Traja Dee

Ahhh, 1975, my first season of following Melbourne (kind of). The first game I attended was the Anzac Day St.Kilda match. Aged 7 at the time, I had badgered my dad to take me with my older siblings for quite some time. I finally made it and was then bored witless by midway through the 3rd quarter - the result didn't help. We sat in the old southern stand, and I remember seeing a female Saints fan with a craggy face and sitting on her own while chain smoking cigarettes. I also remember the August 9th Carlton match, being the same day as my dad's 50th birthday party, which was the biggest party I had seen at my place in my life. A number of my dad's friends were also Melbourne fans, and we all had a chuckle over our unexpected win. Thanks for the memories.

You have to remember that we finished 7th after the 1994 home and away, the first season when the finals expanded from 6 to 8 teams. Before the start of the 1994 season, I bet with my employer's 2IC that we'd make the finals. After we made the bet, they expanded the finals' system to 8 teams and we snuck in. He was so filthy that he didn't pay up; well he was a Geelong supporter :-( We started the 1994 season with a bang, then faltered, then did just enough to make the finals; sound familiar? That said, I was super confident that we'd beat Carlton in the first final - what a glorious spring day with one of my favourite Schwarter goals from a throw-in on the forward flank. Sean Charles absolutely towelled up Tommy Alvin :-). From memory, Jacker played his last game at Princes Park in July (8.1 against Hawthorn - I had to look that one up), not that we knew at the time. Schwarter was looking a million dollars. If Gazza, Jacker and Schwarter were all fit at the same time, it would have been one of the best and most spectacular Melbourne forward lines ever; if only... I was living in London for the home and away in 1998 so I can't really compare. But nothing would compare to a forward line with a fit Gazz, Jacker and Schwarter.

I have to admit that I get off on this sort of stuff. I'd love to understand the theory of game plans and the KPIs used more. I've just made a suggestion to my local library to buy this book. For what it's worth, this TED talk called The math behind basketball's wildest moves talks about how data scientists are unlocking the patterns in NBA basketball. It seems to me that AFL stoppages are a heap more complex than my naive understanding of basketball, but I wonder if there is an opportunity to apply the same techniques to AFL.

Great OP! Beat me to the post as I was thinking of starting a thread after watching the Darwin game on FOXTEL, my second FOXTEL game ever after the St Kilda match in June. Dermis and Lynchie made me really ANGRY! It felt like they saw the game as Weagles Fawn Festival. Their commentary seemed to me like it was a Harlem Globetrotters versus the Washington Generals match (and we weren't the HGT). For the St Kilda match, I was gifted Medallion seats and had to choose between MMM's B team or Sandy Roberts on FOXTEL. It says much about Sandy that I chose the former. I didn't like Sandy when he was in his prime, couldn't believe it when he was given a GF call one year, and his style is now very old-school. In the 5 mins of listening, he seemed to reel out a sequence of cliches with a smug air. I like commentary that is accurate, fair to both teams, light on for cliches with a bit of humour; not too much to ask really... Favourite commentators are Denic C, Tim Lane (though I haven't listened since he left 3LO), Gerard Whately and the MMM A-team, which has grown on me. One last point, commentators make a huge difference to the entertainment value. I quite like the A League it the SBS commentators are so dull. The commentators for the just-finished Women's World Cup were so soporific inducing that even my boys lost interest.

Cool

Martin Flannigan wrote an interesting piece in Saturday's Age about the coaching at Collingwood. He referred to the highly sophisticated structures, game plans and techniques applied in AFL clubs that almost all AFL fans cannot appreciate without access to coaches circles. Does anyone know of books, papers, web sites or even a CAE-type course that would explore these concepts? This seminar sounds interesting.

Maybe he did Melbourne a service... What if he knew that he was physically and mentally fragile; either a big risk on Melborne's list or a sunk cost if he retired? By "coming out of retirement" and asking for a trade, we got H which was exactly the sort of player we identified as a priority in mid-2014. Roosy didn't seem to put up much of a fight to keep him... Also, the Melbourne players seemed to have too much respect for him to have done what he is accused of. Finally, I always assume that tweets and pressers are always spun by a club's marketing department anyway; take them with a grain of salt myself. I'm not letting my knickers get on a twist just yet. I'm tipping maybe 5 good games from Mitch in the next 2 years, maybe another 10 OK ones and then an anti-climatic retirement due to injuries at the end of 2016.

Where have the Wanderer's fans come from? My guess is that there was already a critical mass of soccer fans who followed either Sydney FC from afar or local soccer clubs. Setting up the Wanderers was probably an easy job a la Field of Dreams: "build it and they will come". Setting up GWS was a little like sending a well-funded missionary out into a wilderness of heathens: there was obviously no critical mass for Aussie Rules and you have to wince at the thought of what the heathens may do to our missionary. My point is that it is unfair to lambast the AFL for the relative success of the Wanderers, despite the AFL funding, as the Wanderers had a much, much higher level of latent support and goodwill. I like to compare the establishment of GWS to the NRL setting up the Melbourne Storm. I know of only a handful of Storm supporters and only one who is native to Victoria - the rest are expat Queenslanders or Cockroaches. This is despite the amazing (and slightly suspicious) onfield success enjoyed by the Storm. Even after their premieship success, I wonder if the Storm has built up enough momentum and goodwill to survive a period of lean on-field seasons. I'm not sure how sporting codes should expand into areas dominated by other codes. I remember when basketball grew fantastically in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but then contracted almost overnight. Maybe these initiatives take a decade or longer of sustained investment (and losses). One more thing about soccer. I live in an inner suburb with two primary school age boys. One is still a rusted on Demon but his patience is starting to be really tested. The other has all but given up on Melbourne and the AFL. What my boys have done in 2014 is switch their focus to soccer, where 95%+ of the "kick-to-kick" on weekends was with a soccer ball rather than a football, where 95% of kick-to-kick in 2013 was with a football. Part of the reason is Melbourne's lean patch, but a major part of it is the brilliant marketing from FIFA and the World Cup all the way down to the A-League. My boys LOVE how soccer is presented on TV - it engages them far, far better than the AFL. Given that the majority of kids at their school now follow soccer (eg wear soccer shirts and play soccer at lunch) in preference the AFL, I think that the AFL will have a SERIOUS problem on their hands in 10 years time.

It would be interesting to see his credentials. From memory, they would include: Support roles at AFL clubs. A very successful stint in the VAFA as senior coach of the A-Grade premiership winning St.Bedes / Mentone. Pedigree in the form of dad who was a handy recruiter. Good luck to Luke.

Langers, I'm afraid that I don't have a copy but I do remember that game well: Garry Lyon played one of the best quarters that I have ever seen by an AFL player. My memory of that game was that Melbourne were rightly favourites. We had played off in the previous year's Preliminary Final and it looked like Neal Balme had unlocked the team's potential. The Bears were still in their infancy and were near the bottom of the ladder. However, the first 3 quarters were a struggle and the Bears had nudged ahead at 3/4 time. Balmey threw Garry Lyon from full forward to the midfield at 3/4 time in a desperate attempt to wrest back control. Gazza came out with all guns blazing, and it felt like he collected 15-or-so possessions in the last quarter to get us over the line - what a star! As it turned out, Melbourne bombed that season and the Bears made a late-season charge and snuck into the finals. In the finals, they pushed Carlton hard, just falling short in Robbie Walls' last game as coach of Brisbane. Carlton went on to win the premiership. Langers, thanks for bringing this game up. I'm afraid that I don't have a copy but I did enjoy remembering.

Ha ha - like this response, though I smell a rat. I took some new arrivals from England to the reserve on Saturday night and hit the bars at half time: pots went out with Melbourne's on-field success - its now schooners or pints.

Sassy, I really hope you're right. My expectations have been tempered by the 5 or 6 Crows fans who I've spoken to. They've all spoken of how frustrating Bernie can be, how he can go missing during the season. We've seen his heat when he is hot, and I'm hoping that the Roos magic will sort out Bernie's consistency and shove it up the Crows' fans. Go Dees!

Savings made by dropping the Info Session could also come from: - Less overtime for the administrative staff, Roosy, Josh Mahoney and any other ops staff who attend. - Less time required to prepare a presentation for any Info Session. - Shorter time in the MCC Dining Room. I'm clutching at straws while trying to come up with possible reasons. So far, it seems pretty mean on the part of the MFC.

What do other Demonlanders make of reverting back to an original AGM, i.e. with no information session? The information session in previous summers was a highlight of the off-season, and I'm disappointed that these have been dropped. It makes it less likely that I'll come along to the AGM now. I'm wondering if this is a cost saving measure, but others may have better suggestions on the reason for it.

I wonder where skinny Cale ended up. There was a story in the Northcote Leader in December that the Northern Blues (FKA the Prestin Bullants) were hoping to bag him (ie recruit him as opposed to joining many Demonlanders in deriding him),

I had high hopes in 1990 after winning the elimination final against Hawthorn; we unexpectedly had a week off after the Eagles and Collingwood drew their final. Despite the week off, we were limp in the WCE final in Melbourne - a worrying sign in hindsight.

Nice summary that reasonably matches my recollection. My impression at the time was that John Northy was a fire and brimstone style coach who was very effective at creating a feeling in the team that they had their backs to the wall. This was super-effective at the the start on his tenure but starting to wear thin after 7 years. The departures that you mention we're not such a great loss. Strawbs was a shadow of the player he was in 1987. Hot-Dot Spalding was a player whose disposal left you with your heart in your mouth but, anyway, I thought that he initiated the departure; that said, I got it very wrong when I pronounced that he would never play in a premiership team, (and I still don't know how Carlton won in 95). Stinger was a big loss, and Jacker could have been anything if his work ethic matched his brother's. Finally, Melbourne was barely competitive in the finals in 1990 and 1991, which reinforced my perception that Northy was already beginning to lose the players. Would love to hear the thoughts of some of the players from that era.

I've heard that Penrith Leagues Club is a massive venue and a social hub for Sydney's outer west. That's the only way I could see it coming ahead of the large AFL clubs.

Thanks goodoil. Nothing like the threat of redundancy to help a player recover from surgery and an injury.

I'm hoping that someone can recall the details. Wasn't Guy Rigoni delisted and redrafted as a rookie around 2003? He came back and played good support roles in 2004 and 2005. May be a different situation again as he was delisted due to injury issues, IMMSMC.

Great summary by WJ. One point that I noted in particular was that PJ and the board will be going to the AFL next week with a detailed plan of how we will extract ourselves. The AFL, MCC and other clubs needs MFC to be healthy. Poor attendances against Richmond, Hawthorn and GC hurt others almost as much as they hurt us. However, the AFL will only give support if they believe that they are confident that it will be spent wisely. PJ pointed out that the MFC had dropped a fair bit of coin on the football department in the past two years, which is the sort of money that will make the AFL more averse to support. On the other hand, PJ believes that we can reduce costs without having to impact the football department to much, nor services to members (like the fabulous Melbourne Business Community breakfasts!). It was reassuring to hear PJ pinpoint a problem, i.e. list management around 2009, but reassure us that our list management expertise is now better. PJ suggested that the most important member of a football club was the CEO list manager (he made a faux pas on this), not the coach, CEO or president. Very interesting.

I've been going to the football since 1976 and back then, the start time was 2pm. I'll be London to a brick that the time was changed to suit TV broadcasts. If the match starts at 2:10pm, the broadcast could start at 2pm and the broadcast would have time to introduce the game and slip in some advertisements. I can't remember when it changed from 2pm. 2pm feels like a traditional starting time - all of the suburban and country games that I can think of still have 2pm.

Just watched the video and, I have to say, I'm really impressed! That said, I can only go by how he sounds and he sounds like he understands what it takes to make an AFL club strong. Key points: Our staff are generally inexperienced. This inexperience is exacerbated by the trauma experienced by the club since 186. It was interesting how fluently he listed the traumas, almost as though he had just read a backgrounding document. He suggested that staff may only be outwardly showing resilience but may be overwhelmed internally. The playing list is also relatively inexperienced. The recovery is straightforward (my word) but it will take time and hard work. He sympathises with us supporters for the challenges that we have faced but suggests that there are no short-cuts. Isn't it great to have someone inside the club make some candid observations and not "gilding the lily". I still believe that Melbourne FC's situation is somewhat the result of some bad decisions but more so the result of some rotten luck. It feels good to have an experienced footy person come into the CEO role to set our direction out of this mire.

I believe that the course set by Dean Bailey was only ever going to make us a team with the potential to reach positions 5 to 10 on the ladder (depending upon luck: injuries, draw, etc). The Brisbane that we played on that night was, in hindsight, overrated, particularly as it transpired that Brown was playing with an injury. This is consistent with Melbourne being a 5-10 ladder position team. Dean Bailey outward appearance worried me at the time and it still does; I rated him as a bargain-basement level coach. His simplistic attitudes to the winning quarters KPI (irrespective of which quarter, whether the game was in the balance or just junk time) and getting games into young players was not consistent with driving standards within the team to be the best. The board has some culpability, in my mind, in that they oversaw Dean Bailey. On the other hand, they did not recruit Bailey and their hands were tied with limited funds. They had dual and conflicting goals of turning around the club's balance sheet and in improving the football department. My interpretation of history is that persevering with Bailey at the time was a reasonable risk based on what we knew at the time. I suspect that the strategy at the time was to keep economical coach and football department while accumulating top young players and to then switch to a higher performing coaching staff once the list was loaded with more potential. Hardly any of us were criticising the player accumulation strategy at the time, and if one or two of the recruits had blossomed into a Joel Selwood or Gary Ablett, and if chook hadn't opened his cake hole, all of us would be lauding their praise. I agree with Bossdog. The board we have are highly accomplished and passionate Melbourne people who have had some filthy, rotten luck; surely our luck will turn soon. I believe that the devils you know, the current board, is better for the time being than any alternative.

Awesome read. Thanks for this.