Jack Viney did some heavy lifting at the stoppages. Photo: Getty Images
MELBOURNE 5.4 7.7 7.10 8.12 (60)
BRISBANE LIONS 1.2 1.5 3.8 4.12 (36)
Goals: Melbourne: J Hogan 4 J Garlett 2 T McDonald 2. Brisbane: A Christensen D Zorko H Andrews M Robinson.
Best: Melbourne: Hogan, Howe, Viney, Cross, Jones, Dunn, Gawn, Tyson, Vince. Brisbane: Christensen, Taylor, Beams, Rockliff, Andrews, Zorko.
Umpires: Shane McInerney, David Harris, Jordan Bannister.
Official Crowd: 25,149 at MCG.
This game did have one thing, and that was a fitting finish. There were about 30 seconds to go when Max Gawn stepped from behind a couple of players over the point line, marked a long kick in and lined up on a sharp angle to take his shot. From four metres out the ball went up, up and a little bit further up. It went straight across to the other side of the goals, and 20 metres the wrong way. It summed up everything that had happened in the two-and-a-bit hours before it.
This is a little unfair on Gawn, because the Melbourne ruckman was an important player for his team, particularly at the one point when it was really being challenged. If not for his two well-held, well-timed marks, Brisbane might have kicked more than two goals in a row during the third quarter, eating a little further into the Demons' lead. If he hadn't laid two huge, crunching tackles, winning free kicks both times, then Melbourne might have needed to do more than simply hold on to win.
But this was not a great game. It didn't deliver any of the things a game between the 15th and 18th-placed teams might have – a close contest, tight finish – but it did make it clear that the two teams playing were not pushing to play in the finals. "Ugly," was the word Jack Viney thought to describe it in the rooms after, covered in enough ice to indicate the match had asked as much of him as most others.
First, the bad news. There were more goals scored at the soccer on Saturday night. Brisbane kicked their first nine minutes in (and it was a nice one, Dayne Zorko carrying the ball around the back of a pack, zipping inside the 50-metre line and kicking at full pace) but didn't score another until almost 13 minutes into the third term, when Mitch Robinson made the most of a set shot.
Melbourne won even though they scored just one goal in the second half, halfway through the last quarter after the Demons had weathered what wasn't really a Lions revival but more a slight grinding effort that got them back to within four goals. One goal. In a half. And they still won.
There were errors, so many errors. The team in control at any given point almost seemed to be in control mostly because the other team kept giving them the ball back. The Lions would have made more of their momentum had they not missed as many shots for goal. Melbourne might have ground them down earlier, had they not blown chances too.
The match was really won in the first quarter, when Melbourne won the ball, moved it cleanly and scored. That was when Viney felt like all parts of the ground, and all parts of the team, were linking up well together. "I think it started with our defence. They all played really aggressively coming off their men, and that's something we've been working on in the last few weeks," he said.
"That gave the mids a big chop-out, and that helped to set up our offence. We got some guys in space and started to score some easy goals, so to get that free flowing style going early on was really good, it was just maintaining it for long enough we couldn't quite do.
"Whether it was something Brisbane did, or just going away from what we were doing well, they ended up finding their way back and to win we just had to scrap things out in the second half."
There were some bits of good news. Jesse Hogan kicked four goals; he was there when Melbourne needed him early and late, with the presence of Chris Dawes and transplanted defender Tom McDonald, combined with his own willingness to work hard, opening up space that confused the Brisbane defenders and got him close enough to take some gettable shots.
James Harmes showed a bit, in just his second game, helping create one turnover from a Brisbane kick-in to set up an easy goal. Gawn's efforts came at key times, Bernie Vince, Daniel Cross and Nathan Jones worked hard and the defenders kept trying to take the game on.
The Lions were reluctant runners, said their coach afterwards, after three or four encouraging weeks. Tom Rockliff was brave, laying 17 tackles. Dayne Beams, Robinson and Allen Christensen tried to get their side back into things and Lewis Taylor and Zorko kept running. Harris Andrews showed another glimpse of his potential to play as a key forward or back, for a team that could do with one or more of both and is just starting to build up options.
"Coming up against any team I feel confident we can win, but especially sides around the same position on the ladder," Viney said. "They're the ones you've got to nail, they're the really winnable games. I'm definitely getting a lot more confident with the team and where we're headed."
