1 hour ago, Norm Smith's Curse said:

I once sat sat a table next to Brad Green at a China Bar and he had duck from memory.

Is that an omen ??

6 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

I think the threat was the probably the main point of the letter. That is why he referred to it. And so he should. Threats like that are appalling and whoever made it should be dealt with - harshly- by the courts.

Agreed they needed to cover the threat even if it was said in jest, but they were never going to delve deeper on the game/coaching this late in the season especially with a board meeting that evening.

1 hour ago, Red But Mostly Blue said:

DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING.

Sums it up.

People don't' want solutions, they want gestures.

2 hours ago, BoBo said:

I hate to say it and this might [censored] a lot of people off, but I’m just being completely honest. In 20 years, this demons team is going to be remembered as chokers.

‘yeah they won a premiership in 21, then lost 4 finals in a row, crashed down the ladder and suffered one of the worst losses ever to an average Saints team’

Nobody is going to give two [censored] that we ‘almost won’ those finals, that we had injuries or whatever.

It brings me no joy, but that’ll be the story.

That’s why this loss is way worse than 186.

I have rarely heard non-Melbourne supporters bring up 186, if ever.

This Saints loss will be remembered and ties a neat bow around this [censored] era.

I think a lot of us feel so angry, because this loss is a bookend to a wasted era.

If others disagree, then that’s fine.

I personally don’t think it’s ok that this team produced 1 flag. I’m actually so dirty about it.

I'm not dirty about not winning another flag. They are hard to win. I am filthy about not winning a single final, and not making a Prelim.

Otherwise I agree.

Edited yesterday at 08:021 day by praha

5 minutes ago, roy11 said:

it still constitutes a threat of violence in a workplace context - so have no issue with President mentioning it

To what end ? The allegation could have nothing to do with footy

Might be entirely unrelated meaningless in context of what the focus should have been team performance coach performance

Vic Police have not given it any credibility

The idea that it is related to Goodwin performance is an assumption not a fact

3 hours ago, BDA said:

flags are tough to win so it's not necessarily that we haven't won another one

its that we never came close

poor conversion and choking in consecutive finals cost use in 23. some people comfort themselves that we were "close". we were not close. same old story

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I agree to some extent.

We had the list capable winning more then one. But you gotta acknowledge that flags are incredibly hard to win.

We should know by now that even making finals is hard enough as it is but getting to the end of the mountain and sticking the flag in is just next level difficult.

I actually would have accepted it even in those years had we actually won some finals and contended all the way to preliminary final stage but unfortunately we didn't.. it was straight up two years in a row of straight finals losses..

I can't cop that at all. Inexcusable really.

I know that people often like to point out that we finished in the top 4 in 2022/23 but I'm of the view that we actually didn't. In my perspective we finished 5th in 2022 and 6th in 2023. A real top 4 finish for me is making a preliminary final at the bare minimum.

It shouldn't be about how flags are hard to win, it's about how we haven't won a single final since 2021 and are now back with the bottom of the pack. I get that we had things go against us (especially injuries) but we also had more than enough opportunities to put our opposition away, especially Brisbane in the 2022 SF and Carlton in the 2023 SF.

That's why I look back at 2018 much more fondly than 2022/23. We won two finals in front of jam-packed MCG crowds and played a much more exciting, attacking brand of football.

Edited yesterday at 09:531 day by Hopeful Demon

1 minute ago, Hopeful Demon said:

I know that people often like to point out that we finished in the top 4 in 2022/23 but I'm of the view that we actually didn't. In my perspective we finished 5th in 2022 and 6th in 2023. A real top 4 finish for me is making a preliminary final at the bare minimum.

It shouldn't be about how flag are hard to win, it's about how we haven't won a single final since 2021 and are now back with the bottom of the pack. I get that we had things go against us (especially injuries) but we also had more than enough opportunities to put our opposition away, especially Brisbane in the 2022 SF and Carlton in the 2023 SF.

That's why I look back at 2018 much more fondly than 2022/23. We won two finals in front of jam-packed MCG crowds and played a much more exciting, attacking brand of football.

You won't get that brand with Goodwin in charge

8 minutes ago, jackaub said:

You won't get that brand with Goodwin in charge

The irony is that Goodwin was in charge in 2018 when we were the most attacking side in the comp. The introduction of the 6-6-6 rule made him ultra defensive as he could no longer use tactics like having two players running from the back of the square.

Er Back to the topic... what a Gaumless, Claytons message Brad, really?? Happy that u rebuked the imbecile threat to Goody as anyone would, 👍 but the rest is Mickey Mouse stuff!

Edited yesterday at 10:281 day by picket fence

I think there are 2 messages in Brad's letter dressed up in a lot of waffle.

First of his message is "In the last 24 hours, many of you have voiced your disappointment and anger. We understand it and we acknowledge it. " I know from friends working at the club that answering the phone or sifting through the avalanche of emails on the Monday after a bad loss (Sundays comes under that classification). The office staff cop all the vitriol and emotionally charged emails. Brad has acknowledged this, and the hidden message is, please stop. FWIW I wrote a letter addressed to the board and Brad and sent the PDF as an attachment. They have my contact details and maybe even respond to it. I kept it polite and civil.

The second message was "I also want to address a serious matter that occurred yesterday. Following the game, the club became aware of an online post directed at our Senior Coach, Simon Goodwin.....what Simon was subjected to was totally unacceptable. No one in our game should ever be made to question their safety as a result of coming to work to do their job."

The president is making a statement that no one should be threatened or disrespected at work, and criticism comes with the job. These are the only 2 messages I got from this email

3 hours ago, jackaub said:

You won't get that brand with Goodwin in charge

The Simon Goodwin who was in charge in 2018 when we "played a much more exciting, attacking brand of football", that Simon Goodwin?

That moron who posted that Goodwin death threat deflected away from that awful performance on Sunday and put it on themselves instead.

Like many have pondered, I wonder if we would have gotten a letter if it weren’t for that idiotic keyboard warrior…

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by VNightCityLegend

I think that nothing was said in this letter, and he may as well not have created one. It merely says in other words, please don’t cancel your memberships.

11 hours ago, Older demon said:

I think there are 2 messages in Brad's letter dressed up in a lot of waffle.

First of his message is "In the last 24 hours, many of you have voiced your disappointment and anger. We understand it and we acknowledge it. " I know from friends working at the club that answering the phone or sifting through the avalanche of emails on the Monday after a bad loss (Sundays comes under that classification). The office staff cop all the vitriol and emotionally charged emails. Brad has acknowledged this, and the hidden message is, please stop. FWIW I wrote a letter addressed to the board and Brad and sent the PDF as an attachment. They have my contact details and maybe even respond to it. I kept it polite and civil.

The second message was "I also want to address a serious matter that occurred yesterday. Following the game, the club became aware of an online post directed at our Senior Coach, Simon Goodwin.....what Simon was subjected to was totally unacceptable. No one in our game should ever be made to question their safety as a result of coming to work to do their job."

The president is making a statement that no one should be threatened or disrespected at work, and criticism comes with the job. These are the only 2 messages I got from this email

Good summary.

Can't say I really learnt anything.

Threats are clearly wrong.

But some real ownership would be good.

This says (a little) more:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/1m-payout-won-t-stop-demons-making-tough-call-on-goodwin-if-necessary-20250729-p5min1.html

For the paywalled:

A payout of nearly $1 million for the final year of Simon Goodwin’s contract would not stop Melbourne from parting ways with the premiership coach should the board decide the change was the circuit breaker the club needed.

Melbourne are determined to make significant changes this year after another season that has spiralled into misery. There is a harder edge to Melbourne’s decision-making this year and the potential of a payout for Goodwin or other contracted staff will not be an impediment to change should they decide it is required.

Goodwin’s position remains under serious threat at season’s end, and possibly sooner should the club lose to bottom-of-the-ladder West Coast at the weekend.

The Demons board held a scheduled board meeting on Monday, which included presentations from both Goodwin and former All Blacks performance head Darren Shand, the consultant who ran the club’s football review at the end of last year.

Board member Steven Smith, who will take over as club president from Brad Green later in the year, joined the meeting by conference call from Europe. While the board did not settle on what its next course of action will be, it was agreed that significant changes to the football department are needed. The timing of decisions on those changes will not be reliant on the handover of the presidency.

Senior Melbourne sources said the board would analyse the football department and performance again, look at Shand’s review conducted at the end of last year and examine whether changes recommended then were properly implemented this year.

They will consider Alan Richardson’s role as the club’s head of football, the broader coaching panel as well as the senior coaching position, and most pointedly, consider whether changing the senior coach is necessary to prompt cultural and seismic change at the club, or simply the easiest and most symbolic change to make.

What change would have the biggest impact at a club that needs to halt a continued slide from their premiership year? Moving on the one coach in the past 60 years to take the club to a premiership? Overhauling the rest of the coaches and football figures? Being more aggressive in turning over the playing list? Or all of the above?

The potential availability of a number of experienced senior AFL coaches – namely Adam Simpson, John Longmire and Nathan Buckley – cannot be ignored when considering whether Goodwin’s message is still getting through or the group needs a new voice.

Melbourne believe they could cover the impact on the soft cap of paying out the final year of Goodwin’s contract, or other contracts, if it came to a decision to part ways.

The only certainty, as a senior Melbourne figure said, was that all options were on the table for the football department, with the board agreeing the status quo was not working. The dissatisfaction and resignation of members and sponsors is not lightly dismissed.

While all options are on the table for the broad football department and strategy, the same does not apply to the playing list, as players such as Max Gawn and Kysaiah Pickett will not be up for trade.

The Demons are aware they have stuck with the same midfield of Gawn, Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney since their 2021 premiership. That midfield blend was formidable when their game style, predicated on contested ball and strong defence, was the successful dominant method of play, but has waned in the years that the trend has been towards transition running and repeat speed.

Debate has been had internally about whether Melbourne’s list is suited to that style of play or, if it is, then is the style getting trough to the players? That is the list-versus-coaching debate every club that finds itself in this situation argues about (see Carlton).

Melbourne refused to trade Oliver to Geelong last year, believing the return offered was insufficient, and shutdown Petracca’s restlessness for a move.

The club still believes it would need a significant return to entertain moving any of its players, including that pair, on. The Demons do not have a first round draft pick this year.

As a senior Melbourne figure observed of their season, doing nothing is not an option.

5 minutes ago, pitmaster said:

This says (a little) more:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/1m-payout-won-t-stop-demons-making-tough-call-on-goodwin-if-necessary-20250729-p5min1.html

Great article thanks for posting. Change is clearly needed. The only members of the coaching panel that have been regulars are obviously Goody, Chaplin and Chocco. Bassett, Jones and Russian are new to the panel.

For me Goodwin needs to go. It is unfortunate but the time is right and the longer he stays I believe he is slightly tarnishing his legacy and harming his chances of future employment especially as a head coach as our losses keep mounting. I just hope it is done respectfully and that he is not made a scapegoat.

In my opinion we need to also move on Richardson and Chocco and thank them for their services. Tim Lamb should also be looked at.

You could also look at Selwyn but that is a hell of a lot of change.

I would like to see Enright as head coach with Bartel as football operations manager with any further changes to staff be on their needs or recommendations or to comply with soft cap.

The players also cannot be absolved as well there needs to be some big calls made in this space as well.

17 hours ago, Norm Smith's Curse said:

I once sat sat a table next to Brad Green at a China Bar and he had duck from memory.

All duck and no dinner?

4 hours ago, Dee Viney Intervention said:

Great article thanks for posting. Change is clearly needed. The only members of the coaching panel that have been regulars are obviously Goody, Chaplin and Chocco. Bassett, Jones and Russian are new to the panel.

For me Goodwin needs to go. It is unfortunate but the time is right and the longer he stays I believe he is slightly tarnishing his legacy and harming his chances of future employment especially as a head coach as our losses keep mounting. I just hope it is done respectfully and that he is not made a scapegoat.

In my opinion we need to also move on Richardson and Chocco and thank them for their services. Tim Lamb should also be looked at.

You could also look at Selwyn but that is a hell of a lot of change.

I would like to see Enright as head coach with Bartel as football operations manager with any further changes to staff be on their needs or recommendations or to comply with soft cap.

The players also cannot be absolved as well there needs to be some big calls made in this space as well.

Agree great article. Makes me think this is Brad Greens other letter published via major masthead.

Also agree with nearly all of your off field changes. Goodwin, Richardson, Selwyn first in that order, followed by Chocco and Chaplin.

On field leadership needs a freshen up too. Relieve Max of the captaincy but retain him as VC and add two or three younger players (Bowey, Pickett, Chandler, Rivers maybe?) to round out the leadership group under a new captain.

The new captain is tricky (sadly) it was only 2 years ago it felt like we had 5 blokes that could be captain the only realistic options in my mind (and in this order):

1. Petracca, his actions last year would have dented trust and damaged his rep with the fans but it showed he can be a disruptor and was genuinely worried we ballsing it all up

2. Lever, confident, smart leader but can he get on the park and will he be in red and blue next year

3. Melksham, left field considering his age but he's a steady hand and smarter than all of then. Could be a good Tim Paine esque stop gap for a year

Lots of questions and challenges. First challenge though is to insitgate change and it's clearly not a little bit like they tried to convince us was needed last November.

19 hours ago, praha said:

I'm not dirty about not winning another flag. They are hard to win. I am filthy about not winning a single final, and not making a Prelim.

Otherwise I agree.

Spot on, the drop off has been remarkable.

2021 1st after H&A, dominant September, Premiers

2022 Scrape top 4, many players limping into finals, drop 2 finals that were close-ish but never really looking like wins

2023 Scrape top 4, look really good in the last month of H&A despite ballsing up Gawndy and losing Petty and Melksham and then go to water losing 2 finals despite dominating

2024 Cue in the rack after rd 8

2025 Forgot to pull the cue out of the rack until rd 6, dropped the cue in rd 11 and watched it shatter into a million pieces between 5.30 and 6.00 pm last Sunday

Sunday’s debacle has made it embarrassing to follow Melbourne again or wear our colours. To me that is almost unforgivable and a blight on the people that run our club and pull on the jumper each week.

I E-mailed Membership yesterday as I have not received the recent E-mail Letters from the President and I wondered why. I had been receiving all game day information about ticketing for away games etc.

I also indicated I will be assessing my Trident membership status at the end of the season, but that is not what this comment is about.

Membership replied today (I have found the office staff are always excellent in dealing with queries) after they had investigated the reason for missing the President's communications.

The answer was that I had (quote) "opted out of all marketing".

That statement is true and reflects my antipathy towards relentless marketing and consumerism.

However the point I am making here is that our footy club - the MFC - considers information from the President to the Membership about policy and/or performance (especially when responding to a crisis as now) to be MARKETING.

That revelation set me back for a second and I think it reflects the way the senior officials see us plebs in the membership.

Appalling.

I'm not saying we don't need change (clearly we do) - but I think so many of us think that change = better. In many cases it won't. Most of us have very little idea about who is responsible for what and because we're not happy with the output everyone's name gets thrown up.

As an example, Selwyn Griffiths is our "high performance manager" which despite the title is really in charge of managing injuries and fitness.

Early in the season we were struggling to win last quarters - perhaps we were not fit enough. Mid season that seemed to be less of an issue with many strong performances in last quarters. Does that mean its the fitness, or is it coaching, tactics, rotation management, or psychology? Who really knows?

What I do know, is that we have actually had a pretty good season in terms of management of injuries. Is that because without playing finals, we had a longer pre-season and so players with niggles could rest more? Or is it because Selwyn and his team actually know what they're doing?


I have no idea - but I would hate to see us weild the axe here to placate the angry members, sponsors etc and find a replacement that is similar to what essendon / carlton have had in recent times. Because the reality is, there's a pretty small pool of ppl that can actually do this type of job. Remember what it was like before we got Burgo?