Melton beaten but not shamed a week after devastating injury | Opinion

This was a day where football could have been procedural: turn up, grind out four quarters, go home again.

Coach Aaron Tymms anticipated it himself, telling The Courier midweek that he "wasn't expecting much" when his charges welcomed East Point.

Tymms had a fair reason.

The news that Melton player Dyson Stevens remained in intensive care and temporarily needed assistance breathing after shattering his C4 vertebrae while laying a tackle last weekend rocked not only his club but the wider football fraternity.

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East Point's touching gesture for the entire playing group and coaches to arrive with a donation speaks as much.

The broader impacts of Stevens' devastating injury should not be understated.

Nor should a week spent managing the emotion of first waiting anxiously, then coming to grips with the fact that a much-loved mate's life had been changed forever.

The big kicker?

He was doing the exact same thing they now had to try and prepare themselves for: playing a game of footy.

It was something Tymms himself battled to process.

"How do you tell a bloke to put their head over the footy and go for the hardball when they know what can happen?" he told The Courier during the week.

"If there were a fault issue instead of a freak accident, at least you'd have something to blame. But, there's nothing."

It was a sombre mood at MacPherson Park on Saturday.

The cold, wind and a sudden appreciation of fragility sapped the usual energy out of an afternoon at the footy.

Despite it all, the Bloods took the field inspired. They were doing it for Dyson.

A full-throttle opening quarter wasn't justified on the scoreboard, nor was Tymms' sides ability to stand up to the contest.

Eventually, the hill became too big to climb, and East Point edged away.

The 41-point deficit shouldn't be the evaluation of the day, nor should Melton's unbeaten run coming to an end.

This was a day where a result was somewhat irrelevant.

Instead, it was a chance to re-group. A fresh start to a season that has changed course and perhaps been placed into perspective for all involved.

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