Demons overhaul coach structure in AFL

Reeling from their massive disappointment so far this AFL season, Melbourne have overhauled their coaching structure.

The Demons will come out of their mid-season bye with five coaching changes ahead of Saturday's match against Fremantle at the MCG.

Former Western Bulldogs senior coach Brendan McCartney will move from their defensive coach to mentoring all AFL and VFL assistants.

Troy Chaplin is now the standalone backline coach, while Jade Rawlings is no longer coaching VFL affiliates Casey and instead will be in charge of their forwards.

Max Rooke has moved from forwards coach to a development role and Sam Radford will take over from Rawlings as the head coach at Casey.

This started as a season of great expectations for the Demons after last year's preliminary final breakthrough.

But they have gone backwards and are third-last with a 3-9 record.