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We rightfully had a crack at Peatling and missed. Perryman is going to be paid $900k at the Pies. Cummings a 6 year deal at the Crows. Battle enough contract to trigger the highest draft compensation. Houston if we were still in it would be costing us pick 5 Baker and Bolton we are in the wrong state to entice. Noble and Rioli first round picks. Haynes, Darling, Parker passed well passed their best and would require good $$ multi year retirement deals. Some times the best list management is the one that does little.

Whats telling is in the comments section of the Facebook post of the article, one comment in particular from Michelle Oliver, Clarry’s mum.

After becoming premiers in 2021, and occupying top four finishes in the last three years, 2024 was a completely different story for the Dees. Melbourne finished 14th in 2024, with significant off-field issues weighing them down. But Cam Luke has nine positives for Melbourne fans, urging them to sit tight and remain optimistic heading into 2025. 1. Max Gawn “I think sometimes we underrate people because the standards they set for themselves are so high, and we take certain things for granted," Cam Luke said on AFL Trade Radio. “AFL fans should not take Max Gawn for granted. “He played pretty much with a broken leg in the last month. “We talk about inspirational leaders and captains in the AFL; if there’s any in front of Max Gawn it is a very small number. “He leads this football club by example. He has had to answer a million questions at the Melbourne Football Club. “He fronts up, he talks about it, he wears his heart on his sleeve. “He is the best ruckman in the league and this is by far the best positive – that Max Gawn is their captain.” 2. Caleb Windsor “He was good this year. He was probably a bit low in the rising star. “It’s never easy to wander into a club that has had success and be good straight away. "To be able to crack into a team like that, Caleb Windsor deserves a pat on the back." 3. Jacob Van Rooyen “He kind of got thrown into it once Luke Jackson left the club. “It is not easy for a young kid to carry a lot of responsibility, they haven’t got their forward line mix right, which we understand. “I think there are ups and downs, and I don’t think we accept the ups and downs of Van Rooyen as we do for other forwards." 4. Easier fixture next year “They’ve had a hard fixture; they’ve had to do it a harder way. “The last three years they’ve been in the top 4, they were a premier, back-to-back top 4 positions. “In 2025 that won’t happen, they finished bottom 5 and next year, away they go.” __5. Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver are not leaving_ “They are not leaving. If you are a Melbourne fan you should sit there and tell yourself, they are going to go back to their level. “Why would you be pessimistic about Petracca and Oliver at your football club next year? “We’ve seen players want out before and play good footy. “These players are two of the best greatest Demons of all time; Petracca is a Norm Smith medallist and has two best and fairests. He was having a great year before he got hurt. “Clayton Oliver has four best and fairests. “Look on the bright side that these two men are in your colours next year and can bounce back. “Don’t be glass half empty, be glass half full.” 6. Judd McVee 7. Trent Rivers 8. Jake Lever and Steven May “I am touching wood that they can stay fit and healthy and, on the park, because if they do that means defensively, they will rarely ever get beat.” 9. They can make the top eight next year “I think they will make the eight. “I will make a bet with you that they make the eight next year.”

Yeah I secretly barrack for another club, I've taken out an MFC membership for 35 years since I was a little kid and waste time on here as the perfect cover. I'm playing the long game here 🤦 The club is dysfunctional and needs change in the senior leadership. A symptom of the dysfunction is the extremely poor mismanagement of both the Petracca and Oliver situations as well as the poor culture that has ket these issues fester. You can try and shut down discussion of that and be a mindless cheerleader happy to see the club slide back to irrelevance but that won't make the problems go away and won't stop people discussing it.

Or an adult saying “cringe” instead of “cringeworthy”.

Our smalls excluding Pickett are very ordinary

I don’t think I am foolhardy for thinking that with improvement from youngsters like JVR, Windsor, Kolt, Jeffo , Verrall etc and fit Clarry, Tracc, May, Lever, Bowey etc, and the addition of a couple of really talented draftees, that we will improve on the side that lost by under a goal, to 4 of the top 5 teams, including the Premier at home in the last kick of the game. We will get far more from a good injury run and a player buy in on reverting to that selfless team game, than we will get from a couple of overpriced good players that are really just coming for money or a super payout.

The nearest McClure has come to such a prestigious award was the time he snuck up behind a chicken and was nominated for the Pullet Surprise. (sorry)

And to repeat my take on it fwiw, I reckon Geelong let Oliver's visit become public knowledge in order to embarrass Melbourne. Consequently MFC could have been seen as having to rid itself of a "cultural issue" whatever the price, the emphasis being "whatever the price" because they knew they had nothing to match his true value. Sneaky as, and all the heat comes back on Melbourne as a basket case while Geelong are seen as squeaky clean. I think I might just go watch the 2021 prelim now as my compensation.

This thread has to be up there with one of the most deranged I’ve ever read in this forum 😂 @RickyD posts to explain the reasons for the open letter & ppl are acting like he’s a double agent sent by a master villian to destroy the club Pert has been the CEO at the helm of the post-2021 debacles. How he’s managed to exempt himself from the review, I do not know. But it should be admired, because it is a master piece of bull****ery

Good work Daz. I think it’s important that we allow people in who might have different opinions and points of view and challenge what might be the norm. It creates interesting discussion, people just have to learn to deal better with someone who may have an opposing stance on a subject to theirs.

Has potential due to his size, but there's a few red flags IMO. He lacks intensity at times, and it's common to see him pushed off the ball by kids 10-15 cms and kgs smaller than him. When they played SA, Draper made him look like a clown tbh, repeatedly shoving off him and bursting away from stoppages. Despite his big frame and midfield projection, he actually played better as a loose half back flanker last year and impacts games most as a link up player with good mid range kicking. He doesn't have power bursting out of stoppage like a Cripps or Petracca do either. It's interesting how he's being described as a midfield beast, but I don't see it and think it's purely a media narrative due to his 194cm size. Some clubs might think he could become a Cripps type, but I have my doubts and would be disappointed if we took him at 5. Players like Langford, Lalor, and Draper all look to have more potential as midfielders. Smillie projects as a similar inside built type to Langford, but lesser in basically every way other than a few cms height. Langford wins more disposals both contested and uncontested, clearances, marks, goals, tackles etc and is 190cms too. Lalor is far more powerful and potent, and if he can build fitness could be a Dusty/Trac type mid-forward. Draper has more speed, agility, skill, ball winning ability, but hits the scoreboard less. He's the most rounded but less x-factor due to lack of forward craft like Lalor and Langford (and Smillie). He's the quick skilled mid if that's our need. I expect O'Sullivan and Smith to be gone by our pick, but O'Sullivan looks to goods as the most rounded midfielder IMO.

It’s an easy out for McClure… “Oliver was keen to be traded, but Geelong and Melbourne couldn’t agree on his value”.. so for now he can continue to throw “stories” out there with no accountability

Facts in this article: Clayton is training hard to be ready for pre-season. Melbourne and Geelong have had no meaningful discussions of a trade for Oliver in trade week this far. No offer has been tabled. Two Demons officials said no trade will be entertained. Conjecture: Oliver might have been willing to take a pay cut to get to Geelong.

The media wouldn't report on it if the club were not dysfunctional. The problems lie with the club, not with the media reporting on the club.

You don’t possibly have a larger font do you? I’m having a little trouble reading your post.

BOMBERS PONDER OPTIONS ON TOP PICK ESSENDON has conceded it will be difficult to move up the draft order and get in ahead of an Isaac Kako bid, with the Bombers now listening to rival offers for their No.9 selection. As reported by AFL.com.au on Wednesday, Melbourne is among the teams expected to come hard for pick No.9 as Essendon ponders moving the selection back or into the future to avoid it being absorbed by an earlier bid on Kako. Speaking to AFL.com.au's Gettable on Thursday, Bombers list manager Matt Rosa revealed the club had tried to get up the order but said it is unlikely such a possibility would eventuate. "We've explored that," Rosa said. "We've spoken to some clubs ahead of us to see if there's the potential of moving up. But I think, as time goes on, we've really realised that it's going to be hard to potentially move up in this draft. Everyone is valuing those high picks. It's something that we'll keep exploring, but I would say it's unlikely at this stage." Instead, Essendon is more likely to move the pick back – subsequently amassing more points to match a bid on Kako – or into the future, to ensure it doesn't get lost completely when a bid on the small forward is placed. "We're still living in a space where we're just assessing all of our options," Rosa said. "We have had some offers and some interest in that pick No.9, whether it be for us to move back and potentially move into the future. We're in a position where we've just really got to listen to all opportunities. "Clearly, the pointy end of this draft is strong. It would need to be quite a special offer for us to consider giving up that pick No.9 at this stage. But we're listening to all options at the moment." Essendon could wait through the Trade Period and into draft night before deciding on whether it shifts pick No.9, with the club hopeful of using three or four selections at this year's draft. – Riley Beveridge

Please don't keep these nonsense rumours swirling The club have come out numerous times to say Oliver is going nowhere and will not be traded The only reason it is in the news again is a re-hashed tweet with no new information as the 'journo's' can't justify their existence during a boring trade week

Your user name sums it up in 4

Weirdest thread ever

Draft math time. Dees bid on Kako @ pick 6 6 = 1751 points Bombers get a 20% discount so need 1400 points. Bombers trade 9 for GWS for 16 and 17. 16 = 1067 points Leaving them 333 points short. From here, they can trade 17 down again for further points to match. Or the pick slides back by that amount. In this case, 333 point deficit pushes pick 17 out to 28. So essentially turn 9 into Kako and pick 28 (or an earlier pick if split with another club wanting pick 17) if they deal with GWS. Of course other bids for academy players like Lombard and Marshall will affect this. Bombers will then weigh up their ideal outcome. Kako + 28 - by trading down (with GWS specifically) or Pick 6 + Kako - by using their future 1st plus extra draft picks to get ahead of a Kako bid. (Not sure they have enough here to entice a club to do this). The may even hope to trade in an earlier 1st round pick and hope Kako slides past 9 to give them say 6, 9 and Kako. Highly unlikely I would think. Or Trade out of pick 9 downwards and into the future. Example might be dees offer Future 1st plus picks 28, 47, 53 to give them points to match a Kako bid. Kako + dees f1

One thing I have noticed about this forum however, is that anyone who a) Dares to point out there is something wrong with the club or b) Dares to provide any information about it Gets attacked relentlessly. What's the second one about. Oh and c) Gets a WARNING for innocently mistakenly naming one person they didn't know not to because they're new but hey what's a little fun without autocracy

In the least surprising development ever, a player who was lazy, half hearted and injury prone at Adelaide became a lazy, half hearted and injury prone player at Melbourne. A shocking recruitment decision that we have to live with for another two years. My biggest regret is that we can't make him play in a local league until he gets serious.

If it's all to much to handle RBMB then just choose to tune out. Trade period will be all over next Thursday morning. Things could go many ways in the meantime - tune back in then and find out what happened.

I suspect that the biggest cultural difference between our club and others is that we have so many people keen to pursue their agendas and vendettas through public channels. Or, to put it another way, people ready to hurt the club in order to contest control over the club. It is why the only times we've been able to turn in positive directions have been the times we've had 'unchallengeable' leadership figures, such as Stynes or the Roos/PJ combo. While that's going on the leaders within the club who are trying to address the substantive issues get publicly whipped by BOTH the faction resisting changes and the faction impatient for change. Then there are certain unscrupulous vendetta-bearers and wannabe king-makers who will take both those sides into the public domain just for the cause of white-anting the current leadership. It would be fascinating to be able to map it all out.

Both Oliver & Petracca are 100% to blame Have we seen Gawn, Viney, Rivers et al behave in the same way. No It's just those 2 but they just happen to be our best 2 players. But I can put that aside because the club comes first I'd like to know how the club made Oliver go off the rails? Please explain As for Petracca and his petty attitude dragging the club through the mud for close on 3 weeks, that was disgraceful

What’s said in public is often completely different to what’s said between 2 clubs. My guess is we’ve told Geelong, if you want him show us a respectable offer but leave the media out of it. I’d hazard a guess that Melbourne think they can get most/all the salary of the books, get Geelongs F1 and trade that back into this years draft. If we get 3 top 20 picks and pick 28 it goes a long way to changing the look and skill set of the team.

I spoke with Woey at the prematch function in Perth before the Freo game back in August, and I get the impression from him that apart from his son playing for Melbourne (which Woey said was his choice), he still hasn't fully forgiven Melbourne for his treatment back in the early 2000s. He seemed rather guarded and skeptical back then. I'm wondering if that offers some perspective and context to his thinking.

Congratulations on at least being transparent as to your identity. The same question still applies to you though: are you being 'compensated' to launch a very public campaign against the club you claim to love, or is it just another self-serving exercise to promote your own content and media production aspirations? The reason some might be skeptical, is that others are obviously being paid to currently post on this forum or have connections to those who are, and your 'open letter' was accompanied by a video uploaded on a social media account which is solely focused on tourism and has never had anything remotely to do with football. In fact, I'm hard-pressed finding anything related to your support of the Demons across all your socials over the past decade and beyond, except for one 'repost' of our grand final victory. You do however reference West Ham United a lot, which seems odd compared to your total lack of public recognition given to the Dees until a week ago. I'll take your word for it though that you are - were - a member of the MFC, as I likewise have rarely ever stepped foot in our home city. I did however grow up in Aussie Rules territory in South Australia, supporting the Redlegs, which explains my connection to the red & blue, as frequently detailed right here on this fan site. Note to admins: RickyD has openly connected his Demonland profile to his petition to his Instagram page, so I'm not 'exposing' or asking anyone to reveal themselves. My question is why he has continued to go so hard after getting his fan letter 'surprisingly' published in the Age, which is already so ridiculous to begin with. Ricky has since humbly expressed his regret for bringing additional negative media attention to our club - defending his approach by counterbalancing it with what is in his opinion the best interests of the MFC - while at the same time courting the likes of Kane Cornes on Twitter and gleefully promoting the letter's publication. On that point Ricky: why do you have such a big and happy 'disarming' smile while complaining about our governance on film? Surely you must be as bitter and disenchanted and full of vitriol as the rest of us to take such drastic actions, rather than looking like someone who just had their cocktails comped on Koh Samui. You're bringing serious Brett Kirk vibes to that recording mate. I would love to compare your expressions to what might be expected of @Sir Why You Little filming a similar hostage video from Thailand. But some other quick questions while I'm here, which I'm sure you can answer in your adopted tone of voice: Why did you spell 'idolized' in the American fashion in your letter to Brad? Did you write it in its entirety yourself? I quickly cross-checked all your other blogs I could dig up and didn't come across another instance of you using a 'z' in place of an 's', only examples to the contrary. But I know you've been out of the country a lot though. Also, some of those on the record as having driven the recent board challenges at other clubs as highly paid strategic comms outsiders - and now being suspected of doing the same at the MFC - had very lofty positions at Tourism Australia, where you also worked, at the same time. Do you perhaps know of them or have any relationship?

At this point I hope we don't trade anyone in. Anyone good would require our pick 5 I prefer to hit this draft hard. More of Kozzi/Rivers/Windsor to rejuvenate the team

What a great win. Thankfully Adelaide couldn't kick straight, but hey!. This was a good example of how the game has changed. None of the outside run, handball, spectacular type stuff we have been using in the past. Suddenly our error rate drops away and we didn't give the opposition the rebound chances that have previously killed us. Just tough, relentless, kick the ball no matter what type of football. And it worked against a side that is just loaded, loaded with talent on each and every line. They continue to be a dramatic outlier in the competition as a result of only one SA team for too long. Thanks AFL! It will be 10 years before they drop away. We now have to continue this type of boring, un-exciting brand if we want to be competitive. Especially with so many injuries. Lots to be excited about, with Gall and Campbell showing plenty, and they are not going to get any smaller. Those telling contested marks just were critical when needed. And the backline with Goldy and Chaplin again taking critical marks and contest held out the very best. We would have been overwhelmed by them otherwise.

Couldn’t give a brass razoo what the media think. Additionally, you don’t think a lot of attendees at the B&F aren’t wearing rose-coloured glasses? Much like cheer squads who are almost delusionally optimistic.You’d more than likely see me as a pessimist, I’d like to think of myself more as a realist. Im just going off what I’ve seen at games from 2021-2024, and the drop off is stark. Our team-wide defence and pressure has gone from manic to underwhelming, our cohesion has dropped off a cliff, our attack while never our ace has become a liability, our midfield has gone from tormenting to being tormented and our once rock solid defence that held out the longest has finally cracked. Throw in the off-field instability………….yes, the situation is bad. And when 95% of the AFL industry reckon it’s bad, maybe it’s time to forgo pride and come back to the real world before it becomes arrogance. We only finished 14th on the ladder after all.

I think you'll find the club disagrees with you. JVR, Petty, Turner, then add Fritsch, Kozzie and a couple of smalls plus Jefferson coming through ... workable, and they're all still young, or young enough. Mids would be the priority I would imagine, if not KP defenders for the longer term (May, McDonald, Thomlinson will need replacing over the next year or two).

Welcome to Demonland Ricky D. Despite making your points logically, fairly and respectfully, you were attacked relentlessly. Unfortunately, it happens a lot here. Ironically, I believe most here think the club should be having an independent review for bleedingly obvious reasons, but they were either not on-line or disappointingly quiet. You should have started by attacking the press. that will always get you on-side. Really, who outside the club knows the whole story? What we do know is that many things just aren't right on and off the field, and haven't been for some time. Under pressure, the club finally conceded that, but chose to self audit. Great for job security, but not transparency. I fully support your stand on what should have happened, and still needs to. This club leaks like a siv and I expect those particular individuals will survive the process, for it's self-preservation and importance that drives them, not what's best for the club. I will always support the club, but accept we have a habit of self destructing every so often (watch the Norm Smith sacked topic from 13 Sep). You have already been accused of being a journo, using a pseudonym etc. I'm sure more theories will come. You'll get a laugh from them, believe me. But, If you stick around, you will get to read posts from many reasonable and balanced people. It's up to you if you can bother. For what it's worth, I had already signed the petition when I posted it here. If we want to put a full stop to all this, it needs to happen. PS. Saty, I worked in middle management in Federal Government for 15 years, so please disregard this post.

Ok, so let’s entertain this nonsense for a second. Let’s say the club finds a trade for Clayton they’re happy with and do it. That means within 10 days the President, Football Manager and the List Manager will all have lied to the public and Melbourne’s members about trading Clayton (not to mention Geelong’s list manager). Members are upset when good players are traded, particularly when they’re in contract, combine that with outright lies and the relief most members felt when hearing that announcement and the fury will be like nothing we’ve seen before. How do you spin that? How do you run a membership drive? How do you get members and supporters to ever trust you again? How do you get donations for a new home base? How do you keep your other players on the list? I think this is staying in the press through a combination of boredom and wanting to maintain pressure on a clearly very media disliked Gary Pert (check out Barrett’s article on AFL.com outright calling for Pert to go). But I also just can’t see how it happens due to the fall out for the football club, Brad Green starts his presidency with an outright lie at the B&F?!!! We’re being called a circus and disaster and everything else now, imagine if we immediately make three senior club figures liars. Insanity.

Keep an eye out for the name Tye Hourigan from Traralgon Football Club 23 year old smokey defender in the same mould as Tom Stewart and we have strong interest in him. One to watch.