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Demon A-graders in the gun ahead of vital Cats clash
Jaiden Sciberras • April 4th, 2025 2:21 pm
Fremantle great Paul Hasleby has taken aim at Melbourne midfielder Jack Viney ahead of the Demons’ clash with Geelong.
Hasleby has called out Viney’s decision making with the ball-in-hand, particularly his frequent use by foot. The 31-year-old midfielder, collecting 24 disposals a game, opts to kick with over half of his disposal, despite only averaging under 46 per cent kicking efficiency.
With Melbourne’s season on the line, Hasleby wants to see Viney clean up his use in tonight’s vital contest.
“I want to put somebody in the gun that hasn’t been spoken about too often,” Hasleby told SEN WA Breakfast.
“Jack Viney, he is the most frustrating midfielder that I find to watch because he gives everything, he’s got heart, but he’s got the blinkers.
“Every time he’s got the footy, he wants to do one thing; he wants to kick the footy.
“Now Jack, you are not a good kick of the footy. You are an average kick of the footy. Football in this day and age is about working out the environment you’re in, so what is around, is there a spare player that I can get the ball to, to handball the ball to so they can run and carry and break the lines.
“He doesn’t seem to want to do that.
“He wants to kick the ball all the time. There are some players that are like that where I think you’ve got to learn and it’s probably too late for him, but it should have been whacked out of him to give the ball to some of the better users if you can.”
King puts the heat on Dees midfield to deliver
AFL great David King has called on Melbourne’s top-end players to step up ahead of their Friday night contest with Geelong.
Winless through three, the Demons appear to have lost their contested identity, currently operating at -13.3 in the clearance battle per game (second lowest in the AFL).
With a full-strength midfield featuring Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and Jack Viney set to take on the Cats, alongside the return of potential centre bounce attendee Kysaiah Pickett, King has placed the Dees’ elite in the gun.
“The A-graders of the Melbourne Football Club who go down the Geelong highway tonight to take on the Cats,” King told SEN’s Fireball.
“We are going to find out whether the peace and love thing is going to last more than three weeks.
“I want to see who goes in for the centre bounces. Is it going to be the big three? Does the love last a month? Or do they say, ‘Hang on, Kozzy is back. Oh, hang on, we got (Caleb) Windsor, we want to have a look at Windsor in there’.
“I would go past them as a group in there, but I’ve always said, ‘Spread your wealth’. I’ve been trying to get Petracca forward for three years.
“They’ve been a contested ball, clearance-built team right since Simon Goodwin got them rolling five or six years ago. I think it has turned, but I want to see what the coach does.
“Does the coach back them in minute one, or does he turn the page?”
The Dees' contest against the Cats kicks off at 7:40pm tonight at GMHBA Stadium.
