Little Goffy

Chris Johnson, Nathan Carroll. Two pieces of evidence that under this coaching panel, if your try to yank us around we'll just stick you. We we're prepared to make a payout for the sake of getting Carroll out, and we didn't cave on Johnsons arrogant expectations. Brad Green getting three years instead of two was fought right down to half-way through trade week. And it's not like he's been inconsistent, or was asking for lots of money. The only reasons for that fight was fear of an Yze-style decline. But the difference is, Brad Green isn't a [censored].

Excellent. The club is serious about getting the kids in. First the membership pack comes out covered in pictures of kids having fun at the footy, and now this. I wonder if this was an idea raised at the Demon Summit - it's got that simple-but-effective element which was common to a lo of the things people suggested. Anyone else getting the feeling we're actively building relationships with all the Melbourne 'Icons'? We've already held the Captaincy announcement at the Observation Wheel thingy. Next up, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Aquarium, maybe the Arts Centre. Small steps. But then, all of a sudden we can make a legitimate claim to being the Melbourne Football Club in more than just name (and get in on some tasty tourism promotion dollars which also get our name out there globally).

Devoted Demon, you're observation that there's a lot of people a bit edgy at the moment is true, especially when it comes to the board. It's shame, but there have been a couple of boards now that have left the fans feeling betrayed, and I think there's a lingering sense for a lot of people that the various boards have been significantly responsible for the crisis we're in. Consider - there was the 'non-merger' with Hawtorn, where a lot of people were angry and a lot of people felt like the numbers had been stacked (people not able to get in to the meeting) to get the vote in favour of the merger at the special general meeting. - then there was the 'saviour' Gutnick, who bailed the club out to an extent, but was then a very abrasive and intrusive president which it turned out also had a somewhat unscrupulous edge that, in the final count, cost us Matthew Pavlich at pick four in the 1999 draft. - Gabriel Szondy, as CEO in the early 2000s, can be fairly held accountable for a couple of million dollars in losses, according to many. - finally, the Garnder as president and Steve Harris as CEO period... always just barely ok, never any major progress. Under, and by many reckonings because of, Harris, there was a huge turnover of staff and steadily degenerating morale among the staff at the club. Then there were the 'Team Melbourne' and 'China Strategy' initiatives, both of qhich were put forward loudly but then not followed through on properly. After three years of profits of about three dollars and fifty cents, Harris was sacked (and paid out $250,000), MacNamee recruited, then the whole Garnder board got 'pushed out', MacNamee was sacked, and the club left with a multi-million dollar loss to deal with that seemed to come out of nowhere - there was nothing in the previous few year's reports to suggest a financial slump was on the cards. So you see, the fans have been kept in the dark for a long time, the club administration is widely seen as the core problem for the Demons, rather than a solution, and people are worn out from always trying to be upbeat everytime there's a change or a new half-baked initiative. I know I felt burnt a number of times, when I'd put by heart behind some new initiative, saying 'this will be the beginnings of a turnaround'... only to be disspointed again. Right now everyone is nervous about the major sponsor - and we have no good information on what the situation is. Until that is sorted out, we're still all tense as hell - this club can still die. So, while I personally think the club is going in the right direction now, it's worth acknowledging that people are entitled to be really, really edgy. Welcome to the club, Devoted Demon, it's gonna be an interesting ride.

It seems odd to suggest that MacNamee was CEO under more difficult circumstances than Schwab, or that Schwab has not achived much in his time. There are a number of administrative issues which we simply can't say how well they might have gone under MacNamee, for instance - - the negotiations with the AFL/MCC to secure $2mil in support - the significant cuts to expenditure set in place for next year - the final deal with Casey (though due recognition to Gardiner for setting this in motion) - the successful delisting of Nathan Carroll - would he still be on our list? - the Demon Summit and the beginnings of a new level of contact with supporters. The two publicly raised negatives regarding MacNamee, the holiday during a crisis and the somewhat absurd focus on recruiting Jonathan Brown, don't paint a great picture, though they are obviously somewhat stage-managed bits of information release. I think the issue of more substance is the fact that Schwab has only been the CEO for less than one month longer than MacNamee, but in the relatively similar timeframes MacNamee's only action of note was the 'kick on the 'G' after a game, which appeard to boost crowd numbers by a couple of thousand for one game. September, October, November, December, half of January. That's all Schwab has had so far. The only thing missing, and I'll keep saying it, is the major sponsor. Hands up anyone who reckons securing a major sponsor during a global financial crisis when the club is bottom of the ladder with a likely couple of years more of 'developing' is an easy run. Anyone want to do all the above things at the same time? I hate having to sound like I'm a 'Cameron Schwab apologist', but it becomes necessary when people are ready to turn on the club's leadership the moment things aren't going well. If there hadn't been the change in the board and executive, we'd be a dead club walking.

Here's an interesting twist, just a little extra note here from The Age - "As part of the joint venture with the Bulldogs the club's new training and learning facilities at Whitten Oval will be known as the Mission Elite Learning Centre." I think we can safely say we've identified the clincher for that sponsorship. Naming rights to a major western suburbs sports complex, I gotta admit, I'm a little less impressed by the $1.5million number. Still, good for doggies, and we've still got [secret awesome sponsor] to come.

I guess the reason we get so excited by good young players is that there is always a chance they will take a big step up and become stars, while the older players will probably just carry on, maybe make incremental improvement. Would it be fair to say that a 'champion / elite / whatever you call it' player is one who is consistently in the picture for honours like All-australian selection, year in year out? By that measure, it has been a while since we've had someone at that level - a fair few players at the next step down who might be considered for All-Australian in a good year (for example Neitz, Robertson, White, Yze, McDonald, Woewodin, Johnstone, Davey, Bruce) but nobody who has been so good for so many years in a row that they have become a 'keep your eye on' kind of player. Not since guys like Stynes, Lyon, and of course Flower. But, in the decade that I've been a close follower, I've never felt it was more likely that we'd have a couple of real stars come through. Except, possibly, for a few days just after the 2000 Preliminary final win. Gotta love that 1999 draft. Two in a row of that quality and we would have been a superpower instead of a finals also-ran from 2002-2006. But alas, we all know how the 2000 and 2001 drafts went. POO. In perspective, we've had five years or so of reasonably good drafting, heavily over-represented in the Rising Star award ever since Rivers and Davey came first and second in 2004. We've had at least two players nominated every year since then. If the 07-08 drafts deliver on their promise, we'll really be cooking.

Don't the Demons still have a minor sponsorship deal with 'Just Fruit'? They supply boxes of fruit to offices and things like that - I was udner the impression that they were going to be a handy part of the kids programs in Casey, I know the school groups which toured the stands were given fruit for a snack, I asume something like that will carry on.

Guys, I thought we already established that this is not a dating site.

A friend of mine has a car with a giant scorpion painted on the hood, and the gearstick head has a scorpion embedded in glass inside it. They only got it because it was cheap and it goes, but maybe we can raffle it? Looking forward to developing a love-hate relationship with the Scorpion's stars who will off course be "a great player and I have nothing but respect for him but he's stopping x from getting a chance to develop". It's gonna be fun having both teams developing young squads at the same time. And it's just fantastic to see Nathan Brown back close to the club.

Uhhh... major jump in memberships... major improvement in relations with AFL and MCC major improvement in engagement with suporters (e.g. Demon Summit) substanital increase in positive media coverage (e.g. Martin Flanagan is going to be running a series of special articles on the Demon fightback over next year, and even Caroline Wilson has had positve things to say about us) highly energetic engagement with City of Casey In fact, at this point the only thing that hasn't gone exceptionally well is the major sponsor. When that sponsorship clicks in, this board and executive team will be able to turn around and say it's the most effective administration we've had in at least half a century. Don't forget there are a finite number of hours even in Schwab and Stynes days. Running Debt Demolition, negotiating the MCC/AFL arrangements, (these two items represent $5million we WOULD NOT HAVE if Gardiner/MacNamee were still in place) confirming and completing the Casey deal, processing the summit and just getting an overall handle on the place is a pretty good effort for half a year. So you might not want to spit your bile at them just yet.

I'm devastated. Nothing says 'on our way back up soon' better than a burrito. Sure, I would've been very happy, and known for sure that everything was going to be ok, if we'd gotten that sponsorship. But I really can't relate to the total doomsayers that slink around here. And as for James McDonald as captain being a turn-off for sponsors... a) You don't have to be captain to be a high-profile symbol of the club, Mclean, Davey, Robertson and a couple of the young guys will fill that. and B) Our consistent commitment to develop a positive ethic, dare I say 'role model values', at the club would be a major positive in the eyes of sponsors. and c) Seriously, bugger off, do you think a club captain should be chosen on the basis of who been on wheel-of-fortune the most?

When you think about it, having - a model citizen (McDonald) who is completely selfless on the field (McDonald) committed to supporting other players off the field (McDonald) displays exemplary consistency (McDonald) dedicated to training both hard and smart (McDonald) humble enough to give future leaders space and opportunity to develop (McDonald) consistent displays calm, measured courage (McDonald) and never, ever drops his head (McDonald) while being the most decorated player on our list (McDonald) and having the total support of the playing group and coaching staff (McDonald)... Seems like a reasonable call... I don't think you'd find many players at Melbourne who pass McDonald on any of those counts, let alone most. I don't think you'd find many players in the AFL at all who pass McDonald on more than a couple of those counts. Bring on Junior's Juniors I say.

Yep, three times in five years now, we've started the pre-season comp against the reigning premiers. Also, did anyone else notice that we play 8 games against the top 8 in the first eleven rounds. The only non-finals teams we play are Richmond (9th, of course), plus West Coast at Subiaco and Port Adelaide at Aami.

Hmm.... Paul Johnson is a quality player who can make a determined contribution around the ground. Not quite the 'extra midfielder' like Cox, but someone you'd be delighted to name as second ruckman - I'll keep on refering to him as our 'heavy utility' until it catches on, I swear. Mark Jamar is an interesting one. In the weeks immediately after White's demotion his stats, not surprisingly, jumped in a big way. Still not a huge number of disposals, but he seems to be able to keep going in the ruck position all day - has the bulk to crash and crash and crash. And we've all enjoyed his occassional launch into the air for a mark close to goal - is he can do that once or twice a game for a season (and put it through calmly), then that's a valuable asset. On the 'neutralise' argument, it's interesting to note that Jamar lays a phenomenal number of tackles for a ruckman - easily the most of any current ruckman (or any ruckman I've heard of) at 3.6 per game, the same as Nathan Foley or Kane Cornes. Seriously, one extra goalsquare mark per game and Jamar is a more than handy player. I'd still like a third option - Jake Spencer, the Meese, even moving Stefan Martin to part-time ruck. Somebody. We'll see what happens. Tall defenders good, small defenders question mark. Inside midfield progress highly unpredictable due to returns from injuries, development of youth, and Scott West. Outside midfield is hard to say, again due to youth. The area primarily recruited for in this draft just gone, and Morton looks the goods. Small forwards (counting Wonaeamirri, Davey, Maric) looks great to me. Tall forwards (counting Miller, Bate, Robertson, maybe Newton, plus eventually and hopefully Watts and Jurrah) is also hard to predict. Most of these seem servicable rather than excellent. So all up, what with injury returns, youth, major changes to coaching staff, radically improved facilities and substanitally different pre-season training routines, the final summary of our list has to be - #$%# knows.

You'd be hard pressed to find a more honorable person in the AFL than James McDonald. On charatcer, he's an ideal captain. On dedication to the game and team ethic, he's an ideal captain. Last year he was an good player, the previous two years he was outstanding. Not particularly troubled by injury, either. He'll be a great captain, and fits with the Demon habit of one long term captain and one relatively brief one, over the last quarter-century. Then we'll see. I'm quite happy with it.

WHOA! As if that's right. Joeboy, you just lost all credibility on these forums posting garbage like that. The Melbourne Demons, training at a stable and quality venue, on a regular schedule, for weeks on end? HA! I suppose next you'll be saying that our January membership figure is higher than Carlton or Richmond's... Just thought I'd throw that in.

I think the tricky part is fitting people into the right places. I think Warnock is pretty specifically a Gorilla Keeper. Frawley is mostly a Gorilla Keeper but looks like he'll be a decent third tall as well. Rivers is obviously an interceptor of some quality, zoning off from a third tall forward when he judges appropriate. Garland is an agile guy who can handle the mobile CHFs and play on third forward as well, but is not ideal for the Gorillas. Martin looks like he'll be a Gorilla Keeper but, like Frawley, has a bit of speed to him and might handle the CHF and third tall roles. Rivers and Garland are certainies when fit and holding the form we can reasonably expect. Frawley, Martin and Warnock will fight between them for managing the goalsquare forward and one other. BUT, i think one of these guys will miss out each game. Still, they'll all get a decent number of games into them because there will of course be the occassional niggle, and some horses for courses selections. It also complicates things that we really can't say what form we ought to expect from these guys. Wheatley isn't really a tall defender as far as juggling these positons go - attacking HBF onto the wing. And he's a whole other story. Will soon be competing hard for his spot if any of those draftees get a good stretch together. Sadly, because I appreciate him, I think he will be next year's Jeff White - eased out to make way for younger players, who in this case may even be outperforming him soon.

Just for a moment then the thought crossed my mind - what if it had been a Melbourne supporter? The rage on here would be out of control. As it is... Much like the Richmond Spitter, we should at least take this opportunity to show the kiddies that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable. We can do that by regularly and loudly reminding Hawks fans of the shame in their midst, every time they start talking themselves up... again... and again... Or we could just shift the little f'er off to a bird-[censored] mine on Nauru.

Looks like he'd have plenty of voice on field and could do a lot of damage very quickly if not given constant attention. I can see him easily fitting into either a back pocket or a forward pocket.

Going through all the possible worst case scenarios freshens me up a little because they seem less realistic than the prospect of some kind of solution being found. In particular, the Casey Fields set up makes a huge difference, the quality of the field and arrangements out there is so much better that the scrappy mess we've been dealing with for two long. And it'll make a huge difference to the supporter base as we develop that City of Casey connection, especially since we're going about it in good, positive ways (specifically the Demon Heartland project, for example). I'll bet that Casey Council is already feeling a bit of relief that they have made a good decision and will be dealing with good people for a long time.

See, this is the kind of thing that turns people from "one or two games a year" supporters to regulars. It's a great feeling seeing other Demons. Hell, up here in Canberra it's a great feeling just seeing anyone in AFL colours. One of the best things you can do for the club, short of large cash donations is just BEING VISIBLE. So congrats, and bonus points for annoying Eddie McMiwwionaire.

Yeah, it's not a satisfactory situation, but it can be changed. We will be viable next year (oops, it's this year now) substanitally because of the AFL/MCC support. So we have that time to set things right. The sponsor shortage is of course critical, at both the major and minor sponsor levels. Really, with first-rate corporate salesmanship we should be able to get a total of 2 million a year more than we are at the moment (adjust as you see fit for the 'Global Economic Crisis of Doom'). It's the consistent growth in visiblity of the Red and Blue, resilience and community among the supporters, and simply the bulk acquisition of supporters (Hi Casey! You have no idea how happy we are to welcome you!) that are going to make the long-term difference. And for anyone playing with figures in their heads, I find the round numbers of $10 per attendance and $100 per membership to be a pretty good match for the figures. Although in small crowds each extra person is worth more; as much as double.

Next year we would be doing poorly if we failed to break even due to a couple of short term benefits - Player payments were close to 100%, including two highly paid veteran status players. Now we are right on the minimum limit (around 92%). Save approximately 750k. CEO is now, presumably, stable. Sacking Harris and then MacNamee and then going through the two recruiting rounds is an expensive process, despite Peter Spargo's magnificent effort of filling in as CEO for free while the search for Schwab was on. Throw in the numerous incidental costs of the massive changing of the guard at board level. Save as much as 500k. (not kidding) Note that the financial loss for the year included a write down of asset values at the 'associated venues'. This $1mil is not recurring. I'm not sure exactly what is going on with the Debt Status, presumably it went down to $2mil and has now stepped up again a little? Whatever the exact situation, Debt servicing costs will drop a bit for the future. Save 100k, as a conservative estimate. Continued changeover and recrutiment costs of new football department staff (recruting manager, multiple assistant coaches, massive change in fitness and preparation staff) will begin to stabilise as the new panel sets off on it's big adventure together. Also might as well inlcude the costs of negotiating the Casey Fields arrangements, which as we all know has taken a massive amount of effort. Call it 100k, again conservatively. The increased funding from AFL/MCC is a significant boost. Discounting the existing funding arrangements, the $2mil is still a big sum. Let's call it an increase of $1mil, because that gives a nice round number of - $2.5 million improvement in financial position. Minus the Waverly funding and other issues as mentioned. So, we can reasonably expect to hold it steady on the turn next year, with hard work. Longer term, the club is doing important work. It is already noticable that our media relations have/are improving. The effort going into Casey Fields is going to be MASSIVE and MASSIVELY WORTH IT over the next few years, for example - How much difference are things like the Demon Heartland project going to make? Well, if one donation gets ten people in, that is effectively adding one extra person in the crowd to every home game for the season. If 1,000 people donate, there will be 1000 kids at every home game, just through Demon Heartland! How quickly do you think that will start to influence the football culture down in Casey? Other than that, an extra 4,000 members at this time of year, of which 2,000 are new members, can't be all bad. At this stage the success/fail for the year off-field hinges on the major sponsor, and starting to build up a collection of minor sponsors. And, of course, a bit of improvemnt on field wouldn't hurt... At least we know we can't go backwards in that respect.

Short Version Well, here's what still seems to be up. I'm glad I caught the original when it was there. Sustained sillyness. no wonder we have 2,000 completely new members! EDIT: Through AFL/Bigpond site, the full version - Here it is!

A few people have mentioned that it's interesting that weve built up a long list of aboriginal players in recent drafts, with three more this draft. Even more significant that a lot are from truly remote areas. Bennell, Jetta and Jurrah are all in the habit of long trips for games, so they wont be whinging about Casey been 'way out'! Side note - Like Wonaeamirri last year, a couple of comments about them being very quiet guys - really nice, friendly, but hardly saying a word. This is a strong cultural thing, because deference and respect is complex and important in a lot of traditional aboriginal communities so they don't talk much when they are around strangers who they don't know what the appropriate relationship is - you should try doing social research in the top end! - but it settles quickly once people have a good idea of where they stand with people. It is also a very good reason to have a good number of aboriginal players on your list, rather than isolating them one or two at a time. Given that the group we've got - Whelan, Davey, Wonaeamirri, Jetta, Bennell, Jurrah - all seem to be pretty good prospects, this could be another factor in building the tight-knit group we're trying to build.