Johnny Karate
Intolerant Left #DemonSniffit Clique 👀
- Apr 13, 2015
- 5,212
- 14,263
- AFL Club
- Melbourne
We’re 9-10 since Round 11, 2022 and the 10-0 before that was largely based off of playing in bursts against inferior opposition. The bottom line is, we haven’t played consistently well since the 2021 Finals Series.
The 2021 Premiership was a terrific achievement based on a rock solid team defence, an excellent midfield performance and more than a fair share of luck with injury. The four defeats and draw came from usually lowly opposition tactically exploiting small weaknesses in our game. Adelaide rolled the dice by running and gunning down the middle and won by a point, Collingwood stretched us by chipping the ball short and using angles and width well, GWS used Whitfield as an extra off the back of the stoppage to cut up our zone by running through the lines, The Bulldogs were better in wet conditions at the G and scored a lot of ground ball goals and Hawthorn forced a draw by essentially a combination of what GWS and the Dogs were doing. However, none of these losses were comprehensive floggings (20 points against the Dogs was the worst margin), the team performance was no worse than other scrappy wins against Essendon and Sydney, and Melbourne had a chance to win each game until very late in the piece.
If you were to dissect the team/squad that won that flag it would go:
#1 Big Boys: Gawn, May, Oliver and Petracca
The best fullback, ruck and midfield duo in the comp in 2021. Since then, Gawn and May have missed a handful of games and in a handful of others have either looked banged up or uncharacteristically poor. With both now in their 30s it wouldn’t be silly to assume further disruption and regression in performance. Whereas Petracca and Oliver are in their prime but have had their own fitness, form and confidence issues since 2021, Petracca more so than Oliver.
Elite by position - A graders: Fritsch, Langdon, Lever and Salem.
Lever and Salem were All Australians in 2021 but basically All Poo in 2022. Fritsch has continued to be a deadly finisher and has largely held his form. Langdon had an excellent 2021 but faded and was negated in 2022 by opposition tactics and turgid ball movement in transition.
Set and forget role players: Brayshaw, B Brown, Harmes, Jackson, McDonald, Neal-Bullen, Petty, Pickett, Rivers, Spargo, Tomlinson*, Viney
All of these players were good to excellent in their roles in 2021 but Pickett aside, there has not been much improvement in this group. B Brown, Harmes, McDonald and Tomlinson have all gone massively backwards. Brayshaw, Petty and Viney were all quite good in 22 but have been terrible in patches 23. Rivers has been erratic and ANB and Spargo are probably always going to be at this level where they look good when the team is on but poor when we’re not.
Depth/Cover: Bowey, M Brown, Hibberd, Hunt, Jetta, Jones, Jordon, Melksham, Smith, Sparrow, Weideman
These players all played a role in the 21 flag and were largely interchangeable as bottom of the 22/depth. Arguably the biggest problem in this group is that the likes of Sparrow and Bowey haven’t really been able to emulate their 2021 finals form since. Why Melksham is still getting games beggars belief and speaks to a combination of shit selection, regression from role players and probably not enough other depth coming through to take his spot.
In 2023, the dissection of the squad/list would go something like:
#1 Big Boys: Gawn, May, Oliver and Petracca
Elite by position - A graders: Fritsch, Lever, Pickett
Set and forget/role players: Grundy, Hunter, Langdon, Neal-Bullen, Spargo
Depth/Cover: Bowey, Brayshaw, B Brown, Chandler, Dunstan, Harmes, Hibberd, Jordon, Laurie, McDonald, McVee, Melksham, Petty, Rivers, Salem, Smith, Sparrow, Tomlinson, Turner, Van Rooyen, Viney
Teams that have won multiple flags usually have 1-2 years at the beginning of their run where they dominate Home and Away and then Finals. Then, they navigate the season, secure a top 2/4 spot and then boss the finals. I don’t doubt that we’re trying to adjust and there have been some problems with injuries/form which could in turn affect/explain the mixed results. But, it’s hard to see us winning shit if we’re hoping and praying that the big boys magically recapture their best form without adding to the squad or getting some drastic improvement from within.
The 2021 Premiership was a terrific achievement based on a rock solid team defence, an excellent midfield performance and more than a fair share of luck with injury. The four defeats and draw came from usually lowly opposition tactically exploiting small weaknesses in our game. Adelaide rolled the dice by running and gunning down the middle and won by a point, Collingwood stretched us by chipping the ball short and using angles and width well, GWS used Whitfield as an extra off the back of the stoppage to cut up our zone by running through the lines, The Bulldogs were better in wet conditions at the G and scored a lot of ground ball goals and Hawthorn forced a draw by essentially a combination of what GWS and the Dogs were doing. However, none of these losses were comprehensive floggings (20 points against the Dogs was the worst margin), the team performance was no worse than other scrappy wins against Essendon and Sydney, and Melbourne had a chance to win each game until very late in the piece.
If you were to dissect the team/squad that won that flag it would go:
#1 Big Boys: Gawn, May, Oliver and Petracca
The best fullback, ruck and midfield duo in the comp in 2021. Since then, Gawn and May have missed a handful of games and in a handful of others have either looked banged up or uncharacteristically poor. With both now in their 30s it wouldn’t be silly to assume further disruption and regression in performance. Whereas Petracca and Oliver are in their prime but have had their own fitness, form and confidence issues since 2021, Petracca more so than Oliver.
Elite by position - A graders: Fritsch, Langdon, Lever and Salem.
Lever and Salem were All Australians in 2021 but basically All Poo in 2022. Fritsch has continued to be a deadly finisher and has largely held his form. Langdon had an excellent 2021 but faded and was negated in 2022 by opposition tactics and turgid ball movement in transition.
Set and forget role players: Brayshaw, B Brown, Harmes, Jackson, McDonald, Neal-Bullen, Petty, Pickett, Rivers, Spargo, Tomlinson*, Viney
All of these players were good to excellent in their roles in 2021 but Pickett aside, there has not been much improvement in this group. B Brown, Harmes, McDonald and Tomlinson have all gone massively backwards. Brayshaw, Petty and Viney were all quite good in 22 but have been terrible in patches 23. Rivers has been erratic and ANB and Spargo are probably always going to be at this level where they look good when the team is on but poor when we’re not.
Depth/Cover: Bowey, M Brown, Hibberd, Hunt, Jetta, Jones, Jordon, Melksham, Smith, Sparrow, Weideman
These players all played a role in the 21 flag and were largely interchangeable as bottom of the 22/depth. Arguably the biggest problem in this group is that the likes of Sparrow and Bowey haven’t really been able to emulate their 2021 finals form since. Why Melksham is still getting games beggars belief and speaks to a combination of shit selection, regression from role players and probably not enough other depth coming through to take his spot.
In 2023, the dissection of the squad/list would go something like:
#1 Big Boys: Gawn, May, Oliver and Petracca
Elite by position - A graders: Fritsch, Lever, Pickett
Set and forget/role players: Grundy, Hunter, Langdon, Neal-Bullen, Spargo
Depth/Cover: Bowey, Brayshaw, B Brown, Chandler, Dunstan, Harmes, Hibberd, Jordon, Laurie, McDonald, McVee, Melksham, Petty, Rivers, Salem, Smith, Sparrow, Tomlinson, Turner, Van Rooyen, Viney
Teams that have won multiple flags usually have 1-2 years at the beginning of their run where they dominate Home and Away and then Finals. Then, they navigate the season, secure a top 2/4 spot and then boss the finals. I don’t doubt that we’re trying to adjust and there have been some problems with injuries/form which could in turn affect/explain the mixed results. But, it’s hard to see us winning shit if we’re hoping and praying that the big boys magically recapture their best form without adding to the squad or getting some drastic improvement from within.
