The Taciturn Demon

My view, as a huge fan of his, was that he had modest disposal skills but at his best was underrated above his head and had a knack for using his speed and power to really good effect, especially in attack. He was also courageous. Much more discriminating footy watchers than me said when he became a centre bounce midfielder he was selfless and excellent at creating space for Petracca and Oliver. When his form began to slip, he looked like he was never running on top of the ground to me. The burst speed was gone. And that would have exacerbated his just-OK skills - without space he looked panicked. I remember watching him in the VFL, hoping he'd play well enough to get back in the team, and he'd get a lot of footy and do not much with it. I don't discount your impression, at all, though. I wonder sometimes whether disposal is as much about what happens before the kick or handball (not just decision making, but so much else) as it is about the technical elements that go into the actual disposal. I think a player can be both technically suspect and a reasonable or even good user of the footy.

One of my all-time faves. Hope he's OK.

The media's opinion doesn't worry me, either. And as @Bring-Back-Powell said, even if I did think there was a plethora of careful, rational analysts out there, what evidence would they have to suggest we were going to be finalists this season? The reason I think we need to show more than just the odd glimpse here and there in 2026 is because I get the sense the era of the AFL being broadly supportive of 10 Victorian teams, which began some time after 1996, may be slowly coming to an end. For a long time, I'd always thought we were a middle-sized club simply lacking the sustained success to cement that position. Straight after 2021, I thought my gut had been proved right. We suddenly had 70,000 members, were getting strong crowds (that's one area where I do worry about the media and think their continuation of a "fairweather" narrative that is rarely supported by simple numbers is dangerous), and seemed to be going OK financially. The crowds have remained OKish, but the rest has fallen away dramatically. The membership drop has been extraordinary, and the recent discussion on here about the club being of very little interest to potential sponsors is worrying. As St Kilda and North have shown, you could afford to be a Victorian club and go through really rough patches in the Demetriou and McLachlan years, probably in part because it would have been gross hypocrisy to say "North Melbourne, you haven't made a final in eight years and only 20,000 are turning up to games - you need to merge" and at the same time say "Gold Coast, you haven't made the finals ever in your 15-year history, and you only get 10,000 people to your games - here, have some more money". Can you still afford to be down in several areas - performance (and list management), membership, sponsorship, attendance - for a long period of time today? Maybe. I hope so, but I'm no longer sure. We need to go better than some expect to give the non-rusted-ons hope and, eventually, to give the AFL a reason to put us back in "prime time", which leads to more sponsor interest and more financial security. If we dip into a sustained period of below average performance, I don't just worry about losing, I worry about our existence.

Yep. I agree with you. "Goody loves the boys and the boys love Goody" became a kind of mantra, and while it might have been true in an abstract sense, it didn't make any obvious material difference. In fact, as you say, the whole club seemed constrained, sort of culturally and spiritually constipated.

Definitely. AMW looks like an obvious choice because of his agility and speed. Interesting to see if he has the defensive skills for it. I wonder if they also try Xavier Taylor in the role at some point. Much taller than AMW, and very good over his head, by the sounds, but Michael Hibberd did some superb lock down jobs as a 185 cm hybrid defender.

Bowey is a really bad injury for the team. He had a fantastic 2025 and seems ideally suited to a King game style that's all about creativity and run. I'm hopeful about Culley and would love to have seen him in Round 1 - sounds like that might be less likely now. The rest, though, doesn't concern me all that much apart from the fact it reduces our depth, which is never ideal. I've loved Viney and May's careers at Melbourne, but we're well past the obvious flag window, which means we're not carefully adjusting a proven formula - we're doing something new. I think it's important to see how a midfield functions without Viney and a backline without May. I'd be surprised and disappointed if their absences took as backwards further from the lows of 2024 and 2025. I think this is an important point. If we got to the end of the year and used this injury list as an excuse for a poor showing, I'd be disappointed. We're not Essendon of 2025.

That's remarkable. The whole thing seems completely broken. Ramshackle doesn't even begin to describe what a mess it is. I understand that it's all about saving money, and for a long time the decision-makers thought you could save money by improvising. But surely it's now so many layers of makeshift elements attached to makeshift elements that starting again and simplifying the whole system would lead to what every rationalist craves: efficiency.

People rely far too heavily on stats.

He really must have. Or he was just ignoring what he was being told. Or, much worse, someone was being disingenuous. The only thing worse than pulling punches during reviews would be pulling punches and then stopping suddenly. "You're going well. You're going well. You're going well. You're playing at Casey." That would be so much worse than: "You're going OK. Not your best game. You really need to work on X and Y. Sorry, you need to work on stuff at Casey."

This might sound like a dumb question, but after the flag did we find it easier to get better sponsor dollars?

Ha ha. I think he told the story as an example of what a good bloke Neita is. Everything I've heard about him suggests the same.

Went to the Geelong Beer Festival on the weekend and saw Neita at the Brewmanity stall. Seems like he absolutely loves it. I remember years ago on Twitter a Melbourne fan mentioned they ordered some Brewmanity and Neitz himself turned up at the door with the order.

Well said. Every fan could reel off dozens of names of footballers who are/were rake thin and hard as nails. And a similar number who are/were built like the brick s###house you mentioned and not really cut out for such a physically demanding game. Weight, for all the reasons you've said, tells us almost nothing. And even if it was a steady number, it would still tell us almost nothing. Footballers are not farm animals; they're not more valuable because they have more meat on them.

I have absolutely no idea what to expect. The lack of consistently exceptional players is a huge worry. Petracca could butcher it, but he did a lot well and he did it most weeks. Oliver, too, although not for several years. Max is possibly the only one left, and he's approaching 35. I'm very optimistic about Pickett and the progress he's made, but even I don't think he's the consistent star we need him to be. May was top-level but isn't anymore. This all points to the possibility of winning few games. But the list isn't a complete disaster. It's tattered without being buggered - Mihocek, Steele, Jiath and Heath all seem like solid pick ups to me, who may not be stunning upgrades on what came before but fill clear holes. I'd be surprised if we looked back in three years and considered them in the same league as Hunter, Billings, Schache and Sharp. Having said that, I don't expect any (except maybe Heath) to be essential members of the team after this year. I'd want a player like Steele to be much more Daniel Cross than Brent Moloney. By that, I mean, I'd want him to be the player you love in your team, but who isn't a five-year midfield lock. If that happens either we've failed to find the midfielders we so desperately need to replace Petracca and Oliver or he's miraculously returned to his brilliant form as a 25 and 26 year old. I think the big variable is what King can change and how quickly. Usually I'd be cautious about predicting some meteoric rise just based on a new coach, but in hindsight we hadn't just become stale under Goodwin, we'd become sclerotic. I have a feeling our players will love playing with a bit more freedom and who knows how much difference that might make. And closely linked to this is who, if anyone, suddenly steps up - either thanks to King's coaching or confidence or by claiming a role once made impossible because of Goodwin's dedication to a pretty unchanging 25-odd players. Or just through natural progress. Could Rivers be a better-than-solid centre bounce midfielder? Is Langford as good as we all think and can he be influential so early in his career? Same with his fellow super draftee, Lindsay? Is there a Jai Newcombe from-nowhere story on the list - Culley? Kentfield? Latrelle Pickett? By the middle of last year it was painfully obvious to me the mantra of "we're so close" was complete nonsense. And that was desperately disappointing just four years after a flag. I think we're a long way from a premiership now, but not necessarily a long way from being a solid team again. Sorry. Talk about being on the fence.

Terrific post. I think a lot of Melbourne supporters came to painful realisations similar to yours over the past six months. I certainly did. Everyone is entitled to engage in some wishful thinking, especially when it comes to something we're passionate about, but it does set you up for disappointment when it clashes with the cold, often brutal reality of top-level sport.

Interesting on JVR. I've agreed with one two others on here that he has a very hard ceiling and wasn't far off it fairly early in his career. Hope I'm completely wrong. Definitely agree on Culley.

I was going to say that the answer is it looks awful, but this AI effort doesn't look too bad. I think that's because they've gone with a subdued, dusty red. I suspect that with the red New Balance uses - which is bright and lustrous, it would be too much.

Good list. I reckon Culley might surprise a few sceptics. I think Turner might go from good to... well above good.

Yeah, that's fair. And Jetta himself came straight from playing pretty good footy in the VFL.

We now have a lot of players over 22 on the fringes and with few senior games under their belts. Johnson is one, but also: Culley Henderson Laurie Moniz-Wakefield Howes and Sharp are in a similar position but with more games. Campbell and Heath are special cases as rucks, and Berry is a Category B. (I'm keen to see what Heath can do.) Culley's the most likely to succeed in my view. I think Moniz-Wakefield will get games although not sold on his disposal. As others have said on here for a long while, I'd be interested to see what Howes can do further up the ground. Johnson is next on my list. Hard to judge him on such a shambolic season and first in the system for him, but I didn't see much to pin hopes on. If Mihocek can be the solid number one, I'm eager to see what van Rooyen, Kentfield and Jefferson can do as second or third talls. If Johnson's pre-season is too good to ignore, and puts him ahead of those three, and maybe Heath as the second ruck resting forward, so be it.

Thanks for the info! Just my opinion, but dodged a bullet there.

And so they should.

Interesting to see what back six or seven King goes with. I just had a little go at a possible Round 1 team and realised, there's not an overabundance of small defenders on the list by any means. Now that Bowey is out, I reckon only Turner and Petty are immediately on the sheet. Jiath, too, but mainly because you don't trade for a 26 year old, 75-gamer and then play him in the reserves (not completely convinced he's going to play 100 or more games for Melbourne). So that's two talls and a dasher. AMW looks in a great position to become the 'lockdown' small after McVee cracked the sads. If Rivers starts in the middle, which I think he will, maybe Taylor gets an early - even Round 1 - gig. AMW Petty Salem Taylor Turner Jiath (Horses for courses on the bench - May, Lever, Adams or McDonald if the opposition is tall; Lindsay if they're smaller.) Who am I missing?

"Salary cap's a bit tight. Let's trade Caleb Windsor for a fifth rounder - am I right or am I right or am I right?"

I'm not entirely convinced that Ned Ryerson would do a worse job.