What the embattled Demons can learn from Tim Paine.
In the rooms after winning the 2021 premiership in Perth, the Demons’ leaders made no secret of the fact they wanted to create a dynasty.
“This is a starting point, it’s not an end point for us,” CEO Gary Pert said.
They haven’t won a final since. In fact, they have not won one at the MCG since 2018.
Melbourne have been good, not great.
And a series of incidents since the finals started have coalesced to make the Demons’ culture the main talking point since Collingwood won the flag.
The club blames its recent travails on a few isolated incidents rather than a larger cultural problem and in many respects they are right.
When a star player is the subject of debate and the issues surrounding him are complex, it is tough on the leaders of a club to get the message right. That point is significant in assessing Melbourne’s response right now.
There are also legal constraints on what can be discussed when it comes to Joel Smith’s potential violation of the AFL’s anti-doping code after he tested positive for cocaine on a match day.
Many clubs would adopt similar positions in similar circumstances.
There are people at the club who are performing in their roles responsibly, even exceptionally well, but are being let down by the headlines created by a few. The club has also repeatedly denied the rumours that senior coach Simon Goodwin had used illicit drugs and wants the ongoing innuendo to stop. The effect on his life and family is real.
But the club leaders, although they remain unconvinced, would do well to concede signs of hubris have been evident since the team cheekily sang Freed From Desire after their premiership win, an act that mocked the vanquished Western Bulldogs.
Such signs are often missed, but they can determine how a club is perceived when the inevitable “isolated incidents” occur. Perception matters because this is the trail Melbourne have left since their flag win.
The fight at Entrecote after one teammate allegedly belittled another for not playing in the premiership was followed by a straight-sets exit blamed on injuries and mistiming their run.
In summer, Melbourne lost a mini-battle in the Supreme Court with a member over his rights to members’ details, his reading of a section of the corporations act backed by the judge.
There was Goodwin’s comment that former Magpie and now former Demon Brodie Grundy was “finally at a club that valued him” ahead of the King’s Birthday clash a month before Grundy was dropped. Then there was misdirected anger at Brayden Maynard’s bump on Angus Brayshaw and the subsequent decision to clear Maynard, which lingered in the background in the lead up to the semi-final against Carlton.
Their claim after the qualifying final loss that they played the Melbourne way even though the same goal-scoring woes, bombed entries inside 50 and inaccuracy that plagued them mid-season affected them in the finals sounded delusional when they blew their lead against Carlton in another straight-sets exit.
