MATT Burgan looks at the talking points, facts and moments from Melbourne’s 45-point loss against Port Adelaide at TIO Traeger Park Oval on Saturday …
1 – Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round – a genuine celebration
The first Indigenous Round named in honour of the late, great Doug Nicholls was arguably the best one yet. The stories, celebration and tributes to the Indigenous players of our great game were first class. From Peter Dickson’s brilliant short film on Doug Nicholls to a range of articles published across the media – it was truly a great week to be part of the game.
2 – 5/5 after 10 rounds
Although Melbourne suffered a disappointing loss to Port Adelaide – it trailed by 17 points at three quarter-time and lost by more than seven goals – it remains out of the eight by just one game with five wins and five losses. It remains Melbourne’s best start to a season since 2006.
3 – Experience shows
Port Adelaide’s maturity, particularly around the contest, came to the fore and it also showed statistically, when it had 417 games more experience than Melbourne.
4 – Nine for five
Despite the loss, Melbourne remains ninth on the ladder for the fifth consecutive round. It was also ninth after round one, sat 11th in round two and sat 10th from rounds three to five.
5 – Wasteful in front of goal
Melbourne’s accuracy in front of the big sticks proved costly in the first quarter, when it booted 2.7 to 2.4. Although Port Adelaide ended up with 31 scoring shots to 26, the fact that Melbourne was inaccurate in the first quarter and ended up booting 16 behinds for the match played a big part in its loss.
6 – Two disappointing quarters
Melbourne’s second and final terms proved critical in the loss. Port Adelaide booted 6.2 to 2.2 in the second quarter and 6.2 to 1.4 in the final term, yet Melbourne managed to win the final and third terms narrowly by three and four points respectively.
7 – Gawn is good
After a couple of quieter weeks, following his scintillating start to the season, Max Gawn bounced back to be easily Melbourne’s best against the Power. He finished with 48 hit outs, 18 disposals and two goals.
8 – Jones’ consistency continues
Captain Nathan Jones remains one of the team’s most consistent performers and his form over the past five weeks has seen him average 28 disposals, which is what he achieved against Port Adelaide. Jones also had an equal game-best 13 contested possessions.
9 – Garland suffers blow
Col Garland copped an elbow in the cheekbone and will be assessed early in the week. The defender managed to fly back home late on Saturday night, despite having a suspected hairline fracture.
10 – And now for Hawthorn …
Ruckman Max Gawn said immediately after the match that the attention will quickly turn to the Hawks. “As we’re travelling, recovery is going to be really vital. Hawthorn is a very good team and has been for years, so we’ve got to bring our brand of footy. I’ve got a really good contest against two ruckman that I rate really highly in [Ben McEvoy and Jonathon Ceglar], so it will be interesting to see how it goes.”
