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Will they improve? Will they regress? The big questions facing Melbourne in 2025
SEN • November 8th, 2024 11:57 am
SEN Breakfast hosts Sam Edmund and Cameron Mooney have run their eyes over Melbourne and how they’re shaping up for the 2025 campaign.
With the trade and free agency period now complete, Edmund and Mooney discussed how the club may improve in 2025, how they may regress if things go wrong and the big questions facing the club next season.
The Demons finished the 2024 season in 14th position with 11 wins and 12 losses, they finished first, second and fourth respectively on the ladder in the previous three campaigns.
How can they improve?
“I reckon they're going to get better because the circus is going to end, the cleanout is going to finish,” Edmund told SEN Breakfast.
“The review findings were handed down and perhaps they can finally get on with things, no more legal wars with ex-Presidents, no more Joel Smith saga, no more Gary Pert criticisms.
“If the slate is wiped clean and they're distraction-free (it will be huge).
“They could get a full season out of Christian Petracca and an injury-free run for Clayton Oliver also makes them better.
“If Caleb Windsor keeps improving and those kids like Koltyn Tholstrup, Jacob Van Rooyen, Taj Woewodin and Judd McVee keep taking steps, maybe that’s how the red and blue get a little better.”
How might they regress?
“I still think the Oliver stuff is a distraction and Petracca was a circus whichever way you look at it,” Mooney said.
“I think Max Gawn just needs help badly and I don't think they've got the player there to help him out.
“They bring in Tommy Campbell, who's a journeyman, they need a forward ruck.
“They need someone who can play forward and go in there and really give him a chop out in the ruck to let Max have a bit of a rest.
“The forward line I still have question marks on – Van Rooyen is going to be a really good player, but he’s still a pup and Bayley Fritsch is a star, but I worry about them inside 50.”
The other 2025 burning questions
“The question is, does the turbulence finally end?” Edmund asked.
“What does the future look like for Simon Goodwin? They finished 14th this year, I’m not sure he can afford that next year by any stretch.
“He's out of contract at the end of 2026, but he's one of a group of coaches under differing degrees of pressure coming to 2025.
“But they're pretty bullish about where they think they sit, which is absolutely finals contention.”
