On 14/05/2025 at 15:07, DeeZone said:

Re: Memberships. MFC were beaten up by the press at all levels so badly from the end of ‘23 throughout ‘24. The lack of support from the AFL and media fools regarding the Gus Brayshaw thuggery shook us to the core and this was followed by continual attack right through 2024. That wasn’t helped by Tracc’s injury and a lot of other negative activity around the club. No wonder members fled in their droves, it was hard enough for us rusted on members to continue on despite the constant criticism from inside and out. If we make 55,000 I will be pleasantly surprised.😢🥲

Some would see that as an opportunity to dig in and support the club. Thousands of Melbourne supporters took that as an opportunity to take their ball and bat and go home.

Culture.

1 hour ago, BDA said:

That contested footy won us the flag in 21. Hardly delusional to think in would work in 22 and 23. And we finished top 4 both those years. The game has moved on now and we have to adapt, which we are attempting to do.

Trying now.... failing

We should have changed it up in 22 because anyone with a modicum of intelligence would realise at least 2 things.. footy changes... and everyone will have worked us out and start coming up with different/ better.

The game hasn't moved on NOW.. it ALWAYS is.

We didn't. We're struggling

11 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Trying now.... failing

We should have changed it up in 22 because anyone with a modicum of intelligence would realise at least 2 things.. footy changes... and everyone will have worked us out and start coming up with different/ better.

The game hasn't moved on NOW.. it ALWAYS is.

We didn't. We're struggling

Name one other club who’s won a Premiership and then changed its game plan? It’s a nonsense to suggest we should have changed our approach. We’d just won 3 finals by large amounts. The fact is our list, as with most teams, didn’t bat deep and when injuries came in 22 and 23 we dropped off marginally. Still finished top 4 with our terrible Premiership winning game plan but didn’t have the cattle to go all the way. Injuries aren’t an excuse they’re a reason.

1 hour ago, jackaub said:

How many 5+ year contracts do Pies and Cats have?

Million dollar man Grundy signing a 10 year deal stands out as one of the worst contract calls in recent history

Also Treloar for 6 years and trading him for peanuts after 1 year

Every single club is the same

When winning the crowds are good, when losing not so good

The hardcore fans go every week, the casuals fans go when it’s fun

We just happen to have less of both than most clubs

25 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Every single club is the same

When winning the crowds are good, when losing not so good

The hardcore fans go every week, the casuals fans go when it’s fun

We just happen to have less of both than most clubs

I will just add that we’re currently on an average attendance of 37,907 for our 9 games. 8th overall and ahead of Port, Swans, WC, Freo etc.

9th place on just home games with 40,002 (obviously boosted by Anzac Eve but that goes for others too). Bombers and Tigers 11th and 12th with 37k and 36k.

We do ok despite the peanuts on social media talking us down when we get a low crowd against a team with no fans.

40 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Every single club is the same

When winning the crowds are good, when losing not so good

The hardcore fans go every week, the casuals fans go when it’s fun

We just happen to have less of both than most clubs

it also hasnt been much fun for a while

1 minute ago, biggestred said:

it also hasnt been much fun for a while

Winning 16 games/season in 2021-23 was pretty good fun

But the major issue was we didn't get to see any of the fun in 21. Not sure I'll ever get over that if we we don't win another in my lifetime

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Some would see that as an opportunity to dig in and support the club. Thousands of Melbourne supporters took that as an opportunity to take their ball and bat and go home.

Culture.

I honestly believe that the membership/crowd number drop off is more to do with how hard of a watch this team is than anything else.

People can only watch the same slow scrappy gamestyle and ineffective forwardline for so long before they get bored and want to spend their afternoons doing something else. Outside of a couple of games here or there we are a slog to watch even when we're winning. Saints are more entertaining to watch than us.

3 hours ago, beelzebub said:

Glimpses .... reminds me of "with bay views " translating to .. if you climb on the roof with a ladder you can just make out the water between the trees if you squint.

I seriously think people think this game is harder and more complicated than it really is. We are not asking players to embark upon Mission Impossible like espionage excursions. It's footy.

We just make it look hard

That’s gold Bub.

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

But the major issue was we didn't get to see any of the fun in 21. Not sure I'll ever get over that if we we don't win another in my lifetime

i feel this deep inside.

Every year we are stopped in our tracks. Not by poor players, but by poor umpiring, poor media reporting, poor reporting of spiteful incidents to our players, and most of all, poor tribunal and AFL DECISION MAKING.

"We feel we're building some form within our footy club but we got to do it for longer"

Simon Goodwin, 16 May 2025.

An obvious quote by Goodwin but why can't we do it for longer? Why has it taken almost half a season to still sort this out?

Is it fitness?

is it mental?

Is the coach's 3 quarter time message not getting across to the players?

Is the game plan too taxing to play 4 quarters?

Answers that really need to be addressed by the coach if we're being realistic.

Ps - surprised he even made the slightest comment about Luke Jackson other than the typical 'no comment' line.

Edited May 16May 16 by Bring-Back-Powell

4 hours ago, BDA said:

That contested footy won us the flag in 21. Hardly delusional to think in would work in 22 and 23. And we finished top 4 both those years. The game has moved on now and we have to adapt, which we are attempting to do.

Agree but we never experimented with a Plan B at either VFL level or in games where we were dominant. We then slipped into a dour uninteresting brand that increasingly put a toll on both fans and players.

Fans looked for a glimpse of that GF play but were just met with the python squeezing its prey. It was better than Ross Lyon's ultra defensive style but everyone knew that it was just time until the blitzkreig style of another team overran our high defensive model.

1 hour ago, KozzyCan said:

I honestly believe that the membership/crowd number drop off is more to do with how hard of a watch this team is than anything else.

Very true. I got to a point before games where I didn't feel like watching another two hours of long bombs

5 hours ago, BLWNBA said:

Beat me to it as I was typing a reply. We did seem to also somewhat pivot during 23; however, we lacked the cattle to move towards a less contested game-plan (and still largely do lack, IMO).

Our major deficiency with classy outside runners who actually have pace and can hit a target from multiple angles is what hurts us.

I think it's another year of drafting if we can get another 2 Langford and Lindsay's, or 24 months will be needed.

5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Some would see that as an opportunity to dig in and support the club. Thousands of Melbourne supporters took that as an opportunity to take their ball and bat and go home.

Culture.

Works both ways. When the fans suspect that the Board & Footy Dpt are treating them like mushrooms & things are clearly going south they vote with their feet (and wallets).

And I don't blame them.

The Dees Management need to set a high standard when selecting a senior coach. A contract needs to be based on the coaches and staff performance(success). i.e 3-4 finals and 1 grand final every five years. Goodwin's contract would have been over this year , no need to keep him for 2026 or to pay him out.

On 16/05/2025 at 04:55, Adam The God said:

I think it's another year of drafting if we can get another 2 Langford and Lindsay's, or 24 months will be needed.

Not sure how we achieve that without trading out a player or two for good returns.

We spent all on Langford and Lindsay.

2 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Not sure how we achieve that without trading out a player or two for good returns.

We spent all on Langford and Lindsay.

Possibly, or trading two future 1sts.

On 16/05/2025 at 08:27, Dr. Gonzo said:

Some would see that as an opportunity to dig in and support the club. Thousands of Melbourne supporters took that as an opportunity to take their ball and bat and go home.

Culture.

The problem Dr ... is I think a lot of people have been burnt over the years and unrelenting trust is not embedded.

I love the club, the jumper but we can be as wonky as all get go in terms of management.

Look at us now.

Over the years more high profile coaches have had strong friendships with the players they coach and been sacked. Some suggest that Goodwin could play a part in the potential return of LJ or retraining Kosi whilst forgetting to mention the gifting of games and favourable treatment to others. Goody needs to go and whatever comes of that player wise we’ll deal with.

I don't expect anyone in this thread will read and refer to the article in today's Age about how Kossie is treated (exceptionally sensitively and well) by the club AND BY GOODY.

22 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

I don't expect anyone in this thread will read and refer to the article in today's Age about how Kossie is treated (exceptionally sensitively and well) by the club AND BY GOODY.

I'm actually starting to think Goodwin is simply in the wrong role.

He obviously has a good connection with the players but as a coach, I.e the bloke who's supposed to coordinate the play etc I don't rate him.

I've fully believed for some time it was Ooze who was the real catalyst for our winning. He's gone, we're floundering.

But the connection of players and Goody remains.

I think he might simply be doing the wrong job.

Mentoring might be more his fit.

1 hour ago, Ollie fan said:

I don't expect anyone in this thread will read and refer to the article in today's Age about how Kossie is treated (exceptionally sensitively and well) by the club AND BY GOODY.

So What would expect nothing else