By Peter Ryan
In the middle of the 1965 season, the wise heads at Melbourne sacked their six-time premiership coach.
The curse of Norm Smith was born, and the Demons went without a premiership for 57 years.
Christian Petracca suffered serious injuries to his ribs and spleen in the King’s Birthday clash.Credit: Getty Images
In 2024, three years after they won a drought-breaking premiership in Perth, a curse of a different form descended on the club, one, again, seemingly self-administered.
There have been court cases, senator statements and sports integrity investigations to keep the spotlight on the club in the past three seasons.
The legal battle between club directors and former president Glen Bartlett remains unresolved, as does the Federal Court hearing on governance issues.
On Monday, a year will have passed since Joel Smith returned an adverse analytical finding on game day for the presence of cocaine and its metabolite benzoylecgonine after the Demons’ round-23 match against the Hawks. The investigation is ongoing.
That’s the off-field.
On the field, this season loomed as one of redemption with Clayton Oliver’s issues finally addressed after they baulked at trading him, Christian Petracca set to spend more time forward, and Angus Brayshaw ready to go again after the qualifying final bump that flattened him and the Demons’ premiership hopes.
But Brayshaw was forced into retirement through concussion, Oliver was noticeably happier, but his football declined, and Petracca, according to two sources familiar with the club who spoke on the condition of anonymity, became increasingly animated about standards of performance before he suffered a shocking injury on King’s Birthday. None are playing the final two rounds of the season.
It’s been difficult to process as president Kate Roffey – who often talked loudly after the 2021 triumph of her dreams of the Demons winning the flag at the MCG – seemed bewildered at the situation in her president’s address before last Saturday night’s loss to Port Adelaide in front of just 17,867 fans.
“Normally, this time of the year we are standing up here wondering if we are going to finish one or two, or at least in the top four – we are now in a position where we are outside the top eight,” Roffey said.
Now the culture question that has bedevilled the club since the premiership has flared again as a possible reason for their decline, this time with the revelation on Monday that Petracca, a Norm Smith medallist, is disillusioned with the club’s direction.
The 28-year-old has not been able to keep his sense of dissatisfaction with the club to himself, with teammates, opposition players and industry figures increasingly aware of his feelings as he recuperated from the life-altering injury suffered on King’s Birthday.
Ultra-professional, Petracca is also an emotional character who wants to be the best of the best. Sometimes that desire spills over into eyebrow-raising actions.
There is, according to two well-placed sources who requested anonymity to speak freely, also some frustration among teammates that a senior leader preferred to be away in Noosa than at Casey at the business end of the season.
This was a time when young players could have benefited from his tutelage as the Demons struggled to kick a winning score and make the finals.
One source mentioned the positive example Jake Melksham set when sidelined with a knee injury on the eve of the finals last season to highlight what the best leaders do in such situations.
Understanding he endured a traumatic period post-injury when he had emergency surgery and was isolated due to risk of infection for close to two weeks – a point coach Simon Goodwin re-emphasised on Tuesday – they expect to work through the issues.
At 28, with five years remaining on his contract, Petracca is, according to the club and others familiar with his situation, going nowhere.
“Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca will be at the footy club next year,” Goodwin said on Wednesday. “I can guarantee you they will be running around in red and blue jumpers.”
Without Brayshaw’s calming influence, frustration among the group has bubbled to the surface. The retired midfielder was the team glue who brought out the best in skipper Max Gawn and vice captain Jack Viney.
But those two, who have had to tirelessly represent the players throughout the tumultuous period, have busy lives with family alongside football, and again find themselves engaging in a review where all the old problems are re-aired.
Alex Neal-Bullen, the club’s most respected figure, won’t be there as family needs dictate that he has to return to Adelaide , while there will be a freshening-up of assistants under Goodwin, who remains well-regarded among the players and staff, both current and former.
But what will remain is the lingering concern that this club has blown its moment – kicking a reset down the road with another internal review that can’t repeat what happened at the end of 2020, when decisions were made that led to a premiership but also established a level of scepticism about the club’s leadership that has never disappeared.
Can they reset, with a fit Oliver, a reassured Petracca, a relaxed and supported Gawn, and a determined Viney leading emerging youngsters such as Trent Rivers and new ideas to cause damage on the scoreboard and contend?
And, most importantly, can the players – without Brayshaw and Neal-Bullen – win the respect they earned in 2021, when they were selfless and united?
It shapes as another challenging off-season for the disturbed Demons, at a place less settled than it should be.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.