By Jon Pierik
The Demons are a club in quicksand, and finding that life-saving rope after a 0-4 start is looking more and more remote in a 2025 campaign gone wrong.
For all of Simon Goodwin’s pre-season chat about the players showing “love” for each other after a tumultuous 2024, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the more appropriate question may be whether the time has come to contemplate a split.
Simon Goodwin needs to find answers quickly if the Demons are to rebound in season 2025.Credit: AFL Photos
Heading into Saturday’s crunch clash against Essendon in Adelaide, there is still time to turn this campaign – on and off field – around, but even AFL great Leigh Matthews says the club’s premiership players would know “deep down” they are no longer in serious flag contention.
What do the players think?
Steven May was one of Melbourne’s better players against Geelong.Credit: Getty Images
Key defender Steven May suggested the Demons – with 15 premiership players still in the side – had taken a step forward despite their 39-point loss to Geelong last Friday. But that’s difficult to comprehend for many supporters after a winless opening four rounds for the first time since 2012.
That may have also been difficult for Christian Petracca to understand after he showed visible signs of frustration – including throwing his mouthguard into the GMHBA Stadium turf.
“Everyone hates losing, but I think the way we played versus the last couple of weeks, we have come off the field with a bit more, I suppose, confidence; belief in the team,” said May, who was the only Demon among seven players in Friday night’s game to be awarded votes by coaches Chris Scott and Simon Goodwin.
“We took a big step, our stuff around the ball, I thought we looked a lot more dangerous. I thought we looked a lot more desperate on defence. I know it sucks to lose, but I feel like we gave it a good crack and there are some good signs.
“I felt like our midfielders did a much better job. I felt like we were able to play a bit more front half football. I thought we really looked stable behind the ball, we set up really well, but, ultimately, we need to find a way to score.”
And that’s the crux of the issue for the Demons – a lack of scoring.
What to do up forward?
It’s a case of déjà vu for the Demons, who rank 18th for scoring (62 points per game) and, despite May’s positivity in defence, 15th for points against (101.8 per game). They are bottom three for a range of other important areas, including points from turnover differential, points from stoppage differential, score and goals per inside 50, and shot-at-goal accuracy.
It was much the same in 2012 when they finished 16th in Mark Neeld’s first – and only – full year as coach.
Bayley Fritsch has had a miserable start to the season, with just one goal, and a goalkicking accuracy of just 9 per cent. He had 11 goals by the same stage last year, with 41 for the season.
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Former champion forward Matthew Lloyd told the AFL website he thought “Fritsch played for himself … was unpredictable to his teammates” against the Cats and could be axed this week.
Great hope Jacob van Rooyen, averaging a goal and three score involvements per game, is regularly dropping marks, and is in danger of becoming “Sam Weideman all over again”, according to AFL great Nick Riewoldt.
“We are going to hope, we are going to think, he is going to turn into this amazing key forward, and it’s just not going to happen,” Riewoldt said on Seven’s The Agenda Setters.
Weideman, who managed 59 games for the Demons and 17 for Essendon before being delisted last year, was an earlier incarnation of van Rooyen.
Matthews says the Demons have an “iffy forward line”, and their forward-half connection against the Cats was “terrible”.
They’ve had more inside-50s than their opponents in three games this season, including a 50-49 advantage against the Cats, but managed only six goals on Friday.
“I think we can acknowledge our execution needs to improve,” Goodwin said.
It’s when they are about 70 metres from goal that opponents know the Demons are vulnerable. Is it skill, an inability to “lower the eyes” and deliver, as Lloyd says, a piercing pass rather than a bombed kick, or running patterns? Or a touch of all of the above?
The Demons do not seem to know.
It’s this part of the field that has haunted them for years. Even in their 2021 premiership year, it wasn’t a major strength.
Solving this problem was an area of focus after last year’s internal review called for the coaches to implement “a style that not only propels us back into the finals but withstands the pressures of finals football”. So far, it’s a fail.
Where does this leave Goodwin?
Under the pump, that’s for sure. The Demons are 1-9 from their past 10 games, and Goodwin may soon have to fight for his job, despite being contracted through 2026.
Goodwin’s message is to “stay calm but get urgent”. If he cannot extract that urgency from his men, or deliver a winning game-plan, the board and new chief executive will need to consider whether it’s time for change.
But the Demons have just as much uncertainty here. Brad Green is an interim president, with fellow former player Steven Smith expected to replace him when he returns from holiday later in the year.
Meanwhile, the hunt for a new CEO continues, the Demons having missed on Greg Swann (Brisbane), Stuart Fox (MCC), Jen Watt (North Melbourne), Ameet Bains (Western Bulldogs) and Simon Garlick (Fremantle).
Green says the club has five candidates, including chief operating officer and interim CEO David Chippindall, who applied for the role before Gary Pert was appointed. A decision is likely by the end of the month.
Christian Petracca shows his emotions after Melbourne’s loss to Geelong.Credit: Seven Sport
What about Petracca?
The star midfielder is clearly frustrated, and why wouldn’t he be? It wasn’t that long ago he wanted to leave, but eventually reneged amid major change at the club.
He is contracted until the end of 2029 but, if the Demons have to rebuild or, at the very least, take a step back, will he decide this is too much of an impact to his personal brand? As reported by this masthead last year, Petracca wants to play in front of big crowds.
What now?
The Demons’ focus is on toppling the Bombers, but they have been dealt another blow, with injured premiership defender Jake Lever (ankle) to miss another two months.
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