There has been a “significant change” regarding Essendon’s Dyson Heppell and a potential move to Gold Coast.
SEN’s Sam Edmund reported on Tuesday that the Bombers captain was being tempted by a four-year offer to join the Suns.
However, the situation has shifted substantially with Heppell now more likely to stay with the Dons where he has been since he was drafted in 2010.
“The Gold Coast offer was four years, two as a player ideally, and two as a coach,” Edmund said on SEN’s Whateley.
“Essendon’s offer had been, A) slow to arrive, and B) slightly underwhelming. Well, we haven’t had any change here in the past 24 hours from both clubs.
“My information is that Dyson Heppell had got used to the idea of going up to the Gold Coast, that it was more likely to happen than not. He’d been sold the vision, he’d met with the Suns, he was entertained and excited by the prospect after having a portion of time to get used to that idea.
“Now we’ve had a significant change.
“The Gold Coast, perhaps less enthusiastic than they were even 48 hours ago, and now we’ve got Essendon more enthusiastic than they were 48 hours ago.
“It’s like the old pendulum has swung. All signs point to Dyson Heppell staying on an improved offer from Essendon.”
Heppell is out of contract this year and is yet to re-commit to a 13th season in the red and black, but Edmund suggests it is likely that he will remain at The Hangar.
That is the question being asked after it was reported that the reigning premiers had met with the Collingwood ruckman.
The Demons’ interest in Grundy was reported by Sportsday’s Sam McClure and the Herald Sun’s Jay Clark on Tuesday.
In response to the reports, former Demons captain Garry Lyon and SEN Breakfast co-host Tim Watson discussed the potential of the move, provided youngster Luke Jackson departs the Dees for Fremantle.
“It has been reported that Melbourne are into or speaking to Brodie Grundy about, I would imagine, filling the void that they suspect – you wouldn’t be talking to him if you didn’t think that Luke Jackson is going,” Lyon said .
“Let’s just put that to one side. They might hold out hope that Luke’s staying and on the off chance (ask), ‘Brodie, what’s the chances?’
“How do you see that? Does Collingwood go, ‘If Brodie is going to go somewhere, we don’t want him to go to contend, we want you to go somewhere that’s not going to be a contender against us’.
“What’s your reaction? What’s your first gut reaction to hearing that?”
Watson responded by suggesting it is a clever move for the Demons to sound out Grundy.
However, he does wonder how Grundy would fit in with Max Gawn who is widely touted as the AFL’s premier ruckman.
“I think it’s just smart,” he said.
“A football club losing one of their young ruckmen and replacing him as best they can and as quick as they possibly can. That’s smart, that’s exactly what they should do.
“I just wonder though how he and Max Gawn would work in tandem.
“Because generally there’s one ruckman who is dominant and sits above the other ruckmen, although in Melbourne’s case it’s been a little bit more about the different ways their two ruckmen play and what they bring to the game.”
It prompted a back and forth discussion on how it may play out, given that Grundy is on massive money at the Magpies and how the Dees would navigate that salary as well as how they might deploy him if he were to switch clubs.
Lyons: “There’s also a needs basis that Max has got to go forward to try and clunk a mark which Melbourne’s forwards can’t do.”
Watson: “Has Grundy ever demonstrated that or has he not demonstrated that because he’s been required to play more on the ball as opposed to going forward?”
Lyons: “Well, that’s the thing. I look at it and go maybe they see Max transitioning a bit more to that forward role.
“They would do that with Luke Jackson, but if he goes then they’re thinking Grundy comes in and becomes more the 60-40 ruckman and Max is the 40-60 maybe.
“I don’t know. It was news to me when I read that from Jay Clark, so I’m trying to get my head around it.
“Melbourne, I wouldn’t think, could pay the 950 to a million, whatever Grundy is on.”
Watson: “Why though? Obviously, they would have been offering Jackson a lot of money anyway.
“What would they be offering him? 700 (thousand)?”
Lyons: “Yeah, maybe six (hundred thousand).”
Watson: “They’d have to go at least that deep.”
Lyons: “They’d have to have Collingwood pay some of the deal.”
The situation also sparked chat about Jordan De Goey, who has also been linked with a move away from Collingwood, and whether or not he’d be a better fit for Melbourne.
Lyons: “If you’re a Melbourne fan or a footy fan, what would be better for them? Grundy or De Goey?
“If you were to target a Collingwood person in this instance, which is a better fit? Grundy or De Goey?”
Watson: “It’s a needs basis. If Jackson goes, the need is for them to be able to replace Jackson.”
Lyons: “Then they’ve got a massive need in their forward half.”
Watson: “They have but it might be that player is not available now so they go for the one that is available, potentially, in Grundy.
“They go to the draft and find themselves a young forward.”
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Lyons: “De Goey is said to be available. He’s as available as Grundy.”
Watson: “Do you see him as a forward or a midfielder?”
Lyons: “Between he and Christian Petracca you get a damn good one of both.”
Watson: “He’d fit into that team nicely in some capacity.
“Of the two players, you can only keep one – Grundy or De Goey?”
Lyons: “If you’re Collingwood, I would probably keep De Goey.
“He’s got more strings to his bow (than Grundy). They’ve got (Darcy) Cameron and (Mason) Cox.
“De Goey can go forward or in the middle, he’s a match-winner. There’s a question mark if Brodie can get back to his best from him.
“That’s the way I would be going.”
While nothing may come of the interest, it definitely provides plenty to ponder.
Grundy is sidelined for the remainder of the season due to a stress fracture in his ankle, Captain Gawn is focused on leading the Demons to back-to-back premierships and Jackson is considering his future with the club.
Leigh Matthews believes Melbourne would have been wishing for a different result following Ed Langdon’s comments last week.
The Demons wingman suggested that Collingwood were “all duck, no dinner” in the way they play and “a bit of a one-trick pony”.
It ended badly for the reigning premiers who were beaten by seven points, with Langdon copping some rough treatment throughout.
The comments also seemingly gave the Pies fans something extra to be loud about.
VFL/AFL great Matthews suggests his words came back to haunt the Dees even if they were “insignificant”.
“I heard his comments, they’re fairly insignificant really,” he said on sports day.
“But if you say anything negative about the opposition, it usually will come back to haunt you.
“Even if it just fires them up a little bit, it gives the team a focus point.
“Collingwood had a focus point that we’ll get into Ed Langdon every time we get a chance to, and the Collingwood crowd was booing Ed Langdon every time he went near the ball.
“From a club point of view, you don’t want players saying anything that is going to embarrass us. You can be nice and build up the opposition as much as you want, but never say anything negative.
“Negative stuff, it comes back to haunt you. Don’t do it.
“Everyone loves it, the media does, the external people do, but everyone around Melbourne says, ‘I wish he kept his mouth shut’, because it did not help their cause one iota.
“So external and internal are very different.”
It would be fair to say that Langdon will be keeping quiet this week ahead of Saturday night’s crunch clash with Carlton at the MCG.
The Demons need a win to cement their spot in the top four while the Blues are fighting to keep their spot in the eight.
With AFL finals looming large, the focus is intensifying on the legitimate challengers for the flag.
Geelong and Collingwood are top of the form line, with impressive winning streaks ahead of September.
Hovering in third place, by virtue of a sliver of percentage that separates them from fourth and fifth, are the Demons.
Even after a dramatic loss to the unstoppable Magpies at a rocking MCG last Friday night, pundits are largely keeping faith with a Melbourne side that has now lost six of its past 10 games.
The reasons are clear: A stellar team mix of role players, stars and X-factors — and the experience of having made it to the mountaintop just 12 months ago, sweeping all before them in September to win a first flag in 67 years.
Essentially, everyone is expecting the Demons’ football muscle memory to kick in and drive them to a repeat of their premiership glory.
The fact is, however, that Melbourne’s performances — while showing occasional glimpses of the team’s best — are well off the mark they set in 2021.
And the fix starts with better final quarters and second halves.
Super stretch sealed flag for Melbourne
Last year, Melbourne came into the final four rounds of the season lying third, with 13 wins and a percentage of 124.2.
From there on, the Demons won seven games on the trot to finish top of the ladder — with 17 wins and a percentage of 130.8 — before sweeping through the finals series to claim the flag.
Their experience shows you can turn things around. After losing the final quarter in seven of their first 14 games in 2021, the Demons were beaten in the final term in only two of their last 11 games.
Melbourne’s final seven-game unbeaten stretch saw the team lose only one final quarter, to the Eagles but, in total, the Demons outscored their opponents by 26 goals to 10.
In terms of second halves, it was even starker. From round 16 through to the grand final in 2021, Melbourne lost only one second half, against Hawthorn in round 18.
Over that time, Simon Goodwin’s men outscored their opponents by 79 goals to 32. In finals, the equivalent figure was 30 goals to eight.
It was a combination of surge football in attack and tough defense that gave few openings to opponents.
So how are the Demons going in 2022?
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s late goal for the Bulldogs sealed one of six Melbourne losses in their last 10 games.(Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)
Whether or not you think the form line is still relevant back to round 11 — when the first questions were raised with the six-goal loss to the Dockers at the MCG — the Demons have been mixed, at best, after their brilliant start to the season.
They started with 10 wins in a row, but have lost more than they have won in their past 10 games.
More worryingly, after a brief bounce back beginning in round 15, Melbourne has now gone down in three of its past five games, losing to Geelong, Western Bulldogs and Collingwood.
In each of their six losses since round 11, the Demons have lost the final quarter, and every time they have conceded between four and six goals.
The issues aren’t limited to after half-time, either. If we look at the last seven games of 2021 — including finals — the Demons average score was a tick over 106 points a game. They also managed to keep opponents to a seriously stingy 57.3 points a game.
In short, Melbourne was flying on both sides of the ball. This time around, in the 10-game stretch starting with the loss to the Dockers, the Demons have scored an average of 80.4 points a game, and their opponents have scored an average of 77.2.
One possible reason is that their forward defensive pressure is not where it was — for pre-finals at least.
In the last four rounds leading into finals in 2021, the Demons brought fierce forward pressure, averaging 18.5 tackles inside 50 to their opponents’ 7.75.
From rounds 18-21 this year, Melbourne has averaged 7.25 tackles inside 50 to 11.5 for their opponents.
Last year, this turned around in finals, with the Dees being comprehensively out-done in forward 50 tackles (23-41 overall) — but that didn’t matter, because Melbourne’s attack was so potent that it swamped opposition teams, scoring an average of 119 points to 56 in September.
Melbourne’s surging attack made the Demons extremely hard to stop in the 2021 finals series.(Getty Images: AFL Photos/Michael Willson)
The thing that made Melbourne really dangerous was the prospect that they had the capacity — either while in front or trailing on the scoreboard — to hit teams with an unstoppable burst of scoring.
They still have the ability to put a run of goals together, but the other issue is that the Demons are now showing themselves vulnerable to giving up leads.
On five occasions this season, including twice in the past three rounds, Melbourne has given up leads of more than 20 points to lose games.
Does this all mean that we should write off Melbourne’s chances of going back-to-back? Absolutely not. The Demons are still a legitimate second- or third-favorite for the flag behind Geelong, despite their issues.
They also have the ability to turn these issues around — but it is clear that there still remains a fair bit of work to do to find their unbeatable best form. And that improvement needs to start happening soon.
West Coast star Tim Kelly has failed in his bid to have a one-game suspension downgraded at the AFL Tribunal and will miss Saturday’s western derby against Fremantle.
Kelly was cited for engaging in rough conduct against Adelaide’s Sam Berry during Sunday’s clash at Optus Stadium.
His dangerous tackle was assessed as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact, resulting in the offer of a one-game suspension.
West Coast lawyer David Grace QC said the club agreed Kelly’s tackle was careless but the Eagle did everything possible to protect his opponent.
Kelly pinned Berry’s right arm in the tackle and spun his body as he took him to ground, but Grace said the lack of injury or treatment required for Berry meant the incident was the “epitome of low impact.”
“He got up straight away and took a free kick,” Grace said.
But AFL counsel Andrew Woods pointed to AFL guidelines stating that a lack of injury should not prevent impact from being rated higher given that the potential to cause injury can be taken into account.
He described the level of head high contact with the ground as significant.
He said there was clearly a risk of concussion or a serious neck injury.
Kelly said the pair’s weight shifted when Berry attempted to kick the ball and that it contributed to them spinning during the tackle. Kelly conceded Berry was in a vulnerable position and that he increased the level of force when taking him to ground.
Tim Kelly was cited for this dangerous tackle Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images
But Kelly said the Crow had his left arm free during the tackle and used it to brace for contact.
“My intention was not to cause any harm to my opponent,” Kelly said.
“It didn’t look like there was much impact at all. He got straight up and took his free kick and played out the rest of the game.
“My intention is to tackle him and try to disrupt him. I’m trying not to give him an opportunity to get rid of the ball. I know he’s doing everything he can to get his foot from him to the ball. I’m trying my best to not allow him to make that kick.”
The court disagreed.
“The key issue was the potential to cause injury,” court chairman Jeff Gleeson said.
“We consider here the potential was significant. Mr Berry was swung a full 360 degrees with force, his feet were off the ground and that arm that might have protected him was pinned. His head hit the ground with considerable force.
“We found the impact was medium.”
Kelly won the Glendinning-Allan Medal in western derby 52 after a dominant performance where he won 42 possessions and 13 clearances.
Kelly had 26 disposals and won seven clearances against Adelaide.
It is the great debate that has been labeled “ridiculous” by Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield, and it’s just taken another bizarre twist.
The lingering feud over Port Adelaide’s prison bar jumper has possibly – and certainly tentatively – moved forward with Collingwood prepared to offer the Power a minor concession, according to a News Corp report.
Watch Kochie blast Collingwood in the video above
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The Magpies are reportedly prepared to let Port wear its prison bar jumper if the white stripes are replaced by teal stripes.
The historical Guernsey is worn by the Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL and used to be seen in the AFL during the national comp’s heritage round. However, the AFL has scrapped that round.
Port Adelaide will not be allowed to wear their prison bars jumper for the derby against Adelaide. Credit: AAP
Port Adelaide has since wanted to bring the jumper back into the AFL for the Showdown games against crosstown rival Adelaide but those requests have been met with staunch opposition from Collingwood who believe only their club should wear black and white stripes.
Dangerfield recently weighed into the debate, saying: “If we profess to be a national competition then… [that means] you have to acknowledge and understand the history.
“Being a national competition means we should acknowledge what those teams have done, even though it was in the SANFL (in Port Adelaide’s case), I think it’s still really important to acknowledge that history.”
According to reports, the clubs are due to discuss the issue but it is said that Collingwood will not budge from this latest teal bar offer.
Sydney Swans champion Josh Kennedy has called time on his illustrious AFL career, days after suffering another hamstring injury.
Key points:
Josh Kennedy injured his hamstring again on the weekend playing for the Swans reserves in the VFL
He has not played in the AFL since round 10, and will finish his career having played 290 games
Kennedy was a three-time All Australian and played in Sydney’s 2012 premiership team
The 34-year-old midfielder will call it quits at the end of the season, and will give an update on his injury when he fronts the media on Tuesday.
Kennedy played in the Swans’ VFL game against North Melbourne on Sunday as he eyed a return to the senior team but walked off the Arden St oval in pain.
Swans coach John Longmire said after the club’s AFL win over the Kangaroos that Kennedy would have scans on his hamstring to determine any damage.
“It was on the other side (the left), it’s not the [right] hamstring he did early in the season,” Longmire said.
The former co-captain tore his hamstring in the Swans’ round 10 game against Carlton and was sidelined for eight weeks.
Kennedy was an unused sub in the thumping Sydney derby win over GWS in round 20.
The veteran, who has played 290 games, will fall just short of reaching the 300-game milestone.
Josh Kennedy parades the 2012 premiership cup.(Getty Images: Mark Metcalfe)
He has played 13 games for Hawthorn, the club his father and grandfather were icons at, but moved to the Swans in 2010 to seek greater opportunities.
The three-time All-Australian has played 277 games for the Swans, including the club’s 2012 grand final win over the Hawks.
It comes after West Coast legend Josh Kennedy played the last of his 292 games on Sunday, kicking eight goals in his farewell match against Adelaide.
Kangaroos premiership star Wayne Carey has broken his silence over reports he had a heated altercation with Anthony Stevens outside a Melbourne pub on Saturday, 20 years after the pair fell out over Carey’s infamous affair with his teammate’s wife.
Carey’s fling with Stevens’ ex Kelli became the biggest sex scandal in Australian sports history when they were caught together in a toilet at a house party, leading to the two-time premiership captain leaving the club in disgrace.
The pair were at Yarraville’s Railway Hotel on Saturday night for a 1996 premiership reunion when Carey ‘went at’ Stevens, according to SEN’s Sam Edmunds.
They allegedly needed to be separated after Carey ‘went at’ Stevens after accusing him of ‘talking behind his back and telling people he couldn’t be contacted and to not bother trying to catch up with him, but then being fine in-person’ , the report said.
Carey (left) and Stevens went from celebrating the 1996 grand final win as great mates to a vicious falling-out just six years later
Kangaroos legend Carey was caught red-handed having an affair with Stevens’ then-wife Kelli (pictured together) during a party attended by other North Melbourne players
While Carey joined his teammates as they were paraded around the ground during the Kangaroos’ clash with the Swans at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, Stevens was nowhere to be seen.
It was reported he didn’t attend because he was too ‘shattered by the heated exchange’, but other ex-North Melbourne stars later said he was ill and didn’t boycott the event.
Now Carey has told his colleague at Channel Seven, Tom Browne, that there wasn’t an intense altercation and they didn’t have to be kept apart.
Carey (second from right) is pictured at the Kangaroos reunion on Sunday to mark their grand final win. Stevens was nowhere to be seen after their alleged clash the day before
Carey added that Stevens stayed with the group of North Melbourne ex-players as they went to St Kilda, and the Herald Sun reported that the pair ‘shared a beer afterwards’.
Stevens is now a Kangaroos board member and president of the club’s past player association, and was a key driver behind organizing the event.
It included an informal catch-up at the pub on Saturday night, before the premiership players took part in a motorcade and photo opportunity before the Kangaroos game on Sunday.
Carey’s affair with Kelli emerged in 2002, after an encounter at a party hosted by club champion Glenn Archer attended by Kangaroos players.
Kelli followed Carey into a bathroom to discuss their sordid relationship, which started weeks earlier.
Kelli Stevens (pictured) found herself at the center of the biggest sex scandal in Australian sport when her affair with Carey was exposed
Stevens and Carey played together for North Melbourne from 1989 to 2001 before the betrayal was uncovered.
After leaving the club in disgrace, Carey joined the Adelaide Crows in 2003, and took the field against his former teammates in a fiery clash that saw him come face-to-face with Stevens.
In a twist, Stevens was named captain of the club following Carey’s departure.
In an interview with veteran journalist Mike Sheahan on Fox Footy in 2015, Stevens said he told his ex-teammate to ‘stick it’ at the time, but was also disappointed in Carey’s behavior following the betrayal.
‘It’s the one thing he has never done,’ Stevens said, when asked by Sheahan if Carey has apologized.
Stevens (left) had a fiery on-field clash with Carey in 2002 after he joined the Adelaide Crows. in 2015 he called his former mate out for not apologizing for the affair
‘He has never actually gone out of his way to say sorry – for whatever reason.’
Carey did eventually apologize the following year – a full 14 years on from the sordid event.
Carey rehashed the while appearing on SAS Australia earlier this year, telling Chief Instructor Ant Middleton that the affair was a huge moment in his life.
‘It’s haunted me for over 20 years. I was in self-destruction mode. You know, I guess my life started to unravel,’ he said under interrogation.
At the time Carey was also married, to his first wife Sally McMahon. Stevens was even the groomsman at the wedding.
Gold Coast is prepared to offer Dyson Heppell a four-year contract to join the club.
The Essendon skipper is being tempted by the Suns’ bold pitch, which would most likely involve a two-year agreement to play and another two years to work as an assistant coach.
The Bombers had been slow to offer Heppell a new contract beyond this year – raising some interest among rival clubs – before presenting him a one-year extension for 2023.
Gold Coast has not formally tabled an offer and there is a feeling at the Suns that despite how attractive their pitch might look on paper, they believe they remain the outsiders.
But if Heppell was to accept, he would be free to join the Queensland club as an unrestricted free agent without the need for a trade.
The 30-year-old has played 211 games since being taken by the Bombers with pick 8 in the 2010 national draft. An Essendon supporter growing up, he has been captain since 2017.
While there have been some queries on his form and place in the Bombers’ best 22, Heppell has played every game this year.
Coach Ben Rutten last week said he had no concerns that Heppell was yet to recommit to Essendon.
“‘Hepp’ knows how much of a valuable player and person he is at this footy club,” Rutten said.
“He knows how much we love him and want him here next year. That’s all we can do at the moment and feeling confident and hopeful that it will work itself out.
“I don’t have a timeline on it, don’t want to speculate on that at the moment. These things can take a bit of time.”
Nathan Jones admits there are some concerns for Melbourne on the back of the seven-point loss to Collingwood on the weekend.
The Demons dominated most of the key stat areas against the Magpies but were behind on the one that mattered most – the scoreboard.
It was their sixth defeat in their last 10 matches which has some onlookers questioning their form ahead of finals.
Former captain Jones agrees that things aren’t looking great, saying he is worried about some areas of their game, particularly that teams who move the ball courageously and quickly can score against them.
“It’s been bubbling away for the last 10 weeks because of the inconsistency that’s been highlighted,” Jones said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“My concerns ultimately are around their ability to dominate a game like they did and not be able to convert into score.
“The way in which Collingwood exposed them, I think they’ve found some challenges against teams in particular that are willing to take them on and be courageous with their ball movement.
“Collingwood really got them on turnover and were able to transition the footy from end to end which is a concerning thing.
“They go inside 50 plus-20 more times but Collingwood were still able to kick a good enough score and were ultra efficient when they did go inside 50 themselves.”
While he acknowledges their shortcomings, Jones is confident that Simon Goodwin and his coaching staff have in place a game plan that should stack up in finals provided they iron out some other issues.
“There’s a bit of a worry there, but the foundations of their game are significant,” he added.
“You look at the stats and I still scratch my head at the fact they lost the game.
“That still provide hopes for me that they can resurrect some of those issues and really find themselves well in contention.
“They’ll be tinkering with some things here and there and also just trying to capitalize on their strengths.
“I’d be more concerned if their strengths around contest, stoppage and inside 50s were right down.
“There are still the building blocks and foundations there for them to play a really significant final brand of footy.
“Internally, they’d be all over the fact that they’ve still got areas they need to tidy up if they have every intention of playing in the Grand Final and wanting to go back-to-back.”
The Demons will look to bounce back from the loss to the Pies and cement themselves in the top four when they host Carlton at the MCG on Saturday night.
