AFL Round 12: Melbourne Demons’ defence torn apart by Fremantle Dockers in Alice Spring
‘That’s as bad a performance as you can get’ – Simon Goodwin isn’t shying away from what happened on Sunday. And he’s promised Melbourne fans that it won’t be tolerated.
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Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has described his side’s 92-point smashing at the hands of Fremantle as “completely unacceptable”.
The Dockers belted the Demons in pretty much all the key statistical areas in Alice Springs on Sunday, and Goodwin said he and the club would spend the coming days to “dig into the why” his side was so comprehensively smashed.
He said it would be the responsibility of the entire club to find answers following the Demons’ worst loss this year, going down 22.9 (141) to 7.7 (49) at Traeger Park.
The Demons would have soared into the top four with a win but Goodwin said his side was “obliterated” in the contest, its skill and execution was poor and simply didn’t work hard enough.
The Dees lost the clearance battle 48-23, the inside 50 count (68-37) and had 78 fewer possessions.
“That’s as bad a performance as you can get,” Goodwin said.
“It’s one we certainly won’t tolerate. There are elements within our method which aren’t right and we’ll look into the why because that performance was clearly, completely unacceptable.
“We really need to dig into the why with the inconsistencies in our group. We will dig because we need to find a way to get through it.
“We got obliterated in every phase to be honest as the game unfolded. I know our supporters will want more.”
Goodwin said the absence of Jake Lever and Jacob van Rooyen was irrelevant.
“This game had nothing to do with personnel,” he said.
“We played nowhere near the level. You’ve got to give Freo credit, they played a really impressive intense game with high pressure and executed with the ball incredibly well.”
When asked if this was one of the most disappointing losses in his career, Goodwin was reluctant to say.
“I don’t like to categorise, but when you lose by the margin that we lost by, that’s unacceptable as a footy club,” he said.
“We’ve got a proud group of leaders that will be looking to respond pretty fiercely.”
Goodwin was happy with this side’s preparation, arriving in Alice Springs on Saturday morning, and the Demons got off to a good start, kicking the opening two goals within five minutes.
However, they then began to turn the ball over in their back half at an “extraordinarily high rate”, Goodwin believed.
Meanwhile, he said Lachie Hunter, who was subbed out of the game at half time, would be assessed for calf tightness.
DEMONS’ DEFENCE TORN APART BY DOCKERS IN ALICE
Not even the absent Jake Lever would have made much of a difference on Sunday as Fremantle wreaked havoc on its Red Centre debut, flogging Melbourne by 92 points in picture perfect football conditions.
Nearly 12 months ago, the Dees managed just 45 points in a deluge at Alice Springs against the Giants, producing just five majors for the day.
And on Sunday, it was a picture perfect horror show for the Demons, only just managing to pass that tally in the final quarter as the likes of Jye Amiss, Josh Treacy and Luke Jackson got aerial and scoreboard dominance, producing 10 goals between them.
And it came when the Dees had the chance of soaring back into the top four with a win.
Melbourne started well at least with two goals inside five minutes through a towering grab from Max Gawn and then the easiest of six-pointers to Harrison Petty through some limp Fremantle defence.
The second came via a coast to coast transition where the Dockers failed to get a hand on the ball.
Then absolutely everything changed.
Fremantle would kick the next six on the bounce through sloppy Demon defence, some Jordan Clark brilliance in foreign territory, Treacy’s marking ability and electrifying pace from Martin Frederick on the wing.
In fact, the Dockers would slot 11 of the next 12 majors as they got the edge in inside 50s (32-19), forward 50 marks (9-7) and contested grabs (5-0).
A massive pack grab from Amiss highlighted Lever’s absence as the Dockers moved the ball with far more precision off half back.
A rare Fremantle turnover in the centre of the ground led to a Clayton Oliver major but it was completely against the purple tide.
Apart from some sharp disposal from the fleet of foot Kysaiah Pickett in the engine room there was little for Demons fans to cheer about in the opening half.
A 50m penalty awarded to the dominant Hayden Young, who had 15 touches to the half, put the Dockers 49 points clear.
Things only got worse after the main break as Fremantle boasted 12 individual goal kickers and surged to sixth on the ladder in a monster victory for its confidence and credentials.
DIRTY DAY FOR THE DEES
Twelve months after Bayley Fritsch was subbed out of the game in the opening minutes with a foot injury against the Giants, things got no better for the super accurate left footer on Sunday
The goalless Fritsch had two possessions to half time while fellow forward Daniel Turner, who came into the game the injured Jacob van Rooyen, had just one touch.
The Dockers walloped the Dees in inside 50s (68-36), and took 17-10 forward 50 marks, had a mountain more possessions and easily won the clearance game (47-23).
The Dees only just managed to beat its score of last year in the Alice, which came in shocking weather.
Lachie Hunter was also subbed out of the contest at half time with a calf issue.
FREO SOLVES KICKING WOES
You wouldn’t have known Fremantle had been experiencing conversion issues this season as they kicked 5.2 for the term and 11.5 to half time.
The Dockers had been ranked last for accuracy with a league-last 43 per cent coming into the Round 12 clash.
However, without key intercept defender Jake Lever, the Dockers found aerial dominance inside its forward 50 and racked up uncontested grabs across the ground.
DOCKER’S DAY OUT
Celebrating a goal in unique fashion has been a regular sight this year and Fremantle defender Jordan Clark got into the act for the first time this season.
Clark genuinely looked like he’d won the lottery as he was mobbed by his teammates in purple as Fremantle kicked six straight to put the Demons on their backside early in the game.
It was a massive day for the former Cat, who has been in All Australian touch, finishing with 35 touches.
RED CENTRE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
It’s become a great way to celebrate the incredible contributions Indigenous players have made to our great game: so should Alice Springs play a larger role during Sir Doug Nicholls Round?
Obviously now played over a fortnight, it all kicked off in Round 10 on a Thursday night up in Darwin as the Suns beat up the Cats.
However, should Alice Springs have a locked in fixture each year, as part of the First Nations celebrations?
Maybe even have Darwin and Alice Springs bookend the fortnight?
MELBOURNE 2.3 3.3 5.4 7.7 (49)
FREMANTLE 5.2 11.5 18.7 22.9 (141)
BEST
Demons: Gawn, Petracca, Salem, Viney, Langdon.
Dockers: Clark, Young, O’Meara, Treacy, Switkowski, Jackson, Ryan.
GOALS
Demons: McDonald 2, Gawn, Petty, Oliver, Petracca, Viney.
Dockers: Amiss 4, Treacy, Walters, Jackson 3, Frederick 2, Clark, Switkowski, Young, Darcy, Serong, Sturt, Fyffe.
INJURIES: Lachy Hunter (calf)
CROWD: 6109
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Originally published as AFL Round 12: Melbourne Demons’ defence torn apart by Fremantle Dockers in Alice Spring
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