Paul Roos is confident the future of Melbourne Demons is bright after successful AFL Draft
CHRISTIAN Petracca, Angus Brayshaw, Jack Watts, Jimmy Toumpas and Simon Goodwin. Paul Roos talks all things Melbourne with Jon Ralph.
JON Ralph talks to Melbourne coach Paul Roos, who says the club’s midfield is now looking much healthier, Jack Watt’s remains important to the club and Simon Goodwin has all the makings of a quality senior coach.
JON RALPH: You just snared two star midfielders in Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw. Finally your midfield actually has some players. Some kind of relief?
PAUL ROOS: I think it was the biggest weakness I saw when I arrived, it is very hard to win games of football if you only have two or three midfielders. So from day one with Christian Salem and Dom Tyson, exchanging pick 2 and 9 and getting Vince and Daniel Cross, we are continuing that theme with the two midfielders in Brayshaw and Petracca is really important.
JR: Did you get the best two talents in the draft as some believe?
PR: I am a novice watching TAC Cup football but I watched a fair bit this year because (son) Tyler was playing (in Angus’ team) and the three players hard to split were (Paddy) McCartin, Brayshaw and Petracca. We would have been happy with any two of those three.
JR: Petracca is bright and bubbly and raw. Some clubs really worried his psych testing. Is it a worry?
PR: My interaction with him is he’s a nice kid with a great family and unfortunately we all have to take responsibility for this — we build up the draft and put them on a tee early and then we want to take a whack at them. He is a young kid from a basketball background and he has strengths and weaknesses. As all kids do in the draft. Hopefully we can utilise the strengths and improve his weaknesses.
JR: What do you like about Jesse Hogan, who so much rests on despite you saying he won’t be the saviour?
PR: Probably his competitiveness. If you couple that with him being a good athlete, they are good starting points. He runs a sub 10min30sec 3km time trial and that competitiveness stands out when you see him train. I am a big believer that the draft age should be a year older and Hoges being a year older reinforces my view. He is 12 months older and I joked with him the other day, he looks like a man now after coming in as a boy.
JR: He has missed a year with a back injury. Is it a long-term concern?
PR: My mail is a lot of players playing AFL have similar concerns. It’s a management issue, we have been doing a lot of work with him and we give him a Wednesday off or take him out of the drills.”
JR: I reckon Melbourne supporters are dirty on Mitch Clark leaving, however unfair that might be. Is that fair?
PR: There are two sides to all stories. As soon as we heard as a footy club, the medical was always our main priority. We talked about his retirement, that was purely about medical advice.
To be perfectly frank I didn’t think he would come back and play footy again. When he did come back we were told the best thing would be for him not to play at Melbourne. Whatever happens after that happens.”
JR: Heritier Lumumba. He elicits strong opinions. Collingwood was glad to see the back of him. What did you see in him?
PR: It’s funny, having been in Sydney for so long I heard he might be available and I jumped at it.
Then I started to hear some things (about him). When I met him I was really surprised by people’s perception of him. He was really quiet, really clear on what he wanted to be as a footballer. He is honest. He has made some mistakes like we all do.
We want him to be a leader at this footy club, to impart his wisdom. He is aware now he has found his identity and understands who he is, and wants to be a footballer.”
JR: People say he is too into his causes. Will you allow them an outlet or stifle them like the Pies did in his last year?
PR: I think it’s perception. People perceive some players have causes but you have to remember you get asked about your views. You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
People say he doesn’t talk and then when he does have strong views we say, is he a footballer or not.
Providing he is playing good footy and has the behaviours we want our players to live up to, he is a smart and intelligent guy and he seems to stand up for the right things.”
JR: What is your takeout from the James Frawley scenario. Again, most fans would think he was always going?
PR: Free agency is here to stay and my views on it are strong — I am not a fan of it. I don’t have a problem with the way James handled it.
He was invested in our footy club and I don’t think he knew where he was going. At least we got pick three as compensation.
My worry is the salary cap was supposed to limit good clubs getting stars and instead star free agents are going to clubs like Hawthorn for less.
The concern is players do go for less and as a past player, it doesn’t suit all players.
Where is the money going to come from? It’s going to come from the top ten per cent, they are going to get wealthier and its going to be the guy who was on $250,000, he will go back to $150,000, the guy on $300,000 will go back to $200,00. Most of the players will be disadvantaged by free agency.
JR: Do clubs feel they are losing all power over players. Some believe clubs should be able to trade them against their will the year before free agency?
PR: I won’t mention the coach who did say that, but it was definitely said at the Coaches’ Association meeting. And it was a valid point.
Players have all the power and that could balance it. The American system you are contracted to the league, not the club. You can get traded anywhere. It wasn’t my opinion but it is interesting. We don’t want to go back to the haves and have nots. It is a pretty precarious position footy is in.
JR: Why did Michael Evans just retire when you tried to put him back to the rookie list?
PR: We tried to get another pick in the draft and put him back to the rookie list because there is a spot with Jack Trengove (on the long-term injured list). Nothing changed for him, he was eligible for Round 1, on the same money. Some players get into the system and they enjoy it and when push comes to shove, they don’t want to be an AFL footballer.
We saw it with Dom Barry (leaving) and it took me by surprise, but Michael didn’t take me by surprise.”
JR: What is Simon Goodwin’s progression to senior coach over the next two seasons?
PR: Year one his theme is development. The first six months it’s what he’s all about, working with our development guys and our early picks on the back of Dom Tyson, Jesse Hogan, Christian Salem. He is so passionate about it. Once the season starts he will do the midfield with Ben Matthews and then in his second year it will be more education about boards and marketing and sponsorship.”
JR: What is your take on what has been a catastrophic failure to develop high picks at this club?
PR: The more I delve into it, it was the perfect storm. There was interference from coaches and managers and tension between them and then that rubs off on to players. They are quick to pick up on problems and they picked up on a lot of them. Then you have a hard coach (in Mark Neeld) come in and it might have been good for another club, but not Melbourne. That was the circumstance over six or seven years.
JR: Brendan McCartney is a massive get. Are you shocked he was sacked at the Bulldogs?
PR: No doubt. Brendan had the Dogs on the right path and that’s the thing that appealed — they were teaching a brand. How to play AFL finals football.
The landscape is really different and I don’t want to blame free agents for everything. But you get players in a free agency period and they have more power. It’s easier to get rid of one coach than three or four players. So if the jungle drums beat the coach is going to cop it in the neck more so than ever
Brendan would have had enormous opportunities to go to other footy clubs and he chose us. Mark Ricciuto would have spent plenty of time with him (trying to get him to Adelaide) and he put his faith into the Melbourne footy club.
JR: The requisite Jack Watts question. Was he close to being traded? Were there nibbles?
PR: I can’t say he was never going to go. Everyone is tradeable. But my preference was to keep Jack. I think he had a really good year. When you carry that No.1 mantle everyone looks at the negative stuff. He has something we don’t have a lot of — speed, decision making, he is an elite kick so we wanted to keep him.”
JR: I think the fans have probably lost faith former No.3 pick Jimmy Toumpas can be an elite player. Where is he at?
PR: I think Jimmy can be a quality AFL player and I said that to him in his post-season interview. The biggest problem in the AFL is the Giants and Suns play all their kids early. So every kid measures themselves against them. He needs to stop worrying about what pick three or pick six is doing, and it can be hard not to do that. But he has got serious talent to be an AFL player.”
Originally published as Paul Roos is confident the future of Melbourne Demons is bright after successful AFL Draft
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