INTERIM coach Troy Chaplin has praised his side’s spirit and intent following Melbourne’s Round 22 performance against the Western Bulldogs.

Stepping into the role last week, Chaplin commended the playing group for the way they’ve approached training and match day during a challenging period for the club.

Access | Chaplin Round 22 address

Troy Chaplin delivered his first post-match address as interim coach, highlighting the club's third quarter as the way forward for the side.

“I cannot question your effort and intensity,” Chaplin told the team post-match. “After the week you’ve had, your attitude to training, the way you’ve come into work, the leadership you’ve shown - you fought so hard today.”

While the result didn’t go Melbourne’s way, there were clear positives to take from the afternoon, including the opportunities for emerging players and a standout third quarter that saw the Demons kick seven goals from relentless pressure around the ball.

“That 30 minutes right there - that is the pathway forward for you,” Chaplin said. “Your pressure and intensity gave you the reward. Now we just have to get better at doing it over and over, sustaining it.”

Chaplin encouraged the group to hold onto that level across the final fortnight of the season.

“It’s been a tough week for everyone, but you should be proud of what you’ve put out there tonight - playing for that jumper and everything it represents. Let’s make sure we finish off strong.”

Melbourne will now turn its attention to Round 23, determined to carry that same purpose and connection into the final two matches of 2025.

I also heard “Chappy” on the wireless SEN this morning with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson.

Chappy spoke very well and came across as an experienced mature well balanced coach.

He spoke about

• the change in the team ball transition over the year to improve the movement into forward50

• looking the try players in different positions to see what they offer and gave examples - Windsor in the middle for run & carry, Langford down forward, and Bowsa trialled forward in the last qtr

• why he is not putting his hand up … 1/interim coaches rarely go on to be the next coach and 2/hd thinks the team does need to hear a new voice to uplift them and drive the leaders and team forward

• He is contracted for another year and would like to stay on. He was looking for a refresh at the start of 2025 and moved away from his long term defence coach role and into the forward line coach (note, would have loved more discussion on this with Chappy around how he sees this and what aspects he is adding)

• Tim Watson raised the Petracca vision about him appearing selfish and downhearted. Chappy said he hadn’t seen the specific vision but that Trac is a competitor, he wants to win and Trac wants the best outcome.

• Garry Lyon asked about what’s needed next year (for the list) and Chappy said it is now about skills and footy transition , which he said they’d indentified with adding Langford, Lindsay and Windsor (note, excluded Kolt in this comment)

Interesting to see how he handles the next two weeks and the challenge of stopping two top-4 teams.

that [censored] kornes hated this stuff, so you know that it was good

chaplin could not stand him when they were together at the pear

i think we know who is the better football person and leader in a club environment

The demeanour of the players right at the end of that clip was interesting to me: they seemed rather 'meh'?

Chappy said all the right things, and said them well, but I wasn't surprised by those last seconds.

12 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

The demeanour of the players right at the end of that clip was interesting to me: they seemed rather 'meh'?

Chappy said all the right things, and said them well, but I wasn't surprised by those last seconds.

i suspect they were just shattered after giving their all for 2.5 hours to fall a goal short

1 hour ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

The demeanour of the players right at the end of that clip was interesting to me: they seemed rather 'meh'?

Chappy said all the right things, and said them well, but I wasn't surprised by those last seconds.

Probably sick of losing like we all are

8 hours ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

The demeanour of the players right at the end of that clip was interesting to me: they seemed rather 'meh'?

Chappy said all the right things, and said them well, but I wasn't surprised by those last seconds.

Possibly like many just want the season over and behind us.

Annus Horriblus Againus