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Stay with me now …. Hope I was able to provide you with a laugh in these challenging times. Things could always be worse. Not much worse. But worse.

Hello Tom Morris, we know you lurk here, you're a scumbag.

It's childish to attack Morris over a story that is clearly true. Right now, Petracca would walk out of the club if he could. Blaming Morris for shedding light on the story lacks intellect. You should be grateful you've been informed. Now it's in the open hopefully the right changes will be made.

In a few hour’s time, the Demonland Trade, Draft & Free Agency Board 2024-5 will be open for business again. Please be respectful to others and help us maintain our high cultural standards throughout the coming months. https://demonland.com/forums/forum/38-trade-draft-free-agency/

I haven't been on Demonland for a while due to work commitments and family matters. However, I thought I should make a post about the serious issues the Melbourne Football Club is facing. After finally breaking our 57 year Premiership drought in 2021, things are now looking grim and we need to fix the serious problems that the Melbourne Demons are currently facing. This is why I support former Demons champion in David Schwarz about having an entire review of the Melbourne Football Club. I don't think CEO Gary Pert should do a mere internal review as I don't think that will be enough. We need both internal and external people investigating the problems the Melbourne Football Club has and look to identify these problems and find solutions to them. Kane Cornes actually wrote a good news article discussing our issues the other week: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-demons-stand-at-the-gates-of-footy-hell-these-are-the-five-mistakes-that-got-them-there-20240808-p5k0ms.html I actually agreed with many of the unpleasant truths that he identified about the Melbourne Demons. An external review is the only way to get to the bottom of all our problems at the Melbourne Demons. Some of the problems have been out of our control like Luke Jackson wishing to leave the Demons and return home to WA. Others, have been due to rotten luck, like poor Angus Brayshaw being knocked out by Brayden Maynard and then forced to medically retire due to all his concussion injuries. Why the Demons players didn't seek vengeance for what happened against Angus Brayshaw still bitterly disappoints me. But I guess I have a more bloodthirsty attitude compared to others and would of liked to see football played the way it was in the good ol' days of the 1980's with brawls and pay back against any of our players that were hurt by an opposition player with "an eye for an eye" mentality. Sadly, our attitude against Collingwood on King's Birthday this year was as soft as butter on a hot summer's day in my opinion and was humiliating to witness. Nevertheless, other issues have to do with poor list management and recruitment. The foolish trade for Brodie Grundy, with the experiment given up after one mere season of trying to see if it could work and then trading away both James Jordon and James Harmes. Not trading in a tall forward or a forward-ruck to help Max Gawn was a big mistake. I don't think we bothered using Tom Fullarton at all either. Losing Alex Neal-Bullen is disappointing too, but family comes first and hopefully we can arrange a fair trade for him to either the Crows or Power. Then there are cultural problems and the poor behaviour of Demons players. Obviously, some of these matters cannot be mentioned. But the most important factor is the need to raise the level of the professionalism of a significant portion of our players. David Schwarz even mentioned this on the radio with Demons players allegedly mucking around during their preseason camp down at Anglesea. Most importantly, we also certainly don't want to see one of our greatest Demons players ever and Norm Smith medallist in Christian Petracca leave the Club. Losing Christian Petracca would be as bad as Ronald Dale Barassi leaving for Carlton at the end of 1964. So reconciling with Christian Petracca is a crucial matter that needs resolving. The stagnation regarding our Home Base development at Caulfield Racecourse has also been incredibly frustrating and this also needs to see further progress. In the end, I don't think I am alone with these concerns and the entire Melbourne Football Club (from boot studder to President) has a lot of pertinent questions to answer. We as Melbourne supporters and members deserve answers and explanations for how things have fallen into disarray so rapidly in season 2024. Anyway, we still have 2 rounds to go. So let's see what happens....

This year I have stopped listening to SEN and stopped watching 360 and On The Couch due to the continued 'pile on' directed at MFC. Prior to this, I listened to SEN religiously each morning and on my way to and from work. I was also a nightly viewer of Foxtel footy offerings. I think, over time, these productions will lose rusted on supporters as they tire of the current 'club in crisis' approach to gaining an audience. As ratings fall, so will the shows. We can only hope!

Absolutely tone deaf clueless thread

Essendon will demand two first-round picks for him

I have long held the view that a great thing for any player is to get that first senior game behind him, so that the next pre season he has the uncertainty that exists about ever getting a game removed and he can feel like he belongs. Imo it allows for a better off season mentally and assists the next pre season. I also believe it doesn’t matter too much if the first game is a bust as no player is judged on their first game, for a number of reasons. Tbh the more games we get into young players, especially when they are dead rubbers, imo can only be of long term benefit despite the meaningless results. Whether it’s Jeffo for his first, or a full game for Kynan, imo that will help them and the club in the long term.

I would ask Peter Jackson to do it. He knows the place and many of the people. Isn't afraid to call a spade a spade and is trusted by the members.

We risk derailing this thread, but anyone that thinks playing this out through the media via his management was the right play and won't be corrosive with the playing group, has rocks in their head. There are problems, but if you're a leader, you have the conversations internally and demand change internally. If Trac were a team mate of mine and I was in the leadership group, I'd be having some pretty strong conversations with him.

If I'm Petracca, a leader at the club, and that was erroneously said about me, I'd be correcting the assertion the next day. If I'm Tom Morris, a senior journalist who values his reputation, especially in light of recent events, I'm not running with an inflammatory comment like that unless I know it's true. Now, you can believe what you want, but I have zero doubt it's true and I also believe Morris' responsibity to his employer was to report what he knew. It's a good story if you're in his game. But I also get that emotional supporters who aren't capable of thinking clearly may get upset.

The close losses aren't the games I'm worried about. The losses to Lions (MCG), WCE, Freo x2, Bulldogs and Collingwood (!!!) are the ones that are the cause for concern. I would include the Carlton loss too, we were smashed out of the blocks and although we almost pinched it late it was basically down to Petracca heroics and Carlton almost [censored] the bed.

7 weeks ago Essendon Carlton and Pies were 2nd 3rd and 4th its not all bad guys

Geez, what is the down side to having some experts from the footy industry come in, have a look at how we're doing things and giving us some recommendations on how we can improve? Why not go out and pick 4-5 of the best footy people we can, Brendan Gale, Peter Jackson, Luke Hodge, Joel Selwood, whoever it is and say, can you take a look at our structure, give us some insight into how your great clubs have done it and help us bounce back in 2025 and win another flag. Honestly this would be a very reasonable step to take given the smoke around the club for the better part of 18 months now with several concerning incidents. Noone at the club should be immune from the review, all positions looked at and we make sure we have things right to the best of our ability heading into 2025.

In round 22 we lost by 2 points to PA. In round 20 we lost by two points to GWS. In round 16 we lost by 5 points to Brisbane. You will have to rely on your own memory regarding how those results hinged on flip of the coin moments in the final seconds of the game. Reverse those three losses and MFC would currently be equal 3rd on the ladder! I'm not against the type of review that every team conducts post season and agree wholeheartedly that change is required. I simply aren't buying in to the Culture, Shock-Jock scenario!

What if Demonland did the internal review. We should compile a list of questions they can ask: 1. Why is Simon Goodwin so stubborn? 2. What is the plan B and C? 3. Why do we lose games at the selection table? 4. Why didn't the President remonstrate with the Collingwood players after the Maynard hit? 5. If our culture was better would we have made up on the scoreboard the less than a single kick losses vs Carlton, Brisbane, GWS and Port Adelaide to be in the top 4? 6. Why haven't we been able to cover the loss of Brayshaw, Trac, Melksham and Olivers injuries/form through first, second and third year players? 7. Why doesn't Goodwin blame close losses on the umpiring like the coach of last years premiers? 8. Our ruckman forward coach failed to deliver more goals in our 2023 finals campaign which had nothing to do with the loss of Melksham, Petty and Fritsch's injury/form. This is the case, no? As Demonlander's what other questions would we ask if we conducted the review?

Gawn didn’t sound happy either. Considering he’s killed himself for the club and taken less money so we can play guys like Trac millions of dollars, I can imagine he isn’t thrilled to once again have to do damage control.

Funny how he was actually correct with his information and everyone on here accused him of false claims huh..? How do you know what the facts is? You're saying it's not dealing with the facts when you yourself don't know deep down. Morris was right all along when he broke Petracca story. This is backed up by Pert or Goodwin not even refuting the claims that he was unhappy. Everyone knows he's unhappy and I have absolutely no doubt if he was out of contract then he would request a trade exactly how Morris confirmed. Well said mate and please post more.. it's head in sand stuff with some folks on here. Its up to the footy club now to implement the changes that is required. Destiny is in their hands now.

A Melbourne supporter's time to shine!

Attention @Demonland: Looks like @Jaded No More had had her account hacked by @Clintosaurus.

Hawkins just retired. Would bring a wealth of knowledge & experience also.

For two first rounders, he can stay right away from our club. Thank you for never coming.

Trac must be worth 4 first rounders then …

I don’t think people would be so anti Morris if he didn’t have a long list of priors.

Haha, it's quite an aggressive thread title. It feels like that Simpsons episode where Tom Jones is chained to the floor and made to perform for Marge.

Honestly, the chances of us pulling Clarko out of North to coach the Dees are higher than Jack Viney leaving the Dees to go to Norf.

Where are you getting these stats from? Champion Data?

On field results aside, noting we have had some poor luck this year with close losses and injury, an external review would be a wise move. David Shwarz is as subtle rusty chainsaw but there would definitely be justification for his concern and he legitimately wants what is best for the club. Player behaviours, football department structures, list management, our high performance strategy, injury management, player welfare, board structure/delivery capability, leadership and club alignment all require a good look in my view. We also need to understand why the media seems to lavish airing our dirty laundry more than any other. Are there leaks? Is it trumped up? Do the media know more than they are allowed to say so they continually point to what they can say to keep the heat on? Is AFL house using the media as a tool against us? Publicly Max, Simon, Pert and Richo come across as steady, likeable, reasonable and smart leaders yet we seem to lurch from drama to turmoil to chaos to embarrasment and then back to the start again. Why?

100% the way we move the ball doesn't help the forwardline at all but the amount of times I see our forwards either standing completely still and waiting for the ball to land on their head OR all running back into the goal square rather than spreading and creating options does my head in.

Its time we had a proper forwards coach teaching our forwards proper leading patterns, structure, blocking etc. The mod-forward connection is not solely on the mids, yes they need to tighten up their delivery but it's not like they're burning teammates leading up to them or into space, they kick to packs because the forwards are stagnant.

Apologies I’ve just finished a massive week so have not read as much as I normally would have. Petracca comes across as an intelligent & articulate operator. He would have been fully aware of the consequences of his actions. There’s more at play here.

Has Tracc or Tracc’s management refuted any of the quotes?? There’s your answer…

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.

The huge mistake Hawthorn made was miscalculating the value of their leaders, and trading them out. By trading Lewis and Mitchell in the same off season and Hodge the year later, they decimated their leadership stocks, which IMO has seen them bottom out for too long. Compare this with Geelong, whilst not completely apt given their geographical and lifestyle advantages, their players have been allowed to play on until the very ends of their careers. This has meant standards have been maintained and leadership knowledge and know how has been passed on to the next generation of leaders in the club. We had a void of leaders when our current senior players were coming up through the ranks. Now we have them, we need to follow Geelong's model. We've already lost Gus who continues to be described as the glue that made everyone around him better, we don't want to follow this up with the loss of another leader. It's why I'd be re-signing TMac and Melksham for another year, so that around Max, Lever, May and Viney, we have a senior leadership core that can continue to mentor the emerging leaders like JVR and Rivers, and hold our players who might not be meeting required Melbourne standards, to account. I'm disappointed that this Trac stuff has come out, because I think a real leader would have made sure this stayed internal, and forced change from within. Having to resort to such public spillages may put pressure on the FD, but I think massively undermines Trac's leadership and ability to lead from now on. But that's an aside. The main point I'm making here is we need to ensure our best leaders stay, and if the FD and leadership group deem certain players are not demonstrating elite standards, they should be traded. If there's one thing you could never knock Jack Viney about it would be elite standards.

Oh yeah. My time to shine!

Now hear me out … After hearing and reading all of the reports from many of the experts in the media, I think one thing is very clear. The Melbourne Football Club has a poor culture, it’s poorly run, badly coached and players are rushing to desert it like rats on a sinking ship. One commentator is even comparing our situation with the time the club sacked Norm Smith which was followed by years in the wilderness. We are cactus. My recommendation on how to solve this is for the AFL to do exactly what it has done in the past to give clubs in distress a leg up in their time of hardship and need. Only this time to be proactive and provide draft relief in advance so the competition won’t have to hold up a perennial basket case for a number of years. A couple of first round draft picks should do the trick. Come on MFC. Make the application for draft relief to maintain a competitive AFL for all clubs!

I will teach you how.

fify i thought the grundy acquisition was a risk, but a risk worth taking - another example of the club not being prepared to simply sit back and NOT try something different they way i see it, we effectively had him as a 'loan' for a year it was a risk, it didn't work move on

Caulfield Racecourse development has to be the primary option. It ticks many boxes, so can see why MFC are pushing for this. I am always doubtful because of 30+ years of feasibility and potential locations. However it appears Melbourne Racing Club want the Dees there as a partner in the development. Time for the board etc to actually show us their value for the club. Less talk. More action.

corruption

Elections and Votes

I don't understand why some are so resistant to the club getting a review. We keep hearing about how great everything is, how great our culture is, to judge the club on their actions. But the sideshow has popped up again and again. If the club believes they're that good then why should they be afraid of a review? If there are no issues then the club gets vindicated and it brings peace of mind to the members if there are serious issues they can be exposed and dealt with properly.

Team selections gave been an absolute disgrace for the best part of two years. Utterly bizarre that you can name Jefferson who's actually got the forward craft as an emergency for two weeks straight in a side that's struggling to kick goals knowing that finals is completely out of the equation. Don't change Goody.

If Melbourne is too much of a shambles how come it nearly beat his side with half of its side out injured?

Hopefully Jeffo and Brown are late changes as emergencies. It’s the perfect time to blood a couple of players. Disappointed with selection. Change and review does not need to wait until seasons end.

Honestly the melts over Jefferson not getting selected, is worth him not getting selected.