THE lynchpin of Melbourne's forward line had not kicked an AFL goal before this year.

Coming into the season, Kade Chandler had played just 10 career games - eight of those as the substitute - and had never quite been able to solidify his place in a dangerous forward line. This year, however, Chandler has become the most important part of Melbourne's attack. 

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Leading the club for goals so far is premiership player Bayley Fritsch with 16, but second is Chandler, who was far from a permanent fixture in the side before this year. Having kicked at least one goal in every game this season, Chandler sits ahead of the likes of Kysaiah Pickett, Ben Brown and Tom McDonald for goals.

Despite the club's premiership forwards sitting down the goalkicking tally, or even struggling to be selected in the senior side, Melbourne boasts the highest average score in the competition this season, kicking 109.9 points per game. The club also enjoys the widest spread of goalkickers with 9.9 each week, and that attacking success has come off the back of a personnel shift in the forward line.

Chandler and the recently re-signed Alex Neal-Bullen are the only two forwards who have played every game for Melbourne so far this year, while the tall contingent of Brown, McDonald and the emerging Jacob van Rooyen are an ever-shifting proposition.  

The small forward is not only deadly accurate at goal, kicking 13 goals from 16 shots, he is also terrific at setting up teammates in attack. Currently ranked 10th in the competition for scoreboard impact by Champion Data, Chandler has been involved in 24.6 per cent of Melbourne's scores this year.

The metric encompasses all points scored that a player has been involved in, either directly or as an assist. Ahead of Chandler for scoreboard impact are the likes of Jeremy Cameron, Charlie Curnow, Tom Hawkins, and Charlie Cameron – the top four on the competition's goalkicking tally.  

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Chandler is a unique inclusion in the top 10 given his split between his own scores and assists to teammates. He has kicked 80 of his own points (13 goals, two behinds) and assisted in 11 of his teammates' scores (nine goals, two behinds).

These assists make up 41.2 per cent of his scoreboard impact. No other player in the top 10 has more than 32 per cent of their impact made up via assists.  

While Chandler's numbers are certainly helped by his team's accuracy, with the club going at a competition-high 70.2 per cent in front of goal, he has become a crucial link to goal at ground level inside 50. In doing so, he has helped Melbourne get more out of its forward line. 

Last year, the Demons were reliant on those stationed higher up the field to impact the scoreboard, with each of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Luke Jackson and Ed Langdon in the top 10 for scoreboard impact. This year just two non-forwards are currently in the leading pack: Petracca and Jack Viney. 

Chandler himself is rarely the focus when the Demons go inside 50, in fact he has been targeted just six times so far this season, but he makes the side far more dangerous when the ball hits the deck.  

Often playing front and centre, he is there to win the ball when marking targets like Fritsch and van Rooyen break even in the air. This keeps the ball in attack, generating repeated shots on goal rather than resulting in a turnover and rebound back out of the zone. 

In the conversation of small forwards, Chandler is rarely front of mind, but he is the most important cog in the competition's best attack right now.