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Dee's demolish Eagles

Melbourne produced a devastating second half to defeat the West Coast Eagles by 49 points at the MCG this afternoon.

After a fairly even first half, Melbourne lifted the tempo in the second half to run out winners 18.14.122 to 11.7.73.

The victory gave the Demons their six win in a row and now sees them sitting in second position on the premiership table. The Eagles have only two wins out of their seven games and after being touted to make the finals, look likely to miss the cut.

Melbourne jumped out of the blocks and kicked the opening four goals until the Eagles steadied to kick the last two for the quarter.

At the 12 minute mark of the first term, both teams had ventured inside their 50 seven times each, however Melbourne scored with every foray into their forward line, while the Eagles could only manage two behinds.

Chris Judd was forced to leave the ground, vomiting after a heaving tackle around the stomach area while Melbourne's Chris Heffernan was reported for tripping.

Trailing by 16 points at the start of the second term, the Eagles started with an early goal to David Wirrpunda from outside 50, while ruckman Dean Cox was on top of Jeff White at the centre bounces.

Melbourne goalled through Ben Holland, before consecutive goals to the Eagles through Phil Matera and Ashley Sampi saw the margin back to five points.

Darren Glass kept the dangerous David Neitz quiet, and after sitting on the bench for most of the second quarter, Melbourne's spearhead was possession-less in a half for the first time in five years.

Russell Robertson kicked three goals for the term, and had four for the match, to get the Demons back on track, while West Coast's Ashley Sampi took a spectacular mark, which will no doubt go down as a contender for mark of the year, and slotted through a goal on the siren.

At the half time break, Melbourne led by 11 points and when Russell Robertson kicked a goal at the start of the third quarter, it was looking ominous for the Eagles.


Melbourne added four goals for the quarter, while restricting the West Coast to one major only and at the last change, the Demons were ahead by 30 points.

The Eagles started the fourth term strongly, with a goal to Brent Staker, while Ben Cousins was playing the captain's role as a driving force in trying to get the Eagles back into the match.

The Demons went on a rampage kicking six goals for the quarter to see them comfortably home by the final siren.

Russell Robertson was in great form for the Demons, kicking five goals and producing his trade mark spectacular grabs, while David Neitz kicked two goals in the second half.

The leading goalkicker for the Eagles was Brent Staker, who finished with three goals, while Phillip Matera and Ashley Sampi managed two goals each.

Jared Rivers was among Melbourne's best, standing tall in defense, finishing the match 22 disposals and 9 marks, while Russell Robertson's five goals from 18 disposals and 13 marks proved to be a match winning performance. Live-wire Aaron Davey was exciting in the forward line, finishing the day with two goals, and Nathan Brown was a solid contributor with 24 disposals and 9 marks.

For the Eagles, Ben Cousins worked hard all day, finishing with 23 disposals, Daniel Kerr notched up 20 possessions while Michael Braun led the way stats wise for West Coast with 28 disposals and 10 marks. Darren Glass was outstanding on Demons spearhead Neitz, restricting him to two goals from only four disposals.