https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-fractured-football-club-behind-melbourne-s-eight-seconds-of-madness-20250731-p5mjc5.html

Have at it.

IMO, it’s an unsurprising piece which fairly highlights the lack of leadership everywhere at the club, on and off field.

Paywall - cannot access.

1 minute ago, Vineytime said:

Paywall - cannot access.

https://www.archivebuttons.com/articles?article=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-fractured-football-club-behind-melbourne-s-eight-seconds-of-madness-20250731-p5mjc5.html

Also ,Firefox on the new iOS (at least on my 16e) completely and natively disables paywalls for all Domainfax pages

Paywall. Can anyone paraphrase it?

depressing reading

what a basket case we have become

Petracca’s new manager, Anna Scullie, has denied this but four clubs contacted by this masthead firmly believe the contracted star remains open to leaving Melbourne at the end of the season. West Australian Judd McVee looks likely to depart, and the contracted Bayley Fritsch is no certainty to remain.

Accurate.

Well done Caro.

I wonder how she gets so much good info re MFC?

31 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-fractured-football-club-behind-melbourne-s-eight-seconds-of-madness-20250731-p5mjc5.html

Have at it.

IMO, it’s an unsurprising piece which fairly highlights the lack of leadership everywhere at the club, on and off field.

Typically strong and balanced article from one of the few footy journalists I respect

Summed things up perfectly. No leadership at the top and the club is suffering.

Aside from the paragraph posted above it's mostly to do with spreading ourselves too thin in off field roles with examples of too many people wearing multiple hats together with our new CEO and President not yet being in place and the club treading water as a result. Not much that we didn't know or suspect ourselves really.

Some damning stuff in there

25 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Paywall. Can anyone paraphrase it?

The breakdown in on field leadership in the last seconds was symbolic of our club wide lleadership problems.

We are a rabble off field.

We appoint a CEO in April who can't start until September.

Our comms director is covering 2 non related roles, including AFLW.

Our runner is also our welfare officer creating a potential conflict of interest (my example - telling a young bloke he is being subbed).

The acting CEO went for the job and didn't get it. Not ideal given he is an acting role for 5 months, particularly given our poor onfield performance.

Despite green pushing back on the idea he is an interim president, it is widely assumed he is keeping the seat warm for Smith, who is tipped to assume the seat. In September.

Its been left to Goody and Maxy to carry the can all season, just as it was post match on Sunday.

Edited August 1, 2025Aug 1 by binman

Just now, binman said:

The breakdown in on field leadership in the last seconds was symbolic of our club wide lleadership problems.

We are a rabble off field.

We appoint a CEO in May who can't start until September.

Our cooms director is covering 2 non realted roles including AFLW.

Our runner is also our welfare officer vreating a potential conflict of interest (my example - telling a young bloke he is being subbed).

The acting CEO went for the job and didn't getbit.

Despite green pushing back on the idea he is an interim president it is widely assumed he us keeping the seat wan for Smith, who is tipped to assume the seat. In September.

Its been left to Goody and Maxy to carry the can all season, just as it was post match on Sunday.

What it didn't say or ask was what is Gary Pert doing?

There's a lot of depressing stuff in there, but nothing more deflating than the Keith Thomas thing.

Great article really.

Its deflating to read but just shows exactly the complete leadership from top to bottom but also the messy and all over the shop job sharing between staff...utterly bizarre.

Sounds like Richardson will go with hope that Goodwin is next.

It was damning to read that after the review was conducted last year there has been little change made since.

1 minute ago, binman said:

Typically strong and balanced article from one of the few footy journalists I respect

I used to think that too, but in the media jostling and scrabbling for AFL headlines, she's slipped.

Had she done her research, she would have known Conca has been a runner since he started at the club (replacing Burns in the same role).

Perhaps she could have also mentioned that Guerra's prior commitment to organising a world conference actually might be significant and that to ditch that for his new role might also be showing a lack of leadership.

Green has always maintained he is President for the short term and that it is particularly difficult juggling that with a young family and a business. If Green was 'bristling,' I doubt it was about that.

Other than that, I agree with the leadership questions but good journos deal in facts rather than framing to suit their narrative.

This just adds more pressure on the club coach and players.

Something has to give to start fresh for next season.

BRING IT ON.

We've suspected systemic dysfunction for some time. This isn't really anything new as in just this year. A lot of 'groundwork' for our inept adventures in management and development have been obvious for years.

Describing us as a basketcase I think a bit ripe. A conflicted circus might be more accurate.

What you see on gameday essentially represents the disarray of confliction behind the scenes.

MFC ... how not to go about things 101

It’s damning, but it was damning 12 months ago when Pert and Roffey got axed without any plan. It was knee [censored], but also relatively popular.

The article itself tells me nothing new. I find Caro does this a lot. She just reheats administrative stuff all the time. It’s her weird football niche.

It’s mind boggling how much of a mess we have become again! How, why & who have allowed this to happen as it appears from President down we just don’t have our house in order! Yet so many work in private successful organisations! Why do we chose a CEO with zero football background with all of our issues & cant start until Sept? Why did we not appoint a president after Roffey resigned? Why is our footy dept in a mess??

32 minutes ago, binman said:

What it didn't say or ask was what is Gary Pert doing?

Hasn't he recently departed all things Melbourne after finishing his little consultancy like 'casho' wrt Caulfield ?

21 minutes ago, binman said:

The breakdown in on field leadership in the last seconds was symbolic of our club wide lleadership problems.

We are a rabble off field.

We appoint a CEO in April who can't start until September.

Our comms director is covering 2 non related roles, including AFLW.

Our runner is also our welfare officer creating a potential conflict of interest (my example - telling a young bloke he is being subbed).

The acting CEO went for the job and didn't get it. Not ideal given he is an acting role for 5 months, particularly given our poor onfield performance.

Despite green pushing back on the idea he is an interim president, it is widely assumed he is keeping the seat warm for Smith, who is tipped to assume the seat. In September.

Its been left to Goody and Maxy to carry the can all season, just as it was post match on Sunday.

What do the runner and welfare officer have to do with a player being substituted? Nothing. An acting person in a position applying for another job, and you think that he missed out because he was at the club was the reason... laugh my [censored] off. Having a new CEO not starting until September is not ideal but not earth-shattering; he will be well-informed about issues, and we have had someone doing the role. The position we are in regarding football is entirely on the football department, and they should have seen the warning signs three years ago regarding game style and player performance. It's time for a reset, but it's apparent that Goodwin will maintain the status quo. As for Trac, he will only go somewhere else if the club decides so, not him. The same goes for Oliver and Viney, but I could move on from those two if any party is interested, along with Salem and a couple of others.

21 minutes ago, binman said:

What it didn't say or ask was what is Gary Pert doing?

37 minutes ago, binman said:

What it didn't say or ask was what is Gary Pert doing?

God I hope that Keith Thomas decision doesn't haunt us for the next decade.

19 minutes ago, Roger Mellie said:

Perhaps she could have also mentioned that Guerra's prior commitment to organising a world conference actually might be significant and that to ditch that for his new role might also be showing a lack of leadership.

Mr Guerra currently in the US on holidays, according to a board member. It looks like he wants to be on board at VECCI to do a lap of honour at the world conference here. The delay is symptomatic of a lack of urgency that is all too present at our club.

Green said Guerra would “hit the ground running”. More like hitting the ground strolling, unfortunately.

The following is an extract from a month ago from the VECCI site:

Sally Curtain will become the next Chief Executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, succeeding Paul Guerra at the helm of Victoria’s largest and most representative business organisation.

Ms Curtain will commence in the role at a date to be determined before 1 September 2025, taking over from Paul Guerra, who will remain with the Victorian Chamber to deliver the 14th World Chambers Congress from 2 to 4 September 2025.

Brad Green is the President of the MFC last time I looked, sounds like Caro has spun it all together to show what a mess of a club we are after losing to Saints last week, AFL Media love to put the boots into us, knowing that our CEO is in transition, we are are an easy target. They know how to get up our skirts because we always react in the same way, even our more measured supporters have been worn down over time that is why I have disengaged from the media pack.