Season Launch March 23

[praha 11,267]

It really is all down to the players now.

Must start winning games.

Must be a good team or two.

And must present that "x-factor".

[CBDees 3,167]

While I understand what you are saying, the family day was last week and was free.

This event is a fundraiser, would cost at least $130 a head before and fund raising takes place. Plus there are limited seats. If it was available at $100 reach the spy would out strip demand.

The market drives the price of the event.

Plus "The Song" has posted all the anticipated speeches so the only reason to go in person is to eat and drink and make your donation!

[Tough Kent 2,138]

It was an enjoyable night.

Keep an eye out for a new video to be released by the club about our link to the city of Melbourne. Goosebumps stuff. The highlight of the night for me was breaking bread with Chunk. I can now say I've had dinner with a 3 time Bluey winner!

[Wormburner 674]

PJ and Barretts' speech is on the site, but does anyone know why they don't put up Roos' speech also? They did the same thing after the AGM.

[Earl Hood 6,165]

Quote : "Jackson said the culture of the club was also making “some real ground”.

“I think it’s fair to say that it took most of 2014 for players and staff alike to realise that it will be them that have the greatest impact on the success of this club. Those of you here last year heard Paul Roos say this directly to the players,” he said.

“My own view though was that most people in the club, players included, thought Paul was a messiah or saviour and like Moses would somehow perform a miracle like parting the waters.

“This is no longer the case – I think we have achieved more on this front since the new football year started in November. Both players and staff alike do fully understand they are the people who will drive success. I see this in the actions and attitudes on a daily basis of everyone around the club.”

Did PJ have a straight face when he was saying this? I am starting to think the whole organisation was delusional everyone waiting for someone else to conjure up some miracle solution. Gee it is up to the players, who would have thought!!

[Sir Why You Little 37,407]

I think the club was deluding itself

Blind faith in the Red & Blueprint

That is what PJ inherited.

[timD 994]

I've been having a think about PJ's "get over it" idea when it comes to losses.

Of course he is right. But only up to a point.

The last umpteen years has demonstrated that 'faith' in people who claim to have a plan, who have good credentials and who have the respect of the footy industry (AFAIK) is the path to ruin and failure. The MFC has demonstrated nothing but the ability to perform so poorly as to be an object of contempt within the AFL and with its many supporters. We are below sympathy. We're seen as having earned our performance poverty through a genuine lack of ability compounded by weakness and handout dependency.

So Peter, what I'd like to say is that I do believe. I believed long before you arrived and I'll believe long after your name is but the answer to a challenging question at a Pub Quiz. I've bought memberships, brainwashed my children, started sponsoring players and given more time and emotional energy than is sane to the club. And compared to many who visit this site, I've actually given very little.

MFC is part of my very identity. Like many here, my emotional health rises and falls on a weekly (and at times hourly) basis around the triumphs and disasters of the MFC.

So I'll make you a deal: start producing on-field performance, and I'll give up my well-earned cynicism about bold statements and confident men telling me that everything is well in hand. My belief, my faith, my belonging to the MFC - for better or worse - is branded into my damned soul.

We all know that on-field is where it counts. Well Peter, I think that simplifies everything nicely. I'll give up my catastrophising - despite the reality of experience that has reinforced it.

Your job is to put up or shut up.

I'm sure we have a deal.

[Wiseblood 24,637]

I've been having a think about PJ's "get over it" idea when it comes to losses.

Of course he is right. But only up to a point.

The last umpteen years has demonstrated that 'faith' in people who claim to have a plan, who have good credentials and who have the respect of the footy industry (AFAIK) is the path to ruin and failure. The MFC has demonstrated nothing but the ability to perform so poorly as to be an object of contempt within the AFL and with its many supporters. We are below sympathy. We're seen as having earned our performance poverty through a genuine lack of ability compounded by weakness and handout dependency.

So Peter, what I'd like to say is that I do believe. I believed long before you arrived and I'll believe long after your name is but the answer to a challenging question at a Pub Quiz. I've bought memberships, brainwashed my children, started sponsoring players and given more time and emotional energy than is sane to the club. And compared to many who visit this site, I've actually given very little.

MFC is part of my very identity. Like many here, my emotional health rises and falls on a weekly (and at times hourly) basis around the triumphs and disasters of the MFC.

So I'll make you a deal: start producing on-field performance, and I'll give up my well-earned cynicism about bold statements and confident men telling me that everything is well in hand. My belief, my faith, my belonging to the MFC - for better or worse - is branded into my damned soul.

We all know that on-field is where it counts. Well Peter, I think that simplifies everything nicely. I'll give up my catastrophising - despite the reality of experience that has reinforced it.

Your job is to put up or shut up.

I'm sure we have a deal.

Nicely put Tim. You should email that through to the club.

[Older demon 2,801]

I like what PJ says

Melbourne chief executive Peter Jackson has urged all those involved with the club to shed the sense of pessimism that has often gripped the Demons.

Speaking at the club's launch on Monday night, Jackson drew on the example of No.2 draft pick Christian Petracca's season-ending injury as the type of incident that typically sends the Demons into a state of despair.

"We still tend to have what I've coined our 'Petracca moments'," Jackson said.

Maybe he does read this site. I think the culture change shouldn't be limited just to the club but the supporters as well. We have all endured so much that we have lost our positivity. Quick fixes don't work and PJ is re aligning the whole club and its culture as PJ says.

"As I'm sure Roosy will say to you, we will lose games of football this year. Get over it. We're on the right path, and we need to believe we're on the right path. Those within the club certainly do."

Go Dees

[praha 11,267]

I think the club was deluding itself

Blind faith in the Red & Blueprint

That is what PJ inherited.

An organisation is obliged to buy into a vision, though. When someone comes in with an ambitious plan, you owe it to yourself to buy in and trust that person.

How successful would the club have been had no one put "blind faith" into Schwab? Would things have been better or worse? Believe it: they would have been much worse.

It's not really the fans' responsibility to buy into what Jackson is saying. What he says has about 80% to do with sponsorship and PR relations for people that aren't actually invested in the club on in a fan capacity, and about 20% to do with actually keeping the fans happy. That's because it's a lot easier to create a positive brand and keep sponsors happy than it is to convince fans, fans that know that a lot of what he is saying is just fluff.

I bought into Schwab because he had a bold vision. He was a bad manager, a bad people person, and ultimately, a bad CEO. But I admire the vision he had. He had an undeniable passion for the club and he refused to acknowledge that the club was minnow. I liked a lot of what he did (trying to reconnect the club with the MCG, its history, etc.), but it didn't work.

Jackson has a sense of arrogance about him, no doubt acquired from his time at Essendon. He comes out not praising the club, but saying where it should be and where it is.

Sometimes realistic expectations help those involved in an organisation (including fans) adapt to change easier.

Would last year have been as manageable from a fan perspective had Roos or Jackson come out at the start of the year promising finals football? It would have been worse. Both said we needed to keep our expectations in check because we were coming from a long way back. It was a realisation we needed and it made the four wins all the more special. It was a frustrating year but we should have expected it.

But what are we buying in to with Jackson? I had more to buy in with with Schwab than I do with Jackson. I'm buying into Jackson, not necessarily because of his vision, but because of his portfolio. That's more dangerous imo.

I don't like being told to get over it, or not to say, "Here we go again". Schwab would never have said that.

[Sir Why You Little 37,407]

An organisation is obliged to buy into a vision, though. When someone comes in with an ambitious plan, you owe it to yourself to buy in and trust that person.

How successful would the club have been had no one put "blind faith" into Schwab? Would things have been better or worse? Believe it: they would have been much worse.

It's not really the fans' responsibility to buy into what Jackson is saying. What he says has about 80% to do with sponsorship and PR relations for people that aren't actually invested in the club on in a fan capacity, and about 20% to do with actually keeping the fans happy. That's because it's a lot easier to create a positive brand and keep sponsors happy than it is to convince fans, fans that know that a lot of what he is saying is just fluff.

I bought into Schwab because he had a bold vision. He was a bad manager, a bad people person, and ultimately, a bad CEO. But I admire the vision he had. He had an undeniable passion for the club and he refused to acknowledge that the club was minnow. I liked a lot of what he did (trying to reconnect the club with the MCG, its history, etc.), but it didn't work.

Jackson has a sense of arrogance about him, no doubt acquired from his time at Essendon. He comes out not praising the club, but saying where it should be and where it is.

Sometimes realistic expectations help those involved in an organisation (including fans) adapt to change easier.

Would last year have been as manageable from a fan perspective had Roos or Jackson come out at the start of the year promising finals football? It would have been worse. Both said we needed to keep our expectations in check because we were coming from a long way back. It was a realisation we needed and it made the four wins all the more special. It was a frustrating year but we should have expected it.

But what are we buying in to with Jackson? I had more to buy in with with Schwab than I do with Jackson. I'm buying into Jackson, not necessarily because of his vision, but because of his portfolio. That's more dangerous imo.

I don't like being told to get over it, or not to say, "Here we go again". Schwab would never have said that.

Praha. Schwab had a shocking vision. It took most of us a couple of years to realize it but his vision which was all written down failed on every level.

The players revolted on the field and Schwab still kept his job!

PJ comes to the club with a real CV

Schwab was a dreamer

[praha 11,267]

Praha. Schwab had a shocking vision. It took most of us a couple of years to realize it but his vision which was all written down failed on every level.

The players revolted on the field and Schwab still kept his job!

PJ comes to the club with a real CV

Schwab was a dreamer

I actually don't disagree at all. I acknowledged that his vision failed. I said I admire that he had a consistent vision and had the ambition to help drive the club up the ladder quickly.

We bought in because it was a romantic vision. It's gotten to a point now where romanticism just sets us up for disappointment. The club is on the brink and needs to start winning. Schwab's romantic vision for the club ultimately banished us to the bottom for a number of years and I acknowledged. I simply meant that he had a vision and it was easy to buy in.

[Sir Why You Little 37,407]

I actually don't disagree at all. I acknowledged that his vision failed. I said I admire that he had a consistent vision and had the ambition to help drive the club up the ladder quickly.

We bought in because it was a romantic vision. It's gotten to a point now where romanticism just sets us up for disappointment. The club is on the brink and needs to start winning. Schwab's romantic vision for the club ultimately banished us to the bottom for a number of years and I acknowledged. I simply meant that he had a vision and it was easy to buy in.

Yep. It all started nicely but had no substance.

It's like giving players unwavering support

Can be dangerous

Each year the list must be added and subtracted

[daisycutter 29,988]

praha makes a lot of sense

i don't think schwabb's vision was necessarily wrong. you need to separate the vision from the implementation

it was his implementation that was flawed. he obviously didn't get the right buy-in from all the other staff, made errors of judgement, and he has to carry the can for that

if the team had won more games, if we had luck on our side with drafting (the lottery) his vision would have looked better

a lot of things (and people) conspired to create the mess we became, with schwabb unable or not flexible enough to steer the ship

schwabb however, wasn't alone in making mistakes

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,131]

To be fair to Schwab, it should not have been just "his" vision. The Board needed to fully endorse it so it became the club's vision. If the Board endorsed it, they should be just as accountable for the vision itself and its failed implementation; if they didn't endorse it, that's a failure of governance.

[3183 Dee 2,917]

I think Praha makes a valid point - the fans (certainly the die-hards) do not need to 'buy-in': we have already bought-in. Schwab, in my opinion, was appealing to the die-hards. His vision was one of nostalgia and symbolism, but ultimately without substance. It was fuelled on history and high draft picks, who were chosen, it seems, for their table manners and not their hunger. What I took from Peter Jackson's message is that we've acknowledged a lot of these issues and the consequential mental fragility of the playing group, but it's time to move forward and not falling into negativity and despair every time something goes wrong - the Petracca moments.

[Sir Why You Little 37,407]

Agree with what is said above.

Put simply Schwab was a dreamer whereas PJ is a doer

If PJ can get this old girl into September action the love and membership will be visable

Right now it is all hard work and figures

I prefer that from the CEO. Its a multi million $$ industry

[Guest]

Sometimes we get lost when club personalities are involved.
A lot of what PJ has said since he arrived is what a lot of us have been saying for a long time (I know I have been saying some of the things he has for a very long time).
1) We had too many hangers on at the club (i.e. Hollywood Boulevarde)

2) We had/have a cargo cult mentality where one appointment/recruitment will fix all our woes (I know for a fact that I said this before PJ arrived)
3) We didn't show long term servants the loyalty that they deserved.
Some of us fell for CS's rhetoric pretty hard (other harder than some). We all need to accept certain policies are going ahead. That being said, I totally support what PJ is doing so long as he knows when to leave. He needs to remain an honest truth teller, not one of the clowns in the fun house and if he becomes part of the MFC full time then he risks becoming one of the long term goofballs who know no difference between the culture of the MFC and the rest of the AFL. He is a clean up expert and should remain so. If he stays focused on cleaning up the mess at the club and not ingratiating himself with it, then he should be fine.

[hemingway 7,633]

A lot has been written about Schwab. It is difficult to know the truth. Indeed the truth is subjective. I think Schwab was a creative thinker perhaps even a dreamer but in his later years was given too much power without the proper reporting lines and control by the board. It is easy to be swayed by the dreamer and their persuasive ability. I think he was probably a bit of a loner but had some powerful friends. What we do know was that he was a divisive figure that did not have the personality and interpersonal skills to bring people together. Perhaps it was about personal power and influence and he did appear to work in a Machiavellian manner. Not unusual trait in sporting club officials and other organisations. However, at the same time, he served the club for many years in a loyal capacity. He has not come out post his departure and denigrated the club. He has been dignified in his silence.

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

A lot has been written about Schwab. It is difficult to know the truth. Indeed the truth is subjective. I think Schwab was a creative thinker perhaps even a dreamer but in his later years was given too much power without the proper reporting lines and control by the board. It is easy to be swayed by the dreamer and their persuasive ability. I think he was probably a bit of a loner but had some powerful friends. What we do know was that he was a divisive figure that did not have the personality and interpersonal skills to bring people together. Perhaps it was about personal power and influence and he did appear to work in a Machiavellian manner. Not unusual trait in sporting club officials and other organisations. However, at the same time, he served the club for many years in a loyal capacity. He has not come out post his departure and denigrated the club. He has been dignified in his silence.

Fantastic post. Scwab truly did do what he thought was the best for the club, but in the end was a victim of his own ego and the "boys" type club he ran. The interview he did after he got shafted was all class. But with all that being said, I still say good riddance to bad rubbish.

[deanox 10,069]

I'd like to take a moment to contrast the adulation that Hird gets with the vitriol and hate directed at Schwab.

Schwab may not have got it right but his love of the club and his final actions (including that interview and conning to training) put him on a-whole-nother level compared with Hird.

He may not have been successful, he may have been misguided and u suspect ultimately he was a bit of a micro managing control freak who thought he could run on field off field etc but at the end of the day he did what he thought was best for the club.

[Barney Rubble 1,576]

Agree with what is said above.

Put simply Schwab was a dreamer whereas PJ is a doer

If PJ can get this old girl into September action the love and membership will be visable

Right now it is all hard work and figures

I prefer that from the CEO. Its a multi million $$ industry

Schwabby was locked in the past.

The Blazers, relying on what happened in the 50's

The Red and Blue Print

The football department were the ones that should have had contro of any blue print.

schwabby should have concentrated on what all CEO's do. Making Money.

[jackaub 1,402]

Schwabby was locked in the past.

The Blazers, relying on what happened in the 50's

The Red and Blue Print

The football department were the ones that should have had contro of any blue print.

schwabby should have concentrated on what all CEO's do. Making Money.

OHHH yeah baby Sooooooo right!!!

[timD 994]

Nicely put Tim. You should email that through to the club.

Thanks Wise - but I think a wrote it for me.

And i'm entirely confident that PJ wants the chance to deliver on field.

[Henrietta Lumbago 331]

And when are we going to start winning, who cares about the rest of it...? I couldn't care less how well Jackson speaks at a season launch, we have heard it before.