MELBOURNE has paid the price for a slow start against Geelong in its round 16 match at Skilled Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Demons were goalless at quarter time and faced a deficit of 44 points after the Cats ruthlessly exploited the strong breeze to slam through seven majors. 

But Melbourne rallied from there, going on to kick 11 goals to 10 and eventually going down by 46 points, 17.15 (117) to 11.5 (71).

Coach Dean Bailey will be able to take a number of positives away from the match, most notably the Demons’ tackling pressure which at times forced Geelong into a number of uncharacteristic errors.

Liam Jurrah again showed his class in the forward line, while Matthew Bate and Cale Morton  provided a good avenues to goal with three majors each.

Nathan Jones had the job on Cats superstar Gary Ablett and performed admirably for the most part, while Clint Bartram and Brad Green were also prominent performers.

Melbourne had to wait until it was kicking with the breeze in the second quarter for its first goal when Ricky Petterd was set up beautifully by the skilful Jurrah.

One goal quickly became three as Bate and then Jurrah himself brought the visitors back into the contest.

The Cats responded, however, with Gary Ablett and Andrew Mackie taking their buffer back out to 43 points at half time.

The game opened up after the major break with the Demons battling well against the breeze to register three goals through Bate, Lynden Dunn and Brent Moloney.

Moloney, playing against his old team, was combative all afternoon and led the Demons tackle count with seven, while collecting 27 disposals to go with his goal.

But the Cats had the answers, with Ablett prominent when he went forward and Matthew Scarlett having the ball to himself as the loose man in defence.

They went on to kick five for the quarter although Cale Morton snagged another on the stroke of three-quarter time to hand the Dees some momentum heading into the final term.

And the visitors were happy to take it through to full time, winning the quarter with Bate, Morton and Jurrah providing the goals in a quarter that gave the Demons a good return for their effort.

Next week, Melbourne play the Sydney Swans on Sunday in Canberra.

Geelong  7.4  9.9  14.13  17.15 (117)
Melbourne  0.2  3.2  7.3  11.5 (71)

GOALS
Geelong: Stokes 3, Ablett 2, Hogan 2, Mackie 2, T.Varcoe 2, Byrnes, Chapman, Hawkins, Selwood, Taylor, Tenace
Melbourne: Bate 3, Morton 3, Jurrah 2, Dunn, Moloney, Petterd

BEST
Geelong: Selwood, Scarlett, Ablett, Chapman, Ling, Enright, Hawkins
Melbourne: Green, Grimes, Petterd, Bruce, Moloney

INJURIES
Geelong: Harley (knee soreness) replaced in selected side by Gillies
Melbourne: Wheatley (quadriceps) replaced in selected side by Bennell

REPORTS
Nil

Umpires: Kennedy, Stewart, Kamolins
Official crowd: 21,160 at Skilled Stadium


The views in this article are those of the author and not those of the clubs or the AFL