On 11/02/2025 at 08:16, Rednblueriseing said:

Wtf is wrong with our club, soon as things start looking good.. we assembled a premiership list everyone thought was ganna be at the top for a long time... record members 70k+ we seem to f$#@k it up ourselves, our best players want to leave and I don't blame them... we have 1 chance this year to recover this era so we can look back on it being a true success... don't want to go from flag and looking at being a big club to back in the doldrums where we once were.. there is so much riding on this season. Hope we can deliver 

Lastly to anyone who hasn't signed up, get off your a#$e and support like made this year the boys need us in the stands more than ever

One thing we have done very bad since the 2021 premiership is recruitment.

If not for our elite draft picking, our list would look devoid of star power and skilled players.

  On 14/02/2025 at 01:17, Harvey Wallbanger said:

41,530. 

Is now 42,229 

Interestingly

Saints 43,300

Dogs 42,300

Kangas  41,053

We need to  have winning start and will beat these Clubs with an instant jump. 

 

  On 20/02/2025 at 17:11, 58er said:

Is now 42,229 

Interestingly

Saints 43,300

Dogs 42,300

Kangas  41,053

We need to  have winning start and will beat these Clubs with an instant jump. 

 

True 58er, we took a real battering last year on the field and in the press it would have turned a lot of people off, particularly those that believe everything they read in the press versus those that don’t read it. lol…..!!

They seem to be updated it quite regularly now.

Currently sitting at 43,082

  On 25/02/2025 at 04:15, DistrACTION Jackson said:

They seem to be updated it quite regularly now.

Currently sitting at 43,082

44,047 showing today.👍😁

  On 04/03/2025 at 10:30, DeeZone said:

44,047 showing today.👍😁

I think our record by round 1 was 50k… might be pushing it this year but never know. They usually do their members drive telethon thing, haven’t heard of that being done yet.

  On 04/03/2025 at 10:36, DistrACTION Jackson said:

I think our record by round 1 was 50k… might be pushing it this year but never know. They usually do their members drive telethon thing, haven’t heard of that being done yet.

Unfortunately we are down about 4-5,000 already from last year, and based on the trend from previous years, that will be maintained until the end of July when the count stops. 

People just do not "jump on board".  

Their commitment seems to be based solely on the performance of the club in the previous year.

 

  On 05/03/2025 at 02:22, george_on_the_outer said:

Unfortunately we are down about 4-5,000 already from last year, and based on the trend from previous years, that will be maintained until the end of July when the count stops. 

People just do not "jump on board".  

Their commitment seems to be based solely on the performance of the club in the previous year.

 

Not surprising, plus COL struggles would make it hard for some families.

I think to build the 'rusted on' number of members we need to have a strong decade of regular finals appearances.

Also, if we are in finals contention come June/July we will likely get a boost from that with people wanted guaranteed finals tickets.

At the end of the day we still have the same 15-20K people who attend no matter what. The membership numbers are just bolstered by fair weather supporters who won't pay for a 3 game membership unless they are almost guaranteed of seeing us win. It is what it is.

Every club is the same. 

  On 21/02/2025 at 01:18, DeeZone said:

True 58er, we took a real battering last year on the field and in the press it would have turned a lot of people off, particularly those that believe everything they read in the press versus those that don’t read it. lol…..!!

What actually turned people off was the dysfunctional administration doing nothing & pretending everything was just peachy. 

Try replaying Goody & Pert's interview from 12 months ago.

  On 04/03/2025 at 10:30, DeeZone said:

44,047 showing today.👍😁

That was me yesterday, thanks everyone.

  On 05/03/2025 at 04:18, Cranky Franky said:

What actually turned people off was the dysfunctional administration doing nothing & pretending everything was just peachy. 

Try replaying Goody & Pert's interview from 12 months ago.

No mate, most people that just care about going to a couple games didn't want to pay to go because we played a garbage brand of football.

The people that care about the off-field shenanigans are the people who care about the club and will attend the games, its just that we got more angry and more depressed with them as the year went on.

I thought the idea was to throw out a big aspirational target like 75,000 in December and reach it by flogging as many mickey mouse 1, 2 or 3 game "memberships" for pennies in July in order to reach it just before the AFL deadline. 

would be curious to see how the three types of memberships have changed in cost over the last, say, 25 years:

• mcc membership
• afl membership
• club membership
  • full
  • home games
  • 3-5 games

i'm sure someone out there would know...

Edited March 5Mar 5 by whatwhat say what

The best example of fair weather supporters are the Dorks, where have they been for the past 6 years?

All of a sudden they have some stupid Hokball [censored] saying with an extremely kind draw last year.

Kisses me right off that they have one good year and they have a fair share of prime time TV slots.

Like they really have paid their dues in the comp to deserve this on sporting merit after one season, f off AFL.

Let's see how they cope with the bright lights and everyone trying to smack them up.

We will crack 65k again if we get off to a good start, which I'm sure we will.

  On 05/03/2025 at 06:15, FearTheBeard said:

No mate, most people that just care about going to a couple games didn't want to pay to go because we played a garbage brand of football.

The people that care about the off-field shenanigans are the people who care about the club and will attend the games, its just that we got more angry and more depressed with them as the year went on.

Yes well it was pretty hard to get motivated to to go to games last year when we were playing so poorly.

  On 05/03/2025 at 06:44, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

All of a sudden they have some stupid Hokball [censored] saying

Serious question, wtf even is hokball?

  On 05/03/2025 at 07:11, RedLegs23 said:

Serious question, wtf even is hokball?

football played in a horrible jumper

  On 05/03/2025 at 07:11, RedLegs23 said:

Serious question, wtf even is hokball?

hok is slang for hawk (at least for some challenged people)

so hokball is hawkball ... get it?  sort of very tiktokky kids stuff

  On 05/03/2025 at 07:11, RedLegs23 said:

Serious question, wtf even is hokball?

Wouldn't have a clue @RedLegs23

Ask some pimple faced kid they would know, its got me ccompletely fkd.

Arrogant [censored] the lot of them just like their coach, taking selfies onfield, posing like tough guys and all this other BS!

Edited March 6Mar 6 by YesitwasaWin4theAges

  On 06/03/2025 at 06:49, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Wouldn't have a clue @RedLegs23

Ask some pimple faced kid they would know, its got me ccompletely fkd.

Arrogant [censored] the lot of them just like their coach, taking selfies onfield, posing like tough guys and all this other BS!

Ah mate i’m just about done with the hawks & their [censored] and they’ve only just started to come good again the last 5minutes!

And now we gotta deal with these cocky hawk supporter clowns lead by the AFL media [censored] coining the little fella “The Wizard, the Wizard” every time he gets near it? Fahk off!

The disrespect to the great man Jeffrey Farmer is crazy! because HE is the ONLY Wizard I’ll ever know. 

I'm filthy with the hawks

  On 05/03/2025 at 06:53, Cranky Franky said:

Yes well it was pretty hard to get motivated to to go to games last year when we were playing so poorly.

Supporting is like marriage 

For better or poorer in sickness and in health, 

Pretty non negotiable really. 

The  half glass empty is still the uninformed mantra of the fans from last year. Let’s see if the pickers and choosers of night games vs interstate teams return to addy game figure.???

No real excuses Formula1 IMO if you are there otherwise turn up.  

One consistent theme missed by supporters on here when it comes to membership growth, is style of football. 

You simply won't attract the same level of interest and therefore potential members or renew old lapsed members if you're not playing consistently exciting footy and have players to match. Exciting footy brings sponsors, media, TV exposure, new supporters and old supporters together. The very reason Hokball became such a phenom is because of how exciting they were to watch, as individuals and as a game style. Regardless of whether you like it or not as a Melbourne supporter. That's irrelevant. You saw it happen in front of your eyes. Play exciting footy with a list of players who aren't afraid to show their personality and x factor on field and look what happens. 

Now if you're a Melbourne supporter who says, "I don't care if we play boring footy as long as we're competitive" then you're missing the point. If we're talking about genuine growth of a supporter base, you simply need be either playing an exciting brand of football which usually requires having several highly marketable and watchable players on your list. 

One of the very things Petracca brought up as an issue to the club, like it or not. 

It's no surprise at all that St Kilda, North and perennial non-achievers are at a similar level of membership to us. Winning that flag was always going to give us a short-term hit. But it's not a sustained hit. And part of this is absolutely to do with the style of footy we've opted to play and the players we've recruited over the journey to play that style. 

 

Edited March 13Mar 13 by Redleg_Knowledge

  On 13/03/2025 at 20:58, 58er said:

Supporting is like marriage 

For better or poorer in sickness and in health, 

Pretty non negotiable really. 

The  half glass empty is still the uninformed mantra of the fans from last year. Let’s see if the pickers and choosers of night games vs interstate teams return to addy game figure.???

No real excuses Formula1 IMO if you are there otherwise turn up.  

Some marriages are not worth continuing.

If fans lose confidence in the administration then support will drop off until changes are made.

  On 13/03/2025 at 21:39, Redleg_Knowledge said:

One consistent theme missed by supporters on here when it comes to membership growth, is style of football. 

You simply won't attract the same level of interest and therefore potential members or renew old lapsed members if you're not playing consistently exciting footy and have players to match. Exciting footy brings sponsors, media, TV exposure, new supporters and old supporters together. The very reason Hokball became such a phenom is because of how exciting they were to watch, as individuals and as a game style. Regardless of whether you like it or not as a Melbourne supporter. That's irrelevant. You saw it happen in front of your eyes. Play exciting footy with a list of players who aren't afraid to show their personality and x factor on field and look what happens. 

Now if you're a Melbourne supporter who says, "I don't care if we play boring footy as long as we're competitive" then you're missing the point. If we're talking about genuine growth of a supporter base, you simply need be either playing an exciting brand of football which usually requires having several highly marketable and watchable players on your list. 

One of the very things Petracca brought up as an issue to the club, like it or not. 

It's no surprise at all that St Kilda, North and perennial non-achievers are at a similar level of membership to us. Winning that flag was always going to give us a short-term hit. But it's not a sustained hit. And part of this is absolutely to do with the style of footy we've opted to play and the players we've recruited over the journey to play that style. 

 

So you are saying we need a new coach pronto?