Paul Roos has brought about a massive culture change to the Demons. This has paid dividends truly this season, with Melbourne finishing 11th and challenging top eight sides.
Their standout contributors through the year were Max Gawn, Nathan Jones and Jack Viney.
Max Gawn
His meteoric rise to the top started towards the end of last year but started seriously taking off as this year progressed. Each game he played an invaluable part in assuring, win or lose, he leaves nothing in the tank.
Gawn was rightfully selected as the solitary ruckman in the All-Australian Squad. He averaged an exquisite 42 hitouts-a-game this season, 12 above his career average.
A testing match came in Round 3 after two par performances, when he had to face an in-form Todd Goldstein.
He rose truly to the occasion, with a career best 63 hitouts and 18 touches. That was when he truly announced himself to his doubters.
Other than his creative ruckwork, he averages 14.5 possessions, 8.5 contested at 72 per cent efficiency. These numbers are serviceable for any player let-a-lone a giant ruckman. He uses that height well as well in his pack marking.
He leads Melbourne for that stat with 46 for the season.
Nathan Jones
Jones has endured the depressing lows that the club has experienced over the years, so to see him lead the team with such grit when the club look to be on a long-awaited rise is rewarding.
2016 saw him continue his amazing streak of playing over 20 games for the tenth straight season, showing his perpetual longevity and durability.
The captain had personal bests this year in disposals, metres gained, score involvements, intercept possessions and tackles, partly due to his continual rise as a footballer, but also the fact he has had quality players to help him achieve such a feat.
The midfielder does everything right on the field, leading by example, doing dirty work, getting the one percenters as well as pressure acts.
He is dominant at Melbourne in a host of stats that include disposals (averaging 28), Fantasy Points (averaging 98), tackles (118), Clearances (averaging 5.1) contested possessions (averaging 10.5) and metres gained with 354 per game.
It will come as a surprise that despite his absolute dominance and work ethic, the only stat of those he leads Melbourne for are disposals. It is such a great situation for Melbourne to be in that they are becoming less reliant on his perennial performances.
Jack Viney
A shoe in for the Melbourne’s Best and Fairest in what was unarguably his best ever season which saw him make leaps and bounds in his game. The way he has played this year is like how he played last year when he had a purple-patch, but he did it consistently.
Due to his football awareness, he usually puts the ball in a good position. In saying that, his disposal efficiency is somewhat ordinary at 66 per cent, something he’ll be sure to improve on. If the next captain of the Melbourne Footy Club, is the Jack Viney we saw this year, the Dees are in good stead.
Finishing 11th, any team should be optimistic of making the finals, the following year.
Melbourne have endured an unhurried rise to consistency each year, and should they maintain their growth next year, they are destined to make the top eight
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