Big gap between Demons and Dons

MELBOURNE eventually did enough to get the four points against Essendon on Saturday night.

In a hard-fought and at times scrappy affair at the MCG, the Demons showed enough class to secure an 11-point victory to remain a game clear on top of the ladder.

Sam Edmund and David King have since assessed the performance of both the Dees and Dons in a game which displayed somewhat of a gap between the two sides.

They both feel a lack of composure cost the Bombers and that perhaps they are a year behind the Demons in terms of their development.

“Essendon are coming. They huffed and puffed,” Edmund said on SEN Breakfast.

“It was a pretty enthralling game on Saturday night. Just that lack of polish going forward was an issue for the Bombers all night.

“I thought they matched them in the contest, but they kicked the ball to [Jake] Lever and [Steven] May. They’re not the first side to do this. When they weren’t kicking it to Lever and May, they thought they’d kick it to [Max] Gawn as well.

“It was a ‘nearly there’ game [for Essendon], wasn’t it.

“The Bombers, while they’ve been great, they’ve only beaten two teams above 12th on the ladder this year.”

To which King replied, “It showed a little bit of maturity [from Melbourne], a little bit of composure.

“The gap between the two teams is only 12 months, it really is.

“Jake Stringer, for as much damage as he does, and for how good he is out of centre bounce or out of stoppage, he did blast the ball a lot.

“He could have lowered his eyes a couple of times or given a couple of handballs. There are 17 other teammates out there, you can use them on occasion. You don’t have to be the sole reason to win.”

On the flip side of that, Edmund identified the class of Christian Petracca, who steadied the ship by kicking two of Melbourne’s four third-quarter goals.

“Petracca was the class difference,” he said.

“The finishing when he had nine possessions and two goals in the third quarter.”

– BY ANDREW SLEVISON/ SEN