'That's just not Melbourne': Doubts over 'clunky' AFL contender's ...

Dual premiership Kangaroo David King has questioned whether Melbourne’s new aggressive ball movement suits its playing list, but insists the Dees still have ample time to finetune it.

The Demons overcame a horror first half to power past a brave Richmond outfit and, ultimately, run out comfortable 43-point winners at the MCG on Wednesday night.

Melbourne’s intensity lifted markedly in the third term, breaking the game open with the first four goals of the second half to set up victory.

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But the opening two quarters were marred by an avalanche of skill errors from both teams.

The Demons, in particular, struggled to hit targets during the first half, due to both poor skill execution and overly aggressive decision-making.

“The Dees had 32 clanger kicks for the night – that’s just not Melbourne,” King told Fox Footy post-game.

“I don’t know whether this brand they’re trying to play actually suits them. That’s the overall discussion for me. It’s not like they have weapons across half-back, they’re more intercept players than they are ball users – particularly without Christian Salem there.”

King said the Demons were “trying to challenge their own profile” in terms of their ball movement, pointing out they scored seven goals from Tigers turnovers in the second half alone.

“It’s a little bit clunky at the moment, but it’s a work in progress. I like where they’re going, it’s just how far down the track until they get there,” he said.

“It’s much more significant if this is happening at Round 18 … The fact it’s Round 7 is a bonus.”

Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said it was hard seeing Melbourne dramatically pivoting away from its new gamestyle now.

“They’re going to stick with it. They’ve committed to it, they’ve trained it all pre-season, they’re going to go with it because they want to win finals,” he said.

“They know that bombing the ball and having a lot of entries but getting no reward for them hasn’t worked for the last two finals series. So they’re going to try something different and you have to give them credit for it.”

Melbourne skipper Max Gawn said his team “didn’t capitalise on our momentum in the second quarter” and that some of his teammates might’ve overcompensated on aggressive kicking instructions.

“It’s probably what you saw in the first half. We maybe got some feedback about trying to use the corridor – and we tried to use the corridor every single time and Richmond’s pressure just didn’t allow that,” Gawn told Fox Footy post-match.

“There’s a lot of work to do about when we do take it in there … I think we found that good balance in the second half.”

Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said the Demons would’ve been pleased with the adjustments they made in the second half, but added they were "still a long way off what they would need to do to beat a good team”.

And the footy world will get a clear indication of where the Demons truly sit across the next few weeks, with games against Geelong and Carlton to come.

“They were ordinary before the bye, it’s a sluggish start post-bye, so still plenty of work to do for Melbourne. They’re a work in progress,” Dunstall said.

“Imagine if they’d played a Geelong or a Carlton tonight what the result would’ve been. They were so far off the level they need to be … Maybe they came in thinking ‘we’ll knock Richmond off’ and weren’t as ferocious or desperate as they needed to be. They’ll need to be a hell of a lot better next week.

“Every team has ugly wins. You don’t play at your best every week. It’s the margin between your best and worst performances that separates the good teams from those that are chasing. They won ugly tonight, that’s OK, you bank the win and move on.”