Great to see us score 5.2.32 from centre bounce and get a leg up there but my main intrigue with the us this year is what happens when this is taken away from us in a game.

I look at Wheel O Ratings stats from this game and compare it against the Rd 1 game against GWS and I'm encouraged by this one in particular.

Score origin from Defensive half:

Rd 1 V GWS - 1.1.7

Rd 6 V Freo - 7.1.43

I am looking forward to seeing Wheel O's chain from D50 scores in the coming weeks as this will really allow us to see how the transition game is coming along.

Best ave metres gained: Jake Bowey, 473.67m (19th overall)
Top 5 players: Jake Bowey (19th), Christian Petracca (28th), Kysaiah Pickett (33rd), Steven May (37th), Trent Rivers (72nd)
Best game in 2025: Jake Bowey, 649m gained v Frem, R6

3 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Best ave metres gained: Jake Bowey, 473.67m (19th overall)
Top 5 players: Jake Bowey (19th), Christian Petracca (28th), Kysaiah Pickett (33rd), Steven May (37th), Trent Rivers (72nd)
Best game in 2025: Jake Bowey, 649m gained v Frem, R6

I assume you mean Bowser is #19 in the AFL for metres gained?

4th quarter stats

7 games, lost all quarters. Tied with West Coast.

Dees total 7.21 for an average 1.3 per 4Q

Opp. total 33.14 for an average 5.2 per 4Q

Anyone want to argue with our pathetic showing in the last quarters.

Had Tigers on the rack … 42 points up then just jogged and turned over the footy.

As posted in the postgame thread, largest Tackles Inside 50 differential across three consecutive games (2012-2025):

+46 Geelong, R14-16 2013
+45 St Kilda, R20-22 2017
+43 Melbourne, R5-7 2025

Melbourne v Richmond (Round 7, 2025)

https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_match_stats.html?ID=20250701

Key Team Stats

Stats in bold were won by Melbourne.

Stat	For	Against	Diff	AFL
Disposal Efficiency
Disposal Efficiency	76.1	74.5	+1.6	72.7
Kicking Efficiency	69.0	72.7	-3.7	66.5
Territory/Attack
Time In Forward Half	49.8	50.2	-0.3
Inside 50s	46	43	+3
Shots At Goal	24	20	+4
Scores Per Inside 50	50.0	41.9	+8.1	45.3
Goals Per Inside 50	26.1	20.9	+5.2	24.2
Marks Inside 50	12	9	+3
Transition
Chain To Score %	19.3	16.8	+2.5	21.2
Defensive 50 To Forward 50 %	28.6	12.5	+16.1	23.2
Defensive 50 To Score %	5.7	2.5	+3.2	9.9
Defensive Half To Forward 50 %	32.8	25.7	+7.1	31.5
Defensive Half To Score %	13.4	11.4	+2.0	13.3
Contest
Contested Possessions	132	108	+24
Ground Ball Gets	82	70	+12
Post Clearance Contested Poss	85	59	+26
Post Clearance Ground Ball Gets	53	43	+10
Contested Marks	11	7	+4
Clearance
Total Clearances	38	38	+0
Centre Clearances	9	9	+0
Stoppage Clearances	29	29	+0
First Possessions	39	38	+1
First Possession To Clearance %	82.1	81.6	+0.5	75.5
Defense
Intercepts	70	62	+8
Intercept Marks	15	21	-6
Tackles	72	42	+30
Tackles Inside 50	18	8	+10
Def One On One Loss %	26.1	30.8	-4.7	25.9
Ruck
Hitouts	44	36	+8
Hitouts To Advantage	14	14	+0

Transition stats measure how often chains result in a score or an inside 50. Chains include all kick-in chains, all clearances, and intercepts with at least one disposal in the chain.

• Chain To Score %: proportion of all chains that resulted in a score.

• Defensive 50 To Forward 50 %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive 50 that resulted in an inside 50.

• Defensive 50 To Score %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive 50 that resulted in a score.

• Defensive Half To Forward 50 %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive half that resulted in an inside 50.

• Defensive Half To Score %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive half that resulted in a score.

Player Ratings

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Match	TOG
Max Gawn	7.9	4.6	6.1	1.0	19.6	77%
Christian Petracca	1.1	2.7	11.3	2.4	17.5	82%
Clayton Oliver	0.3	0.9	9.4	6.6	17.2	76%
Trent Rivers	4.5	4.1	0.8	6.0	15.4	84%
Tom Sparrow	1.9	2.1	6.6	4.0	14.5	88%
Kade Chandler	3.9	2.2	5.1	1.9	13.0	87%
Steven May	1.3	3.9	1.8	3.8	10.8	88%
Jake Bowey	0.7	4.1	5.8	−0.7	9.9	84%
Tom McDonald	2.7	3.1	0.7	2.5	9.0	92%
Koltyn Tholstrup	4.4	0.1	3.9	0.0	8.4	63%
Charlie Spargo	0.8	−0.8	7.3	0.6	7.9	78%
Judd McVee	1.7	0.8	3.1	2.2	7.8	83%
Tom Fullarton	1.8	0.5	1.3	2.4	6.1	70%
Kysaiah Pickett	0.2	1.0	2.4	2.2	5.8	86%
Christian Salem	1.8	−0.3	1.2	2.5	5.1	87%
Xavier Lindsay	3.1	−0.1	0.5	1.4	4.9	70%
Harrison Petty	0.7	3.8	0.6	−0.4	4.7	78%
Harvey Langford	−2.6	3.3	0.8	2.3	3.8	78%
Caleb Windsor	1.3	1.2	−0.4	1.5	3.7	82%
Bayley Fritsch	2.1	−0.7	3.9	−1.8	3.5	75%
Harry Sharp	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.5	3.5	24%
Jack Viney	0.5	2.5	1.7	−1.5	3.3	87%
Ed Langdon	4.4	0.6	0.7	−2.7	3.0	81%

Contested Possessions

	For	Against	Diff
Melbourne's Defensive 50
Hard Ball Get	4	2	+2
Loose Ball Get	8	3	+5
Contested Mark	2	3	-1
Ruck Hard Ball Get	0	1	-1
Gather From Hitout	4	1	+3
Free For	1	4	-3
Total	19	14	+5
Melbourne's Forward 50
Hard Ball Get	2	4	-2
Loose Ball Get	9	13	-4
Contested Mark	3	1	+2
Ruck Hard Ball Get	1	0	+1
Gather From Hitout	0	3	-3
Contested Knock On	0	1	-1
Free For	3	3	0
Total	18	25	-7
Post clearance
Hard Ball Get	12	10	+2
Loose Ball Get	41	33	+8
Contested Mark	11	7	+4
Contested Knock On	6	1	+5
Free For	15	8	+7
Total	85	59	+26
Pre clearance
Hard Ball Get	10	6	+4
Loose Ball Get	19	21	-2
Ruck Hard Ball Get	2	4	-2
Gather From Hitout	12	12	0
Contested Knock On	0	1	-1
Free For	4	5	-1
Total	47	49	-2

• Official data on pre- and post-clearance contested possessions are not available. These have been estimated by Wheelo Ratings and should be indicative.

• Ground ball gets are inclusive of hard ball gets and loose ball gets.

• 'Free For' does not include free kicks to advantage or free kicks while in possession of the ball as these are not counted as contested possessions.

Expected scores

	xScore	Score	xWin %	xMargin	Margin	Swing
Melbourne	88.0	83	85%	+16.9	+20	+3.1
Richmond	71.2	63	15%

	Shots	Score	Accuracy	xScore	+/-	xSc. / Shot	Shot Rating
Overall
Melbourne	24	12.8 80	50.0%	87.0	−7.0	3.63	−0.29
Richmond	20	9.7 61	45.0%	69.2	−8.2	3.46	−0.41
General Play
Melbourne	9	4.2 26	44.4%	28.4	−2.4	3.15	−0.26
Richmond	6	2.3 15	33.3%	18.4	−3.4	3.07	−0.57
Set Position
Melbourne	15	8.6 54	53.3%	58.7	−4.7	3.91	−0.31
Richmond	14	7.4 46	50.0%	50.7	−4.7	3.62	−0.34

• xWin %: win probability based on expected scores.

• Swing: difference between expected margin and actual margin.

• xScore: total expected score from all shots taken.

• +/-: total score above or below expected score.

• xSc. / Shot: average expected score per shot. This represents the average shot difficulty.

• Shot Rating: average score above or below expected score per shot at goal.

Notes: Expected scores are calculated by Wheelo Ratings. Each shot at goal is assigned an expected score based on the distance from goal, shot angle, and type of shot (e.g. set shot, general play following contested possession, general play following uncontested possession, ground kick, etc) as a proxy for pressure. The model does not take into account factors like the player, whether the ball was kicked with their preferred or non-preferred foot, and pressure on the player when taking the shot. Rushed behinds are excluded from actual and expected scores.

Pressure

Team pressure

Quarter	For	Agn	Diff
1	187	145	+42
2	190	175	+15
3	219	164	+55
4	178	157	+21
Match	193	161	+32

Source: Herald Sun

Most Pressure Points

Note: pressure points are the weighed sum of pressure acts. Physical pressure acts are worth 3.75 points, closing acts are worth 2.25 points, chasing acts are 1.5 points and corralling are 1.2. ( https://www.championdata.com/glossary/afl/ )

Player	Pressure Acts	Pressure Points	Season Average
Tom Sparrow	29	80	40.1
Jack Viney	24	75	48.9
Clayton Oliver	24	55	53.7
Charlie Spargo	17	42	27.2
Kysaiah Pickett	17	39	35.0
Christian Petracca	16	37	33.7
Max Gawn	13	35	19.6
Jake Bowey	16	34	31.1
Kade Chandler	10	28	36.7
Xavier Lindsay	11	26	28.2
Koltyn Tholstrup	10	23	25.5
Caleb Windsor	11	23	24.2
Ed Langdon	8	17	29.4
Harrison Petty	8	17	21.0
Harvey Langford	6	16	19.3
Judd McVee	7	16	16.0
Trent Rivers	9	14	26.0
Tom Fullarton	5	13	13.5
Christian Salem	5	11	21.1
Harry Sharp	4	11	18.1
Bayley Fritsch	4	9	20.0
Tom McDonald	3	8	16.0
Steven May	3	7	8.2

Source: Herald Sun

Territory (time in zones)

Region	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Match	Season
Half
Forward	43%	50%	59%	46%	50%	50%
Defensive	57%	50%	41%	54%	50%	50%
Region
Forward 50	21%	22%	34%	24%	25%	23%
Attacking Midfield	22%	29%	26%	23%	25%	27%
Defensive Midfield	28%	28%	29%	29%	29%	26%
Defensive 50	29%	21%	12%	25%	22%	24%

Source: Calculated by Wheelo Ratings.

Score Sources

Summary

Score Source	Score	Against	Diff
Kick-in	1.0 6	0.0 0	+6
Centre Bounce	2.0 12	0.1 1	+11
Stoppage (Other)	2.3 15	5.4 34	-19
Turnover	7.8 50	4.4 28	+22

Score Source	For		Against
	Match	Season	Match	Season *
Kick-in	6	3.9	0	4.7
Centre Bounce	12	13.6	1	14.7
Stoppage (Other)	15	16.6	34	26.1
Turnover	50	36.7	28	49.1

* Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by Richmond.

Chain start region

Note: region is from the scoring team's perspective.

Region	For		Against
	Match	Season	Match	Season *
Defensive 50	7	11.7	6	17.9
Defensive midfield	17	12.7	32	20.9
Centre bounce	12	13.6	1	14.7
Attacking midfield	15	19.1	10	25.1
Forward 50	32	13.6	14	16.1

* Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by Richmond.

Points from defensive half

For		Against
Match	Season	Match	Season *
24	24.4	38	38.7

* Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by Richmond.

Centre Bounce Attendances

	CBAs	CBA %	2025 %	2024 %
Jack Viney	21	88%	69.8%	69.1%
Clayton Oliver	19	79%	71.9%	70.7%
Christian Petracca	19	79%	65.6%	55.8%
Max Gawn	18	75%	84.4%	85.0%
Kysaiah Pickett	12	50%	55.7%	33.0%
Tom Fullarton	6	25%	17.2%
Ed Langdon	1	4%	9.9%	0.7%
Harvey Langford	0	0%	23.0%
Tom Sparrow	0	0%	19.8%	37.7%
Trent Rivers	0	0%	8.9%	29.9%
Kade Chandler	0	0%	3.6%	0.0%
Charlie Spargo	0	0%	0.0%	4.2%
Christian Salem	0	0%	0.0%	12.3%
Harrison Petty	0	0%	0.0%	7.5%
Judd McVee	0	0%	0.0%	6.3%
Koltyn Tholstrup	0	0%	0.0%	5.7%
Aidan Johnson			10.9%
Jacob van Rooyen			10.4%	17.8%
Jake Melksham			0.9%	0.0%
Daniel Turner			0.0%	0.3%

Ruck Contests and Hitouts

Ruck Contests

	Ruck Contests	RC %	2025 %	2024 %
Max Gawn	65	72%	80.2%	81.1%
Tom Fullarton	24	27%	20.5%
Clayton Oliver	1	1%	0.2%	0.0%
Harrison Petty	0	0%	0.0%	7.9%
Aidan Johnson			19.7%
Jacob van Rooyen			11.3%	17.6%
Daniel Turner			0.8%	3.1%

Hitouts

	Ruck Contests	Hitouts	To Adv.	To Adv. % (2025)	To Adv. % (2024)
Melbourne
Max Gawn	65	34	10	28.3%	27.9%
Tom Fullarton	24	10	4	43.8%
Harrison Petty	0	0	0		24.4%
Jacob van Rooyen				40.0%	24.7%
Aidan Johnson				30.0%
Daniel Turner					50.4%
Opposition
Toby Nankervis	71	31	11
Kamdyn McIntosh	15	5	3
Tom Lynch	4	0	0

On 22/04/2025 at 10:57, layzie said:

Great to see us score 5.2.32 from centre bounce and get a leg up there but my main intrigue with the us this year is what happens when this is taken away from us in a game.

I look at Wheel O Ratings stats from this game and compare it against the Rd 1 game against GWS and I'm encouraged by this one in particular.

Score origin from Defensive half:

Rd 1 V GWS - 1.1.7

Rd 6 V Freo - 7.1.43

I am looking forward to seeing Wheel O's chain from D50 scores in the coming weeks as this will really allow us to see how the transition game is coming along.

If my memory serves me correct, this is one of the main areas that apparently all teams strive to be rated at or near the top of the tree and a key trait required for Premiership contention.

Lasted only one match unfortunately with the Tiges beating us from this zone last night yes?

Our best Team Pressure Rating for the year. We've even won the last quarter although it wasn't at AFL average (185) which might partially explain why the Tigers won the quarter. Max off with roughly 8 minutes to go obviously another big factor

Edited yesterday at 10:111 day by Demon Dynasty

Round 7, 2025 MCG - Demons vs Tigers

Well this was either an outlier against a pretty poor oppo or we may have lift off. Maybe a bit of both?

Our best Team Rating for two years. Last bested in Rnd 7, 2023 vs North with a whopping Team Rating of 78.8

Tracc also hitting very good form with a Rating up 20%+ on his excellent 2024 Rating prior to his stint on the sidelines.

The Capt way out in front and easily BOG with an outstanding No.1 rating of 6.55

Welcome back Knuckles McVee, finishing well within the top 10. McVee's 4.01 Rating this week was well ahead of who he replaced. That being Howes' with a Rating of 2.80 from last week. Not a bad performance from Howes even so but not in the league of McVee.

Our top 6 rated players a whopping 37% in front of the top 6 average from 2024

The bottom 6 rating on the other hand, quite disappointing, down 31% on 2024. The worst of those being Kolt -27% on his 2024 Rating and Spargo a worrying-36% vs his 2023 Rating. And although he does not have a comparative Rating, Fullarton holding up the ladder with the worst Rating for us on the night (not counting the Sub).

Lifting that bottom 6 a few rungs would be super handy. Question is who have we got in the McGoos that could make a significant difference at this point? The main one at present is Bonner who's cutting it up but he's also not on our list.

Given we are trying to get back our pressure mojo inside 50, AJ might be one option to consider for Fullarton. While he may not set the world on fire he does attack in the air and pretty competitive / fierce at ground level also. He can chop out in the ruck to a minor degree. Better than nothing. Had a pretty reasonable match at Casey on Thurs morning. Worth re-considering?

Melksham might also be due back. Possibly for Spargo?

*AFL average % in50s Goal is 23%

Demons

< Subbed out TOG %

> Subbed in TOG %

Tigers

Combined Player Ratings

Stats courtesy of footywire.com and wheeloratings.com

Edited yesterday at 13:571 day by Demon Dynasty

Thanks DD those stats are quite remarkable and bore out what my eyes were telling me Thursday night we were so dominant all game, just not getting the results on the board until the 3rd quarter when our pressure went through the roof. I’m no expert but I’m thinking if you have 15 dominant players then our bottom 8 players are playing their role without getting a kick of the ice cream whereas our overall team stats are way up there. Apart from the last 6 minutes or so we were crazy good, Judd McVee was even better than I thought and so good to see Riv and Spaz getting reward for effort.

7 hours ago, DeeZone said:

Thanks DD those stats are quite remarkable and bore out what my eyes were telling me Thursday night we were so dominant all game, just not getting the results on the board until the 3rd quarter when our pressure went through the roof. I’m no expert but I’m thinking if you have 15 dominant players then our bottom 8 players are playing their role without getting a kick of the ice cream whereas our overall team stats are way up there. Apart from the last 6 minutes or so we were crazy good, Judd McVee was even better than I thought and so good to see Riv and Spaz getting reward for effort.

Hey DZ. Agree, it appears on the surface we are seeing a substantial lift, however hard to gauge against the last two opponents.

It might be just what the doctor ordered though. Sometimes you need a bit of a break from the top end oppos for some of your out-of-form players to work their way back to their best. Which then adds more belief and confidence. Confidence being the elusive tonic!

One of our big problems of late is getting all our stars playing at or near their highest level. So we've had Tracc & Viney way down on their usual output till about last week. While Clarry was doing ok to very good during that period. Then all of a sudden Viney & Tracc start to find their form, but Clarry then go missing in a few quarters.

Consistency across the park amongst almost the entire 22 has been so hard to find since about mid way through 2023.

As others have stated, Thurs night was also a diff game than the the Tiges appeared to park the bus almost from the get go by stacking the back half. A different set up to the Dockers. Let's hope the Eagles haven't taken too much note of that next week!

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 7, 2025 vs H&A Season 2024

Well well well fellow Minions. What do we have here!

Team Rating now tracking at 2022 & 2023 levels AND..... up 3.2% on the 2021 Premiership Season Rating

*Provided most of this crew stay on the park, we get Lever back mid season and Simon & Co. picks a team roughly within or close to our best 22 from below, i am super confident the Demon worm has turned!

Don't book any holidays in for September, cancel any plans you may have in train...

*WE ARE FINALS BOUND!

* Played less than two full matches

< Subbed out at least once or more

> Subbed in at least once or more

Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Demon Dynasty

14 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

we get Lever back mid season

I was at a prematch coterie dinner on Thursday night (not as a diner, but as a pleb selling raffle tickets 😅) and Ricky Lever was the guest speaker. Interestingly, he said despite being listed as 6-7 weeks away from a return, in reality it’s closer to four weeks, possibly even three.

1 hour ago, Ghostwriter said:

I was at a prematch coterie dinner on Thursday night (not as a diner, but as a pleb selling raffle tickets 😅) and Ricky Lever was the guest speaker. Interestingly, he said despite being listed as 6-7 weeks away from a return, in reality it’s closer to four weeks, possibly even three.

It’s great to hear he’s recovering well but I really hope we don’t rush him back. I’m a little bit scared his age is catching up to him after last year, although I think that was a knee injury if I remember right?

12 minutes ago, LePig said:

It’s great to hear he’s recovering well but I really hope we don’t rush him back. I’m a little bit scared his age is catching up to him after last year, although I think that was a knee injury if I remember right?

He went on to say this isn’t a case of *wishful thinking on his part, nor will he be made available prematurely. He said he’s been told he’s progressing better - and faster - than expected.

*He joked that maybe Goody and co. are sick of him being down on the bench behind them, yelling all the while, and he might be right… at times it looked as though he wanted to jump the bench and rip Goody’s headset off, put it on himself and take over coaching. 😂

1 minute ago, Ghostwriter said:

He went on to say this isn’t a case of *wishful thinking on his part, nor will he be made available prematurely. He said he’s been told he’s progressing better - and faster - than expected.

*He joked that maybe Goody and co. are sick of him being down on the bench behind them, yelling all the while, and he might be right… at times it looked as though he wanted to jump the bench and rip Goody’s headset off, put it on himself and take over coaching. 😂

I absolutely love everything about that. 😹 all the more reason for me to hope and believe he’ll be our next captain after Max.

1 minute ago, LePig said:

I absolutely love everything about that. 😹 all the more reason for me to hope and believe he’ll be our next captain after Max.

I’ve thought this all along. For mine he’s the perfect person to take over the captaincy.