Hawk the Demon

Of course!

Logged in - no problem. Membership, then enter email, password then details of Membership number and barcodes are provided on the next page....

Thanks Demon 17. Yes, I noticed preservation of the capital base as being key, so I was interested to see that a new line appeared re the Future Fund objectives at the AGM, when the CEO said something like "allowing the Club to take advantage of any strategic opportunities that arise" - and then said "don't ask me what they are". In my experience strategic investments are the ones to be wary of....

Could be. If you're right, the plan is in place, and the plan was to wait? The Financial Report words were '......the implementation of the Future Fund investment strategy will be completed by mid-2023.....' Would be great to have more insight from the Club - it's pretty much our only asset (other than our great list of course).

Quote from Company Secretary's affidavit: 'MFC has access to the Archtics platform through proprietary software that connects to the AFL's server. Only the AFL, MFC and the other clubs can access the Archtics platform'

The AFL holds all MFC membership information on something called the Archtics platform which is owned by Ticketmaster. When an MCC member is also an MFC member the member's details are passed on to to the AFL which then updates Archtics. MFC membership staff are looking at this platform as they deal with members. Re the non-receipt of your voting papers, when the MFC wants to send an email communication to members it runs a query over the Archtics database to generate the required mailing list. Then an email is sent through a platform called TM Engage. It sounds like something has fallen through re your voting papers during this process. The bottom line is that the entire process is very clunky and it is not simply a case of the MFC having everything it needs at its fingertips to deal with members. The mechanics of all this stuff was revealed when the issue of the register of members came up in Court and the Company Secretary had to explain the process.

If you have known for twelve months that you will have $24 million in the bank by early November and that you are going to establish a Future Fund with it, why is it that your investment strategy will be completed by mid-2023, and you first full year earnings will come only in 2024? Shouldn't that all have been sorted and the funds so deployed in November?

Re the 4th - it seems the primary purpose of the Future Fund, clearly stated, was to preserve and grow the capital base, but then at the AGM a new element was introduced, i.e. that it was possible that the Fund could be used for an unspecified strategic opportunity that might arise - and that did not seem to include a training facility. Found that curious.

I am looking for help from financially astute Demonlanders. Pretty much our entire asset base is now represented by our new Future Fund. At the AGM, the CEO reported that our Future Fund would start off with $23.7 million. Extracts from our Financial Report are oultlined below: As outlined previously, the sale of Bentleigh Club settled just after the financial year end. The Board have established a Future Fund with the proceeds of the sale, with the purpose of the Future Fund to underpin the long-term financial sustainability of the Club. The Future Fund will achieve this by: • Preserving and growing the capital base of the Club. A significant capital base is an important protection mechanism for the Club if there are any unexpected shocks to the football industry or Club environment in the future; • Providing an annual income stream that supports the football activities of the Club. This will replace, and is planned to exceed, the previous gaming income of the Club. It is important to note that it is not intended that the Future Fund be utilised for the following activities: • Investment into Club Capital Expenditure projects, including but not limited to Training & Administration Facilities; • Funding the day-to-day operating activities of the Club, including but not limited to Football Operations costs; • Repaying debt incurred as a result of operating losses of the Club, or the activities outlined above. The Future Fund will be overseen by the Club’s Investment Committee. The Investment Committee is comprised of representatives of the Board, Executive and independent members with significant experience in financial markets and investment activities. The Board has appointed Morgan Stanley as Fund Manager for the Future Fund. It is expected that the implementation of the Future Fund investment strategy will be completed by mid-2023, with the first full year earnings from the Fund expected in 2024. Questions: 1. Why did we choose Morgan Stanley and what is their mandate? 2. What about the other $10 million in cash we had at 31 Oct 2022 - why is it, or a part of it, not also in the Future Fund? (We sold Leighoak for $10.7 million) 3. Given we have known for 12 months that the Bentleigh proceeds were coming in early November 2022, why will we only have our investment strategy completed by mid -2023? 4. Given the list of things the Future Fund is not for, I was interested to hear the CEO say that we may also use the Future Fund 'to take advantage of any strategic opportunities that arise'. He then said don't ask me what they might be....

I agree that it's a small thing - but it goes to openness and transparency. We are often told by the President that it's our Club. Maybe only 10-15% of members are interested in the off-field stuff, but a note on the Governance page outlining the Board meeting dates - the agenda items discussed (presumably with the home base on that agenda every meeting!) would be a start. And the AGM minutes should be more comprehensive and available - after all it is the only time members meet formally in the year, with the Board in attendance, and many members are unable to attend, or as was the case last week, were not able to see the entire meeting. The minutes, for example would include the slides that were used in the President's and the CEO's reports. It's not hard and would make members feel more valued.

All noted but I was talking about the AGM minutes, not the regular Board meeting minutes. I don't see any harm in having reasonably deatiled AGM minutes including, for example, the slides that were presented during the meeting and a summary of the Q&A. The minutes prepared for the MCC AGMs are an excellent example of quality minutes. Re Board meetings why not have a summary of what the Board deals with at their regular meetings on the Governance page, whilst retaining confidentiality around any sensitive, or commercial-in-confidence matters.

Your considered contribution to this thread is to close it down? I guess you were quite pleased that the live stream stopped as Question Time commenced? You probably didn't want to hear from those pesky members daring to ask questions. 45.7% of members who voted on the Members' Resolution want open, fair and transparent elections - not enough though - BDA says let's just move right along..... The Company Secretary just announced the result - no comment or reaction from the Chair or the Board?

I suggest you ask the MFC Company Secretary to produce minutes of the meeting - something comparable to what the MCC produces would be nice - which would then include a summary of the Q&A. Minutes of last year's meeting were not available at the registration desk, and the Chair cited a resolution of an AGM in 1980 at item 2 to take the minutes of the previous year's meeting as read. My understanding is that the Company Secretary is required to produce minutes within 30 days of the meeting. Let's hope they will be placed on the Club's website under the Governance tab. There were around 6 or 7 questions, with the last question being from Jo McCoy, suggesting that the Club provide some type of members' forum or platform for respectful debate around the Board election. My recollection was that the President suggested that she would have a coffee with Jo.....or something like that?

Katrina, you will find that I was merely providing Jontee with some facts to answer his legitimate question regarding the presentation of the voting numbers. Happy to discuss any of those facts which you may dispute. Oh, and the muzzling during the election is also an indisputable fact (it's in the MFC Election Rules) - as was pointed out by Jo McCoy's question to the Board at the meeting - oh, but those watching the live stream didn't get to hear that..... So they didn't get to hear from Jo DURING the election and (unless you were at the G on Monday night) you don't get to hear from her AFTER the election. Nice one.

One way to look at it is that Rennick and Kendall polled around 4,500/4,600 ticks (my guess) on the coat-tails of the President, with just over 6,000 voting in total (less than 15% of voting members bothered). Those inclined to vote for Reed and McCoy probably gave Roffey their third tick, giving her that 94% figure. The main takeaway is that most members didn't bother (not helped by the Candidates being muzzled by the MFC Election Rules). The move to electronic voting did not seem to increase the vote materially from the past two years (an increase of less than 1,000). So it is still the 'oldies', who filled in the postal ballot in the last two years, who are voting.

Correct - they present the results as a percentage of voters who placed a tick next to each candidate's name. It would be so much simpler to just list the total number of ticks received.

It seems the main discussion arising from the AGM surrounds the home base, with spirited discussion about it on this thread. I was interested in some governance aspects of the meeting, namely: 1. Very little advertising/prompting of members re the meeting on the website. 2. Very little information about how the live-stream would work - no questions taken from those who viewed from afar. 3. At the meeting, no copy of last year's AGM minutes available. 4. Problems with the audio on the live stream and then it cut out before Question Time and the Members' Resolution count? 5. No numbers disclosed re the Board Election (just percentages - why?) and yet the website has published the FOR/AGAINST figures for the Members' Resolution of 1575/1868 (45.7%/54.3%), a total of 3,443 votes. 6. Reed and McCoy polled 22.6% and 19.8% respectively. They had no chance - no electioneering allowed and an endorsement for the three candidates by the Board to ALL MEMBERS on the Friday before the election closed. 7. And yet more than double that percentage of voters sent a message to the Board that they want fair, open and transparent elections. Will they hear the message? Or will they listen to the 1,868 (maybe 4% of the voting base?) who said 'you can choose who you want'.

I agree. the nature of the exercises he was doing (high knee lifts) suggest a problem with the hip flexor....

For match sim (apart from Salem, Dunstan, Fritsch, Melksham and Woewodin mentioned earlier) - Adams, Brown and J Smith sat it out. I see Essendon are taking 35 up to Gold Coast for 6 x 25. I guess we also play that number on Friday?

Just bad luck I suppose.....

Yes it would, but I wonder if the HS information has come from the Club or the AFL, given George has been lacking information from the Club this year? From my previous posts you will appreciate I doubt the accuracy of these membership numbers in respect of all clubs.

HeraldSun reports (p 60) that we are on 44,552 members - 11th - (with a target of 75,000). Interesting that Collingwood and West Coast (in the top 3 around 100,000) are listed as 'did not divulge'. The AFL holds all the records, so treat it all with caution.

A fantastic read! Particularly for Demonlanders who have followed most, or chunks of, those 57 years.

Yep - smooth mover - good size.

Kade Chandler.