Young gun Caleb Windsor averaged 15 touches and kicked eight goals from 19 games in his first year and is going to get better. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

MELBOURNE
2024 record: 11 wins, 12 losses (14th)

THE INS
Tom Campbell (St Kilda), Harry Sharp (Brisbane), Jai Culley (West Coast), Harvey Langford (Dandenong Stingrays), Xavier Lindsay (Gippsland Power), Aidan Johnson (Werribee), Ricky Mentha (Gippsland Power), Jack Henderson (Werribee)

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

THE STRENGTHS
To say Melbourne has had an eventful 12 months would be an understatement (more on that further on in the story), but despite all of the tumult and drama, superstar quartet Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney and Kysaiah Pickett, who all either requested a trade, or were rumoured to be wanting out, are all still at the club. The Pickett scuttlebutt certainly remains strong, but for now he remains with the club and forms part of a seriously impressive top tier of players. The Demons’ core group also consists of Max Gawn, Steven May and Jake Lever, and on the next level down, they have players like Bayley Fritsch, Ed Langdon and Trent Rivers. So when all of that is taken into consideration, the Demons would have to be in flag contention if they are able to put all of the chaos from last year behind them. That is a big ‘if’, of course. It all depends on whether the team is mature enough to do so and pull towards the common goal of winning a second premiership and not consigning this golden generation to underachiever status. The Demons also have a clutch of talented youngsters coming through such as Caleb Windsor, Judd McVee, Koltyn Tholstrup and Blake Howes, and the additions of draftees Harvey Langford and Xavier Lindsay to an already-formidable midfield group is a massive boon. Viney boosted the Demons up to sixth for tackles last year, and combined with Gawn and Oliver to rank the Demons seventh for contested possessions. Gawn and Harrison Petty were also instrumental in Melbourne being the second-best side for contested marks, and despite having poor forward supply, the Demons still came in sixth for scores per inside 50 and seventh for goals per inside 50.

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THE WEAKNESSES
Melbourne heads into season 2025 after gladly putting one of the worst periods in its recent history in the rearview mirror. To say the Demons were wracked by turmoil last year would be an understatement. It all began the previous October with former CEO Gary Pert declaring he had never seen a better footy culture in his time than the one he had overseen at Melbourne. How fateful those words would become. Not long after that horribly misguided declaration, Oliver found himself in familiar territory creating unwanted headlines. He attended hospital for a head knock, faced the Magistrates’ Court for driving while his license was suspended, left a training camp early and took an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a number of personal issues. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, as all was clearly not well at the club. That discontent erupted spectacularly when Oliver’s champion teammate Petracca announced he wanted out of the club in August. While Petracca cited the club’s handling of Oliver’s dramas as one of the reasons for his trade request, he, and his family, were mainly irate with the way his serious injuries on King’s Birthday were handled by the Demons medical team after Collingwood captain Darcy Moore’s knee drove into his back. The seismic nature of these deep-seated issues were always going to claim some scalps, and ironically it was Pert, along with president Kate Roffey, who bit the bullet. With that as a backdrop, it’s little wonder that the Demons missed the top eight last year after suffering consecutive straight-sets exits from the finals. They really fell off the deep end with the fifth-worst attack in the AFL. And while they finished a respectable eighth for defence, given the quality of players they have down back, and in the midfield, that is definitely a sub-par ranking. Melbourne’s general ball-winning ability was non-existent in 2024, as they slumped to 15th for disposals and 14th for marks. And they were let down horribly by their star-studded midfield which was responsible for Melbourne finishing third-last for clearances, and 15th for both centre clearances and inside 50s. Connection between midfield and forward line has long been an issue for the Demons, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that they were also bottom four for marks inside 50, albeit taking into account the scarcity with which the ball found itself in their attacking zone. And despite having one of the greatest ruckmen of all time on the books, seven-time All-Australian Gawn could only manage to help the Demons get to ninth for hitouts. With Charlie Spargo back fit and firing, Melbourne will be hoping for a dramatic improvement on their 10th ranking for tackles inside 50. They’ve also lost a lot of pressure footy with Alex Neal-Bullen departing, so that slack will have to be picked up by the rest of the playing group. But as has been previously mentioned, the Dees certainly have the quality to turn things around in those various areas this year, the question is: will they?

ONE TO WATCH
It didn’t take long for Windsor to show why he was picked at No.7 in the 2023 draft. The kid just oozes class, and very quickly drew comparisons to an all-time Melbourne great in Robbie Flower. That’s a massive compliment, and if Windsor can have half the career that Flower did, the Demons are on a winner. He averaged 15 touches and kicked eight goals from 19 games in his first year and he’s just going to get better and better.

UNDER THE PUMP
Jack Billings enters the final season of his contract probably fighting to save his career. The former Saint was brought over to Melbourne last year with hopes of a fresh start and adding another layer to their midfield and goalkicking capabilities. But his first year as a Demon fell flat, and he probably has a big task to earn regular senior footy in 2025.

BEST 23
B: Judd McVee, Steven May, Harrison Petty
HB: Christian Salem, Jake Lever, Jake Bowey
C: Trent Rivers, Clayton Oliver, Ed Langdon
HF: Kysaiah Pickett, Jacob van Rooyen, Charlie Spargo
F: Jake Melksham, Bayley Fritsch, Daniel Turner
R: Max Gawn, Christian Petracca, Jack Viney
Inter: Caleb Windsor, Tom Sparrow, Blake Howes, Kade Chandler, Koltyn Tholstrup
Emerg: Tom McDonald, Taj Woewodin, Jack Billings

Surely, the Petty forward experiment is done and dusted, never to be seen again. The big man is a natural defender and that’s where he should stay for the rest of his career. Tom McDonald and Taj Woewodin just miss out on the starting 23, despite being regular faces in the line-up last year.

*all team stat rankings mentioned are based on differentials, not totals (apart from overall offence and defence).