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Opinion
The reign of Queen Elizabeth II is over, and so too the Melbourne Demons.
While the former last 70 years, the latter suffered an ignominious end after less than 12 months.
Melbourne were simply incredible in the 2021 finals series, winning their three finals by an average of 63 points. Their grand final win, when they kicked 16 goals to three after halftime against the Bulldogs, was about as good as football can be played.
It spoke to more flags being delivered in the near future.
The first ten rounds of this season did little to dissuade anyone of these notions. The Dees were 10-0, with a percentage of 161.7, two wins and 18 per cent clear of their nearest rival. They were three games and over 40 per cent clear inside the top four.
The funny thing was, despite this record they hadn’t yet come close to anything approaching the level of the 2021 finals series. It was easy to assume that they would build to that form, and it was a scary thought.
Looking back now, their draw to open the season was incredibly soft. Of those opening ten wins, eight were against teams that didn’t play finals. The other two wins were against teams that finished seventh and eighth, and lost their elimination finals.
They only topped 100 points three times, against GWS, West Coast and North Melbourne, teams which filled 16th, 17th and 18th on the ladder.
It’s instructive that the first three times they faced teams that finished in the top six, Fremantle, Sydney and Collingwood in Rounds 11, 12 and 13, they lost all three. And lost them handily too.
From there, we sometimes saw the Melbourne of old, but more often than not we saw a plodding example of what they had become this season.
In both of their finals losses, they submitted rather meekly in the end. “Demons’ they were not.
Sydney kicked six of the last seven goals from halfway through the third quarter in their qualifying final. Brisbane kicked 11 goals to five after halftime, which included runs of five, three and three.
What usually happens when a team wins a premiership, particularly in dominant fashion, there is always talk of a dynasty and rose-coloured glasses identify 22 stars. A straight-sets exit from finals leads to a darker assessment.
The ruck division is the most fascinating at Melbourne. Max Gawn is a great ruckman. Six All Australian selections screams that.
Max Gawn and Mason Cox battle. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images).
So why then did Simon Goodwin persist for so long in starting quarters with Luke Jackson in the ruck and giving him more time in that position? Meanwhile Gawn was left to sit under high balls in the forward-line with some sort of ‘long bombs to Snake’ type gameplan.
Gun ruckmen don’t make gun forwards. The end.
Yet Brodie Grundy seems all the rage to cross to the Dees, in the eventuality that Jackson wants a trade to Fremantle? It can not and will not work.
The forward line was a huge problem in the second half of the year for Melbourne.
They only finished sixth for points for overall, and from Round 11 onwards averaged 82 points per game. This was two goals fewer than during their 10-0 start, eight points fewer than 2021, and 37 points fewer than their finals campaign last season.
Ben Brown struggled in some ways compared to this time last year, but he is always going to be a product of what is happening ahead of him. He was far from the problem.
Neither Jackson or Gawn offered anything substantial in their time down there. Christian Petracca couldn’t hit the side of a barn with most of his shots. Kosi Pickett took a downturn. Bayley Fritsch did too.
Charlie Spargo and Alex Neal-Bullen appeared to be less consistent in their impact. Jake Melksham had a fantastic end to the home-and-away season to command a place in the best 22, but didn’t fire a shot in finals. Just turned 31, you sense his papers will be stamped.
Melbourne also couldn’t hold it together down back at the tail-end of the season.
They only conceded more than 71 points once in the first ten weeks, which was 81 points against Hawthorn. They conceded more than 90 in their last five losses of the season.
Steven May continued to be a tower of strength, and Harrison Petty improved, but Jake Lever in support was poor. Jake Bowey lost his spot, in a classic case of second-year blues. Trent Rivers got stage-fright during the finals. Christian Salem was awful. Simply awful.
Jake Lever (Photo by Daniel Pockett/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Backmen can’t always be blamed for a leaky defence though. The forward line was ineffective because of midfield supply, and when they either turned it over, or the forwards couldn’t pressure well enough, the Demon defenders were left to do too much. It’s a team game, after all.
The midfield just didn’t play with the same connection. Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca would bang it in high, long and sloppily. Jack Viney played the best football of his career when the fortunes of the team dipped, but was a disappointment over the final few weeks.
Angus Brayshaw has been lauded in many different ways across the journey, and looks an important cog much of the time. But he was flat ordinary in the finals too. It’s a common theme.
Ultimately, Melbourne had too many passengers in their losses to Sydney and Brisbane. Perhaps they got ahead of themselves in their premiership defence. Maybe they produced a magic last September that will never again be replicated.
It’s a tough business, football. One winner each year, and 17 losers. The Dees belong to the latter category once again. Can they follow in the footsteps of Geelong 2007-09 and Richmond 2017-19, and win two in three years? We’ve got a long wait to find out.
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