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Sport Nation
FWC on Sport Nation guideDemon defiance: King's Dees rated AFL best in key stat
Abby Crozier • June 17th, 2026 12:42 pm
There is a recent statistic that should give Melbourne fans great belief at this stage of the 2026 season.
Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne says there is clear evidence of a defensive rise at the Demons.
The Dees are unexpectedly sitting fourth in coach Steven King's first season at the helm following back-to-back wins against Collingwood and Essendon, with Hoyne largely crediting the defensive uptick for the team's ladder ascension.
“They’ve gone from a bottom six defence to a top four defensive team in the last six weeks,” Hoyne said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“Their defensive 50 game has gone from the fourth worst in the comp, to the best over the last six weeks."
The Dees, with nine wins under their belt thus far, have made a stark improvement under King after concluding their 2025 AFL season in a bottom five spot.
While they were scoring heavily earlier in the season they were also conceding big scores, copping 100 or more in five of the first eight games.
But that has changed in recent times.
“It has been a pretty common narrative that offensively the Dees have been really exciting, they’ve been great to watch,” Hoyne added.
“Melbourne spoke at length over the pre-season that this is what they were going to do and that this is how they were going to play - now we are seeing it firsthand.
“The question was always going to be whether or not the defensive profile that was in place early in the season was going to stack up. We all had our doubts.
“Over the last six weeks, their defensive profile has flipped.
"They’re now starting to win the ball back much closer to goal – they're third in the comp for forward-half intercepts.
“It’s pretty unrealistic to expect for a new coach to come in and be able to implement absolutely everything he wants to implement to a new group and have that ticked off at round 1 - it’s clearly all starting to click.
"If you’re a Melbourne supporter – huge tick – getting to experience some really enjoyable footy.
"When you look at some of the individuals behind the footy, it is a very different mix of players from what we’ve seen from the Melbourne defensive in the last four or five years."
Among those backing the team-wide improvement, Hoyne named Jake Lever, Blake Howes, Koltyn Tholstrup, Ed Langdon and Trent Rivers as taking some key defensive roles – with Daniel Turner "taking over as their number one key defender, and doing a really good job".
The 2021 Mid-Season Rookie Draft pick up has come along in leaps and bounds since his 2022 debut, averaging two intercept marks, five spoils and 82% disposal efficiency in what is now is fifth season with the Dees.
“Although, Melbourne have had the easiest draw in the competition over the last few weeks – but as they take on some tougher opponents in the coming weeks, those defensive numbers are going to be enhanced," Hoyne continued.
"Let’s put it on the radar now and let’s see how it goes against Adelaide this week.
“How real is it? We will have the answer to that in five games time, when they come up against three of the fantastic five but credit where credit is due - they have addressed it – albeit with a pretty straightforward draw over the last six weeks.”
Sportsday co-host and former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley also put his support behind the squad.
“Steven King has done an outstanding job. I was one of the many that thought Melbourne might have been a bottom four bottom six team this year and right now they’re top four,” Hinkley said.
“We are witnessing amazing stories – we just get to sit back and watch it unfold.”
The Demons will face the Crows on Saturday away from their home turf, where their defensive improvements will be put to the test against an in-form top six team.
