Brilliant article by Paul Guerra as it goes into the rationale around trading both Oliver and Petracca and the excitement around fresh new people we're bringing in.

Its behind Paywall so if someone is willing to post full article its worth a read.

https://archive.md/9k8AX#selection-753.0-935.8

Decent mix of insight and spin. Don't know that I fully believe Guerra when he says that the off-field issues weren't the reason we traded Oliver.

The club is making a decent point of driving the narrative here. Guerra seems media savvy enough to drive that messaging.

4 minutes ago, KozzyCan said:

Decent mix of insight and spin. Don't know that I fully believe Guerra when he says that the off-field issues weren't the reason we traded Oliver.

The club is making a decent point of driving the narrative here. Guerra seems media savvy enough to drive that messaging.

I read the Oliver comment as being from Tim Lamb during the trade period (understandable line to take).

Thought Guerra was quite transparent, pointing to locker room issues being behind us now Brand and Oliver are gone

Lots of spin but what else do you expect?

This was particularly cringeworthy though

“I think if you do the points it actually comes out to a number one pick. We have traded Christian Petracca for a number one draft pick. It’s pretty cool.”

Lol no you didn't.

43 minutes ago, adonski said:

https://archive.md/9k8AX#selection-753.0-935.8

Fascinating.

The most interesting detail is this for me:

"The soft cap for Goody was taken care of in this year,” confirms Guerra.

“That’s been sorted. So we have got a clear (2026) cap."

Really liked the direct and frank nature of the article especially the discussion with May.

Loved his response even more:

“He stopped, and he looked at us, and he said, ‘I totally get it’. “He said, ‘The club’s been so good for me. I’ve got a premiership here. I’ll always love the club.’

He said, ‘But just let me be clear, you’re sacking me’,

“(I said) ‘No, we’re not sacking you just being honest with you.’

“He goes, ‘all right. I’ll look for a trade, but if I can’t get a trade, can I come back?’

“So in Kingy’s words you come back but earn your spot like everyone else. “He said, ‘If I don’t get a trade I will come back in and earn my spot and commit to helping develop the kids who will take my spot.’

Go Maysie!!❤️💙

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Lucifers Hero

@dazzledavey36

Agreed. It’s s very positive and insightful story. Paul Guerra has gone through the key player issues and conversations. Have to say it’s the best story and journalism in a long time about the Melbourne footy club.

Importantly it doesn’t snipe or comment on off field issues with Trac, Clarry or Goody. It’s a fresh start.

Jack Steele will be a huge addition. His leadership. Culture. Helps out immediately. I’m really pleased and amazed that we landed him. In 36 hours !!!

HE CAME TO A MEETING HE DIDN’T WANT TO BE AT

Guerra says Jack Steele’s capacity to fall in love with the Melbourne football club in 24 hours proves Steven King’s path ahead is the right one.

St Kilda had told Steele to consider his options as they revamped their midfield but the 2025 captain wanted to stay despite telling the club he would step down from his leadership position.

“Jack’s an amazing story. Captain of St Kilda, All Australian recently. It signifies to us we are on the right track,” Guerra said.

Jack met us at 9am on Tuesday morning. He came to a meeting that if he’s honest he didn’t want to be at. He did it out of a favour to his manager (David Trotter).

“The pitch that we gave Jack was unbelievable in terms of who we thought he was, where we thought he was at with his footy and how we would transform his game, but importantly, how we would value his leadership, and we painted what the next three years for him was going to be like, and the role that he’s going to play, and the impact that he can have across the whole of the football club.

“It’s probably my proudest day so far as CEO. Seeing the people in that meeting. Steve King, Alan Richardson, (list boss) Tim Lamb, (assistant coach) Nathan Jones. They were all saying Jack, this is your home.

“Jack was wrestling with leaving St Kilda and Max (Gawn) and Jared Rivers spoke to him that afternoon. He came to a medical at 9am Wednesday morning and by midday he spoke to our high performance manager and said do I start following your program or the St Kilda program. By midday he wanted to come to us which was significant. He wants to help us win our next premiership.”

Guerra says Steele’s leadership will be invaluable, just as Mihocek will help Matthew Jefferson and Jacob Van Rooyen with their leading patterns and growth.

“We have Jack (Steele) and Jack (Viney) running through the midfield and the young crop on the outside. Then either Max Gawn or Max Heath through the middle so at point are we short of leadership in there because with Max, Jack and Jack we have strong experience through the middle.”

Well that was an interesting read. I am not a huge fan of this type of ‘storytelling PR’ because it can easily be quoted and then it is back and forth with whoever is being quoted.

It has started well so he gets a leash but it gets shorter at every perceived failure and error. My feeling is that this type of open honesty will abate once the club gets back into it November.

The hallways will be full of ‘Jack wasn’t too keen on what you said’ and ‘Steven wants to have a word about this thing’

Anyway…

I just finished reading it. So Christian just wanted a fresh start, Clayton was told he'd have to learn a new position & that sounded to hard for him & didn't want to put the work in, May was devastated when told to explore his options & wanted to come back & Max thinks he'll play in our next flag.

A fair amount of spin as others have mentioned. How in the world Gawn thinks he is closer to a premiership now than before is mind boggling. He will most likely be a spent force in one or 2 years. Those draft picks that they are spruiking are going to take a lot longer to turn into A grade players than that. I get the club is trying to paint a pretty picture for us all and I’d be happy to be proven wrong. The reality is we are looking at being at the bottom of the ladder or thereabouts for the foreseeable future and we are hoping players like Langford, Windsor and Lindsay can take up the positions of players like Petracca and Oliver, which is a massive ask. Long term it may turn out fine, but we are in rebuild mode and that is not the messaging they gave prior to the trade period. It is what it is I guess, what other option did they have.

It's a good article - obviously full of spin - but that's ok. Guerra is still in the honeymoon phase which in some ways is amazing given all the change that has happened in the last 2 or 3 months.

He seems like a very good operator - eg knows it doesn't do any harm to give a shout out to player managers etc and seems a safe pair of hands and an excellent communicator.

The tricky thing will be how we go with this spin if the onfield results don't match (eg "we don't want to finish 14th again"). I've got faith in the list but wouldn't surprise me if it takes most of next season for the game plan to click, for younger players to take on the new responsibility etc. So a finish at 14 or below wouldn't surprise me given the evenness of the comp.

But I guess they've shown they will move the goal posts in messaging as needed (eg "both Clarry and Trac are in King's 22", "we won't be accepting picks for Trac, we want at least one player" etc). Not criticising moving the goal posts in these contexts as much of that is related to getting the best return in trading - but interesting to note.

23 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

I just finished reading it. So Christian just wanted a fresh start, Clayton was told he'd have to learn a new position & that sounded to hard for him & didn't want to put the work in, May was devastated when told to explore his options & wanted to come back & Max thinks he'll play in our next flag.

What is said publicly is not necessarily what is said privately.

Well done Paul, it’s all about character, we now know who has it, whom will share it, and who has the gumption to lead us from the front.

We weeded out and binned the bad eggs, two men of a very poor ilk.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by bluey
Edit

A big part of Guerra's job is to sell hope. He does that well here. For the naysayers who think we are destined for a lot of pain in light of the loss of Oliver and Petracca, there are many examples of teams bouncing back into premiership contention very quickly after losing "stars". The most recent example being Collingwood who changes coach, ditched some established stars and lost a prelim by a point then won the flag the following year. A lot has to go right but I'm backing King to have a massive impact and Gawn, Viney, Lever and Steele to lead a culture reset.

I liked the article and its positivity, especially published in the HS, which hasn't been our fondest supporter. The proof will be in the actions, and I, for one, am not concerned that any of this will come back to bite us. The club has drawn a line in the sand and done a reset. Good. High-maintenance personalities have moved on, and we have welcomed some players of good character. Steele will replace Clarry, and it looks like Trac will be replaced by Rivers, with lots of younger talent entering the club.

I look forward to how we will now play. Attacking and scoring freely, and note this is how Brisbane have rulled the roost and played in the last 3 grand finals

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Lots of spin but what else do you expect?

This was particularly cringeworthy though

Lol no you didn't.

He actually went on to say: “I think if you do the points it actually comes out to a number one pick." Not as cringworthy as you suggested.

Guerra was right in saying we've finished 14th 2 tears in a row with these players, so something had to give.

But interesting to read when trac said he wanted a fresh start guerra said to him you have. You have Steven King, I'm new. But he's right, trac now isn't the same player he was in 21

1 minute ago, sue said:

He actually went on to say: “I think if you do the points it actually comes out to a number one pick." Not as cringworthy as you suggested.

Yep, 7+8 = just over 3000 points. Pick 1 is worth 3000 points.

The jury is still out for me...

So the AFL soft cap for coaching staff was $7.675 million for this year and we had a spare $1 million to pay Goodwin out. No wonder we didn’t bring in any good coaches last offseason.

The spin coming out of this club is off the charts. The next season can’t come quick enough.

34 minutes ago, bluey said:

Well done Paul, it’s all about character, we now know who has it, whom will share it, and who has the gumption to lead us from the front.

We weeded out and binned the bad eggs, two men of a very poor ilk.

Apologies for the vomit emoji

I’m a sympathetic vomiter; you vomit, I vomit

If the account of the Steven May meeting is accurate, I have a new found admiration for him.

57 minutes ago, Swooper1987 said:

A big part of Guerra's job is to sell hope. He does that well here. For the naysayers who think we are destined for a lot of pain in light of the loss of Oliver and Petracca, there are many examples of teams bouncing back into premiership contention very quickly after losing "stars". The most recent example being Collingwood who changes coach, ditched some established stars and lost a prelim by a point then won the flag the following year. A lot has to go right but I'm backing King to have a massive impact and Gawn, Viney, Lever and Steele to lead a culture reset.

I took a lot of heart in Paul Roos still rating our list as being very good a couple of months ago.

Alas that was before Clarry and Cps departure, but it had to be done and we've still got some good ones coming through.

I think Steele will really help us and will probably click more effectively with Viney.

Losing McVee will hurt us.

Anyways, a good interview. Paul G has to put the chaotic club theme to bed and paint a picture of hope.

It's now up to management to find a home for us and Kingy to rebuild us while still staying competitive.

Go Dees