Melbourne Demons include Christian Petracca in football program review

The club described their process as a “routine part of football” and the move was designed to reassure supporters that the Demons were addressing any concerns with senior players and their plans.

Premier League coach Simon Goodwin is under contract until the end of 2026, while Petrarca and Clayton Oliver are on long-term deals. Oliver’s pre-season was interrupted by concerns about his fitness and his football preparations were affected as he failed to reach the heights of previous seasons.

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Demons may try to recruit Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston during trade period They are also pursuing West Coast forward Harry Edwards. They recently re-signed Premier League players Ed Langdon and Harrison Peaty.

The club has yet to inform assistant coaches whose contracts are out of date whether they will remain in their positions beyond 2024, and a decision will not be made until the end of this season. Greg Stafford, a long-time assistant and forwards coach since the Premier League, is one of the coaches whose contracts expire at the end of this season.

The past two games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) have both been played on Saturday nights against non-Victorian teams, with attendances of less than 20,000 at each game.

Carlton’s injury chaos: Star striker makes headlines

Carlton will be forced to fight for the season without Charlie Curnow and Harry Mackay, with the star forward forced into six changes following a day of carnage for the Blues at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Curnow (ankle) and Mackay (quadriceps) will miss Sunday’s must-win clash against West Coast at Optus Stadium.

The pair will be sidelined for one to two weeks, meaning they are likely to miss the remainder of the season, home and away.

Defenders Adam Saad (hamstring) and Jordan Boyd (adductor), and forwards Jake Martin (hamstring) and Lachie Fogarty (collarbone) also were injured in the game. Hawthorn lost by 74 points on Sunday.

Boyd and Fogarty will miss the remainder of the season, while Thad and Martin will join Mackay and Curnow in missing up to two weeks.

Tom De Koning (foot/lung), Adam Cerra (hamstring), Orazio Fantasia (calf) and Matt Cottrell (shoulder) have all been ruled out from the Blues’ first-choice lineup.

Blues coach Michael Voss will have to get creative to fill the shoes of Curnow and Mackay, who have collectively won the last three Coleman Medals.

Curnow’s injury means he will miss the chance to become the first striker since Gary Ablett (1993-95) to win three consecutive Coleman Medals.

The 27-year-old played in the Eagles match while injured and was unable to finish the match.

Star defender Jacob Weitering believes the Blues let their fans down in their loss to Hawthorn.

The Blues vice-captain admitted it was a difficult review of his side’s fifth defeat in six games.

“Maybe we should look at it as disappointing,” Wetterling said before Carlton’s injury report was released on Tuesday.

“It’s definitely been a loss of contact. There’s not a lot of communication (on the ground).”

“We had some honest conversations about what we could do better as individuals, as a line group, and as a team.

“That’s certainly not the way we play football.

“I think, in a sense, we did let ourselves down, let our fans down, and we have a great opportunity this week to make up for that.”

Although the defeat was difficult to accept, Wetterling called for calm.

Carlton can still reach the finals for a second consecutive season if they win their final two games against West Coast (away) and St Kilda (Marvel Stadium).

Three weeks ago, the Blues were in second place and looked destined to finish in the top four for the first time since 2000.

Carlton’s record dropped to 4 wins, 1 loss and 8 draws midway through last season, but they made a strong run to the finals at home.

“Last year everyone was talking about blowing this place up again,” he said.

“They called Worthy’s (Blues coach Michael Voss) head midway through and saw what happened.

“If we play the right way, our best result will definitely be good enough.”

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