{"id":8614,"date":"2026-05-10T20:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T20:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/8614\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T20:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T20:15:07","slug":"new-voice-same-focus-fresh-start-fuels-renewed-optimism-for-demons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/8614\/","title":{"rendered":"New voice, same focus: Fresh start fuels renewed optimism for Demons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Melbourne is embracing a fresh era under new coach Tom Wilson, who took the reins from premiership mentor Mick Stinear\n <\/p>\n

Tom Wilson coaching for Collingwood’s AFLW side. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

MELBOURNE’S new AFLW era officially begins on Monday when for the first time, a head coach not named Mick Stinear will oversee the start of pre-season.<\/p>\n

The perennially contending Demons saw their premiership coach step aside after a preliminary final loss to North Melbourne last season, before he took the reins at Geelong.<\/p>\n

While it was well telegraphed in the eyes of many around the League, it opened the door for a fresh face and voice at Melbourne in the form of new coach Tom Wilson.<\/p>\n

The off-season of change has also brought a renewed energy, according to defender Saraid Taylor.<\/p>\n

“It’s funny, it’s always mixed feelings because we’ve come from such a strong group of staff and players and every season it’s different, it’s always a bit sad to lose really amazing people,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n

“But the people we’ve also brought in, having a new coach, some new players, it is really exciting to have a new voice and a new approach.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of similarities because it was so strong from last season, but we can’t wait to take on the challenges of this year ahead.”<\/p>\n

Stinear was the Demons’ inaugural coach, leading them in 101 games for 71 victories, six finals series, three Grand Finals and their memorable premiership in 2022 (Season 7).<\/p>\n

Daisy Pearce and Mick Stinear lift the premiership cup after Melbourne’s win over Brisbane in the S7 Grand Final on November 27, 2022. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

The Demons then moved to appoint<\/a> Collingwood AFLW assistant and longtime VFL player Tom Wilson as their new head coach while also hiring a new AFLW general manager in Katrina Gill.<\/p>\n

Melbourne is somewhat an outlier in having a new coach after making finals. It is only the third team in 10 AFLW seasons to undergo a coaching change immediately after making the post-season.<\/p>\n

North Melbourne didn’t renew Scott Gowans’ contract after making a semi-final in 2020, while two-time Adelaide premiership coach Matthew Clarke announced he was stepping down before going on to make a semi-final last season.<\/p>\n

There’s been change in the Demons’ playing ranks too.<\/p>\n

They lost gun forward Eden Zanker to Fremantle during the trade peroid, but the ins included Mia Austin from Carlton as well as draftees Jordyn Allen and Chloe Baker-West. They also replaced the inactive Blaithin Mackin with South Adelaide’s Lauren Clifton at Monday’s Telstra AFLW Pre-season Draft.<\/p>\n

Taylor cemented her spot in the Melbourne backline last year, playing 12 games including all three finals and averaging nine disposals and six intercepts per game.<\/p>\n

Now in her third season as a Demon after initially being signed by Richmond as a cross-code rookie in 2022, the former basketballer believes the group has plenty to be optimistic about in 2026.<\/p>\n

Saraid Taylor warms up ahead of the match between Melbourne and Richmond at Casey Fields in round four, 2025. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n

“You always want to be building on things. For us we made the prelim but we lost the prelim so there’s definitely still lots of stuff to work on,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n

“We feel excited about the work that we’ve put together as a team, the main group that is continuing on together, but then we’re also really open to the voices coming in and the ways they can contribute too.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne is embracing a fresh era under new coach Tom Wilson, who took the reins from premiership mentor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[260,603],"class_list":{"0":"post-8614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-melbourne","9":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}