I wish I could predict tattslotto numbers as easily as I picked yesterdays result. Last weeks gutsy loss inspired by Neita's retirement was a good (not great) effort. The Saints were under the media pump all week and came out like we did last week and the rest is history. Quite simply we failed to match their intensity.

We can blame the current coaching panel to a degree, we can blame the players and the lack of leadership and we most certainly can blame Daniher and Cameron who were largely responsible in building and managing this list which was done with no foresight whatsover.

However, the MFC has a bigger problem than our current playing list and our financial woes. As a club we lack CULTURE!

We do not have an identity that players and supporters and the media for that matter associate with. We need to have a relentless no holds barred non negotiable demand to succeed that permeates throughout the club. We need a culture so that all players know that it is an honour to represent our great club and wear that famous jumper. We need a culture that everyone including players, supporters, coaching staff and the board all understand what we represent. Once we understand what we represent the other 15 clubs will well and truly get the message and they will start to respect us again.

I want the MFC to breed a culture where mediocrity is unacceptable. The culture must embrace success and the relentless pursuit of it regardless whether favourite players are delisted. Non performance and non conformance are not acceptable.

It is up to the board and in particular the president to drive this culture. Clearly Garnder is not capable - let's hope Jimmy is.

I wish I could predict tattslotto numbers as easily as I picked yesterdays result. Last weeks gutsy loss inspired by Neita's retirement was a good (not great) effort. The Saints were under the media pump all week and came out like we did last week and the rest is history. Quite simply we failed to match their intensity.

We can blame the current coaching panel to a degree, we can blame the players and the lack of leadership and we most certainly can blame Daniher and Cameron who were largely responsible in building and managing this list which was done with no foresight whatsover.

However, the MFC has a bigger problem than our current playing list and our financial woes. As a club we lack CULTURE!

We do not have an identity that players and supporters and the media for that matter associate with. We need to have a relentless no holds barred non negotiable demand to succeed that permeates throughout the club. We need a culture so that all players know that it is an honour to represent our great club and wear that famous jumper. We need a culture that everyone including players, supporters, coaching staff and the board all understand what we represent. Once we understand what we represent the other 15 clubs will well and truly get the message and they will start to respect us again.

I want the MFC to breed a culture where mediocrity is unacceptable. The culture must embrace success and the relentless pursuit of it regardless whether favourite players are delisted. Non performance and non conformance are not acceptable.

It is up to the board and in particular the president to drive this culture. Clearly Garnder is not capable - let's hope Jimmy is.

Welcome to the last 42 years.

I wish I could predict tattslotto numbers as easily as I picked yesterdays result. Last weeks gutsy loss inspired by Neita's retirement was a good (not great) effort. The Saints were under the media pump all week and came out like we did last week and the rest is history. Quite simply we failed to match their intensity.

We can blame the current coaching panel to a degree, we can blame the players and the lack of leadership and we most certainly can blame Daniher and Cameron who were largely responsible in building and managing this list which was done with no foresight whatsover.

However, the MFC has a bigger problem than our current playing list and our financial woes. As a club we lack CULTURE!

We do not have an identity that players and supporters and the media for that matter associate with. We need to have a relentless no holds barred non negotiable demand to succeed that permeates throughout the club. We need a culture so that all players know that it is an honour to represent our great club and wear that famous jumper. We need a culture that everyone including players, supporters, coaching staff and the board all understand what we represent. Once we understand what we represent the other 15 clubs will well and truly get the message and they will start to respect us again.

I want the MFC to breed a culture where mediocrity is unacceptable. The culture must embrace success and the relentless pursuit of it regardless whether favourite players are delisted. Non performance and non conformance are not acceptable.

It is up to the board and in particular the president to drive this culture. Clearly Garnder is not capable - let's hope Jimmy is.

whilst i agree with the sentiment aren't ou shooting the wrong bloke... The board puts a coach in place that is suspposed to drive that aspect, on the ground. They can't drive the players it is up to the coaches...

Gardner for all of his faults has been the bloke who is moving us, not yet got us there, but is moving us to have a final resting place after how many years in the wilderness aimlessly wandering we will hopefully have a full time admin base/training base in the rectangular complex and summers out at Casey.. Kudos to him no one else has done it. What else does he need to do?

Sponsors... which he has bought Macca onboard to help bring to the club...

whilst i agree with the sentiment aren't ou shooting the wrong bloke... The board puts a coach in place that is suspposed to drive that aspect, on the ground. They can't drive the players it is up to the coaches...

Gardner for all of his faults has been the bloke who is moving us, not yet got us there, but is moving us to have a final resting place after how many years in the wilderness aimlessly wandering we will hopefully have a full time admin base/training base in the rectangular complex and summers out at Casey.. Kudos to him no one else has done it. What else does he need to do?

Sponsors... which he has bought Macca onboard to help bring to the club...

Breeding a winning culture into the club must come from the top down. I'm not suggesting Gardner has not done some good things and his legacy to some degree will remain when he goes. But I don't think he has the passion of a Smorgon or Maguire who have built a "never give in" culture at their clubs.

That's what we need to build. We want to be seen as a club that will give its all everytime its players go onto the field regardless of the talent on the park. As supporters we deserve value for money - we want our players to adopt a never say die attitude. This attitude must apply every week and not only because we had a bad game last week and are being pumped in the media during the week or because a legend of the club is retiring or because a boofhead president of another club criticises our club.

The "never give in" culture must be inbred and players who go to our club for the first time will feel and smell that culture when they walk through the door. Only a committed board led by a passionate and committed president can achieve this. Unfortunately Gardner is neither passionate nor committed.

Our culture is mediocrity, simple, we have been happy enough with results of making the top 5, 6, 8 for way toooooooooo long and we make finals achieve nothing and pat ourselves on the back and seem a content lot then fall by the way side, pop up for a good year then pat ourselves on the back and away we fall again.

In my assessment, we have a culture that is mentally soft. DB won't be a good coach until he realises this and takes steps to address it. Train them all he likes, they can do fantastic skilful things on the training field. But get them in a competitive situation and how often, over years and years, do we only as a team play really hard, competitive, passionate footy when there's something special happening? Like playing catch-up (the 50 points down was classic).

Many of the great wins I remember have been last-gasp catchups, victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. Wouldn't we love them to come out firing from first quarter and keep up the pressure to not just scrape a win but really grind a team down? When ahead, the culture seems to be to relax, take it easy, done enough.

It's a team thing, and seems to get passed on because the current crop have inherited and still show this soft mentality of past teams, I'm afraid. Changing this team culture is a significant challenge for DB and his team, because history shows it won't just happen of itself over time.

Bring back the DEMON I say. Let's play down this Melbournefc stuff a bit.

Clearly badging the club for the international market when we haven't even harnessed enough local town support is a big mistake, or just getting way ahead of ourselves.

(on a side note I hope the AFL are taking notes regarding their expansion plans....but unfortunately probably not).

I don't know whether a 'culture' starts at the top or the bottom, but I find it amusing to say the least that for all the discussion on the topic NO ONE has even suggested it MIGHT have to start with the SUPPORTERS!!!!

How the performance of the board has anything to do with the performance of the team and vice versa is a mystery to me. They are essentially seperate entities working in almost complete isolation of each other.

All we can ask for from the 'club' in it's current situation is that 'they' stick together.........and, blow me down, THEY ARE.

Go DEMONS - Building for the future