Melbourne to explore forward line troubles in off-season

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Melbourne to explore forward line troubles in off-season

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has vowed to “leave no stone unturned” in addressing the forward line woes that have played a significant part in the club’s 2024 downturn, with his side destined to fall short of making the finals.

The Demons rank 14th for scoring in 2024 and three successive weeks of scoring less than 85 points, all losses, have left the 2021 premiers in 12th spot, two games outside the top eight, with three rounds to go and a clash with top-four hopefuls Port Adelaide coming this weekend.

Goodwin was adamant his team would ****** out the remaining three rounds while his team was “still in the mix” to play finals in the pursuit of the “winning habits” he knows they need to charge back up the ladder.

“I don’t care if it’s round 22 or 23 or whether you get a chance to play finals or not, you know when you put the Melbourne jumper on you play a certain way, and that’s what drives winning habits and that’s what ultimately leads to success and that’s what we’ll continue to drive here,” he said on Wednesday.

“While we’re in this mix, we’re still in the mix, it’s a small chance. But we want to give ourselves the best opportunity. We want to make sure as a footy club that we play unconditional footy no matter what time of the year it is.”

Goodwin said his team had faced some “challenges” this season, including the retirement in the pre-season of midfield **** Angus Brayshaw and the season-ending internal injuries suffered by superstar ********** Petracca.

But he said they couldn’t be used as “excuses” and had instead created an opportunity to give more players experience in key positions.

The forward line dynamic has, however, continued to be an issue, with just three Demons kicking more than 20 goals this season, led by Bailey Fritsch with 39.

Goodwin said he was confident the players on the list, including Jacob Van Rooyen, Harrison Petty, who would remain a forward, and emerging key position player Matthew Jefferson, who is yet to make his AFL debut, provided good options.

Camera IconSimon Goodwin concedes the Demons have to kick more goals. Mark Stewart Credit: News Corp Australia

But he conceded it would be an area of the ground Melbourne would “continue to look at”, knowing it was a key area for improvement.

“We have for a number of years tried to get the personnel that we need, whether that be through the draft or through trade, through free agency, and we’ll leave no stone unturned again in looking at how we get our list better,” he said.

“We think Jacob Van Rooyen is really coming along really fast. Now he’s heading towards 50 games. We’ve got Matt Jefferson that’s developing really strongly at VFL level. We’ve got Dan Turner, who’s come in this year and still had an impact for us, and we’ll look at all avenues that how we can continue to get better in that space.

“But we feel like we’ve put a lot of time into that in the last couple of years and in the end we’ll get the rewards of that in time.”

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