Awkward scenes in Simon Goodwin’s kitchen, and a power play in the boardroom

Brad Green’s perplexing decision to hang on to the Melbourne presidency until the end of the year has further exposed the leadership tensions at Melbourne, which have festered all season.

It has also raised questions about just how readily and wholeheartedly the Demons’ directors are to embrace Steven Smith, the 200-gamer and former Melbourne Cricket Club president who was, in recent years, also sounded out for a position on the AFL Commission.

Melbourne actively pursued Smith after Kate Roffey’s departure at the end of the 2024 season. He initially refused, having just retired and in the midst of planning a European sabbatical, but was ultimately convinced to step up, with interim president Green happy to remain in the role until the end of the 2025 season. Smith was elected to the board in December last year.

He returned home about a week and a half ago, just days after Green led a delegation to Simon Goodwin’s house on the Monday night after Melbourne’s 83-point victory over West Coast to tell him he had been sacked. The expectation was that Smith would take over as soon as the board could ratify the planned leadership handover.

But Green, in a move that has raised eyebrows among Smith’s supporters and across the club, said he wanted to remain until December and apparently has the backing of his fellow directors to do so.

This means he wants to remain in charge until after a new coach has been appointed and also help oversee a full-scale review of the Demons’ football operation. Despite rumours that have cast doubt over the scheduled presidential handover, Green has told directors he still intends to relinquish the presidency.

He declined to answer questions put to him by this masthead, or to publicly guarantee that he would step down as president. Although the expectation remains that he will do so, no one in a position of authority at Melbourne was prepared to publicly guarantee the handover this week. Smith, who was back at the footy last Sunday for the Demons’ clash with the Western Bulldogs, did not return calls.

Green has bristled on several occasions during this season when he has been introduced or described as Melbourne’s interim president, and certainly he has relished the leadership role, with the Melbourne board largely running the club all season in the absence of a permanent chief executive.

Notably, Green moved to sack Goodwin with three games remaining and days before Smith returned to the country. Smith and Goodwin had not spoken for four months and still haven’t.

There was no doubt in Goodwin’s mind that Green led the decision to axe him, a move that will cost the club about $1 million because the premiership coach was contracted for next year. Green and fellow director Angela Williams remained in the Goodwin kitchen for only a matter of minutes before being asked to leave by the sacked coach, who had sent his children to their bedrooms to avoid any awkward scenes.

Football director Alan Richardson and acting chief executive David Chippindall stayed around a little longer before Goodwin asked to be left alone with his family.

Green and fellow director Angela Williams remained in the Goodwin kitchen for only a matter of minutes before being asked to leave by the sacked coach.

Now Richardson, whose name was absent from the list of leaders Goodwin said had helped establish the club’s success, and whose position had looked precarious all season, has been named on the committee to select Goodwin’s replacement. And Chippindall continues as interim chief executive, as he has since April, paving the way for the incoming boss Paul Guerra.

It was Guerra who pushed for Jobe Watson to join the coach-search panel, where he will sit alongside Melbourne Storm’s Frank Ponissi with Richardson, the only member boasting coaching experience.

Still, should the favourite Nathan Buckley accept the position, the make-up of that panel – which also includes Smith and Green – will prove academic.

The red flags flying in the face of the Melbourne coaching role include the ongoing and still uncertain search for a permanent central training and administration facility.

Goodwin’s departing clip about the geographically unattractive Casey Fields struck a chord. That and the ongoing debate over the football direction of the club given that Green stated after sacking Goodwin that he believes the club remains in premiership contention.

One week ago, Leigh Matthews stated that Melbourne, for him, remained a coaching no-go zone unless the candidate was absolutely desperate to become a senior coach. Matthews’ reason was that the club badly needed a football chief executive like Carlton’s incoming Graham Wright and that Guerra had no football experience.

Add to those red flags the lack of clarity over the presidential handover and the strange decision from Green to delay it and push to remain at the helm after working so hard late last year to recruit Smith. This at a time when so many key and crucial football decisions loom.

Whether or not you agree with the decision to sack Simon Goodwin, it cannot be disputed that he coached in often challenging and occasionally untenable conditions. Board discord has punctuated the past six seasons, including 2021 when Goodwin coached the club to its first flag in almost six decades. Surely the next coach will be spared that distraction.

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