Scorpus
Moderator
- Apr 16, 2014
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- AFL Club
- Adelaide
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Another good, direct and hard hitting article in The Age from Kane. Oliver mentioned
The Demons stand at the gates of footy hell. These are the five mistakes that got them there
From the premiership glory of 2021 to scrapping for an unlikely finals berth three years later, the decline of the Dees has been dramatic. Here are five moves that helped squander their golden age.www.theage.com.au
Melbourne has created its own demons – and now it is to enter football’s version of hell.
A drought-breaking premiership has been followed by consecutive straight-set exits from finals and now no finals action at all.
The slide points to a bleak future at Melbourne.
The player list is ageing and lacking depth. For all the denials, the club’s culture is questionable, as is the professionalism of a team that only three seasons ago appeared on the verge of a dynasty.
Coach Simon Goodwin’s game style has become predictable and boring.
“Contest and defence” are his repetitive catchcries, but he has been unable to fix the glaring issues on ball movement and scoring that have been so obvious in the past three seasons.
Melbourne needs to confront the reality that it is about to fall off the cliff and become irrelevant in the premiership race.
Just a little more than 16,000 fans turned up to see the Demons lose to the Giants by four points in round 20. The AFL will surely downgrade the Demons when it releases the fixture for next year, gone will be the primetime slots, meaning the crowds will only get smaller.
Goodwin is not the only one to blame for the failure to maximise a once-powerful list. A series of questionable list-management decisions have left the club in a hole.
1. Clayton Oliver’s contract.
Melbourne in 2022 – a year before Clayton Oliver fell out of contract – extended the troubled midfielder’s contract until the end of 2030.
Since signing the new deal, with his financial future guaranteed, Oliver has been nothing but a distraction. Last season was tumultuous; he managed only 15 games, missing 10 with a hamstring injury and a serious foot infection.
His altercation with the club’s head of strength and conditioning, Selwyn Griffith, created unwanted headlines.
The Demons had to deny they put Oliver up for trade at the end of 2023, but they did demand he meet their expected standards.
His hospital visit with an unexplained medical episode in October and departure from a pre-season training camp in December only fuelled concerns.
Despite the interrupted pre-season, Oliver surprised many by lining up in the opening round against Sydney, and has played 20 games this year.
However, he is a shadow of his best, and his performance has declined in every key midfield statistic.
The decision to lock him into a long-term deal now was a significant error that will chew up the club’s salary cap and heap pain for years to come.
2. Trading Brodie Grundy
Trading dual All-Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy to premiership contender Sydney for a mere pick No.46 and a future second-round selection was another glaring error.
It was a gift for the ladder-leading Swans.
Etc
Kane Cornes is kidding himself if he thinks the Clayton Oliver contract wasn't a good idea at the time.
Clubs should always sign up players who are among the elite in the game to long term deals.
Shit happens, things go wrong, bad luck. I'd be furious if we had a top 5 mid, a 3xAA and current AA player, and didn't attempt to keep him at the club long term
The deal is only questionable in hindsight, there is no way anyone going back to 2022 would have said it was a poor decision
