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Melbourne vs Gold Coast

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 10   Venue: Traeger Park   Date: Sat, 27-05-2017 4:05 pm   Crowd: 5,072  
Melbourne 2.1.134.8.329.10.6418.14.122 C:  Simon Goodwin
Gold Coast 4.5.297.7.499.8.6213.9.87 C:  Rodney Eade
  GC by 16GC by 17MELB by 2MELB by 35  
Weather
min temp  13.2°C      max temp  27.1°C
rainfall  0mm    humidity  25%    air pressure  1018.1mb
wind speed 20km/h      wind direction  SW
Brownlow Medal 3 Nathan Jones (MELB)2 Jeff Garlett (MELB)1 Aaron Hall (GC)

Match Report

Saturday's game between Melbourne and the Gold Coast Suns at Traeger Park in Alice Springs wasn't exactly a game of two halves, but it wasn't far from one, with the Suns looking the better side by some distance until the 10-minute mark of the third term, and the Demons, sparked by a goal from Jeff Garlett, taking complete control from that moment to turn a 30-point deficit into a 35-point win. 

The Suns got off to a flyer, with Sean Lemmens and Aaron Hall both finding the big sticks within the first six minutes. Melbourne got on the board a couple of minutes later when Christian Petracca marked and received the benefit of a 50-metre penalty that took him to the goal square. He did not miss from there, but the next 11 minutes produced nothing more than a behind to the Suns. The drought was broken by Brandon Matera, who snapped a nice goal that put Gold Coast ahead by 13 points. James Harmes answered for the Demons but a second major to Brandon Matera had the Suns ahead by 16 points at the first change. 

An easy 'out the back' goal to Mitch Hannan had Melbourne back within 10 points in the first minute of the second term, but from there the Demons struggled to find the goals despite numerous opportunities. All up over the next 25 minutes, they had seven shots at goal but every one of them missed, with Jeff Garlett the main culprit, kicking three of them, while Tomas Bugg also missed two. In contrast Gold Coast had five shots in the same period and nailed three of them, one each to Tom Lynch, Kade Kolodjashnij and Peter Wright, and the margin was 23 points in the Suns' favour late in the term. Just before half time, Garlett kicked a goal to make partial amends for his earlier inaccuracy but Gold Coast still lead by 17 points at the half. 

With the breeze at their backs in the third quarter, the Suns made a strong start to the second half with majors to Michael Barlow and Peter Wright taking them out to a game-high 30 points seven minutes in. But after a scoreless arm-wrestle over the next five minutes, the tide turned drastically. A Gold Coast turnover saw Garlett kick his second goal and that sparked Melbourne into a run of goals that saw contributions from Nathan Jones, Harmes twice and Jones again as the Demons suddenly went into the last change with a two-point lead. 

Melbourne took a lead, momentum and a breeze into the final term and stamped its authority on the match with majors in the first 10 minutes to Alex Neal-Bullen, Hannan and Jack Watts. The Suns put up brief resistance with a goal to Alex Sexton that cut the margin to 14 points, but another three in a row for the Demons through Hannan, Garlett and Garlett again basically sealed the match. From there the sides evenly split the game's final six goals as Melbourne cruised to a 35-point win.

Best for the Demons included Jones (27 possessions, three goals), Jeff Garlett (five goals, eight marks) and Clayton Oliver (35 touches) while Aaron Hall (29 disposals, seven marks) stood out for the Suns.

The win places Melbourne ninth on the ladder, only percentage out of the top eight, with a bye and then the traditional Queen's Birthday match against Collingwood to come. Gold Coast has slipped to 16th with a 3-7 record. The Suns will host West Coast (sixth, 6-4) at Carrara next Saturday afternoon.

GOALS
Melbourne: Garlett 5; Jones, Harmes, Hannan 3; Tyson, Petracca, Neal-Bullen, Watts
Gold Coast: Matera 3; Lynch, Wright, Barlow 2; Sexton, Lemmens, Kolodjashnij, Hall

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Melbourne: Oliver, Jones, Hibberd, Lewis, Garlett, Melksham
Gold Coast: Hall, Swallow, Kolodjashnij, Leslie, Matera

BEST - THE AGE
Melbourne: Jones, Lewis, Garlett, Watts, Hibberd, Oliver
Gold Coast: Hall, Witts, Lynch, Leslie, Matera, Swallow

INJURIES
Melbourne: Nil
Gold Coast: Nil

UMPIRES: Williamson, Jeffery, Glouftsis

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Adam Papalia, Dermott Brereton, Alastair Lynch, Ben Dixon

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Match stats

Melbourne
Match Stats
Career
#
Player
K
M
H
D
G
B
HO
T
FF
FA
Age
Games
G
32 Bugg, Tomas 11 5 6 17 0 3 0 2 1 0 24y 52d 89 25
17 Frost, Sam 4 1 7 11 0 0 0 4 3 2 23y 272d 47 8
67 Garlett, Jeff 18 8 6 24 5 4 0 4 1 1 27y 297d 156 277
19 Hannan, Mitch 10 4 8 18 3 1 0 1 1 0 23y 79d 9 13
43 Harmes, James 10 3 6 16 3 0 0 2 0 3 21y 234d 32 21
14 Hibberd, Michael 21 7 7 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 27y 144d 90 12
29 Hunt, Jayden 7 5 10 17 0 0 0 1 0 0 22y 54d 29 7
50 Jetta, Neville 7 4 5 12 0 0 0 4 1 0 27y 104d 104 24
2 Jones, Nathan 12 6 15 27 3 1 0 5 0 0 29y 127d 233 115
6 Lewis, Jordan 16 7 13 29 0 1 0 2 1 0 31y 33d 271 149
28 McDonald, Oscar 10 6 3 13 0 0 0 1 1 0 21y 70d 25 0
25 McDonald, Tom 5 4 7 12 0 0 7 3 0 1 24y 251d 114 12
18 Melksham, Jake 15 6 17 32 0 0 0 5 0 0 25y 271d 121 57
30 Neal-Bullen, Alex 14 2 3 17 1 0 0 4 0 0 21y 138d 22 12
13 Oliver, Clayton 7 3 28 35 0 1 0 3 1 2 19y 309d 23 8
21 Pedersen, Cameron 8 9 11 19 0 0 7 5 0 1 30y 71d 66 58
5 Petracca, Christian 8 2 7 15 1 1 0 6 0 1 21y 143d 27 25
12 Tyson, Dom 17 3 11 28 1 0 0 3 0 1 23y 353d 80 39
23 Vince, Bernie 14 4 3 17 0 0 0 2 0 0 31y 237d 202 111
7 Viney, Jack 6 2 17 23 0 0 0 11 2 2 23y 44d 80 23
42 Wagner, Josh 7 5 6 13 0 0 0 2 1 0 22y 337d 18 0
4 Watts, Jack 12 8 8 20 1 2 2 3 1 0 26y 62d 147 135
  Totals 239 104 204 443 18 14 16 73 14 14 25y 1d 1985 1131
Gold Coast
Match Stats
Career
#
Player
K
M
H
D
G
B
HO
T
FF
FA
Age
Games
G
20 Barlow, Michael 10 3 14 24 2 0 0 3 2 0 29y 160d 135 89
41 Brodie, Will 3 1 6 9 0 0 0 5 1 1 18y 277d 1 0
8 Fiorini, Brayden 4 2 13 17 0 0 0 3 1 0 19y 278d 8 4
33 Hall, Aaron 19 7 10 29 1 1 0 3 0 0 26y 199d 87 71
1 Hanley, Pearce 4 2 4 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 28y 193d 131 58
5 Harbrow, Jarrod 13 2 10 23 0 0 0 3 1 0 28y 313d 191 52
38 Joyce, Jesse 6 4 8 14 0 0 0 2 1 1 19y 283d 20 1
10 Kolodjashnij, Kade 12 6 6 18 1 0 0 1 0 0 21y 291d 67 13
23 Lemmens, Sean 3 1 9 12 1 0 0 4 0 1 22y 206d 58 11
21 Leslie, Jack 7 8 8 15 0 0 0 2 0 1 22y 30d 13 0
50 Lynch, Tom 6 3 10 16 2 0 0 3 4 3 24y 208d 111 212
25 Lyons, Jarryd 11 1 10 21 0 0 0 2 1 0 24y 309d 64 35
4 Martin, Jack 8 4 10 18 0 1 0 3 0 1 22y 118d 53 42
32 Matera, Brandon 18 7 2 20 3 4 0 1 0 0 25y 77d 98 120
67 May, Steven 15 5 5 20 0 0 0 2 0 2 25y 137d 95 17
11 Miller, Touk 2 2 17 19 0 0 0 2 0 0 21y 94d 49 15
42 Saad, Adam 10 4 10 20 0 0 0 3 0 0 22y 308d 35 1
40 Scheer, Brad 4 3 6 10 0 1 0 3 1 0 18y 269d 3 0
6 Sexton, Alex 7 4 9 16 1 0 0 1 0 1 23y 175d 64 37
24 Swallow, David 11 2 10 21 0 0 0 5 1 1 24y 189d 85 41
28 Witts, Jarrod 5 3 8 13 0 0 51 2 1 1 24y 256d 49 19
30 Wright, Peter 7 6 2 9 2 1 3 1 0 1 20y 261d 29 38
  Rushed   1  
  Totals 185 80 187 372 13 9 54 55 14 14 23y 178d 1446 876

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.