Melbourne’s forward line has been an issue for some time and Simon Goodwin is still yet to find the solution.
They’ve lacked a key forward for some years and the connection between the midfield and forward line is what’s holding them back from being a powerhouse of the competition.
The question around the Demons will always be, do they have a viable key forward option?
And the answer right now is no.
Their Opening Round loss to Sydney highlighted this weakness yet again and it left Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton wondering what the Melbourne Football Club have been doing in recent years.
“Answer me this, you know you’ve got a problem in the forward line, do you just believe that you’re going to make your key forwards better over summer?” Brereton said on SEN’s Crunch Time.
Their tall stocks include Josh Schache, Harrison Petty and Jacob van Rooyen – all of which have never kicked over 30 goals in a season of footy.
Their leading goal kicker is Bayley Fritsch and there’s no doubting his ability, but unfortunately for Simon Goodwin, he’s not 195cms, which emphasises Brereton’s point.
“Do you really think we’re going to sit here in five years’ time and say ‘wow, Harrison Petty’, the boy has done very well when he’s pushed forward but how are you going to bank what I think is the league's best list in the past four years without a viable key forward,” he added.
“They’ve got to move heaven and earth and get something!
“They’ve got to find something, do you think you’re going to make one get better over summer. Do they think a player like Josh Schache is going to turn into a Lance Franklin?
“I cannot understand why they won’t do it.
“I’ve had a look about what’s the go with Melbourne’s forward line, if the ball isn’t on the ground on Thursday night, they weren’t dangerous.
“When the ball was in the air, they were impotent, Josh is a key forward size but he looks to win the ball in the least physical way and that’s not the mantra of a key forward.
“Bayley Fritsch looks to get out the back door on you where he takes you to the contest and is clever, he’s a beautiful finisher, he’s not a great aerial threat but he’s capable on occasions.
“He’s good on the lead but that’s taking the ball without any contact when the ball is coming down on your terms, it has to be on Fritsch’s terms and you’ve got to have those players but he’s a third forward.
“I think Jacob van Rooyen has got some talent and he can mark the ball above his head but the thing about key forward play is that you’ve got to recognise the trigger and it’s less than a second, it’s ‘this ball is coming this way I’ve got to be in the right position’.
“Previous to the trigger moment you actually have to start in the right position, and he doesn’t have the right starting position and I don’t know who’s teaching him or not teaching him those little tricks.
“They are impotent without ground level players.
“I think Melbourne have trudged through this era and thought ‘we did it with Ben Brown and got a premiership’ but it’s fallen apart for Ben since then.
“They simply have not improved their key forwards stock for five year whilst they’ve had the best list in the competition.”
The Demons were missing the likes of Petty, Brown, Shane McAdam, Jake Melksham and Kysaiah Pickett in Thursday night's 22-point loss to the Swans.
Melbourne will look to get their season back on track next week against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.