Its Time for Another

Wouldn't it be nice if a few more people on here checked their facts before blasting away at people and doubting their capacity. Yarra Park was leaked to the press well before Pert even started at MFC. My guess without any source is that some other retiring CEO wanted to make sure they protected their legacy by making sure they were given credit for the concept. It was leaked way too early and Pert has clearly been in damage control over it ever since he arrived. I hope they are working on plenty of other sites because this one seems very unlikely. Would be spectacular if LDC was right but I doubt they'll be giving up the Holden Centre ever. They might develop Vic Park but I reckon it will be in addition to what they have now.

I'm one of the people who exercised their Democratic right to place someone on Ignore. I haven't engaged with them at all but they either repeated the same view for 6 pages or just engaged in infantile arguments that lower the tenor of this place. Anyway a certain Mod has thankfully given us a month's holiday from the nameless person. Can't help thinking they are Stuie reincarnated.

Love the Ignore function. Just exercised it for the 2nd time in over 10 years on here.

Eddie Everywhere put up his hand in an interview and stated that as the President he told Pert to go in and get involved in the FD at Collingwood when it wasn't going well. Is that what you're talking about? Haven't heard of any other instances. What else do you have for saying this?

Agree. Although I suspect by the end of the season things will be looking a lot better. Mahony seems to be very highly regarded by all at the club including Perty.

Agree with you rjay. But hopefully Mahoney leads from the front in recommending this and it's not left to the new CEO to have to push it.

If I wasn't crying into my cornflakes so much at the moment this OP would be giving me a good laugh. 1. The teams failure onfield is all Pert's fault and if only Mahoney was the CEO like PJ wanted him to be none of this would have happened and we'd be sitting on top of the ladder. Oh Dear! Hang on Mahoney's the head of the FD that's failing so miserably. But it's not his fault he should be the CEO, it's Pert's fault. Hmmm interesting logic. 2. Pert shouldn't have been appointed the CEO because he meddled in the FD at Collingwood. Pert shouldn't be the CEO because the current Melbourne FD isn't performing and it's his fault and he should interfere with the FD. Hmmm interesting logic. 3. Pert shouldn't be the CEO Mahoney should be because PJ wanted a succession plan that gave him a continuing job as a mentor. It doesn't matter that the two biggest issues for the next CEO are facilities and building memberships for the long term survival of the Club. It doesn't matter that Mahoney has absolutely no experience in either of these areas and that Pert's the most experienced and successful CEO in both these areas. 4. Pert's track record so far at MFC. He came out and made a bold statement about membership targets. The following week we had the biggest single increase in year on year membership for the corresponding period that we've ever had. Our membership numbers are going to be around 15% higher than last year's record. Our best increase year on year before that has been about 5-6%. Yes part of that is due to last year's improved performance but the numbers show his direct impact on the increased memberships already. 5. Pert jumped in and gave Goodwin a contract extension. He is therefore a failure. Mahoney is the head of the FD. His role is to oversee the FD and make the personnel calls. He would send the recommendation to the CEO who should empower the person in Mahoney's position to make that call. That in turn as a process has to be ratified by the Board. Can you imagine the discontent if Pert stepped in and overruled Mahoney on this. 6. It's shaping up to be a tough off season for the FD. Unfortunately he is probably have to be engaged in that to some extent. At least in requiring a review. But ultimately he should entrust the head of the FD to do that. 7. By the end of the season with most of a full list back on the park we will be playing good footy again and most of this crisis will be a thing of the past. (I believe.) Injuries, form of so many key players and a very short pre season have created a perfect storm. It will pass. No one will be crediting Pert when that happens and neither should they.

In 2016 we set a membership record of 39,211. The hope was we’d get to 40,000 the next season. We’ve just hit 40,000 and it’s mid March. At the rate of increase in the last 2 weeks we’ll crack over 50,000. That was a dream just 3 years ago and the Club has only just reached finals for the first time. You can see that 60,000 doesn’t seem like such a pipe dream in the next couple of years.

I don't know if anyone else has said this already. In a funny way May getting reported now for one match might be the best thing that could happen to him as he starts his career at the Demons. The one worry for me with getting him was his track record of getting reported. He must be spewing about it and feeling he's let his new team down straight away. I'm sure that will burn in him more than if it happened after he'd been playing here for a while. If the result is that this makes him fix the problem and it never happens again then I'll take the week.

Interestingly since the article that prompted this OP the membership has jumped ahead over 1000 compared to the increase in the same week last year. That's the biggest difference at this time of the year possibly ever. So either Perty's MCC strategy is working or just getting articles out there like this one have focused supporters on getting memberships. Either way we could see a big jump if this continues.

When I first saw the headlines, I was thinking what the...... Why would you set such ridiculous targets but I read the article and see where Perty is coming from. He didn't actually say he was setting any targets. He is saying you could tell by the numbers at the finals that the supporters are out there to potentially reach those sort of numbers. Obviously the challenge is to convert them to members. He is explaining he has already initiated a strategy of working with the MCC to communicate more aggressively with their MFC supporting members to convert them to MFC memberships. I believe there's over 10,000 of them. I'm one of them but have been an MFC member for over 20 years continuously and over 30 on and off. The problem is you are asking all of those people to basically donate the membership without getting anything of real value back. I do it to support the Club but it's a different challenge than converting supporters to members who are going to get access to games they wouldn't otherwise get access to. I believe there's also over 8000 lapsed members. Get those on board and the MCC and you're looking at 66,000 members. In one sense these are the low lying fruit compared to going out and converting non supporters to supporters then members. That's obviously the long term plan. It was only when PJ arrived that we were dreaming of reaching 40,000. 50,000 seemed a long way away. Hopefully we hit it this year. If we get 50,000+ it shows these strategies are staring to wok. If they really bit and we got 55,000 this year it would be basically double the biggest annual increase we've ever had. You can see why Perty got appointed. There's no one more experienced or successful at converting supporters to members. He basically doubled the membership in his time at the Pies by doing this. We are in good hands.

I find it really interesting that the MFC only sign short contract extensions of a couple of years. I wonder if this is player driven or Club driven. As far as I'm concerned Salem has proven he can play at the level and beyond. (He's not a Weideman where there's not enough proof yet. Hopefully there is by the end of this season.) So why wouldn't you sign him up for 4 years not 2. Preuss is one of the only players who's been given a 4 year contract. Go figure.

I compiled the table of historical membership numbers on the membership thread and I follow it each year for trends. To me the membership numbers are the best gauge of the Club's health. On the current membership growth rate compared to other years on the table we are heading towards just under or just over 50,000. We had a pre Christmas jump of about 4000 compared to last year but since then it is increasing at about the same rate. For some reason most of the membership growth year on year seems to happen pre Christmas not around round 1 which is what I would have expected. The Club will have to do something very different to previous years to make a 15,000 to 20,000 jump on last year which would represent a 24% at 60,000 to 35% increase at 70,000. So far the numbers show about an 8% growth which is well ahead of the past few years which is around 5-6% increase.

I guess I will be entitled to a ticket as an interstate member. If anyone wants it, (subject to me confirming I can get one) PM me and I'm happy to pass it on. I have a reserved seat there.

Correct

Good question. If I knew the answer I'd probably have been saying let alone for the past five decades. Never too old. But as you've only posed a question not provided the answer, I'll now have to use both.

I think you'll find that's the point if you go back and have a look at Trac's diary and videos from when he was there. Build the psychological confidence and also fast twitch muscle reactions. Have a look at the videos of what he had Trac doing. I wouldn't do that on 2 good knees little own a reconstructed one. But that's the idea apparently.

He's still up in Sydney. From memory he moved to Sydney because he had a work opportunity in IT. Last I heard he was involved in a software company providing logistics functions. He was involved in the local Junior footy club I coached at. His son was a few years below mine. He was incredibly commited to the junior program not just coaching but organising footy trips interstate every year and other great initiatives. The kids in that age group loved it. I've also seen him at a couple of the Demons functions up here in Sydney. He's a Dees man. A great guy. Very friendly and still very passionate about footy.

Hope these were supplied by the MFC as official AFL sanctioned gear. Didn't realise KK was still so hampered by his injury. Looks unlikely for round 1. Saty or Moony can you try and whisper in his ear or whatever and find out when he thinks he'll be playing. Thanks for the reports. Getting down to the pointy end now.

Superb picks again @Six6Six thanks again. Much appreciated.

Nearly everyone in rehab has been able to do full running training which is the key to conditioning. What they haven't been able to do is match sim and body contact drills because so many of them had shoulder surgery. Crossy explained that they stay in rehab until they are as fit as the main group and can slot straight in at the same level. He does a lot of skills work with them so that is also ready. A year ago missing match sim would have been a major issue but most key players have got 4-5 years under their belts now so according to what I heard McCartney say the sort of game plan teaching that was going on last year is already learnt and now it is adding in fine tuning. I'm sure that's easier to pick up than the volume of learning in past years. The most compromised player is Lever because his running has been compromised.

Drone. That wave's over 80feet high. Imagine jumping off an 80' building which I think is about 9 or 10 storeys and then have it drop on top of youI'd be absolutely crapping my dacks just watching it from the land.

Hmm ,so this is the Visser MFC version of this. Not for the faint hearted. Gives me the heebies just looking at it. Would have thought Visser could at least chucked them off a building or something (with a rope tied on) to give them a chance to overcome fear. Or better still chuck them off one of these monsters. Ollie Wines injury would be a scratch.

Ha! Nice! Love your work. Maybe change to Dr Time when It's Time has finally been made redundant.

Thanks DV8. I’m at that age where the generation ahead of us are hitting their late 80’s early 90’s. No one tells you what life’s going to be like when you get there. It’s not pretty. I had to shoot down to be with one in hospital and look after their partner out of hospital. In the meantime another relative of similar age got rushed to the same hospital very ill. So then I had 2. The next day his wife got rushed to Emergency so I had 3 in the one hospital. The nurses were asking me how my rounds were going Dr. I had to come home to take my son into hospital for day surgery yesterday. Bizarre week.