The media has performed a complete reversal in its coverage of the Melbourne Football Club over the past month and a half. Having endured intense criticism from all quarters in the press, which continually identified new avenues for scrutiny of every aspect, both on and off the field, and prematurely speculated about the departures of coaches, players, officials, and various employees from a club that lost its first five matches and appeared out of finals contention, the narrative has suddenly shifted to one of unbridled optimism. 

The Demons have won five of their last six matches, positioning themselves just one game (and a considerable amount of percentage) outside the top eight at the halfway mark of the season. They still trail the primary contenders and remain far from assured of a finals berth. 

Their current ladder position (11th, 5-6) does, however, place them on equal footing with the Western Bulldogs of last season and ahead of the eventual premiers, the Brisbane Lions (13th, 4-1-6), and Hawthorn (14th, 4-7), all of whom surged from the lower half of the ladder into finals action in September. 

With Melbourne experiencing its resurgence and displaying an attractive, attacking brand of football, the entire organization has become the darling of a media that is eager to lavish praise upon the club. One example of the media turnaround is this piece from the Herald Sun:

"Nathan Buckley was full of praise for Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin's ‘change of tact’ in recent weeks, particularly in the way the Dees had found a more efficient method in the forward half of the ground."

By defeating last year’s grand finalists with thanks to this ‘change of tact,’ the Demons find themselves back in town (or at least closer to the CBD than a month or so ago) but their next up challenge takes them way out of town to Alice Springs. 

There, Ross Lyon, awaits. He’s a cunning opponent known more for his lack of tact than anything else and with his team languishing, Lyon has been deflecting attention from their poor performances by making provocative comments like the pre-game "nepo baby" attack on the Suns that had people scrambling to google its meaning.

The concern for the Demons is that Lyon’s mind games, his uber negative approach and the unconventional location of this match in the country’s Red Centre all could potentially disrupt their momentum in a match that remains imperative to win.

Melbourne’s financially lucrative sale of its home game to play at TIO Traeger Park might be culturally significant but from a performance perspective it’s been a wipeout in the past two seasons. In 2023, it rained uncharacteristically for the region over several days and nights before the game against the Giants and the Demons kicked themselves out of contention with 5.15.45 to 7.5.47, a last minute 60 metre plus goal from Josh Kelly that rolled and rolled into an unprotected goal area sealing their fate. Last year, they were insipid as the Fremantle Dockers brushed them aside by 92 points to send their confidence plummeting. It took them a long time to hit the floor after that!

Melbourne won its only previous encounter against the Saints in Alice Springs — in Covid ravaged season 2000 when it fell in by two points inspired by Christian Petracca’s four goals, the dominance of Steven May at full back and the ruckwork of Max Gawn. They didn’t play in Alice Springs in the premiership year (still the pandemic) but Kysaiah Pickett put on a one man show in front of his adoring fans in 2022 when he racked up six majors to give the Demons the edge in the game and to finally run out winners by 14 points.

As it happens, the players just mentioned are all at the top of their game at the moment along with Clayton Oliver who is slowly getting back to his premiership best. I can’t see a negative Nellie like Ross the Nepo Man making enough changes of tact or doing enough to stop them in front of their adoring community of fans in the heart of the country.

Melbourne by 25 points.

THE GAME

Melbourne v St Kilda at TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs on Sunday 1 June 2025 at 3.20pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 126 wins St Kilda 94 wins 1 drawn 

At TIO Traeger Park Melbourne 1 win St Kilda 0 wins

Past five meetings Melbourne 5 wins St Kilda 0 wins

The Coaches Goodwin 2 wins Lyon 0 wins 

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Melbourne 14.16.100 defeated St Kilda 8.10.58 at The MCG, Round 12 2024

The Demons applied the pressure from the very start and led all day to win in a canter. It was probably the last time for the year that the club could truly claim to be a contender.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B J. Bowey, S. May, C. Salem

HB C. Windsor, J. Lever, X. Lindsay

C K. Chandler, C. Petracca, E. Langdon

HF H. Langford, B. Fritsch, H. Petty

F J. Melksham, H. Petty, K. Pickett

FOLL M. Gawn, C. Oliver, T. Sparrow

I/C A. Johnson, B. Laurie, J. McVee, D. Turner, T. Rivers

EMG J. Adams, J. Henderson, J. van Rooyen

IN B. Laurie

OUT C. Spargo (scapula)

ST KILDA

B I. Keeler, C. Wilkie, J. Webster

HB M. Windhager, N. Wanganeen-Milera, T. Travaglia

C M. Wood, J. Sinclair, B. Hill

HF J. Higgins, M. Phillipou, D. Butler

F C. Sharman, A. Caminiti, M. Owens

FOLLR. Marshall, Z. Jones, J. Steele

I/C H. Boxshall, R. Byrnes, J. Carroll, H. Clark, M. Hall

EMG A. Hastie, M. Heath, L. O Connell

IN D. Butler, J. Carroll, A. Hastie

OUT L. O’Connell (omitted), D. Wilson (omitted)

Injury List: Round 12 

Jack Viney  — concussion / Test

Marty Hore — calf / 1 - 2 weeks

Charlie Spargo — scapula/ 4 - 6 weeks 

Shane McAdam — Achilles / next season

Andy Moniz-Wakefield — knee / next season

That's so frustrating for Spargo.

He's had a rough trot with injuries

I am feeling confident. We have a nearly full list and many players have finally caught up with Bowey, Chandler and Gawn, all of whom have been close to their best all year. The youngsters (6, 10, 19, 20) are doing well, too. Let's hope their legs are still pumping in September. By the way, is everyone aware that, in the 11th round of 2025, our Max - number 11 - had scored exactly 111 goals and 111 points in his career? I didn't think he was that accurate!

Sounds more like a change of tack.

5 hours ago, Fanatique Demon said:

Sounds more like a change of tack.

I’m sure that was what Bucks meant but I couldn’t resist quoting him verbatim.

3 hours ago, The Oracle said:

I’m sure that was what Bucks meant but I couldn’t resist quoting him verbatim.

A very tactful comment from Bucks.

< > 🤷‍♂️

Edited May 29May 29 by beelzebub

9 hours ago, The Oracle said:

I’m sure that was what Bucks meant but I couldn’t resist quoting him verbatim.

Unsurprisingly Jordon Lewis was the only one that thought that we could still make the eight, good man Jordie.👍😁

Our attact has been defiantly preforming better

I've always found Buckley to be pretty tactless.

3 hours ago, Its Time for Another said:

I've always found Buckley to be pretty tactless.

The man couldn’t even leave the game with his dignity intact.

I'd have to "look at the tape" and see of Buckley really said that.

17 hours ago, DeeZone said:

Unsurprisingly Jordon Lewis was the only one that thought that we could still make the eight, good man Jordie.👍😁

Still like to have Jordan Lewis as the Dees' coach.