There was much fanfare about the Demons featuring in Round Zero or whatever the AFL has deemed it. Plenty of exclusive TV coverage, a full house at the SCG, the anticipated Grundy v Gawn match up, what could possibly be a better build-up to Season 2024?
Well after all the hype, all the Demons could manage was a whimper, as they were blown away by the Swans who had planned immaculately and utilise all their advantages, ground, weather & tactics superlatively.
This was a game where the Demons were simply out-coached, by the old fox, John Longmire.
Surely the Melbourne coaching panel (it’s not all down to the senior coach) would have realised the following:-
• The SCG is small, so a style of play which employs fast running, open spaces, looking for outside run and carry simply does not work. The ground itself is conducive to contested, all bodies to the ball, flooding tactics. And this is exactly what Longmire employs, same as his predecessor, Paul Roos.
• The weather was forecast to be humid, warm and even a chance of showers. The ball in those conditions is going to be slippery, so players must be instructed to play “wet weather” type football. Sydney did exactly that, but Melbourne just kept trying to string together handball chains which inevitably failed when the ball was fumbled or mis-directed. Similarly, just kick the ball … any kick will get substantial territory on such a small ground, and it just moves to the next contest, simply because there is no space without bodies nearby.
• Why would they select Charlie Spargo who hadn’t been on the training track for the past month with an Achilles injury, and then get him to stand Blakey at 195cm while Spargo is a mere 172cm. Baffling to say the least.
But Longmire was even smarter, as he knew Max Gawn would be a deciding factor, especially since he was missing three of his first choice mids in Mills, Parker and Adams. So nullify Max became the instruction. Bump, harass, block or simply belt him at every opportunity and from any player on the field. It worked brilliantly, as there wasn’t much defence of the captain from other Melbourne players, and by the final quarter he was truly battered and bruised.
To top it off, Grundy adopted new tactics of blocking Max in the ruck once the ball was bounced, and there should be questions about whether it was legal, since it would attract a free kick in any other part of the ground.
Frustratingly, the coaching staff couldn’t see the obvious effect until the final quarter by which time, the damage was done. As Grundy backed into Max, the ball was only ever going to go in one direction, no matter which ruckman hit it. And that was to the Sydney side of the circle. Surely, our mids would have been told to load up that side and shark the ball. But no - it continued virtually all night.
Max cannot play the whole game. Grundy was given breaks throughout for long periods especially in the third, where as Max played 82% game time. Then Grundy was not used exclusively in the ruck, and certainly in the final quarter spent most of it a kick behind play.
The Sydney style of play also guarantees no freedom for the opposition forwards as they flood the defensive 50m arc profusely. At one point there were 16 red and white players inside, so please give me relief from people who say “lower the eyes”. There is no space provided by the ground firstly and most of it is covered by Swans players.
The result was Bayley Fritsch was the only forward to trouble the goal umpire more than once, and he recorded four goals from just six touches. That shows how hard it was for all forwards, but even the Sydney forwards in McDonald with eight touches for the game and Amartey with three (and then being subbed out) demonstrated it wasn’t a night for ANY forward.
At least they competed, and Longmire again saw the disadvantage of having non performers up forward with his timely sub in Wicks who had 5 touches in a quarter and provided more input to their success.
Any hope the Demons might have had, and they even got a point in front at one stage, was thrown away by fumbling, and even more sadly by a raft of individuals who provided little to nothing for the whole game.
The backs held up particularly in the first half, but the constant onslaught eventually wore them down. New boy Blake Howes acquitted himself well in his first game and needed to after Bowey left the ground with a shoulder injury. That was another critical error for the coaching staff, who then took Salem from the middle to sit at HBF, when we needed to clear the ball from the middle and stop it getting there in the first place.
On the wing Caleb Windsor – “the Duke” also impressed and while yet to adapt to the physicality of AFL level football, certainly showed plenty and will be called upon for a regular spot in the coming weeks.
I won’t go through the individual failures since it was obvious to anyone who watched the game who was at fault. Unfortunately, there were a good number, and those who have been tried, tried and tried again. Give me a Kynan Brown or a Will Verrall fairly soon to replace them, as our circumstances would not have been any worse.
We got nought from this game, and probably finished in negative territory. This despite the return of Clayton Oliver, who was obviously a bit underdone, but still managed 30 touches. If others had put in similar efforts to his, the balance sheet would definitely be in the positive.
MELBOURNE 1.6.12 2.8.20 7.8.50 9.10.64
SYDNEY SWANS 3.3.21 4.3.27 7.12.54 12.14.86
GOALS
MELBOURNE Fritsch 4 Viney 2 Langdon Petracca van Rooyen
SYDNEY SWANS Hayward McLean 2 Florent Fox Heeney McDonald McInerney Papley Warner Wicks
BEST
MELBOURNE Viney May Salem Petracca Oliver Gawn
SYDNEY SWANS Heeney Grundy Blakey Warner Papley Florent Rampe
INJURIES
MELBOURNE Jake Bowey (shoulder)
SYDNEY SWANS Nil
SUBSTITUTIONS
MELBOURNE Jack Billings (replaced Bailey Laurie in the third quarter)
SYDNEY SWANS Sam Wicks (replaced Joel Amartey in the third quarter)
UMPIRES Donlon, Gavine, Findlay, Mollison
CROWD 40,012 at the SCG
