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Petty the Unnoticed Crucial Cog

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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4 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Can someone PM article please..

MELBOURNE

What it does well

The Demons’ defensive improvement this year has been stark. The players have got a greater understanding of roles within their team and the structure and expectation that comes with them. The selflessness and trust that is needed for these roles to be played out is a reason as to why Melbourne can win this year’s premiership. Wingers Angus Brayshaw and Ed Langdon are perfect examples of this. They’re getting up and down the ground and pushing back hard to help the defence. It is evident these two players are understanding their roles and the defensive support they must bring. The Dees are the hardest team to score against this year. It’s like defend and support is their mantra. They’re keeping opposition points from turnovers under control, as they’re ranked No.2 in the league for this important facet of the game. They were 11th last year.

What it must improve

As dominant as you’d think Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca would be at the centre bounce, the numbers are not stacking up. Melbourne’s total centre bounce clearance differential is -17 for the year, which is ranked 15th in the competition. That means there is plenty of upside in that area. We know all three are super competitive, and are great players, but if they continue to work on better hitouts-to-advantage, they can get better mid-to-forward connections and more territory on the back of having a good centre bounce differential in their favour. If they do that against the best teams, it’ll give their forwards better opportunities to hit the scoreboard. It’s just another layer that can make the Demons more complete.

Surprise packet

Harrison Petty and James Jordon. Petty has really helped Melbourne’s defensive structure because he’s allowed Steven May and Jake Lever to play their intercept roles really well. The season-ending injury to Adam Tomlinson has given Petty his opportunity and he’s taken it. The 2017 draftee as added stability and cohesion - and that’s so important back there. With his size and mobility, he’s become an integral part of their success to this point. While Jordon is a midfielder who has given the Dees great balance. We know Petracca and Oliver are great ball winners, but Jordon plays inside and outside and is a good pressure and tackling player. He brings a good competitive edge to the side, and is improving and feeling more comfortable every week he plays.

Under the pump

Sam Weideman. It’s hard to be critical of Ben Brown because he hasn’t been out there a lot, but it’s important that Weideman steps up because the Demons are screaming out for another key forward. They badly need one to step up and own that position. The Demons are a strong territory team so Weideman will get plenty of opportunities - but he needs to take it. A firing Weideman would be another avenue to goal and would take the pressure off Bayley Fritsch, as an undersized forward, to be their leading goalkicker. Tom McDonald is a better player as a second fiddle, and, while we know Kysaiah Pickett has great attributes, he’s not a tall. Weideman must steel his mind when kicking for goal. His set shot goalkicking lacks confidence and he looks jittery at the moment. It must be corrected quickly as it could be the difference between him being a premiership player and not.

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    Our centre clearances have been awful really. If we can get them right we will be very difficult to beat because we are so tough to go end to end on.

    I think our strategy needs to be more surging forward and we over possess it too much. And even when we do get it out of the middle with a clean break, we are not good enough at hitting up a leading forward inside 50.

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    He gets pushed under the ball really easily at this stage so he obviously needs to add strength but he seems to read the ball okay, works well within the defensive structure, can takes a decent mark, and seems a reliable user of the ball primarily cos he doesn't do dumb things or try to do too much

    He's developing and had a long way to go but you'd expect he'll be part of our back line for the next decade at least

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    11 hours ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

    Providing the opportunity to get more games into Harry is the silver lining to Tomilinson's ACL injury.

    Agreed. Would still like to see him rotate forward on occasion. Balance in application, largely. 

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    Petty has had a poor 3 games. 

     

    Been making some dumb decisions.  Need to back himself more

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    Really? I just don’t understand the negativity. He’s played just a handful of games and he’s holding a key defensive post. He’s playing well. Least of our problems. 

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    Sure some of Petty's decision making and disposal have been a bit iffy.  No question aboy that from me either.  But this is a guy who isn't an experienced player and so that's to be expected.

    I'd much rather give him the experiance and exposure now than in the burning lights of finals.  Would we prefer Oscar Mc Donald be our third tall down back?

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    2 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

    Would we prefer Oscar Mc Donald be our third tall down back?

    Yep. If Oscar was playing the 3rd tall role with the rest of this defence firing as it is, then he'd be doing great

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    12 minutes ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

    Yep. If Oscar was playing the 3rd tall role with the rest of this defence firing as it is, then he'd be doing great

    ??

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    Petty is doing fine. Will only improve.

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    Got spoiled by his own team mates a couple of times. Dropped that one crucial mark in the late 3rd but it was beautiful body work to get front position. 

    His primary opponent in Jones barely touched it. Roved that one freakish goal then got his other when not on Petty when Petty dropped the aforementioned mark.

    Otherwise Wright got him for size once.

    Overall I though he held space to allow May and Lever free run without giving away free kicks.

    A solid game for mine.

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    I have really been very pleasantly surprised with  Harry since stepping into Tomlinson’s big shoes. 
    When Thommo gets back in 2022, especially if BBB or Weed don’t click, he would be a worthy option up forward, but to those who suggest he go forward now, why upset our greatest strength, our back line?

    We managed to scrounge a win tonight without a forward line thanks to magnificent disciplined team defence. 

    Edited by monoccular

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    Petty is 22 in a few months and is developing ahead of time for a tall that has missed a heap of footy through injury ... i just think forward to when he is 24 or 25 years of age and what he will be doing for us ... helps put the odd error he makes now in context 

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    Petty doesn't rack up a lot of possessions but, more importantly, neither does his opponent and that is the key job of a defender.  He's coming along OK and should only get better with more experience at this level.

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    11 hours ago, Demons1858 said:

    Petty is 22 in a few months and is developing ahead of time for a tall that has missed a heap of footy through injury ... i just think forward to when he is 24 or 25 years of age and what he will be doing for us ... helps put the odd error he makes now in context 

    It certainly is easy to forget how young he is.

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    1 hour ago, Left Foot Snap said:

    It certainly is easy to forget how young he is.

    Yep, l remember James Frawley not looking that great in his first few years as well, turned out to be ok l think

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