Melbourne haven’t won a premiership since 1964.
That’s 55 years.
And they way they are carrying on this year, it looks like that drought will be extended.
They were beaten up by Port Adelaide in Round 1. Their players were shell-shocked by a young, hungry side that featured four debutants, three of whom are in their first year of AFL footy.
They were more desperate, more physical and plain and simply, wanted it more.
Coach Ken Hinkley hatched a plan to target Melbourne’s best player Max Gawn and the players executed it perfectly.
Instead of excepting that he was out-coached and had no answers to the Port tactics, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin went and had a whinge to the umpires.
"He's had to deal with this for a while and Max will get through it. Max knows what's he's capable of and he didn't play a great game," Goodwin said on Wednesday.
"But in saying that we know that some of the things weren't in the rules of the game and that's been relayed to us so we'll work both ways there."
"We got some clarification about what is legal and what isn't legal so Max will work his way through it but as a club we won't let it happen again.
"It's been a trend for a while. He's always going to be a targeted player. We know that. We expect that but he needs to work his way through it first and foremost."
That’s embarrassing.
Nothing about what Paddy Ryder did in the second quarter when he went hard at a loose ball inside Port Adelaide’s forward 50 to set up Xavier Duursma for his first goal in AFL football was unfair.
Someone should tell Goodwin that Ryder is 12 centimetres shorter than Gawn and is 14-15 kilograms lighter. Oh, and there’s the small fact that he was playing with a fractured cheekbone.
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Obviously Gawn and Melbourne couldn’t handle a few tiny midfielders in Karl Amon, Steven Motlop and 18-year-old first-year player Connor Rozee bumping him off the ball.
Port captain Tom Jonas also had his way with Gawn dropping him off the ball. Michael Christian, the AFL’s Match Review Officer, dealt with Jonas accordingly and fined him $2,000 for the incident.
Jonas has no regrets and said he would do it again.
Rather than whinging to the AFL on the back of a shock loss, Melbourne, Gawn and Goodwin should take a leaf out of Port’s book and step up.
There was nothing illegal about these tactics and it’s what has made our game great for so long.
The Demons need to take responsibility for their own performance or they could be waiting another 55 years to taste premiership success.
