Delighted Demons pile on Max Gawn after his post-siren goal to clinch top spot for Melbourne in 2021. FAIRFAX SYNDICATION
As Melbourne’s season comes to a sorry end, the Demons now 13th on the ladder having lost four straight games, its supporters are entitled to ask if they will ever actually be there to see their team achieve the ultimate.
This year’s disappointment follows two straight sets exits from the finals, which followed the breaking of a 57-year premiership drought the vast bulk of long-suffering Melbourne fans never had the chance to witness thanks to Covid and an AFL grand final played in Perth.
They couldn’t even see in their own backyard, for the same reason, arguably the club’s next greatest moment in all that time, which happened in this same round 23, just a short trip down the Geelong road.
Melbourne’s 2021 premiership might not have been possible had the Demons not pulled off one of the great comeback victories, not to mention one of the most dramatic, against Geelong on the final Saturday evening of the 2021 home and away season.
Victory would give the Demons their first minor premiership since their last flag year of 1964. Far more importantly, it would give them at least a neutral venue to “host” a qualifying final against Brisbane, whereas defeat would sentence them to an Adelaide Oval clash with Port Adelaide.
Melbourne travelled to Geelong at least knowing it wouldn’t have the Cats’ fans to contend with thanks to Covid restrictions. But it did have, like everyone else, a pretty terrible record at the ground, having won just twice in 22 appearances there over more than 30 years.
And for at least three quarters, this clash looked no different to most of them. After a relatively even first term, Geelong exploded in the second with a stunning burst of 8.1 to just one goal to lead by 39 points at half-time, “twin towers” Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron on fire with five goals between them for the quarter.
Indeed, the Cats led by as much as 44 points approaching time-on of the third term when Gary Rohan goalled, before Kysaiah Pickett and Ben Brown at least gave Melbourne a little more respectability on the scoreboard entering the final quarter. Even so, there was not a hint of what was to come.
The Demons stated their intent with a goal to Pickett inside the first minute. Three minutes in, Charlie Spargo got his toe on a ball in the goal square and suddenly, the margin was back to just 20 points.
Melbourne skipper Max Gawn, already dominant, went to a whole new level around the stoppages, winning both hitouts and clearances, and the tide of possession, thanks to Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca, was all the Demons’ way.
Oliver snapped another goal over his shoulder, then from the next centre bounce and Gawn clearance, Spargo booted his second of the term. Incredibly, Melbourne was just eight points down, with just under 15 minutes of play still remaining.
The shellshocked Cats, who hadn’t even scored, finally started getting some hands on the football, and Cameron hit the post with a set shot which would have given Geelong some breathing space.
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The Demons, however, wouldn’t be denied, Bayley Fritsch edging Jack Henry under a ball going inside 50, running on to the bounce and dribbling through another goal to make the gap now just two points with nine-and-a-half minutes remaining.
Now, however, things tightened up with Geelong sensing they were in danger of themselves being sent into a colosseum full of rabid Port Adelaide fans the following week. Again the Cats missed an opportunity, Luke Dahlhaus’s snap heading just the wrong side of the goalpost.
Time continued to tick away, Geelong still two points up, until, with just over 30 seconds left, began a catalogue of scarcely believable drama.
First, Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw, attempting simply to take territory kicking off the ground, was pinged for insufficient intent, the fact that the Demons were desperately attempting to score apparently lost on the umpire.
That should have been that. But Geelong’s Cam Guthrie, from the resultant free kick, in attempting to keep the ball near the boundary line, instead put it out-of-bounds on-the-full on the wing. It still probably wouldn’t have mattered had his teammate Brad Close not for some reason also fisted the ball over the fence, costing the Cats a 50-metre penalty.
Demon defender Jake Lever took the kick from outside 50, but while just about everyone expected him to go to the goal square, the defender spotted Gawn inexplicably unattended only 20 metres out. He marked without any trouble, and with 18 seconds left on the clock, which ticked down as the skipper walked back for the biggest kick of his career.
Gawn’s last quarter, with 10 disposals, eight hitouts to advantage, three clearances and three inside 50s, had already been phenomenal. Now he would make it unforgettable, as after a brief pause on his preparation when the siren went, he calmly slotted the match-winner.
Cue pandemonium among the Melbourne players, who swamped their skipper under a mountain of hugs and high-fives, their Geelong opponents completely stunned.
“It’s funny, before the siren, I rushed it, I didn’t want to take my 30 seconds but then the siren went and once that happened, I was kicking that goal no matter what,” said Gawn, who had missed a similar shot to win a game against Geelong in 2018.
The skipper wasn’t finished with the Cats, though. After Melbourne had dispensed with Brisbane in the qualifying final, the Demons dismantled Geelong by 83 points in the preliminary final in Perth, with Gawn turning in one of the great finals games, with 33 hit-outs, 19 disposals and a career-best five goals.
Melbourne was by now unstoppable, and nearly 60 years of heartache would be washed away against the Western Bulldogs in an explosion of 16 second-half goals, the Demons romping home by 74 points.
It was the culmination of an incredible five weeks for Demon fans. And right now, with some big decisions on this current list’s future to be made, they must be asking if they’ll ever see its like again, let alone be there in the flesh when it happens.
This article first appeared at ESPN.
