Gary Pert on The Deebrief

[Dr. Gonzo 22,526]

One thing that struck me about the interview (ok 2 things that are related) was Perts understanding of our history.

He said 1) we were the original powerhouse club and 2) we had a history of 100 years of success before the spiralling after 1964 (my words)

In regards to 1) that would be heavily disputed as Fitzroy and Collingwood were really the powerhouses of the VFL for the first few decades of the competition.

2) we most certainly did not have 100 years of success. In fact the predominant era of success occurred in a 25 year window when we won 10 flags between 1939-1964. Our VFA record prior to the VFL commencing in 1897 was nothing to write home about either (I think we were recognised as champion 3 times between 1870-1897).

If you don't understand the history I'm not sure how successful you will be in righting the ship. Perts ambition seems to be to turn us into a powerhouse which is a fine ambition. But I think we need to aim to be a sustainable boutique team first before building off that into a powerhouse. Consistent years of memberships over 50-55k should be the aim initially, aiming to go straight to 75k is wildly optimistic in my view. As long as we can be financially sustainable free of AFL support that is the main goal initially. We can pull big crowds to marquee games but I don't think we'll ever get 60k vs GWS not in the near future anyway. Getting 35-40k consistently to those types of games should be the aim.

[Half forward flank 1,022]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

One thing that struck me about the interview (ok 2 things that are related) was Perts understanding of our history.

He said 1) we were the original powerhouse club and 2) we had a history of 100 years of success before the spiralling after 1964 (my words)

In regards to 1) that would be heavily disputed as Fitzroy and Collingwood were really the powerhouses of the VFL for the first few decades of the competition.

2) we most certainly did not have 100 years of success. In fact the predominant era of success occurred in a 25 year window when we won 10 flags between 1939-1964. Our VFA record prior to the VFL commencing in 1897 was nothing to write home about either (I think we were recognised as champion 3 times between 1870-1897).

If you don't understand the history I'm not sure how successful you will be in righting the ship. Perts ambition seems to be to turn us into a powerhouse which is a fine ambition. But I think we need to aim to be a sustainable boutique team first before building off that into a powerhouse. Consistent years of memberships over 50-55k should be the aim initially, aiming to go straight to 75k is wildly optimistic in my view. As long as we can be financially sustainable free of AFL support that is the main goal initially. We can pull big crowds to marquee games but I don't think we'll ever get 60k vs GWS not in the near future anyway. Getting 35-40k consistently to those types of games should be the aim.

Nice pick up, as soon as I started reading your first paragraph I thought, that is not right. We were not the original powerhouse. Reminds me of a friend who was in PR. He was a master at retaining bits of information on a client but it was never the full picture. Same ability to speak with absolute authority. I do not and have never thought he has had any substance.