Melbourne’s Double Dip: Can the Dees Actually Nail This Draft?

Two first round picks. Two chances to get it right. The question is whether Melbourne actually knows what ‘right’ looks like anymore.

A Club That Needs This Draft to Work

Let’s be honest about where the Demons are at. A few years back they were premiers, flag in the cabinet, the competition genuinely worried about them. Now? They’re scrambling, the list is ageing in the key spots and the midfield brigade that once bullied teams isn’t getting any younger either.

So when I hear Melbourne have got a pair of first rounders this year, my first reaction isn’t excitement for them, it’s curiosity. Can a club that’s looked a bit lost the past two seasons actually nail a draft when it matters most?

Carn the Pies aside, I want footy to be competitive. A competition with Melbourne stuck in no-man’s land for five years isn’t good for anyone, even us.

The List Needs Are Pretty Obvious

You don’t need to be a recruiting guru to see where the gaps are. Melbourne’s talls up forward have struggled to find a consistent target inside 50 for a couple of seasons now. The ball gets there, but what happens next has been the problem.

Then there’s general run and carry off half back. The Demons have leant heavily on a handful of bodies to do that job and when they’re not available, the system looks clunky. Add in some outside speed to balance up a midfield that’s always been more about clearance grunt than run, and you’ve basically got the shopping list.

• A genuine key forward who can lead and mark
• Dash and speed off half back or through the midfield
• Depth in the ruck to support the first choice big man
• Some outside class to take pressure off the inside bulls

That’s a lot to ask of two picks, even if they’re both in the first round. Drafting isn’t a trip to Bunnings where you tick off the list and walk out with everything.

What Do You Actually Do With Two First Rounders?

This is where it gets interesting. Do the Demons go best-available twice and hope the needs sort themselves out over time? Or do they draft specifically to need, even if it means passing on a higher rated kid?

In my experience watching clubs draft – and watching plenty of mob stuff it up, not just Melbourne – best available almost always wins out in the long run. You can coach system into a list. You can’t coach raw talent into existence.

But I reckon with two picks this high, Melbourne have got license to do both. Take the best player on the board with one selection, and lean toward a specific need with the other. That’s the blueprint, if you ask me.

The Targets Worth Watching

Without wanting to play draft expert and start naming kids who could end up going in completely different directions come November – because let’s face it, mock drafts are about as reliable as a wet weather forecast in Melbourne in April – there’s a clear type Melbourne should be hunting.

Tall forward prospects with genuine aerial ability are always precious, and this draft crop reportedly has a few who could develop into that focal point Melbourne desperately need. Clubs are falling over themselves for key forwards these days because so few come through cleanly.

On the other pick, I’d be leaning toward an exciting outside player. Someone with genuine pace who can hit the scoreboard from fifty metres out rather than just winning it at stoppage and handballing it off. Melbourne have got enough bulls at the coalface. They need release.

Drafting to need sounds simple until you’re the one standing at the podium with the card in your hand and three names still on the board.

Where Melbourne Have Stuffed This Up Before

I’ll say this as a Collingwood supporter who’s watched plenty of drafts come and go: Melbourne haven’t always got this right historically. There’s been a tendency to overvalue certain traits and undervalue others, and some of their recent first round picks havent exactly set the world on fire yet.

Is that fair criticism or just hindsight being twenty-twenty? Probably a bit of both, if I’m honest. Every club has picks that dont pan out. But when you’re a club trying to rebuild on the fly while still fielding a list with flag aspirations, you can’t afford too many more misses.

Should they of been more aggressive in trading picks together to move up for a genuine gun in previous years? Maybe. That’s the debate Melbourne fans will be having among themselves, not me.

The Pressure Is Real

Every draft matters, but this one feels like it carries a bit more weight for the Demons than most. Get these two picks right and you’re building genuine depth behind a list that still has some finals pedigree in it. Get them wrong and you’re staring down another two or three years of treading water while the kids find their feet.

That’s the brutal reality of modern list management. The margin for error at the draft table keeps shrinking as the salary cap and trade period get more ruthless every single year.

My Verdict

Will Melbourne nail it? Genuinely don’t know. Nobody does until these kids are three or four years into their careers and we can look back and judge properly.

What I do know is this: two first round picks is an opportunity most clubs would love to have. Waste that and there’s nowhere to hide. The Demons faithful have every right to expect their list management group gets this one spot on, because the margin for patience is running thinner than my hairline.

Carn the Pies, but genuinely – good luck to Melbourne with this one. The competition needs them firing again, even if it means they’re occasionally a pain for us come finals time.