A stinging sledge from suspended Melbourne's Steven May to team-mate Joel Smith has been cited as a contributing reason to the brawl between the All-Australian star and Jake Melksham.
Both May and Melksham will be unavailable for the Queen's Birthday clash against Collingwood, with the big defender suspended for one match following his role in the Sunday night altercation with Melksham.
Melksham - who will serve community service for his role - wasn't banned for his participation in the incident but has been ruled out of the next match because of a hand infection caused by coming into contact with May's tooth.
According to the Herald Sun, the fight at Entrecote restaurant between Demons team-mates started after a boozy May trolled fellow defender Smith for missing the 2021 Grand Final because of a hamstring injury.
Smith was heartbreakingly ruled out because of the issue in training prior to Melbourne's drought-breaking premiership, while May played a role in the flag victory against the Bulldogs despite a 6cm tear in his own hamstring.
The banter from May - who was drinking against club rules after being in concussion protocol - reportedly became too much for Melksham, who confronted the former Gold Coast star on his behaviour before a fight started and spilled out on to Greville St.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn believes the players need to communicate with each other better, revealing his personal embarrassment as a leader over the altercation.
“I’m not going to lie - I’ve been embarrassed the last two days," Gawn said publicly on Wednesday.
“I’ve come out quite frequently … talking about this sort of stuff – how we speak to each other, and almost praising it on how we’ve been doing it as a group.
“And we’ve had a setback here, but I’ve had a setback with that almost every day in the last two years in the way I talk to teammates, the way I talk to my wife, my brothers, my mum and dad
“It’s about how you act from that.”
After losing two matches in a row against Fremantle and Sydney at the MCG, the Demons face an in-form Collingwood at the 'home of football' on Queen's Birthday.
