Supreme_Demon

What perplexes me is how can the coach Simon Goodwin and the CEO Gary Pert be on different pages?! Shouldn't Simon Goodwin be making these decisions? If he wants Clayton Oliver to stay a Demon then he should do so. Gary Pert should not be contradicting what Simon Goodwin wants. That will only cause further drama and resentment. This speculation is not helping the Melbourne Football Club at all. In fact, it is ripping the Club apart regarding a beloved player in Clayton Oliver. We need to see leadership from those in charge at the Melbourne Football Club. We want to know what the hell is going on?! If Gary Pert is behind pushing out Clayton Oliver then Gary Pert needs to be sacked! I suggest all Melbourne supporters who are angry with CEO Gary Pert regarding this whole fiasco about Clayton Oliver to send him an email. Gary Pert's email can be found here: [email protected]

Elite kicking skills should be a non-negotiable for any players we draft to the Demons. Centre clearance ability is also crucial.

That's a damning indictment on the Melbourne Football Club Board, if true. Why wouldn't you try and resolve this peacefully? It sounds like there is a lot of bad blood between the Board and Peter Lawrence. I just hope Brad Green can speak to Peter Lawrence and sort this out otherwise this issue will continue to fester and may even cause more expensive court cases to eventuate! My only question to Peter Lawrence (if he reads this discussion forum?) is does he support the building of a Home Base for the Melbourne Football Club at the Caulfield Racecourse? This is a paramount issue that we all need to support and make sure gets completed in our lifetimes.

With Bailey Smith nominating the Cats, I don't know how they have any draft capital to also obtain Clayton Oliver. The Melbourne Football Club needs to hold Clayton Oliver to his contract. We have all the bargaining power. I am also angry that the CEO Gary Pert thinks he can act independently from the coaching team in determining the future of a player. Especially if Simon Goodwin wants Clayton Oliver to stay! If this is found to be the case then I want Gary Pert sacked for meddling in football affairs without the consent of the rest of the football department. I have been a supporter of Gary Pert as CEO. But this Clayton Oliver (and Christian Petracca) fiasco has been a PR disaster for the Melbourne Football Club. Heads need to roll and Gary Pert needs to go. Otherwise, we will have a massive downturn in memberships next year due to losing beloved star players!

Apparently Carlton are chasing Graham Wright too but for the role of CEO? There's an article about it here: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/wright-stuff-ex-pies-footy-boss-sounded-out-for-blues-ceo-role-20241002-p5kfai.html

Wow! Alot of exciting young talent there. With pick #5 in the 2024 AFL we could take one of the following: ● Harvey Langford ● Sid Draper ● Sam Lalor ● Finn O'Sullivan ● Josh Smillie Imagine if we could be fortunate enough to grab two of these players? I would be willing to trade away our future 1st round pick (in 2025) so we could manage to snaffle another pick in the top 15 to 20 in this year's draft. Would definitely be inquiring about Brisbane's and Gold Coast's first round picks due to points required for Father-Son pick (Levi Ashcroft) and NGA player picks (Sam Marshall for Brisbane and Leonardo Lombard for Gold Coast). Possibly GWS too if they have any points needed for NGA player picks? Richmond will have ALOT of early draft picks with so many of their players moving to Fremantle and West Coast. So we might be able to do a deal with them if they are willing to take a future 1st round pick from us for one of their early picks and they'll "death ride" us in 2025. Anyway, I am sure Jason Taylor is looking at all those sorts of possible scenarios.

I think Jim Plunkett did a good job initially. But perhaps his message got stale? I assume this news is part of the external review happening. Hopefully this opens the door to Jimmy Bartel and/or maybe Rory Sloan or even a Joel Selwood or a Luke Hodge taking on a leadership consultant role at the Demons?

I am neutral regarding Peter Lawrence. But if he is calling for transparency from the Melbourne Football Club Board shouldn't that be a good thing? Why couldn't Kate Roffey sit down with Peter Lawrence and reconcile things BEFORE they got to court? Or did they hate eachother's guts? Was there a huge personality clash between the two of them? Anyway, I hope Brad Green can "break bread" with Peter Lawrence and sort out these issues with him. I would be possibly open to supporting Peter Lawrence joining the Melbourne Board (if he gets enough votes and other Board members are willing to work with him). However, my only condition to supporting him is if he is willing to pay back the court costs that the Melbourne Football Club had to pay. Why? Because we as paying Melbourne members had to unwillingly endure that cost. It may seem unfair, but I assume Peter Lawrence is a wealthy man, and that money wasted on court costs, could of been invested into Club facilities at Casey, looked to promote membership in young people at schools, or even gone into a fund for our (hopeful) new Home Base at Caulfield Racecourse.

A wonderful interview! Fingers crossed Clayton Oliver stays at the Demons! 🤞

Pretty succinct. My own open letter would be pretty similar. An independent review needs to be independent. Otherwise, it is pointless. Gonna be one hell of a tense event at the Melbourne Best & Fairest on Friday night! Hopefully Clayton Oliver shows up! Christian Petracca sending a brief video message from Europe would be nice too. If he has time to do 2 or 3 minute Tik-Tok videos for cooking he could send a quick friendly message to Melbourne supporters at the Best & Fairest. I think President Brad Green and CEO Gary Pert will need to be upfront, honest and forthright with their explanations of what is actually happening at the Melbourne Football Club if they give speeches at the Best & Fairest. Whether that actually happens or not....we shall wait and see?!

I don't want to lose Clayton Oliver. In fact, I will be devastated if he leaves the Demons. But if we are forced to trade him then we need to get 2 first round draft picks. We should not accept anything less for a champion player.

I always liked big Preussy! Would love to see him squash Brayden Maynard into the dirt! Unfortunately, I don't think he could take an overhead mark?! Plus he was always injured. Would prefer him over Tom Campbell though.

Let's hope a few questions are answered at the Melbourne Best & Fairest. 1) What is going on with Clayton Oliver? Is he staying or going? 2) What is going on with Christian Petracca? Is he happy and have his issues been reconciled? 3) Why did Kate Roffey resign as President? Was it because of the radio interview or other matters? 4) What is happening with the external reviews of the Melbourne Football Club Board and the Football Department? 5) What is required as part of the next stage of the Home Base at Caulfield Racecourse? What is the ball-park figure estimated cost? 6) What is coach Simon Goodwin going to do to turn around our misfortunes for season 2025? I could go on, but I think those are the most pertinent questions that should ideally be answered.

Still hoping the MCC considers putting up a bronze statue of Robbie Flower at the MCG. They have Ron Barassi, Norm Smith and Jimmy Stynes. Why not Robbie Flower too?

I will be quite upset if Clayton Oliver leaves the Demons. He still has a contract with the Melbourne Football Club until 2030. I have been a supporter of Gary Pert as CEO, but if a choice has to be made between Gary Pert and Clayton Oliver then I will choose Clayton Oliver every time. You don't trade away champion Melbourne players that have won 4 Best & Fairests and also helped you break a 57 year Premiership drought!

Would rather the Demons pursue Jacob Konstanty. He was drafted by the Swans but hasn't been offered a new contract. Was highly rated in his draft year only a few years ago. Here is his highlights video shown below:

Breathtaking?! It's horrific! There's going to be alot of media vultures camping out the front of the Melbourne Demons Best & Fairest event on Friday evening.

I agree somewhat with St. Kilda. It is an unfair system. Especially with the Academies for GWS, Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast. As for NGA academies for other AFL Clubs. They either need to scrap them and everyone has equal opportunity to draft players from all over Australia or they give the Clubs that develop those players exclusive rights to them. The Mac Andrew fiasco was a disgrace and I am still bitterly disappointed the Melbourne Football Club didn't complain more about it at the time. The AFL is definitely not consistent and the big Clubs and the Northern Clubs DO get preferential treatment!

I think Max Gawn will win it with Jack Viney coming very close as second. With all this innuendo going on it will definitely be an interesting evening with all this drama surrounding Clayton Oliver. Hopefully he shows up and clears the air about what is going on with everything. It's times like this that I wish Jimmy Stynes was still around to galvanise the Club. I miss him. 😥

Agreed. I am quite angry about this situation arising two years in a row. I want Clayton Oliver to stay a Demon for the entirety of his career. I don't know how Geelong can afford BOTH Bailey Smith and Clayton Oliver.

I have been a fan of Gary Pert as CEO for the Melbourne Football Club for a while. I thought he could help make us a big Club like we used to be way back in the 1950s and 1960s. Back where we belong. Making the Melbourne Demons the centre of the AFL Universe. However, the article in "The Age" is quite damning (if true). If Gary Pert has gone back to the bad habits he allegedly displayed while Collingwood CEO then that sets off alarm bells. A CEO of a football club should not be sticking their nose into player movement decisions. If Gary Pert has done this, then I think that it will be curtains for him. I hope this isn't the case as Gary Pert has been an excellent CEO in my opinion. His track record of achieving objectives has been very impressive. Anyway, at this stage it is all scuttlebutt and innuendo. The media seem to like sticking their boots into the Melbourne Football Club. Hopefully, the external Club review currently being conducted will uncover any significant issues. At the moment, everything else is just "fugazi" as they say.

All good. I just want all this drama and animosity resolved at the Melbourne Football Club. It is incredibly frustrating. How things have unravelled so quickly since 2021 (a mere 3 years ago) really boggles my mind! We need to be a stable football club to give us the best opportunity to win more Premierships.

If he enjoys a challenge he will! 🤣 I for one would think it would a fantastic coup if the Melbourne Football Club could obtain the services of Jimmy Bartel.

You're quoting the wrong person there. I didn't say that.

I would rather we keep both Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca. Hope they can sort things out. Would love to see them both play over 350+ games for the Demons and win more Premierships for us. A Brownlow Medal or two would be fabulous too! Anyway, I guess we shall wait and see... I will most certainly be very angry and upset if we lose either of them!