Dees produce best first quarter for the year
Melbourne produced its best opening term for the season against the Suns. The Demons kicked 6.6 to 0.2, which ultimately set up its 42 point win. Melbourne’s 40 point lead in the first term was by far its best effort in the match. Although the Demons won the third term, they dropped the second quarter by two points, and the final term by five points. Still, coach Mark Neeld was pleased with the performance overall. “Our internal stats say that it was a four quarter consistent effort. We have some internal pressure stats that we use, and all coaches’ talk about coaching the process and the scoreboard is just a result of that. Our pressure stats were really good in the first quarter, and we finished off some work with the footy well. The area that we need to get a little bit better at is the attention to detail with the ball use. But four quarter pressure stats [were] high, and it was a good place to start building,” he said.
Games experience counts
In the lead up to Melbourne’s clash against Gold Coast, coach Mark Neeld reiterated the importance of games experience in Melbourne’s development. Last Thursday, he said, “We’ve averaged, every time we’ve played a game of footy this year, 65 games of experience per player. We’ve seen some improvements with a whole heap of areas, and we also know that nearly 150 games of AFL footy have been played this year - and only three times has the winner had less than 65 games of experience. We know where we are in terms of an age bracket and an experience bracket.” Those words could not have been truer. Against the Suns, Melbourne not only had more games experience than Gold Coast, but it took the points as expected. The Demons fielded a side totaling 1590 matches, as opposed to 1299. It was telling in the end. Although the now bottom placed Suns possess the brilliant Gary Ablett, the highly-rated Harley Bennell and David Swallow, plus other fine youngsters in the making in Matt Shaw and Tom Lynch, they are still very much a developing team. And patience must be heeded with developing sides, as much as it can frustrate all and sundry. When you consider that ladder leaders Sydney Swans fielded 2750 games of experience this round, it only highlights the significant difference between the top and the bottom.
Spencer continues to emerge
It’s been a big month and a bit for Jake Spencer. After two years out of the senior team, Spencer has played five of the past six matches, and has grown in confidence each week. It’s testament to Spencer’s character to keep persisting. He missed the final eight matches of 2010 with a back injury and most of 2011 with a knee injury, which interrupted the start of this year. But he has also grabbed his opportunity in the absence of the injured Mark Jamar (calf) and now ruckman/forward Stef Martin, who was sidelined with a foot injury this round, leaving most of the ruck duties to Spencer. The Queenslander had 21 hit outs, kicked his first AFL goal and played in his first win for Melbourne against Gold Coast. Leader Nathan Jones couldn’t speak highly enough of Spencer’s recent efforts. “He’s been super. He’s just a competitive animal, which we love, particularly when he’s 200 cm, 100 kg. He really throws his weight around. He hasn’t played many games and he’s pretty inexperienced, but the effort and competitiveness he gives in the centre bounces is what we’re after. He’s really put his hand up and he’s improving each week, which is great for him and great for the footy club.”
So - who was the best Dee?
Several Demons had genuine claims as their side’s best, and it was interesting to note the closeness of the player rankings from Champion Data. Nathan Jones was ranked the top Demon, ahead of Brad Green, Lynden Dunn and Tom McDonald. They were separated by one point each. Colin Sylvia and Jack Grimes were also highly regarded for their performances. The efforts of Jack Trengove and Jake Spencer were also strong, making for interesting debate all round. Regardless, there were enough even contributors for the Melbourne coaching staff to be pleased.
Jones lauds shining Suns
While Melbourne had several key contributors in the win, it’s fair to say that two of the best performers in the match were Gold Coast superstar Gary Ablett and young gun Harley Bennell. Ablett had 33 disposals and Bennell produced a career best 38 touches and four goals. Champion Data rated Bennell best on ground via its player rankings, and Ablett second best. Their efforts were not lost on Melbourne leader Nathan Jones. “Gary is well known to be probably the best player in the comp, so that was on display and we had a few players rotate through him, which was good experience for them. Bennell is such a talented player and it was good for me to see him in full flight, but we’ll have to work on stopping him. He could be one of the best midfielders in the comp.”
