Demon's List Build to Grand Final

[Demonland 73,266]

 

[Timothy Reddan-A'Blew 5,478]

Paywall.

[BDA 22,961]

"The decision to poach Taylor from Collingwood in December 2012 has proven a masterstroke.

Ex-Demons coach and Magpies assistant Mark Neeld was the connection in the switch of clubs."

The one thing we can thank Neeld for

[Lucifers Hero 40,489]

I can't see the article but am guessing it is very similar to this:

melbourne-demons-list-build-analysis-drafts-trade-and-free-agency

with a bit more about Taylor's and maybe Lamb's role in the process who also deserves quite a bit of credit.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,950]

49 minutes ago, BDA said:

"The decision to poach Taylor from Collingwood in December 2012 has proven a masterstroke.

Ex-Demons coach and Magpies assistant Mark Neeld was the connection in the switch of clubs."

The one thing we can thank Neeld for

Actually, there's a second thing. Because we finally recahed rock bottom in the Neeld era*, the AFL intervened and gave us Jackson and Roos.

*To be fair, it wasn't Neeld on his own. the club was a shambles off the field, too,

[Roger Mellie 4,148]

21 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Actually, there's a second thing. Because we finally recahed rock bottom in the Neeld era*, the AFL intervened and gave us Jackson and Roos.

*To be fair, it wasn't Neeld on his own. the club was a shambles off the field, too,

On a technicality - the AFL gave Jackson the funding he needed to fix the club (as mentioned in the SEN interview). Roos by extension, came a bit later. The AFL also gave us Schwab 😩

[Fritta and Turner 4,605]

ALL Melbourne’s big guns were there.

Coach Simon Goodwin, co-captains Jack Viney and Nathan Jones, the man who would eventually succeed them, Max Gawn, as well as Jake Lever, the star recruit from a year earlier.

They were gathering for a good reason. The Dees were trying to convince Gold Coast’s Steven May – another co-captain – to join them as the final piece of their defensive master plan.

The opportunity presented when prolific spearhead Jesse Hogan requested a trade home to play for Fremantle.

That decision coincided with Sam Weideman’s breakout finals series in Hogan’s injury absence and Tom McDonald becoming a 50-goal forward.

Lever and May share the same agent, Hemisphere Management Group’s Alex McDonald, whose brothers, James and Anthony, played for Melbourne.

McDonald helped orchestrate the blockbuster deal for Lever to cross to the Demons at the end of 2017, in a package that saw them boldly give up two first-round draft picks.

After years of mediocrity, Melbourne was eyeing success.

But May had a major choice to make.

His fellow Suns skipper, Tom Lynch, had already revealed he was exercising his free agency rights to join powerhouse club Richmond, whereas May was contracted for 2019.

Lever had a similar dilemma about whether to leave Adelaide, but became enamoured with the Demons’ emerging group, including Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw from his draft class.

The pitch to May was the same as the one made to Lever.

In short, Melbourne felt it had transformed a once-pained club’s culture, established great camaraderie between the players and was building something special.

Lever had only been there for one season but was already making his mark. He was the Demons’ trump card and the enticement for what May could achieve in red and blue.

Fast-forward three years – and plenty of water flowing under the bridge – and they are both All-Australians and backline linchpins for grand final-bound Melbourne.

In between, critics questioned why the Demons used the pick six on May that it gained from the Dockers for Hogan and traded to Gold Coast rather than drafting Ben King.

That external debate is long over despite King’s vast promise. Winning silences everything, as Melbourne and Goodwin know all too well.

“I could see Steve was very passionate about the culture side of things,” Lever told the Herald Sun.

“Then when we spoke about myself and him coming together, he was as rapt as I was. When the trade got done, it was obviously very satisfying for both of us.”

The idea was the yin-and-yang defensive couple would complement each other’s strengths, which have seen them become the faces of the AFL’s stingiest defence – but it’s not just them.

Harry Petty’s stepped in wonderfully for the sidelined Adam Tomlinson to be the third key defender, Christian Salem had an All-Australian-calibre season and others such as Trent Rivers, Jake Bowey, Michael Hibberd and Joel Smith have contributed.

“Steve’s such a great one-on-one defender and that’s something I’ve worked towards, because in the modern game you’ll have to do it at some stage every game,” Lever said.

“He helps me so much with that side of the game, then my strength is probably reading the footy and knowing where it’s going to go and intercepting off that.

“To Steve’s credit this year, that’s what he’s worked really hard at. We watch a lot of vision together, along with Harrison Petty, Adam Tomlinson, Marty Hore and Joel Smith.”

HOW THE DEMONS EMERGED FROM HELL

Hiring Jason Taylor

The decision to poach Taylor from Collingwood in December 2012 has proven a masterstroke.

Ex-Demons coach and Magpies assistant Mark Neeld was the connection in the switch of clubs.

Taylor’s now arguably the game’s No.1 recruiter, selecting the likes of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Christian Salem, Angus Brayshaw, Luke Jackson and Kozzy Pickett.

The Oliver and Jackson selections were his boldest and finest.

Sweet-kicking Jake Bowey can probably be tacked on that list of first-round prizes, too.

Melbourne could once never be trusted no matter how many draft picks it boasted, but in the Taylor era it finds stars at the top and bargains down the order.

None of Tom Sparrow (pick 27), Charlie Spargo (29), Bayley Fritsch (31), Trent Rivers (32), James Jordon (33), Harry Petty (37), Alex Neal-Bullen (40), Jayden Hunt (57) or James Harmes and Joel Smith (rookies) were top prospects.

Demon-turned-Bulldog Mitch Hannan (46) was another clever choice.

Taylor once said: “In my job, ideally you don’t want to be going to a club after they’ve won a premiership. You want to be going to Melbourne, who hasn’t won one (since 1964) – it’s a challenge you’re seeking to show your competitive spirit.”

Aggressive trading

Tim Lamb succeeded Todd Viney as Melbourne’s list manager in early 2018, when Viney firstly became more involved in football operations then departed after the 2019 season.

Viney is credited with playing an integral role in the Demons’ list transformation but the lower-profile Lamb deserves plenty of plaudits.

He’s filled holes in Melbourne’s playing list and employed aggressive trading tactics that have pretty much all been a raging success.

Under Lamb’s direction, the Demons rarely haggle too long over value and are happy to pay a fair price if they believe in what’s coming in.

That includes giving up two first-round selections as part of the Jake Lever deal, and the 2019 pick swap with North Melbourne, where Melbourne gave up picks 26, 50 and a future first-round selection for pick eight.

A subsequent trade with Fremantle saw the Dees slide back a couple of spots in the first round – all with the view of nabbing Kozzy Pickett, after securing ruckman Luke Jackson.

A clear, undeviating strategy

Not only has Melbourne used second-round selections wisely at the draft but it’s also consistently and successfully dangled them in front of rivals to bring in mature talent.

The Demons recruited Ed Langdon, Ben Brown, Michael Hibberd, Jake Melksham and even current Hawk Sam Frost and the retired Bernie Vince for the equivalent of second-round picks.

That’s good business however you look at it.

The other part of Melbourne’s list strategy was to use the advent of future pick trading to its advantage.

The Kangaroos deal two years ago, which saw them add Kozzy Pickett to Luke Jackson, was only the second example.

The Demons also sent a 2016 first-round selection to Gold Coast to have two top-10 picks in 2015, which they used on Clayton Oliver and Sam Weideman.