Matthew Lloyd is concerned that Melbourne is becoming a selfish side, as they look to manage the major loss of star midfielder Christian Petracca to a plethora of season-ending injuries.
The Demons now sit just outside the top eight with a 7-6 record, with just one win from their last five outings.
It is sounding alarm bells for Lloyd, who is worried that their form slump is based on their behaviour, not skill.
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“I think selfishness has crept in,” Lloyd said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Wednesday night.
“I thought on the King’s Birthday game, Bayley Fritsch (was playing selfishly).
“It’s filtering down to other players.”
It’s not just their attitude that has Lloyd questioning whether they can actually jump back into the top eight, despite their upcoming matches against battlers North Melbourne and West Coast.
Lloyd is concerned about the work rate of veteran midfielder Jack Viney, who he has labelled as “worn down”.
“To me, he’s one of the most ruthless guys on the field and off the field. He’s a barometre for them and he isn’t quite there (at the moment),” he said.
“I’d be challenging him and challenging the standards at Melbourne.”
Lloyd also put key defender Steven May under the microscope for his mid-game outbursts.
“We laud that they challenge each other at Melbourne, but I’m starting to get a bit tired of this too, where they look at each other (with anger during matches),” he said.
“The body language of Steven May needs to pick up.”
It comes as the club continues to grapple with losing Petracca for the rest of 2024.
The 2021 premiership winner had surgery last week to repair four broken ribs, lacerations to the spleen and a punctured lung after an incident in the Demons’ 38-point loss to Collingwood in round 13.
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Petracca went back onto the field and played until he was eventually removed from the match and rushed to hospital, where the extent of his injuries were revealed.
The Demons face North Melbourne in round 15 at the MCG on Saturday night.