Dees2014

A couple of comments. First, in defence of Maxy Gawn. Max has not had a full pre season and continuous game time for three seasons now. I have watched him at training during his rehabilitations over several seasons and have been extremely impressed with his irrepressible enthusiasm and diligence in the face of considerable injury setbacks. During the first three quarter Max showed what he will be capable of in the future, and I have no doubt he will be critical to our success in future years. The other point I would make is he plays a very mobile game style for someone so big. It constantly surprises me how often he makes a crucial tackle or takes a telling mark all over the ground when you would expect him to be in the middle half, so it is a high impact, high energy game style, which at this stage of his development is going to be exhausting. It was never planned that he should have played first ruck this year, and has only done so in the face of injuries to Jamar and suspension of Spencer. The bad luck (bad management) in missing out on Hannath only added to this dilemma. If I have a criticism about Saturday night, I think we should have used Dawes and Fitzy in the ruck more throughout the game to preserve Maxy's energies for a full four quarters. I think it will be a crucial lesson for everyone. I have no doubt max will be in the top half dozen first ruckmen in the AFL in years to come and we need to nurture him during his apprenticeship. Secondly - Fitzy! I think he has huge potential, and has been plagued by injury and illness throughout his MFC career. He is just now getting to full fitness, and by playing regularly under Craig seems to be gaining confidence with every match. This guy is 6'6", and has an incredible tank and speed. If you watch the team train, particularly early in the season where there is a lot of running, he is an elite athlete, and is incredibly quick for such a big man, and has great endurance. Given another year's development, and constantly playing under Craig to gain confidence, I think he could be anything. Sadly though, I suspect he will be used a trade bait to get some elite mid fielders. I cannot see us playing Clark, Hogan, Watts, Dawes, Howe, AND Fitzpatrick in the same team. Fitzy is the logical one to miss out. Given Sheedy's comments yesterday where he said he went to Saturday night's game and saw a number of players in whom he would be interested, you would be surprised if Fitzy was not near the top of his list, given their lack of tall key position players. They also have a surplus of elite mids. Could be a good fit??? Thirdly, maybe our midfield stocks aren't as bad as we imagine? Don't forget we have Grimes and Viney out at present, and toumpas is just starting to find his feet (and looks to be an elite player), and Trengove seems to be coming back to form under Craig ( and is increasingly looking like he was in his first year). We probably need one or two more elite mids. In the meantime with an improved Roden as well, and the outstanding jones (both of them) we may give a few teams a bit of a shake for the rest of the year. Add hogan next, plus a fit Clark, and you never know what might happen...... Anyone for a premiership in the 50th anniversary year since our last one?????? Now wouldn't that [censored] off the other Melbourne clubs (and the AFL) - and Tony Shaw???

Well I don't.I'm heartily sick of "well meaning, idealistic boards". This club has for too long been run by "nice guys"', and in the AFL world, nice guys really do run last. We need someone, or some people, who really do know what leadership is all about: setting a vision, laying out a plan, building a team (in the broadest sense), and executing ruthlessly and uncompromisingly. clarity around roles in that team is.critical, but you still need strong, innovative, creative, and charismatic leadership to attract first class talent, and set a culture which ensures that talent continues to contribute to the team. I have seen too many teams fail in corporate life because it is believed a "strong culture" will magically make an organization successful. We need strong leadership AND a strong culture. If you are in any doubt, look at the Swans. They didn't get to where they are by having weak leadership. In fact, the leadership under Roos and Colless created their very strong cultures, and applied it ruthlessly and uncompromisingly right across their Organisation. Their results speak for themselves. But it started with innovative, smart, uncompromising, and ruthless leadership. We too can do this. But not by having the weak kneed management and football we have put up with for the last 20 years. Unfortunately, by the reaction of many on here, I'm beginning to believe we are not up to it if left to our own devices. In a way, fortunately, our club has become so disfunctional that the AFL has decided to step in to fix it, because they have come to realize they have got too much to lose if they allowed the situation to continue. We though, as a supporter group, really have to harden up and develop some back bone, because we won't have the AFL looking after us forever.

Yes P_man, it is interesting how with this particular poster ( ie Satyriconhome) there appears to be a direct relationship between the more stupid the comments, the more dogmatically they are held. It is also interesting how this contrasts with a number of very well written, and often heart-felt pieces about how the Demon near demise has profoundly effected people's lives, mostly far more in sorrow than in anger. People have a very deep, inter-generational love for this club, and there is no doubt that its demise would be not only tragic for football, but also for the wider Victorian and Australian community. But having got over the sadness and sorrow, it is time for some hard-heads to take charge. People who will be clear of vision, and completely ruthless in its application. That is what motivated me to post this topic in the first place, and frankly I have not been surprised with the reaction. I think the MFC has lacked that mean-streak which the really successfully clubs exhibit on a day in day out basis. That was why I am drawn to the Kennett candidacy (or someone with his standing and track record in getting very difficult jobs done, and there are very few of those sorts of people around). I think we have made a good start in this, and Peter Jackson (and pleasingly the AFL) appears to be exhibiting the necessary steel to get us out of this mess. It still saddens me (though does not surprise me) when a number of posters on here quibble around the edges, and can't really see the wood from the trees when it comes to applying the necessary ruthlessness if you want to be successful in an elite sporting competition like the AFL. There is no room for the faint hearted in this. That is also why the current board, and a lot of the executive have to go.

Good, well thought out list of key issues. Almost all aspects of running an elite sports team actually, so says a lot about where we are at.The most important issues to me relate to getting credibility and hope back into the club, so we retain and recruit good players, and rekindle enthusiasm amongst supporters. This means we need credible, competent leaders at the top (Board, President, CEO - all of these are being directly addressed by the PJ review and the AFL, so I think they will be competently handled, and we will get a good outcome), then comes the FD. It is clear that much of the motivations behind going cap in hand for more money from the AFL is what in corporate terms are called "restructuring costs" that is, when a company is in terminal decline, a knife is taken to it, the deadwood in both people and process are removed, and the one off cost of this is provisioned for. This is clearly what Jackson and the AFL are doing here, which in my view will involve paying out Neeld and half his FD staff at year's end, recruiting a high profile experienced coach (at the moment i understand Rodney Eade has the inside running, which i think would work) and assistant coaches; reviewing list management and shoring up key player contracts (don't be surprised if they bring in football experts from outside the MFC in the next couple of months to do that ); and then selling what they have done to the media and general public to restore confidence in the Club and with current and future supporters. In these circumstance, if MFC were a public company, it would be a bargain basement investment with a huge upside. I'd invest with great enthusiasm and great expectations.....

Not sure this is the right place to argue politics. If you want my political views read my blog at mikes2014.com. Suffice to say what I quoted was what the general populace thinks (according to those who should know, the pollsters). There is no point in arguing with me about it, try and convince the general populace if you think you are that good.

What job do you think Stuart Grimshaw has on the current Board? I can tell you, he is CEO of Bank of Queensland. Are you going to chuck him off on the basis of his current position. You should if you want to be consistent. He is by the way also one of the most capable current Directors. But go right ahead destroy one of our few current strengths for the sake of your ideology, but it has no place in building a strong football club.

I don't think you understand the model. You still have your finance, marketing and HR guys as executives, but these are shadowed on the Board by people of very high expertise who act as advisors to the board and mentors to the functional heads. It is win-win.

Not sure whether you are deliberately missing my point or you simply not getting it. I am not denigrating anyone, least of all any profession. All I am saying is that there are some professions who operate in the corridors of power and some that don't. I'm not sure that our proposed new leadership does that is all. You can knock this or you can use it. I'm not sure how bringing up the GFC helps the MFC, but if you think it does then fine by me. From my part I'm more interested in ensuring we get the strongest possible MFC in the future, and if this means putting a few of the traditionalist noses out of join in the the short term then so be it. Oh and by the way, last time I look, Kennet was on at least 6 corporate boards, and a further 3 charitable ones. He will need to resign a few if he leads us....

Well he has stated that he wants a corporate model much like group leadership team of a major corporate with senior functional heads, I assume covering marketing, finance, operations (read football dept), HR (staff and recruitment) and himself and the CEO. To me this makes a lot of sense and probably means they will be paid as well. I have seen this corporate model work often in the past, I have no doubt it could work here

Sorry posted early by mistake. Please look at the amended entry.Can I just make this point. It is true Dicker did much of the ground work, but Kennett made it happen. And that is the point about him. He gets things done. Interestingly, if you talk to political pollsters (which these days I do often) they will tell you about the huge disillusionment with politics in Australia across all age groups, demographics, ethnics groups, and political parties. They will also tell you the two politicians who are most respected, revered, and missed, are Paul Keating and Jeff Kennett, not only in Victoria, but nationally as well. Why? Because they had conviction, vision, and GOT THINGS DONE. And guess what, Kennett can for us as well.

Satyriconhome, happy to oblige with reply. Yes the club has grown members - so has every club in the comp. the AFL is an unstoppable jugganaut. But let's compare us with Hawthorn - just a little bit topical given my stated view on a Kennet Presidency. At the time of the merger of the "Melbourne Hawks", I think circa 1982 (could be wrong on the dates), the MFC member numbers were something like 23k, with a further 20k as MCC members but not MFC members. HFC would have been lucky to have 20k, and they were almost broke. They were driven by finances, we were driven by improving on-field performance (what else is new?). Today Hawthorns has over 60k members, a training and social club set up second to none in the league, and owning a second home in Tasmania which provides 12k members pa, and a couple of million dollars in revenue. Who created this? In two words - Jeff Kennett. He brings the gravitas, political power, and shere will to do this stuff. We at the moment have nothing approaching him, and I suggest an insurance broker is not going to cut it either. I have a background in very senior positions in Banking, and I can tell you insurance brokers are tuppance a dozen. If we are to become a power again, we need people who are serious players in the top end of town. There are very few on the Board like that (except perhaps Stuart Grimshaw but he is Brisbane based and his sporting expertise is largely northern states in Rugby and I think Hockey).if someone else want to put someone up with Kennet's power and gravitas, then I would be happy to support them, but at the moment we are playing suburban leagues rather than the real thing.

Red leg, I think we all feel your pain so eloquently expressed in the above post. As a 50 year Demon supporter, and one who also has children who are supporters but fair weather ones, I can see how our supporter base has eroded over the years along with our patchy inconsistent performances. I guess my childrens' generation of supporters have never been given a real reason to be the enthusiasts their parents are. My concerns and criticisms of the current board about not taking responsibility and being willing to resign for a better alternative is about giving the remaining supporters, players, coaches hope, but obviously to do that responsibly there needs to be a quality alternative. Instead McLardy by his recent comments seems to want to hang on and fight. Wouldn't it be better if he admitted the current Board has failed and undertook to hand over to whatever entity the PJ and AFL decides is appropriate, with the one proviso that it is in the interests of the Club eg a suggestion of relocation or merging should be rejected. The point I also made is that, in spite of our high powered supporter base, there appears to be no high powered Group emerging that wishes to take over responsibility, except the Kennett Group and he is not even a supporter. I have suggested this would not be the case in any of the AFL powerhouses should they have gone through a three years like the last three years of the MFC. The supporter bases simply would not put up with it. this I think says something about where the club is at, and certainly makes me want to support the Kennett Group if they are committed to putting the club on a far sounder financial footing (as Kennett did so successfully at Hawthorn), and with that will come on-field success as confidence builds in the playing group so we retain key players and attract capable new ones. Appointment of an experienced successful coach (Clarkson?) would also help in this, but we would also need to give him a reason to commit to us beyond money - hope and desire to succeed. That is what I believe a Kennett lead board may be able to do. An AFL/PJ inspired one may be able to as well, but whatever happens, a change is both desirable and inevitable. Better for the current incumbents to acknowledge that and work toward a smooth transition rather than seemingly standing and fighting.

I started this thread and deliberately have not responded to the pompous nonsense that a few have posted. Unfortunately it epitomizes all that is wrong with the club. The overwhelming points though I have been trying to make, and no posters antagonistic to this thread have answered, is: A) when are the powers that be going to take responsibility for abject failure (in the way a public company board would be required to do) ie resign, and B) where is the movement of powerful Demon supporters anxious and willing to fix it in the way supporters of other powerful supporters of other AFL clubs would do in the face of such failure. Your post is well thought out, and I agree with the reflections on supporters, but my concerns are more the complacency of the powers that be about failure, and the lack of action to correct it. As I state again, it has required someone from outside ie Jeff Kennett (and indirectly the AFL) to put a bomb under us because we are too complacent and willing to accept failure without consequence to the extent we have now put the future of the club we love in jeopardy, and yet there are still people on here who defend the status quo and do not appear willing or able to face into the crisis we are facing. I suspect we deserve the demise that is coming .....

Your entry very neatly sums up my point. We do internal reviews, if you have a problem take it to a (current) board member and they will fix it. [censored]... What we are in is the biggest crisis in our history....those who got us into this mess are not going to get us out of it. It needs nothing short of a revolution in our thinking AND personnel. Having internal reviews will get us nowhere. Really, the complacency of so called passionate Demon supporters staggers me. You would not see that in any other club in the AFL. It says a lot...

The point about Fitz is he is 201 cm tall but has the speed of a mid-fielder. I have seen him regularly burn off apponents half his size at Casey, while moments later taking spectacular pack marks. He is a classic big bloke who needs time and senior experience. I am certain it will pay off in time. Because he is so quick, I think he would fit in well with a forward line of Clark, Watts, hogan, Howe and Dawes, with maybe a rejuvenated Davey (or Bleese) as crumber, but with Watts playing centre and Howe ruck-rover. Looks great on paper, and that may be the trouble!

If the reporting of Don McLardy's Presidential Queen's Birthday speech is correct, then it explains a lot about why we are in the mess we are in. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/mclardy-slams-kennett-20130610-2o07l.html When is anyone in this club going to take responsibility for anything? Not soon clearly according to the current president. Apparently, the current board are incredibly passionate about the Demons, are really good, competent people, and it will all come right in the end... Well I am sorry, but if any Board I had anything to do with had delivered the results the current one had over the last five years, then they would all be out on their heads, and most professional board members would see that as fair enough. THEY HAVE FAILED SPECTACULARLY. Where are the passionate, professional people amongst demon supporters? If a board had failed so spectacularly at Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Sydney, or Carlton, there would have been a number of rival bids from passionate, high powered supporters desperate to turn things around and to roll the current incompetents. Instead, it is left to Jeff Kennett, a Hawthorn supporter, to make the running. Personally, I would much much prefer the professionalism and ruthlessness of a Kennett bid, than the weak kneed, amateur-hour that is our current Board. When are the current group going to take some responsibility. No time soon clearly. TIME TO TURF THEM OUT. I am heartily sick of this farce. If you are too, let's join a movement o do something about it.

This has Jackson's and Demitriou's fingerprints all over it. It is a very well known PR technique to "test the water" like this. If we (deessupporters) want profound change this is it. It will not happen unless we demand it. I for one am in. It will be a revolution, but gee it will be exciting, and we will be feared rather than ridiculed. Now that would be a pleasant change The fact that this has arisen in this form now, indicates the powers that be at the AFL are really, really, really serious about resurrecting the MFC, and I must say that delights me.

More than anything else at the moment we need credibility - with fans, with the media, with the players, with the AFL. This adds up to HOPE. Kennet has the smarts, and the drive to turn the ship around. He also knows how ruthless you need to be to get to the top, whether it be in a State, a company, or a football club. I have dealt with him in business, and as a board member he is the most astute, insightful, demanding, arrogant, and ruthless director I have ever dealt with. Isn't this what we desperately need, and which the MFC has so singularly lacked for decades. If you want to retain players, and sign talented new ones this is the way to do it. He gets my vote. I think it is a fantastic idea.

Good, considered post LG. Your point is well made. it is not unusual for those at the bottom of the ladder to fight amongst themselves most fiercely - it is a matter of survival. Look at Australia's immigration patterns over the years. Presumably if Leach believes he can facilitate Melbourne to fold then there will be less pressure on St Kilda. Personally, I think the opposite is true. Once the AFL accepts that the club numbers can be reduced, then three or four are in danger. Relocation is a more likely option: Tasmania, Darwin, NZ, Manila (an old joke!). Is it easier to imagine the Tassie Saints than the Tassie Demons (née Devils!)?

I suggest you have a look at the program on iview - it is there for all to see. I too have had a bit of time for him as a commentator -,he is one of the few ABC people who knows anything about Football ( ie FFA) for instance, but unfortunately even the most even handed commentators can't help themselves when it comes to the parochialism of the AFL. You are right, it could best be described as silly, but when you are in a life and death battle for survival as we are now in, even flippant, "silly" remarks, particularly when they come from credible commentators like Francis, need to be called out for what they are...

Did anyone else see the conversation between Caroline Wilson and Francis Leach (both off whom i rate as knowledgable and objective commentators) on the Offsiders on ABC1 last Sunday? http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/program/39476 In it, Wilson was mounting the argument that the AFL should help the MFC rebuild on the grounds that it is one of the poorer clubs in the AFL, and has done nothing worse than the wealthy a clubs Essendon, WC, Adelaide and Brisbane over the last couple of years, all of whom have the resources to recover. When Leach disagreed, Wilson asked the question "do you want the AFL to have 18 clubs or not?", Leach's reply was "bring it on!". Whether he believes the oldest football club of any code anywhere in the world, the first club to play a game of Aussie rules (with Geelong), and the pivotal club to the MCG should be encouraged to fold or not, this should not be made as such a flippant remark as this. If it is going to be canvassed, it should be properly debated, and not the "behind the hand" behavior this represents, and I suspect is rife in the football world at the moment. Leach himself is a mad Saints supporter, and I bet he has already forgotten that his beloved club was not all that many seasons ago seen as a basket case with deplorable governance and needed to be bailed out by the AFL. A bit of balance please Francis - and the ABC.

Saty, obviously John Dee did not even read the posts, or did not understand them. Clearly we have a problem as I referred to before. All power to you for sticking to your guns. The self satisfied complacency of some demon supporters on here simply amazes me.

Normally I would agree with you. Unfortunately we have key players coming out of contract at seasons end and a number of players from other clubs in free agency. Normally we would be in a key position to snare them, but these are not normal times for us. In current circumstances we have nothing to offer our current players or potential ones. Not even hope - especially not hope. This has to change and we desperately need a narrative which gives those people hope. Neeld cannot be part of that. The time for action is now.

So what are you saying Ivor, personal abuse beats reasoned argument. Unfortunately I suspect there are too many of your sort in the MFC community. No wonder we are in such a mess!