Ralph: Six burning questions over King’s Birthday clash between Collingwood and Melbourne
Can the Dees reclaim their midfield edge? Who kicks goals for the Pies? JON RALPH unpacks the six burning questions ahead of the traditional King’s Birthday clash.
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It’s becoming a genuine rivalry, and both Melbourne and Collingwood are in need of a win to make their way back into the eight.
Jon Ralph unpacks the six burning questions ahead of the traditional King’s Birthday clash.
Will Melbourne go back to their contested ball DNA?
You betcha.
Simon Goodwin made clear during the week the club had been open about its desire to experiment with more open ball movement and less stoppages as the club looks to enhance its mid-forward connection.
But after it backfired in the most catastrophic manner against Fremantle, King’s Birthday is exactly the time to get back to what the Demons do so well.
It is a game plan that plays to the strengths of Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney, and if the game is a 10 goal to eight slog, who cares?
Don’t run and gun, be prepared to kick down the line if it means a boundary throw-in, allow the big-bodied mids to get as many stoppages as possible.
“Clearly we have explored some things in our game to try to improve our game and take it to the next level, not only with method but personnel,” Goodwin said.
“Contest is one thing in our game we value incredibly highly. We have to make sure our method aligns with that and we get back to winning that part of the game. We want to get that back
“We have spent some time with the coaches and players about what that might look like and we will go after that part of the game.”
Just how out of form is Clayton Oliver?
It is remarkable to think that as the Demons handed Oliver so much tough love over the summer, they believed he might only be returning at this stage of the season.
Instead he has played every game despite a serious finger injury and some niggles with his ribs and foot.
But Champion Data statistics show he’s well off his tucker.
He is 19 per cent down on disposals (30.3 to 24.6), 26 per cent down on contested possessions (14.6 to 10.8), 30 per cent down on clearances (6.9 to 4.8) and 22 per cent down on score involvements (6.4 to 5).
His coach Goodwin is adamant he certainly isn’t out of shape.
Any chance we get him kicking a big goal on King’s Birthday then rubbing his tummy Dane Swan style after he was called out for being fat ahead of the 2012 Anzac Day clash?
Oliver has been a little bit fumbly, a little bit indecisive with his decision-making, just lacking in impact.
From 2022 to 2024 he has gone from 8.7 clearances to 4.8 clearances.
It’s a huge drop.
Against a Collingwood side without Scott Pendlebury, Jordan De Goey and Tom Mitchell this is his time to repay the faith to Melbourne for all the support they have given him.
Any chance the Demons use the Brayden Maynard-Angus Brayshaw controversy to motivate the team after last year’s qualifying finals loss?
As it turned out, Brayshaw’s concussion after Maynard’s smother-gone-wrong was the last time he graced a football field.
The aftermath also saw Steven May call out the Pies and say his team “should have smoked” the Pies.
But as Goodwin made clear this week, the Demons lost.
Suck it up, get better, don’t whinge over past issues even if the Demons internally were shaken by the fallout from the Brayshaw incident the next week.
Even as Leigh Matthews said the Demons should make life “uncomfortable” for Maynard.
Expect Maynard to get hooted and hollered by the Demons fans but Goodwin won’t be buying into it.
“We haven’t spoken about that internally and worrying about the past right now isn’t where we are at,” he said.
“We have to worry about what is in front of us. We have to focus on the opposition this week, not the past. We are not interested in that, we are more focused on what we can do in this week’s game and make sure it’s something we are really proud of.”
Who kicks the goals for Collingwood this week with Mason Cox, Brody Mihocek, Jamie Elliott and Dan McStay all out once more?
Craig McRae’s mob only had 41 inside 50s against the Western Bulldogs as the Dogs smacked his team 41-25 at the stoppages.
No team can kick a winning score with that imbalance.
But the Pies have Nathan Kreuger available and can always throw Jeremy Howe forward against his old mob.
Will Hoskin-Elliott is also back from a hamstring complaint.
Howe was an option to go forward against the Dogs but it didn’t happen so it is up to the small brigade to shine.
Bobby Hill has kicked 15.14 in 12 games so far but hasn’t come close to rivalling his Norm Smith heroics.
Time to step up, Bobby.
Lachie Schultz has only 13.12 from 11 games but kicked three goals against the Dogs.
Beau McCreery has only six goals from 10 games and is goalless in the last three weeks.
His tackle pressure alone can’t be enough.
So while the Pies need a Darcy Cameron type to bring the ball to ground, it is time for the mosquito fleet to stand up.
Time to drop Harrison Petty or put him back into defence?
Petty is officially the worst-performing forward in the competition from round 4 onwards, amid internal debate at Melbourne about his role in the side.
So we wait and see where his magnet lands, and yet Goodwin wasn’t in the mood to reinforce his defence at his mid-week press conference.
Certainly Steven May’s intercept work has dropped off in the past two weeks without Jake Lever by his side.
He had just one intercept mark against St Kilda and none against Fremantle, even though he found a way to impact against the Saints with 11 intercept possessions and 582 metres gained.
Goodwin said this week of his defence without Lever: “The week before Adam Tomlinson and Tom McDonald were outstanding. It certainly wasn’t an issue a couple of weeks back. When you lose, everyone comes back to a whole range of things. Personnel, Jake Lever, fitness. You open yourself up but we are pretty clear about what we need to go after.”
Yet Tomlinson was dropped alongside Shane McAdam on Sunday, so Goodwin has options.
With Collingwood likely to play a small forward line he can start Petty forward and play McDonald and May on the talls, then throw him back if he can’t sniff the Sherrin.
McDonald is versatile enough that he can go forward, as he did against Fremantle in patches.
Is Nick Daicos untouchable?
He isn’t untaggable, as a few teams which have put genuine work into him have found out across his burgeoning career.
But the Dogs let him run loose last week and he had the perfect stat line _ 32 touches, two goals, 16 clearances, seven centre square clearances, two score involvements, 50 pressure points.
Given the Pies only had 14 centre square clearances it was Daicos or bust.
But the Demons tend to go head-to-head with their opponents, so look for his insane run of coaches votes to continue after 47 in the past five games.
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