Melbourne great Garry Lyon has pleaded for the club to “suck it up” and “reload” amid remarkable claims the Angus Brayshaw concussion “derailed” their loss to Carlton on Friday night.
Brayshaw was knocked out in startling scenes in the opening week of finals in a moment that became an AFL flashpoint with Brayden Maynard later cleared over the hit.
On Monday journalist Jon Ralph revealed “senior figures” at the Demons believe the Brayshaw fallout contributed to the team’s semi-final loss.
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“A strong belief from senior figures still a week on is that the Angus Brayshaw furore derailed their finals pitch,” he said On the Couch.
“That the players were shell shocked to witness Brayshaw concussed and laid out cold.
“So Jacob van Rooyen suspended because he was trying to basically physically intimidate the opposition, the Kossie Pickett first half brain fades this week. Him trying to impose himself.
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“Some would say it’s a cop out, but it is something senior figures have expressed.
“There are people that feel like they just were discombobulated by it.”
Hearing those claims, Fox Footy’s Nathan Buckley said he “didn’t like the language” and “excuses”.
“They didn’t finish or execute well enough – that’s what it came down to,” he said.
“I don’t care what anyone says, they choked,” Mark Robinson added on AFL 360.
“But let’s not throw everything out with the bath water. They play a really good brand of football but it needs to get better.”
Lyon pleaded for the Demons to put their second straight sets finals exit behind them and find the fight to go on again in 2024.
“I want ‘em to suck it up, reload, stop feeling sorry for yourself and go again,” he said.
“You can make excuses everywhere … it’s hard to back up again after a premiership. They’ve backed up twice in a row. Top four twice. I want you to back up again and put yourself in a position again.
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“I want them to identify the issue and blind Freddy can identity it (in their front half) and I want it coached. Coached better, the system coached better.
“The thing I want most is you suck it up, cop all of this coming at ya … and you don’t feel sorry for yourself and you reload. That’s what (coach) Simon Goodwin needs to do with this group.”
In an alarming reveal, statistics show the Demons have three of the worst rated kicks in the AFL – with captain Max Gawn officially ranked the worst of the competition.
Jack Viney was named third worst while Clayton Oliver was seventh in the stat for players that have more than 200 kicks to their name this season.
“They’ve got three of the seven worst kicks in the comp!” Jonathan Brown said.
“Your best players are your worst kicks in the team!
“To have three of the top worst seven … explains a bit,” Buckley added.
Lyon described the loss to Carlton as a “bitter, bitter pill to swallow” for the Demons.
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“2021 premiership the Melbourne Football Club, the expectation there would be more to come – here we sit in 2023 with a preliminary final weekend ahead and they’re yet to enjoy finals success since,” he lamented.
“The looks of the faces on those Melbourne players (after the Carlton loss) would indicate that it’s hurt and cut really deep.
“For some Melbourne supporters, this will be nice to hear ‘oh they should have won, they had all these looks’, but the bottom line is for the second year coming they’ve failed to capitalise on an area of the game where they’ve got complete dominance in and it continues to let them down.”
Melbourne finished their two 2023 finals with 51 shots on goal – compared to the combined 36 from their opposition, but couldn’t register a win in either match.
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