Leaderboard

How many players live in the CBD? And I am sure the Saints players envy our players' recent premiership medal and the fact that our coach isn't Ross Lyon... Absolute [censored]. I live in Casey. We have 3 neighbours on our street alone who are all Melbourne supporters. The trains on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines to and from the footy are always full. Casey is also one of the fastest growing regions in Melbourne. There is so much opportunity to get new members and supporters on board. Especially around the Clyde area which has a large population of immigrants. This endless obsession with being next door to the MCG is holding us back from getting the home base we really want and need.

And how many commission houses and immigrants are there in St Kilda, Prahran, Richmond, Flemington? I don't know what is so wrong with immigrants. You are much more likely to get them converted to support the Dees, than people who have been in Melbourne for 3 generations and already have a footy side. I migrated to Australia at 12 and had no footy team. Melbourne did a footy clinic at my school, and my Dad and I are going on 25+ years of membership with the club as a result. Our supporter base is old. Lack of success for 5 decades does that. If we don't move with the times and go where the people are, and just keep servicing the old generation of Melbourne fans who might live in and around Toorak, our club will die a very slow and painful death.

It’s gotta be bocce.

Training is at Gosch’s tomorrow at 9:30am. But of course that’s subject to change. It’s a shame you can’t make it to the practice match on Friday, but there’s the Family Day on Saturday if you’re still in Melbourne! Not only can you see the boys live, but you can meet them and get autographs, watch BBB’s head transformation, and the highlight of the day… you can indulge in the delicious fare the Demon Army will have on offer. Who doesn’t love a sausage in bread of a Saturday morning?! And you think you’ve had the best cakes ever at some point in your life?! Think again! Our cakes (the cupcakes in particular) are next level delicious. We’ll also be selling merch, so… jump on it!!! #ShamelessPlugMuch? 😁

Interesting to hear the different takes on this one and I sense you can see the different generations coming through. I’ve been around recreational drugs for 20 years through friends, family, work colleagues - almost every group in my life. Those seriously affected, among a sample size of hundreds of people, probably amounts to 2-5 people. Had one teammate commit suicide as a 16 year old who was a big cannabis user, another schoolmate did time for getting caught up selling Coke among other things. One more who’s teenage cannabis use triggered schizophrenia. After that, I’d struggle to list any more. This is people from all walks of life and every opposing living situation you could imagine. I can and have certainly seen the bad in what drugs do, but I’ve also seen far more people become alcoholics or gambling addicts and now with kids of my own, seeing what phones/tablets do to them. There isn’t a one size fits all answer to the issues in society but I don’t think the ‘drugs are bad’ argument is no longer valid these days because it’s happening whether you like it or not. As for Ginnivan, he was the one caught but you can guarantee at least half his teammates were doing the same, they just didn’t get filmed.

Where’s the discussion on the good news, we keep beating ourselves up about inner city training facilities, we have Goshes, AAMI and we have just spent $17m on upgrading Casey so that our four teams have the necessary facilities to start winning premierships again, premierships that most of us thought that we would never see again. We are rebuilding our club to a state of relevance we need to continue to build the club, we need that 70 - 75,000 paid up members and we need to average crowds of 50,000 at our home games so that “people” take us seriously . As Pert points out we need more clout in the AFL, winners are grinders, this is the best ride that I have had with the club and we should all be enjoying the ride and thank everyone who has helped us get this far. I will not be around to see our Shang- re-la but hopefully my kids and grandkids may.!!!!

So she is doing Thursdays? Makes sense, C7 don’t listen to any fans - good, bad, indifferent. The hate for her is grounded in misogyny (some literally say that women shouldn’t be in the box, or that they hate her ‘voice’) and I know that possibly makes me a ‘woke feminist’ but it’s a fact - just own it. I will.

You literally have no idea what you are talking about. It is actually pathetic for you to degrade an area you know nothing about. Low income families are buying million dollar houses are they? I live 15 mins from Casey and most houses here sell for over a million on a bad day. Casey is about 20 minutes from the Peninsula which is one of the most expensive areas in Melbourne. Please stop letting your clear snobbery get in the way of the truth.

My Demon Chooks update for anyone besides me who cares. Or anyone who’s prepared to pretend to care. 😁 L to R: Langers, Harmesy, Fritta and Melksy Turns out Melksy and Harmesy are girls. Langers and Fritta are boys. The No-Roosters Council bylaw applies purely for noise disturbance reasons. In case we ended up with any boys, my son and I chose this particular breed of bantam based on the fact that they have the quietest cockcrow, so hopefully little Langers (the self-appointed alpha) won’t trouble anyone and we get to keep him. 🤞🏼 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Great article here about Turner coming from nowhere to the Dee's list: From B-grade to the big time: Dees land diamond in the rough

Typical AFL - they mismanage the expansion of the AFLW and, instead of finding ways to improve the depth of the talent pool so that the weaker teams can improve, they decide to make the stronger teams weaker. Teams like Melbourne and Brisbane generally play attractive, attacking football that people want to watch. Make these teams weaker and the entire competition reverts to what we had six years ago with the ball being hacked from one rolling maul to the next. Hopefully our playing group recognise that this club is head and shoulders above what they will get anywhere else in Victoria in terms of professionalism, culture and success, and that a few extra dollars is insignificant in comparison.

How many people have we converted in inner Melbourne? Do you have data on that? When was the last time anyone with deep family roots in a footy club has switched teams? Do you really think that having a home close to the MCG will help us gain new members? You might get a few international students, but they are often not here for long and might come along to a few games for the novelty. Immigrants with kids who go to schools in the Casey area are much more likely to get involved with a footy team. Every school has footy days and footy clinics. Most immigrants in the Casey area are from India and surrounding areas. They are not in any way shape or form devoted to soccer. They would be happy to follow a winter sport when Cricket isn't on. Likewise there are loads of young couples buying new house and land packages out Casey way. Young couples who plan on having kids. Kids who then go to school and get influenced to follow a team that just so happens to be located close to home. Not many young couples can afford to buy or even raise young kids in inner city Melbourne anymore.

A home.

There strange belief that training is somehow designed or done with any fan or supporter in mind is so baffling to me. Your favourite band don't give you daily updates when writing and recording new music, they don't stream live recording sessions and rehearsals. The rehearsing and filming of the movies and tv shows you watch aren't made readily available to the public. Training time is for the players and the club. Keen eyes choosing to wander by and observe is entirely their prerogative, but there seems to be a real loss of the purpose of training and that it's not designed for public consumption or sharing. It's a time for professionals to hone their craft and simulate situations they may face in games etc. If it needs to be moved at the last minute as its deemed that's the best course of action to help win games, then that has to be ok. There should be no expectations from supporters that training is aimed at or particularly takes them into consideration. Training galleries have been consistent and uploaded almost immediately twice a week for almost the entirety of pre season. Digital channels have utilized short, sharp, tiktok style clips which is what those most engaged with technology currently know and expect. I know summer is long, and everyone's aching for footy, but the things people find to complain about are getting very very petty. The club's media stuff is fine. It's better than some clubs, worse than others, but this idea that it's the worst in the league is laughable.

I listened to Kate roffey's agm speech earlier today. She mentioned we had quite a few injured players, some of whom no one knew/knows about

Was at the final and watched us closely in the warm up and knew we were in trouble. Ben Brown, Lever, Trac, Gawn and Salem all looked lame. No doubt a touch of bathwater , but we were ripe for the picking. If we were not playing so hurt Brisbane would not have got near us.

There's 3 big problems when it comes to Casey that make me think it won't ever be Geelong of the East, and whilst we can mitigate against them I think they are significant obstacles in the place being successful at all: 1. Unlike Geelong, the immediate surrounding area (15 minute radius) isn't an attractive place to live for AFL footballers. At a minimum they'll be living back by the bay, 20-30 minutes away. Many staff and players will probably stay towards the city and won't enjoy the commute if it's permanent. The peninsula - which is an attractive place for players - can very quickly be way out of budget for even on AFL wages. And it's not an easy place to rent (although nowhere is at the moment). There's a lot of places in and around Geelong that are the right fit for a footy players budget and lifestyle. In and around Casey it goes from too cheap and undesirable to too expensive or too far away pretty quickly. 2. We won't be playing regular men's games there. The best way to truly capitalise on a population - particularly one that either supports existing AFL teams or is new to the country and follows their own sports is to play games. VFL, an occasional practice game and AFLW don't really cut it. You don't get large crowds of potential members at those events. There has to be an understanding that establishing a foothold in the area will be very slow. 3. There's a lack of commercial opportunities involved with the site as is. Ok, you get a new facility, that's great, but if you aren't turning that investment in to a profit you're losing out. If we were to go all in at Casey there's 3 things I'd like at a minimum to stop it being a disaster: 1. A commitment by the club to house young players somewhere between Chelsea and Mornington. Whether that's by buying homes and renting them back to the players or finding host families they have to be proactive. We won't be able to run the same kind of protection Geelong gets when they stuff up in local nightclubs but at least we'll have them in the area rather than living close to the city and wondering whey they spend close to 2 hours in car all day. If we're promoting the lifestyle of coastal living and convenience we have to provide that. 2. Vic Government commitment to build the Casey Fields railway station as part of the Clyde rail link. The station is vital for growing the AFLW and VFL crowds and it's just important for the area generally. It puts Casey Fields on the map and provides foot traffic for the area. 3. Opportunity to develop the area around the train station, the stadium car park and even other parts of Casey Fields to build seemingly the only bit of dense housing in the entire area as well as a some business opportunities and a profitable community center. You aren't going to be able to run cafes or other businesses when it's suburbs full of people who jump in their cars or on trains and are seen 9 hours later. The only cafes in the vicinity are at the shopping centres. The place needs a development like Toorak Park or Caulfield Village with a minimum of a few hundred homes located next to the stadium and new train station. You'd obviously need the council and state government on board for the planning issues and cost involved. Our pitch to the Government would be that instead of further funding to build the 10th elite AFL footy facility in the state - something of very little community benefit - please direct us funding so we can help shape the Casey area with actual community infrastructure. Transport, housing and genuine community facilities.

Well for a start, you’d have to ask several million people. But as somebody who has personally lost more people to drugs than I care to count, I am not exactly of the opinion that the War On Drugs was ever fighting on their behalf. The majority of people I’ve known who died from overdose or prolonged usage had a troubled past (invariably involving violence or other forms of abuse at a young age). For them, drugs provided relief and periods of time when their lives weren’t fraught, fearful or any other form of “unbearable” (yes, this was of course a ‘band-aid’ solution, but have you not noticed how ineffective modern society has been in providing an alternative?). The War On Drugs saw and continues to see and treat people like these as the enemy. It has always sought to vilify the drug-user, rather than view them as the group it was trying to help. The prisons are clogged with drug-users, while the ones doing the most damage are not only roaming free, but occasionally doing so with the assistance of the US government (there are countless substantiated accounts of the CIA giving green lights to Sinaloan, Panamanian, Venezuelan and Afghan drug operations in exchange for information, kickbacks and the like). No, I can’t speak for all of the people you mention. Not one individual ever could. But if they were to all know the truth behind the War On Drugs, I strongly suspect that most would feel horrifically betrayed by it. A single case in point: in the late nineties I had four friends die from heroin overdose. These four were what is known as “dabblers” - very occasional users. They led productive, respectable and respectful lives (you’d be surprised how many do). They died because the purity of the heroin that was coming to Australia suddenly went rapidly up. They took their regular hit and were dead within minutes. That’s the black market for you. And while there is a “war” against it, that’s what the drug industry will continue to be until the world boils. So what, eliminate the need for drugs entirely? Well, it seems to me that until you eliminate stress, poverty, violence, depression, corruption and a whole lot of other undesirable aspects of daily life that drive many to seek refuge in the only place they can find it, it ain’t gonna happen.

Good post, and I can't get my head around the fact that we go from tonking the Lions on their turf by 10 goals, only to cough up a shocker against the same team (albeit slightly depleted) 2 games later at the home of footy. I'm glad someone here hasn't gone for the "banged up excuse" as to why we lost both our finals, although I do concede Gawn could barely get out of a jog in the Brisbane final. Ironically Trac was in our top 3 players on the night even though he had a publicised injury. I found our discipline to be chalk and cheese if you compare the 2021 with 2022 finals. It actually started in the very first pre season game V's Carlton where we gave up a ton of 50 mtr penalties when we didn't get the hint that the umps were cracking down on discipline and reared it's head in the Brisbane final as you pointed out above. Lastly in response to your post, Kozzie had a really poor finals series IMO. 4 possesions in the Sydney final and then the free kicks and penalties he gave away in the Brisbane final.

That’s an elitist comment if ever there was one. Right now there are no options to Casey and won’t be for the foreseeable future. So get use to the idea.

The War On Drugs was and will continue to be an epic failure, so I’m not sure why the people you mention would have a problem with it being discontinued, unless they have a penchant for wasting taxpayer money (the USA alone has spent over one trillion dollars on this “war” so far with nothing to show for it) and lining the pockets of drug cartels and militant groups. Drugs - be they medically/societally approved or otherwise - are here to stay. So the only way to combat the negative aspects of this are to look deeply into why people take them, and try to address those issues.

Geeze I can't wait for the real stuff to start, no more bickering about training being moved and the club didn't inform anyone, training base arguments or AGM politics it will just get back to straight forward selections arguments, game day disagreements and bitching about the umpires 🤭😜🤣

Goodwin knows that talk is cheap I think we will see him after the practice matches and we are leading into the real season. I know that I cringe whenever I see other coaches being interviewed during pre-season it feels scripted I would rather hear from Williams and Line coaches or the players. But that’s just me. Lol.!!!

Whilst their experience and feelings are valid, the decision for limited legalization should be made using the advice of medical professionals backed up by data. It's the same reason that jail terms are not not set by victims of crime. If we replace that phrase 'the war on drugs' (good band, btw) with 'harm minimisation', we might make some progress

I reckon there's a PhD thesis awaiting someone with the time to analyse Demonland over the last decade or more looking at subject trends. I suspect the "home base" discussion peaks in February every year because there's basically nothing else to talk about. Let's get the season proper underway as quickly as possible!

We aren’t asking for a mini series on his life. Is it too much to ask for a 5 minute interview?

Drugs like cocaine and ketamine are far more dangerous when taken with alcohol. I think it would be a fair assumption that since Ginnivan was at the Torquay hotel, he wasn't just drinking lemonade. In relation to drug use among footballers, I think we have to be careful not to make an assumption, based on a Twitter comment, that "everyone is taking it" and they are somehow different to the rest of society. The rate of cannabis taking among the general population is estimated around 12%, but hard drugs like cocaine, ecstasy and meth/amphetamine are less than 3%. There's no evidence to say footballers would be well above those figures. The fact they are young men would increase the likelihood, but they are also professional sportspeople with excellent resources and objectives and that would diminish it. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/illicit-use-of-drugs/illicit-drug-use

That's right, all 400,000 residents only follow wogball! What a ridiculous generalisation.

Why do we have offices at AAAMI park but then have zero advertising rights around the precinct? That's a question I'd like answered. We are not even included on the official tenants banner that is situated at the front of the stadium. Where is the signage at the MCG, advertising the ground as our home? We have no home. Nothing to identify with. There is zero brand exposure for the MFC. If we are to grow the supporter base, it's marketing 101 to have brand exposure. We have ZERO! That is the importance of a home base. The residents of CASEY could not give a rats t0ssbag about AFL. You could remain there for another 10 years and you'd be unlikely to get 1000 additional members. Meanwhile, we are moving further from our heartland areas and engaging less with our traditional supporter regions. That is a massive issue! That is why it needs fixing!

Top effort WCW keep up the great work.!!!

They wouldn't be any more or less accessible than they are now. It just means you wouldn't be breaking the law if you choose to consume that product.

Nitro all the way

This means we're all better people now after getting to the bottom of it yeah?

The reality is that neither Brown nor TMac are a strong chance to play all 23 H&A games. It's just not going to happen. Brown's knee will require resting and management, and if you listen to the podcast with TMac you'll hear him say that his foot is basically in pain every day and he is managing it. Just because JVR doesn't play round 1, doesn't mean he won't get plenty of game time this season. If we haven't learnt to REST our most important players after last season, then we've learnt nothing at all. Great to finish top 2, bad to finish top 2 with 80% of your list struggling to play out a game.

They are going to kick out to the right side of the ground once every three games!

So people who live in Casey have no interest in AFL, but the CBD is full of footy fans waiting for a team to market themselves properly? Lol. Not sure where you live, but it's somewhere in la-la land.

I won't I am having a cataract operation and will be more one eyed than normal.

In the AGM last night, I noted that MFC CEO Gary Pert said we have about 45,000 members signed up already. That is good news. I like the fact that he is aiming high for the Melbourne Demons to achieve the lofty goal of 75,000 members. To have over 66,000 members in 2022 was an absolutely amazing effort and shows how important it is to win Premierships! Winning Premierships means growing our membership base! I am hopeful that we can achieve the goal of 75,000 members, but I am pragmatic in the fact that it will probably take time and at least another 2 or 3 Premierships. 75,000 members is up there close to Geelong(?) and in the vicinity of the "Big 4" (or 5) of Hawthorn as well as Carlton, Essendon, Collingwood and Richmond. The most important thing is developing sustained success (multiple Premierships) over a period of 20+ years. That will turn us into a "big club" which I think would be the ideal outcome for the Melbourne Football Club.

Hopefully this is just a rinse and repeat of every other ridiculous expansion scenario that we've weathered so far. My concern was always that we'd lose our entire core in one fell swoop before winning a premiership and have to do a complete re-build. Through team culture and smart list management, we've avoided that at least. Of the mid/lower tier who are most at danger, that big focus on positional flexibility last season pays off in this regard as well. Though, there's already a squeeze on for some positions with McNamara and Colvin returning from injury. The players who replaced them or otherwise broke into the premiership team (Gillard, Mackin, Chaplin) have strong claims as well. Those positional questions won't be answered til preseason though, so I can't really see that affecting players' thinking in terms of being lured elsewhere at this stage. It would be an interesting exercise to try to guess which players are in each tier... Presumably we just lost a Tier 1 or 2 in Daisy. So there'll at least be some movement up the ranks. Transparency about a projected tier progression for each player over the next few seasons would be valued, and I trust the club's managing that appropriately. The players in danger who we'd most like to keep can probably be promised (if not immediately, then in a season or two) the same increase they'd get by moving anyway, so they'd have to be very unsatisfied with their role or something else for that to be worth it? Plus, there's a new CBA coming, so likely some pay increases through that. As it currently stands, I'm pretty sure our entire list is from Victoria (or Ireland!). Harris is the exception but surely isn't a flight risk. I continue to expect Caris to go, as she's waiting in a ruck queue that's only got longer with Harris in there. She was impressive in her game last season, so she'd surely have interest if she wants game time.

Given his frank discussions after the 2021 GF about experiencing burnout at times during his coaching career, good chance the club and himself are keeping his media and public roles to an absolute minimum during the off-season allowing him to focus on the players and coaching.

Good balanced response and mostly echoes my own experience. I only had one close mate descend into the really hard stuff with any regularity - and he has (largely) since pulled himself out of it. Smartest guy I know which is often the way - he's self-confessed on the spectrum (undiagnosed) and just finds life a bit boring without drugs. I worry for what he's done to his system over time & he has been a bit addled here & there (stutters etc. developed), but he's mellowing a little as he grows up. He's still a good person. Several other friends and in-laws have been badly impacted by cannabis. Brother in-law the prime example, with teenage use causing extreme schizophrenia & ultimately violence against his own family, my wife included. I've got no time for people who try to tell me that Cannabis is harmless. As for whether any of it should be legal or not - it's really difficult & I can see the arguments from both sides. Given my lived experience though I tend to revert to the status quo (illegal) - ultimately the damage that can be done is catastrophic & as we know all laws sadly need to cater to the weakest person in society. This is not to say that Alcohol is really any different though, and its peculiar that it is allowed when others are not. As for Ginnivan - he deserves whatever punishment he gets - IMO less because he's breaking AFL rules, moreso because he's a young man who needs guidance & direction to help him mature. That should be the Collingwood's #1 concern. If he loves playing footy then the suspension is an appropriate punishment. I'm not convinced given his character that he'll be at all concerned by having his reputation damaged. As for footy more generally - it doesn't make it right but we all know he's not alone. His teammates would have been in the next cubicle...maybe he's been exposed because there are still a lot of people that loathe the way he plays. Someone out to get him perhaps. There was a comment on twitter that said if we caught and suspended all the AFL players who've used , we wouldn't have a league to watch, which I think is probably true. I've seen enough of them in person to convince me of this - including certain stars we love to talk about on this site.

Stupid comment. I am not the President or CEO of the club. Yes, the process is confidential, but that doesn't mean there is anything to report. We have clearly made no progress. Pert himself admitted that and gave himself a big red mark for not achieving a strategic objective in time. The narrative we have good facilities is new. Yes, they are improving but the club has also admitted we are dead last. Also, seen your comments on "we won a premiership training at Casey...". Yes we did, but we won in a year where all clubs were displaced for parts of the year and the finals series. It was not a normal year and none of us know what would have happened if it had been.

I don't disagree with you. However, what have we done to engage the City of Melbourne residents? It's a huge opportunity. Many people who have zero links to AFL clubs, just waiting to be engaged. Do they even know we exist? Be hard to know, given our lack of exposure in the city to whom our name is tied. We tried to increase brand exposure a few years ago in this way. They rented signage opposite Flinders st Station and ran free coffee carts. I like that sort of initiative. I am a little like you - I'd prefer a Demon Shop in the heart of the CBD, rather than at the [censored] end of the MCG, where no one can access. There is so much empty retail in the CBD, you'd perhaps consider it, wouldn't you?

I respectfully disagree with you. Collingwood still have very big links to Vic Park. There are many many Hawthorn supporters in Hawthorn, Camberwell, Kew and the leafy eastern suburbs. They grew their support when they moved to Waverley, expanding their supporter base, and by engaging the community out that way. I do agree that onfield success helps. You say "Your point about the heartland, hate to tell you but that has changed with different demographics of people,..." - I don't really understand what you are trying to say. Melbourne heartland still appears to be Malvern, Glen Iris, Armadale, Toorak and the bayside areas. This was fairly evident during our 2021 finals campaign, where many of the homes were sporting melbourne colours. For me, this is why the Caulfield Racecourse makes a of of sense.

People did not follow any football team because they had a home ground, people followed teams through family, friends, players and success, football is tribal game it's as simple as that, marketing is completely different to 20 -30 years ago. Your point about the heartland, hate to tell you but that has changed with different demographics of people, Hawthorn moved from their heartland Collingwood did the same those days are gone the reality is people don't care it's what they do on the ground that counts.

Sounds like you have an axe to grind fella rather than something to add to the discussion

I know there's a debate to whether our game plan has been worked out or not but this aspect of it really has. Opposition coaching for this moment was in full effect late last season, studying the fall of the ball and how to position for this moment. We need a more varied ball movement strategy.

🤔

If the facilities we have are so good, why are we pursuing other options.

Ok, lets just keep everything the same then. Injury was a big factor in costing us a flag last year, I also suspect a bit of premiership hangover and the uncertainty of the Jackson contract were part of many factors. People here who support the the board blindly are looking at any comment as a criticism. I believe we need a home base, currently we are still nomads moving between Gosch's, Casey, Port and admin at the 'G'... I'm not blaming the current board although I hope they are being honest with the members. I don't know what Pert said tonight...that's why I asked you????