Deep Dive: Where does Melbourne’s dominant forward line leave Sam Weideman?
Tom McDonald and Ben Brown continue to dominate while Sam Weideman is too good to be playing at VFL level. How will the Dees handle their forwards from here?
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Ben Brown’s stocks plummeted last year – and not just at North Melbourne.
Melbourne was the club that chased Brown the hardest (not many chased at all) after the Kangaroos announced to the football world he was effectively no longer wanted.
There was originally a difference of opinion on contract length, but ultimately, at age 28, he probably didn’t fit North’s rebuilding blueprint, anyway.
The shaggy-haired forward was never appreciated as much as he should have been, especially between 2017 and 2019, when he was the only AFL player to kick 60 or more goals each season.
Brown has shortcomings like any footballer, but you need to do plenty right to achieve what he has.
Plenty of ardent Roos fans believe he should have at least one All-Australian selection on his resume, and it’s incredibly unfortunate he didn’t snag a Coleman Medal in that prolific three-year stretch.
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The knocks include Brown disliking body contact, that he’s a liability at ground level, too reliant on marking on the lead and won too many possessions up the ground last season.
Then there’s his troublesome knee history.
A left knee injury eventually marked the end of Brown’s career in the royal blue and white in Round 10 last year, with his nine-game, eight-goal return an unfitting finale to his wonderful service.
In a season when many key forwards not named Charlie Dixon or Tom Hawkins struggled, the rush to write him off as an AFL force was premature.
That could prove the Demons’ great gain. Brown had an inauspicious start in the red and blue, being sent for knee surgery in early February because of lingering problems.
Sam Weideman joined him on the sidelines barely a week later with a stress fracture in his right leg.
With those two medium-term injuries and the fear that Tom McDonald may never recapture his 2018 form, there was concern about Melbourne’s key forward stocks.
The Demons even plucked Brown’s former Kangaroos teammate Majak Daw from local football for depth purposes.
There was still some reservation about Brown’s fit at his new club when he belatedly made his senior debut last week against his old side North Melbourne.
By game two, those doubts are already fading – and it’s not just because he kicked three goals on Saturday night at the Swans’ expense.
It was how Brown did it that should fill Simon Goodwin and co. with confidence.
Brown and McDonald successfully keeping out of each other’s way for most of the night was one tick, with the latter even setting up one of his new sidekick’s majors.
There was even one occasion where Brown impacted a contest down back, then bolted the length of the field to earn a shot at goal. His endurance has always been a strength.
The most promising Brown involvement might have occurred in the third quarter, when he showed great elevation to snatch an overhead grab from the sky at the top of the goal square.
He surprised everyone with an abbreviated run-up after that one, but still knocked through his third goal.
Melbourne won’t care how Brown does it if he maintains Saturday night’s effort.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE WEIDEMAN?
Luke Beveridge hates being asked about Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, and Simon Goodwin is fast getting there when it comes to the topic of Sam Weideman.
However, just like the Western Bulldogs’ No.1 pick, Weideman’s continued non-selection – completely understandable, by the way – is a genuine talking point.
Given the concern about the Demons’ tall stocks mere months ago, it’s remarkable that he can’t get a game despite booting 14 goals in three weeks and averaging 15 disposals and eight marks.
There was a race between Weideman and Brown to make the senior side after returning in the VFL at the same time, and Melbourne chose Brown.
That would be Weideman’s biggest gripe, because little argument can be made for removing the in-form Tom McDonald from attack, let alone the team.
Luke Jackson is too valuable as the mobile relief ruckman, too.
Goodwin noted he’d had “great” chats with Weideman about his predicament and how the 23-year-old knew his leg stress fracture came at a “poor” time for his season prospects.
A follow-up question on Weideman drew a sterner response.
“It’s not about individuals – this is about a team – and at the moment, the team functions the way it functions,” the coach said.
“Sam understands that, as does every player at our club.
“There are a lot of players playing in the VFL at the moment who are AFL ready, and they’ve got to continue to improve their game and make sure they’re ready for when that opportunity comes.”
It was a perfectly acceptable answer to a delicate situation.
The issue for the Demons is that Weideman’s 23 and not 20, is ready to go and they’ve prioritised their veteran recruit over the 2015 No.9 pick, which is their prerogative and the results speak for themselves.
There are clubs out there screaming for a quality key forward – think Collingwood, Gold Coast and North Melbourne – that will surely already be in Weideman’s agent Ben Williams’ ears.
The inevitable offers might be worth considering, too, since re-signing Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Christian Salem wouldn’t have come cheap.
A WILD WEEK ENDS IN JOKES
The Swans showed no ill-effects of their dramatic week, after being set to have only two of their official five assistant coaches at the MCG as late as Friday afternoon because of a COVID-19 scare.
Senior coach John Longmire narrowly avoided being stranded in Sydney, too, having lobbed at Azure Café – one of the COVID hot spots – shortly after the 12.30pm-1pm window.
Longmire’s dry sense of humour emerged despite the narrow nine-point defeat to Melbourne.
“It threw us for about 48 hours but it didn’t impact the result. In the end, we came up with a contingency plan,” Longmire said.
“We had our head of welfare as a line coach, our reserves coach – who also works in our Academy – as a line coach, and we had about four players lined up to work on the bench, and my two sons were going to come down and run the interchange.”
The coaching staff, head of football Charlie Gardiner and chief executive Tom Harley had a frenetic period from Wednesday onwards, including footy planning at midnight on Thursday.
“To keep the game going, you’ve got to get on with the job, and dealing with curveballs is just part of the business,” Longmire said.
“That was a unique curveball – I didn’t expect it to come. It’s probably the only time I haven’t been first for lunch and it saved me.”
SYDNEY’S EYE-POPPING NUMBERS
Demons coach Simon Goodwin conceded post-match the statistics suggested the Swans should’ve won Saturday night’s contest.
There were two in particular that jumped out.
First was Sydney’s extraordinary 17-4 victory in the centre clearances, while the other was a 35-15 advantage in tackles inside 50, which helped Longmire’s men win the inside 50s, 58-46.
Luke Parker (four centre clearances), Tom Hickey (three), Callum Mills and Josh Kennedy (both two) did the damage in the middle for the Swans against a star-studded Melbourne brigade.
“It’s concerning, isn’t it?” Goodwin said with a chuckle post-match. It’s easier to laugh about it when your team is on top of the ladder with an 8-0 record.
The ability to find a way to win when things aren’t going well is one of Melbourne’s biggest positives this season, but it wouldn’t want to cop that sort of hiding in the centre again.
As for Sydney’s tackling, there was an unlikely standard-bearer: Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin.
Franklin was scoreless for just the fifth time in his brilliant 304-game career, opposed to Steven May, but laid a team-high five tackles in the Swans’ attacking 50.
Kozzy Pickett also had five for the Dees.
Eleven Sydney players had at least two tackles inside 50 in an effort that bodes well for them.
SCOREBOARD
DEES 3.1 5.6 8.6 10.7 67
SWANS 3.3 3.7 6.8 8.10 58
MOTTERSHEAD’S BEST
Dees: McDonald, Oliver, May, Jordon, Harmes, Gawn, Salem. Swans: Mills, Parker, Lloyd, Papley, Rampe, Hickey.
GOALS Dees: McDonald 4, Brown 3, Petracca, Melksham, Spargo. Swans: Hayward 2, Papley, Hickey, Lloyd, McInerney, Sinclair, Mills.
INJURIES Dees: nil. Swans: nil.
UMPIRES Dalgleish, Deboy, Hosking.
MCG 35,567.
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