Where to from here for Melbourne?
That’s what David King was attempting to work out on Monday after the Demons were battered by Fremantle in Alice Springs on Sunday.
The 92-point defeat was the highest losing margin under Simon Goodwin and the 141 points they conceded was the largest score they have copped while the premiership coach has been at the helm.
The numbers make stark reading for Dees fans. Melbourne lost the inside 50 count 37-68, contested possessions 96-138 and marks 96-142. They were also smacked at clearance 23-48 and centre clearance 10-22 which is normally the cornerstone of how they play.
King wants to get to the bottom of why Goodwin has tried to change the game plan from being a beast of a contested side to a team attempting to play on the outside with perfect skills.
He describes this change of direction as a “mirage” and an “identity theft”.
King asked on SEN’s Whateley: “How long do you chase the mirage?
“I’m looking at Melbourne and saying, ‘what’s happened here?’
“They were so good at what they were for five years and they had this contested possession game that no one could compete with.
“The best ruck (Max Gawn) in the competition, wherever it went he’d beat you. The ball would hit the deck and you’ve got Clayton Oliver going 100 miles an hour. If it wasn’t him it was Jack Viney who is the toughest head in the competition. If it wasn’t him it was Christian Petracca with a bit of brilliance whether it was forward or in the midfield.
“You’d knock the ball down in their defence and it was Steven May, Jake Lever and all these guys that you just couldn’t beat.
“If it were in a contest, you were gone. You’d win one in every three.
“But they wanted to be something else. Because it runs aground in finals, they haven’t quite had the scoring flow that we wanted. Let’s change everything to make that forward line work.
“Well, they’ve given up what their absolute strength on the competition was and now their aura is gone.
“They’re no longer the brutal beasts that they were. It has dissipated to a point now where you’ve got hard, gilt-edged players trying to play the beautiful game, and it’s failing them.
“They’ve lost their invincibility now.”
King feels that the Demons have gone away from their true selves and that it’s beginning to cost them, as it also did against West Coast in Perth in Round 10.
Following the dismal display against the Dockers, King has urged Goodwin to revert to what he and his players know so well.
“We ticked off (the) West Coast (loss) as a mulligan. We made excuses for them,” he added.
“But right now the second mulligan is a cry for help.
“This is not working, things are failing. They were uncompetitive centre-forward. That’s not them.
“They’ve allowed the game to get out of the trenches, where they were strong. Now they’re playing everyone else’s game.
“The reason they won a premiership and the reason they were a top four team for so long is because you had to play Melbourne’s game, they dragged you into the battle.
“They’re chasing this mirage of being the beautiful ball movement team and it ain’t them.”
As a result of the 15-goal loss to the Dockers, the Demons now find themselves 10th on the ladder with a 7-5 record ahead of next Monday’s King’s Birthday clash with Collingwood at the MCG.
If they are to keep their season alive, King believes they must get back to basics and simply have to account for an undermanned Magpies outfit.
“All roads lead to next Monday and they’re going to get a Collingwood side that are down on talent,” he continued.
“We’ve got Father Joe Jacobi on standby to read the last rights to Melbourne next Monday.
“If they don’t get this one done against a banged up Collingwood, then this is it. The premiership run will be over.
“There’s been an identity theft at Melbourne. Their DNA is just in your face, hard, let’s dance. And that wins you finals.
“Simon Goodwin has to have a pow-wow with the key leaders, the coaching staff and say, ‘how long do we want to chase this mirage?’.”
King reiterated his point that everything going wrong for Melbourne right now stems back to the team’s downturn at clearance and around the contest.
“How would you rather play Melbourne? You’d rather play them in the uncontested game,” he said further.
“So don’t do what the opposition wants.
“The root cause of all of those numbers is the fact they couldn’t win contest. We’ve never said that (about Melbourne).
“It’s more than a challenge. In my opinion, if they don’t make change, it’s over. The premiership run is over without change.”
The Dees have won one of their last four games and desperately need all four points to stay in touch with the top eight against the Pies next week.