as they’d come to the MCG with some hope and expectation of a win following some competitive efforts against the top sides over the last month. In the end, it was the Dees by 42 points and an enjoyable Sunday afternoon was had by yours truly.
Melbourne 6.6 10.7 13.8 16.12 (108)
Gold Coast 0.2 4.5 5.9 9.12 (66)
GOALS
Melbourne: Green 5; Sylvia, Blease 2; Spencer, Trengove, Tapscott, Sellar, Rivers, Bail, Howe.
Gold Coast: Bennell 4; Ablett, Rischitelli, Brennan, Russell, Lynch.
BEST
Melbourne: Jones, Grimes, Sylvia, T. McDonald, Trengove, Green, Dunn.
Gold Coast: Bennell, Ablett, Russell, Shaw, Swallow.
UMPIRES
H. Ryan, Schmitt, B. Ryan
CROWD - 18,097
MY VOTES: Bennell (GC) 3, Jones (M) 2, Grimes (M) 1.
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