Dr Don Duffy

OD, you are a doyen poster around here, so am wondering whether you have good info on which to base the above assessment, and that’s no disrespect to David who has been a contributor at lower levels for quite a while. (And fwiw, it’s Chippindall) This reminds me of the Green comment with his Guerra announcement in April that Guerra would “hit the ground running”. Guerra is more like hitting the ground strolling, and that seems to be the house style with the board/administration as a whole. Everybody seems to be just strolling to their roles without the urgency that we need with all the challenges we have on and off the field. I would love to go back to the fruits of our glory days in the 1940s and 1950s when we were winning flags for fun, but I want better than 1950s style lack of urgency in the administration of the club. I hope so, OD. He’ll be going against the tide of CEOs at other clubs in terms of coming from a football background. We have had quite a record of such appointments this century, and as such are quite the outlier. Those previous non-football background CEO tenures did not end well.

So, just to clarify. As a president he’s a good bloke and good former footballer. Not sure that’s quite enough if we want to be a top shelf organisation.

A favourite line from Cheers after Frasier did the “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” quote came from Norm, along the lines of “Well, which one was it?”

I suppose we can take some consolation that we are still considered relevant enough to bag! As Oscar Wilde said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Not the only recent appointee whose first game as a supporter was after being appointed to the board.

Mr Guerra currently in the US on holidays, according to a board member. It looks like he wants to be on board at VECCI to do a lap of honour at the world conference here. The delay is symptomatic of a lack of urgency that is all too present at our club. Green said Guerra would “hit the ground running”. More like hitting the ground strolling, unfortunately. The following is an extract from a month ago from the VECCI site: Sally Curtain will become the next Chief Executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, succeeding Paul Guerra at the helm of Victoria’s largest and most representative business organisation. Ms Curtain will commence in the role at a date to be determined before 1 September 2025, taking over from Paul Guerra, who will remain with the Victorian Chamber to deliver the 14th World Chambers Congress from 2 to 4 September 2025.

There’s plenty of evidence about big injury breaks negatively impacting a player’s performance. Bowser last year is a case in point. Lever another one this year, but it is a recurring phenomenon with lots of other examples. For that reason I’m not writing down the Kolt on the basis of form this year. Ditto Luker Kentfield for the same reason, and the FD obviously agrees, given the contract extension for him. And agree with @rjay that this principle adds merit to Lindsay’s performance this season.

And would have had his legs under the desk for some time now.

Indeed, and that’s because it is pretty clear.

Gee, looks pretty clear to me.

Greg Swann starting at the AFL 21 July after announcement of appointment earlier this month. AFL would not want one of their star attractions in the frontier State of Queensland to sag, and appropriate succession plan looks to be in place up there. Meanwhile, our administration lacks urgency when there are significant challenges and opportunities afoot. Those opportunities need to be seized, and challenges addressed by a dynamic, settled administration.

Correct on all counts. This century we’ve been clubhouse leaders in having non-supporters on the board, or at least very recent adherents to the cause. And that includes presidents. Stuff on the public record would suggest that there is more than one on the current board who saw their first Melbourne AFL game as a supporter after they were appointed to the board, or thereabouts. You don’t want linament sniffers on the board, but if they are strong supporters at least you know they care in making decisions on the direction of the club. Unlike with other businesses directors can’t be shareholders of MFC, so they can’t align their interests with outcomes by having shares. However you would like their interests to be aligned with the future of the club by at least having the emotional investment as a red and blue lover.

Did someone mention me…? Bah humbug!!!

Thanks George. I did see the posts of a particular poster in this regard, and a quite disgraceful thread opened by the same individual attacking mods, who it should be said do terrific voluntary work keeping this site going that is dedicated to our great club. Demonland’s own Inspector Clouseau should be ashamed of themself. However, I will give some personal information on myself. I am a lifelong Demon and I channel the spirit of Dr Don Duffy, the president who took over just before our previous flag and sat in the driver’s seat for years. Under his watch we went from having an administration that was the envy of every other club to become a long term league laughing stock. Complacency and sustained mediocrity did us in. I know this because my Pa kept complaining about it down the decades as I grew up, with late career Robbie Flower the only redeeming feature in going to the footy for a young Demon kid like me. I don’t barrack for particular boards or CEOs. (Although I do have an enduring crush on Peter Jackson, for obvious reasons). I can’t believe the board cheer squads on here. To quote M. Blight, I don’t give a fat rat’s clacker about board members (past, current and prospective), and particularly those who just want to build their CV on the back of being on our board. What I do care about is the board getting on with one of its key jobs: ensure we have an outstanding CEO. Give someone of Tom Harley’s quality a godfather offer. Do something. That is where we have been so mediocre and it is so critical to success. That’s what I’m barracking for, as well as our teams on the field, of course.