FOLLOWING a Grand Final appearance in 2000, hopes were high for the Melbourne side heading into Season 2001.
While the year that followed would not live up to any grand heights, it started off with interest and unpredictability, direct contrast dominating in the first two weeks.
‘A New Season Is Here’, was written on the Melbourne banner for Round One, hopes high as the team took on Richmond at the MCG.
Unfortunately, this was not a good start to Season 2001. To begin with, the opening strains of the Hawthorn song were heard, before ‘The Grand Old Flag’ rang out. Then, inaccuracy and a lack of cohesion cost Melbourne dearly. By half time, it was a 38 point deficit, and hopes were fading fast.
However, the third quarter brought some redemption, with Cameron Bruce and Andrew Leoncelli kicking quick goals, and David Schwarz, who had been dominant with 21 possessions and seven marks to that stage, taking the stage with two of his four goals for the game.
However, the Tigers, led by Richardson with five goals, kicked two late in the quarter, cementing their lead and running away to victory in the final term by 31 points.
The next week exemplified the topsy turvy nature of the season ahead, with an unexpected success against the Crows on their home turf.
With inaccurate kicking in the wet, it all came down to the final three seconds, when Schwarz tapped to Leoncelli from a ball-up. Leoncelli found room in the forward line, kicking the vital goal from 40 metres out as the siren sounded.
It was a triumphant moment for Melbourne, and a memorable moment for veteran defender Anthony Ingerson, playing his 150th career game against his old side.
These first two weeks summed up the 2001 season, full of hope, full of surprises - but, as it would turn out, not the triumph that was worked for after the achievements of 2000.
Resting at eleventh on the ladder after Round Two, and making it as high as fifth after Round Six, Melbourne would finish at eleventh by the time the season ended.
Round One, 2005
THIS game was one of the most difficult faced by the Melbourne Football Club in many seasons.
Played against Essendon over the Easter break, it was also a tribute to Troy Broadbridge, the defender lost in a devastating tsunami while on honeymoon with his wife, Trisha, at Phi Phi Island in Thailand.
Broadbridge was recruited from Port Adelaide in 1999, and was a dual premiership player with Sandringham in 2000 and 2004. He had played both the first and last of his forty senior AFL games against the Bombers - from 2001 to the 2004 finals series, where he excelled against James Hird - and now it was time to commemorate him.
Remembered by the likes of Jim Stynes and Nathan Brown alike as ‘the most selfless footballer’ they had ever met, and with this sentiment echoed by his captain, David Neitz, as someone who ‘had a quiet determination … was a caring friend, and had a big heart’, there was no doubt that the tall, quiet redhead would have found the focus on him unusual and unexpected.
But, leading into the game, Broadbridge’s teammates literally wore their hearts on their sleeves, with the No. 20 stencilled as a temporary armband for each of them.
All at the MCG stood in shared sorrow, before the game took hold. With the defence playing a major role, and with multiple goal scorers, led by Adem Yze with four, and Aaron Davey and Brad Miller with two.
The result was set by the long break, with Melbourne twenty points ahead. This lead expanded to 46 points by game’s end, rounding off the contest in fitting fashion.
Once the season was over, further links would be forged, far away from the MCG, with the establishment of the Broadbridge Education Centre on Phi Phi Island.
Once again, the teammates of Troy would act as a collective force, working with Trisha to build a lasting and tangible reminder of one of their own.