Dr. Gonzo

If you can get paid the same or more to do the same job in the location of your choice, why wouldn't you move?

It's an indictment on the playing group and leadership group if they allowed that kind of commentary to fester. Petracca had every right to take a mental break after what he went through. I'm seriously questioning the MFC players here, all the talk about culture, supporting each other etc and then they snipe one of their own behind his back after suffering a significant trauma.

Yes but if he has had further time to reflect he may have changed his opinion since then. I can understand how someone who suffered a traumatic injury may be in that thankful/lovey dovey mindset shortly after but then change their tune down the track once they've had more time to process and dwell on things. I'm not saying it's the reality but it may be his perception.

The most perplexing thing for me in all this is the whole "players couldn't understand why Petracca was in Noosa posting Instagram vids" - if they couldn't figure this out for themselves and had to rely on communication from the club to explain it I really worry about the IQ/EI of our players. I'm also worried about which players it was who were questioning it, is was it from our leadership group/senior players?

If his feelings have changed since that interview it is really irrelevant what he said 2 months ago.

Longer contracts are better for the clubs when you have free agency and clubs unable to trade players against their will. If Petracca was out of contract he would have just left as a free agent and we would get pick 6 and nothing more.

"Average attendance" is a rubbish stat when we play other Vic teams half the time and also includes games in Perth and Adelaide etc Look at our average attendances vs interstate sides compared to other clubs, that is a better reflection of our pulling power.

I'll continue my AFL membership with MFC club support but was just discussing this today with my family at father's day lunch. My dad was considering cancelling the AFL membership and getting an MFC membership only. I told him he's better off keeping the AFL membership (as gets you better/cheaper access to finals tickets) but adding on MFC reserved seats. AFL membership is good but when you're an MFC supporter it feels like every game is an away game, even when we play interstate sides. Gonna have to look into how much this would all cost and where we could get reserved MFC seats, I currently pay for AFL memberships for my 2 kids and as well and one of them doesn't really like attending games but I've kept him on the waitlist for full AFL membership in case that changes when he's a bit older. If we can get reserved seats in the northern stand level 1 right next to the MCC I'll consider it but if it's in the southern stand there's no point, could probably just rock up and sit in those seats anyway. Been an MFC membership since 1989 and won't stop now. I'll probably buy MFC kids memberships for my nephews next time they have one of those $30 deals (like they did when Kozzie and Kolt re-signed). They're pretty young but interested in coming to a game (their parents aren't into footy) so could be an opportunity to rope them in.

Same, now they can wear their number 5 Demons guernseys to footy colours day next week without worrying about copping it from Blues and Pies supporters

No chance - the pregame for our round 23 match had a segment in "Collingwood's youth" and were glowing in how bright the future looked. Proceeded to list a bunch of names I'd barely heard of. I was literally arguing with the TV about how pathetic it was trying to blow smoke up Collingwood's [censored] and asking what about Melbourne's youth, you know the kids who have actually shown something at AFL level? My wife and her family who were over all think I'm a lunatic 🤣

Thank God for that

Scott Thompson did 😔

If they're not, that's a concern and is a reason why we should undertake an external review preferably headed by Peter Jackson if he's willing.

I wish Peter Jackson had have stuck around a while longer. I was against Mahoney being given the job as his successor but seems it may have been the right move after all.

Who cares about the other clubs. This "pat on the back" mentality is what leads to decades of mediocrity.

We didn't finish top 4. The season doesn't end after round 22. It's been a successful few years relative to the 57 that came before but when you're talking highly successful you're talking Geelong 2007-2011, Hawks 2012-2015, Richmond 2017-2020. Those are highly successful periods.

Cliff notes for those of us who can't access?

I seriously can't believe we are back here again. It feels like the Schwab days all over again.

I replied via email to say I supported an independent review but did not want to click a link in an unsolicited email. I got a response back saying they completely understood and would add my name to the "yes" vote.

"Highly successful"? You're having a laugh. We were successful in 2021, since then it's been underachievement before finishing 5th last this year.

Depends on what it finds and who may be held accountable.

Did we? 1- play finals each year 2020-23 and win a flag. We didn't play finals in 2020, we did win a flag. I'd give it a pass but technically a fail. 2- $4m profit over 4 years - did we achieve this? Eliminate debt. $30m+ of income producing assets. I'm not sure about any of this so not sure if it's a pass or fail. 3- have a culture that inspires excellence and attracts new talent. Pretty wishy washy though you can argue our culture has gone backwards and have struggled to attract new talent since the flag. I give this a fail though it is subjective. 4- 75k+ members, 50k+ average home crowds. Fail. 5- home base. Fail. That's at least 3 fails out of 5 for me and possibly fails on all 5 (again not sure on point 2).

What would ANB have done if the Crows weren't interested either?

One of the first things Peter Jackson did when he came to Melbourne was to put an end to the leaks. Seems we're just reverting to type now but who the hell is doing it? I can't imagine it being anyone in the FD and I would've thought the board are all united behind Roffey but perhaps not. It's disgraceful that after less than a decade of behaving like a proper footy club and achieving some success the facade has worn off and we have reverted back to the rabble we were before PJ and Roos saved us.