A week after succumbing to the bottom-placed Western Bulldogs, Melbourne was expected to hit back strongly against Geelong, which like the Demons came into this Friday night MCG game with just five wins from 18 games.

But while it is Melbourne that remains a chance to secure a priority draft pick – allocated to teams which win less than six games in a season - after this result, it is Geelong that has more reason for optimism after an emphatic 11.18 (84) to 6.9 (45) victory.

Despite a week of stinging criticism and vows to make amends, the Demons were beaten right from the outset as the young Cats showed far more determination to get the ball forward on an MCG saturated by two hours of constant pre-match rain.

Within the first 15 minutes of the game, the Cats had gone inside their forward 50 on 13 occasions to Melbourne’s three and by quarter-time they had slammed on four goals to one to take an 18 point lead, which was worth twice that in the conditions.

It took Melbourne until the final quarter to pass the Cats’ tally of 4.4 in that first quarter, so ineffective was the Demons attack.

At least Melbourne was still only three goals adrift at half-time and if not for the brilliance of Geelong veteran Peter Riccardi, who kicked three first half goals including a great banana goal after the half-time siren, the Demons could have even been closer.

Melbourne not only did not score for the entire third term, the Demons did not even look like scoring while at the other end only wasteful kicking for goal from Ben Graham and impressive young forward Matthew McCarthy prevented the lead from blowing out even further.

In fact one incident in the third term summed up the Demons’ entire performance.

After Graham marked at half-forward he kicked the ball long into the forward line to a one-on-one contest between the out-of-form White, who was opposed to Geelong’s rookie ruckman Paul Chambers.

And the result – White dropped a mark he should have taken, Chambers grabbed the crumbs and dribbled the ball through for a goal.

The last quarter began with Graham finally getting the goal his play all night had deserved, after he had kicked four behinds to three-quarter-time including two posters.

Melbourne finally scored a goal in reply through Russell Robertson at the eight minute mark, their first score of any description since the 28 minute mark of the second term, but by then there were hardly any Demons’ fans in the ground left to cheer it through.

Apart from Adem Yze and to a lesser extent Chris Heffernan, it was hard to find Melbourne players who had an impact on the game, while in contrast Geelong coach Mark Thompson had plenty to smile about.

The Cats’ defence, with Matthew Scarlett and Tom Harley again superb, not only dominated but McCarthy showed genuine promise in attack while David Wojcinski played one of his best games in midfield to give great support to Cameron Ling.

But as for Daniher, all he can look forward to now are three more tough games to end the season as the Demons travel interstate to meet Port Adelaide and West Coast in the next fortnight followed by a last round home game against fourth-placed Sydney.


GEELONG: 4.4 6.8 8.14 11.18 (84)
MELBOURNE: 1.4 3.8 3.8 6.9 (45)

GOALS: Geelong: McCarthy 3, Riccardi 3, Chambers 2, Ablett, Graham, Wojcinski
Melbourne: Neitz 2, Robertson 2, Bizzell, Yze
BEST: Geelong: Ling, Graham, Riccardi, Scarlett, Milburn, McCarthy, Wojcinski, Rahilly, Bartel, Harley
Melbourne: Yze, Heffernan, McDonald, Godfrey
INJURIES: Geelong: Milburn (ankle)
Melbourne: Heffernan (ankle)
CHANGES: Geelong: D.Johnson replaced in selected side by Kelly.
UMPIRES: Rosebury, Wenn, Jeffrey
CROWD: 22,508 at the MCG