AFL 2019: Richmond dominates from halftime to condemn Melbourne to 1-5 start

We've seen him spin the magnets before. But even by Simon Goodwin’s standards, there were some bold positional moves against Richmond. Recap our Anzac Day eve live blog. 

We've seen him spin the magnets before.

But even by Simon Goodwin’s standards, these were some bold positional moves.

To try and save Melbourne‘s season against Richmond last night, Goodwin swung his out-of-form spearhead Tom McDonald back into defence and broke-up the brilliant young onball unit we have spent the past year raving about.

For the most part, the McDonald move worked.

The big man blanketed Richmond key target Tom Lynch and kept him to only one goal and four marks for the night as part of a back line which held Richmond to 12 goals overall.

But if Goodwin was previously having nightmares about his defence over the past five weeks, it’s the forward line which would have kept him wide awake all last night.

They only kicked six goals for the night, Melbourne, and to be fair, the 43-point margin probably flattered the Demons.

Melbourne just never looked dangerous moving into attack, their connection was poor again, and now their finals hopes are hanging by an early-season thread.

Whenever the Demons went long and high inside 50m, Richmond always seemed to have men back, and coverage, to mop up.

It was some game by Nick Vlastiun floating across in defence.

Certainly, Melbourne fans are now shifting uncomfortably about the thought of Jesse Hogan kicking snags at Fremantle while new full-back Steven May tries to recover from a groin injury. He could still be more than a month away, May.

It’s hard to know what Goodwin does know about Sam Weideman, in particular, and Christian Petracca, two of the Demons most exciting young prospects, who last night failed to manage a goal, and had only 18 touches between them.

Regular goal kicker Jake Melksham was moved up into an onball position, Nathan Jones dropped back from wing to defence, Angus Brayshaw pushed out to a wing and Michael Hibberd ventured into the centre square to keep a close check on Dustin Martin.

That also worked as Hibberd kept Martin relatively quiet, with 17 possessions. Clayton Oliver also started at full forward and spent large chunks of the game lurking in attack.

But what now, Goody, to fix the forward half?  

For the second week in a row, the coach might be looking to pull another rabbit out of his hat against Hawthorn. 

But time is running out.  

Recap the action from our live blog below. 

Originally published as AFL 2019: Richmond dominates from halftime to condemn Melbourne to 1-5 start

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