praha

Russell Robertson saying now on SEN that "no player is bigger than the club." Very odd from him.

I wouldn't be surprised. The football department would have signed off on the statement. The CEO has no place shopping players around. And the statement wouldn't have come across his desk. That would be a sackable offense in a large corporate if the CEO was actively and privately going against the company's approved and confirmed messaging. The board should act immediately if it's true.

Being a head coach of a pressional sporting organisation doesn't have reset outlets? You could work into literally any corporate advisory gig for a start. The head coach recruiting process is gruelling. And then you're effectively managing 50+ people. Not to mention you could charge thousands for corporate speaking gigs.

I've mentioned earlier in this thread that Gawn has badly inflated our perception of a ruck's output. Grundy isn't a matchwinner nor a dominating force but he had height and body depth where we are lacking. In my view, the Gawn Grundy 1-2 could have been like the Jolly and Ball combo at Sydney in 2005. They had their impact ruck in Jolly and Ball as the around-the-ground backup. If Grundy didn't want to play second fiddle that's fine but I think people are trying to understate his impact unfairly because he doesn't dominate like Gawn does. I still reckon he would have had a better chance to win a flag by staying course at Melbourne than leaving.

....Fages?

Sydney getting belted again on Grand Final day... very much looking forward to my normally nauseating daily morning "standup" at work being a nice final twist of the knife towards my pompous Sydney colleagues who talked a big game all year. Went to the SCG for the first time ever this year... such a fake crowd. I reckon 50% of the crowd were freebies tickets and "it" girls/marketing babes who get their Insta snap and then spend the rest of the game chatting and refilling bubblies. Definitely the Hollywood Lakers of the AFL.

Honestly if I were the Dogs I'd be looking to go back to Footscray as a name. It's their spiritual home and Footscray is a much more lively and respectful suburb these days. It's considered home of the "west". I reckon more people would get around them. Especially the growing expat/student and migrant population in the area.

Sydney will always contend for at least another decade. The ultimate goal is that Sydney is a pure powerhouse that they dominate the Sydney landscape which is the media hub of the country. GWS, Gold Coast, Tassie are "nice to haves" but Sydney's success in the actual city of Sydney is very important to the AFL strategically. They are fast becoming the LA Lakers of the AFL and the league would be damned if they ever fell from the mantle.

Yes my point being I guess that this was an important learning year for him. I still think it's crazy and a failure we didn't make a Prelim in 22 or 23.

This is a crazy take. Gawn has set a ridiculously high standard and expectation for ruck output. Grundy was more than serviceable. If you look at the past two seasons I'd argue our best patches of football in that period came when both Grundy and Gawn were playing. Ultimately we chose to maximise Gawn's output in the hope of replicating match-winning performances in 2021. Grundy in the team impacted Gawn's output. I think the handling of Grundy has less to do with what he did, and more to do with what Gawn couldn't. It is pure crazy talk to say that Grundy's performance alone relegated him to the VFL. It's just not based in reality. And yes I am suggesting we went down the path of preferencing the performance and prefences of the individual than what was best for the team.

Media: "Petracca should commit to the club and focus on 2025." Petracca literally commits to the club, does an interview in branded Melbourne gear, and says he's ready to focus on 2025. Media: "No... not like that."

Great post. Goodwin has the cattle and at the very least we should be playing Prelims with Gawn and May both playing. Our spine is tall and good with the ball: both Petty and JVR are good by foot and at ground level, May can kick a bullet pass and Gawn is Stynes-esque with his smarts and clearance ability. My biggest gripe with Goodwin is that he seems to need everything to go his way; the likes of Longmuire, Fagan, Scott, and even Hinkley still find a way to content through controversy and list impact (injuries etc.). 2019 and 2020 are big blemishes for mine and in my view you don't "contend" unless you make a Prelim and we choked in 22 and 23. I reckon Scott still gets the Cats to the Prelim in those seasons under the same circumstances. That said, losing Petracca, an underdone Oliver, going periods without May and Lever... 2024's outcome is not surprising. Prelim in 25 is my pass mark for Goodwin. I can let 2024 slide because we were really up against it both on and off field. And you could maybe argue we even over performed considering. So maybe 2024 was the season Goodwin needed to have. Kind of like 2015 for Geelong and Scott.

Port are the biggest pretenders. I can't see any other coach consistently getting this squad to Prelims, though. They just don't have enough X Factor to win a flag. Their F50 entries have been shocking. Hawthorn vs Sydney was always going to be a better contest.

Excuse my ignorance and this is a genuine question but what does the MCC get out of this? I understand their relationship and involvement in the club but how would non-melbourne supporting members feel about their fees going towards funding the facilities for another club at a racing club?

The Bulldogs might have underachieved from a flag perspective but they have a very strong foothold in the West. I've lived in Essendon for 20 years and Dogs supporters around her outnumber most other clubs. Lots of support around here right along the river through Maidstone and to Footscray. A lot of that has to do with their spiritual base and presence in the community. What they've done out at Whitten Oval is fantastic and the club will continue to grow because of it. North is based out of an industrial estate and should have moved ages ago like Collingwood did. St Kilda has moved around like 4 times recently and is just a [censored] club.

Shhh.. you're not allowed to mention that 2021 was an abnormal season.

Yay we're still the only club with consecutive straight set exits

Something very Melbourne 1987 about them. Would not be surprised if they make the Grand Final

If I had a dollar for every CEO and Board member I've worked with that were less inspiring than a piece of cardboard when speaking with the media... I'd have about $10 but that's a good strike right. As has been the case for a while, the club's marketing and comms teams have been lacking. I'm not sure if it's the environment that breeds that sort of outcome or what but we seem to handle these sort of scenarios in an amateurish way compared to other clubs.

My benchmark isn't winning a flag. We haven't won a final at the MCG in 6 years and it'll be at least 7 years before we get another chance. Not even playing in a Prelim is a huge failure.

The gaslighting in this thread is off the charts. The writing was on the wall after two straight set exits. In hindsight it's crazy we didn't see this coming. I honestly thought (as did almost everyone else) that we would turn the corner as a club after we won the flag. We are still a semi-pro organisation masquerading as a big club. We have heavy hitters at the top end of town but that's it. The denial from club leaders, prominent supporters and even some players was straight up gaslighting the obvious. Tom Morris' report on SEN this morning was an indictment on club leaders. The last three seasons should absolutely burn the club internally and by all accounts it simply hasn't. It has to burn everyone right through the club including supporters. Instead we celebrate when we beat Essendon and pretend like everything is okay. We're still stuck in a 90s mentality as a club. If we want to play with the big boys we absolutely have to be filthy with this. Collingwood couldn't handle missing the finals despite getting within a kick of a flag in 2018 and multiple Prelims. It didn't take much to absolutely gut the place and reboot. We just don't have a hunger as a club to be feared. It took two finals series for us to lose all respect we gained from 2021. I honestly don't blame Petracca. Collingwood and Hawthorn would come out breathing fire next season if they went through this. Richmond did after going through similar with Martin. I just can't see it. And again I'm in a "happy to be proven wrong" mindset.

It's written by someone in the comms team and then approved by Petracca.

*86 years

My love for the club took a massive hit after 4 straight finals losses at the MCG after watching a premiership under house arrest following decades of pain. I haven't given up on the club but what has transpired over the past 12 months has seen me fall out of love with the Melbourne Football Club. You simply can't defend the club anymore. Last year's Semi final broke me and this year has angered me. I will wait to see what happens with Petracca and over trade period before I make a decision. Not sure I could forgive the club for how this has all unravelled. We all deserve much better. As it stands however I am more likely than not looking at suspending my membership for a year.

Can anyone imagine Eddie McGuire saying "I haven't spoken with the family"? He'd be at their bloody doorstep. Seriously the club buckled here and gave into Demonland hysteria for Roffey to speak.