Demons Dismantling Their Own Flag: Carn the Circus

Remember when Melbourne actually won one? Feels like about ten years ago, doesn’t it. Turns out it was only 2021, and now half that premiership side is packing the boxes and heading for the door.

News broke that more on and off-field leaders at the Demons have confirmed they’re done at season’s end. Not sacked. Not traded away kicking and screaming. Just… done. Tenures terminated, as the official line goes. Carn the Pies, I say, because this is exactly the kind of self-inflicted mess we Collingwood people know a thing or two about avoiding these days.

A Flag That’s Ageing Like Milk

Three years ago Melbourne belted the Bulldogs in Perth and everyone reckoned a dynasty was born. Remember the headlines? Dees for a decade. Well how’s that going?

Instead of building on it they’ve watched that premiership spine crumble piece by piece. Some through injury, some through form, and now it seems a fair chunk through blokes simply deciding they’ve had enough of the joint.

Is that the clubs fault? Partly. You can’t lose that many important figures in such a short window without someone upstairs asking hard questions about culture, about direction, about whether the players actually want to be there anymore.

Leaders Walking, Not Being Pushed

What strikes me about this latest wave is the language. Confirmed the termination of their tenures. That’s footy speak for we’ve had a chat and everyone’s agreed it’s time to move on, which usually means one side wanted it more than the other.

When on-field leaders go at the same time as off-field leaders, that’s not coincidence. That’s a football department losing confidence in its own show, top to bottom. You don’t get list turnover like this at a club that’s happy and rolling forward.

Ask yourself this: when was the last time Collingwood shed this much leadership in one hit? Even in our rougher years we generally kept a core group in the tent. Melbourne can’t say the same right now.

Simon Goodwin’s Shrinking Runway

Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know exactly whats happening behind closed doors at AAMI Park. Nobody outside that build does. But you’d have to say the pressure on the coaching group only intensifies every time another premiership name walks.

Goodwin got that flag and deserves credit for it forever, that’s not up for debate. But premierships buy you time, not immunity. If the list keeps bleeding experience the way it has, questions about where this program is actually heading are only going to get louder from Demons supporters themselves.

And fair enough too. Melbourne fans waited an eternity for that cup. They’re entitled to be filthy watching the group that delivered it get dismantled bit by bit while finals footy slips further away.

The Ripple Effect Across the Comp

Every one of these departures reshapes the competition a little. Other clubs are already circling, and you can bet your house some smart recruiters are on the phone right now working out who’s available and for what price.

Its a strange dynamic. One club’s implosion becomes everyone else’s trade period opportunity. Clubs bottom of the ladder building for the next cycle will be licking their lips at experienced premiership players suddenly on the market.

Collingwood supporters don’t need reminding what a well-run list looks like after 2023. We back ourselves to keep our winning group together longer than three years, and that’s not arrogance, that’s just planning properly and giving your players reasons to stay.

Why Does This Keep Happening to Flag Winners?

Melbourne isn’t the first premiership side to fall apart fast and it won’t be the last. Footy history is littered with one-flag wonders who never backed it up. But the speed of this decline still catches you off guard.

You’d have thought a group that manic and famished for success, the kind that fought through 57 years of hurt, would have wanted to stick around and build something lasting. Instead it looks more like a group that got the job done, got exhausted doing it, and is now scattering in every direction.

Maybe that’s the honest truth of modern footy. The physical and mental toll of chasing a flag takes such a brutal toll that once you’ve climbed the mountain, blokes just want off it. I get that. Doesn’t make it any less rough for the fans left holding the scarf.

What Should Demons Fans Actually Expect Now?

Realistically? A rebuild. Maybe not a full-blown burn it to the ground job, but definately a reshuffle that takes a couple of years to bed in.

New leaders need to be identified and backed publicly, not just handed the armband and left to work it out themselves. The club needs continuity in structure even as the on-field faces change, otherwise you risk losing another generation the same way.

And Demons supporters need patience, which I know isn’t easy to ask of a fan base that waited so long for the one flag they’ve got. But turning on a rebuild before its even started never helps anyone.

The Bigger Picture for the Competition

From a neutral perspective, well, as neutral as a Collingwood diehard can be, this is a shame for the competition. Melbourne playing finals footy with that mongrel spirit from 2021 made for great television and great theatre.

A weakened Demons outfit is one less genuine contender in the mix, which in theory should help clubs like ours. But I’d rather beat a strong Melbourne in September than watch them fade into irrelevance. Competitive footy needs all the big clubs firing, not limping.

Should of seen this coming really, once the exits started snowballing the way they have. Whether the Demons can stop the bleeding before it becomes a full scale exodus is the real question now facing that footy department, and its one only time will answer.

Carn the Pies, and genuinely, good luck to Melbourne sorting this out. They’ll need it.