The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) has been left red-faced following an embarrassing blunder in the moments after it played host to one of the most thrilling AFL semi-finals of all time on Friday night.
Carlton came from the clouds to snatch victory away from Melbourne with two quick goals in the dying stages of their cut-throat clash, sending the Blues faithful into a frenzy over the two-point win at the MCG.
The stands were almost shaking after Blake Acres’ sealer sent the Blues into a preliminary final for the first time since 2000, where they will face Brisbane at the Gabba.
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Having dominated most of the key statistics for the night, Melbourne looked all but home late in the last quarter and, with a nine-point buffer and just minutes left on the clock, Demons fans would have been forgiven for thinking they had one foot on the plane to Brisbane.
In fact, the MCC apparently went a step further than that, having prepared a graphic to beam from the outside of the ground in celebration of the win after the match, which said: “Dees are in the prelim!”
A separate one was set to simply say: “Prelim final”, with Melbourne’s logo next to Brisbane’s.
It would have been perfect for Dees fans exiting the ground to bask in the glory of what might have been an epic victory.
Except that Melbourne lost.
And it seems someone forgot to tell the screen operators at the MCG, who hit the button on the graphic anyway, celebrating a Demons win that never happened.
“Here’s one to counter all the conspiracy theorists who think the Blues are being ushered through the finals by the AFL,” one fan wrote of the blunder.
It capped off a night to forget for Melbourne, having bombed out of a finals series in straight sets for the second consecutive year.
But the Demons are adamant it can make them, not break them.
The 2021 premiers have lost all four of their finals, which have been at their home ground, since winning their breakthrough flag in Perth two years ago.
The Demons face the prospect of being labelled underachievers who have failed to maximise their talent and premiership window.
“When you’ve had two years where you set yourself up in an opportunity to perform strongly in finals and you lose twice in straight sets, there’s gonna be criticism out there,” coach Simon Goodwin said.
“But as a footy club, we know we’ve got a list that’s building and we’re still going to continue to add to that.
“And we also know that we’re going to continue to put ourselves in a position where we can have success that we want to have.
“But that just doesn’t happen. It’s hard to do and a lot has to go right.”
Defender Jake Lever was adamant Melbourne would stand taller, rather than wilt under their disappointment.
“You could probably sit there and go it’s either gonna be the start of us or it can really sort of haunt us,” he said.
“I think that we’ve got a pretty galvanised group and I don’t even want to talk about pre-season but it’s fire in the belly.”
Lever said the Demons needed to “take a breath” before fully breaking down their finals disappointment.
“It’s disappointing, but we look on the bright side — at least we’ve made four finals and we’ve given ourselves the best chance but we haven’t taken it at the minute,” he said.
“In the end, we’re gonna have to look at all departments and all phases of our game, whether that’s do we think that it’s (a premiership) going to get given to us?
“But I think the last two years has now proven to us that it’s a lot harder than you think.”
Goodwin said Melbourne would continue to look to improve their list — whether that be through trade, draft or free agency.
He and Lever both emphasised the importance of bringing through and developing younger players like Jacob van Rooyen, Judd McVee and Trent Rivers.
“We’ve got the majority of what it takes to win a premiership because most of the group is still here, but if you sit there and say that you know you’re done, you’re gonna end up going backwards if you don’t look to improve,” Lever said.
“It’s bloody tough right now, but I think that we’ll be looking forward to coming out next year and hopefully proving everyone wrong.”
– With AAP
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