“A bit lost”: May reveals reasons for premature retirement

Retired Melbourne defender Steven May has spoken for the first time since charges were dropped over an alleged incident at Sorrento Hotel.

Amid ongoing legal battles, May retired from AFL football ahead of the 2026 season, departing the Demons after seven years and 15 seasons at the top level. The charges were later dismissed, with he and Tiger Dion Prestia deemed innocent over the incident from December of 2024.

May joined SEN Dwayne's World on Wednesday afternoon, exclusively opening up on the mental challenges of balancing football with the ongoing trial, his decision to retire and his future away from the game.

“Charges finally dropped on Friday, it’s been a big 18 months,” May said.

“Your name gets dragged through the media. I know I don’t have the greatest name already so that didn’t help.

“Especially when you were so innocent in something. You can’t really do much or say much because it’s a criminal charge.

“I feel for Dion. He’s still playing and has got different hurdles he has to get through. It was a huge weight off both of our shoulders.”

With all the media talk that has surrounded May over the years, does he feel hard done by? Or has he expected the hard time he’s been given?

“100 per cent. If you’ve made a few mistakes in the past you grow a bit of a record, I guess,” he added.

“If you were to do something and you were innocent then no one is really going to believe you. They’ll look at the history.

“I’ve had a few indiscretions off-field, you could say. That definitely didn’t help. When you’re so innocent in something no one really believes you.

“The media were coming after me for the last year and a bit, and then on Friday I didn’t hear anything when the charges got dropped.

“I know that’s the nature of the beast, that doesn’t sell papers - 'charges withdrawn'. I get it, it’s what you signed up for.”

May also touched on how his career ended so abruptly after he announced his retirement in March despite being contracted for 2026.

He had prepared to play for the Demons with a full pre-season under his belt before experiencing what he describes as a “mental breakdown”, admitting that it did hurt to make the big decision to pull the pin.

“The worst part about it was I had just done a pre-season, and I hate pre-seasons. Some people love them but I really hate them,” he laughed.

“It was the end of January so I’d finally got through it and ready for a new year, I was injured all last season, had a bad year on the field. I was really ready to show people that I still have it, did the pre-season, ran a PB in January, up and about, let’s go.

“Then had a bit of a mental breakdown and found myself a bit lost and not sure what to do. It came to a point where I had to put the club before myself. I was able to retire before the deadline so then they could get another player in and Paddy Cross is playing good footy and Melbourne are flying.

“All in all it looks like it’s worked well for both parties.”

The 2021 premiership star said incoming Demons coach Steven King was prepared to offer him a clean slate before the veteran made the decision to retire.

“He spoke to me beforehand. He gave me a clean slate when he came in,” the 34-year-old said.

“There were no priors, he said he would give me a clean slate like every other player. He was really good, he was true to his word and very supportive. I could see he was going to be a good coach, I didn’t realise he was going to be this good this quick.

“Another part of my decision to retire was that ‘Kingy’ needed to come in with fresh air. They’d moved on a few star players (Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver), I still had the charges hanging over my head, I knew that was a distraction to the footy club even though they didn’t really say it. I could feel it.

“There comes a point where you’ve got to make a decision that’s best for my family but also for the footy club. My family is happy and the club is flying, so I’m pretty stoked with it.”

May says he still watches every Demons game and still texts the backline boys, admitting he’ll miss running out onto the hallowed turf of the MCG in the red and the blue.

“It does hurt not to be running out on the MCG every week, that really sucks.”

The two-time All-Australian is playing local footy in the EFNL with East Ringwood and is looking to work his way into the commercial real estate world.

May says he is happily retired from the AFL.

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