14 minutes ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

The club turned a blind eye to all of these shenanigans.

People directly and indirectly knew but we kept winning to mask any sort of media coverage on it.

When the pressure grew too much it just all exploded beyond repair.

Chapter closed.

End of story.

Max Gawn is the gatekeeper to all these truths, he knows everything that went down.

The club knew, the media knew, other clubs knew.

I spoke with a player that was looking to move back to melb for an Asst Coaching role who said he would never go to melb because of the player problems and behaviours (this was back in 2023)

I have kids in their 20s who would regularly see certain melb players at nightclubs playing up.

It's not like it was a state secret.

The key is how the leadership group and the coaches deal with it and there the record speaks for itself.

16 minutes ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

The club turned a blind eye to all of these shenanigans.

People directly and indirectly knew but we kept winning to mask any sort of media coverage on it.

When the pressure grew too much it just all exploded beyond repair.

Chapter closed.

End of story.

Max Gawn is the gatekeeper to all these truths, he knows everything that went down.

It's like Sandpaper-gate in the cricket ... there's a good chance that they all knew including the keeper and the bowlers (especially)

As it stood at the time, the coach (Lehmann) resigned during that series

On 28/10/2025 at 10:18, Macca said:

He's good in many areas but not perfect. Post 2021, as a pillar of the club, he has to accept some sort of responsibility for the list going off the rails

Many here are/were quick to point the finger at Goodwin but Gawn is the captain

We heard that the players were given autonomy with regards to how they prepared for games. That's ok until the losses start incurring

So what is the skipper doing? And that unholy mess with Grundy?

Could be that he was a good captain and now, not so much

Mind you, it's not like we have any adequate replacements for Capt. & VC

I cant envision max being a dictator or authority figure to the group, leader on field and training standards maybe, but i couldnt see him pulling someone aside and telling them they have done wrong, thats just me viewing from the outside though

for a dawn-of-a-new-era thread there's a lot being regurgitated here about the previous era

50 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

The club knew, the media knew, other clubs knew.

I spoke with a player that was looking to move back to melb for an Asst Coaching role who said he would never go to melb because of the player problems and behaviours (this was back in 2023)

I have kids in their 20s who would regularly see certain melb players at nightclubs playing up.

It's not like it was a state secret.

The key is how the leadership group and the coaches deal with it and there the record speaks for itself.

I knew something was up when we hired Nathan Bassett and Nathan Jones last year.

No one wanted to come to us.

2 hours ago, Demonology said:

I cant envision max being a dictator or authority figure to the group, leader on field and training standards maybe, but i couldnt see him pulling someone aside and telling them they have done wrong, thats just me viewing from the outside though

I agree with this. I see Max as the consummate athlete, a great ruckman, but I have never seen him act as the director on the field, like a Selwood or a Hodge - he seems to worry more about his own game and not that of his teammates. This to me doesn't smell like the traits of a good captain. He also seems to panic under pressure - when the good captains thrive, he often lets himself, and the team down - ie goal kicking at crucial moments; trying for a torp across goal in the last line of defense in the dying seconds (leading to the May rebuke); no centre square leadership in the St Kilda game. As a media front man he is great; as a footballer he is a great; but his on-field leadership appears to be sadly lacking imo - and we are now in need of better than Max in this department. But who?