What has Gone Right?
Nothing
Well maybe the form of Marty Hore who looks like a solid 150 gamer off half back.
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What has gone wrong?
In my preseason report, I had Melbourne winning the flag, interestingly I thought Richmond would finish last in 2017 and West Coast would finish last in 2018 with both going on to be premiers so it makes sense that Melbourne are performing so poorly and incredibly in spoon contention after my bold prediction.
After playing in a preliminary final last year with seemingly a list reaching maturation the demons lowly 3-9 record is the most disappointing of any club in 2019 vs expectation.
17 offseason surgeries, lack of fitness and mental fortitude are driving factors behind the poor output. Demon fans would be bitterly disappointed with what they have seen from Tom McDonald, Christian Petracca, Angus Brayshaw and Sam Weideman, none of whom are playing to their potential.
However, the personification of what has gone wrong with the Dees this year can be summed by Steven May. They club gave up Jessie Hogan to get the former Gold Coast Skipper to the club, seemly the last piece of the puzzle completing the backline. May coming last in the preseason time trial and drinking while injured is not what the list managers would have expected when bringing May in at 800k a year.
Standout Player
Max Gawn continues to be a dominate force in the ruck and has maintained his All Australian form. He and Brodie Grundy have been the two clear standouts in the Ruck position and when they met on Queens birthday Maxy took the chocolates with an astonishing 34 disposals 33 hit outs vs Grundy’s 14 disposals and 30 hit outs.
The Run Home
So far 2019 has been a write off for the Dees, but the second half of the season does present a number of winnable matches, and although all hopes of playing finals are lost, they have the opportunity to build some confidence into young players like Weideman and get May and Lever settled into key defensive posts.
The rest of the season is as follows and if the Dees can recapture 2018 form lines after the bye most games are winnable except maybe Collingwood.
Mid-Year Grading
As stated earlier, for a team that was supposed to be in premiership contention to be now 16th on the ladder at the mid-point of the season with a 3-9 record, it is hard to find positives. Melbourne are the most disappointing team vs expectation and therefore their mid-season grading is an F.
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