Squad Breakdown: Melbourne Demons SC roster analysis

Melbourne broke one of the longest premiership droughts in the AFL last year and their playing group will have their eyes firmly set on going back-to-back in 2022.



At this stage there’s nothing to suggest that they won’t be there when the whips are cracking in September, with gun players across every line and they’ll also benefit from being able to play all of their home games in Melbourne this year in front of their faithful fans.



From a list management point of view the Dees have lost journeymen Nathan Jones and Neville Jetta to retirement, along with a clean out of fringe players at the end of the 2021 campaign.



Former Saint Luke Dunstan has joined as an unrestricted free agent to bolster their midfield depth that Simon Goodwin already has at his disposal.



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In terms of injuries, Melbourne is looking reasonably healthy, with Adam Tomlinson and Marty Hore (both ACLs) the only carry-over injuries of note from 2021.



Tomlinson will be tracking towards a return mid-season, although it will be interesting to see if Melbourne can integrate him straight back into the senior side having played most of last year without him.



Key forward Sam Weideman will also be pushing for a regular spot in Melbourne’s 22 after being squeezed out for large portions of 2021.



The draft was fairly straight-forward for the Demons, who traded away their 2022 first round pick for what ended up being pick 19 in the 2021 draft.



They used that selection to take WA swingman Jacob Van Rooyen, who by all reports could put his hand up for a senior debut this year.



The Dees are well stocked with experienced key position talent however, so I suspect he will start by honing his craft in the VFL.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">TEAM</h2>



B:&nbsp;Harrison Petty, Steven May, Jake Bowey HB:&nbsp;Christian Salem, Jake Lever, Trent Rivers C:&nbsp;Ed Langdon, Christian Petracca, Angus Brayshaw HF:&nbsp;James Harmes, Tom McDonald, Bayley Fritsch F:&nbsp;Kysaiah Pickett, Ben Brown, Alex Neal-Bullen FOLL:&nbsp;Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver I/C:&nbsp;Luke Jackson, Tom Sparrow, Michael Hibberd, Charlie Spargo Emerg:&nbsp;Jake Melksham, James Jordon, Jayden Hunt,&nbsp;Luke Dunstan



Injury concerns: Adam Tomlinson



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Top Price Guns</h2>



Clayton Oliver // $672,000 // MID // 2021 Ave: 123.5



Oliver rose to new heights in 2021, establishing himself as one of the absolute top SuperCoach midfielders.



He just ticks so many boxes that we look for in a starting SC pick.



Scoring? Second highest scorer in the game in 2021 – tick.



Ceiling? Nine 130+ scores last year, including a double ton against Adelaide &#8211; tick.



Durability? Has missed just one home and away game in the last five years! Tick.



Lock him in to your starting team with absolute confidence that he’ll continue his excellent output.



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Max Gawn // $657,400 // RUCK // 2021 Ave: 120.8



This season is probably the first year where coaches will genuinely have to think about which two ruckmen they start in their teams.



In recent times it’s always been Gawn and Grundy as the ‘set and forget’ combo, but this year we have the ‘next generation’ players such as Sean Darcy, Rowan Marshall and Reilly O’Brien looking to take the next step.



Gawn was still the highest SC scoring big man of last year, but will the emergence of young Luke Jackson see Gawn’s role change this season?



There are potentially enough question marks to consider other options, but for mine he’s still the first-choice SC ruck and provided he’s fully fit you’d be a brave coach to bet against him.



As safe a ruck option as there is in the game.



Christian Petracca // $606,200 // MID // 2021 Ave: 111.4



Petracca’s destiny as a star of the competition has materialised in the last two years, the crowning glory being a scintillating Norm Smith Medal-winning performance in last year’s grand final where he dominated from the outset.



I suspect if the Demons want to go back-to-back in 2022 he’ll need to maintain that level alongside Oliver, the most dynamic midfield coupling in the game right now.



My one knock on him from a SuperCoach perspective is that he’s still prone to sub-90 games, but he compensates for that with a very high ceiling.



He’s definitely a POD option and someone I would consider for early rounds of Draft leagues, but in Classic I’m undecided. It’s a risk to be paying $600K+ when you’ll likely get him cheaper mid-season like we did last year.



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Christian Salem // $514,500 // DEF // 2021 Ave: 94.5



Salem flew out of the blocks last year, averaging 106.7 PPG up to Round 9 and looked like a dead-set genuine premium option.



Unfortunately he couldn’t sustain that momentum, posting just four tonnes from his last 12 games to finish with a respectable, but not quite top tier average of 94.5 for the season.



The knock on Salem from a SC point of view has always been his consistency and it’s hard to see him improving on his output from 2021, particularly with the superstar fantasy players in the Melbourne line-up mentioned above. Probably more of a Draft prospect than a Classic option.



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Luke Dunstan // $501,700 // DEF // 2021 Ave: 92.2



The former Saint joins Melbourne and will fill the void left behind by the retiring Nathan Jones.



I think he’s a great pickup for the Dees and will give them another inside bull option to help Oliver, Petracca and Jack Viney.



The main question for us though is whether or not he’s relevant to SuperCoach. Personally, I don’t think so – unless you’re playing in a deep Draft competition then you might consider him in the later rounds.



Steven May // $492,300 // DEF // 2021 Ave: 90.5



May produced a second consecutive season averaging 90+ and was a popular bargain buy after an injury-affected score of just 7 in Round 4. While he does have the capacity to score well when circumstances allow, he also has to take care of the opposition’s best tall forward, which means low scoring. Not someone I’d be considering for Classic teams.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bargain Bin Buys</h2>



Sam Weideman // $200,900 // FWD // 2021 Ave: 41.0



There aren’t many bargain bin options at the Dees at the moment, but if Weideman forces his way into their Round 1 team then he might be worth considering.



Scoring prowess is a bit of a worry as he’s mixed his form quite a bit at AFL level through his career to date, but he’s not had much opportunity to settle into the side either.



At $200K there are worse options, but you’d need to be absolutely sure that he’s going to get into the team and stay there.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Rookie Gems</h2>



As mentioned off the top, Jacob Van Rooyen looks like he could slot into the senior side at some stage, but with Melbourne flushed with key position players at present he looks a long way back in the queue. He’s definitely worth keeping an eye on throughout the season.

Squad Breakdown: Melbourne Demons SC roster analysis

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