After a dead-rubber match delayed by lightning at a rain-soaked MCG two questions loomed large at the end of the game: can Collingwood regroup, and what is next for Melbourne’s Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver?
To the Demons first. The 2021 premiership winners looked lacklustre and inept on Friday night, finishing the season with a bruise-free 46-point loss to Collingwood.
Collingwood’s Nick Daicos tackles Melbourne’s Alex Neal-Bullen. Daicos finished the game with 40 disposals.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
They did so without Petracca and Oliver. But will they ever get them back?
“Christian will be part of this footy club for the next five years,” Goodwin declared in his post-match press conference.
“He’s had a really challenging time. He’s having to work through a lot of emotions and stuff, a lot of trauma, but we’ll be there to support him, and he’ll be in the red and blue for the next five years.”
Petracca’s commitment to Melbourne had been under a cloud in recent weeks after reports emerged he was disgruntled and wanted to leave. Goodwin dismissed the speculation.
What is next for Melbourne’s Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver?Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“I want to put that one to bed a little bit,” Goodwin said. “Communication has been really strong internally around Christian.
“It’s been expressed to the players and the staff of what Christian was going through and his need to get away from the footy club on numerous occasions.
“It was also spoken at length within leadership groups, and we are there to support Christian.
“But, ultimately, until you hear it from Christian [of what he was going through], and that’s been the difference, everyone gets a deeper level of understanding.”
With Goodwin adamant that Petracca would return after overcoming severe internal injuries suffered in the King’s Birthday clash, questioning moved to Oliver.
Goodwin was equally bullish. He said he had never seen a more determined person than Oliver wanting to be fit for next year’s pre-season after a troubled start to 2024.
“He’s in a great space with his life, and we’re really proud of that,” Goodwin said.
“But now it’s about becoming a really great footballer again, and he’s determined as ever.”
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin during a break in the game against Collingwood.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The Demons’ culture was challenged at the start of the year and the Melbourne coach admitted it had been a tough 12 months.
“I don’t think we shy away from that as a club,” Goodwin said. “There’s been a lot that’s going on from pretty much this time last year right through the 12 months.
“But as I said, we are not going to live in the past. We’re only going to keep moving forward, and we get a chance to reset our club with all the people fully connected, on the same path and on the same road to where we want to get to.”
Goodwin said the club would lose Alex Neal-Bullen, who was returning to Adelaide for personal reasons.
He did not comment on Kysaiah Pickett’s high bump on Collingwood captain Darcy Moore, but the Demons are almost certainly to start next year with the dynamic forward sitting on the sidelines.
The match review officer will not look favourably on the way Pickett went low to bump the Collingwood captain as they chased after a ground ball late in the second term.
As Moore dropped to his knees, Pickett’s right arm collected him across the face. Moore recovered to take a free kick, but he was subbed out of the game at half-time with concussion.
It was an unfortunate early finish for Moore, but there was no quick and merciful ending for fans at the game.
It took a couple of minutes for the players and umpires to be pulled from the ground after a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and then another 40 minutes before they returned. The last quarter took 65 minutes and 47 seconds from start to finish.
It only delayed the inevitable, a runaway Collingwood win off the back of Nick and Josh Daicos, who amassed 40 possessions each.
But while they finished the late night on a high, it had been a disappointing season. Their title defence had fallen well short.
“Clearly, we are sitting here, not where we want to be,” Magpies coach Craig McRae said.
Mason Cox with Darcy Moore, who was subbed out of the match with concussion.Credit: Getty Images
“I said to the playing group, we will sit and watch finals with a bit of a sick feeling in our guts because we want to be playing finals this time of year.
“But the game gives you feedback. We’re here, what is it 24 rounds in, and the game tells you where you sit, and we, right now, sit on the out. So we’ve got work to do.”
Where Melbourne missed Petracca and Oliver, the Magpies looked undermanned without injured trio Jordan De Goey, Brody Mihocek and Daniel McStay.
That’s when necessity becomes the mother of invention in the coaching game. McRae was able to bolster a midfield without De Goey by using veteran Steele Sidebottom in a run-with tagging role.
The Magpies’ small forwards helped Collingwood kick more than 100 points against Melbourne at the MCG.Credit: Getty Images
Across the past three weeks, the 33-year-old dual premiership champion has shut down Sydney’s Errol Gulden, Brisbane’s Lachie Neale and on Friday night he blanketed Melbourne’s Jack Viney. It has been enough to extend Sidebottom’s career into next season.
Another area in which McRae manufactured success was deploying a mosquito fleet of forwards. At times against Melbourne, the Pies used an enticing mix of six smalls: Jamie Elliott, Bobby Hill, Beau McCreery, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Lachie Schultz and Joe Richards.
It helped that the Demons were without key defenders Steven May and Jake Lever, who withdrew in the pre-match warm-up with illness.
So where does it leave both sides after a year of missing finals?
Goodwin said: “It hurts. We want to be a team that plays finals every year. In saying that now, after some long years, we get to take a really good break and reset our club and our team.”
McRae said: “We like to think that four of our last five games have been wins and our form, other than 10 minutes against the Swans, has been pretty strong. So we started to steer the ship a little bit towards where we wanted to be.”
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