AFL 2021: Majak Daw to train with Melbourne in hope of snaring list spot

Melbourne could offer Majak Daw an AFL lifeline after inviting him to pre-season training. What do the Dees expect from the former Kangaroo?

Majak Daw has stepped down from his ambassadorial role with North Melbourne’s The Huddle — the Kangaroos’ not-for-profit community arm — as he works to try and secure one of two available slots on Melbourne’s rookie list.

Injuries to Sam Weideman and former Roo Ben Brown saw the Demons on Sunday offer Daw a chance to train in the hope of re-starting his AFL career as a pre-season supplemental selection.

The 29-year-old, who has played 54 AFL games, was delisted by the Kangaroos at the end of last season and had signed with North Heidelberg in the Northern Football League.

Melbourne general manager of football performance Alan Richardson said on SEN: “We really needed someone that we think is a chance to play for us early.”

“We think Majak has the attributes to support us in a couple of areas ... he’s kicked six goals in an AFL game before.

“But if it is that we get (more) injuries, he’s probably the person that we would be the most ready to be AFL fit at the start of the year.”

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Majak Daw could revive his AFL career at a new club. Picture: Michael Klein

Daw recently accepted a role as ambassador of The Huddle and will now vacate that position — at least for the time being — as he endeavours to prove to Melbourne he deserves another chance.

“The Huddle is fully supportive of Majak’s desire to continue his AFL football career and is behind him every step of the way,” The Huddle CEO Cam McLeod said.

“We know that Majak is passionate about our community work and programs and hopefully we will be able to welcome him back in the future, as we believe he has some important work to do with us.”

Daw had been expected to train with the Demons for the first time on Monday, but he will have to wait until the results return from his mandatory COVID-19 test.

Richardson said he hoped Brown would return between Rounds 4-6, while Weideman fractured his leg last week and faces up to 12 weeks on the sidelines.

Melbourne list boss Tim Lamb said the club was keen to bolster its big man options.

“As part of the pre-season supplemental selection period we have offered Majak Daw an opportunity to train with us for the remainder of pre-season,” Lamb said.

“We are looking to potentially further reinforce our tall stocks and Majak will be given the opportunity to impress during this period.”

The club has three vacancies on its rookie list. Players will have to train in groups of 10 due to Melbourne’s latest COVID-19 outbreak from Monday.

LAST CHANCE BECKONS FOR EXILED DEMON

- Jon Ralph

Collingwood wasn’t the only club desperately trying to clear cap space last year as Melbourne tried to find Tom McDonald a new home anywhere across the AFL.

McDonald’s lucrative contract signed midway through his 53-goal season in 2018 was the single impediment to him finding a new home.

He was footy’s greatest enigma, a 194cm key forward with a massive tank who in two years had gone from AFL star to playing scratch matches in the back blocks of Brisbane during COVID.

Yet while Collingwood burnt bridges with the stars it jettisoned, the aborted trade never torched the relationship between Melbourne and McDonald.

Now with Sam Weideman and Ben Brown sidelined with medium-term injuries, Melbourne has never needed McDonald more.

But the mature manner in which Melbourne and McDonald approached that deal — making a plan for the 2021 season — at least provides hope that he can reclaim his mantle as an AFL power forward.

Tom McDonald on the bench after suffering an eye injury last year. Picture: Ryan Pierse/AFL Photos/via Getty

During an AFL season in which McDonald made only nine appearances for a miserable 7 goals 1, he just never stopped training.

He hired a personal trainer, ran every second day, and returned to the playing weight that made him one of the AFL’s best power runners.

His manager, Alex McDonald, told the Herald Sun that McDonald and Melbourne found a way to explore a trade without weeks of backstabbing and intrigue.

“Full credit to Tommy but also Melbourne,” Alex McDonald said.

“The two parties worked together and worked through his future. There wasn’t really any fallout.

“The club was really open with Tommy that as the list evolved there wasn’t a spot there.

“That reflected in his selection. They were very good in saying if a trade doesn’t work out, we will welcome you back with open arms.”

As it turned out, his significant wage meant clubs such as Essendon — who were mentioned as potential suitors — never made more than cursory inquiries.

Sam Weideman is set to miss the early rounds of the 2021 campaign.

“He did some personal training as did a few of the other (Melbourne boys), and he has always been pretty disciplined but he fined down a little bit,” his manager said.

“His weapon has always been his running and he probably fell into the trap of bulking up, but he knows he needs to use his running to open up the game.

“He is still working on his power but he’s done a really great job over the summer.“

As McDonald told the club website last week, he was smack bang at footy’s crossroads late last year.

“In the last five or six rounds of the year I don’t think I played a ones game and I had a few twos games in the back paddocks of Brisbane,” he said.

“It was quite a shambles what we played on. So the workload was a bit lower than if I was in the ones. So I just didn’t stop running.

“I would normally have a three or four-week break but by the time the group was back into slower running I was into the intense stuff.

“I went through so many emotions (with trade week). There was a part where I was flat because I thought my time was done at Melbourne, to being excited about new challenges, to it falling through and getting excited about the chance to come back to Melbourne and prove a few people wrong.”

Tom McDonald. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty

McDonald’s pre-season had been so exemplary he had been training on a wing in anticipation of a new role, but Demons best-and-fairest winner David Schwarz says he must play forward.

“I see him in that endurance, gut-running Nick Riewoldt type of role,” Schwarz said.

“He will never be Nick Riewoldt but you can work your arse off up the ground and make it uncomfortable for key defenders and push up and then outwork them on the way back.

“He isn’t going to stand and out-wrestle defenders like Jon Brown, he’s got the tank and he needs to use it.

“He isn’t a high-flying player, he isn’t Jason Dunstall on the lead but he has to have many good weapons instead of having two or three great weapons.

“He kicks it well and anywhere between 30-60 goals should be his go-zone.”

Dees forward line in crisis as Weid goes down

- Simeon Thomas-Wilson

Melbourne is facing a key forward shortage with Sam Weideman to miss the early rounds of 2021.

The Demons already are set to be without recruit Ben Brown after he had to have knee surgery last week and have suffered another big blow with scans revealing Weideman has a stress fracture in his right leg and will be out for the next 10 to 12 weeks.

Weideman had a breakout 2020 campaign, after surprisingly being out of Simon Goodwin’s side for the first five games of the season — kicking 19 goals from his 13 games.

Melbourne general manager of AFL football performance Alan Richardson said Weideman had taken that momentum into pre-season.

“It’s disappointing news for Sam who has had a great pre-season to date,” he said.

“Following some soreness in his hip region, the medical team decided to conduct a scan, which has shown a stress fracture in his femur.

“We didn’t expect to find anything this substantial, but it’s better to get onto it now and prevent it from getting any worse.

“We will take a conservative approach and an exact return to play date will be determined by how Sam responds to the ongoing rehab program.”

The 23-year-old joining Brown on the sidelines will open the door for Tom McDonald to get himself back in favour after not being selected from Round 13 last year.

PIES KEEP ADAMS IN ROUND 1 PLANS DESPITE SETBACK

Nick Smart

Collingwood is not ruling out Taylor Adams for Round 1 next month despite the midfielder injuring his hamstring this week.

The Magpies have confirmed the Collingwood vice-captain strained his hamstring during training at the Holden Centre on Monday.

Adams turned to social media to quickly play down the setback.

“Only a small hiccup after a really strong training block. No stress here,” Adams tweeted.

Adams has a history of soft tissue injuries with this latest setback coming just over a month out from the club’s Round 1 clash with the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.

Taylor Adams has suffered a hamstring injury at training. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

He played 19 games last year but missed almost three months with an adductor injury in 2019.

“Given the 27-year-old’s history the medical department will monitor his progress over the coming weeks,” the club said in a statement.

“Adams will continue to work towards a round one appearance against the Western Bulldogs on 19 March.”

Only a small hiccup after a really strong training block. No stress here 🙌 https://t.co/A1RT7JgJPk

— Taylor Adams (@taylor_adams13) February 8, 2021

It comes a week after scans revealed an abdominal strain for Magpies star Jordan De Goey after he pulled up sore following an intra-club match.

The 24-year-old was set to miss a week up to a fortnight of training, but he was back doing a running session at the club on Monday.

He moved well and appeared to be unhindered during his cardio training.

“I’m fine, I just hurt a little bit of a muscle in my stomach,” De Goey said last week.

“It’s obviously not ideal, but in the scheme of things it’s not too bad at all.

“I’m definitely on track for Round 1.”