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Opinion
You have to think back to 1994. That was the last time Melbourne went 5-0 to start a season.
After a fast start, they crumbled to lose seven of their next eight but steadied to play finals, finishing seventh with a 12-10 record. They eventually lost to the Eagles at the WACA in the preliminary final.
This year, they’ve jumped out of the blocks with five straight wins and Demons fans are probably wondering: is this for real?
The hope for Melbourne is that yes, this form is real, but also that this team is different to past outfits who somehow managed to fall at the final hurdle or found ways during a year to sabotage themselves.
What might have been missing previously was belief but now they seem to have found it which, if unbreakable, can only evolve and makes them a team with huge upside capable of anything.
Most critics will judge Melbourne’s wins so far this year as games they should be winning. But on paper they’ve had legitimate tests against two finalists from 2020, the Cats and Saints.
Both of those teams have looked ordinary, but in those games the Demons were able to shift gears, dominate them and at different stages of the game, they aggressively went into combat mode.
The other three wins were against teams that finished 10th, 12th and 15th last year – the Dockers, Giants and Hawks.
On Sunday, the match was in the balance until five minutes into the fourth quarter against the Hawks. But the dam wall busted open and the Demons were able to slam on 8.4 in the final term and gallop to a 50-point win.
Some will argue the blitz came from nowhere, but it looked like they figured out how to cash in on Gawn’s ruck dominance, which is a scary thought.
Max Gawn (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Simon Goodwin has Melbourne playing hard football. They are the fourth-best AFL team for clearances and second behind the Bulldogs for contested ball.
They’re ranked first for metres gained and intercepts. Their pressure is visibly better than we’ve seen for years.
They are the best AFL team for tackles inside 50, averaging 14.8.
But their most notable quality this year is their confidence and ability to withstand momentum swings.
“It’s one of the things that we’re most pleased about this year is our ability to respond under pressure,” said Goodwin.
“We’ve worked really hard at resetting ourselves. Even this week – we learn off everyone that we can – we’ve got a clip of Andre Agassi that spoke about his ability to reset after every point.
We’re no different as a footy club. Whether it’s a game, whether it’s a quarter or contest. Our ability to reset in the moment and keep playing is really important to us.”
Melbourne’s list has remained largely healthy, where other teams have been decimated. Even when they’ve had omissions their depth has covered the gaps. When they lost prized recruit Ben Brown in the pre-season and Sam Weideman, no one thought they could kick a winning score.
But they are managing 13 goals a game on 27 scoring shots through an unlikely forward setup with Kysaiah Pickett (ten goals) and Bayley Fristch (ten) leading the way and contributions from Christian Petracca, Ed Langdon, Jake Melksham and almost-discarded Tom McDonald.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Guys like Mitch Brown, whose deceiving part-time demeanour can make him fly under the radar, has match-winning qualities. He booted 2.2 against the Hawks.
In short: they’re finding ways to score, which is a sign they’ve matured.
As much as their record suggests it, the season has been far from a perfect run for Melbourne. Gawn is still missing goals from 15 metres out. There are lapses in execution.
They’re still trying to learn how to maximise periods of dominance. And new weapons like the excitement machine Pickett are still learning how to be complete players. But there’s a lot going right.
Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver are operating at an elite level every week. Oliver is ranked first in the AFL for contested ball (82) and third for disposals.
Petracca is ranked third in the AFL for inside 50s and 12th for metres gained (524 per week). Petracca’s timely goal-kicking at the right moments has denied the opposition momentum.
Think what Chris Judd did for Carlton in front of goal and what James Hird did for Essendon – this is where Petracca is at.
Defensive duo Jake Lever and Steven May have taken huge steps forward. They’re now playing to the ability everyone expected them to play at.
Lever is ranked second for intercept possessions in the AFL and leads one-percenters at the Demons with 80 per cent efficiency. May and Lever are also the second and third ranked Demons for rebound 50s.
It’s not that they weren’t good enough last year, it’s just that now what they are doing is better and has more impact. Ask any Demons fan and they’ll tell you that May’s rich form would see him walk straight into a spot at Richmond.
The role players are making a huge difference.
Tom McDonald, who was almost traded, has been the best contested mark player at Melbourne. He’s hitting packs to bring the ball to ground so that Pickett, Melksham, and Petracca can swoop.
Christian Salem, Jack Viney, Michael Hibberd have continued on their solid form.
James Jordan and Charlie Spargo have embraced pressure roles. And to think they have forward talent still to come in: Ben Brown and Sam Weideman kicked ten goals between them for Casey over the weekend (Brown kicked three, Weideman kicked seven).
Before the game against Geelong, when the Demons were 3-0, media pundits called them “underdogs”, even though they were the form team. They have that tag because for years they’ve dropped big games just when we thought they were trending up.
It’s a trait that’s been etched in their fabric. Their date with Richmond on Anzac Day eve will test their system, their patience, but mostly their confidence and belief.
It’s time for Melbourne to show the AFL they are the real deal.