The Melbourne Demons great singled out the coach after the thrashing.

Melbourne great David Schwarz has taken aim at coach Simon Goodwin for not playing a specialised ruckman in the team’s 50-point thrashing to Fremantle last weekend. The Dockers dominated the Demons at Optus Stadium last weekend to leave Goodwin’s team needing a victory against the Giants to maintain their chances of a top eight finish to play AFL finals footy in 2024.

Goodwin is hoping Max Gawn returns this weekend after the captain missed his second game in a row as he recovers from a small fracture in his ankle. The ruckman admitted he could be back this weekend, but was left shocked over his team’s efforts against Fremantle.

And former Melbourne great Schwarz was also critical of the team’s performance and singled out the coach for what he believes was a huge tactical error. Without Gawn, Fremantle duo Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson dominated the middle with 47 hit-outs. Harrison Petty and Jacob Van Rooyen were left stranded in the middle having only managed nine hit-outs throughout the contest.

Melbourne dominated the stoppage count and controlled the tempo of the game from every restart. Goodwin also opted to leave new recruit Tom Fullarton on the sideline.

And Schwartz, who played 173 games for Melbourne, was critical of Goodwin’s decision to leave out Fullarton. He labelled the selection decision as ‘ridiculous’ having opted against a specialised ruckman against Fremantle.

“Everybody saw that they needed a ruckman to go into that game,” Schwartz told SEN Radio. “When you go and recruit Fullarton from Brisbane as a backup ruckman, and then you needed the backup ruckman to play because you’re up against two giants in Jackson and Darcy, and then you make him the emergency, you’ve just got to be saying, ‘what the hell are you doing?’

“Simon Goodwin has got egg on his face. It’s just a ridiculous decision not to put him (Fullarton) in the side. You don’t recruit a ruckman as a backup and then not play him.”

The Melbourne great claimed Goodwin should find himself under pressure soon after a number of questionable decision in recent years. “Simon Goodwin should be embarrassed and don’t fluff out these stupid press conferences where you say, ‘Oh, you know, it’s just part of the plan’. Bull dust,” he added.

“Every supporter, every person who knows football pretty well knows that in the last year and a half there have been decisions made that have cost Melbourne games, cost Melbourne ladder positions and there’s a time coming where if these decisions keep coming, Simon Goodwin won’t be in his position.”

Max Gawn hopes for Melbourne return against Giants

While Goodwin may have copped criticism for his decision not to play Fullarton last weekend, he is expecting to welcome back Gawn against the Giants. In what is a must-win clash for Melbourne, Goodwin selected Gawn in the hope he has recovered from the ankle injury.

However, Gawn wasn’t overly confident he would be ready having struggled train. He was also not confident he could turn around his team’s performances having watched the Fremantle demolition on the sideline.

“Goody picked me … which puts a lot of pressure on the ankle,” the Demons captain told Triple M Radio. “I’d like to think I am a 60-point difference, but I don’t think I am.”

Melbourne face a tough run to make AFL finals footy in 2024. Sitting in 10th place, they play three of the their final five clashes against teams currently sitting above them on the ladder.