Melbourne have addressed their plans for the off-season, a recent trade target's reported U-turn and speculation that has surrounded vice-captain Jack Viney.
Viney's name emerged as a potential target for North Melbourne, who have flagged a desire to add experienced talent to their list this off-season.
Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson confirmed earlier this week the club has had a number of players who could fill the void in their sights, with Viney among them.
Contracted until the end of next year, the Demons would need to permit a trade for Viney, an outcome that is very unlikely given the club's reliance on the 30-year-old as a leader and member of their midfield group.
The Roos' interest in Viney comes as Melbourne prepare to lose premiership forward Alex Neal-Bullen, who has seen his request to move back to South Australia for family reasons permitted by the club.
Onballer Christian Petracca's future also came into question before CEO Gary Pert quashed any thought of the signed superstar departing before the end of his contract - which runs until the end of 2029.
Questioned on Viney's future, Pert was categoric that the 217-gamer would remain a Demon for 2025 and potentially beyond.
"Jack couldn't be more blue and red," Pert toldย Crunch Time.
"I expect him to be playing next year. He's heart and soul for the club."
The trade rumours that surrounded Petracca came as the 2021 Norm Smith Medal winner's frustrations with the club's direction came to light, with the Demons facing a season outside of the finals frame.
The internal frustrations have reportedly caused Demons target Dan Houston to go cold on his potential move to Melbourne, with the Demons initially seen as a likely landing spot for the All-Australian backman.
The concerning situation at the Demons could force Melbourne's list planning to look elsewhere, with Pert revealing the club is in constant dialogue to identify "the sort of players we would like to bring into our program".
"Dan is obviously a contracted player at another club. I'm not going to talk about any players from other clubs," Pert said of the Houston situation.
"Suffice to say, this time of the year and over the next few weeks, we're talking to a lot of player managers about the sort of players we would like to bring into our program.
"I'm sure there's lots of other clubs looking at our players. We've got a lot of talented players as well.
"In the industry that's what plays out over the next couple of months. I would prefer we weren't having this sort of publicity while those players were looking at our club.
"Once we get through the next period of time where we sit down and start planning for next year, it starts to become exciting again about what that potential is. Because the one thing that we've got that hasn't changed is we've still got a very talented list."
Melbourne will continue to place a large degree of its list focus on building for the future, having found a number of positives this year from their emerging ranks. After using two first-round draft picks last year and blooding five debutants, Pert echoed the need to keep adding to the club's current stocks through the draft.
The Demons CEO added the forward line could be an area for improvement over the off-season also, with Simon Goodwin's side home to one of the more inefficient front thirds in the competition.
"We definitely have to keep on investing (in the future). We've had five debutants, a lot of them have played quite a bit of footy this year. In some ways, they've probably played more than ideally what we would've liked in their first year. They were having to replace the early loss of Angus Brayshaw, [that] caused a shuffle," Pert said.
"We lost Petracca towards the end of the year and our midfield and forward lines throughout the year. Clayton Oliver has had a difficult year this year, a lot of that has come off the back of a badly broken hand and had to play this season with a plate in his hand.
"What that means is we've had the opportunity to reset and look at that forward line, which is an ingredient we have to get right so that we can be a serious threat in the final next year."
At the time of writing, the Demons hold Picks 6, 38, 43, 50 and 62 for this year's AFL Draft.
