Round 7
	V
Melbourne 16.15 (111)		Port Adelaide 12.12 (84)

Melbourne needed just ten minutes on Sunday against Port Adelaide to show that after a week of debate over the future of coach Neale Daniher it is far from a spent force in the AFL.

The Demons had come into this game under intense pressure after an insipid home loss to West Coast last week had seen last year’s semi-finalists plunge to 13th place with just two wins from six games.

This even led to Melbourne president Gabriel Szondy saying during the week that Daniher would come under pressure if results didn’t improve.

But against high-flying Port at the MCG on Sunday, the Demons kicked four goals in the first ten minutes of the game and despite the Power winning the final term they were still able to cruise to a 16.15 (111) to 12.12 (84) victory.

The victory over last year’s preliminary finalists will not only ease the pressure on Daniher but the devastating opening produced by his players – on a day when the entire club was under scrutiny – showed he is still more than capable of getting the Demons to play at their best.

Despite playing in front of a paltry crowd of barely more than 12,000 – the Demons could not have produced a more passionate opening with Russell Robertson kicking two early goals.

And when even giant ruckman Mark Jamar kicked an unlikely goal on his left foot minutes later, you had the feeling this was going to be Melbourne’s day.

By that stage the Demons were already 26 points in front after less than ten minutes and any hope Port effectively had of coming back ended just a minute later when skipper Matthew Primus limped from the field with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

However the injury count soon evened up with the Demons losing key running players Nathan Brown and Travis Johnstone for the rest of the game before half-time with Johnstone limping off just seconds after kicking a great goal from the boundary line.

One had to feel for Brown especially as he had already survived a bone-jarring bump from Byron Pickett before returning to the field but then limped off not long after with what also appeared a hamstring injury.

The Pickett-Brown clash enraged the small but vocal home crowd and when the former Kangaroos player collided with Simon Godfrey in the third quarter in a similar but less forceful manner, the home fans were baying for his blood.

But they were about the only contributions - if you could call them that - the horribly out-of-form Pickett made all day.

He was just one of several big-name Power players who failed to fire in what was definitely a winnable game on the road for last year’s preliminary finalists.

Key forward Warren Tredrea was bitterly disappointing, even missing a set shot from goal from 15 metres out virtually directly in front in the third term.

And the normally-reliable defender Damien Hardwick had just seven touches for the day while even Chad Cornes spent time on the bench.

And if wasn’t for the tireless efforts of Nick Stevens and Gavin Wanganeen, who each had 30 touches, Port could have been humiliated.

In contrast, the revitalized Demons had winners everywhere and none more so than Andrew Leoncelli, who not only helped himself to 27 possessions but also three goals.

Skipper David Neitz also kicked three as did Robertson – who faded after his great first quarter.

However by then – thanks to a seven-goal-to-three first quarter – the damage had been done and Melbourne was back in business, for a week at least.

But now the task for the notoriously-inconsistent Melbourne, who suddenly finds itself just a game outside the eight, is to back this win up by producing a similar showing against in-form Richmond next week.

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