Supreme_Demon

Phew! What a relief! I am glad Christian Petracca is staying a Demon. He is one of my favourite players. I hope he enjoys his time off and goes on an enjoyable holiday and possibly visits the Redbull Fitness Centre again (if he wishes to?). Staying a ONE Club player will also earn him respect in the AFL. As for Tom Morris....I won't hold my breath waiting for an apology. He is made to look quite a fool now!

"Grumpy" Garry Lyon is better in the media. He at least puts his "Melbourne cap" on occasionally. I still remember Garry being annoyed and grumpy when I was a young lad at a Melbourne Demons family day and my Dad asked him to sign the back of my Demons guernsey I had on way back in the 1990s. David Schwarz and David Neitz on the other hand were always friendly. Garry has said himself he isn't interested in being MFC President (at least for the time being). Plus he admits himself that he isn't a people person. He helped his great mate Jimmy Stynes when he could during Jimmy's cancer battle. Unfortunately, Garry made an error of judgement choosing Mark Neeld. Hard to come back from that embarrassing failure. It really left egg on his face. Even Kevin Sheedy poked fun at Garry Lyon for that decision on the Footy Show once (although I think Kevin Sheedy was still annoyed he missed out on the Demons coaching job way back in 2007). Anyway, let Garry Lyon continue to be an ally for the Demons in the media. If we're going to get former Demons players to consider joining the Melbourne Demons Board. Let's look at those with actual business acumen like Andrew Leoncelli (who was formerly on the Board), Anthony McDonald, Paul Hopgood, Glenn Lovett, David Neitz and Greg Healy (who was also a former Board member). Whether any of them are interested or have the time is another question altogether. In the end, I only want extremely passionate and capable Melbourne supporters with both honesty and integrity on the Board. Football knowledge is beneficial but it shouldn't be compulsory.

Joe Gutnick?! Oy Vey! That's a name I haven't heard in many years! I appreciate the fact he helped save the Demons from being merged with the Hawks way back in 1996. But his Presidency was full of dramas from what I remember. Didn't he go bankrupt? From what I recall "Diamond" Joe still owes the Melbourne Football Club $500,000 doesn't he? We also missed out on getting Olympic Park as a Home Base under Joe's Presidency. Although, Eddie McGuire's machinations were at play there too against the Melbourne Football Club and getting the Magpies to swoop into that opportunity.

One of the worst interviews I have ever heard from a Melbourne Football Club President in a very long time and I have been a member since 1998. That was embarrassing and Kate Roffey was ill prepared to give that interview. As harsh as it sounds, but that is unacceptable as a President of an AFL Club. No wonder Christian Petracca is upset. I am incredibly furious now at this disastrous situation! 🤬🤬🤬🤬

An external review is required. The Melbourne Football Club must be transparent for the sake of it's integrity and for all of us many loyal Demons members and supporters.

Another small forward pocket would definitely be handy. I don't have much faith in Shane McAdam, but I hope he proves me wrong.

Pretty damning if Kate Roffey hasn't spoken to Christian Petracca and/or his family in months. Simply not good enough as President of the Melbourne Football Club. It may be unpleasant to bring up but do you think Eddie McGuire would do this when he was President of Collingwood?! If Nathan Buckley was injured Eddie would be at his bedside in the hospital! People can joke about Eddie (and I am not a fan of his) but there is no doubt he cared about his players (at least most of them).

I read the email and watched the little video from Deemocracy. Unfortunately, Peter Lawrence doesn't have enough support to get things going in the direction he wants and has probably annoyed many Melbourne Demons members with his emails and flyers etc. Nevertheless, I do agree that an independent/external review of the Melbourne Football Club is required. Particularly, in relation to the current fiasco that is going on with if Christian Petracca will stay a Demon or go to another Victorian Club. Losing Christian Petracca will be just as devastating as losing Ronald Dale Barassi at the end of 1964 in my opinion. It will definitely upset many young Demons supporters. There is also the lingering frustration of how our issue of not having a proper Home Base (now expected to be at Caulfield Racecourse) has dragged on and on for decades now! Whether or not an independent/external review actually happens at the Melbourne Football Club is another story altogether. It may open a very ugly can of worms....

Can't read it....bloody paywall! The question is....how does it effect the building of the Home Base for the Melbourne Football Club?

An F for Fail?! Ouch! A bit harsh, although a lot of truth in what was written. I would give us a D....for Disappointing and lots of outside Distractions that hindered the Demons. This whole Petracca drama that is currently unfolding is a D too...D for Debacle. The sooner all these issues are resolved the better!

As harsh as it sounds, I somewhat agree. We have gone backwards with our list management since our Premiership in 2021. Our list certainly isn't as strong as we expected it to be. We crowed too early thinking about a "Demons Dynasty" unfortunately. Tim Lamb is certainly under massive pressure now as Demons List Manager. I would definitely be making a phone call to former Magpies List Manager Graham Wright to see if he is interested in a new challenge before the Tasmanian Devils team arrives in the AFL.

Thank you for the link. Some fascinating reading there. While the Demons need to consider the long-term replacement of May (and Lever). I think midfield talent is the priority. Especially after losing Angus Brayshaw (and possibly losing Christian Petracca). The loss of Angus Brayshaw has probably made the most significant difference to us unfortunately missing the finals this year. People might have underestimated this factor, but I certainly didn't. We desperately need more high-end elite talent in our midfield. Particularly young players who are excellent kicks and decision makers. If we can somehow get 2 picks in the top 10 of this year's AFL national draft I will be over the moon! We can then allow Jason Taylor and the rest of the recruiting team to work their magic.

Will desperately need Shane McAdam early next season with Kozzie Pickett missing the first 3 rounds. Hopefully Jake Melksham stays on for another season or two as well. We will absolutely need his leadership in the forward line with Alex Neal Bullen going back to either the Crows or Power.

Really hope our list management team (Tim Lamb and co.) could pull off a bit of a draft coup for 2024. Along with pick 5# if we could get another 1 or 2 picks in the top 15 of this year's draft that will definitely set us up for the future. Alot will depend if we can do a deal to give points to Gold Coast. Especially as they need points for Leonardo Lombard. Take pick #6 and/or #13 would be pretty handy. I am also a fan of Xavier Lindsay. Here is a highlights video for those interested.

I won't go into specific details of the interview but former Demon legend Davud Schwarz is still very angry and calling for an external review of the Melbourne Football Club. Here is the interview: All I will say to David Schwarz is that if he really cares about the Melbourne Football Club then he needs to get involved at Board level. No point making criticisms from afar but not helping the Club and simply making complaints while hungover in radio interviews.

They can't hate Petracca that much if they're all drinking at the pub together! I'm a bit old school...but a lot of problems can be resolved over a few beers with mates (but it can also start problems too).

Pretty frustrating that this has been dragging on and on.... As Melbourne supporters and members we should be demanding a progress report and a timeline for completion of our Home Base at Caulfield Racecourse at the upcoming Melbourne Demons AGM.

I agree with David King too. Us Melbourne supporters and members aren't stupid. We know when we are getting spun lies and rubbish. We want to know the truth! We want everything to put on the table so that these problems can be acknowledged and a strategy put in place to resolve them. We also want to know who is going to be held accountable for these failures? Will President Kate Roffey finally make a public statement? Will CEO Gary Pert tell us what is really going wrong? If these problems continue to fester then there will be a significant downturn in Melbourne membership numbers next year too. This then ruins all the hard work of finally breaking our Premiership drought of 57 years in 2021. There is also the lingering issue of club culture and problems which cannot be mentioned here. All those legal matters too that have caused many distractions. Then there's the ongoing situation of our Home Base and what is going on at the Caulfield Racecourse. Has any significant progress been made yet? It just seems to drag on and on... It is time to be honest and fix these problems at the Melbourne Football Club. This starts with the Melbourne Football Club Board showing leadership and getting on the front foot to fix this mess.

This situation is getting increasingly toxic with Christian Petracca. I hope that the Melbourne Football Club can sit down with Christian Petracca and try to sort this all out and reconcile. If not, this will be as big as Ronald Dale Barassi leaving the Demons at the end of 1964. There's a lot of young Demons supporters who run around with number #5 on their backs! Losing Petracca would de devastating. It will upset ALOT of young Melbourne supporters! Having said that, if the relationship with Petracca cannot be repaired, the only club that has anything worthy on offer for Petracca would be Richmond with their number 1# pick in the 2024 AFL Draft and a player or two as well. If Petracca wants to go to a big Victorian club....well you can't get much bigger than Richmond can you? For the record, I want Christian Petracca to stay at the Melbourne Football Club. But if these matters cannot be resolved then the Melbourne Football Club must be adequately compensated IF Christian Petracca does leave.

No thanks to Tom Lynch. Too expensive. Too injured. Too old. Let Collingwood have him.

Josh Sinn from Port Adelaide we should be inquiring about in my opinion.

I might be laughed off by this suggestion, but due to the midfield talent available, I would offer Gold Coast (or anyone else in the bottom 8 to 10) our First Round pick for 2025. Especially as Gold Coast don't really need their first round pick to get Leonardo Lombard. They just need draft pick points. If we could get BOTH picks #5 and #6 in this year's draft it would be massive. We could take two of either.... Josh Smillie Sam Lalor Finn O'Sullivan Harvey Langford Murphy Reid Xavier Lindsay That would be an awesome coup similar to us getting Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw back in the 2014 AFL Draft.

No pressure on Kalani. Let the young fella play and have fun. Still another year or two of development. Hypothetically it would be a very special moment to see his Father Jeff White give Kalani the number 34# guernsey for the Demons and continue the proud tradition of the Father-son rule at the Melbourne Football Club.

Would be happy with any of the following young talented draftees.... 1) Josh Smillie - 194cms midfielder (Eastern Ranges) 2) Finn O'Sullivan - 182cms midfielder (Oakleigh Chargers) 3) Harvey Langford - 190cms midfielder (Dandenong Stingrays) 4) Murphy Reid - 180cms midfielder (Sandringham Dragons) 5) Jagga Smith - 181cms midfielder (Oakleigh Chargers) 6) Sam Lalor - 187cms midfielder (Greater Western Victoria Rebels) 7) Xavier Lindsay - 183cms midfielder (Gippsland Power) I think we should ideally target midfielders with exquisite kicking skills again. That should be our primary focus.

With Greg Stafford now departing the Demons, who should we look for? I definitely think we need a massive shake up of ALL our assistant coaches. Who is currently available or would we endeavour to try to recruit to the Melbourne Football Club? Here's a list of a few names that we should look at considering to get to the Demons. 1) Justin Leppitsch - has done some amazing work at both Richmond and Collingwood after his failed stint as Brisbane senior coach 2) Cameron Bruce - the former Demon has been assistant coach at Hawthorn and now Brisbane with quite a bit of success 3) Daniel Giansiracusa - has a impressive assistant coaching record at both the Bulldogs and the Bombers and might be looking for a fresh start 4) Steve Johnson - the former Cat was a very crafty forward and has done assistant coaching before. 5) Dylan Grimes - has recently retired from the Tigers and may be interested in being an assistant coach 6) Adam Simpson - the former Eagles Premiership coach might be interested in returning to Victoria and doing assistant coaching 7) Tom Hawkins - is about to retire after Geelong's finals campaign and may be interested in a new challenge at a new club 8) Nathan Buckley - is probably happy in the media, but it's always worth at least asking the question if he was interested in becoming an assistant coach again 9) Trent Cotchin - the champion Richmond Captain seems to be mainly doing media work, but it's always worthwhile at least inquiring if he wants to do assistant coaching 10) Brendon Bolton - is highly underrated due to being an unsuccessful coach at Carlton, has done great work at both Hawthorn and now at Collingwood behind the scenes Anyway, these are all merely suggestions. But I am curious to hear what other Demons supporters think we should look at targeting to bolster our coaching group to assist Simon Goodwin once the off-season starts after AFL finals. The primary focus should be to select high quality football people that will make the Demons a better team for next year.