AFL round 7: Richmond v Melbourne analysis

Until two weeks ago, Daniel ‘Disco’ Turner hadn’t played forward since his junior days in Albury. Now, with three Anzac eve goals to his name, could he help solve the Dees forward disconnect?

Glenn McFarlane

@MaccaHeraldSun

7 min read

April 25, 2024 - 11:02AM

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Daniel Turner was more than a little surprised - but up for the challenge - when Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin approached him less than two weeks ago with a proposition.

Goodwin wanted Turner to turn back the clock to his junior days and go forward, not his customary defensive role, in his VFL return game from a preseason femur stress fracture.

He hadn’t really played in attack since he was 17, more than two years before he was plucked from Albury/Murray Under 18s in the 2021 mid-season draft.

But after only one VFL match at Casey, Goodwin recalled him to the senior Melbourne team for his fourth game.

Daniel Turner celebrated each of his three goals in style. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

And judging by the way the 22-year-old handled himself in the Demons’ frequently barren forward line in the 43-point win over the Tigers, it might end up being an inspired move.

Turner looked at home in attack and booted three key goals to make a real impression.

He could be, in part, a solution to the Dees’ forward woes, having 13 disposals, eight marks, six score involvements and being his team’s fourth ranked player on a night where Melbourne turned a first-half grind littered with mistakes into a more than serviceable victory.

“It’s unbelievable,” Turner said in the rooms after the match.

“It is such a privilege to play in a game like that, and to come away with a win was so good.”

“The boys put up an incredible effort and really looked after me.”

He revealed Goodwin recently gave him the carrot of moving forward as an option to potentially win his way back into the senior team.

“Up until I was about 17, I was a forward and then I got drafted as a defender to the Demons,” Turner said.

“It was probably about two weeks ago (when Goodwin told him) ‘we will try you there (forward)’ and my first game back in the VFL, I was tried out there.

Daniel Turner is congratulated by skipper Max Gawn after one of his three goals on Wednesday night. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“It’s pretty cool. It is a new role and it can be a bit confusing at times, but I feel like I am learning a lot from it. I’ve got the best help off the ground with Simon Goodwin, (forwards coach) Greg Stafford, ‘Choco’ Williams (head of development) and the guys like Harry Petty, Jacob van Rooyen and Bayley Fritsch have made it (the transition) a lot more comfortable.”

Turner famously came in for his debut game on Queen’s Birthday 2022 when Steven May was suspended by the club over his part in a scuffle with teammate Jake Melksham after attending a Prahran restaurant.

At the time Jake Lever told Turner of his debut in front of teammates, asking him what MND stood for, to which he correctly answered Motor neurone disease. But Turner was stumped when asked what MMD stood for. The players roared when Lever said: ‘Making My Debut’.

Turner finished his debut game with concussion and a facial fracture, and his two games last season (in rounds eight and 24) also came in defence.

But with Goodwin sensing the Demons needed a change in the forward structure after kicking only eight goals against Brisbane before the bye, he opted to switch Turner’s role.

His first major of the game was also his first goal in AFL football, and his family made the trip down from Albury to witness it.

Daniel Turner and coach Simon Goodwin ahead of his debut match on Queens Birthday in 2022. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“I had my mum, dad, brother, my nan and my brother’s girlfriend come down here,” Turner said. “They’re one of the reasons why I play.”

May wasn’t sure pre-game that Turner could be as effective as a forward as he could be down back, saying he thought he might have been selected in defence, allowing Tom McDonald to go into attack.

“I wasn’t actually aware (he could be a forward),” May said on Channel 7. “I reckon the coaches weren’t even sure. Because we had such a long prep for this game they thought we’ll try him up there and see how he goes.”

“I’m just glad he got a goal early and gave us a contest. He looked really good, not just that stay-at-home forward, he was leading up, taking marks and giving those celebrations — that’s what I kept noticing!

“He started getting me up. I was kind of like ‘put a cap on it a bit’ but the young guys love it, let them go. It got our energy up, really happy for him.”

Turner posed with key defenders May and Jake Lever for a club photo after the game, with the social media caption “Disco Turner saying goodbye to his backline buddies.”

Disco Turner saying goodbye to his backline buddies. ðŸ¥º #DemonSpirit | #AFLTigersDees pic.twitter.com/m3jkJ4sXvR
— Melbourne Demons (@melbournefc) April 24, 2024

“Our defenders were unbelievable tonight,” Turner said. “Jakey Lever and Steven May were sensational. They helped to keep us in the game, their efforts don’t go underappreciated.”

The ‘Disco’ nickname stems from his mates back home in Albury who took “the p—” out of him for having two left feet on the dancefloor.

It has caught on with his Melbourne teammates and he doesn’t mind it now, as he explained after performing under the bright lights on one of footy’s most important stages.

Daniel Turner shares the story behind his nickname, Disco ðŸ•º#AFLTigersDees pic.twitter.com/ZRxiEKqaO0
— AFL (@AFL) April 24, 2024

Importantly, his performance gave the Demons’ attack a different look, and while he is certain to keep his spot against Geelong on Saturday week, he knows he needs to keep performing to stay in the side.

“We’ve got unbelievable depth and it is always good that they put pressure on us to keep playing well (to stay in the side),” he said.

“It’s a privilege to be playing at such a good club.

“We play Geelong next week and it is another exciting game for us. We just need to keep working hard and keep improving.”

Demons a riddle yet to be solved after spluttering way past Tigers

What do we make of Melbourne in 2024?

As Britain’s famous war-time leader Winston Churchill once famously said of Russia: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key.”

Let’s hope Demons coach Simon Goodwin knows where the keys are because someone needs to start the engine ahead of Saturday night’s clash with a (so far) unbeaten Geelong.

The Demons might be 5-2 to start the season on the ladder ledger but there was so much coughing and spluttering early in the Anzac Eve match against a game and undermanned Richmond, that it is hard to work out just how serious their premierships hopes are right now.

At their best, they can be intoxicating and exciting.

Are Melbourne contenders? Picture: Michael Klein

But the manner in which they went about the first two and half quarters against the Tigers looked more intoxicated than intoxicating.

They butchered the ball as bad as they have for some time, having 22 clanger kicks in the first half when their season average for an entire game was 23.

Was it the opposition? Or was it self-inflicted? The reality was that it was a mix of both as they sprayed the ball all over the ground, and if it wasn’t for the intercept skills of key defenders Jake Lever and Steven May at stages in the first half, it could have been far worse.

As it turned out, the Demons were able to kick the engine into gear when it mattered to nail 10 goals to two in the second half, off the back of a Max Gawn masterclass in the ruck, Lever’s superb intercept work down back and three goals out of 13 from young forward Daniel Turner.

Lever had 26 disposals, 11 marks and 15 intercept possessions (the second equal most of any player this season), while Gawn eventually got on top of Toby Nankveris in a great duel, having 23 disposals and 10 marks.

Lever helped to save the game early; Gawn helped to win it late.

The final margin of 43 looked easy, but it was anything but, and there is plenty of food for thought for Goodwin.

Simon Goodwin’s side proved far too strong for the Tigers. Picture: Getty Images

Do they need more bodies in the midfield mix? Can they afford to leave Christian Petracca forward for large portions of the game? Who is going to be the key forward to step up when they need one?

For much of the night, it seemed as if there could be an ‘Yze ambush’ in the offing as Richmond coach Adem Yze used his intimate knowledge from his time as an assistant coach to push hard on Melbourne’s vulnerable trigger points.

He used Marlion Pickett on Petracca to good effect for 61 minutes, which was made easier initially as Goodwin chose to play the explosive midfield in attack. In that time, Pickett had 15 disposals to Petracca’s 13, and it worked until the Demons finally pulled the trigger and opted to send their key playmaker into the engine room.

Mick McGuane famously described Melbourne’s scattergun approach inside 50 in the years after its 2021 flag as ‘the Dee-muda Triangle’, given the club’s propensity to waste the ball going forward.

That same waste came in a different form on Wednesday night, as their disposals in the first half could have been set to Benny Hill music, such were the tally of turnovers, miskicks and poor decision, not just inside 50 but all across the ground.

Melbourne improved their record to 5-2. Picture: Getty Images

It would have had Goodwin almost pulling his hair out in angst, and unless they can collectively clean up their waste, it is going to hurt them when it really matters with Fox’s Jason Dunstall saying they resembled more of a bottom four side than the Tigers.

Yze set up a plan to make this an absolute slog. His players followed his instructions to the letter in the first three terms, and in doing so, put the Demons under so much early pressure.

But they couldn’t maintain it.

And the Demons got going when they had to, being more direct and just proving too good for the opposition, who lost another player to injury in the luckless Jacob Hopper.

Goodwin will know Melbourne has plenty of work to do.

Geelong won’t be so generous next week if the same basic skills errors are made.

The Demons are still a riddle, but they are at least building a good win/ loss foundation to attack the season, even if their game profile still needs some serious work - starting with the Cats next week.