Melbourne’s appointment of Paul Roos has paid major dividends in the club’s pursuit of their first finals appearance since 2006.
As mutually agreed upon by the club, assistant coach Simon Goodwin will take over the as senior coach next season, after an extensive succession plan which has molded the Demons list into its current iteration.
Roos has brought competitiveness to a club that endured a horror decade.
Before Roos’ appointment, the Dees were a directionless shambles.
Neale Daniher, Dean Bailey and Mark Neeld had all been sacked since 2006, and it wasn’t until Roos identified the problems the Demons faced and came up with a solution, that the club began to turn a corner.
Roos has re-branded the Melbourne Football Club, set up their game style, and implemented a culture that should continue through the era of Goodwin.
Much like he did at Sydney during their glory days, Roos has built characters and instilled qualities in individuals that are necessary in a successful football club.
In Roos’ initial press conference upon his role at Melbourne being announced, he talked about setting the path for success, something that has been evident in the extensiveness of his rebuild.
CEO Peter Jackson was a major advocate for his appointment at the end of 2014, believing the club was on the path of sustained success with his influence.
“There’s no better man to build the right culture at this club than Paul Roos,” Jackson said.
The Demons’ list management turnover has been extensive, and Roos made some of the hard decisions that coaches before him failed to make.
Roos has overseen quality youngsters Christian Salem, Jayden Hunt, James Harmes, Christian Petracca, Angus Brayshaw, Clayton Oliver and Sam Weidman join the club. These players are driving the future of the club and Roos has done a stellar job in their development thus far.
Roos also identified the need for outside talent and has traded in Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince, Jeff Garlett, Heriter Lumumba, Sam Frost, Ben Kennedy and Tomas Bugg to complement the vast array of potential young stars.
The improvement of Jack Watts, Max Gawn, Tom McDonald and Neville Jetta are a testament to the quality of Roos’ coaching style.
The Demons no longer surrender in football matches, and have pride in their performance and the jumper they are wearing.
Roos has brought security to the club and reinforced the importance of solid defensive structures. With this, the side has gradually improved its attacking game while focusing on nailing its defence and improving its contested ball numbers. The result has been that the team that has an attacking flair and an ability to defend solidly and compete around the ground.
The club has transformed into a side that is going to throw everything at a serious finals assault in 2017.
In the space of only three years, Roos has put together the difficult puzzle of rebuilding the club from the brink of extinction and brought to it a whole new level of excitement.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
Melbourne’s complete reliance on Clayton Oliver has them positioned as a fake contender and Oliver finding form will completely transform this accidental top-four team.…
Last, year in the second showdown, Adelaide destroyed Port by 47 points with a staggering 20 marks inside 50 with Tex Walker the main star.
There’s no disputing that Cam Guthrie will be important against Melbourne, given Patrick Dangerfield is set to miss due to injury.
Collingwood led by a point with minutes to go, Kyle Langford had the chance to be the hero with a set shot, however, he missed, and we saw the first draw of the season.
The AFL has confirmed the right decision was made after a ball ricocheted off a boundary umpire's leg during the third quarter of Melbourne's…
There's an old saying that you should never argue with an idiot, because they'll drag you down to their level and then beat you…
