Melbourne season review: How do embattled Demons rebuild, rebound from Petracca situation?
The idea of a Harry McKay-Christian Petracca trade has already been shut down. But the more you think about it, it makes sense for both clubs. LACHLAN MCKIRDY looks at why as he examines the Demons.
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The 2024 campaign started tumultuously for the Dees and it was a theme that carried on for much of the season. After back-to-back years of straight-sets finals exits, Simon Goodwin knew his side could no longer rest on the laurels of their 2021 premiership.
However, they failed to find consistency throughout the year and finished in 14th, just one place outside the bottom four.
Sitting in the top four after 11 rounds, the Dees travelled to Alice Springs to take on Fremantle.
After being handed a 92-point loss, their season went off the rails and nothing seemed to go right from there.
Christian Petracca’s season-ending injury in the King’s Birthday clash cemented their midfield woes. A fortnight later, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as Hugh McCluggage’s late goal saw the Lions steal a win at the Gabba. In all, Goodwin’s side only won four of their last 12 games of the year as they tumbled down the ladder.
Their captain Max Gawn was yet another standout of the season, battling through the pain to play 21 games and earning another All-Australian selection. But it’s clear he needs help, even if Brodie Grundy wasn’t the right call two years earlier. Trent Rivers was another who stepped up in Petracca’s absence, putting together his best season of footy to date.
Yet again, the forward line was a major concern for the Dees. They scored the fifth-fewest points of any side in 2024 and only had three goal-kickers with more than 20 majors for the year – Bayley Fritsch (41), Kysaiah Pickett (36) and Jacob van Rooyen (30). They only scored more than 85 points in a game twice in the final 12 rounds, and that sort of output isn’t going to keep you in matches regardless of how steadfast your defence is.
Off-season moves
The next two months will be crucial to ensure Melbourne’s disappointing season isn’t the start of a prolonged period out of finals. And it’s safe to say their first round of exit meetings haven’t gone to plan.
Christian Petracca and Kysaiah Pickett have both indicated they are looking to explore trades away from Melbourne for various reasons. The former however, says he’ll be at the Dees in 2025.
If you had to pick their top five most important players, both Petracca and Pickett would be in it. Obviously, the first goal is to try and convince both players to stay and that is still a realistic possibility. But if that isn’t an option, then suddenly they have plenty of capital ahead of the trade period.
That’s on top of Alex Neal-Bullen who formally requested a trade away from the Demons as he looks to return to South Australia.
They go into the draft with pick No.5 already, and with a bumper crop of talent in this year’s class that gives them plenty of choice.
The top selections of most draft boards are midfielders, with the likes of Josh Smillie, Sid Draper and Sam Lalor all estimated to go in that 4-6 range. However, if they’re desperate to add another young talented forward they could take Harry Armstrong, however, a more mature key forward would be their priority to have an immediate impact.
With Ben Brown (retirement) and Josh Schache (delisted) both out the door, they’ll have to recruit hard.
A potential Petracca-Harry McKay swap has been talked down, but you can see why it would make sense. There aren’t a lot of mature forward options on the market so list manager Tim Lamb might focus more on bringing in support for the likes of Fritsch and van Rooyen and build their line around the two set talls.
Off the field
Simon Goodwin probably still has some capital in his back pocket after the 2021 premiership, but there’s no doubt there will be pressure on him to turn things around next season.
He is currently contracted until the end of 2026 and will be backed in to try and make a change. But clearly, a thorough review needs to take place in terms of the culture at the club to see both what went wrong on the field, and why several star players have indicated they want to leave.
If they’re able to turn things around on Petracca and Pickett, that is a major win.
It’s also a step that suggests there is belief in what the footy department can do, despite what results suggest this year. Their midfield has been critical to success over the past decade but with Max Gawn moving towards the end of his career and the on-ballers around him dropping away from their best form, Goodwin may have to come up with a new game plan that brings the best out of their younger stars like Rivers, van Rooyen, Caleb Windsor and Judd McVee.
The simple matter is there needs to be improvement in 2025. While it’s not quite finals or bust, if they become as uncompetitive as they were in the later stages of this season, Goodwin and others will be in the firing line.
2025 Preview
Max Gawn will be 33 next year but he’s still the Dees’ most-important player. He will be looking to add to his All-Australian blazers again and there’s no point writing him off when time and time again he’s proven to be their game-changer.
After missing a handful of games in the middle of the year, Jake Lever will be eyeing off a big 2024. He’s an elite defender on his day, and with Steven May tracking toward the later end of his career, it’s Lever’s time to step up and be their main man down back. Similarly, while Fritsch finished as the Dees’ leading goal-kicker, his inaccuracy proved costly at times and 41 goals just isn’t enough when you have a forward line so desperate for points.
Overall, Melbourne has a list capable of performing better than 14th. But it remains to be seen whether they will be able to turn things around. If they can find more consistency going forward and win the games against teams around them on the ladder, then they have every chance of sneaking into the eight.
However, as other teams like Sydney and Hawthorn have shown in recent years, getting games into younger players is so important to make sure you’re not languishing near the bottom of the table. They have nine players on their list aged 23 and under who have at least 10 AFL games. If you move that category up to more than 20 games, the number drops to just three. So clearly, getting games into talented young players has to be vital when they already have key position players like Gawn and May coming to the end of their careers.
Originally published as Melbourne season review: How do embattled Demons rebuild, rebound from Petracca situation?
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