Afterthoughts: WC v Melb Match Report: Max Ford
In the midst of a Federal Election, a heavyweight blockbuster taking place concurrently on the other side of the country, and some slight angst about whether it might be Mother’s Day tomorrow (that one might just be me), one could’ve been forgiven for perceiving this match as a footnote; an epilogue in the epic tapestry representing the first week of May.
But for anyone possessing a passing association with either the West Coast Eagles or Melbourne, the game did at least have some mild intrigue. The Eagles fans turned out in their dozens (many, many, many dozens) and it was to their credit, because that’s not always easy to do when you’re winless after more than six rounds. And they even brought some retro passion to the spectacle too, with boos ringing out resoundingly during the second quarter when they felt that the umpiring was against them. It was heartening to see, as a neutral. No one boos quite like the Western Australians. Collingwood, Carlton and Port fans have nearly mastered it, but they just don’t have the consistency. Once West Coast and Freo fans start up, they’re hard to stop.
The game itself did not commence at, or develop towards, any great heights. Melbourne started in second gear, and West Coast started in fourth gear but had evidently forgotten to turn on the ignition first. It was skill errors galore for them. The result was a fairly torrid opening to the proceedings, with Melbourne holding a slight edge in class, purely by way of West Coast finding new and fascinating methods of stuffing up their forward entries.
My personal pick of the bunch came from Jack Williams, who found himself in possession in acres of space on the 50m arc, with at least three players in space ahead of him, and instead of looking to see where he might be able to place the ball, kicked it in the vague direction of the goal, where Jake Bowey, the only Dee in the vicinity, managed to spoil the contest. The Eagles still managed to fashion a shot on goal from this passage, with a handball fed from the contest to Jake Waterman, who snapped it through, but not before a Dees defender got his finger on the ball as it was kicked. It was a moment that summed up the Eagles’ first quarter: full of effort, but lacking in… well, most other things.
Melbourne established clearance (particularly in the centre) dominance straight away, and Matt Flynn had no answer to Max Gawn’s deftly weighted taps to the teammates at his feet. I think at one point the clearance count was 10-0. Pretty damning. It’s hard to wrest back momentum in that sort of situation, especially when your ball movement seems to hinge on bombing it long and hoping the ball sneaks out the back of the contest (which, in fairness to the Eagles, it did, with surprising regularity.)
Also, to the Eagles’ credit, they did indeed wrest back momentum from their opponent in the second quarter. Down three goals and, to this point, having played like a bunch of Golden Retrievers on rollerskates, they suddenly shed the skates and started applying real pressure to the Melbourne ball-carrier. I believe they had 17 tackles for the quarter (almost a third of their total for the game), but even more pleasingly, their defensive application in general was brilliant. They were suddenly chasing at an AFL standard, smothering, launching at the ball and spoiling it in a state of what appeared to be newly rediscovered passion and fervour. It was the sort of pressure that awakens a crowd, and that’s exactly what happened. Three goals in relatively quick succession, including a classy finish from Elijah Hewett (the only Eagle to show polish in his disposal for the first quarter and a half, and to my eyes, the bloke with the most potential on their list) and a pretty insane checkside from Jayden Hunt, gave the Eagles their wings and sent them soaring into the lead.
Importantly too, the increased pressure from the Eagles lowered the stakes of their transition disposal. With such good defensive intent, they didn’t have to thread the needle or try and pull off the difficult game-breaking kicks ala the first quarter. They just had to pressure and do their best to force a turnover, and that they did with pleasing regularity.
Worryingly, the Dees, sans Gawn, Petracca and Pickett, seemed listless, resigned. Content to let the Eagles get on top. But they were soon to receive some external assistance from the footy gods (or whichever denomination you subscribe to), in the form of a Jeremy McGovern injury. With five minutes to go in the quarter, McGovern was nudged by Jake Melksham into a marking contest, where he collided with Harrison Petty. To this point, McGovern’s reading of the play had saved the blushes of the Eagles midfield on more than a few occasions, and he’d also been an effective attacking springboard, launching Polly Farmer-esque handballs to teammates in space in order to keep things moving. He was a big loss, and it left Oscar Allen as the sole aerial operator in the defensive 50.
At halftime, the Eagles were up by six, but with an asterisk, as concern grew that McGovern wouldn’t see the second half.
The third quarter began, and with no sign of McGovern, almost immediately the Eagles defensive will appeared more fragile. The pressure dropped off and they looked incredibly vulnerable whenever the ball went inside the Melbourne forward 50. Although the teams traded goals to start the quarter (neither goal probably should’ve counted courtesy of a running-too-far infringement by the goalscorer for each) soon Melbourne’s clearance dominance and the Eagles’ lack of a solid defensive insurance policy began to tell. Jake Melksham also played exactly the sort of quarter that a coach would want from a medium forward.
In the space of about fifteen minutes, the veteran shepherded a goal through, shepherded his opponent off the ball so that Bayley Fritsch could get a clear run at a mark (which he converted), and pulled off a smashing centring pass on his left foot to assist a teammate’s set shot. It was a maximum-value performance, and it’s the sort of thing I love more than a game-breaking quarter from a brilliant explosive midfielder. It’s pure footy intelligence, and we don’t see enough of it in today’s game.
By this time, the Dees’ class and fitness had stretched the Eagles’ capacities, and the young West Coast team was starting to waver. Space was being opened up inside the Dees’ 50 and their outside players, particularly Caleb Winsdor and Kyle Chandler (shout for the most underrated player in the league at the moment), were finding themselves in space again and again. At the last change, the margin was just under five goals, but the result was already carved in stone.
In the last quarter, each team played their part to expectation. Melbourne grimly maintained their concentration, with recent fade-outs during wins probably at the forefront of their minds, but you could see that the flight home was increasing in prominence in their minds with every passing minute. The Eagles did their bit by at least trying to halt the momentum against them, but some of the efforts from the young guys almost induced empathy in a neutral viewer, they were that gassed. It was a nothing quarter that provided no insight aside from further illuminating the Eagles’ weaknesses, and the margin remained at around five goals.
FT: Melbourne 16.12.108 – West Coast 11.10.76.
Now we come to the Eagles’ weaknesses, because frankly, this result doesn’t really teach us much about Melbourne aside from the fact that they’re not as broken as they appeared after Round Three, and that’s hardly surprising given the quality still on their list. Maybe it teaches us too that Kozzie Pickett will at least do his teammates the courtesy of trying his guts out before fleeing the joint, and that is respectable.
First and foremost, West Coast need to sort out their midfield. It felt like they had at least half the team in there over the course of the game as they tried to quell the Gawn-Petracca juggernaut, but it was to no avail. They just didn’t, and don’t, have the personnel to curtail that sort of combination.
Harley Reid is supposed to be the crown jewel, but he’s still a work in progress with his tank, temperament and second efforts. Tim Kelly is skilled in space but lacks the passion of the best midfielders. He goes about his footy emotionlessly, and quite frankly, should crack into contested situations harder than he does. Jack Graham is a handy pick-up from Richmond, but he’s never been a consistently prolific ball-winner, and that’s what they need. To my eyes, Elliot Yeo is still the only player that meets all the criteria of the big-bodied, defensively-sound ball-winner. But given his inability to get on the park rivals my ability to continue an exercise regimen beyond the first three days, that’s a pretty inexcusable situation for their football department and list management teams to be in. They’re just too weak in there, and it will be a problem for a while to come.
Following on from the last point, some of the positional switches for West Coast confused me. I haven’t watched much of them this year, but from what I do know, Reuben Ginbey’s a tough customer who has more toe than Jack Graham. Why not throw him into the middle instead of trying to turn him into a two-way flanker? God knows there are enough flankers on the West Coast list anyway.
At times, Brady Hough was running with Pickett through the midfield. This is fine from a defensive standpoint, but as a midfielder, you’ve got to expect to receive the ball in attacking chains. Unfortunately, when Hough got the ball in attacking chains, he generally coughed it up with poor handballs. I don’t know Hough’s game as well as many would, but I know he’s typically done quite well as a small defender, and good small defenders are as rare as lemon and lime Solo. It seemed like a no-brainer to send him to the backline to mind Fritsch and bring Ginbey up to try and reduce the stoppage damage. Mitigate a weakness, maximise a couple of strengths for each.
I was going to have a go too at the Oscar Allen defensive experiment, because he simply plays less naturally there than he does as a forward (visibly; seriously, if I were a West Coast fan I’d be despairing), and I’m led to believe that this experiment has somewhat inexplicably been going on for multiple games now. But there’ll be no criticism in that regard after all, as McGovern’s substitution would’ve probably necessitated the move back there anyway.
There was also a positional switch from Melbourne that I found… interesting, if I were to put it kindly. Daniel Turner started as a defender to allow Harrison Petty to play forward, and similarly to Allen, just did not look like a threat at all. He probably would’ve been silently giving his thanks for Petty’s substitution, because he immediately looked more dangerous upon moving forward, and kicked the goal that probably snuffed out West Coast’s hopes for good in the third. He got two more in garbage time, including a nice finish from the pocket. If he had started disco dancing in celebration, I’m not sure anyone would’ve joined him, but still, it was a nice turnaround in fortunes for him.
Another titbit is that Max Gawn managed to achieve a career-high disposals count; 35, which is batshit for a ruckman. Along with a cool 22 contested possessions, 9 clearances and a goal. Still, my favourite moment from him probably doesn’t fall under any of those statistical moments. Whenever he gets pinged for a free kick he knows is there, he just puts his head down and sprints inside his defensive 50 to try and impact the incoming aerial contest, and I love that shit. So many blokes around his height just don’t have the drive, the passion. They’d stand there sulkily and never impact the next contest the way Max does. He’s got that dawg in him, and he’s got it in droves, and it’s why he’s such a bloody good captain.
And one more final morsel is that the Dees’ recent high picks look the goods. Xavier Lindsay’s got some great composure about him and I love his raking kicks already, whilst Harvey Langford (25 disposals) looks like the type of bloke who may never find an established position, but will nevertheless exhibit impressive skill as he pinballs between the midfield and forward line.
There we have it. Not a ton learnt (certainly not as much as we learnt during the Election, anyway), a lot of skill errors, and hopefully both teams had fun. To the West Coast fans, a word of advice; hang in there till R13.
