AFL Round 10 Part 2

At Colonial:
Melbourne  3.3    8.5   10.8    15.12.102
Brisbane   6.4    8.9    8.15   11.18.84

Another example of a fairly terrible game redeemed by a close finish,
the Dees' Cameron Bruce pinching two late goals to seal it. Brisbane had
an attack of the Port Adelaides in the third term when they should've
buried the Demons and much of the contest was as shapeless as a uni
student's clothing. But you get the same amount of points for winning
badly. The Demons made two changes, Jeff Farmer back from a hammy and
youngster Luke Williams called up for his third career game. Dropped
were kids Beams and Green. Brisbane missed Marcus Picken with an injury,
replaced by Brett Voss.

More free stuff at Colonial, free entry for kids under 12, a free
pre-game footy clinic, free pie and drink for the billy lids too. The
crowd was 25,000, not bad. An entertaining start belied what was coming.
From the opening bounce Lion Molloy passed neatly for leading Al Lynch
to mark and convert. White kicked Melbourne's first goal after opponent
White slipped over, White booted Melbourne into the lead following a
strong mark over White. However the Lions' runners did better early,
McRae on a wing, Chris Johnson and Chris Scott all prominent. Mick
Voss's tumbling kick was well-marked by Power in the goalsquare for an
easy sausage, Molloy thumped one from 50m and Power again snapped a
left-foot beauty, the Brians led by 11 points. Game was held up for a
while when Demon Neitz and Lion Craig Bolton clashed heads, Bolton was
KO'd and needed the stretcher. Champion kicked a point from the restart
and Steve Febey sent the kick-in out on the full, gifting a goal to Al
Lynch. Leoncelli booted a long goal for Melbourne but Johnson ended a
fine, long run with a pass to leading Lynch for another major to the
Lion veteran. The visitors were playing very well and Dee coach Daniher
gave his players a vicious serve at quarter-time, yelling full volume,
his face red, spittle flying, index fingers jabbing chests. No apparent
effect in the early second as Johnson's handpass allowed Lappin to bomb
one on the run. Demon Yze volleyed a freakish goal but Molloy's
excellent pass led to another Lynch goal and Al should've had one more a
minute later, but missed. Lions by 27 points. Melbourne scored a
badly-needed goal when Febey's miskick dropped for Farmer to mark and
convert. The Dees knuckled down, their half-backs Walsh and Neitz
scrapped, Powell and Yze were giving the Dees some possession in the
middle at last. James McDonald was allowed to shove Lappin blatantly in
the back and mark 20m out. Gol. At the centre bounce after McDonald's
gift a weak McRae handpass turned it over and Russ Robertson booted the
margin down to 8 points. Farmer held a strong grab in front of Akermanis
and six-pointered, 2 points the diff. Lions Champion and Black behinded
prior to the long break.

Lyans opened the third with some of the worst goalshooting of recent
memory, even allowing for Port. Leppitsch and Lappin behinded from 20m
out dead in front, after Lappin's point Black marked the kick-in and hit
a pie-seller in the stands on the wing. Farmer rubbed it in by hooking a
miraculous snap from the boundary-line, shepherded through by Schwarz,
to level the scores. Lynch joined in with a point, the terrible kick-in
went straight to Mick Voss who played on and missed from 10m. Mesmerised
by their forwards' incompetence, the Lion midfield resorted to bombing
the ball in aimlessly and waiting for it to return. Melbourne did this
too and absolutely nothing happened for 15 minutes before Demon White
returned from the bench, plucked a big grab from Powell's long kick and
converted. Thank Dunc for that. Final term opened with Adem Yze seizing
a tough chest mark from another ridiculously high attacking kick and
goaling. Later Lion Johnson ran from defence under no pressure and
kicked straight to a lone Dee in the centre, it led to an Anthony
McDonald goal. Meblorne by 17 points now and the lead seemed enough. But
the Lions did kick some goals at last, three consecutively in fact.
Akermanis, now on the ball, slotted a left-foot runner, Lappin booted
long for Lynch to shove Ingerson away, mark and convert. Akermanis
played a neat 1-2 with Johnson and passed perfectly for Big Al again, he
booted Brisbane ahead by 3 points. The Dees slogged on though, Schwarz
grabbed a throw-in and fired a long handpass for Leoncelli to snap 'em
ahead once more. Lynch missed a set shot for Brisbane and Demon Bruce
soccered against the post, but as Brisbane players flooded forward
Melbourne hit 'em on the break. Bruce goaled to put the Dees 10 points
up. Nathan Brown (not the Bulldog) caught Leppitsch in a great tackle,
the turnover went toward the Melbourne goal where Lions Johnson and
Heuskes collided, it spilled for Bruce to snap the sealer.

The Dees' only four-quarter performer was CHB and captain David Neitz,
he took 13 marks and had 24 kicks in a hefty total of 31 disposals.
Midfielders Adem Yze (25 disposals, 2 goals) and Stephen Powell (25
touches) got crucial possessions to keep the Dees alive and Leoncelli
had 28 disposals and kicked 2 goals. Confident running backman Peter
Walsh played well and Guy Rigoni was good down there too - the ball was
in Melbourne's backline a lot. Goals came through occasional flashes of
brilliance from Jeff White (7 marks, 3 goals) and Jeff Farmer (8 kicks,
3 goals). Bruce hadn't had a touch halfway through the last quarter
before his 2 late goals. Brisbane spearhead Alistair Lynch was their
best, 11 marks and 11 kicks for 6.4. Ingerson was on him most of the
night, Neitz had a brief go in the second quarter. At the other end
Justin Leppitsch and Jason Akermanis, on Farmer, were very good and the
midfield worked with Shaun Hart producing a great stopping effort on
Woewodin while having 20 disposals himself. Craig McRae had 27 touches
on the wing and Chris Scott 21 disposals in the middle. Daryl White was
good at CHB, after some early trouble from his Demon namesake he
slaughtered Schwarz and finished with 23 possessions. Luke Power was
lively early but faded and should've roved better to Lynch, he kicked 2
goals. In fact Brisbane should've won it and Matthews knew. "I'm
prepared to say we lost it. You've got to take your chances and we
didn't. They had eight set shots and kicked six goals, we had nine and
kicked three." Daniher cautioned his players against over-confidence.
"If we keep our composure and realise we're just a blue-collar team with
a serious work ethic...if we start to think we're top four, we'll end up
down the bottom four again." Melbourne blue-collar? Pull the other one.