There is a stench around the Demons currently and one could argue that the blueprint is there regarding how to beat them. After round nine of last season, the Demons were 9-0 and looked near unbeatable before ending the season with a 16-6 record. Since round nine of last year, the Demons have a record of 14-11 which isn’t a record of a Premiership contender.
The Demons have now lost two games in a row against Port Adelaide and Fremantle and I personally think they were lucky to get over both Gold Coast and Richmond. In their seven wins this season they have only beaten one top-eight team in the Western Bulldogs and that was when they were shocking at the beginning of the season. More worryingly for the Demons, the same issues keep arising and every other club now knows the exact way of beating them.
For all of the big names they have running throughout the middle of the ground, they don’t win clearances. They rank thirteenth in the competition for clearances per game and when Clayton Oliver isn’t in that midfield the likes of Christian Petracca and Jack Viney just aren’t getting it done. The lack of depth throughout the midfield is also a glaring issue for the Demons. After naming Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, and Jack Viney it drops away quickly with the likes of Brayshaw, Harmes, Sparrow, and Pickett having to play around the stoppages. In three out of their four losses this season they have been smacked around the clearances and contested ball and if that doesn’t change quickly, The demons top four hopes could be a distant memory.
Their defence is another issue. If you can occupy Jake Lever and take away his aerial threat it opens up goal-scoring opportunities for the opposition considering Steven May is in horrible form. In three of Melbourne’s losses (he didn’t play in the other defeat) the opposition have kept Lever’s marking numbers to 3, 2, and 8 (the outlier). If a team can take away his presence in the air and make him defend 1v1 (just like Fremantle did last week) he becomes a defensive liability and it takes away their counterattacking options. The blame should also go to Steven May. He has conceded multiple hauls of four goals against him this season and has only kept his direct opponent to under two goals once this season and that was in round one when the Demons won by ten goals.
The forward line is a separate issue entirely and I think stats can be misleading at times. The Demons rank first in points per game but I don’t think their forward six scares anyone. Their lack of a key forward has been an issue for some time now. Jacob Van Rooyen has kicked fourteen goals from nine games and will eventually be that man, but I wouldn’t be putting my trust in a nineteen-year-old key forward in September. Bayley Fritsch has been the Demons’ best forward for the best part of five seasons and if you can minimise his influence (like Port Adelaide, Fremantle, and Gold Coast have been able to do lately) the scoring really dries up for the Demons, especially if the likes of Pickett and Chandler are expected to push up the ground.
For a team that sits third in betting for the Premiership, there are problems that need to be addressed and quickly. Three blockbuster games await the Demons. The struggling Blues on Friday Night into the reigning Premier Geelong and current Premiership favourites Collingwood on Queens Birthday. With a record of 7-4 they sit only a game clear of ninth and equal on points with both fifth and sixth. Win those three and they will be rightly considered as Premiership contenders – Lose, and I think their hold on the top four will slip and I highly doubt whether they will be able to get back in there.
I am starting to believe that the Demons have plenty of downhill skiers in their 22 (including some of their better players). They are only a watch at this stage, but we could sit here in four weeks’ time and be asking ourselves where the Demons went wrong in the quest for a dynasty. The core group is at the perfect age to be contending but as we have seen with other teams in the past (2017 Adelaide, 2014 Fremantle, 2009 St Kilda) it can slip right on by you if you don’t strike while the kettle is hot. The likes of Christian Petracca, Lachie Hunter, Angus Brayshaw, Christian Salem, Ed Langdon, and Jake Lever will be thirty before you know it and by that stage, the likes of Max Gawn, Steven May, Tom McDonald, and Jack Viney will be retired. The time is now for the Demons, and they would want to improve a lot to be contending for a Premiership in September.