The top of the AFL’s longest premiership drought is simply the beginning for Melbourne’s champion group, coach Simon Goodwin says.
Key factors:
- Simon Goodwin says his Demons will return for pre-season coaching hungry so as to add to their 2021 success
- Of the premiership aspect, solely Michael Hibberd is aged over 30
- Key gamers like Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca are nonetheless to succeed in their peak years
The triumphant Demons are nursing hangovers on Sunday after ingesting from the premiership cup for the primary time in 57 years.
However Melbourne’s mastermind Goodwin says there’s scant probability of the bodily hangovers turning right into a proverbial premiership hangover subsequent season.
“It is not the top of something. That is the beginning for our footy membership,” Goodwin mentioned.
“That is the place we wish to be, on this place.
“However what we do know is the respect that we have to present the competitors and we have to present to ourselves of how exhausting it’s to be on this place.
“It is not a straightforward place to get to.
“And we are going to hit pre-season when the time comes with that respect and that work that’s required to remain right here — it isn’t simple and it does not come off simply expertise.”
Melbourne’s taking part in checklist is stuffed with younger expertise.
All however certainly one of their premiership gamers that belted the Western Bulldogs by 74 factors in Saturday evening’s grand last is aged beneath 30.
The outlier is 31-year-old half-back Michael Hibberd.
Inspirational captain Max Gawn and full-back Steven Might — each All Australians and on the peak of the powers of their premiership season — are each 29.
Their tall forwards are Tom McDonald, 29, and Ben Brown, 28, with Sam Weideman, 24, ready in reserve.
Midfield maestros Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver are aged 25 and 24 respectively whereas their on-ball accomplice Jack Viney is 27.
Influential wingers Angus Brayshaw and Ed Langdon are each 25, as are All Australian defender Jake Lever, James Harmes and Alex Neal-Bullen.
Inventive half-back Christian Salem is a 12 months older whereas six-goal ahead Bayley Fritsch is 24.
And 7 of Melbourne’s drought-breaking heroes are 21 or beneath.
That batch is headed by this season’s Rising Star Luke Jackson, 19, who performed a key function within the grand last triumph with a momentum-shifting burst within the ruck within the third quarter.
Jake Bowey, who received a flag in simply his seventh AFL match, can also be 19 whereas livewire Kysaiah Pickett is 20.
The Demons, by any measure, are within the sweetest of spots after their triumph in Perth.
And with coronavirus restrictions hopefully to allow video games and crowds of their dwelling metropolis subsequent 12 months, they want solely look over the fence at their supporters who missed the premiership for any further supply of inspiration.
“My coronary heart goes out to everybody within the jap states … we did it for you,” Gawn mentioned.
And bookmakers have already put in the Demons as favourites to do it once more in 2022.
AAP