Melbourne out of hell: Demons on the rise

Clubs under the gun dominate the footy media, and always will.

Let’s face it, if you don’t barrack for one of them, it’s a lot of fun when a big Victorian club that is not performing is the victim of fierce scrutiny, with strips being torn from them on a regular basis.

Collingwood and Richmond are feeling the heat this season, and rightfully so. Both clubs have seasoned senior coaches in the chair and teams sliding backwards at an alarming rate.

Sides going places but still sitting outside the top eight often don’t get a lot of love. For the last ten years, when Melbourne has beaten a side it has usually meant that opposition is in crisis within the hour.

Rarely have Demon wins been given credit on their own terms. Rather, they were seen to be more about the abject performance of the losing side.

It’s time those days are over for this club.

Melbourne out-toughed Greater Western Sydney in Round 1, to such an extent that it may have been exactly the spark the Giants needed to get their season into gear. The newest expansion team learnt a lesson about resilience and intensity that day, one they’ve applied in every game since.

Melbourne’s other wins have come against three sides that are the most out of form in the competition – Collingwood, Richmond and Gold Coast. Incredibly, the Dees have started underdogs in all of these victories, a sure sign that their improvement is not being respected by the wider public.

But the way they’ve won these matches has been the most impressive aspect, and even one of their losses showed great gains too.

A comeback from 21 points down at three-quarter time against GWS in Round 1, when previous Melbourne sides would have given up the ghost, and then holding onto a narrow lead in the last ten minutes when challenged. A lesson in belief and resilience.

The lesson was reinforced against North in Round 3, down seven goals to nothing after 20 minutes, they got back in the contest to such an extent they dominated long periods and hit the front, and were judged by many to be the better side on the day.

Against Collingwood in Round 4, a fast start did the job. Five goals up after 22 minutes, and the game never in doubt from that point on. They kept the Pies at arm’s length for the duration, allowing Collingwood only three second-half goals when they were trying to mount a comeback.

The Demons led from go to whoa against Richmond, despite being challenged and conceding momentum on three or four separate occasions, before kicking away with six goals in the last term. A victory of maturity.

And then on the weekend, turning a hard-fought first half into a blitzkrieg of goals after the main break, 16 goals to six. Twenty-five scoring shots to seven. A win that delivered that most peculiar of feelings to long-suffering Melbourne fans – kicking goals for fun.

Eight players kicked multiple majors. Another five kicked a goal. Two more hit the scoreboard besides. Last year, Jesse Hogan and Jeff Garlett shared 37 per cent of Melbourne’s goals. This year it has been 24 per cent. On Saturday night it was 17 per cent. A team playing with confidence in the jumper and willing to share the load.

Of course, the Demons still have their leaders. Every club does. And every team relies on them. The best sides foster them throughout the team, regardless of talk about yawn-inducing ‘leadership groups’.

Nathan Jones is the captain and no-one would be more pleased than he by being overtaken as Melbourne’s best player, after the lonely road he has travelled over the years. If we project forward a year or two, he may not even be in the best four midfielders at the club. What a luxury that could be.

Jack Viney is the spiritual leader. Concrete takes a backward step when it sees him coming, and he is becoming an ever more rounded player. Attitude is a crucial aspect to successful sides, and he has had it from the get-go. He craves victory, and demands others follow him in order to get it.

Max Gawn is now indisputably one of the best three ruckmen in the game, and he produced a masterclass on Saturday, with five shots at goal to boot. Marvelling at the partnership and communication between a champion ruckman, which Gawn is on the way to becoming, and his midfield teammates is a thing of beauty in Australian rules football.

Jesse Hogan has had his ups and downs, as any young key forward is going to have, but what ups they are. Josh Wagner has been a revelation, keeping experienced hands and good AFL footballers like Colin Garland or Lynden Dunn from the team.

Clayton Oliver is a bull anyway, but could have no better person to follow than Viney. The long-awaited Christian Petracca needs to tidy up his disposal but already looks comfortable out there. James Harmes is growing with every game and recorded a career-high 26 disposals and three goals against Gold Coast, due reward for the pressure and harassment he’s been providing each game.

The six names mentioned above are all home-grown, all aged 21 or under. Gawn is only 24. Viney 22. What a beautiful thing for Demon fans to be able to trust the talent they’re seeing come through, comfortable, for the first time in a long time, in the knowledge this is not another false dawn.

Although there will be those hardy fans whose pessimism is so ingrained they would refuse to believe in progress at Demonland even if they saw Nathan Jones holding a premiership cup aloft on grand final day.

A club in bad form gets castigated for their recruits from other clubs (hello, Richmond). A team in good form usually has many such contributors more than paying their way.

Bernie Vince provides surety and class, which can still be in shortish supply, particularly down back, where he has found a home as the young Demon mids take more ownership of the middle of the ground.

Dom Tyson has bounced back from a disappointing 2015, even if he could do with backing his foot skills a bit more. Tomas Bugg has been somewhat controversial but adds value as a serial pest. Better to have opposition supporters despise you than feel sorry for you, as has happened too often at Melbourne.

The best teams have aggression and intimidation, and yes, play unsociable football. The best Melbourne teams of recent generations didn’t have it, perhaps David Neitz aside. Think of Cameron Bruce, Brad Green, Adem Yze, Jeff White, the best players from the Neale Daniher era. Nice players, all of them.

Ben Kennedy has added bite around the forward line, complementing the work of Jeff Garlett, who is on track for another 40-50 goal season. Cameron Pederson is proving a good role-playing tall with his honest attack on the ball and man, and would get a game at most clubs.

Jack Watts has been a heart-warming story for many people, both with and without any connection to the Dees. So often unfairly put up as the poster-boy for his club’s struggles and failings, he’s had a match-winning impact in three of their victories this season. He looks to be playing with more purpose, confident in a role he is most suited to, and the beneficiary of a team playing more fluent football.

Melbourne were known for an attacking gameplan under Dean Bailey, no gameplan under Mark Neeld, and all-out defence under Paul Roos. How the players are enjoying the shackles being released this year.

Run is the most important aspect of modern-day football, yet the Demons’ ball movement has been constipated for so long their bowels were in danger of never loosening up. Previously they were sluggish, now they swarm. They’re averaging 124 points per game over the last five weeks.

Performing to expectation is one of the hardest things a climbing side has to manage. Melbourne have lost three games this season, but two of them to sides beneath them on the ladder when they were warm or hot favourites – St Kilda and Essendon.

As supporters or football-watchers, it’s hard to believe a downtrodden team can get ahead of themselves after a win instead of using it as fuel for their hunger to deliver more, but we see it time and time again. It comes with maturity, and putting yourself in the situation over and over.

Melbourne haven’t won as favourite this year, so will need to tick that box when they come across it next, against Brisbane at the MCG in Round 9. They’ll fancy themselves a genuine chance to knock off the Dogs as outsiders this week, especially given the sons of the west are venturing away from Etihad for the first time this season.

And the list still has some holes. Another key defender should be at the top of the list if one good enough to be worth trading for becomes available. How much would someone like Michael Hurley add to this side? It would be worth chasing Steven May or Rory Thompson from the Suns. Snare one of those, and come September 2017 you have a team that could not just play finals, but win them.

Can Melbourne make the finals this year? At this stage I’m leaning to no, as I wrote last week, but their draw does give them the opportunity if one of the current top eight drops away. Thirteen wins might be required, and they should finish in the 10-12 win range.

But we can see what they’re building. When Simon Goodwin takes on the keys at the end of this year, he’s not going to be driving a Datsun 180B. He’ll be behind the wheel of what is on the way to becoming a well-oiled machine – something modern, something sleek, and something that can accelerate when required.

The Giants are stealing all the headlines in recent times, about how dominant and unstoppable they’re going to be over the next five years. It might just be the Demons that are their greatest challenger.