The Melbourne Demons have hit form, and this week it was the Sydney Swans feeling the brunt of their newfound flair as they demolished them to the tune of 53 points at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.
Led by Kysaiah Pickett and skipper Max Gawn, the Dees received star performances from almost all of their star players to finish the game convincing winners with a 19.17 (131) to 12.6 (78) scoreline.
Pickett finished with five goals from a whopping nine scoring shots after running riot on the Swans midfielders and defenders all day, while Gawn did his usual colossus of work to record 21 disposals, 35 hitouts, nine tackles, six clearances and a goal… just a regular day for Max, really.
Despite the big margin, though, this one wasn’t always a lop-sided affair. In fact, the first term was a rather engaging contest between two extremely different game plans.
Perhaps because of their lack of forward threats, Sydney was determined to use the corridor at all opportunities, while Melbourne was happier to chip their way around the outside and back themselves to win the stoppage and contest game.
Both finished the first term with 12 inside 50s apiece, and only eight points separated the two sides at the end of the period.
Each game plan looked to be holding up, but Melbourne’s stars were making the difference.
Gawn nailed the first goal of the day when he ripped it away from Brodie Grundy in a ruck contest and snapped truly, and Clayton Oliver racked up 11 disposals and seven tackles in the first term alone.
Interestingly, Swans tagger James Jordon went to Melbourne half-back Jake Bowey at the start of this one, rather than trying to quell the influence of any Demons midfielder. Bowey has been in career-best form, and you could see the theory behind the move, but it allowed Oliver and Christian Petracca to run around unchecked (which ultimately caused a lot more damage than Bowey ever would have).
Sydney threatened to make a move early in the second term when Isaac Heeney kicked the first of his three goals to cut the margin within a goal, but Melbourne all but dominated the territory game from there.
The Demons amassed the next 12 inside 50s, and Pickett got to work.
The star livewire was winning it at the centre bounce, and then sprinting forward to cause maximum damage. You could make the case he’s the most watchable player in the AFL when he’s at his best, and he certainly entertained us today.
But for all the forward half play, crucial misses from the most inaccurate team in the competition kept the door ajar for Sydney. Kade Chandler and Gawn both missed standard shots, and in the end the 22-point buffer Melbourne took into the long break felt rather underwhelming.
The third quarter was a better showing in front of the sticks though, as the home side put their foot down to break this one open.
Sydney’s absolute impotence up forward was exposed. Nothing about their front six threatens the scoreboard, and Melbourne made the most of that by constantly setting their defence higher up the ground and getting aggressive.
Pickett kicked the final three goals of his five-goal bag in the term, while guys like Christian Salem, Ed Langdon and Caleb Windsor worked hard to run and carry.
Petracca flexed his power and poise in the superstar’s 200th game, and Melbourne broke out to a six-goal lead at the final change.
Worth noting is the hit Callum Mills laid on Charlie Spargo late in the third quarter. Mills left the ground and, while airborne, collided with Spargo, sending the latter to the bench for a head injury assessment. Spargo was eventually subbed out, so there’s trouble brewing for the Swans captain in just his first game back from a long stretch out with injury.
The fourth quarter was a bit of a formality from there, although a rather entertaining one with 14 goals kicked across the term.
Melbourne bagged eight of those, following up their breakthrough win over the reigning premiers on the road with a smashing of last year’s grand finalists on the MCG.
Let’s get into some of the talking points from this one.
Melbourne’s superstars were at full flight
I’ve already detailed Gawn and Pickett’s big days, but here are some other numbers:
- Clayton Oliver: 30 disposals, 12 tackles, a goal
- Christian Petracca: 28 disposals, a goal
- Christian Salem: 31 disposals, 11 marks, a goal, 11 score involvements (Kozzy had 13 of those, by the way)
- Ed Langdon: 30 disposals, eight tackles, five marks
- Caleb Windsor: 24 disposals, three marks, three tackles
- Xavier Lindsay: 22 disposals, four marks, three tackles
I could have listed a few more too, but the sheer volume of numbers goes to show just how badly Melbourne whipped the Swans in this one. Make no mistake, it was a belting.
Sydney didn’t defend a thing all day long, and they’ll continue to get belted unless they can change their mindset dramatically.
Melbourne pressure a massive tick for Goodwin
On the flip side of the lifeless Swans, the Dees were relentless in their pursuit of the ball carrier and brought heat all day.
The scoreboard reads as 131 points, and while that’s all well and good, you know coach Simon Goodwin is going to be so much happier about the defensive deeds of his side in this one.
Petracca preached how the side’s defence created the scoring opportunities that led to their offensive onslaught post-game, and it’s hard to argue with him.
Melbourne caused Sydney to turn it over 20 more times than they did themselves, and won the intercept count 72-54.
They laid eight more tackles (a difference I thought would be a lot higher), and 11 more tackles inside 50.
It’s an old-school mindset, but defence is still what wins in the AFL, and only one team brought it in this one.
Sydney’s forward line is cooked, and needs change
Going into games with Joel Hamling as your full forward won’t cut the mustard. That much is clear.
Hayden McLean wasn’t any better, and squeezing midfielders into the small forward spots is leaving Sydney bereft of game changers in the front half.
Corey Warner, Angus Sheldrick, James Jordon and Braeden Campbell (who has too many “e’s” in his name) are good enough players, but cramming them into the forward 50m arch and expecting them to do anything remotely resembling what Kozzy was doing at the other end is laughable.
Steven May and Jake Lever were barely sighted in this game, and that’s simply because they weren’t required to do much to best this Swans attack.
Disco Monagle’s favourite player, Joel Amartey, is out for another two weeks after this one with suspension. Tom Papley is still listed as 4-6 weeks away.
There simply isn’t any cavalry on the way, so what can coach Dean Cox do?
He tried Tom McCartin up there, but it didn’t work. I don’t have many other ideas for the big fella outside of maybe trying Heeney out as the full-time full forward, but that’s just robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Swans fans, you’re in for an agonising season in the front half.
Callum Mills didn’t do himself (or his team) any favours
I’ve already detailed the incident itself, but let’s go over just how stupid the Sydney skipper’s bump on Spargo was.
Mills has basically missed the past 18 months, stemming back to a Mad Monday incident that left his shoulder in ruins.
Finally, he gets to return to the park, and he actually didn’t look half bad. He collected 17 touches and kicked a nice goal.
But mate, what on earth are you doing leaving the ground to bump a bloke in this day and age? I know you haven’t played for a while, but far out.
Now he’s likely to get a holiday and go back out of the side, resulting in basically another lost season for the club’s leader.
Three words: Dumb. As. F***.
Petracca celebrates game 200
He’s a Melbourne Football Club legend and one of the best players in the game, so it was nice to see Christian Petracca get his first ever win in a milestone game.
It’s been a turbulent past 12 months for the superstar midfielder, both on and off the field.
His trade request was denied last October, following a harrowing injury that took a long time on the comeback trail. His form had waned ever since, and questions around his future at Melbourne still hover over the situation.
But his recent performances suggest he’s closing in on returning to his best, and at least for today, it was great to see him shining alongside Clayton Oliver as the dynamic duo wound back the clock.
Gawn gets the chocolates, but Grundy was admirable in the ruck battle
It’s always a treat watching these two blokes go head-to-head.
They know each other well, and they’ve got a long history as two of the more dominant ruckmen to ever play the game.
Today’s battle between them was exquisite viewing.
I’ve already fawned over Gawn at length, but Grundy was one of just a few Swans who can leave the ground with his head held high.
Yes, his opponent ran riot, but the Sydney ruckman also compiled 22 disposals, 39 hit outs, nine tackles and seven clearances. A stat line that is almost identical to Gawn’s. Had the overall result been reversed, would it be Grundy generating the rave reviews?
Some quick ones to finish us off
- Harvey Langford has game awareness beyond his years. Constantly knows where his teammates are and farms out the right handball option under duress.
- I get the idea behind tagging Bowey, but I think opposition coaches may want to reserve their taggers for Petracca or Oliver in the future. This was a somewhat smart yet somewhat dumb decision by Dean Cox… if that is even a thing.
- Matt Roberts is great at accumulating possessions at half back, but consistently ran into dead-ends. Whether that’s due to his own decision making or Sydney’s awful shape ahead of the ball, I’m not sure.
- Nick Blakey struggled to have an impact today, and when he doesn’t fire, the Swans look a bit lost.
Alright, hooroo!
