Just six games into his tenure as Melbourne Football Club’s senior AFL coach, Steven King has added his voice to a growing cohort of league coaches pushing for major changes to the Victorian Football League (VFL) competition fixture, citing disruptive scheduling gaps that derail player development pathways.
The Demons’ reserves affiliate, the Casey Demons, have only been able to complete two regular matches through the first chunk of the 2024 season, with a scheduled bye for the club and a league-wide break to accommodate the VFL State of Origin exhibition match forcing the side into an extended break. The fragmented, stop-start schedule left King’s side with no official competitive outlet for their development players, prompting Melbourne to arrange an unofficial scratch match against Essendon’s reserves at the Bombers’ training base, the Hangar, this past Sunday.
King explained that the current scheduling structure fails star development players waiting for their chance to break into the senior AFL lineup. “I’ve got 12 to 15 players who are hungry to compete every week to prove they deserve an AFL call-up, and right now they can’t get that game time in the official competition,” King said. He pointed out a specific conflict with the State of Origin round: when the VFL pauses all club matches for the representative game, only a tiny handful of VFL-listed players get selected to participate, leaving dozens of AFL-listed reserves with no competitive match to play. “This is something the AFL should look into adjusting. If stand-alone clubs get a bye when they lose players to the State of Origin game, why can’t our AFL-listed reserves get the opportunity to keep playing?” he added.
The disjointed fixture has also forced awkward, difficult conversations between King and players on the cusp of senior selection. “Players come up to me and ask, ‘Does this mean I’m out of contention for the first six weeks because there are no games for me to prove myself?’ That’s a really tough question to answer,” King said. “All our guys want is to get out on the ground and play, so they can put their hand up for senior selection. I know most other clubs have already raised concerns about this issue, and I will be following the proper channels to push for change too.”
Looking ahead to this weekend, Melbourne is set to face the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday for the annual Jim Stynes Foundation charity match. The game comes as a critical bounce-back opportunity for the Demons, who suffered an upset loss to Essendon during the league’s recent Gather Round.
When asked about his game plan for the Lions, who boast one of the deepest, most talented midfield groups in the competition, King said he would prioritize sticking to Melbourne’s own identity rather than completely overhauling the Demons’ game plan to counter the opposition. “We can’t be a club that just reacts every week and changes how we play to match the opponent,” King explained. “We know what works for our game and what fuels our belief. Of course we will tweak a few things to limit the Lions’ strengths — that’s just standard preparation. But as a young coach, I want this group to play our brand of footy and play to our own strengths.”