Melbourne grand final news: Follow the stories behind the stars at the Demons
After Goodwin delivered Fritsch’s finals axing on his doorstep the manner in which the young Dee responded has prepared him for the biggest game of his life.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
As soon as Bayley Fritsch saw Simon Goodwin at his front door, he knew he was in trouble.
It was just a few days out from the 2018 preliminary final and after modest performances in his first two finals in an otherwise impressive 23-game debut season, Fritsch had remained hopeful he would keep his place in the senior team for the clash with West Coast in Perth.
But his coach’s unscheduled appearance at Fritsch’s home that day gave away the fact he was about to be dropped — even before Goodwin had the chance to tell him.
Watch Fox Footy’s massive line-up of Grand Final week coverage on Kayo including live pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage with full analysis from the best team in the business. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >
“I was OK but I didn’t set the world on fire in those finals. West Coast had a tall forward line, so they wanted to bring in a taller guy from a match-up point of view,” Fritsch said this week.
“‘Goody’ came to my house to tell me, which I really appreciated.
“It is not the sort of news you want to be delivering to one of your players before a big final.
“I heard the knock at the door and I was thinking ‘Who is this?’ I didn’t know he was coming. He just rocked up out of nowhere. When I saw him, I just knew I was in trouble.”
Three years and one week on, as Fritsch prepares to play in Saturday’s grand final against Western Bulldogs, he said he wouldn’t change any part of his journey, even the setbacks.
The manner in which he has responded to those challenges has played a role in preparing him for the biggest game of his life.
“I ended up flying over with the team (for the 2018 preliminary final) and if anything had happened to anyone, I would have been in the side,” Fritsch said.
“Then I got the red-eye (plane) back after the game and played in the VFL Grand Final the next day. I wasn’t pissed off, I just wanted to finish the year off as best as I could.”
Melbourne failed to kick a goal in the first half of the 2018 preliminary final and lost by 66 points. Fritsch’s Casey Demons lost the VFL Grand Final the following day.
He vowed to be there the next time Melbourne played a final.
He had to wait until this season, but says his 2018 experiences have improved him.
“The feedback I got was that they were super proud of the way I handled it all. I wanted to play in that final, but it wasn’t to be,” he said.
“You learn that nothing is ever given, you have to work hard for whatever you get.”
It’s even brought him closer to the coach.
“I’ve got a great relationship with Goody,” he said. “We are very competitive with each other.”
“We play a lot of table tennis against each other, but I think that has helped to build a really strong relationship together. He can be really honest with me.
“He is a cool, calm, collected character who finds a way to get the best out of his players.”
COLDSTREAM KID
While most of the players in this week’s grand final were products of the AFL’s elite junior pathway, Fritsch came from a very different direction.
He grew up in Coldstream in the Yarra Ranges, 35km north-east of Melbourne, where his father, Scott, was a 360-game player, his mother Pauline held a myriad of club roles, and his grandparents were also life members.
“I lived and breathed Coldstream Footy and Cricket Clubs,” he said from Perth this week. “My brother (Darcy) and I were like bad smells hanging around the club rooms.
“You make good friends, you learn your values and playing team sport is just unbelievable.”
Almost from the time he started in Auskick as a five-year-old, he knew how to kick a goal, which carried into his first senior game for Coldstream as a skinny 16-year-old in the fourth division of the Eastern Football League.
“I was playing out of the square next to a family friend and he kicked nine and I kicked four,” Fritsch recounted.
“We won by six goals. There was a decent crowd, maybe a few hundred … I remember thinking, ‘this is unbelievable, I can’t wait to do this for the next 15 years’.’
This weekend he will play in front of 60,000 fans in a grand final at Perth Stadium, a far cry from humble beginnings in Coldstream, though he has never forgotten where he came from.
Fritsch missed selection in the Eastern Ranges squad … after one training session.
“I hadn’t had my growth spurt then … I really started growing when I was 17 or 18. I did one session. They just said I was too small and too skinny. I never heard back from them.”
At the end of Year 10, Fritsch became an apprentice electrician: “I started at 16 and finished my apprenticeship by 19 or 20, and I was lucky enough to get drafted around that time.”
Just when he looked set for a long career with Coldstream, Fritsch was invited to Casey.
“One of the guys I knew, Nick Rutley, got me to Casey at the back end of 2015, and I was going to play in the reserves, but I ended up being too young,” he said.
“I was invited back the next year as long as I put on weight, so I put on a few kilos.
“I got a contract before Christmas. I was over the moon to make a VFL list.”
Then came the next hurdle.
Midway through that first season, he suffered a serious back injury — stress fractures — which wasn’t good for his footy or his apprenticeship.
“I sort of had about 12-14 months off,” he said.
His comeback was slow then he encountered a knee issue — which made it hard when he had to get up for work at 5am and would often not arrive home until 10pm.
But Fritsch went from an untapped kid with talent to a bona fide draft hopeful during the 2017 VFL season, kicking 42 goals.
“I remember George Morgan (footy manager) and Justin Platt (the coach) contacting me after Round 6 (in 2017) saying ‘We are going to have to get you a manager’,” he said.
“I was like ‘what do you mean?’ They said, ‘this is crazy, we’ve got clubs ringing for you’.”
No.31
One-time No.1 pick Jack Watts didn’t want to leave Melbourne, but when he found a new home at Port Adelaide, the Demons received pick 31.
They used it on Fritsch, and handed the rising 21-year-old graduate of Casey one of Melbourne’s most revered guernseys - No.31.
He has worn it in 84 games, and has a close connection to it, having met and been photographed with club legend Ron Barassi, who wore it with pride, knowing that his father, Ron Sr had worn it before heading off to war and never returning.
“It obviously has a rich history. I feel very privileged to be able to pull on that jumper every week,” he said.
“I’ve been lucky enough to catch up with Ron a few times and to hear the pride and love in his voice when he talks about the club.”
That draft was a good one for the Demons.
In the space of eight picks in 2017 they chose Charlie Spargo (29), Fritsch (31) and Harrison Petty (37), while also doing a trade with Adelaide for star defender Jake Lever.
Having debuted in Round 1, 2018, Fritsch has been a fixture in the Demons’ side for most of the past four seasons, missing only a handful of games, including a match last year when he was dropped for turning up to training 10 minutes late.
He kicked 17, 20 and 22 goals in his first three seasons before 2021’s standout 53.22 (including 7.0 against Adelaide in Round 22) — a testament to his accurate goal kicking.
“I suppose I’ve always been a bit of a goalkicker,” he said, other than a brief period when Goodwin tried him in defence a few years ago.
“I had a lot of shots at goal last year but for the first time I really struggled in front of goals.
“Over the off-season leading into this year, I did a lot of work with Greg Stafford who is our forwards coach and was our goalkicking coach last year.
“I really honed in on my process and what really works for me, and I have definitely converted a lot more this year.”
He didn’t change much about his technique, but increased the quantity of his training shots.
“It was just about having the right quality and quantity to get the belief back again,” he said.
The connection between the Demons’ forwards — indeed the whole team — has been at an all-time high this season, as they became minor premiers for the first time since 1964.
“In the off-season we even had a few forwards camps, just to get that connection right,” he said.
“What Ben (Brown) and Tommy (McDonald) and Luke Jackson have been doing from an aerial point of view has been great, and we’ve got Alex Neal-Bullen, Kozzie Pickett and Charlie Spargo at their feet. It is a really dynamic forward line.”
CHASING THE DREAM
Fritsch will fulfil a childhood dream of playing in an AFL grand final, albeit the game will take place in Perth, not the MCG.
To do it alongside some of his best mates will make it even better.
“We had a few chats over the off-season and really stamped what we want to stand for as a club,” he said.
“We have got to know each other on a really deep connection now.
“We are always challenging each other, but we know it is coming from a place of care. We know that we can look each other in the eye when we walk out to play because we have a lot of trust in each other to get the job done.”
Fritsch and the Demons might be on the other side of the country to most of their family and friends, as well as the Melbourne Army back in Victoria.
“It’s hard being away from home and not having my family, and my partner Nat there,” he said.
“But when you know what you are playing for, it is all worth it.
“Mum is spewing she won’t be there. She has looked at all the loopholes that she can find, but it just isn’t possible. She will be cheering on from home.
“If Covid had permitted it, the whole of Coldstream would be watching it together, but I reckon they will work out some sort of Zoom call.”
He said the long-suffering Melbourne fans had provided inspiration to the team as they chase the club’s first flag in 57 years, particularly those back in a locked-down Victoria.
“We would obviously love to be playing in front of them this week and a few supporters from Perth will be lucky enough to be there,” he said.
“But we know the Melbourne faithful who rock up to the MCG rain, hail or shine will be cheering on pretty hard from the couch. They will be in our thoughts.
“To win a grand final at any level is unbelievable, but to win an AFL granny would mean so much to so many people.
“It won’t be easy, but we will be putting everything out there on the plate on Saturday.”
The awkward issue the Spargo family has this weekend
Most of the Spargo family tree bleeds red, white and blue.
It is little wonder given their extensive ties to Whitten Oval that date back generations.
But allegiances are set to be tested on Saturday when one of the family’s own — Charlie Spargo — runs out for Melbourne in the 2021 AFL Grand Final.
The showdown between the Demons and the Western Bulldogs is one that is dividing a family which is now largely unsure who to cheer on.
Christmas could be a little awkward this year.
“Most of the family is diehard Bulldogs,” Charlie said.
“Dad’s brother, Anthony, and all his kids certainly are. I’m sure if we lose, they’ll get stuck into me.
“He (Anthony) is probably cheering for me to get the Norm Smith and the Dogs to win, I’d say. That probably won’t happen — the Norm Smith bit, anyway.”
The Spargo family connection to the Bulldogs dates back 87 years.
The late Bob Spargo Snr started it all, playing 65 senior games for Footscray between 1934 and 1941, before finishing his career with two matches for Melbourne as World War II raged in 1942.
His two sons — Bob Spargo Jnr and Ricky Spargo — also went on to play senior football for Footscray in the 1950s and 1960s, with Bob Jnr playing 80 games and Ricky lining up in 64.
Bob Jnr’s son, Paul, strangely started life as a Carlton supporter but had little choice but to eventually turn to Footscray, like his brother Anthony.
However, Paul is now the least conflicted in the family.
He went on to play 81 games for North Melbourne and nine matches for Brisbane in the 1980s and early 1990s.
While there is still a soft spot for the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne is now Paul’s team and he is more than happy to drop the ‘North’ and cheer on Melbourne and his son Charlie this weekend.
“I’m pretty strong North Melbourne now but I’ve jumped on board the Dees bandwagon,” Paul said.
“My dad (Bob Jnr) will be going for Melbourne this week. He rang me. My uncle (Ricky) will be going for the Demons as well.
“Ideally it would be Melbourne’s turn, wouldn’t it?”
Remarkably, Charlie is the fourth generation of his family to play at the highest level — something no other football family has achieved.
According to his father, that fact is even more remarkable given some of Charlie’s antics during his junior football days, including as a 12-year-old playing for The Scots School Albury.
“Charlie used to play in the ruck, believe it or not,” Paul said.
“One day, he tapped the ball out, picked it up, took a bounce and kicked a magnificent goal on the run. There was only one problem. He was going the wrong way. He was running back and all the coaches and fans were saying, ‘Hang on, mate, you’ve kicked it for the opposition’.
“The problem was, he did it again during that same game, as well.”
Growing up in Albury, Charlie was part of the Greater Western Sydney Academy from age 12 and looked destined to join the Giants until the AFL changed zoning rules in his draft year of 2017.
GWS still could have selected him like any other player, but instead chose Brent Daniels (pick 27) and Sam Taylor (pick 28) with their second-round selections.
Melbourne snapped up Charlie with the very next pick at No. 29.
“I’m very proud of my history and those in my family that went before me,” Charlie said.
“They never pressured me into playing footy but they’ve always been open to helping me out and helping me work on my game.
“Every time I go out there I take a little piece of them and play for them.”
While he might have played some ruck at school thanks to a “good leap”, Charlie was drafted as a midfielder but has been morphed into a small forward at the Demons.
Alongside Alex Neal-Bullen and Kysaiah Pickett, he is part of Melbourne’s version of the ‘Mosquito Fleet’ which helped propel Richmond to premiership glory in 2017.
One of only 10 Melbourne players to feature in all 24 matches this season, Charlie has kicked 17 goals and ranks equal-second at the club for score assists.
“It’s a role where you can get frustrated at times with a lot of unrewarded running but ‘Goody’ (coach Simon Goodwin) gives the three of us a lot of recognition for doing things other people won’t see,” Charlie said.
“We know that when we do the things that are fundamental to our role — like running hard and pressuring the opposition — the offensive opportunities will come.”
When Charlie joined the Demons in 2017, the club had just endured an 11th consecutive season without a finals appearance.
In his debut year in 2018, Charlie played in the club’s preliminary final and he is now set for a Grand Final in just his fourth season.
“I don’t really know about the struggles Melbourne’s had in the past,” Charlie laughed.
“Everyone says I’m very lucky — and I am. I remember Max Rooke, my forwards coach, said to me in my first year, ‘I know you won’t understand this now but you’ve really got to prepare for this moment because you might not get back to a prelim again’.
“It was a bit of a wake-up call in 2019 when we finished down the bottom of the ladder and I just really gained a greater appreciation of how hard it is for a team to get back to the top. But I’m enormously grateful to be at a club like Melbourne building a great culture and to be back near the top and hopefully winning a flag.”
Just weeks shy of his 82nd birthday, Bob Jnr — who played in a losing Grand Final for Footscray in 1961 — will be watching the big dance from his home on the Gold Coast.
Charlie’s immediate family — father Paul, mother Kate, older brother Abe and younger sister Annabelle — will be on the couch at the family home in Albury.
Win or lose, Paul will be ready and waiting for a call from his son, as he receives after every game.
Even if calls from other family members aren’t so cheery, he is hoping the one from Charlie will be filled with joy.
“The beer will taste better if the Demons win, that’s for sure,” Paul said.
Revealed: The calming influence behind Petracca’s epic rise
Christian Petracca’s vast football ambition knows no bounds.
He is happy for you to know he wants to be the best player in all of football.
Before his career is out, he would love to become the captain of the Melbourne Football Club as well.
At almost any other point in Petracca’s career, you could be forgiven for thinking those statements came from a brash, cocksure young kid talking the talk before he walked it.
Yet perhaps the best proof of his new-found maturity after a physical and emotional transformation these past two seasons came not with a brilliant on-field deed.
Instead as Petracca fought back tears after the club’s last-gasp GMHBA Stadium win to seize the minor premiership, it was his capacity to acknowledge the victory was about so much more than him or his teammates.
“That’s for every Melbourne fan who has been embarrassed to wear the Melbourne footy club logo,” he said in an on-ground interview that spoke volumes of his perspective.
Petracca tells the Herald Sun from the club’s Joondalup base part of the maturing process these past years has been realising how much pain the Demons fans have suffered.
“It’s very obvious that Melbourne fans ride the journey with us,” he said.
“When we are frustrated, they are frustrated.
“My emotion after the Geelong game was really raw. What we had done was something we hadn’t done since 1964 and it was pretty full on. It was a big deal.
“Fans come up to you in the street and say, “I was one year old when we won our last premiership”.
“As a young kid, I was like, ‘Whatever mate’. But when you get to my age, a bit older, you start to understand the journey they have been on, so it really means a lot to me.”
So what was that seismic moment where No. 2 overall pick Petracca turned from impetuous and unfulfilled kid into one of footy’s most dominant forces?
For Petracca, it was realising during that five-win 2019 season that he could be so much more than he was producing.
“I think you come to an age where you question who you want to be, your purpose and your why,” he says.
“And I had a good hard look at myself. It got to a point in my life where I wanted to change as a person. I think that’s the way to put it. When you look in the mirror, who do you want to be?
“It takes time for people. My output in games frustrated a lot of people. As in, ‘He should be better than he is’. People mature at different times and that’s the journey I am on.
“I had to change a few things off the field, I had to be a bit more selfish off field, 2019 was a really good transition into what it takes to be a 24/7 athlete.
“I went away with (Christian) Salem to America on a Nike camp and backed myself in and put in the work. There is no surprise why people play well. The reason I am so confident in my game is the work I put in. And not many people see it. But the decisions I have made helped me become the person I am today.”
For 25-year-old Petracca, that light bulb moment of staring himself in the mirror kickstarted a series of changes that have helped realise his stunning potential.
First came the elite fitness base that still prioritises explosive power over slow-burn endurance, but the player once only capable of eight-minute midfield bursts is now surging hard at the final siren.
“It was a conscious effort of putting myself around people who are better runners than me, and to understand if you want to be a better runner, you train with the best.
“So you train with Salem, or Max Gawn, or Adam Tomlinson. Darren Burgess has made me understand my strengths. It’s about power and explosiveness. I needed to be a better runner than I was, but my strength is still pretty awesome.”
Partner Bella Beischer came into his life and immediately became a calming and motivational presence.
“Bella has been an amazing support. She came from a tennis background so she understands elite sport and she has been unbelievable with her approach with me over the last few years, she has been amazing.”
Perhaps as profound has been Petracca mastering the mental side of his game.
“I have got a better understanding of high performance. I love my mindfulness and meditation. It was something I used to think was a bit of a joke, or a w***, to be honest.
“We used to do a fair bit of it with Tammi Roos at the club and I had so much energy, I could never sit still for five minutes and I could never understand what the hell was going on.
“Now I realise the mental side is so much more important than the physical part.
“I did the bulk of the work in the (10-week AFL) break from Covid after Round 1 last year. I see life differently. I am a lot more grateful, I don’t see the negatives. I was someone who was like, ‘Why can’t I do this?’. When you worry about the future or past you tend to get anxious.”
When all were losing their heads around him in Melbourne’s mediocre 9-8 season, Petracca’s breakout season was being underpinned by mornings on the beach resetting himself.
“In the Maroochydore hub I got into a morning routine. I would wake at 6am or 6.30am, sit on the beach listening to mindfulness music or a podcast. I think the hub was the best thing for me,” he says.
“It slowed me down. I realised it’s OK to relax and be a bit present with yourself.
“I have calmed down. I am less chaotic, less frantic, less stressed too. It was a frustrating time in the hub last year with the team but I learned so much individually about myself.
“Being next to the beach made me calm and collected and there will always be times when you have negativity, with doubt pops into your mind, but it’s about putting it to the side and compartmentalising it.”
It is with the context of what has changed in Petracca’s life that he can speak about his individual ambition to be footy’s best player without coming across as arrogant.
“Yeah, for sure. I want to get the best out of myself. It’s my career, so I want to get the best out of myself, but being the best player in the comp requires me to win big games and premierships. I can’t wait for the opportunity to do that.
“The first step in your career is to play games, then you want to play 50 and 100, and then you just want to win. You don’t care about stats or individual awards, you just want to put this team on the map and put it in a position to win.”
Petracca speaks of Max Gawn’s brilliant leadership, of Clayton Oliver’s capacity to unlock the secret to team football with excitement and wonder.
“Clayton’s a perfect example. The more you give to the team, the more you get back as a player. I am just grateful to be his teammate on and off the field.”
The same could be said of Petracca, whose ability to buy into the defensive side of the game saw Simon Goodwin hail a trio of chase-down tackles in a mid-year win over Port Adelaide.
It is why considering Petracca as a future Melbourne captain now makes sense given his charisma and unique blend of leadership.”
He bleeds red and blue, he recognises exceptional leadership — “the way Max leads is just perfect”— and he wants to drag Melbourne to greatness.
“100 per cent, of course I would like to be,” he says of the query of whether he would like to captain the Demons one day.
“This club has so much history. It is an absolutely amazing football club and I have signed on for a long time, until I am 60,” he says with a chuckle of a six-year, seven-season extension.
“To be captain of this footy club would be one of the proudest moments of my life. I have always felt like I have had leadership qualities in me, I know I had some maturing to do but deep down I have always had leadership in me, my energy is great, I get around the boys a lot and hopefully one day it happens.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Melbourne grand final news: Follow the stories behind the stars at the Demons
Track watch: Young Roo justifying North’s draft gamble
Eyebrows were raised when North Melbourne paid a huge price to trade up for Matt Whitlock at the draft. But if his latest pre-season outing was any indication, it’s a gamble that is set to pay off. SEE FULL MATCH SIM NOTES.
AFLPA hits out at ‘name, shame and punish’ drugs system
The AFLPA has opposed a reported change to the AFL’s drugs testing system which it says would “name, shame and punish” players and reduce their anonymity.
Track watch: Bolter firms for key role in revamped Pies defence
Collingwood’s defence is set for a shake up, with a new face looming as a key part of the club’s backline in 2025. Check out the latest track intel from CHRIS CAVANAGH.
Star Crows recruit’s leading role in Rachele resurgence revealed
Josh Rachele’s resurgence continues to gather steam and the role one of Adelaide’s key off-season recruits has played has been revealed. Plus, the latest on Sid Draper and Dan Curtin.
Every Eagle rated: You’d be ‘crazy’ to think this rising star will regress
Andrew McQualter has a sizeable task in his first year at West Coast. Will his players sink or swim? GLENN MCFARLANE and JON RALPH have their say.
Radio, farmers, fishermen: Where are all 86 2000 debutants now?
In 2000, 86 young - and some not so young - men graced an AFL field for the first time. 25 years on, where are they now? Find out where all 86 are in 2025.