Melbourne defender Steven May still winning back teammates’ trust after ban for fighting
Melbourne defender Steven May is still earning back his teammates’ trust-up and he will get to do that on the field against Brisbane.
AFL
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Key Melbourne defender Steve May has trained “outstandingly well” since his club-imposed suspension for punching teammate Jake Melksham and will make an immediate return as the reigning premiers look to end a three-match losing streak on Thursday night.
Demons coach Simon Goodwin was adamant that May, who was given the one-match ban after a fight at a team dinner when he was drinking despite being under concussion protocols, was keen on “building the trust back” with his teammates.
Goodwin said May would come straight back into a team that has lacked defensive “cohesion” in his absence as Melbourne tackles fellow premiership contenders the Brisbane Lions without captain and star ruckman Max Gawn.
“He’s been outstanding in training as well,” Goodwin said of May on Monday.
“He’s really keen on building trust back within the playing group and putting his best performances out there on-field and leading like he does on-field to a really high level.
“It’s going to be great to get that group back together.
“We haven’t had much cohesion in the back half of the ground over the last month. We’ve had a variety of guys out for a variety of different reasons.
“To get that back six or seven together consistently, it’s going to be something that’s really important to us and Steven is a big part of that. He’s an outstanding player and he’ll come back in.”
Goodwin dismissed a renewed attack from former club president Glenn Bartlett on the premiership coach’s character and said “I know who I am”.
Instead, he was focused on finding a willing helper for gun young big man Luke Jones, who will take the No.1 ruck role in Gawn’s absence, with the skipper set to be sidelined for more than a month with a syndesmosis injury.
Ben Brown looms as a likely helper with Majak Daw sidelined by a bicep injury.
“It‘s an enormous opportunity for Luke to really step up,” Goodwin said.
“We‘ve seen what he’s capable of in a range of different situations, but to take that mantle as the No.1 ruckman will be really important and we’ll see his ability to really step up and do it a different way. Max is a pure tap ruckman, Luke is slightly different and gives us a different look at ground level. We’re looking forward to seeing what that looks like.
“Who is going to support him, we‘re still working through that. Majak (Daw) won’t be available, he’s got a partial pec tear that he did a couple of weeks ago. He’s probably four weeks away from being back available to play. We’ll have to be a little bit adaptive in that space and come up with a clear plan, but it’s something we’re looking forward to.”
Goodwin said there was no panic at the Demons despite the three-straight losses to Fremantle, Sydney and then Collingwood.
“Yeah, we have lost three games in a row,” Goodwin said.
“But we do know our method stacks up and it has stacked up for a period of time.
“The role execution has been off in the last few weeks, so building some cohesion in our playing group again and getting the players back into their key positions will be really important for us.
“And I don‘t believe that we’re a boring side … we have certainly got growth in a lot of areas to get better at, but we play a certain way and we will back that in.”
Originally published as Melbourne defender Steven May still winning back teammates’ trust after ban for fighting
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