WATCHING Bernie Vince quell the influence of explosive Adelaide midfielder Patrick Dangerfield on Saturday was entertaining.
Vince displayed mental resilience and a team-first attitude to rattle his direct opponent, who didn't appear to enjoy that part of his weekend with Bernie.
Vince restricted Dangerfield to 16 disposals, no goals, two clearances and 258 metres gained, after the 25-year-old had averaged 27 disposals and two goals in the first two rounds.
WATCH: Dangerfield v Vince - no love lost
He also collected 18 disposals, made eight tackles and gained 427 metres in a game high on stoppages and effort.
The Demon had good support from defender Colin Garland who took the Dangerfield baton when the Crow went forward.
The conditions were a factor but the Crows recorded fewer disposals and had 10 fewer scoring shots than they had in either rounds one and two.
Melbourne had the ball in their forward half 71 per cent of the game.
That outcome wasn't just due to Vince – Mark Jamar's effort in restricting Sam Jacobs to six touches went relatively unnoticed – but the former Crow played modern day tagging role to perfection, limiting his opponent, while accumulating plenty of disposals himself.
Choosing to tag Dangerfield might seem a simple decision, but the choice isn't always a lay down misere.
The coach will take into account statistical measures but also the psychological boost a player can give the team when he is flying.
Paul Roos is smart enough to know a flying Dangerfield encourages other Crows to flap their wings so Vince, who had done a good job the year before, got the gig.
After being assigned the job, the way a player approaches the task is then left to him.
That Vince applied eight tackles and made Dangerfield earn every possession surprised some, but his effort made Melbourne more competitive.
He showed mental toughness to stick at the task, surrounded by ex-teammates, booed by his former home crowd and with Dangerfield happy to make a scene.
In doing so, Vince made Dangerfield look vulnerable to pressure, perhaps the reason his coach Phil Walsh made such a big deal about the entertaining contest after the game.
Why demand the contest, then scream when the contest happens?
Vince's effort also underscored why keeping Dangerfield at West Lakes beyond 2015 is so important to the Crows.
Even when beaten, Dangerfield is his team's sacrificial lamb.
On Saturday he absorbed pressure and energy that might otherwise have been directed at Rory Sloane, Richard Douglas, David Mackay, Scott Thompson or Cam Ellis-Yolmen.
Those five racked up 127 disposals between them and the Crows won.
Despite Vince's work, Adelaide controlled the stoppages winning the clearance count 50-46 and scoring a whopping 6.4 (40) to 0.3 (3) from stoppages.
Better teams can cope with their playmaker being held as other midfielders benefit if they're good enough when the star receives attention.
Mackay and Ellis-Yolmen are two of the biggest beneficiaries of Dangerfield's presence so far this season.
Mackay managing 11 contested possessions on Saturday after averaging 3.5 in the first two rounds and Ellis-Yolmen belted the ball inside 50 four times and had 20 valuable possessions.
Hawthorn is not that much worse if Luke Hodge is cooled because he just moves elsewhere and Jordan Lewis, Will Langford, Sam Mitchell and Shaun Burgoyne get to work.
That's the special bonus teams gain when they recruit a star player, as the Giants are discovering now that Ryan Griffen is in the fold.
In round one, when St Kilda's Mav Weller restricted Griffen to 15 disposals, Giants' midfielder Dylan Shiel had 28 touches.
That's the effect the Brisbane Lions hoped for when they recruited Dayne Beams, but injuries to Pearce Hanley and Tom Rockliff have delayed that flow-on effect.
It's called spreading the load, and it’s the reason why Melbourne coach Paul Roos has been so keen to build his team's midfield depth, an ongoing project that will bear fruit eventually.
In round two, when the Giants' Stephen Coniglio sat on Nathan Jones, the Demons’ drive dipped.
That's why, despite the hoo-ha, one battle is only one battle, as important and as entertaining as it is.
The Demons needed to be aware of many aspects of each stoppage beyond Dangerfield, with the Crows' capacity to sit a spare player out the back of a stoppage always a concern.
Roos’ men also need a contribution from every player to remain competitive, which they have done for 10 of the first 12 quarters this season.
Vince showed on Saturday no task his beyond him or his teammates.
His coach would have been both pleased and somewhat bemused with the reaction.
- Statistics supplied by Champion Data
