Latest news with #JakeMelksham
News.com.au
08-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Melbourne forward Jake Melksham on his out-of-contract status
In-form Melbourne forward Jake Melksham is in 'no rush' to sign on for another season. Melksham is poised to challenge his career-best goal tally of 32 in 2018, having kicked 20 in 12 games in the final year of his contract this season. Melbourne is yet to hold any serious conversations with Melksham about his future and he is unsure if he would even accept the offer of an extension. 'I haven't made that decision up in my mind. Once we talk about it, sit down, we'll start to discuss the nuances of it all,' Melksham, in his 16th AFL season, said. 'I'll have a chat with my family as well. I've got young kids that play sport on weekends – I think my son has played 10 games and I've been to two of them. 'He would probably like me at a few more of his games, but in saying that he does like coming to watch his dad at the 'G as well. 'They're all just little things we've got to talk about. As I said, I haven't thought about much of it all to date. 'We've got eight weeks, no rush, I'm not going anywhere – I'll either be at Melbourne or I won't.' Melksham has grown in a leadership capacity in recent seasons, developing into an on-field coach of sorts. But when the curtain does fall on his playing career, Melksham says he is more looking to chase lost time away from footy than a seat in the coaches' box. 'At certain stages when I had my knee and I was putting time into that each week with the group, I enjoyed (coaching),' he said. 'I have a few other off-field interests I like as well that I am doing in parallel with my career at the moment. 'I think when the time comes, when I do finish up, I will stick to those. 'When you finish footy you want to get some of your life back; coaching is probably double the hours we do as players, we have it pretty good.'
News.com.au
22-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell wants his side to ‘throw our own punches'
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says his side must throw its own punches to counter the star-studded Brisbane Lions on Saturday. The fourth-placed Hawks – coming off a loss to Gold Coast in Darwin – face their biggest challenge of the season with the reigning premier at the MCG. The Lions, also coming off a loss, have built their strong start to the season through an extensive stock of stars. Mitchell is wary of the Lions' depth but says his side must 'create some problems for them' going the other way. 'Getting the ball into your front half against a side like Brisbane is vital, we know we need to work on the exact strategy and structure we have,' he said. 'They've got so many talented players, whether we go after one or two of them individually or whether we look at a collective system to try and create some clearance dominance. 'The challenge of the Brisbane midfield is not too dissimilar to that of the Gold Coast midfield, I think when you look at these teams at the top of the ladder, they've got stars on every line. 'We can't afford to over resource the midfield too much because it comes at the expense of something else. 'What we need to do is throw our own punches and make sure we're playing in an assertive and offensive way to create some problems for them.' The job Melbourne forward Jake Melksham did on Brisbane co-captain Harris Andrews played a strong hand in the Demons' upset win last week. But Mitchell gave little away as to whether he will pose a similar task to veteran goalkicker Jack Gunston. 'I don't look at that too much specifically, I leave that with the line coaches to figure out exactly who and how to play (Andrews),' he said. 'Brisbane are clearly a potent side with a lot of dangerous players, if we focus too much on that we will go away from our own game, I don't think that helps us either. 'There's a little bit of meet fire with fire and there's a little bit of making sure we can put out a couple of things for them.'
