Melbourne’s decision to trade Jack Watts speaks volumes about the ruthlessness needed to succeed

IT was on Grand Final day last year that Demons coach Simon Goodwin made a statement which might define all that has happened at Melbourne thereafter.

Jack Watts misses finals as Melbourne returns.

IT was on Grand Final day last year that Simon Goodwin made a statement which might define all that has happened at Melbourne thereafter.

The perennial Jack Watts trade rumours were flying around when Goodwin made it crystal clear he had urged the former No.1 draft pick to consider his options.

“Absolutely, we encouraged him to go and explore his options, and to see what other opportunities may be out there,” Goodwin told Channel 7’s Grand Final preview.

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Watts would eventually find his way to Port Adelaide - where he would kick 19 goals in 18 games - and Melbourne would thrive in his absence.

Jack Watts might be football’s nicest guy; polite to a fault, thoroughly decent and also an at-times handy footballer.

But the symbolism of the decision to force Watts out is impossible to ignore.

Simon Goodwin has a chat with Jack Watts last year.

If you want to play in Simon Goodwin’s side you can have all the personality quirks in the world - think Max Gawn - but you have to play in the role of a stone cold killer.

As Melbourne prepares to take on a team often known as unsociable Hawks, Goodwin’s stamp is all over this team.

Think it’s a coincidence the Demons spent last year tipping over the line with a series of rash suspensions before finally finding a way to play on the edge this year?

The only team in Champion Data history to have a better contested possession differential across a season is the much-vaunted West Coast side of 2006, whose midfield consisted of Chris Judd, Daniel Kerr, Ben Cousins, Andrew Embley, Tyson Stenglein and Daniel Chick.

Melbourne has lost the contested possession count just once in 23 games this year - to the Western Bulldogs by seven in Round 17 - a new Champion Data record.

They trump that West Coast side (two contested ball losses) and premiership sides including Geelong (2007), Essendon (2000) and the 2016 Western Bulldogs.

Max Gawn is tackled by Cam Guthrie and Mark Blicavs. Picture: Michael Klein

If you want to play in this side, you win the hard ball.

Jayden Hunt has been forced out of the senior side for long periods, the perfect illustration that all the dash and dare and excitement doesn’t compensation for the fundamentals.

Or the “one-metre war craft”, as Goodwin dubs it.

And he has got plenty of stars in that department.

Clayton Oliver, Dom Tyson, Jesse Hogan, Jordan Lewis and Christian Salem all rank elite in contested possession rating across the competition.

Christian Salem?

Yep, a former half-back flanker with a surgical left foot now puts his head over the Sherrin with relish, in the votes from some commentators in the elimination final.

Against Geelong, when Oliver and Brayshaw weren’t butting heads at the coalface, they were surging past teammates for handball receives, nailing the blend of contested work and outside run.

Melbourne midfielders Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney and Angus Brayshaw.

Champion Data has a long list of players in the above average category for contested possessions: Jack Viney, Angus Brayshaw, Christian Petracca, Max Gawn, Tom McDonald, Alex Neal-Bullen, Jake Melksham, Sam Frost, Michael Hibberd, Neville Jetta.

Yet perhaps the only Achilles heel of this side speak to its relative lack of inexperience.

The 10.15 total against Geelong, including six consecutive second-quarter points, isn’t an aberration.

The Demons have ranked second in shots at goal against top-eight sides and first against non-finalists.

Yet their accuracy plummets to 14th (just 44.5 per cent) against top-eight sides.

Christian Petracca goes at 33 per cent accuracy against top-eight sides, Neal-Bullen at only 46 per cent, his hurried checkside snap that hit the post against Geelong highlighting a lack of composure.

As it turned out Geelong were so bad - and so inaccurate themselves with 6.10 - the misses didn’t matter.

But September history is strewn with beaten finalists - and notably Grand Finalists - who were better on the day but just couldn’t kick straight.