Demons rise from ashes of ‘13 horror
They were AFL alsorans for a decade but the Demons tonight shoot for a grand final. Jon Ralph looks at how it all turned around
JACK Viney didn’t know what had hit him.
A lifetime spent dreaming about following in his father Todd’s footsteps had turned into a nightmare just two games into his AFL career.
It was April 2013 and Melbourne’s newest great hope walked off the MCG reeling at what had just unfolded.
He had made his debut the previous week and Mark Neeld’s side were in free fall.
They had lost to Essendon by 148 points, yet another dramatic low for a team that two years before succumbed by 186 points to Geelong.
This week three of Melbourne’s senior players recounted what they felt was rock bottom, as well as the symbolic turning points for a club that also lost Jim Stynes, Troy Broadbridge, Sean Wight, Robbie Flower and Dean Bailey along the way.
JACK VINEY ROCK BOTTOM
“What really sticks in my head was my second game when we lost by 150 points to Essendon. And walking back through the race we had supporters throwing scarfs at us,’’ he said.
“Walking into the changerooms you had players pretty much in tears. For me that was a big eye opener to where the club was at the time.”
In 2013, the Demons lost eight games by 79 points or more, winning two games and finishing the season with a percentage of 54.07.
“It reduced grown men to tears. You don’t wish that on anyone,” Viney said.
TURNING POINT
“I can’t identify a single turning point. It’s been a process and journey over many years,” he said. “There hasn’t been a single line-in-the-sand moment. I have always seen the good in us.”
TOM McDONALD ROCK BOTTOM
“The Essendon loss was as bad as I can remember being involved in. It was a home game and our fans didn’t even want to be there,” he said. “Me and Gawny were both carry-overs to the 186point loss (in 2011).
“The VFL lost by about 130 points and we thought we were a chance to play because Brent Moloney was sick in the warm-up. He ended up playing and didn’t have a touch and was subbed off at halftime.
“In hindsight it was good we didn’t get the chance to play. It would have been the first career game for us both.”
TURNING POINT
“We beat Hawthorn in Paul Roos’s last year, in Round 20, 2016. We didn’t win many games with Roosy, but things were changing in the background. This year the turning point was beating West Coast and we haven’t looked back since then.”
MAX GAWN ROCK BOTTOM
“At three-quarter-time we were 40 points down against GWS and Mark Neeld was getting booed as we walked up the race,” he said.
“The boys got together and said, ‘Just listen to what they are saying about our coach in the stands’. “It was one of the better moments that we could turn it around (kicking 12 last-term goals), but at three-quarter time it felt like rock bottom.
TURNING POINT
“It has been a gradual process. For me, everyone says the Geelong game when I went down there and played a good game (with 48 hit-outs in Round 16, 2013), but I played a really good game in the VFL against Richmond the week before,” he said.