After spending big on their defence in recent seasons, Melbourne are finally starting to see it pay off with a series of stingy AFL performances.
After keeping Adelaide to 37 points and North Melbourne to 35, the Demons restricted Collingwood to 44 in their third win on the bounce on Saturday night.
Steven May, Jake Lever and Michael Hibberd – who all started their careers at different clubs – were strong in the air and steadfast in defence, allowing Christian Salem to rebound off half-back with aplomb.
“To be honest, at the start of the year we hadn’t really played much footy together as a back six but we’re starting to build that chemistry and cohesion,” Salem told AAP.
“For us it’s just being ruthless – winning those one-on-one contests and using the ball by foot as well on the offence.”
Headlining the Demons’ defence are May and Lever – who Melbourne paid handsomely for in successive years.
Melbourne parted ways with their 2017 and 2018 first round picks for Lever in 2017, then a year later gave up the Pick 6 they received as part of the Jesse Hogan trade to secure former Gold Coast captain May.
But Lever tore his ACL in 2018, while a poor pre-season saw May’s debut 2019 season marred by soft tissue injuries – with the pair playing just four games together last year.
The duo have played in all 10 of Melbourne’s games together this season and have started to build chemistry.
“They’re the twin towers, they are – they’re great, aren’t they?” Salem said.
“They haven’t played much footy together so the growth there is enormous and individually you can see how ruthless each of them are in the air and on the ground.
“So we’re lucky to have them and they’re only going to get better.”