With the AFL Trade Period having just wrapped up, I wanted to reach out given a lot has transpired, particularly in the last few hours. 

We are pleased with the players we have been able to attract and the first-round draft picks we have acquired. We are now in a strong position as we continue to build towards our next premiership.

We have been able to secure one of the strongest draft hands in recent memory, which will give us the opportunity to bring in some elite young talent. We received three first-round draft picks in exchange for Christian Petracca, which gives us eight first-round selections across a four-year period from 2023 to 2026. We now enter next month’s draft with picks No. 7 and 8, which will allow us to add quality new talent, for the years ahead, particularly as the competition expands to include Tasmania.

We have welcomed four quality players in Brody Mihocek, Max Heath, Changkuoth Jiath and Jack Steele, adding a mix of seasoned AFL experience, leadership qualities and exciting youth to our list. We feel this will complement our existing playing group and have an immediate impact for us next season.

At the same time, we farewelled four players in Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Judd McVee and Charlie Spargo. Each has given so much to the red and blue over their respective journeys, and we wish them nothing but the best for the future. They are forever Melbourne people and will always be welcome at the club. 

In relation to Christian and Clayton, while it is difficult and somewhat sad to part ways with players of their calibre and contribution, ultimately, we always enter this time of year with the club’s future success at the heart of all decision-making. They have been champions of our club, and we wish them well. We are incredibly confident in where we have landed, bolstering our draft hand while fulfilling Christian’s and Clayton’s requests for a fresh start. 

With the Trade Period now complete, and next month’s AFL Draft fast approaching, I hope you can start to feel the excitement that is building within our AFL program. I know Alan, Steven and the entire football department are eager to implement all they have been working on in recent weeks, and to welcome back a group that is committed and determined to take this great club back to the top.  

Whilst the last week, in particular the last few hours, have been a whirlwind, I hope our commitment to keeping you informed throughout has resonated. 

Thanks for your ongoing support. 

Go Dees, 
Paul

He is a great communicator

Is he referring to being "informed throughout" by Demon Forever? 😁

Did he pen that from the toilet? Incredible

Fresh start on the field and off the field. I’m excited about 2026. Even if it ends up being a full on rebuild at least we won’t have that banging the head against the wall making the same mistakes over and over again feeling.

Whilst I appreciate the sentiment and positivity The fact we have lost two players who should have, could have been one club premier players, still hurts.

But I understand Guerra is not responsible for the past. Too early to take on the reality of this and not see this with a grain of salt 😪

We don't need to grandstand every little success we have in the form of a letter. The Petracca trade was good for all parties, not unheard of in the trade world.

I appreciate the way Guerra communicates so this isn't against him but after a year of having letters to members to highlight things like great 3rd quarters in terrible performances I'm kind of over it.

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by layzie

1 hour ago, layzie said:

We don't need to grandstand every little success we have in the form of a letter. The Petracca trade was good for all parties, not unheard of in the trade world.

I appreciate the way Guerra communicates so this isn't against him but after a year of having letters to members to highlight things like great 3rd quarters in terrible performances I'm kind of over it.

Nah we just traded out two of the best players we’ve ever had, he 100% should have said something.

6 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Nah we just traded out two of the best players we’ve ever had, he 100% should have said something.

No he shouldn't have.

Its been well communicated already right from the very start from Steven King to Tim Lamb. Every supporter on here knew the plan all along and why they were being traded.

Guerra said nothing that we already didnt know.

6 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

No he shouldn't have.

Its been well communicated already right from the very start from Steven King to Tim Lamb. Every supporter on here knew the plan all along and why they were being traded.

Guerra said nothing that we already didnt know.

We knew why they were being traded but the messaging around what we wanted has changed. "Not interested in picks" to "We have a great draft hand" and "Pleased to look forward and build to our new premiership" is different.

The only positive we have as fans is the kids that could come in.

22 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

No he shouldn't have.

Its been well communicated already right from the very start from Steven King to Tim Lamb. Every supporter on here knew the plan all along and why they were being traded.

Guerra said nothing that we already didnt know.

Is every supporter, on here, though? It felt like it was just his official bookend to an era to me 🤷‍♂️

I thought it was a good letter, the best teams in recent have traded older greats of the club to move forward, look at Hawthorn, we have great young players and we’re gonna get a couple more, I’m looking forward to next year.

4 hours ago, Demonland said:

“…while fulfilling Christian’s and Clayton’s requests for a fresh start.”

The part of the letter that I find a bit dodgy, is the bit I’ve quoted, regarding Clarrie… requested? Really?

Takes me back to the old Bellbird days…Charlie Cousins, did he fall, or was he pushed?

(oh, and Andy, you may want to consider a minor change to the post’s title 😉)

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by hardtack

Think it great news totally over Petracca and Oliver. They seriously were not going to take us to a premiership. That said both players delivered a premiership so no hard feelings but time to move on.

59 minutes ago, BoBo said:

Is every supporter, on here, though? It felt like it was just his official bookend to an era to me 🤷‍♂️

Thats what our new CEO can do write a letter to 57,000 members but make it as if it’s just to you.

His ability to communicate through the mail and social media plus make it simple and meaningful is elite and already he is proving a very good choice as CEO.

We know Paul’s history and CV in the business world so it is no surprise he is comfortable in communicating with our membership,

Some of the D/Landers saying it is not necessary and didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know are churlish and salty and shouldn’t even be worthy of receiving mail from our recently acquired impressive leader of our administration.

Stop whinging and get behind the Club as it fights to return to respectability and relevance in the toughest sporting competition in this land.

Not enough communication

Too much communication

you can't win

I'm just glad we've drawn a line under the ridiculous soap opera that our club has been for the last 2 years. Between the board suing ex presidents, Pert's best culture he's seen in his time in footy (what a joke that was), train wreck interviews and star players causing trouble i'm well and truly over it.

Onwards and upwards with Kingy, Maxy, Kossie and the new generation

Go Dees

4 hours ago, 58er said:

Thats what our new CEO can do write a letter to 57,000 members but make it as if it’s just to you.

His ability to communicate through the mail and social media plus make it simple and meaningful is elite and already he is proving a very good choice as CEO.

We know Paul’s history and CV in the business world so it is no surprise he is comfortable in communicating with our membership,

Some of the D/Landers saying it is not necessary and didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know are churlish and salty and shouldn’t even be worthy of receiving mail from our recently acquired impressive leader of our administration.

Stop whinging and get behind the Club as it fights to return to respectability and relevance in the toughest sporting competition in this land.

Totally agree. At least he’s making the effort

1 hour ago, BDA said:

Not enough communication

Too much communication

you can't win

I'm just glad we've drawn a line under the ridiculous soap opera that our club has been for the last 2 years. Between the board suing ex presidents, Pert's best culture he's seen in his time in footy (what a joke that was), train wreck interviews and star players causing trouble i'm well and truly over it.

Onwards and upwards with Kingy, Maxy, Kossie and the new generation

Go Dees

Agree that King need clear air without having to deal with the issues of both Trac & Oliver which have suffocated the club, strong clubs do their talking on the field vs the circus of the past 2 seasons, having Green stand up & say those players would be @ the club only to see them go, we need to stop grandstanding, you don’t get this from the cats, pies,lions, swans,

6 hours ago, hardtack said:

The part of the letter that I find a bit dodgy, is the bit I’ve quoted, regarding Clarrie… requested? Really?

Takes me back to the old Bellbird days…Charlie Cousins, did he fall, or was he pushed?

(oh, and Andy, you may want to consider a minor change to the post’s title 😉)

King sold a future that led to a request.

A rather chaotic, immature, shambles of a request that really underlined the efficacy of the King chat…

7 hours ago, MurDoc516 said:

We knew why they were being traded but the messaging around what we wanted has changed. "Not interested in picks" to "We have a great draft hand" and "Pleased to look forward and build to our new premiership" is different.

The only positive we have as fans is the kids that could come in.

No one ever said, "Not interested in picks".. this has already been discussed a hundred times on here that Tim Lamb never said that at all.

So again, the messaging didnt change at all.

7 hours ago, BoBo said:

Is every supporter, on here, though? It felt like it was just his official bookend to an era to me 🤷‍♂️

Social media, news outlets, footy forums.

Its everywhere.

I understand our supporting age demographic is much older then modt teams so maybe they need to get with the times 🤷🏽‍♂️

7 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

No he shouldn't have.

Its been well communicated already right from the very start from Steven King to Tim Lamb. Every supporter on here knew the plan all along and why they were being traded.

Guerra said nothing that we already didnt know.

I don’t agree with any of this.

You only had to look on here to see how many didn’t understand why we traded Oliver, or are upset about him/Trac, or still think it should have been “no Humphrey, no Trac”.

And regardless, it’s absolutely the right thing to do for the club to acknowledge that we’ve just traded two future MFC hall of famers.

The point of the letter wasn’t to tell us something we didn’t already know. It was to acknowledge something meaningful happened, and to put a full stop behind it.

17 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Social media, news outlets, footy forums.

Its everywhere.

I understand our supporting age demographic is much older then modt teams so maybe they need to get with the times 🤷🏽‍♂️

It's also in an email to those members who live happily without social media.

6 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I don’t agree with any of this.

You only had to look on here to see how many didn’t understand why we traded Oliver, or are upset about him/Trac, or still think it should have been “no Humphrey, no Trac”.

And regardless, it’s absolutely the right thing to do for the club to acknowledge that we’ve just traded two future MFC hall of famers.

The point of the letter wasn’t to tell us something we didn’t already know. It was to acknowledge something meaningful happened, and to put a full stop behind it.

But thats the message you wanted to hear as a supporter.. that was clearly not the message from the clubs perspective. The messaging and outcome is based on what is best for the football club, not the supporter base.

So then imagine if Tim Lamb said "no trac, no Humphrey" and then went ahead and still traded Trac without getting Humphrey, this place would have rioted and demanded his head.

The only ones who got sucked into believing that was ever going to happen for the conspiracy theorists on here. Craig Cameron was resolute right from the very start that he was never going to be traded and that was strong all the way through. Even his manager said it was going to be incredibly difficult to be traded.

Clearly the motive was to get some of the salary off the books but also top up on early picks. Even Tim Lamb said last night that getting in the early picks before Tassie was a strong focus and they feel they are now well set up for the future.

7 hours ago, hardtack said:

The part of the letter that I find a bit dodgy, is the bit I’ve quoted, regarding Clarrie… requested? Really?

Takes me back to the old Bellbird days…Charlie Cousins, did he fall, or was he pushed?

(oh, and Andy, you may want to consider a minor change to the post’s title 😉)

Fall....who did he play for anyway