July 27, 2009

Melbourne vs Sydney

CANBERRA is such a different place to Melbourne.
Nowhere near as many cars, or buildings, and when you cross the road you are given about five seconds to sprint across.
I arrived in Canberra with my brother on Saturday afternoon. I hopped off the small plane and the sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. The airport is also much smaller. We took the bus into the city. There wasn’t much scenery from the window, but there were some signs that this was the home of the Demons. There was a “Sylvia bridge” and we were in a suburb called Majura (Jurrah). We had lunch in the city, before walking across the bridge to our hotel, on the south side of Canberra.
I turned on the TV in the room and saw that the Hawks were beating Geelong by 12 points. We had a look at Parliament House, which wasn’t far away from our hotel. It was about to close so we walked to Manuka and had dinner at an Italian Restaurant. I came back in time to watch Brisbane vs North Melbourne. I almost forgot I was in Canberra to watch a footy game.
We had to be out of our hotel by 11, so after watching AFL Game Day we walked towards Manuka Oval. About an hour later we were seated in the ground, in our seats on the wing, row three. It was a great little ground. The surface looked brilliant. Unfortunately we were next to the Sydney player race and their interchange bench. On Sydney’s banner, it said that Manuka was their “Home away from home”. I found this ridiculous because it was actually Melbourne’s home game.
The game got underway and it didn’t look like the under-manned Demons had come out to play. A free kick in a ruck contest saw Jolly kick the first for the Swans. The game unfolded slowly. Aaron Davey kicked it out of mid air straight to Jarred Moore, who ran into goal from 50. McVeigh, who was on fire, kicked another one for the Swans and the Dees weren’t even on the board yet. It seemed like the Demons had barely had any possession. Liam Jurrah started to heat up in front of the small crowd. He narrowly missed to make the Demons worry the scorers.
Speaking of scorers, the score board is great at Manuka Oval. It’s an old cricket scoreboard, which is something you’d think you wouldn’t see at the footy any more.
Davey missed any easy shot before Moloney finally got a goal late in the quarter, a brilliant goal off the ground. After a very short quarter, the Demons trailed 1.2 (8) to 3.4 (22). McVeigh led all comers on the ground with 12 possessions, and Davey and Bruce had nine ineffective ones each. My seats  were in a great spot, because of the smaller atmosphere, I could easily hear players calling and interchange messages, and also Nathan Jones screaming for the ball.
The second quarter began with O’Keefe kicking a great goal on the run for the Swans. Miller marked but missed and then Newton missed as well. The highlight of the quarter was definitley Jurrah’s one handed mark. He is unbelivable. He nailed the goal to bring Melbourne within 12 points. Mattner kicked the next goal for Sydney several minutes later and Jurrah nearly kicked another from an incredible run. His pace leaves you left for words. Former Demon Jolly kicked his second just before the siren to give the Swans a four goal lead in a low scoring game, 2.6 (18) to 6.6 (42). I had been impressed with the debut of Jordan McKenzie, who looked like a tough sort of player who could find the ball easily. He also wore number 49, which was the number James Hird debuted in way back in 1992. I don’t think Brock McLean will be delisted any time soon though.
The third quarter was a tight scrap. But then the Dees began to get on top. Miller missed the simplest of kicks from 20 metres out. The guy with the weird-coloured-hair Jesse White kicked one for the Swans at the other end. (I don’t know if the ends have names at Manuka Oval)
Miller kicked a goal for the Demons from a McKenzie kick and Davey kicked another from 30 out with his sublime kicking action. Could the Demons hit the front? They could have, but poor kicking on goal let them down. Miller  missed again to give him 1.3 and Bate missed as well. It was three quarter time and the Dees just trailed by 13, despite kicking 2.5 to 1.0 in the quarter. It was 4.11 (35) to 7.6 (48).
Darren Jolly kicked an incredible goal from the boundary line for his third which somehow wasn’t touched by Jared Rivers. McVeigh kicked the next one and it looked beyond doubt. Frustration was building in the small contingent of Melbourne faithful. Johnson missed. Bruce hit the post. Newton attacked the pack and received a free and somehow managed to kick a goal. We only trailed by three goals.
With just over six minutes left on the clock, Whelan marked inside 50 and kicked an unlikely goal. We could steal the game! It was Wheels’ first goal since Round 22 last year when he kicked their second against Richmond. Moore kicked a handy point for the Swans but there was still time. It was put beyond doubt when Jude Bolton courageously took a mark and kicked a goal. The unfamiliar siren sounded and Melbourne lost 6.14 (50) to 10.8 (68). Bad kicking had clearly cost them the match. Davey led Melbourne’s possession count with a low 22 and McVeigh led for the Swans with 31.
Despite the wet conditions, they still let the 7,311 on to the ground for a kick after the game. And how good was it, having not have kicked on a field since round seven 2008.
The highlight of my holiday was last night at the airport. More than half the Melbourne team were waiting for the plane with me and my brother. Liam Jurrah was on his mobile speaking in another language. A few of the players were playing cards.
I spoke to captain McDonald at Melbourne airport while he was waiting for someone to pick him up. He asked who my favourite player was and he said that we should have kicked straight. I asked him how many possessions he got, and he didn’t know.
But I was glad to be back in Melbourne, and now I could appreciate how good a “good” city is.
Melbourne 1.2 2.6 4.11  6.14 (50)
Sydney 3.4 6.6  7.6  10.8 (68)
GOALS Melbourne: Davey, Miller, Newton, Whelan, Moloney, Jurrah.
Sydney: Jolly 3, McVeigh 2, J.Bolton, Moore, Mattner, White, O’Keefe.
BEST Melbourne: Jurrah, Moloney, Davey, Martin, McDonald.
Sydney: Jolly, McVeigh, Grundy, Mattner, O’Keefe, Shaw.
My Votes: 3. Liam Jurrah (Melb), 2. Darren Jolly (Syd), 1. Jarrad McVeigh (Syd).
Umpires: Stevic, M Nicholls, Mollison.           
Crowd: 7,311 at Manuka Oval.


•Michael Newton of Melbourne and Ed Barlow of Sydney in action at Manuka.
Photo by Sean Garnsworthy. The Slattery Media Group.

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