MELBOURNE 2.1 4.8 9.10 18.14 (122)
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GOLD COAST 4.5 7.7 9.8 13.9 (87)
GOALS: Melbourne – Garlett 5, Harmes 3, Hannan 3, Jones 3, Petracca, Neal-Bullen, Watts, Tyson. Gold Coast – Matera 3, Wright 2, Lynch 2, Barlow 2, Lemmens, Hall, Kolodjashnij, Sexton.
BEST: Melbourne – Jones, Lewis, Garlett, Watts, Hibberd, Oliver. Gold Coast – Hall, Witts, Lynch, Leslie, Matera, Swallow.
UMPIRES: Williamson, Jeffery, Glouftsis.
CROWD: 5072 at Traeger Park, Alice Springs.
From the first goal of this match – scrounged out of the goal square by the Gold Coast's Sean Lemmens, the ball bouncing straight off the goal umpire's noggin – this was a scrappy match played in spectacular surroundings. When the wind blow straight up the guts at Traeger Park in Alice Springs, things can get messy.
Adding to the unpredictability were two clubs who are the competition's respective Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with both the Suns and Melbourne scoring two wins from their past five games. The result depended as much on which version of each side turned up on the day as which way the wind was blowing.
Or, more accurately, which team turned up quarter by quarter. Or even less than that. The Suns had the Demons cold by halfway through the third quarter, by which time the wind was dropping – only for the Demons to flick the switch and snatch the lead with a five-goal burst led by skipper Nathan Jones.
Jones was instrumental, picking up 12 possessions, kicking two goals and having a hand in another four in the third quarter alone. He finished with 27 touches and three goals, but it was his presence, leadership and ability to rise as the moment required that made him clearly the most influential player on the ground.
The Demons won easily in the end, kicking 14 goals to six in the second half as the Suns stopped to a walk. Jeff Garlett, wearing No.67, finished with five goals in a marvellous Indigenous round performance, while Mitch Hannan and James Harmes kicked three each. Harmes was especially lively in the crucial third quarter.
In the middle, they had too much grunt and too much run, with Jones, Jordan Lewis, Jones, Clayton Oliver, Dom Tyson and Jack Viney overwhelming the Suns, who gave Gary Ablett's sore shoulder a rest and couldn't cover his loss. Aaron Hall started like he was on fire, but was doused and he didn't have enough soldiers around him.
The Suns started the match with the advantage of the wind, and both sides struggled to adjust to the conditions: halfway through the first quarter, Melbourne were running at just 29 per cent disposal efficiency, despite having the better of the contest early.
But kicks to their goal were stalling from 45 metres out; to the Suns' end they were sailing through from 65. Brandon Matera, never known as his team's most selfless player, felt the wrath of his co-captain Tom Lynch after bombing from long range and missing when Lynch had a one-on-on contest in the square.
He made amends, though, first accepting a handball from Lynch to kick his side's third goal, then curling in his second with a brilliant snap from the boundary line, this time taking the ball from Hall, who had a brilliant first quarter, with five score involvements and gaining a colossal 448 metres for his side.
That gave the Suns a handy 16-point break heading into the first change, and it should have been more, too, especially given they were now faced with holding off the Demons kicking to the scoring end. It wasn't a game to be wasting chances, but Melbourne proceeded to then squander theirs.
After a quick goal to Hannan cut the margin to 10 points, the Demons trapped the ball in their attacking zone, but were otherwise unable to either find a viable target or convert: Tomas Bugg missed two opportunities, Lewis one and Garlett an almost unforgivable three.
When the Suns were able to regain possession, they moved the ball more fluently and with more composure. It helps, of course, when you have two tall targets to kick to, and Lynch was causing all sorts of headaches, eventually chopping off an errant kick out of defence to post his first for the Suns.
Peter Wright might have struggled so far this year, but he kicked one against the run of play too, marking on the goal line and successfully snapping the ball back. And Hall, though quieter, still broke the lines and found Kade Kolodjashnij with a neat kick to extend the Suns' lead to four goals.
A goal in the dying seconds to Garlett kept the Demons in the match, while sparing the veteran small forward some blushes. And by the second half, the wind was dropping; an intercept by Bernie Vince in defence that chopped off an almost certain Suns goal instead ended up in Garlett's hands to start the Demons' charge.
VOTES
N Jones (Melb) 8
J Lewis (Melb) 7
J Garlett (Melb) 7
J Watts (Melb) 7
M Hibberd (Melb) 7
