Demons earn more than four points
Michael Gleeson | April 20, 2009
ONE of the cliches of football is that one win is the same as another. The idea is that games are all worth only four points. Which is true but it is also bunkum.
This was a very big win. But more importantly a very big loss. When and if Richmond wins games at the end of the season when its draw theoretically softens, will those games have been the equal of this match?
There was more at stake for Richmond and its coach in this game than points. Melbourne chairman Jim Stynes admitted after the game what the rest of us know, which is that the Demons do not yet possess a team capable of regular wins.
They know roughly where they figure and so does everyone else, so losing to Melbourne means so much more for Richmond, and for Terry Wallace.
Equally at Melbourne the recent death of club stalwart Sam Alica meant victory was not actually about Richmond at all. Players wore black armbands in honour of the 47-year club veteran who died midweek.
So when players met at the opening, it was not all about an invigorated Richmond seeking to stake its territory.
As a result, the game began before it began. With the time clock yet to start, the siren yet to sound, the ball yet to be bounced, a free kick was paid and a report laid. The formalities followed and within a moment Richmond had scored.
Richmond should have taken this moment as the cue to play. When Nathan Brown goaled minutes later, it was on its way. Melbourne was all a jitter: it hit the post a barely credible four times, including three in three minutes.
It was the sort of quirky statistic appropriate for what was a farcical first term of misuse of the ball. Melbourne had 50 kicks in that first term and 21 missed their mark. Richmond scarcely performed any better.
In the second term Colin Sylvia willed himself into the contest as Paul Johnson and John Meesen offered the Demons' midfield first use of the ball. Sylvia was strong in each pack and dangerous taking the ball inside 50.
He booted two goals from long range and was enormously influential in Melbourne seizing control of the game at that crucial point.
Melbourne went out to a 34-point lead in quick time by taking the game on, breaking through Richmond's haphazard midfield spread and working the ball to Brad Miller, Lynden Dunn, Michael Newton and Ricky Petterd.
Then it ill-advisedly became cute with the ball. It tried to slow the tempo of the game and deny Richmond a momentum swing. It is possibly the right tactic if you have a skilful side. Melbourne is not, so it was only time before the ball was turned over.
Matthew Richardson's foray on a wing had been abandoned for his more familiar place in front of goal and the Tigers quickly kicked three goals, two from the boot of Andy Collins, to trim the lead and bring themselves back into the contest.
The Tigers sought to play man on man after half-time with Wallace imploring his players to demonstrate a desire to fight and retrieve the contest and the match.
They responded in a fashion. They kicked themselves back into the game but it was essentially through Richardson as a target forward and Joel Bowden providing delivery from behind the ball.
Five goals down at the final break the Tigers wasted three early, gettable shots at goal.The Demons booted only one goal in the final term but it was enough of a buffer from the Tigers.
"It's a huge win for us. This week was a bit more meaningful for us — Sammy Alica, a club legend passed away last week so it is good to have a win for him," Sylvia said.
MELBOURNE 2.6 10.7 13.11 14.16 (100)
RICHMOND 2.3 5.6 9.7 13.14 (92)
GOALS Melbourne: Miller 3, Sylvia 2, Newton 2, Petterd 2, Davey, Green, Dunn, Bate, Jetta. Richmond: Richardson 4, Collins 2, Brown 2, Deledio, Moore, McGuane, Morton, Nahas.
BEST Melbourne: Sylvia, Davey, Bruce, Miller, Johnson, Jones, Dunn. Richmond: Bowden, Richardson, Foley, Collins, Rance.
INJURIES Melbourne: Green (jaw, concussion).
REPORT Melbourne: Warnock for striking Hislop, before the first bounce, by umpire Robert Findlay.
UMPIRES Wenn, Findlay, James.
CROWD 40,763 at the MCG.
THE UPSHOT
MELBOURNE enjoyed its first home-and-away victory since round 20 last year, its fourth under coach Dean Bailey, and showed that the optimism about the club's imminent future is well founded. Meanwhile Richmond's season — and more pointedly the coaching career of Terry Wallace — plunged into further turmoil.
TURNING POINT
MELBOURNE booted five unanswered goals in the opening 13 minutes of the second term. Colin Sylvia was especially damaging during this period, kicking a couple of them. The Tigers weren't only shellshocked after the burst, suddenly they were 34 points down and never managed to make up the difference.
MAIN MEN
COLIN Sylvia — who finished with 19 touches — wasn't Melbourne's most prolific ball winner yesterday, but he was undoubtedly his team's most influential player. His second term was a match highlight.
Richmond's oldest players, Joel Bowden and Matthew Richardson, did all they could for their team but had too few junior helpers.
THE QUOTE
"I think I'm ready for it. I think it would be hard to be much tougher than last week." TERRY WALLACE on the week ahead.
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