A great start to the game by Ibbo and Taz. Pav and Solly were great all the way through, too.

But again, when the game was there to be won, our midfield gets smashed. We hardly got a kick in the last quarter until about the 20min mark because our midfielders couldn't get their hands on the footy. The corollary, of course, is that Melbourne had the ball all the time. Fourteen goals to four in the second half tells the story.

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Q1: [F,F,F,F], (-F,-) Freo 5, Melbourne 0
Q2: [F,M,F], (F,-), [M,-,M,M]. Freo 3, Melbourne 4
Q3: [-.F.M.-], (-), M,F,F]. Freo 3, Melbourne 2
Q4: [-,m,M,F,F,M,F,-,M,-,M], {-}. Freo 3, Melbourne 6

Totals: Freo 14, Melbourne 12, No advantage 9
Melbourne had one centre free (m) where the ball wasn't bounced.
Freo scored directly following a centre clearance 4 times.
Melbourne scored directly following a centre clearance 9 times, five of these scores came in the last quarter.

[Sandi]: Won 12, Lost 12
(Gilmore): Won 2, Lost 0
{Michael Johnson}: Won 0, Lost 0

Merc's stats show what I thought I was watching. The second half work-rate dropped right off, and maybe 211/Happy were too tired.

Is it a case of being flat post-Geelong? Melbourne never stopped trying and they got the reward. Our guys were second to the ball in the second half. Yet again perhaps they thought things would take care of themselves.

I don't think the problem was the centre clearances, it was more the effictiveness of the clearances. When the opposition gets the ball, they get clear of the contest and are able to deliver the ball forward under very little pressure. This makes things much tougher for our defenders who had a poor second half regardless.