Mick McGuane: What went wrong for Melbourne in 2020 and what the Demons must do to become an AFL force
Melbourne is aching for a power forward. The Demons must be aggressive in the trade/free agency period – whether it is Joe Daniher, Ben Brown or Jeremy Cameron. Why not enquire aggressively?
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Simon Goodwin has challenged the Melbourne Football Club to be ruthless … but it remains to be seen whether that will be a reality or is pure rhetoric.
The Demons have been good at making statements without necessarily backing them up on-field.
You can understand the scepticism of long-suffering Melbourne fans after another frustrating season, with nine wins and eight losses, leaving them ninth.
After the Round 16 loss to Fremantle, Goodwin said:“As a club, I think we need to become a much more ruthless club and really grow up and start to perform in these types of games. We need to start becoming more mature as a club and more unconditional in the way we go about our business.”
“It’s everyone in the club.”
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Nothing wrong with the sentiment, but why did it take 16 rounds into a season for the coach to put that message out there?
His words came seven weeks after president Glenn Bartlett savaged the players after the Port Adelaide loss in Round 9, calling them “pathetic” and ”insipid”.
The Demons got a spike in the fortnight after Bartlett‘s comments – against Adelaide and North Melbourne, mind you.
But I’m yet to see anything resembling a ruthless streak from this group which makes me question how much the players care.
Being ruthless is all encompassing … it is about preparation; it is how you approach the contest, it is a mindset, it is about being steely resolved and resilient.
It is wanting to be a consistent winner.
Are the Demons looking for easy outs? Do they prepare well enough yet? If not, why not?
When finals are on the line and you lose games to Sydney and Fremantle, what is going wrong?
Hard decisions must be made – not just from the players, but from every section of the club, because unless they adopt this ruthless aim, nothing will change.
JONES/BENNELL QUESTIONS
Nathan Jones has been an outstanding servant against a diabolical backdrop of team performances. He has fought like a brave warrior across 15 seasons.
He will be 33 next year. If I was Goodwin, I’d tell him he is not in the best 22 going forward, but offer him a one-year base contract to act as insurance for 2021, with a coaching/development component.
I’ve worked with Jones on radio and have great respect for his openness, transparency and knowledge of the game. Importantly, he is a “team first” player who would understand the clubs direction – as hard as it would be to swallow.
Harley Bennell’s future is a different story.
At times we have witnessed what his footy ability can provide, but these underlying discipline issues he has had in recent years – highlighted by his recent COVID breach – have pushed his career to the brink.
I think it is cut and dry. If the Demons want to be ruthless, he must be moved on.
MIDS MUST DO MORE
Melbourne midfielders Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw are bulls around the footy, but must hit the scoreboard more.
Petracca’s elite season saw him win the ‘Bluey’ Truscott Medal.
He kicked 15.14 from 17 games, and he has a good balance of 102 career games with 94 goals.
Oliver kicked three goals from 17 games, for 29 goals from 99 games. He should aim to become more of a linebreaker who can kick goals on the run.
Brayshaw kicked 5.6 from 14 games. In 96 games he has only kicked 42 goals.
Viney booted 5.4 from 16 games. In 135 games, he has only kicked 36 goals.
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As hard as the midfielders are, they need to add some outside flair to help boost the Demons’ average 2020 score of only 62.5 points.
I‘d like to see James Harmes get back into the midfield in 2021. His use as predominantly a defender this year was confusing.
Does Viney stay at the Demons or seek to leave? Did losing the captaincy sting more than what’s being said?
We’ll have to wait and see, but there has been interest in the restricted free agent from Geelong and Carlton.
TIME TO CHASE POWER FORWARD
Melbourne is aching for a power forward.
The Demons have only had one player exceed 50 goals in the past 10 seasons – Tom McDonald, with 53, in 2018.
Trying to use a defender as a forward worked for a year with McDonald, but the Demons need to take a different approach now.
Melbourne didn‘t have a player in the top 16 AFL goal kickers this season, with Bailey Fritsch finishing 17th with 22.24.
Sam Weideman kicked 19.8 from 13 games. The Dees’ next best were midfielder/forward Petracca and Jake Melksham with 15 goals.
Weideman needs help as a key forward as he heads into his sixth AFL season.
The Demons must be aggressive in the trade/free agency period – whether it is Joe Daniher, Ben Brown or Jeremy Cameron. Why not enquire aggressively?
The Daniher name has a link to Melbourne, thanks to his uncle Neale.
I’d also be asking the question of Giant Harry Himmelberg. He’s contracted, but if Cameron stays, how can they fit all their forwards into the one side with Jeremy Finlayson re-signing as well as Jake Riccardi’s rising stocks.
The Tom McDonald forward experiment isn‘t working. There has been talk about him being a trade option, but I’d be sending him down back again.
That could have implications for his brother Oscar, who has only played 19 games in the past two seasons.
Could it be a win-win situation to find Oscar a new home and greater opportunities elsewhere while Tom heads back to where he plays his best footy and where he could work with Steven May and Jake Lever.
MAX’S FORWARD VISION
Max Gawn had another elite season, but did you know he only took three forward 50m marks this year?
In the defensive 50m, he took 13.
The Demons use him as that ‘kick behind the play’ ruckman to help shore up defence. This served them well where he took 42 back half marks.
But, given his good contested aerial skills, I’d consider using him a little more forward of the play at times.
It would add another potential threat to the opposition.
It is fine to have a reliance on Gawn to cover defensively but give him the creative license to slide forward more aggressively and be on the end of those long entries, particularly on a slow entry.
It would make him, and Melbourne, less predictable and cause opposition defenders to panic.
WHO BACKS UP MAX?
On the basis that the Demons secure another key forward, Luke Jackson is the ideal relief ruck.
I can’t see Braydon Preuss keeping Jackson out. Preuss has been in the AFL system since 2015 and has only played 18 games at two clubs.
Is he good enough? Is he aggressive enough?
I saw him train one day at North Melbourne and he trained like Tarzan. But I haven’t seen that sort of intensity within a match.
He is 114 kilos and 206cm. Why doesn’t he bring that brute strength to his match-day performances?
Given Sydney’s pursuit of a ruckman, would the Swans entertain a trade for the contracted Preuss? Could the Demons offer up Preuss and a draft pick or another player for a forward like Sam Reid, who is also contracted?
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CONTROL IS BEST
Goodwin deserves praise for identifying the need for change after Round 6 when he introduced a slower, more controlled, less chaotic ball movement.
They realised they had to kick the ball more, creating a kick-mark style, which in turn helped improve how they defended opposition ball movement.
It was the right adjustment to make.
After six games, they were 3-3, but they were still prepared to change their style.
We witnessed an increase in kicks (168 to 176), increase in marks (from 68 to 72), and a drop in mark-play-on percentage (from 30 down to 26).
They went via the boundary more – 61% of the time compared to 53%, which was ranked third between Rounds 7-18.
The Demons went wider to protect their turnover.
The change in defending opposition ball movement was stark.
They gave up the most opposition points from defensive half from Round 1-6 (31), ranked 18th.
But from Round 7 to 18, they cut that back to conceding 19.5, which was 8th.
Melbourne’s money kick – their kicks inside 50 – has been an issue for 18 months.
In Round 1 to 6, they were ranked 18th for retaining kicks inside 50. It was fast, fast, fast and the retention was 40%.
For the remainder of the season, they went to ninth, at 47.2%.
With the kick inside 50 that equated to a mark, they went from 17th in the first six games to 4th for the rest of the season.
That’s adjustment on the run, and good coaching.
YOUNG TALENT TIME
Don’t fret Demons fans that you didn’t have any players selected in the AFLPA’s 22-and-under team.
It was selected by the fans.
The upside is good for Melbourne with its young core.
Jackson looks to have a real future. His six games showed enough positive signs to work with Weideman, and also give Gawn assistance in the ruck.
I loved what Kozzy Pickett provided from a pressure perspective. He is quick and elite in applying forward half pressure acts.
Now he needs to hit the scoreboard more, but that will come. He only kicked seven goals from his 14 games.
Tom Sparrow can go in the midfield on a more regular basis next year. Centre bounce exposure didn’t concern him when given the chance between Rounds 9-13. He is a ready replacement if Viney wants a new home.
Trent Rivers stands out for me. He has great intercept abilities and showed his influence with that late goal against GWS.
The game that sold me on Rivers was his performance on Dan Butler.
He kept him goalless. His discipline that day aligns to the template of being ruthless in every role you play.
