Skipper Max Gawn was a man-mountain and Kysaiah Pickett ran riot as Melbourne found their mojo with a 16.11 (107) to 14.13 (97) victory at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.
Gawn was phenomenal, taking game-saving marks in the dying stages, but it was his early work combined with a five-goal Pickett performance that led Melbourne past what looked like a bruise-free Freo in an entertaining clash.
Coach Simon Goodwin cited the importance of coming out of the blocks early in a pre-game interview with the broadcast crew, and his side did exactly that as they posted six goals in both the first and second quarters to set themselves up for a win in the first half.
The Dockers nailed the first goal through Andrew Brayshaw, but a three-goal response via Pickett, Harrison Petty (four goals on the day) and Trent Rivers gave the Dees a lead they would never relinquish.
It was in the contest that this one was decided, and Melbourne won that emphatically from post to post.
Jack Viney did an excellent job closing down Fremantle star Caleb Serong, while Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver filled their plates with the good stuff Gawn was serving up.
Melbourne won the centre clearance count 20-11, and the disaster for Fremantle was how often those clearances translated into goals. It was a trend that meant the Dees often had an instant reply for goals that Fremantle had worked so hard to conjure, and in the end it was what stopped the Dockers from ever truly threatening to steal a win in this game.
Pickett was a massive factor in that centre bounce dominance, and it was in the second when he was his most damaging, scoring three goals for the term as Melbourne broke away to a 21-point lead at the main break.
The second half turned into a largely agonising one for Dockers fans, as their side missed ample opportunities to cut the lead.
The umpires gave the visitors the rub of the green for the first 10 minutes of the term, with some crucial non-calls (particularly a missed holding the ball on Matt Johnson) costing Melbourne opportunities for early goals.
But the Dockers weren’t able to capitalise much, with Jeremy Sharp, Josh Treacy and Murphy Reid all missing shots on goal.
It was superstar recruit Shai Bolton who did his best to put the team on his shoulders, though, slotting his third goal in the third term and more importantly creating several of his iconic “something-out-of-nothing” moments to give Freo some hope.
The game largely stagnated throughout the fourth term, though, until the Dockers made one last charge.
After three-and-a-half quarters of what I am comfortable describing as pretty lazy and bruise-free footy, it finally looked like the Dockers were ready to get to work.
Just moments after Josh Treacy was robbed of a shot on goal after being tackled mid-marking contest (a la Izak Rankine), his fellow forward Jye Amiss was able to capture the moment despite struggling for the most of the day.
Amiss slotted back-to-back goals in the space of a couple of minutes, cutting the margin to one straight kick with plenty of time left.
It looked as though Fremantle were ready to even the ledger when Shai Bolton marked the ball 70m out from goal just seconds later, but the bloke who had been his side’s best until that moment had what can only be described as a tremendous brainfart.
Instead of wheeling and kicking to Treacy’s advantage, Bolton stopped and allowed Melbourne’s defence to flood. He then took the onus on himself to kick the goal, attempting to step around the man on the mark to create more distance… It didn’t end well.
His kick failed to score, and Melbourne marched the ball untouched from deep defence to deep attack, in a passage that all but decided the match.
Sean Darcy kicked his second goal late, but it was a consolation prize as Melbourne posted their first win of the year.
The result sees the pressure return to Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir as his boys now find themselves 3-3, while his Melbourne counterpart earns a reprieve from the blowtorch for a week.
Here’s some musings I took from the game.
The Jake Bowey role finally worked
Firstly, my apologies for not mentioning this bloke’s name until now. Jake Bowey was enormous in this game, tallying 29 disposals and seven marks as he ran unchecked all day.
The 22-year-old has been playing a roving half-back role all season, and while he certainly hasn’t been among Melbourne’s worst contributors, it hadn’t quite clicked for him until today.
Bowey’s ball use was fantastic in this one, as he consistently switched the play and set his wingers up in nice paddocks of space.
Justin Longmuir would have been tearing his hair out watching it happen… perhaps he should have put someone on him?
Uh-oh, that blowtorch is back, JL
This past month has been a complete microcosm of Justin Longmuir’s time as coach of the Fremantle Dockers.
It’s like some sick kind of cycle: Lose a couple important games and find yourself under the pump, get a couple easy kills to release the pressure valve, and then stink it up when you’re finally in a position to climb the ladder again. Rinse. Repeat.
Seriously, Fremantle has been the height of mediocrity under JL. I don’t mean that to say they’ve been terrible, but they’ve just been completely middle of the road, unable to take genuine steps forward and instead masking wins over easy-beats as “important” for the footy club.
I wrote after their loss to the Cats in Round One that Longmuir was going to feel the heat after every single loss this season, and here we are once again. Today’s result is not ALL on him, but a fair share of it certainly is.
Fans are fed up with seeing Bailey Banfield run around without impact, or watching Jaeger O’Meara get a gig on the outside simply because he’s not in their best midfielders.
Longmuir’s reluctance to make tough calls at selection has earned him the stink-eye from his faithful, and it’s an awful bloody smell after this loss.
Big Max, we are not worthy
This bloke is utterly ridiculous. I mean, he’s just so damn good.
No midfielder (outside of Kozzy Pickett’s minutes) was overly impressive for Melbourne today. It was more a shared effort, as if they were all at the dinner table and big Max was lovingly handing out equal portions to all of his beloved children.
In all seriousness, the big fella made a mockery of Sean Darcy, who is still working his way back from a very low base.
Check out these stat comparisons:
- Gawn: 28 disposals, 31 hitouts, seven marks, 10 clearances
- Darcy: Four disposals, 20 hitouts, two marks, one clearance
Now fair enough, Darcy did boot a couple of goals, but they meant little in the grand scheme of this battle, which was overwhelmingly won by Gawn.
Fair play to Darcy, his first two weeks back from a significant injury lay off have been road games against Toby Nankervis and Gawn, but the Dockers are going to need him to rediscover his old form quick-smart if they want to make their dual-ruck setup work.
We’ve seen how good Luke Jackson is in the ruck over the first month of the season, so the heat is on Darcy to contribute quickly, or the finger pointing will begin.
But hang on, this segment is about Max, who I think might be headed for an 8th All-Australian blazer. A genuine joy to watch.
Was this an amazing audition or what?
I say this a bit tongue-in-cheek, but was Kozzy Pickett just giving his future side a glimpse into what he’s capable of?
The bloke tore this game to shreds. Five goals from eight scoring shots, 24 disposals, five marks, three tackles and four clearances. He also had 10 score involvements.
I mean, that’s a full on killing it, no matter how you look at it.
Post-game, Longmuir flagged that his original plan for Pickett was Heath Chapman, who ended up a late out with illness.
Whatever Plan B was, it might as well have been Plan Z, because I’m not sure anything was stopping this bloke today.
Earlier in the week, our Mongrel group chat had a hearty debate about just how good, or how valuable, Pickett is. One of our writers, Hodgy, questioned whether Pickett was really as impactful as many say he is (sorry to throw you under the bus, mate…).
Well, the livewire forward certainly showed his worth today, and while it hurt to watch, I’m sure Freo fans were secretly licking their lips at the prospect of this bloke joining Bolton in purple next season.
Murphy Reid is good at footy
It’ll get lost in the national conversation since his side was beaten, but here at the Mongrel we like to get granular, and Murphy Reid had another bloody good game today.
His statline of 17 disposals, one goal, two behinds, three marks and two tackles sounds modest, but once again young Murph was instrumental for the Dockers in transition.
He just knows where the ball needs to go, and how to get it there. His level-headedness was on show when he lowered his eyes to find Bolton for a shot on goal late in the game, and it’s that cool temperament that gives you the feeling he could be something special.
A bright spot in an otherwise pretty dour day for Freo.
And some quick hitters to finish off…
- Trent Rivers was fantastic in this one, finishing with 26 and a goal. He was also very physical and chirpy, which I liked.
- Fremantle has a lot to do on their defensive work after this game. I suggest starting with learning how to get out of a jog…
- Isaiah Dudley can play, and should be getting more opportunity ahead of known quantities like Bailey Banfield.
- Harrison Petty had himself a game, and got the better of some serious Freo defenders.
- Harvey Langford will be a serious player in this competition. Love his mix of inside and outside.
And that’s me done for the day. As Snake from The Simpsons would say… Bye!
