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Supporters finding any and every reason to complain, dump their own issues on the club, and panic at everything. You are right, it really is business as usual.

This proposal at Caulfield is for an Administration and Training facility. How many people on here have visited ( out of the 70K members ) who have actually visited the MCG offices, the AAMI offices or even attended a training session during the year? Not just at finals time. It is not for the fans,....... it is for the club, the players and the administration. And if it is to be in Caulfield, Port Melbourne or Timbuktu, it has to serve that purpose alone. MCG precinct is DEAD. It was never an option because no matter what site was proposed, there just isn't enough land available.

I'm a 20 plus year member, I live in the NW and if the board think this is the best available place for our home for the next 100 years then im all for it, there is no reason to not back there decision given the incredible turn around our club has made in the last 10 years. I cant wait to make the trip down for family day and enjoy the premiership memorabilia in a proper home for our club.

Melbourne Demons Lorne training camp: Clayton Oliver goes home, Max Gawn, Christian Petracca | Herald Sun All eyes are on the prize, an all-expenses paid dinner at an exclusive wine bar in the city. There is a surprising urgency in the room given it’s 8.20am and the Melbourne players are preparing themselves for a tgruelling day three of their training camp in Lorne. They were split up into six groups - red, blue, green, yellow, white and purple - when they arrived on Monday and have been battling each other for points through various activities since. The group with the most points by the end of Wednesday gets the dinner which is why all eyes are glued to what the projector has pictured on the wall. Coach Simon Goodwin has set up the trivia challenge which involves listening to audio of famous lines from a movie or TV show. There are a few misses before Peaky Blinders is correctly selected which kicks off wild celebrations. While there is nothing new about group activities at training camps, there is a pointed edge to what the Demons are doing down in the beautiful seaside town. They’ve heard all the rumours, know they’re under siege from the outside and that their reputation has been harmed by off-field issues combined with a second consecutive straight-sets dismissal from the finals. Culture has been the buzz word circling Melbourne and the opening of their doors to the media at the training camp is a step towards trying to send a different message. There is an elephant in the room immediately with no sign of Clayton Oliver. The troubled superstar did travel down to Lorne on Monday but returned back home later that day. He had missed the club’s training session on Saturday and it was decided it was best for him to deal with his on-going issues away from the group. The love for Oliver is obvious among the players and coaches, their support unwavering but they know they have to get on with their own business and hope at some stage ‘Clarry’ comes along for the ride. Regaining the connection which won them the 2021 premiership is what they’re searching for and there is a sense the senior core led by captain Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Steven May, Christian Petracca and Jake Lever are sick of being talked about for the wrong reasons. The two-hour training session at Stribling Reserve ends with a keepings-off drill back in their colour groups. It’s eight on five with the aim to have the most number of possessions sharing the ball while avoiding the pressuring defenders. There is supposed to be no contact but when Viney dumps Kysaiah Pickett, football boss Alan Richardson smiles. He loves watching the competitive beasts and they rise to the top in this exercise. “I couldn’t help myself,” Viney admits later. Assistant coach Mark Williams is doing a victory lap, the team he was mentoring gets the victory and his own competitive instincts means he wants everybody to know about it. Gawn, who attended the birth of his second child just a couple of days earlier, spends most of the session on the bike while there is excitement when favourite son Jake Melksham, who blew out his ACL on the eve of the finals, is out on the track doing some running. After lunch the groups are back in action, with coloured headbands this time, for two hours of activities including running with sandbags, kayaking and ocean swimming. The team building part of the camp is obvious throughout these series of gut-busting exercises and a keen participant is new recruit Jack Billings. He became a forgotten man at St Kilda after two injury-riddled seasons and is hoping to reignite his passion for the game as a Demon. “I always find it challenging being out on the sidelines, but I’ve always loved the game and I think it’s probably in those tougher moments when it makes you reflect and think about why you do it all,” Billings said. “It’s the reason you commit your life to being a professional footballer – I’d say love of the game is what keeps you going during those times. “I’m pretty hungry and motivated for next year and looking forward to being part of the Dees and hopefully contributing.” Billings, 28, has a more pressing engagement on Friday, celebrating his wedding to partner Sarah at Albert Park. For his new teammates, the legacy of Lorne won’t be played out immediately but there is a confidence throughout the Demons hierarchy that the seeds of change have been sown.

Short of building at Fed square there’s no site that is accessible by all train lines. The inner south east is accessible for players and staff. That’s the main function of a training base. And yeah, it works for our fans for the 3 or so open trainings the club actually want fans at a year. What’s aiming bigger than that? Move to Seaford like the saints tried? Move to Geelong and copy the cats? I’d love to have the cash for a Hawks Dingley set up but even old tip sites aren’t cheap. The train from Caulfield to Richmond is 11 minutes, that’s a fact. Obviously you’d need a pretty quick fold up e-scooter if you want to race between the race course to Caul station, Rich station to mcg but it’s a quick commute. Renderings of the ovals (2 footy and 2 soccer fields) have been shared in this thread. It’s very early stages but there is confidence. I’ve got no doubt the ovals will happen at some time regardless of the mfc’s involvement, it’s wasted public space right now. The council want it, the state government needs to get use and revenue in to the area because the Caulfield trust are losing money maintaining dirt and a lake. The MRC don’t have a strong say in this. They rent the track and the grand stand area from the Trust. They will be co-tenants. There’s an opportunity to partner together but just as equally they can do their thing on race day and we can do our thing in the infield on non race days.

Melbourne Demons Lorne training camp: Clayton Oliver goes home, Max Gawn, Christian Petracca | Herald Sun All eyes are on the prize, an all-expenses paid dinner at an exclusive wine bar in the city. There is a surprising urgency in the room given it’s 8.20am and the Melbourne players are preparing themselves for a tgruelling day three of their training camp in Lorne. They were split up into six groups - red, blue, green, yellow, white and purple - when they arrived on Monday and have been battling each other for points through various activities since. The group with the most points by the end of Wednesday gets the dinner which is why all eyes are glued to what the projector has pictured on the wall. Coach Simon Goodwin has set up the trivia challenge which involves listening to audio of famous lines from a movie or TV show. There are a few misses before Peaky Blinders is correctly selected which kicks off wild celebrations. While there is nothing new about group activities at training camps, there is a pointed edge to what the Demons are doing down in the beautiful seaside town. They’ve heard all the rumours, know they’re under siege from the outside and that their reputation has been harmed by off-field issues combined with a second consecutive straight-sets dismissal from the finals. Culture has been the buzz word circling Melbourne and the opening of their doors to the media at the training camp is a step towards trying to send a different message. There is an elephant in the room immediately with no sign of Clayton Oliver. The troubled superstar did travel down to Lorne on Monday but returned back home later that day. He had missed the club’s training session on Saturday and it was decided it was best for him to deal with his on-going issues away from the group. The love for Oliver is obvious among the players and coaches, their support unwavering but they know they have to get on with their own business and hope at some stage ‘Clarry’ comes along for the ride. Regaining the connection which won them the 2021 premiership is what they’re searching for and there is a sense the senior core led by captain Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Steven May, Christian Petracca and Jake Lever are sick of being talked about for the wrong reasons. The two-hour training session at Stribling Reserve ends with a keepings-off drill back in their colour groups. It’s eight on five with the aim to have the most number of possessions sharing the ball while avoiding the pressuring defenders. There is supposed to be no contact but when Viney dumps Kysaiah Pickett, football boss Alan Richardson smiles. He loves watching the competitive beasts and they rise to the top in this exercise. “I couldn’t help myself,” Viney admits later. Assistant coach Mark Williams is doing a victory lap, the team he was mentoring gets the victory and his own competitive instincts means he wants everybody to know about it. Gawn, who attended the birth of his second child just a couple of days earlier, spends most of the session on the bike while there is excitement when favourite son Jake Melksham, who blew out his ACL on the eve of the finals, is out on the track doing some running. After lunch the groups are back in action, with coloured headbands this time, for two hours of activities including running with sandbags, kayaking and ocean swimming. The team building part of the camp is obvious throughout these series of gut-busting exercises and a keen participant is new recruit Jack Billings. He became a forgotten man at St Kilda after two injury-riddled seasons and is hoping to reignite his passion for the game as a Demon. “I always find it challenging being out on the sidelines, but I’ve always loved the game and I think it’s probably in those tougher moments when it makes you reflect and think about why you do it all,” Billings said. “It’s the reason you commit your life to being a professional footballer – I’d say love of the game is what keeps you going during those times. “I’m pretty hungry and motivated for next year and looking forward to being part of the Dees and hopefully contributing.” Billings, 28, has a more pressing engagement on Friday, celebrating his wedding to partner Sarah at Albert Park. For his new teammates, the legacy of Lorne won’t be played out immediately but there is a confidence throughout the Demons hierarchy that the seeds of change have been sown.

As the MELBOURNE Football Club I’d be very happy for us to have a training / administration base at Caulfield, with a satellite base at Casey, and afl games played at the MCG, aflw at princes park and Casey, and vfl and vflw at Casey Representation all over the city!

Spot on, I think sometimes people expect a social club aspect to it, those days are well and truly gone as long as the whole club is there and facilities are of a high standard then that's great, and as George said, how many members watch training every week.

I.54 hectares is not very big. A rectangle big enough to accommodate the MCG playing surface is 2.5 hectares

as someone who has worked in digital comms, product, and marketing for 20 years i find our actual content produced is routinely rote but sufficient given our obvious scarce resources and investment in it what i can't allow is the routine errors - players names spelled incorrectly, information shared being wrong, content being uploaded and then deleted due to it being riddled with errors, etc. etc. it's just the lack of attention to de(e)tail that really irritates me

caulfield racetrack is 9.5km se from the melbourne town hall, or 8km from mcg given majority of our membership are east or south of the city, i'd say it was pretty central and still close to the city/mcg more importantly, it would be a very convenient location for players and staff

From memory we missed the finals in 2017 by percentage, we made a Preliminary final the following year and got beat up by the eventual premiers, we had a horrid 2019 multiple surgeries, etc, just missed the finals in 2020 shortened quarters due to Covid, then actually won the Flag in ‘21. We have followed up by finishing top 4 two years in a row but we’re bundled out in straight sets due in part to injuries, inaccurate kicking and a degree of bad luck. I attended all those four finals and not once were we smashed but I was still gutted, battered, angry and frustrated, However I have put it behind me, I have moved on and I am looking forward to what we can do better and get luckier in 2024-25. I am now starting to tire of those supporters who want to keep beating the club and particularly our Very successful coach and playing group up and you have to give some Credit to the sides we played who kicked straighter and had a lot of luck go their way.!!

No need to jump to conclusions. We may be strategically partnering with the dog food and glue industries.

The club allowed me to interview Tholstrup on the Demonland Podcast. FWIW I would interview all players and provide the footage/interview for free if they let me. They wouldn't even have to promote Demonland or me. I'd do the same for training footage too but I get the need for some secrecy around tactics etc.

It will be very interesting who out of Collingwood and Richmond end up getting Gosch’s in the year 2050 when we finally move out.

actually i suspect the filth and the ferals will at sometime in the future be looking for a new home. the need for a 2nd oval and a hangar plus having now 4 teams is not possible in their current sites. an alternative could be that they operate 2 sites but they'd still have to find suitable locations for such.

a tall forward who marks the ball at the highest point of his leap and averages more than a goal a game in his first season in a side that perennially makes finals? what's not to like?!?? from what i saw he needs to add bulk to his body and repeat efforts to his football lots to like

I watched the Sydney clip. Mostly just footage of them swanning around.

They could have Goschs back when we are finished. Don't laugh, two flags have been won from Goschs. The ferals might have bigger problems. But who cares.

We are more the MCCFC due to our inception.

Got it in one George. Caulfield or bust.

Covered it beautifully DC.

Cannot help but think that our September forward line will be very different to what we start with. And wouldn't be at all surprised to see Jefferson nail a regular spot. Add McAdam, Kossie, Fritta, an improving JVR, Trac resting (even a great ball user in Seston) and we have a less one-dimensional forward line. Each to their own but I'd rather Petty down back.

I sense some are confusing 'central' with accessible.. Further ...and again.... central to what and/or whom ? Central in any Melbourne context is actually somewhat misleading. The CBD was never Central...but was the centre of Commerce. Melbourne's biggest shopping area ? Nowhere near FB/PM Are we just the MCG footy team... or the MELBOURNE Football Club

Not forgetting that AFL is just as much a betting business.

He knows. Not happy Jan.

Port Melbourne is a bastard to get to, by any means, from anywhere.

Jed Adams looks a lot like a young Harrison Petty, I will watch him a lot closer in 2024 to see how he develops as you never know when your opportunity will arrive, remember when Adam Tomlinson went down in 2021 and Petty slotted seamlessly into the team. Jed has time to develop but you have to be ready to step up when it is your time. Work hard Jed.

😀 Loving the banter. Hope that the post didn't touch a raw nerve with a Demon making do in Sydney. Personally, I'm fascinated by what goes into making a team perform. Even the 1s glimpse of the team walking across a busy road together to get to the training oval paints a picture of how they train, similar to the slope that Neale Daniher's Demons completed their pre-season training back in the 1990's. For example, I lapped up Selwyn Griffith's presentation in last week's info session and Darren Burgess and Peter Bruckner's podcast (Brukie and Burgo, which was last updated in Aug-22). The Swans' "Inside Sydney" video, IMO, was along the lines of the info session but in a far more engaging style. Others may prefer what the MFC serve up for comms, which I find bland and mostly opaque to varying degrees. (Last week's info session was interesting though rather dry).

This time x 1000. Pay peanuts get monkeys. They clearly have made a decision not to invest in comms to the level i would expect of any professional sporting club in an elite competition. Personally i think it is short sighted as fan engagement is critical in terms of continuing to grow the fan base and membership But its more than just fan facing content and engagement. Good comms is critical in terms of managing potentially fraught issues, not to mention responding to any crisis or serious incident and/or damage control. Look at last season. The Grundy demotion to the VFL to 'work on his forward craft' was a shocker from a comms perspective and the best you could say about the messaging around the clarry injury and related palaver is that they did a good job of keeping things in house. But they let Goody twist in the wind with the weekly updates he had to give. I don't blame Richo or Goody for those comms snafus - particularly goody who is not a natural media performer like say Mcrae. Getting such messaging right is the responsibility of the comms team. Bottom line is Demonland is much better source of information and content for dees fans than the MFC which should not be the case. And speaking of Demonland, from a comms perspective the club are wasting an opportunity for basically free comms and promotion. Instead of locking out fans from Casey training they should be encouraging people like Picket Fence to get downs there and report to their hearts content. Even give them special access (get some players or club official to chat to them). Then cross promote on the MFC socials. Free content and great engagement. Simples. Oh and they could hire 666 to take photos.

appalling

It seems such a pity ... we need a home facility, the 'G is too crowded with all but the MFC, Caulfield has so many possitives associated with it and for the Club and supporters, patrons, spheres of influence, superb development potentials and access, etc.

I think this bloke is the most talented of the younger players yet to debut. lets see what 2024 holds for him.

I can't say I've watched lots of game minutes, but from what I've seen, the following has stood out: He marks the ball at a high point in his leap (a bit like Weid, so probably the source of comparisons) and looks like with a bit more size/strength he'll be a great mark. He has a knack for finding goals. Some are out the back. Some are from loose positions away from his man. But I actually think it's really important that he knows how to create that space and positioning, that he knows how to be a threat through uncontested work. Because when you add the size and strength and contested work to that, he'll do both. A bit like Tom Lynch does.

Me too. As i noted before there are two, maybe three, aspects to comms - fan engagement (eg social media, content etc), media engagement (eg interviews, pressers etc) and issue/crisis management. But just focusing on fan engagement, like you i love videos and info on how they train and prepare. I'm not on social media, unless you count Demonland, but from what i have seen from clips etc posted on DL, the information and videos MFC put out on the socials often seems pretty brief and fluffy (lots of clunkily edited video put to god awful soundtracks). Popcorn. I understand people love that stuff, and that's great and know I'm probably in the minority but i prefer more depth and detail. The super positive response on here for the brilliant photos from 666 and fantastic track reports (thanks all) suggest i'm not alone in that. I get that doco style videos like the the Hell and Back series are expensive and that in a resource constrained environment perhaps the cost outweighs the benefits - perhaps being the operative word. Plenty on here rubbished that series - less talk, more action and all that. But for me it gave me a reason to actually visit the MFC website, the online front door to the club. Which in turn meant engaging with other information and content about the club. It is part of the value proposition for members and sponsors. I watched that series of videos at least twice (once after winning the flag - which was fascinating because you could see the genesis of how we got there) and thought they were brilliant because they gave me a real insight into how they train and prepare and what goes into being AFL ready. For example, the footage and interviews with Vanderburgh about the incredible ongoing rehab program (for his feet issues) he had to endure just to train and play amazed me. Crazy stuff. But in this day and age clubs don't need to spend a fortune on high end productions to produce content that is engaging and interesting to people like myself. As an example, Freo, who i think do really good comms, have these videos on their website which i found really interesting from a technical point of view and getting a sense of how AFL teams prepare and develop systems - and I'm not even a Freo fan (by the by, for any Omac fans like myself check out 3:11 to 3:38 in the second video - text book):

Out of interest, do you live closer to Port Melbourne than Caufield?

Nice, thanks very much for that!

Right on. And according to the club there is no better option. If there is one, someone should lay it out here. Do a comparison using the criteria Perty discussed at the AGM. Space, accessibility, availability et al., and (I suspect) the biggest issue of all: willingness to cooperate with MFC...

This picture of jack Billing’s. I like the look of Brayshaw behind him, looks happy and contented. Also a lot of long hair and it’s dark. Wish I had kept my hair longer and darker. 40 years would have been great. come on Gus. !!

I did apologise at the time for the length of my 7 paragraph preamble, and do so again if you found it so unreasonable. I felt and still feel it was necessary to put my question into some context in a structured fashion. I did not hear any groans and indeed was encouraged by the unsolicited moans of support and agreement with most of my comments from those around (closer to)me. Even Gary Pert who agreed to take my full submission for consideration was nodding in agreement at many of the points. Kate did answer as expected to my first question which merely, reprised my comment about member involvement. Kate reiterated that she had spoken to everyone and indeed has asked members at last years AGM to make suggestions which I have now done. I had spoken with Kate about Fishermans Bend Port Melbourne and she had been unaware of the Australia Post warehouse which I had heard rumours of. She did enlighten me about some of the FB developers and some of the companies that were involved in the speculative land purchasing that had occurred under both Liberal government and Labor governments. She also stated that these developers had put apparently unreasonable cost barriers in the way of club options. My question was "has the club sought from its stakeholders, members, sponsors and supporters any involvement or interests in the Fishermans Bend site" While I do not deny any of Kates comments I hardly think asking for any suggestions, adresses my specific question. As a member, I have never seen the club or Kate herself ask about fishermans Bend or Caulfield for that matter. I am also cognisant of confidentiality and conflict issues and my follow up questions were related to notice of who had been approached. I am happy to provide the questions to any one who asks but do not want to unnecessarily burden you further with unwanted information. I did have as my final question acknowledgement of the uncertainty of any feasibility study and did suggest to Gary Pert that to have an alternative proposal may provide some negotiating leveraging strategy. While not enthusiastically embracing my comments he did again, with a nod, accept my offering. Only time will tell of the developments. I note that it is reported today that Port Melbourne have moved on the Australia Post site and i suspect that other opportunities may be lost. I support the club and will continue to do so. If the feasibility study shows economic and organisational suitability, I will be delighted. But as was pointed out to me, any development in the existing market of scarce infrastructure resources, with costs at maximum is perhaps unwise. Again I will be pleased to adress that in my feasibility study.

That's a fowl joke, ET

I often catch the Cranbourne & Pakenham Line trains and usually do Richmond to Carnegie in 13 minutes. You won't do Calufield Racecourse to MCG in 10 minutes but you will do Caulfield Station to Richmond Station in about 10 minutes. Actually, the Cranbourne & Pakenham Line trains will use the new Metro Tunnel scheduled to open late 2024 or early 2025 and will mean that Caulfield will become easily accessible to the the inner north and the western suburbs by public transport.

Agree B-B-P that was Disco’s best performance at senior level. Got the attention of some of the Ch7 commentators too.

What could possibly go wrong? My MFCSS is a thing of the past ....

5 years is a long time in MFC time, and here we are, inserting ourselves back into a gambling venue, and the heinous business of betting on animals.

You'd imagine Tomlinson and Turner (both 194 cm) will be competing with each other for that third tall defender spot behind May and Lever. Can't see our weekly backline containing all four players. Arguably stiff to be dropped for the Pies final after a very encouraging round 24 game in which the stakes were high for Sydney.

I enjoyed and appreciated your interview with Koltyn mate. Interview wise you guys do it best and wish you had more access so we could actually get some proper insight rather than robotic short and sharp ‘get it over and done withs’.

It's a bleeping training montage with a few cliche talking points. Seriously, some people on here would lose the plot if they found out another club had reportedly trained the house down. I must admit that 'substandard Melbourne FC comms team fail to show our players waiting at a crossing light' wasn't on my bingo card for 2023.

We really miss Gibbo.