The match started off with the Melbourne Football Club known as the Demons which had a strong start for their season. While the Ggreat Western Sydney Giants had some great victories in most of the close matches but the results weren’t great throughout the season hopefully after their bye week they can win more games so they can have a chance of going to the AFL 2023 Playoffs if they continue to gain confidence and momentum.
The match was hosted in Northern Territories which fans from Alice Springs rallied through rain and mud, with some travelling hundreds of kilometres to watch the Melbourne Demons and GWS Giants at Traeger Park. The event was about teaching Indigenous Australians how to enjoy a live footy match so they can people professional athletes like them. The match had some heavy downpours along the 3 hours of watching the match in all 4 quarters. It was nice that sometimes the AFL goes on special field Trips around the small grounds at minor league stadiums or academy grounds or they would go around the world to excite the fans how to enjoy the Australian Footy League. The few things that most professional sports leagues don’t get to do during the regular season. For example the American Football League would have some teams go on a field trip to London during the mid season. Other sports leagues would often go to similar venues or special events to show fans around the globe to enjoy the sport.
During the 1st Quarter, the Melbourne Demons and the Great Western Sydney Giants played in a gloomy cold weather in Alice Springs which it was supposed to be nice and warm. When the match started, the Dees had 3 behinds. While Haynes passed it inside the 50 meters circle, there was heavy traffic to grab the footy and Callum Brown has helped the Giants get the first goal and give the Giants a 6-3 early lead for the 3 point margin. Kysaiah Pickett took the ball and kicked it to Jake Melksham and landed it inside the 35. Jake Melksham kicked the ball at the 50 and give Melbourne the lead back 9-6. The rain had suddenly poured hard like the tropics during most of the match which both teams had trouble maintaining the ball and harder to score points on the board. The Demons had 2 more behinds and continued the lead into the 2nd Quarter.
It didn’t last while the Giants Captain Toby Greene kicked the ball near the goal square and landed a good goal. The Demons give another behind to level it up but the Giants tried to defend Joel Smith which was a soft kick out to Jake Bowey and give Melbourne the lead back. With 4 minutes left of the clock, Daniel Loyd held the footy and did a long stretch to the Giants while Melbourne did their defense which it landed straight to Greene got it for perfect accuracy, and got an easy goal for the Giants. During the 10 seconds before halftime, the Demons had other ideas to pass it on the edge of the centre square and Toby Greene intercepted the ball and ran it back to kick the ball inside the 50-meter circle while getting the buzzer beater which ended up as a behind and draw the match with 21-21.
During the 3rd Quarter both Melbourne and Great Western Sydney had each got a behind until Xavier O’Halloran got the goal and give the Giants returned the lead. While Greene kicked it a long range shot in the centre square to Jesse Hogan and Melbourne tackled it and struggled to make a pass which landed to Xavier to Greene and pass through traffic and give to Josh Kelly and took a high kick to give the Giants to extend their winning advantage. The Demons has created more turnovers which makes it difficult for them to maintain their possession. While Kieren Briggs punched the footy into the ground and gives it to Stephen Conilingo to Tom Green to Callum Brown and lastly to Issac Cumming. Isaac held the footy and kicked it inside the 50 metre line and just made it into the goal post which the Giants had 4 Goals in a row in the 3rd Quarter. 2 minutes later, Melbourne finally figured out in the goal zone and Brodie Grundy has helped Melbourne but themselves back on the scoreboard. The Dees had other options to find new ways to put themselves to gain access to demonize the Giants and Jake Bowie took control and passed it to Kysaiah Pickett who slide on his knees and managed to save it before getting the goal for Melbourne.
During the 4th Quarter, the fans are having a great time while watching a low scoring affair for a match but fans seemed to enjoy while the kids play in the puddles to get themselves entertained while being creative if they don’t wanna the entire game but still wanna have fun. The match was a 4 point margin while GWS Giants remained the lead 40-36. The Melbourne Football Club had to find a way to put themselves back the lead. While Ed Langdon didn’t have much action with the footy which he was able to do a high kick to finally give the Demons the lead 42-40. Callum Brown has wanted to keep his speed at his momentum until the edge and give it to Jesse Hogan. When Hogan tries to kick the ball for the goal which it was too close for a missed target which ended up as a behind. Meanwhile, Max Gawn passed it with heavy defense to Christian Petracca to Gawn and kicked to the Dees which Tom Sparrow failed to kick the goal which the Demons got another point. When the clock has 3 minutes left, the Giants were about to tire themselves out unless they find something to get a victory Sam Taylor intercepted the Demons and give it to Ryan Agwan and spotted Tom Green.
The footy Launch the kick to Josh Kelly and ran his life to use his left boot to kick a 60 yard goal which it touched the goal square and the GWS Giants has give themselves a winning opportunity with less than 3 minutes left on the clock. Both Demons and Giants had a massive collision battled for the footy which it got more exciting for the fans to hope for the winning goal by the buzzer. The Demons had to find the victory before time expired and Angus Brayshaw dripped over which give Melbourne the opportunity to get the winning goal but Alex Neal-Bullen had the chance to win it but it was far left which Melbourne failed to get the winning shot and had a behind with only a minute left. The Giants has spent the last two minutes defending the Dees while the Demons find one more opportunity to get the winning goal but the Giants intercepted the ball and tackled them halfway through the centre field. The Demons has lost their opportunity to get the winning goal and the Giants has held the game and triumph for the victory 47-45, which it was the lowest scoring match of the season. The Giants have won 4 of the 5 in recent matches and had improved their performance as Adam Kingsley helped the GWS Giants but themselves back to the game.
The Great Western Sydney Giants has improved their batting performance in the 2nd Half of the Season and had some lucky victories against the toughest opponents which most of the results were attributed to close games with both wins and defeats which means the Giants have been able to to maintain their advantage which the results can be seen some ups and downs. However, their dominance has never surrendered and if they continue to get more victories and teams in the bottom ladder of the league, they have a greater chance of being in the Playoffs.
The most important thing is that the GWS Giants never surrender their power and played a tough match with the top 5 teams in the league. The heavy downpours did impact both Melbourne Football Club and Great Western Sydney Giants which had impressive success with the battle of the defense but the Giants were lucky enough to pull off a victory over Melbourne by a 2-point margin.
MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB 1.5 2.9 4.12 5.15 (45)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY GIANTS 1.0 3.3 6.4 7.5 (47)
GOALS
Melbourne: Bowey, Grundy, Langdon, Melksham, Pickett
Greater Western Sydney: Greene 2, Kelly 2, Brown, Cumming, O’Halloran
BEST
Melbourne: Viney, Hunter, Petracca, May Bowey, Pickett
Greater Western Sydney: Coniglio, Green, Kelly, Greene, , Briggs, Himmelberg
INJURIES
Melbourne: Fritsch (foot)
Greater Western Sydney: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Melbourne: Jake Melksham (replaced at Bayley Fritsch in the first quarter)
Greater Western Sydney: Ryan Angwin (replaced Daniel Lloyd in the fourth quarter)
Crowd: 3,413 at TIO Traeger Park