Leaderboard

Okay, here is what you need to know about the MFC Directors Election recently held. The constitution of the Club gives the Board absolute discretion to determine how elections are run. Board rules were established quite some time ago allowing electioneering so long as materials were cleared by the company secretary. This would allow candidates to state their positions on issues to the membership giving the membership knowledge of candidates and their policies and an ability to make an informed choice. However once Peter Lawrence announced he would run for election the Board issued new rules declaring that there would be no electioneering and that candidates would be limited to 150 words outlining their qualifications and policy positions. Any person who broke these rules would be disqualified from being a Director of the Club. Subsequently in January all members received an email from Glen Bartlett, well in excess of 150 words, outlining his and the Club view on who should be elected. Peter Lawrence was excluded. When I contacted Peter Lawrence (who was the only candidate to supply an email and telephone number in his 150 word bio) to confirm he was the Peter Lawrence I once worked with I received the following reply: “It is me. Hope you’re well. Candidates are precluded from talking about the election- the only communication we can have with members is what is contained in the 150 word election statement. Regards Peter” This situation raises many issues, not least why members were precluded from communicating with Directors, who represent us, to canvas their qualifications and policy positions. This was not a fair and open election but one manipulated by the current Board to achieve their desired outcome. I don’t know any of the current Board members other than one dinner with Brad Green who I voted for and think is an outstanding candidate. What I know is the Board has denied the members the opportunity to fairly evaluate candidates and have orchestrated a situation where only their chosen candidates had a realistic chance of success. These actions by our Board do not sit with the principles of democracy and I for one now have reason to distrust them. What are they hiding? If any Board member reads this and wants to discuss it with me PM me with your mobile number and I’ll provide my identity and give you an opportunity to respond. This behavior by the Board is utterly disgraceful and bitterly disappointing.

The guy deserves his dignity. Rather a tasteless comment

Like the Football Department it was time to get another view... It's unhealthy to keep with the status quo for too long, particlulary when we don't have results to show. I don't think having one new board member that hasn't been hand selected by the board would lead to instability unless they had something to hide.

Just my 2 cents worth. I voted for Lawrence. Don’t like getting told who to vote for. Particularly when we have had no success.

What a strange comment...and post by the way. Talk about Trumpism...you've made some very odd accusations. If you read my first post you would see that I said I was disappointed with the result but we move on. Dear Donald had to be moved on kicking a screaming. Maybe not but it's always good to have a different set of eyes...I would have preferred that but it didn't fall the way I would have liked, no big deal, we move on. I wasn't alluding to any significant influence by the way... It would have been good to have another stable presence that wasn't hand picked by the current board.

He's referring to the first round pick we owe them after the season. Do you know what Archie Smith, Tom Fullarton, Sam Skinner, Connor Ballenden and former reality tv show winner Matt Eagles all have in common. They are the guys who got games for Brisbane in the back up ruck/forward role whilst Stef Martin was injured last year. It had no impact on where they finished on the ladder.

I’m not saying its right but its not unusual for an incumbent board to run a process like this. Now that the election has passed do you intend to contact Peter again to get some more background details and whether he intends to form a ticket for a proper challenge next year. If he wants another run he needs to start getting his message out now.

We had stability with the Stynes and McLardy boards.... Stability is not an end in itself. What we need are the best people in the right positions... Hopefully we have that.

I'm of the same view. Bartlett has made some bullish comments about the new home project so if there isn't substantial progress made in the next 12 months on this front i'll be advocating for a spill. As for the home, either get the MGC precinct project off the ground or except reality, stop wasting time and find a different location (Port Melbourne for mine)

Oldest professional sporting club in the world and we still don't have a home of our own. Where fellow dees can come and have a feed,beer and watch their team train. f me.

So sad to hear of the passing of Kozzie's mum. One take away from Richo's interview was the mention of Matt Whelan providing guidance on these issues for the indigenous boys. This makes me so proud as a supporter to see the way we handle these situations and gives me great confidence in he administration we have.

Find us a home.

Don't mind the concept at all. Hope he plays every game like it could be his last.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Cant believe some think the election result is good news. The way Bartlett closed down any proper process so his own choices were elected was right out of the Eddie McGuire playbook. Tine for someone not associated with Bartlett to get on board.

Apologies. They were in the other Election thread.

My thoughts on Peter are posted earlier in this thread. But these are my personal views. What happened in the election is just wrong, that's the issue.

Richardson explicitly stated that they chose him over other possible players because he would be ready to go early. So presumably they have some idea of his fitness.

He really is an absolute unit, perhaps a little bit of creativity from Mark Williams and Yze will be able to unlock his full potential. I always look at these guys as a free hit, if they come off then brilliant and if they don’t then we’ve lost very little.

Don’t know why so many posters here are negative about this idea. The more I’ve thought about it, the more it makes sense. Majak’s key strength is taking contest marks from long high balls into packs. That’s the Goodwin game plan. It’s been our our weakness for years. We don’t have a big bloke at FF capable of taking pack grabs. Isn’t that what we’ve been asking for? That’s essentially Daw’s bread and butter. Unlike BBB, who is nailed to the train tracks and is a true lead up forward. WIth the likes of Viney and Brayshaw and Oliver bursting out of the middle and with an inability to lower eyes and hit a lead up forward, we can bomb long to a bloke who is tough to match up on, reads the ball well in flight and clunks big marks in packs. It just makes sense to me. All this works on the presumption tht he is dedicated enough to meet the demands of AFL, has a clear mind and avoids injury. However, he has some serious upside and suits our game plan of the last 5 years. This highlights package shows his skill set pretty well

Wow, that is some serious Trumpism there. So are we trying to cover up serious matters like a poor culture towards ethnic minorities? Let's storm the MCG and make it known we are as big a group of redneck idiots. While I wasn't against the independent candidate I also thought the timing was wrong. A stable Board that are on the same page with some fresh faces is what I hoped for. Anyone who thinks that Brad Green doesn't have the best interests of the club at heart is a moron. Whether the Board makes the right decisions going forward will be a matter of debate however we have voted and now it is up to the PASSIONATE Red and Blue Board Members to deliver. If they don't we will get another opportunity to hold them accountable, but at the moment, as members, we must simply get behind them. GO DEES

Congrats to Brad Green for being elected on the board. An ex captain of our great club and a good all round person. Will be an asset to the board with his football background.

With the greatest respect Old Dee, can I ask why your posts are always so negative? (And I don’t want to hear about the last dreadful 56 years again!) I love DL - I can always get some facts, a lot of BS, and some laughs - all of which I enjoy. I even enjoy the kooks on here. But when every post from a lovely old man is always so negative, it’s such a downer.(and I have no wish to turn you off - just want more “up-beatness” In your tone). just once I’d luv to hear you say something positive. And that does not include you saying that you’re positive that you are a pessimist!

I just thought after not having had an election for such an extended period of time it would have been reasonable to be allowed to hear from the candidates rather than have them gagged.

Bartlett and the board would be under pressure to perform. However hope to find out more at the AGM come Monday.

A few games played here Bob. There was an agreement that no candidate would promote themselves. However you could have the Pres do it for you. The number of members that voted has not been released nor has the number of votes counted which could be anywhere between 1 and 4 times the number of members who voted. The election does not have to be democratic but it needs to be fair for each candidate , I feel. I guess Peter Lawrence will have to by his own lunches.

I remain unconvinced that the club would make money from a social club.

Do you want the club to make money Old Dee? Walk in and buy Merch without going to the G on a gameday, have a meal, orange juice, see the club memorabilia on the walls, trophies in the cabinet in a complex of our own. It is important Old Dee.

I'd take a glass of milk as long as its served out of a MFC purpose-built complex with exceptional club house facilities no soup.?

Thanks Baghdad Bob for providing this additional information on the process. During the election process it did seem strange that the independent candidate did not have a platform so members could hear from him outside of the election material and so now that clears the matter up. It raises the question, what was it that the Board became so worried about that they needed to change the election rules after the process had started? Based on last night's announcement that the endorsed candidates had been successful, I wonder if we will actually be told how the voting went for each candidate? Presumably if the endorsed candidates did very well, the Board would want this message to get out to send a clear message.

In the 90s, before they had big nets behind the goals, it was fun to retrieve the footys at the scoreboard end while the players were having goal kicking practice. Sort of kick-to-kick with the boys. Great fun.

Wonder how much they know about his fitness at this point to think he'd be ready to go early, as at best he would have some pre season training with Nth Heidelberg. Have a look at this highlights reel. Has played forward. KIcked 6 goals in a game and towelled up Alir Alir last year playing forward.

We did have a training ground at the junction oval in St Kilda for a number of years in the mid 80s into the early 90s and the worst facilities. Shared with St Kilda cc. On a Thursday at training from 5.00 pm onwards many supporters that turned up would be able to meet up inside a reception area near the scoreboard city end with seats and tables Every now and again some ex footballers would come for a look. The front was all glass so you can watch the guys training. There was food and drinks but l don't remember if they served alcohol.

In general that is true however if you are just maintaining the "old boys club" like the AFL Then it may not be the case. The only major mistake I can see this board has made is renewing the coach's contract before a ball had been bounced in 2019.

Of course they did Old Dee. Haha. I would never have guessed you’d think the worst in this situation.

Good news stability is what we need and we got it.

I imagine I should have put this in the BB knee surgery but it is appropriate here when explaining the time frame mentioned. I am not an orthopaedic surgeon, but after multiple meniscectomies on both knees I have some insight into the options. There isn’t much cartilage in either of my knees and there is a reluctance to take cartilage out unless absolutely necessary because long term you are looking at requiring a knee replacement. 3 options on offer are 1. Arthroscopic repair. They’ll insert an arthroscope to get a good look at the tear. Then they’ll place small devices that look like darts along the tear to stitch it up. Your body will absorb these over time. The tear heals and cartilage stays intact 2. Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. Your doctor will remove a piece of the torn meniscus so your knee can function normally. 3. Arthroscopic total meniscectomy. During this procedure, your doctor will remove the whole meniscus. If you have a partial or total meniscectomy, you can expect your recovery to take about a month. If your meniscus was repaired, it may take as long as 3 months while the tear heals. With all the work BB has had done and the time taken for recovery he may well have had option 1 done. They did say cautious and long term approach

"I just have the feeling they will get to a flag before us. What you see as negative I see as realism." We are talking about Carlton, right? The Carlton with this recent record... 2020 11th 2019 16th 2018 18th 2017 16th 2016 14th 2015 18th 2014 13th 2013 8th (was that the Essendrug year?) Can someone please point out how that record represents development?

Maybe they watched "To Hell and Back" and thought better of involving melbourne....

Thanks @dazzledavey36, did he clarify which year?

Conversely I don’t think one new board member would have the significant influence you’re seemingly alluding to. What did the new guy have in terms of offering a ‘different view’?

I wonder if they used dominion vote counting machines

improvement isn’t linear, surely us supporters have learnt that by now also by that logic, you don’t see 17th to 9th as going in the right direction?

100% agreed. I’d be flabbergasted if Farmer plays round 1 irrespective of Pickett’s availability. Time for Bedford to step up however.

In answer to your question: Nothing. Feb 4 plus weeks is Feb 18, not today (sorry to quibble over 1/2 a week). But I think that pushes your range to "round 2 unlikely, but 3 a possibility". Round 3 is not much different to round 4. And you have him regaining match fitness etc faster than most would assume. So 4 -6 was always on the cards.

Some of the commentary on here is genuinely unbelievable. You'd think we'd used pick 1 in the draft on Daw. He's training with the club to see if he's capable of taking a spot on our list that only exists because the options we actually wanted to go with (B Brown, Weideman and Hore) are injured. If he gets the list spot, he'll cost close to nothing. If he doesn't cut it at AFL level, he'll play VFL, and we're back where we started yesterday, which is a list with B Brown, Weideman and Hore injured. I'm happy to discuss if there are other key position players not currently on an AFL list who would be ready to play AFL football in the first 4-6 rounds while we wait for B Brown and Weideman to recover. Not surprisingly, there have been very few (if any?) such other players suggested as better options.

My condolences to the young man at this terrible time. Richo’s response was a great example of how to do it (Eddie, take note). Something along the lines of ‘we dont know, but we have Matty Whelan who can help us get it right’ in terms of the cultural needs at this time. Listening with respect is the first step. Well done Dees. I look forward to Kozzie getting back and really taking his game to the next level when it is right for him to do so.

Classic DL thread. The usuals pot the club like they do with everything else, and a few see it for what it is - a training invitation. I like it - Majak is a role player with occasional glimpses of better, nothing more. He would be well down the options from week to week and not costing much in $$$.

Per Alan Richardson his mom passed away. Funeral late Feb / early Mar so It'll be a few weeks before he returns. Condolences to the young man and his family.