Part 1: Moving right along …
For the first time in aeons, the end of the football season hasn’t felt as if it passed so swiftly. We’re still living the dream of 25 September, 2021 and rightfully so — we were patient, long-suffering and we’ve earned the right to party hard (as long as we’re not infecting the rest of the state as some health authorities contend).
But we’ve also come into October which in football terms means that for one segment of the Melbourne Football Club — the recruiting department — there’s work to be done. And while many remain content to continue watching replays of the 2021 Grand Final on rotation, we must also pay our respects to the club’s National Recruiting Manager Jason Taylor, List Manager Tim Lamb and their recruiting staff and congratulate them on gathering together our premiership list. The football world has acclaimed and acknowledged their role in smashing our club’s 57 year drought, so it’s a big thank you to the all important group of people who put together this wonderful list of 2021 Demons:
PRIMARY LIST: —
Oskar Baker Toby Bedford Jake Bowey Angus Brayshaw Ben Brown Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn James Harmes Michael Hibberd Marty Hore * Jayden Hunt Luke Jackson Neville Jetta Nathan Jones Ed Langdon Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Tom McDonald Jay Lockhart Steven May Jake Melksham Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Fraser Rosman Christian Salem Charlie Spargo Joel Smith Tom Sparrow Adam Tomlinson Aaron vandenBerg Jack Viney Sam Weideman
ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A
Mitch Brown Kade Chandler Majak Daw Kye Declase James Jordon Aaron Nietschke * Deakyn Smith Daniel Turner
ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B
Austin Bradtke
* inactive players (long term injuries)
And so, we move right along into the coming months when, even the most successful clubs must inevitably experience some change.
Indeed, the first change was already well documented a fortnight before the grand final when we farewelled a champion player and club stalwart Nathan Jones. The former skipper had been an emergency in the Preliminary Final against Geelong but made the decision to fly back home to be at the birth of his twins with wife Jerri. Sadly, he wasn’t there to share the Grand Final victory at Optus Stadium but he was close enough in spirit and his contribution over the years and to the premiership win will never be forgotten.
On the Monday after the Grand Final, more list changes were announced at the club. Veteran defender Neville Jetta joined Jones in announcing his retirement after 159 games over 13 seasons with the club. A courageous leader of the Demon backline in its resurgence over the past six or seven seasons, Jetta also played a significant role in improving the club’s culture over this period. He missed selection in the finals but his role during the season and throughout his career will not be forgotten.
Following the exit interviews, the club also announced that Aaron vandenBerg will depart to pursue opportunities elsewhere and that Jay Lockhart and rookies Austin Bradtke and Aaron Nietschke would be delisted.
List manager Tim Lamb said vandenberg had made a significant contribution over his seven years at the club. “I know our supporters loved the brutal way that Vanders played the game. His performances in some big games for the club, including the 2018 AFL Finals Series will be long remembered,” Lamb said.
Lockhart managed 22 games for the club playing as a small defender and forward, while Nietschke was unlucky in his time with the Demons suffering an ACL in each of his three years at the club. Bradtke was also unable to break into senior ranks and was restricted in his development over the past two years by the Covid19 pandemic.
The club also followed up with more player signings and by the time the AFL Free Agency period opened up on Friday, it was clear that any role that it would play in that exercise would be minor, if at all. When the trade period opens, our expectations of much change should not be all that high either. The uncertainty and the financial restrictions that the pandemic has brought with it appear to have had an effect in limiting the likelihood of unrestrained player mobility from club to club that we saw a few years ago.
As we go into the trade period which kicks off on Monday, 4 October and concludes on Wednesday, 13 October, with the Melbourne Football Club list reading like this:-
PRIMARY LIST: —
Oskar Baker Toby Bedford Jake Bowey Angus Brayshaw Ben Brown Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn James Harmes Michael Hibberd Marty Hore Jayden Hunt Luke Jackson Ed Langdon Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Tom McDonald Steven May Jake Melksham Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Fraser Rosman Christian Salem Charlie Spargo Joel Smith Tom Sparrow Adam Tomlinson Jack Viney Sam Weideman
ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A
Mitch Brown Kade Chandler Majak Daw Kye Declase James Jordon Deakyn Smith Daniel Turner
ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B
Nil