2023 Mid Season Report Card

Ticks, crosses and top trade priorities: Every AFL club graded in mid-season report card

MELBOURNE (7-4, 133.9%)

Three word analysis

Hasn’t quite clicked

What’s gone right 

The Dees after 11 rounds are the No. 1 ranked offensive team in the AFL, averaging nearly 101 points per match. They banked wins and percentage early, with big victories over the three bottom teams. Bayley Fritsch and Kysaiah Pickett have been constant threats forward of centre, Kade Chandler is having a career-best season and Jacob van Rooyen, who finally debuted in Round 3, is making the most of his opportunities, kicking at least one goal in all of his nine games to date. The Dees also remain one of the league’s best contested possession teams, headlined by Clayton Oliver, who’ll surely be right up in Brownlow contention again after a colossal start to the season. There were lots of questions pre-season around whether Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy would click, but it’s worked out well to date. 

What’s gone wrong

Despite their decent win-loss record, questions still linger over the Demons and whether they’re an elite top-four team. They almost lost to Gold Coast and have dropped close games to fellow finals contenders Port Adelaide and Fremantle in the past fortnight. Perhaps of most concern is the fact a few teams this season have exposed and disarmed Simon Goodwin‘s side by not playing into the hands of Steven May and Jake Lever moving the ball forward. The Demons are conceding a respectable 75.4 points per game this season (ranked fourth in the AFL), but that’s eight more points than last year (67.4) and nearly 10 more than 2021 (65.6) when they were the league’s best defensive side. There’s been a few injury concerns too, with Max Gawn missing three games and Christian Salem only just returning to the side. It also seems like they haven’t found their ideal forward mix, with Tom McDonald and Ben Brown languishing in the VFL and Harry Petty being thrown around the ground a little. Now what doesn’t help is the Demons have arguably the toughest run home draw of any side, including a six-week run where they play Collingwood, Geelong, the Giants, St Kilda, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Contract and trade priorities

While there’s some doubts on the field, the Dees are brilliantly placed off the field from a list management perspective, with most of their big names locked away until at least 2025 or longer. If they can re-sign Jake Lever — out-of-contract at the end of 2024 — ahead of schedule, that’d be a big relief. One player unsigned beyond this season is Kade Chandler, who the club would like to lock away considering the small forward’s excellent start to the season, which has seen him play all 11 games and 15.4. All reports suggest a new deal is imminent for Chandler, who’s kickstarted talks on a contract that will reward his breakout season. But free agent James Jordon might be harder to secure, with the midfielder attracting interest from several rival clubs — including Essendon and Gold Coast — while James Harmes has also been linked to the Bombers, despite being contracted to Melbourne until the end of 2024. The Demons in recent years have unsuccessfully tried to move up the draft order. Armed this year with two first-round picks — its natural selection and the one attached to Fremantle’s finishing position — perhaps this is the year the Demons push up into the real pointy end of the draft.

Grade

B

– Ben Waterworth