The first half was messy with Melbourne’s taller players looking better in the marking competitions than us and a few undisciplined acts costing us goals. When Vickery kicked our first goal I thought “fantastic he is going to have a big game” but alas that was not to be. We were all very impressed last year with Vickery’s improvement over the year and his presence up forward gave the opposition a lot to contend with when Riewoldt and Miller were leading out of the square as well. We need to get this part of our game working again because our midfield is working hard to deliver the ball and we need to finish off their good work.
Cotchin seemed quiet being well held by McKenzie but Foley, Grigg and Tuck were getting plenty of the ball and I think it is a good sign that we finally have some depth in this area. All of Tuck’s faithful fans who were so noisy last year when he was left out of the team must be thrilled to see his good form and importance in the team this year. Conca is also coming along very nicely in the midfield and after last weeks break through first goal he managed another 2 beauties on Saturday. Getting all those games into him last year is starting to pay dividends.
We went into half time only 8 points up and I felt a bit tense, I must say. Mitch Clarke looked dangerous up forward and Rance had his work cut out for him trying to stop him in the air. Howe was also taking some good marks and I wondered how we were going to score enough goals to win the game.
The third quarter could not have gone much better. Cotchin went forward to escape his tagger and kicked a goal straight away. This started an avalanche of goals from 7 different players.
The most enjoyable of which was Martin’s beautiful kick from inside the centre square. When he is ‘on’ it is so exciting to watch. The midfield buried the opposition in the third winning clearance after clearance and having 25 inside 50’s. I loved every minute of it. Our backline got to have a rest as Melbourne only went inside 50 4 times.
We couldn’t maintain this momentum for the final quarter but we out played the opposition for much of the quarter and secured a 59 point victory which is our biggest winning margin under Dimma. It was a great way for Miller to celebrate his 150th game and I am sure he enjoyed every moment.
I thought Tuck having the last shot at goal for the match was perfect.
When he slotted it through we knew we had had a good day. Maybe he can give Jack some tips during the week haha.
Our next challenge is Geelong down at their home ground and after their surprise loss this week I am sure they will come out very, very hard. Our boys have to win the contested ball if we are any chance to win this match.
Hopefully we can be competitive in the midfield and if our forwards start to perform as we know they can we might be a chance to make Geelong’s start to the season the talk of the town.
As always, go Tiges!
Follow me on Twitter
Megblog comments powered by Disqus
