WINNING Ugly, a track from the Rolling Stones’ 1986 album Dirty Work, wasn’t one of their finest moments.
Nor was it bad either. (Have they done much wrong!?)
It just wasn’t Paint It Black, Gimme Shelter or Wild Horses.
And just as Melbourne’s win over the Brisbane Lions may not have been on top of the ‘Name A Game’ list – it was still a win – and a comfortable one at that.
But given there has been more Sympathy for the Devil than Satisfaction for Melbourne supporters in recent years – it was still a Respectable performance.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how it sounds – it’s just good to listen to the music. And so was the case with the win – it was music to Melbourne’s ears.
It was victory No.5 for the year – an outstanding effort, considering the club won just two for the entire season, not that long ago in 2013.
Already, coach Paul Roos has guided more wins in nine rounds than his first season at the club in 2014, which he pointed out following his side’s 63-point win at the MCG on Sunday.
“Two years, in my first year, we won four games for the year, so to have already done that [and gone one better] in round nine is really pleasing,” he said.
“It’s a great tick for our coaches, our assistant coaches, who have put in an enormous amount of work and education.
“It’s a real credit to our young players in particular, who are learning really quickly. But it’s nine rounds in and it’s great for the fans to come and watch – and watch us play the way we’ve been playing. We’ve got to continue to educate and work as hard as we can to do what we did again.”
The crucial thing for Melbourne was that it didn’t play at its absolute best, yet it won every quarter and kept at it throughout.
At times it was scrappy, and it wasn’t as fluent or attractive as some of its other wins this season, but it was emphatic – any win by 10 goals or more is.
“There were times when we were really challenged as a group. In the third quarter, we were fortunate they kicked some points, but our ability to respond for such a young group was really, really pleasing,” Roos said.
“We had nine players with less than 20 games – and some of those guys were ones that got us going in the right direction.
“Billy Stretch’s game was fantastic … so those players enabled us to get back into the contest, score goals and kick-start the momentum again, which was really pleasing.”
For Stretch, who notched up a career-best 31 disposals against the Lions – on the back of his previous best against the Western Bulldogs (25 possessions) – he realised the importance of the win, both personally and from the team’s perspective.
“It was a bit scrappy, but we pride ourselves on the contest and we wanted to make it a real scrap in there. We knew if we kept doing that, we would wear them down and that’s how it felt,” he told Melbourne TV.
“It was a good result. [It] was disappointing coming off the loss last week [against the Dogs], so it was good to bounce back and get back to the way we want to play and the brand we want to keep building on.
“It was a lot better, but we still know we’ve got a lot of room for improvement. The most important thing for us is recovering and getting right next for week, being a six-day break, so it was a good result.”
Just like the club achieving its best start since 2006, which is also music to the ears of the Melbourne faithful.
