Before Neil Craig loses out to Paul Roos as Melbourne’s new coach, everyone involved has big decisions to make.
Craig must decide whether he wants to apply for the job beyond this season. Roos keeps saying he does not want to return to coaching “at the moment”. And Melbourne only appointed their coaching selection panel on Thursday.
So as he prepares for his fourth game as Demons caretaker coach, Craig said on Friday he is far from discouraged about growing speculation that if Roos wants the job, it is his.
“Disheartening for me? – no, not at all,” Craig said.
“It’s really important for Melbourne firstly to decide on the type of coach that they think is appropriate.
“To the best of my knowledge, I haven’t heard they’ve done that yet.
“If they decide a Paul Roos fits that skill set and he’s the best man for the job, their responsibility is to get the best person for the job.”
Craig, the former Adelaide coach, has impressed since taking over when the Demons sacked Mark Neeld last month.
They face another massive test on Saturday when they take on one of the game’s toughest away assignments – Geelong in Geelong.
Two years ago, Melbourne suffered one of the darkest moments in club history when the Cats humiliated them at Simonds Stadium by 186 points.
It cost then-coach Dean Bailey his job.
But Craig is not interested in any suggestion that Melbourne have nothing to lose on Saturday.
“I don’t like an attitude of nothing to lose – this club has plenty to lose,” he said.
“We’ll be going down there to test ourselves with a mentality … to play with a winning attitude.
“When you play with a winning attitude, you have lots to lose.”
In particular, Craig is concerned that Melbourne keep losing the contested possession count.
For all their effort last Sunday, they were a whopping 40 down in that count against Sydney.
“It’s an important stat – you don’t necessarily have to win it every week, but you need to get your share,” Craig said.
“Minus 40, I can tell you, is not getting your share.”
Demons midfielder Colin Sylvia will play his 150th game on Saturday and candidly admitted this week he was yet to get the most from his undoubted ability.
Craig noted that Sylvia had shown more consistent form in the past few weeks.
“The fact he made that statement, that maybe he could have done a bit more … that takes great courage for a player to say that in the public arena,” Craig said.
“Sometimes that’s the start of moving forward.”
Craig also said that Neeld had been a strong influence on Sylvia, who has had a reputation for off-field misbehaviour.
“That’s a legacy that Mark Neeld has left at this footy club,” Craig said.
“You have to have a stable off-field life if you want to (be) stable on-field.”
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