By Jake Niall
Collingwood prospered from what we called the fire sale of 2020, despite the hysterical wailing that accompanied the forced exits of Adam Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson and Tom Phillips.
The latter pair is no longer on AFL lists. Collingwood went on to win the 2023 premiership and reached the preliminary final in 2022 and this year. The fire sale – a prelude to the less-essential sale of Brodie Grundy two years later – was important to their rebirth under Craig McRae.
Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.Credit: AFL Photos
Five years on, Melbourne are attempting something more radical than a forced fire sale: A cultural overhaul.
The Demons are not pushing Clayton Oliver out the door, inviting Steven May to leave and granting Christian Petracca permission to leave because they have no choice.
They’re accelerating a move into the future, and letting go of the 2021 post-premiership period that was marked by near misses, issues with the playing group’s behaviours, ill-fortune (Angus Brayshaw’s concussion and retirement) and that repeated breakdown between midfielders and forwards.
The dynasty that beckoned in Perth after the grand final – in the rooms then, there was a cocky assumption this was a team of destiny – died late in 2023, when the Dees lost to Collingwood by seven points and were nutted in the final minute by the Blues, a game that should have been put to bed.
Brayshaw retired, Oliver went awry and Joel Smith’s drug suspension and board unrest wreaked turbulence. It all unravelled in 2024.
Max Gawn and the Demons paid tribute to medically retired teammate Angus Brayshaw before their opening game of 2024.Credit: Channel Seven
Fortunately for the Demons, they didn’t bet the farm on Oliver and Petracca, the cornerstones – underneath Max Gawn – of that premiership in exile.
While they failed to bolster that premiership core with cheap discards (Lachie Hunter, Grundy, Jack Billings and Josh Schache), the Demons largely held their high draft picks post-premiership and – after losing uber-talented ruck Luke Jackson – brought in some excellent kids, headed by Harvey Langford, Xavier Lindsay, Caleb Windsor and Koltyn Tholstrup.
So, if the Demons have endured a hellish couple of years, they’re leaving both the premiership and the trauma that followed behind. If all goes swimmingly, the cultural reset of 2025 will be their stairway to heaven.
It’s a sizeable “if”, but the alternative would be to cling to delusions that the same playing group will march back up to the summit.
Teammates Gawn and Steven May clashed after a one-point loss to Collingwood this year.Credit: Seven Footy
It is almost unprecedented for a club to let three non-retiring guns leave together. Hawthorn jettisoned Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge, but it took two post-seasons. That trio were all 30-plus, and the Hawks were bringing in Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara.
Revolutions have underlying root causes. Melbourne’s cultural reset has been driven by the following factors (gleaned from club insiders):
1. A recognition that the post-premiership Demons team was no longer capable of contending for the flag, as results of the past two seasons attest.
Oliver hasn’t performed at anywhere near his apogee since 2022, May will turn 34 early next year and is slowing, Gawn is 33 (albeit still exceptional) and even Jake Lever turns 30 next year.
Scoring remained problematic in 2025.
2. The game has moved away from what worked in 2021-2022.
Oliver, a stoppage and contested-midfield weapon at his peak, is not quick, nor precise in his foot skills, in the manner of the more lethal Lions. First hands on the footy always matters, yet is less paramount than what one can do with it.
Petracca, who has some pace/power and can play forward, also needs to adapt. But his value is greater to another club – Gold Coast, in this case – than a Melbourne team that’s looking beyond the immediate.
The Demons have Jack Viney as an inside mid in the short term, and don’t need many others. They have actively chosen to fast-track the development of Langford and Lindsay – both inside and outside midfielders – in particular.
New Melbourne coach Steven King.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
3. Cultural change under a new coach.
Steven King hasn’t mucked around. As a graduate of Geelong (most recently), King has a strong view about how this team will play, and who fits into that system. Judd McVee was told his role and when offered that choice, requested a trade to Fremantle.
Within Melbourne, which has a new chief executive, too, in Paul Guerra, there’s also an understanding that a measure of selflessness is necessary for success. These hard calls are easier for King than his predecessor Simon Goodwin, who was amenable to trading Oliver, but was partly obstructed by club politics.
Oliver, who is well-liked by teammates, still created distractions over 2023 and 2024. May, obviously, demonstrated poor leadership more than once since the flag, such as when he castigated Gawn for an errant kick on King’s Birthday, and in the altercation at Entrecote restaurant (2022).
Suns star and Gippsland product Bailey Humphrey is a man in demand.Credit: AFL Photos
Petracca is a super player at his peak. His delivery to forwards, however, has been less-than-pristine and his relationship with the club does not seem to have recovered from the aftermath of the King’s Birthday of last year, when he suffered serious internal injuries.
Petracca wanted out last year and was held hostage. This time, Melbourne are willing to release him at the right price.
The Suns are an astute choice, given they are a) heading into a contention period, and b) have the capacity to do the trade, with Sam Flanders heading out the door (St Kilda having offered pick No.7 for Flanders).
Bailey Humphrey – an emerging gun – is considered too steep a price for Damien Hardwick, however. The Suns say they will walk away if Melbourne insist on Humphrey.
Gold Coast will have to pick up the tab on Petracca’s massive four-year contract. This differs from Oliver, who is being shoved, and could well cost the Demons at least $500,000 a year from his estimated $1.3 million-per-annum (for five years). But the salary cap saving for Melbourne is still enormous.
The Suns’ game style is suitable for Petracca, since it is based more on territory and transition and requires less precision than some others.
There is little point in holding an unhappy player against his will, and the Petracca-Melbourne marriage couldn’t be completely reassembled this year. The baring of souls at a campfire that the Demons had over the summer of 2024/25 didn’t complete the healing.
Melbourne had rifts within the playing group during 2024, which they did their utmost to repair. Now, after another season of hopes dashed, the new regime has chosen to change personnel, rather than change attitudes.
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