“A bit of a mess”: Former star and father of current Dee makes Melbourne admission

Former Melbourne star Shane Woewodin admits things are a “bit of a mess” at his old club.

The 2000 Brownlow Medallist and father of current Demon Taj has commented on the current situation at the club which revolves around two star players and a recent change of president.

Woewodin was asked how he views the situation with Clayton Oliver and all the Geelong talk, as well as Christian Petracca’s apparent dismay and decision to miss the best and fairest.

“It’s a bit of a mess really, isn’t it,” Woewodin said on AFL Trade Radio’s Trade Feed.

“It’s not where you want to see your footy club, you want to see everyone on the same page.

“Once ’24 had finished you’d like it to be, ‘Ok, we haven’t made finals, let’s have a reset, have a few weeks off’. It’s the first opportunity in a long time where they haven’t competed in finals where they can reload and have a really strong pre-season.

“You don’t like all the off-field stuff to have any influence or impact on what’s happening within your football club and playing group.

“It’s a bit of a mess. Hopefully it gets rectified really quickly so when the boys do resume in November there’s clear air and there’s some clarity as to where everything’s at, what’s going on and they can attack a full pre-season and ’25 really strongly.”

Woewodin played alongside new club president Brad Green and was asked what advice he would give his former teammate.

The 200-game midfielder experienced what he describes as a “messy” departure when he was surprisingly traded to Collingwood in 2002 so has some experience in discord at the club.

“I think it’s important to have communication and conversation,” he added.

“Getting in a room and just nutting it all out so everyone is really clear and not to have anyone outside these conversations.

“The value of communication is really important. If you’re trying to hide things and do things yourself you’re going to fall apart somehow.

“The key has always been really clear about communication.”

Listen to the full chat with Woewodin below: