On the cusp of a premiership dynasty before Luke Jackson left, the Demons are now staring at an unwanted place in history

Brodie Grundy hoped his partnership with Max Gawn would be “special,” yet less than a year later it is over. Scott Gullan analyses where it went wrong and the repercussions for the Dees.

Melbourne Demons, Brodie Grundy Luke Jackson

Robbie D’Orazio is happy about his new nickname Nostradamus but not happy about how he got it.

Brodie Grundy’s manager predicted what would happen to his client in 2023 even before he’d signed on the dotted line with Melbourne.

His concerns were captured in the behind-the-scenes documentary Show Me The Money 11 which followed D’Orazio in the lead-up to last year’s AFL trade period.

In an exchange with his business partner Paul Connors, D’Orazio reveals how the Demons had pushed ahead of Geelong and Port Adelaide as the front runners for Grundy’s services.

“I think Melbourne at the minute have got their nose in front and I think Brodie is leaning that way which is weird,” D’Orazio says. “If you had told me Brodie was going to play with Max Gawn …

“He’s got his head around it, I think Max Gawn has been honest with him saying I’ll play mainly forward, I’m going to play 30 per cent ruck and 70 per cent forward. Believe that at the time but imagine if that doesn’t happen next year and Brodie is playing forward.”

The camera then captures a phone conversation between D’Orazio and Grundy.

“Jesus Christ, are you and Max going to play together?” D’Orazio says with a laugh.

Grundy replies by saying: “Yeah, it’s going to be special man. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a different look but I’ve always enjoyed a little bit of difference so you know what I mean?”

Robbie D'Orazio during the Show Me the Money II documentary.

Unfortunately for Grundy, the difference he was searching for involved playing in the VFL and not being a part of Melbourne’s finals campaign.

D’Orazio wasn’t the only one to voice his concerns at the time of the trade with commentators queuing up to point out the obvious that Grundy wasn’t a key forward and turning Gawn, the best ruckman in the game, into a full-forward was also fraught with danger.

Exactly 12 months and one day ago, former Melbourne captain and Fox Footy commentator Garry Lyon was doing his best Nostradamus work.

“Max and him can play in the same team, and that’s a great strength, but how do they fix the problem that has dogged them all year and that is forward of centre,” Lyon said.

“The Demons lose (Luke) Jackson, he’s gone, so they’re going to end up with two great ruckmen, how does that work in terms of sharing the load and all that?

“Because neither of them … look like they can go down here and fix this problem forward of centre.

“I think he’s (Gawn) an unbelievable footy player but I’m not sure he’s going to be the answer to their forward problems and therein lies the conundrum.”

As Melbourne stares down a potential consecutive straight sets exit from the finals on Friday night, the failure to navigate the departure of Jackson threatens to give this playing group an unwanted place in history.

Great teams who only win one flag for a dominant era. Think Kevin Sheedy’s 2000 Essendon team.

What Jackson did in the 2021 Grand Final had Demons fans salivating and boldly predicting a premiership dynasty was about to bloom.

Luke Jackson has had an impressive first year at the Dockers. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The 19-year-old went into the ruck in the third quarter and inspired a seven-goal blitz in 15 minutes which flipped the GF on its head and won Melbourne the flag.

Unfortunately the triumph at Optus Stadium in Perth in front of Jackson’s family and friends only fuelled his desire to play there permanently.

While Melbourne spent most of the next year trying to convince him to stay, it turns out he was already out the door midway through the year.

After winning the first 10 games of the 2022 season, the Demons lost three-in-a-row leading into the mid-season bye which was when Jackson returned home and met with Fremantle.

The losing streak probably wasn’t great timing because for the first time he may have had some doubts about the Demons trajectory.

Jackson, his parents and manager Jason Dover met with the Fremantle posse which included chief executive Simon Garlick, football boss Peter Bell, list manager David Walls and coach Justin Longmuir at the Crown Hotel which poignantly looks over Optus Stadium, the scene of his career highlight.

Longmuir and Jackson immediately hit it off with the Dockers coach outlining how he saw him as a 200cm weapon who could be deployed all over the ground, not pigeonholed into one role.

This appealed to Jackson who knew he was already out the door by the time the plane landed back in Victoria.

He didn’t tell Melbourne until after they’d suffered two embarrassing MCG finals defeats to interstate clubs, Sydney and Brisbane.

By this stage the Demons had read the wind and had been planning for replacements. While there were lots of names on their whiteboard, most weren’t gettable or the right fit. But Grundy was.

Or so they thought.

Gawn, 30, was feeling a bit banged up after the season so the thought of having an All-Australian ruckman to help him out appealed.

The forward line scenario was more pie in the sky thinking given the Melbourne skipper had only kicked 13 goals for the season while Grundy’s career best in a season was 12 in 2021.

Regardless, Gawn and coach Simon Goodwin convinced themselves it could work and then convinced Grundy it could work.

By Round 18 the experiment was on life support. Grundy had been dropped after just 10 goals from the opening 17 games while Gawn had only contributed seven goals.

Brodie Grundy of the Demons during Melbourne’s training session this week at Casey Fields, Cranbourne. Picture: Michael Klein.

Goodwin had seen enough and went with Gawn solo in the ruck against Brisbane. The skipper produced his best game of the season in the thrilling come-from-behind comeback win, collecting a game-high 29 disposals, 21 contested possessions, 10 clearances and 39 hit-outs.

Grundy has only appeared once since, a forgettable nine-possession no-goal performance in the Round 22 loss to Carlton who ironically the Demons face in the semi-final to keep the premiership dream alive.

The Demons have tried many different forward looks but haven’t had a lot of luck with Ben Brown (who was full-forward in the ‘21 Grand Final side) injured again, Harrison Petty and Jake Melksham both went down with season-ending injuries when they were just starting to look good while Bailey Fritsch’s late-season injury also didn’t help the equation.

Youngster Jacob van Rooyen has been a find this season but he’s missing the semi-final because of suspension which leaves Tom McDonald – who played his first game since May in the qualifying final – as the main tall with some help from Joel Smith who has kicked the grand sum of nine goals from 41 games.

That’s not the scenario Demons fans would have envisaged two years on from the Grand Final where they kicked 21 goals and looked like the Harlem Globetrotters.

Not even D’Orazio would have seen that one coming.