HALF-WAY through last season it seemed to be a formality that Melbourne was on track for back to back premierships.
And why wouldn’t any pundit have thought that? They had won 17 matches in a row including the 2021 premiership and the closest any team had got to them was Hawthorn in Round 7 when they won by 10 points.
At half-time in Round 11 at the MCG it looked like business as usual as they led Fremantle by 25 points.
Star full back Steven May was concussed in the first quarter and left the ground.
It was in the second half that the impact of him not being there hit the team as they were under sized in defence.
From that moment on Melbourne’s seeming infallibility was gone and they won only six of their last 14 games eventually bowing out to Brisbane in the Preliminary Final.
Opposition teams watched their playmaker Ed Langdon more carefully and champion on-baller Christian Petracca struggled with an injury. Also teams decided not to kick it long into their forward line only to see Jake Lever or May mark the ball.
They also felt the loss of tall forward Tom McDonald as Ben Brown also struggled.
Judging by their practice match win over Richmond the Demons have returned to where they were a year ago and that’s the best side.
They ran the ball strongly out of the backline into an efficient forward line.
Petracca, Clayton Oliver look ready to go and Kysaiah Pickett looks primed for a big year.
They have also added former Collingwood best and fairest winner Brodie Grundy and another best and fairest winner from another club in classy Western Bulldogs on-baller Lachie Hunter.
It would be a surprise if the Demons weren’t there at the pointy end of the season.
