Demons unimpressive - The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) - 5 Aug 1990 (original) (raw)

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Sun 5 Aug 1990 - The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)
Page 11 - Demons unimpressive

tre Melbourne blew its oppor

percentage when it defeated

bottom-placed Brisbane Bears

by just 13-points at VFL Park,

Melbourne, which is still in

with a chance of snatching

third spot from the West Coast

Eagles over the remaining

rounds, showed little respect

for its.opposition and paid the

price when it squandered a 37

point lead at half-time to score

a 10.13 (73) to 9.6 (60) victory.

ers went kick-chasing and were

undisciplined after half-time

and allowed the Bears to con

trol the game. The Bears had

421 possessions (223 kicks, 198

handballs), 106 more than Mel

matched by the Bears in nearly

all departments in the first

quarter and after half-time, but

it was in the second quarter in

which Melbourne grabbed the

booted seven goals to one in

the second term to give them

selves a big enough buffer to

Northey was frustrated with

the performance and equally

relieved that his side did not

blow the game completely. "Af

ter half-time only three or four

players worked very hard, the

rest just wanted to get the ball

far too easy," Northey said.

"How can you do it against

Essendon one week, and two

weeks in a row bludge your way

through the game. We get near

the point of having success,

then we start to pull back on

ourselves - the bigger the

games the better we play."

said the Bears did not over use

the handball and were merely

playing to instructions in an

attempt to get the game mov

ing and to use their pace.

He said other sides, includ

ing Melbourne, should not be

embarrassed when they are

pretty close two weeks ago and

gave Hawthorn a real run for

their money last week, but un

fortunately we went to sleep

yesterday for five to six min

utes in the second quarter,"

knee injuries continued yester

day with former South Austra

lian Todd Viney rupturing the

medial ligament in his left

knee. Viney was the sixth De

mon this year to have suffered

a major knee injury and has

been ruled out for the rest of

stalwart Steve Wright feels the

selection of three youngsters in

the team to meet highly-placed

West Coast Eagles at the SCG

today will give his struggling

club an injection of enthusi

Craig Nettlebeck, 19, will both

make their senior Australian

Football League debuts, and

former Geelong player Darren

Denneman, 22, will also get his

first chance to appear in a top

grade game for the Swans.

"The three new. guys arc all

very skilled," said Wright.

when the ball hits the ground

and they get in there with the

best of them. Their tackling is

bottom Swans have lost their

last nine games, the nuggety ro

ver felt the club stood a good

chance ofbreaking the streak.

He felt it would be to his

side's advantage if the wet

weather which lashed Sydney

on Thursday and Friday re-ap

"West Coast is a very skilful

team and likes to kick the ball

and keep possession of it, so

wet weather conditions will

make it a bit harder for them,"

Wright said. "I believe when

we get the ball we've got to run

it and when they have the ball

we have got to turn around and