By Andrew Wu
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has taken aim at the Demons’ leaders after his players had their spirits broken by Gold Coast in a 58-point drubbing that will raise questions about whether the club’s premiership window has been slammed shut.
Demons players cut forlorn figures in a sombre dressing room on Saturday after a hellish performance that has left the club at 0-3 for the first time since their horror 2019 season, when they finished 17th, and with a daunting trip down the highway to take on Geelong on Friday night.
Star Demons skipper Max Gawn didn’t pull any punches after their horror showing against the Suns at the MCG.Credit: Getty Images
The loss was compounded by a potentially serious knee injury to young gun Xavier Lindsay, last year’s No.11 pick, who will have scans after limping off the field minutes into the game. The Demons are hopeful he has avoided a dreaded rupture of his anterior cruciate ligament but are yet to rule it out.
Goodwin and his brains trust digested the defeat behind closed doors for about 20 minutes while players, many of whom were staring blankly into space, reflected on a second debacle in seven days. Friends and families were kept waiting outside the rooms.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn said Goodwin did not spare the team’s leaders after a game in which the Demons were comprehensively beaten at stoppage – which has been their strength – by a meaner and cleaner Gold Coast team.
The Demons lost the clearance count by 16, contested ball by 18 and managed only 40 inside-50 entries, prompting former North Melbourne star and leading analyst David King to declare the end of an era for their once-vaunted centre square combination of Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney and Christian Petracca.
Jarrod Witts (right) was up for the occasion against Gawn.Credit: Getty Images
Gawn was below his best against Jarrod Witts, while vice-captain Viney managed only 19 possessions in the midfield. Steven May and Oliver conceded 50-metre penalties, which gift-wrapped the first two goals of the game to the Suns.
Petracca started forward but was denied opportunities. He finished the game in the midfield as the Dees desperately searched for answers.
“We haven’t been anywhere near where we wanted to be for a couple of weeks, that’s disappointing,” Gawn said.
“[It’s a] long season ahead, [they] probably broke our spirit a tiny bit today, so making sure we don’t go down that path and finish off games [is the goal]. Slightly disappointing, that last 10 minutes.
“[We] probably had a few leaders looking for free kicks at different points. You are what your leaders are. If you’re doing that, it can be a slippery slope.”
Gawn did not exclude himself from criticism.
“[I] gave away a few, thought they might have been mine, but my arms were in the air so it looks bad,” Gawn, who conceded three free kicks, said.
“I’ve come out and said exactly what we got told in there [in the post-match]. There’s still a lot of technical stuff. We got beaten in stoppage, [we’ve] got to have stoppage right. Our fundamentals were a little bit off. We saw a few dropped marks – they were a bit cleaner, we’re not a hell of a long way off.”
Gawn said the Suns worked out Melbourne’s midfield plays early. The Suns scored four goals from the centre bounce and were +33 for scores from stoppage.
“We had our plan, they knew what our plan was quite quickly – they drilled in on us,” Gawn said. “We’re doing a lot of work midweek to make sure we come up with the good stuff, but [we’re] not executing it.”
Simon Goodwin hasn’t ruled out making changes to his midfield.Credit: AFL Photos
Goodwin did not rule out making changes to the midfield but said fixing their method was the priority. That the coach rated No.6 draft pick Harvey Langford, playing his first full game, as the Demons’ best midfielder was an indictment on the rest of the on-ball brigade.
“Too often they got out of there easily,” Goodwin said. “We fumbled and bumbled around the ball – we need to get that fixed.”
Trent Rivers was earmarked to play in the middle but was required in defence after Lindsay’s injury. Lindsay completed some change of direction running on the sideline before the decision was made to sub him out. Jake Lever, Kysaiah Pickett and Caleb Windsor are in line to return next round.
Melbourne’s drought-busting flag in 2021 should have heralded the start of a golden run, but, four years on, the Demons have not won a final since, and are facing the uncomfortable prospect of a premiership window slammed shut without having won another final.
Gawn said he still believed the Demons could challenge for the flag this year, pointing to Hawthorn and reigning premiers Brisbane, who were both slow out of the blocks last year before storming into the finals as the form teams of the competition.
“The premiership window is never shut,” Gawn said. “You are ludicrous in this competition if you don’t rock up ready to win the flag. I’m a long way away from that thought.”
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