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I like the attitude. Pert is aiming and expecting Big. It can be done. The foundations are there PJ saw to that

So you hate all the people in the MCC? or do you decipher somehow who have paid and who have not? i have paid a full MCC Membership and bought a FULL MFC Membership for 25 years and i always sit in the Members Reserve and enjoy a great view Be careful who you hate. We need to embrace EVERYONE. It’s been one of our core problems. The Members v The MCC Reserve. We need to become one....

See everyone just assumes if you are an mcc member then you have it all. I work at at job where I only get $22 an hour, I don't live in a fancy suburb, drive a range rover, have a beach house or ski. So don't put us all into the doctor, lawyer toorak living area bracket I have been an MCC member for over 20 years. I didn't go on the list when I was a kid because im a melbourne supporter. I went on because of family and now I use it over summer for the cricket, including boxing day the big bash and international 20/20s. I wouldn't ditch it ever because I use it and get value out of it. I don't apologise for having an mcc membership. Me contributing $87 each year is better than those who don't re-sign or don't join up but still go. I also go to every melbourne game there and yes I usually to the grand finals. But I pay for an MFC/MCC membership every year. A couple of years ago it was $60 and you got a scarf and all the sticker and that. You also got free entry into an etihad home game. Now it has gone up to $87. I have signed up again because it adds to the membership total and it makes a donation to the club. I agree during the finals when the members was packed I saw many supporters with scarves on from 2015 and beyond. You can tell the ones who have jumped back on. Hopefully with the success last year more and more will sign up.

*Facepalm

I agree with others views such as @binman and @Lucifer's Hero that a meeting place for members/fans/supporters is important. If we segway to the other thread about rebuilding the MFC as a great club again, then great club's are based around people and I think that bringing together all our people and building a sense of belonging is vital to that. I hear the sentiments of those like @Sir Why You Little that not all MCC members are the wealthy toff types and that stereotyping and segregating MFC supporters is not the way to go. Thus a truely universal social facility that brings together MFC & MFC/MCC members under the one roof would be a good outcome. I 've never been an MCC member myself, but for most of my life I've been a MFC member - presently an interstate one. When in my youth a real highlight of our home games going to the footy was attending the 'Demons Club' (I think that's what it use to be called) in one of the function rooms in bouls of the old Northern stand. I recall it having a bit of a mix of MFC and MCC supporters, they put on a good spread of nibbles and it was a great family atmosphere. In my view that's the kind of thing we need to rebuild as a cultural institution of the MFC and it would be good if that could encompass all of the Redleg Club (which I recall as being more of a MCC crowd, but could well be wrong), Demon Army, standard rank and file MFC members together in one spot. Perhaps that's actually the kind of thing which could provide the value to some of the MCC members to join as combined MFC members.

It is time for a Bex and a good lie down.

You need an element of differentiation, and melbourne is certainly different to any of the aforementioned. I think our attachment to the MCG and Yarra Park has an element of romanticism rarely seen in sports the world over. We need to embrace that more especially if we're going to attract a younger and newer audience. I'd not only be targeting kids, I'd be targeting Indian and Chinese students/expats that either see the MCG as a church (Indians with cricket and association with the MCG), or as a cultural landmark of the city (Chinese looking to make this their home, and finding ways to assimilate). A more obvious presence in the CBD should also be considered, to be considered as somewhat of a "gateway" to our home in the MCG.

That's disgusting really. I don't think you are a real Melbourne supporter unless you are a member.

I think that the MCC/MFC should be more creative with membership options. I am a full MCC member and also donate $87 as an MCC/MFC member, but only get to about 8 games per year. I don’t like cricket so it costs me about $100 per game on average to see the Dees. I would happily forego my right to see the cricket if it meant the Dees received more money and I could pay a bit less on my MCC each year. If there were MCC AFL only and cricket only membership, then the 20 year wait list could be shortened, the MFC and MCC would both be financially better off and I would get much better value out of my membership. I am sure that there are other creative ticket options as well.

Ahh the old MCC/MFC member chestnut. MFC benefits from MCC member attendance at home games from a portion of Gate Receipts ($5 per person I believe). So it's not like they aren't doing anything by not becoming members. MCC/MFC membership is nothing more than a donation. They might as well buy a few of Dudley's raffle tickets once at every game. win games, get bums on seats, make money.

I can't believe only half the MCC Melbourne supporters are Melbourne Members. Being a Melbourne member should be the first priority.

Well there’s little danger of us being Collingwood, Richmond or hawthorn atm. But, unlike Pert, I’d love us to be like any of them lol. They all have recently won flags and have massive, and growing supporter bases.... and kick [censored] facilities. One can hope

Not to mention extra metrics to flog to potential sponsors.

Yep, I think the old supporter base has been well and truly exhausted. The talk of converting MCC/MFC members to me is not going to achieve a lot more. Real growth will come from the areas you mention. Also note that the EFC drive came with premierships, ours will be the same.

I thought it was basically a regurgitation of the Wheatly interview. But that's ok, I like what he had said to Wheatly and the HS article probably just reinforced and reached a larger audience.

I remember a debate many years ago. What is more important, the money that we pay as a membership or the marketing list a members to sponsors. I think if you have a MCC membership you should get a MFC membership at no extra cost, but no benefits. The list of x thousand more members is far more valuable than the current payment amount. We don't rely on membership directly to run the club if you look at our overall turnover. But more members allows us to get better sponsorship deals etc which creates higher revenue. It will also push us up the membership tally and get us more exposure and bigger games.

Joint member fr 20 plus years also. I’m happy to “ donate” my membership fees and I also donate at other times as well. I pay WAY more than even a mid tier membership to the club. But it seems many dont share the sentiment or maybe just don’t care enough about football in general to do so. They need to come up with something that the membership gets them to give it a practical purpose. Perhaps in the possible future of a social club at Yarra park it gets them membership? Anything really.

I’m an MCC member and 20 consecutive MFC member. But really the MCC/MFC membership is really an $87 donation as I get no real benefit other than supporting the club financially. Would it make a difference if the MCC/MFC membership was reduced to $50, as a donation as such. I don’t need yet another scarf or membership card that doesn’t gain me entry to games. They could save on this, print of bumper stickers, and postage.

Totally agree with you, anything less and you're just a fan.

That stat comes up often, in fact I think it used to be much less than half at one stage - if anything it’s improved over time. Pert’s not the first to suggest that they need to get more MCC members signing for joint MFC membership. The problem is that others at MFC before him, including Neale Daniher when he was coach, have made the same comments. The difficulty, in reality, is to get the remaining tight-arsse MCC members to fork out the additional 80-odd dollars for joint membership, when they can easily just sheepishly ignore the option, still go to Melbourne games in the comfort of the MCC and claim to be Melbourne supporters, while saving themselves some $ as a result. I hope Pert has something concrete in mind that will succeed, where other MFC management before him haven’t been able to in the past.

The foundation have never ever left us swyl. We've always had them, they've always been undercover, uninspired... unturned by fearful leaders unwilling to take on our own fate. This club has never had the gumption to ever get to turn a sod, to start big... for fear of failure. Excuses only make us grow smaller, which is exactly what has been happening for the last 50 Yrs. Too conservative... only willing to take on the sure thing. This has to change, as It Is the culture, of our past 50 Yrs. It is different now as we speak, but we've been here before under Barassi/Northey. Lets not allow this time to pass, without building our future right now. Before 'the conservative-ness' creeps back in... like an incoming tide. .

Bradtke is only 17 and just finished school. Did not play TAC Cup or national championship. He will have to carefully managed in 2019 and not have to be the no.1 ruck at Casey. I see him playing more forward.

This is the stuff straight out of Rob Sitch's Utopia ... amazing

Yes you have said all that before, not all change is good and i will repeat AFLX should not use Senior Club listed players in its experiments. It will get ugly if someone is seriously hurt. That is my main concern. It’s why State of Origin was killed off, and we all loved those games

I am proud to pay the extra cash to be an MCC/ MFC member. I have done so for over 10 years to support the club I have followed for a damn long time and I'll continue to do it because that's the most practical and valuable support I can give them. If others in my situation don't, well then that's a shame but everyone has there reasons. All we can really do is encourage them to join up and build our numbers because it a step towards bringing the club to the heights we want it to reach.

This song was written by Bruce Woodley. He's a Demons supporter. I see him in the members sometimes, now in his mid 70s. Nice bloke.

Our 4 collated picks adds up to a handy 27-1 (boosted) which is quite reasonable considering all 4 potential winning teams are strongly favoured. Good luck. EPL Monday 12.30am Southampton vs Arsenal Win & +2.5 Goals Match Score $2.70 EPL Mpnday 3.00am Liverpool Win & +2.5 Goals Match Score $2.25 vs Manchester United Italian Serie A Monday at 04:00 Cagliari v Napoli Napoli Win/Over 2.5 goals $2.10 Monday at 06:30 AS Roma v Genoa Roma Win/Over 2.5 goals $2.00

Pppffttt the benefit is the club you support gets a little further revenue.

Children’s sporting clubs in the area and it’s golden. The punishing baby boombers opposing it will have no chance if we can shoehorn kids teams into the proposal.

I will be very sad if AFLX becomes the main game in future, when i think the game we have now is a great spectacle as it is. I am well aware that my opinion as a 55 year old means little, but i do buy memberships every year, so i can voice an opinion. This new AFLX version is using teams that don’t even exist!! Why? It will prove nothing except be dangerous for players and let Broadcasters sell advertising. If our game was a 5 hour game, i would see a point to it, but it isn’t. We already have a fantastic product

I would hope that the club is not just looking at the site running next to jolimont station but also looking at the lot of land that runs between Punt rd oval and the southern stand along Brunton Avenue. This site offers all the functionality that the jolimont site offers given proximity to Richmond station, brunton Avenue and the southern stand concourse and requires immediate attention given how poor a path it is to the ground at peak times. As a resident of the area and user of the park, this site is not frequented by the dog walkers and has recently been allocated commonly to small concerts and festivals. I can’t honestly see how residents could object on the grounds of current usage and impact on views. If anything it will be improved by development. I just hope it’s being considered if plan A doesn’t get up.

I'm an ex-Victorian living in SA and I've had an MCC membership since I was 15 and we've always taken out the Melbourne suporters "donation". I don't care that we don't get anything for it although it would be a nice bonus. I'm happy to give it as a donation and I rarely get to go to any games at the G.

To suggest comparing two players and having a preference between the two is denigrating Is pretty dramatic mate. They are footy players, we are allowed to have opinions on them,

and sheedy was the complete opposite. recruited from prahran as a young liston trophy winning centreman, quickly reinvented as a backpocket

For those who were not around when the great Norm Smith was coach he believed the best small defenders were midfielders who had run their course in midfield. When MFC recruited Stuart Spencer as a back pocket player he stated to Stuart he was too young to play there and he made him a rover who became on of the AFL's great rovers.

I think Bradtke has to ruck to learn his craft quickly and rest forward accept when Preuss plays at casey. I think Preuss will play at least 50% in the AFL. But not every match, as i reckon we will drop Gawn down on games per season. and on %time on the ball. I think we will manage Gawnus, trying to lengthen his career, whilst managing his loads. If either got injured... max or preussy, then we will be needing dee-bradt to learn early season... as much as he can, to cover this scenario. I would fast track Bradtke for the first 2 months of the VFL season then ease him off playing more time up forward after that. Let him run on the ball early... which is a closer thing to basketball, than being stuck leading from the goal square with some one punching him in the back of head all the time.

Actually, might be worth a try NC... if that were to happen to Nev. I think Nev is our hardest to replace.

Be really great for us to focus and develop over time the young Bradtke into a specialist full forward and scare machine with mongrel.

If Jetta were injured I'd like to see Nathan Jones given a chance back there. I think he could last a bit longer at the club in that role.

Worth hearing the whole thing. TMac speaks knowledgeably and seems a good fellow. ..better player than Hogan ever was.

I can barely contain my disinterest.

Perhaps we need to invest in a couple of these.

I thinks it's more a reaction to the success of BBL cricket and the AFL trying to cash in on that concept. I think that the AFL has failed to see the bigger picture as to why BBL is a success amongst the demographic that it is geared towards and that is the other forms of cricket aren't as appealing to that audience where as there is very little wrong with our game. Long form of cricket as a televised spectacle for todays audiences was broken. Our game is not. If it aint broke don't fix it.

Totally agreed. This AFLX is designed to flood every weekend with AFL of some sort, they just cannot stomach any vacant broadcasting time. Sometimes it is better to actually wait for something. To build excitement. The AFL refuses to acknowledge that fact. The Broadcast rights were sold at a very high price, and this is one off shoot we are thrown A player will break a leg or do a knee for a BS game Take note Gill Flooding the market can be dangerous

Got there early so watched the re-hab group for a while.. I counted 13 including O'Mac, Petracca, Brayshaw, Melksham, Viney, Hannan, Lever, Stretch, Oiver, VandenBerg, Baker, Hunt and Jetta. Viney, Hannan and Melksham running laps and timed sections, with Viney running out in front by a mile and freely. I can't seen him not being back in the main group after Christmas. Melksham not as quick as Viney, but cannot see anything obviously wrong with him. Hannan looked like he was running on egg-shells. Nothing obvious but he pulled out of a couple of the runs to go to trainers, and then left the session early and before the main group arrived. Lever ran lap after lap, and was moving freely. Kicking with right foot with a trainer at times. Baker also running plenty of laps, and has put on serious muscle both in the legs and upper body after his early end to last season. Of the rest it would be hard to see anything obvious as to why they are not with the main group, perhaps with the exception of Oliver/Jetta after shoulder surgery, which requires a long period of no contact. Saw a little of Neitscke and Jordan in the drills. Pleasingly both kick well, sharp, low and accurate. Can they play football? Have to wait and see. Once again there was an academy kid on the track, who I can't find out who he is, but his kicking is elite and was training with the main group of players. There will probably be evidence later, but some bloke in a red suit and beard showed up. We all thought it was Saty in disguise!

Me too, then I realised I was getting the masthead confused with the Demonland interviews banner...

The man himself, Ronald Barassi is in attendance.

Bit gloomy with occasional rain but all and all, a ripping crowd. Traditional australian breastfast of coffee with a sausage in bread went down a treat. Fair bit of aggression in some of the drills so far. Boys giving it their all. Even from the sidelines, you could feel the brute force of the bumps they were laying on each other. Hore and Hunt running laps. Preuss is far more imposing in the flesh than he is in photos/videos.