Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has dismissed concerns over captain Max Gawn’s fitness as he ponders how to get the Demons’ misfiring forward line functioning in their do-or-die AFL semi-final against Carlton.
There were reports on Tuesday morning that Gawn was nursing a broken toe in the wake of the qualifying final loss to Collingwood, while midfielder Clayton Oliver had knee soreness.
Gawn is clearly the Demons’ most important player and against the Magpies had 27 disposals, 10 clearances and 10 inside 50s.
If the star ruckman is hampered against Carlton on Friday, it would be a massive blow to Melbourne’s hopes of avoiding a second consecutive straight-sets finals exit.
Goodwin refused to confirm whether Gawn had a toe injury but said he and Oliver were all clear to face the Blues at the MCG on Friday.
“I can confirm he’s going to train fully today,” Goodwin said on Tuesday. “Both he and Clayton will train fully today and be available.
(Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images).
“I think every player is carrying certain things at certain times of the year but this isn’t something that’s going to slow either of these two down.
“They had a light day the other day, but they’ll train fully today in preparation for the game.”
The Demons have accepted Jacob van Rooyen’s one-game suspension for striking, opening up a spot in their dysfunctional forward line, which is already without injured duo Harrison Petty and Jake Melksham.
That could involve a recall for ruckman Brodie Grundy against Blues duo Tom De Koning and Marc Pittonet.
“Well, look, nothing’s off the table,” Goodwin said.
Premiership tall Ben Brown, who has been in and out of favour, has recovered from a knee injury while former Bulldog Josh Schache is also in contention.
“Ben’s back – obviously had that knee for a couple of weeks. So he’ll train fully today,” Goodwin said.
“There’s nothing off the table at the moment from a selection perspective in our forward half.”
Goodwin was unhappy with poor ball movement, delivery inside 50 and goal kicking conversion against Collingwood but was confident those ongoing issues could be amended.
Between last year’s exit and winning the 2021 premiership in Western Australia, Melbourne haven’t won a final in their home city since 2018.
“We’re a club that will lean into the pressure,” Goodwin said.
“Pressure, stress, anxiety about performance, and playing well on the big stage is in all elite sport right now.
“Right now there’s six teams left that are all going to face pressure.
“There’s sudden-death stakes and we want to lean into that and be prepared for owning our time, owning our moment and staying in the now and our group spend a lot of time doing that.”
AFL players’ duty of care for opponents will be under the microscope like never before when Collingwood defender Brayden Maynard fronts the tribunal to fight his rough conduct charge.
Maynard faces the prospect of missing the rest of the Magpies’ premiership tilt over the collision that left Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw knocked out.
He will learn his fate on a busy Tuesday, when Carlton forward Jack Martin is also set to challenge his two-match ban for striking Sydney’s Nick Blakey.
One person who thinks Maynard will get off scot free is Brayshaw’s brother Hamish with the former West Coast player claiming AFL HQ wanted the Magpies star to evade suspension.
(Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos/Getty Images)
“I think the AFL are desperate for Collingwood to win a premiership,” he told NewsCorp. “They want the supporters to go nuts, they’ve got 106,000 members, they want to do everything they can, in my opinion, for that to happen.
“The world wants to see that happen, or the Collingwood fans do anyway and they have a very loud voice so a lot of that is driven by the Collingwood fans and I think a few people at the AFL who want to see Collingwood win.
“But duty of care for a player, whether that comes into account, I don’t know.”
Earlier it emerged that Maynard had visited his concussed Demons rival’s home on Friday, the day after their controversial collision.
Although he brought flowers and wine, it was revealed on SEN that it was a highly awkward situation as several Melbourne players were already at Brayshaw’s house.
One of the Melbourne players was furious at Maynard’s arrival and had to leave to avoid the situation escalating.
Brayshaw will miss the Demons’ semi-final against Carlton under concussion protocols and is no certainty to return next week if Melbourne advance.
If Maynard’s post-match comments are any guide, he will likely argue he had no other option in the moment than to attempt to smother Brayshaw’s kick and that contact with his opponent was accidental.
“I don’t want to say too much, but it’s a footy act,” Maynard told the Seven Network after the final siren last Thursday night.
“I came forward, I jumped to smother the ball and yeah, unfortunately I just got him on the way down.
“So I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
That Maynard and Brayshaw were junior football teammates and seemingly remain on good terms is unlikely to be of much interest to the tribunal panel.
Though it could help Maynard argue there was no malicious intent on his part; a point the Magpies have been at pains to highlight in recent days.
“The act itself, it didn’t look like it had much malice,” Magpies coach Craig McRae said.
“But I’ll leave it up to others to decide if that’s worthy of a suspension or not. I don’t know.”
Melbourne’s medical report on Brayshaw will form part of the evidence presented to the tribunal.
Demons coach Simon Goodwin didn’t do Maynard any favours with his assessment of the incident when asked for his thoughts on the incident after the match.
“We’ve got a pretty shattered player (Brayshaw) in there,” Goodwin said.
“Look, you can only go by the facts: he (Maynard) jumped off the ground and knocked a guy out, so I guess time will tell.”
Carlton goal-sneak Martin will find it tough to get his striking ban thrown out.
But he could argue against the grading of his right-handed blow to Blakey, who was attempting to pick up a ground-ball when he was struck.
The hit was graded as careless conduct, high impact and high contact.
If Martin’s suspension is reduced, he could return in a preliminary final if Carlton advance – or in round one next year.
Melbourne forward Jacob van Rooyen will miss the semi-final against the Blues after accepting his one-match suspension for striking Collingwood’s Dan McStay.
The cleanout of assistants at North Melbourne has continued, with John Blakey and Gavin Brown the latest to depart the AFL club.
Caretaker coach Brett Ratten announced earlier this month that he had decided to leave the Kangaroos to pursue other opportunities.
Ratten led the side for 10 games this year during a period in which head coach Alastair Clarkson stepped away to focus on his mental and physical health.
Brown and Blakey will join Ratten out the door in what the Kangaroos have labelled a mutual parting of ways.
Blakey notched 224 games for North Melbourne and featured in the club’s 1996 and 1999 premierships.
His coaching career took him to Brisbane and then to Sydney, where he spent 14 seasons working under former teammate John Longmire.
Blakey returned to Arden St ahead of the 2021 season as a senior assistant, a role he has held for the past three seasons.
Brown departs after 10 seasons, having first joined North Melbourne in November 2013 as senior development coach.
He was promoted to head of development in late 2019 – a role he has held across the past five seasons.
“After conversations with ‘Blakes’ and ‘Browny’, we have agreed to mutually part ways,” North Melbourne’s general manager of football Todd Viney said in a statement.
“These decisions are never taken lightly, but the time is right for all parties to move forward in new directions.
“Blakes and Browny have been outstanding contributors to our club and they leave as highly respected individuals. We wish them well as they look to take on new opportunities within the industry.”
As it stands, Leigh Adams, Brent Harvey, Emma Kearney, Tom Lynch and Jordan Russell remain on North’s coaching staff. The Kangaroos only narrowly avoided a third consecutive wooden spoon this year after pulling off an upset victory over Gold Coast in the final round.
Meanwhile, Geelong have released assistant Shaun Grigg from the final year of his contract so he can link with new Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick.
Grigg played under Hardwick for nine seasons at Richmond, and has now joined his former mentor at Gold Coast after spending the past four seasons on Geelong’s coaching staff.
In other news, the Western Bulldogs announced the departure of development coach Travis Varcoe, who had been at the club for three seasons.
And West Coast have told defender Luke Foley that he won’t be offered a contract for 2024.
Injury-troubled Port Adelaide spearhead Charlie Dixon is raising hopes of making a comeback in Saturday night’s semi-final against Greater Western Sydney.
Dixon trained on Tuesday, albeit on restricted duties, as he pushes his case to play his first game since suffering a foot injury on July 29.
“He has come on a little bit quicker than probably a few would have thought,” Port midfielder Connor Rozee told reporters.
“He has been an integral part to our football side over the last few years now … he’ll definitely be a big chance, he was moving pretty well today.”
Dixon’s return would boost the Power amid doubts over fellow key forward Todd Marshall, who walked laps at training.
Marshall has been battling a hip injury – he missed the last home-and-away match and returned to face the Lions but was unusually inaccurate in front of goal.
“He has been a little bit sore over the last few weeks … (but) we have got full confidence in him,” Rozee said.
“One of the hard parts about football is battling through injuries – when you’re out there, people probably just expect you to play like you’re 100 per cent.”
Port players rapidly moved on from their 48-point away loss to Brisbane in a qualifying final at a Monday meeting.
“Finals football, you don’t really have that time to dwell on the previous week,” Rozee said.
“The whole meeting was pretty much focused on how quickly we can move on because we have earnt the right to have a second chance at this.
“And we’re still in such a privileged, great opportunity to put ourselves in a prelim final.
“There’s not too much to be walking around sulking about … there’s a lot of teams that are at home right now that would kill to be right where we are at this point in time.
“There’s no dwelling on the weekend, that’s for sure.”
Port belted the Giants by 51 points in round 22 at Adelaide Oval, the only clash of the clubs this season.
“We have already looked at a few things from last time we played them,” Rozee said.
“I definitely don’t think it’s going to be a blowout like it was last time, they have been in great form.
“We just can’t wait to get to Adelaide Oval, that’s the main thing – we bring what we bring no matter who we face and we know that stacks up against the best teams.
“So play four quarters of our football and I’m sure we will come away with a win.”
with AAP
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