AFL 2020: 3 Clubs Under Enormous Pressure

Last updated: May 26, 2020, 6:15AM | Published: May 26, 2020, 2:45AM

The AFL’s June 11 re-start and ‘blockbuster’ laden Round 2 fixture has the footy world buzzing.

For sport’s starved fans the promise of actual football, with genuine consequences, is a deliriously appetising prospect.

However for the league’s 18 clubs, the resumption simply means back to business.

For many of the contenders, the season’s re-launch is a reminder that despite 2020’s maladies, there’s still a glorious premiership to be won.

For others, the competition resumption only works to intensify the pressure already building within their four walls.

Let’s take a look at the three clubs under the most pressure ahead of the 2020 re-boot.

MELBOURNE

When analysing the Demon’s disastrous 2019 season, context and perspective are vital.

This was a club who’d endured so much pain, essentially half a century’s worth, but had seemed to have steered their ship back on course.

Prior to 2019, Melbourne had enjoyed 6 years of progression, which in 2018 was sealed with their first trip to the Finals in 12 years as well as a Preliminary Final appointment.

All of sudden, the downtrodden Melbourne Football Club had been reawakened only for 2019 to act as a brutal reality check.

Last season, the Demons won just 5 games, finishing second last on the ladder with an attack and defence only the deplorable Gold Coast Suns performed worse in.

So much of the progress Melbourne had made over the previous 6 years appeared to come undone in one foul season, completely running out of ideas, but most alarmingly, out of interest too.

The Demons were ripped apart on the outside, conceding 245.4 meters gained to their opponents each week, unprepared to tackle and chase, posting a deplorable -7.6 tackle differential.

While Clayton Oliver and Max Gawn, two players in Stats Insider’s Top 14, held their own, the rest of the squad struggled badly.

In many respects, no team was as disappointing in 2019 as Melbourne, particularly considering how hard the club had worked to rise from such depths.

Put simply, if 2020 functions as a replica of last season, all hell will break loose at the Demons, while coach Simon Goodwin, despite his contract status, will be dismissed.

The pressure on this once great club couldn’t be sharper.

PORT ADELAIDE

It’s now 5 straight seasons without a single September win for the Power who seemingly change their list management philosophy by the season.

The result is a curious mix of ingredients that have been flung in front of beleaguered coach Ken Hinkley’s nose. His task? To cook something special in 2020 or face unemployment.

The Power squad is a strange beast which on the one hand is ranked 12th from an age profile perspective, yet 5th for experience thanks to no less than 8 players with at least 150 games under their belts.

This blend of hardened talent, mixed with prestigious youth is a fascinating one, however 2020 needs to be about Port graduating from ‘exotic species’ status, to a club who starts winning games and competing for a September berth.

Port’s Round One demolition of a hapless Gold Coast was encouraging, and was achieved off the back of the kind of formula the club hopes will carry it all season.

While veterans Travis Boak and Tom Rockliff led the way, youngsters such as Connor Rozee (a member of the Stats insider Round One Team of the Week) and Xavier Duursma shone, as too did much-hyped former Hawk, Ryan Burton.

Up forward, and despite the continual absence of star forward Charlie Dixon, first round picks Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall chipped in with two goals each as the template of the grand Port Adelaide design was showcased.

All eyes however will remain on the Power as the negotiate teams far tricker than Gold Coastthroughout the year.

2020 is a simply massive year for a club absolutely starved of success.

GOLD COAST SUNS

When your club is on a 19-game losing streak, it’s only natural that the spotlight should be burning bright.

The reality is that despite so much of the greater AFL’s indifference to the Gold Coast Suns, this remains a club which exists in our community, and one that is struggling mightily.

In 2020, the Suns simply must show signs of progress.

The exodus of talent from SE Queensland has been intense over the last few years.

Tom, Lynch, Josh Caddy and Dion Prestia all of course moved to Richmond and won premierships. Charlie Dixon, Adam Saad and Jaeger O’Mearaare vitally important members of their new teams, while Aaron Hall and Jack Martin offer both North Melbourne and Carlton the kind of x-factor that could propel a rise up the ladder.

What’s left at the Suns, on the surface at least, looks worrisome, yet squint hard enough and one can actually see the makings of a potentially competitive football side.

If Matt Rowell can rapidly develop into a star, if Will Brodie can kick on from his impressive 2019, and if the likes of Izak Rankine and Peter Wright can enjoy consistent health, then the core of the Suns young talent is in place.

If these youngsters can develop alongside Touk Miller, Brandon Ellis, Brayden Fiorini and Alex Sexton, all midfielders capable of getting games at any club, then perhaps there’s a formula to lift themselves off the foot of the ladder.

2020 simply has to be about developing an identify, winning games and providing hope at this much maligned club.

The pressure should be intense, while it will be interesting to see if they can respond positively.

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James Rosewarne

James is a writer. He likes fiction and music. He is a stingray attack survivor. He lives in Wollongong.