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It’s time to acknowledge that it’s not an embarrassment to lose to Melbourne any more.
While Richmond certainly deserve any heat that comes their way at the moment, this is due to a confounding and appalling fall from grace since last year and shouldn’t be based on Saturday’s loss to the Demons.
It’s not enough for the Tigers to just regress three or four spots on the ladder after a season of promise. No, the Richmond way is to completely fall off the map, and drop 10, 11 or 12 positions, really twisting the knife into an inordinately patient, passionate and loyal supporter base.
But this piece is not about my Tigers, whom I roasted a month ago when it was clear their season was shot when only in its infancy. It’s time to laud and celebrate the turnaround of the Melbourne Football Club.
The Demons aren’t going to play finals this year, but 2014 was never going to be about that for them. This was never going to be a rags-to-riches story, but more of a rags-to-solvency type of thing.
This year’s goals were based on more attainable achievements: competitiveness, system, and an infusion of hope that there may be brightness in the not-too-distant future.
So bereft of hope for so long have the Demons been that it was going to be almost impossible for Paul Roos to live up to the messiah tag that accompanied him in his return to senior coaching. Nine rounds into the season, and he has already surpassed expectations.
What a joy for Dees fans to see their team playing with such organisation and system after so many years of seemingly wandering around with all the conviction of cows in a paddock.
Where previously an opposition side would ride a wave of momentum by piling on goal after goal, Melbourne are now so defensively sound they are now able to absorb much more punishment without it impacting the scoreboard unduly. Teams are still going to kick goals, but they’re working a lot harder for them.
People will look at the scoring shots from Saturday, when Richmond had 29 to 21 while losing by 17 points, and say that if the Tigers had kicked straight they would have won.
This is doing a disservice to Melbourne’s defensive set-up. The Tigers were forced to take shots from far and wide at some times, and also had to kick under immense pressure at others. The upshot is that when easier shots at goal presented themselves, the pressure to convert such chances created its own insurmountable obstacle.
There was one passage of play on Saturday that spoke volumes for how far Melbourne have come.
Setting up with a standard full-team zone for a Richmond kick-out, the Tigers were still able to move the ball with reasonable fluency and preciseness for a lower ladder side.
But by the time the ball arrived at half-forward for the final kick into the forward 50, most Melbourne players had already run a hard 100 metres to fill up the space. This left the Tigers with no option but to bomb it long, where the Dees had more players at the contest and the likes of Jeremy Howe, Colin Garland and Lynden Dunn to mark.
This was a clear example of hard, defensive running that all coaches try to instill across the entire team. Eighteen players working as one for the common goal, even though almost all of them won’t be getting the ball in that piece of play.
Richmond may even have found a target in the crowded forward 50 and kicked a goal in that instance (they didn’t), meaning it was all for nothing that specific time. But the greater good is served by doing it every time.
What a far cry this was from just over a year ago, when Melbourne lost to Essendon by 148 points. The Dons routinely took the ball the length of the ground with ease, and one time had three men 20 metres free in the goal-square to raffle who would kick the goal.
It’s amazing what confidence and belief can do for a player group too.
Most VFL sides wouldn’t have gone near Cameron Pederson last year, yet here he is an important cog in the machine and in the top handful of players on the ground on the weekend. Lynden Dunn has finally found a niche after a decade in the wilderness. Chris Dawes has filled the void of inspirational and dominant forward presence that was missing with Mitch Clark out of the side.
Jack Watts has been the poster boy for a lot of Melbourne’s desperately poor run since his arrival at the club. He’s been on the end of much criticism, some of it deserved if at times a little harsh, but it looks like he’s going to emerge as a fine player.
Melbourne had to be rebuilt from the foundations, but Paul Roos believes in the here-and-now, and recruited accordingly once taking over.
Daniel Cross has been the ultimate professional and calming influence that he was recruited to be. Bernie Vince has quality AFL attributes and has delivered them most weeks. Dom Tyson was taken with pick No. 3 by GWS, and we’re seeing why on a weekly basis.
Nathan Jones has been the spiritual leader during the doldrum years. He was handed the titles officially this year and has lifted his game again, often cutting out the opposition’s best player while still being a prime mover.
Few supporter bases have seen the deep, dark, prolonged lows that Melbourne fans have experienced in recent times – ironically, only Richmond people can really give them a shake. They certainly deserve the good news stories that come their way.
Almost halfway through the season, Melbourne wins shouldn’t be discussed in terms of the list of things the opposition has done wrong, but by everything the Demons are doing right.