CHANGES 2024 Part 3: Building an innings by The Oracle

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CHANGES 2024 Part 3:  Building an innings by The Oracle

There are still more than a hundred days to go before the bounce of the ball to start the 2025 AFL season but Demon fans certainly have far more reason to be upbeat than they were twelve months ago. 

Perhaps, the difference could best be explained in cricketing terms given the season we’re into on the sporting calendar.

Last year, we were sent in on a sticky wicket. Very little was going right both on and off the field. When it all started, we lost an early wicket up in Sydney, recovered with a couple of handy partnerships but suffered a batting collapse at the end and that was all she wrote. We can claim bad luck with injuries and narrow defeats, even blame the umpires but in the end, we failed to put the score on the board. 

Some heads have rolled at the top and the selectors have moved to change the line up so reverting to football terms, these were the changes which lead me to feel somewhat more optimistic about what lies ahead for Melbourne.

Off the field, the air is clearing and a new leadership is emerging. The coach’s position is in a good place, his integrity affirmed and his mission to restore the club’s position as a premiership contender solidified with new blood supporting him in the coaching ranks. 

The club didn’t trade very much but at the end, it did retain its star players in Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Kysaiah Pickett, all of who were in danger of being lured away for one reason or another at one stage in the trade period. Indeed, the first two of this group are back training strongly and looking great among the developing group of youngsters at the club along with some of the more seasoned players who also came back early. Further, the expectation is when the full group reassembles next week, the club’s other mature big guns will also be ready for a big preseason.

This column is about change and these are the changes that have been made to the Demons’ lists over the trade, free agency and draft period: 

IN Tom Campbell (free agent, St Kilda), Aidan Johnson (Werribee), Harvey Langford (Dandenong Stingrays), Xavier Lindsay (Gippsland Power), Ricky Mentha (Category B rookie), Harry Sharp (trade, Brisbane)

OUT Angus Brayshaw (retired), Ben Brown (retired), Kyah Farris-White (delisted), Lachie Hunter (retired), Alex Neal-Bullen (trade, Adelaide), Josh Schache (delisted), Joel Smith (delisted), Adam Tomlinson (delisted)

Langford and Lindsay are the two young guns of the draft picked up by the club on Day One of the 2024 AFL National Draft and covered here. 

The Demons surprised on Day Two with a further addition in mature aged (24 years old), big bodied Aiden Johnson who is a 193cm athletic brute who imposes himself on the contest. He is a key forward/ruck who spent the past three and a half seasons with Werribee VFL but originally hailed from Lavington in the Ovens & Murray League. When he arrived at Avalon Airport Oval, he was a typical country big man, carrying a bit of weight and throwing it around but he trimmed down somewhat on the way to a VFL flag with the Tigers.

After his recruitment, the club’s National Recruiting Manager Jason Taylor said:

“We're really rapt to be able to give Aidan an opportunity.”

“We're really pleased with the way he's progressed this year, and we feel like he's got AFL talent.

“He plays with a real aggressive edge, he's got speed, he can get back on the ball at ground level and he's just going to make things happen.”

Yesterday afternoon, the club’s Next Generation Academy player Ricky Mentha, a teammate of Xavier Lindsay at the Gippsland Power, joined the clubs as automatic category B rookie selection under the AFL rules. He is a product of Alice Springs and is the first player from that area signed to an AFL list in over a decade.

Like Harvey Langford, the 178cm Mentha trained with the club before the 2024 season. He made the move to Melbourne this year to further his draft hopes and apart from the Gippsland Power, he played with the National Academy, Northern Territory and the Allies in 2024, mainly as a forward. He added a further string to his bow when moved into defence late in the season and showed out with his his footy IQ and skillset. He hit it off with Kysaiah Pickett whilst at the club and his journey at the club promises to be an exciting one.

Some lift shuffling occurred with Judd McVee and Jake Melksham moving up to the primary list from the rookie list while Andy Moniz-Wakefield was reclassified into a Category A rookie. So here are the club’s lists as it heads towards 2024 aiming towards building a big first innings in the next test to come.

PRIMARY LIST: —

Jed Adams Jack Billings Jake Bowey Tom Campbell Kade Chandler Tom Fullarton Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn Blake Howes Matthew Jefferson Aidan Johnson Ed Langdon Harvey Langford Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Xavier Lindsay Shane McAdam Tom McDonald Judd McVee Steven May Jake Melksham Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Christian Salem Harry Sharp Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow Koltyn Tholstrup Daniel Turner Jacob van Rooyen Jack Viney Caleb Windsor Taj Woewodin  

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A 

Kynan Brown Marty Hore Luker Kentfield Andy Moniz-Wakefield Oliver Sestan Will Verrell 

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B  

Ricky Mentha Jnr