It's all falling apart for the Dees

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Tin foil hat time but I reckon this “brand Petracca” stuff is being planted by Melbourne to try and win the public opinion battle, and being given oxygen by journos because Petracca won’t talk to them.

I think he’s just super pissed about, you know, nearly dying.

I tend to agree but the buzz around only wanting to go to big clubs won't help his cause. Although most players who "want out" always want to go to big clubs anyway.

[mighty_west]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Can't say i'm too upset with Melbourne FC Dee-stroying itself, you can't blame Trac for wanting out however, he also sounds like a bit of an "excuse maker" if what was reported is 100% accurate.

One excuse because Alex Neal-Bullen wants back to SA, really? all clubs lose players at certain stages for various reasons, what the!

Doesn't get to play in front of big crowds? i mean yeah, but why sign a massive deal recently if that was the case? He's only been there for how long, and now it's an issue?

Team Petracca.....mmmmkay! World Police, someone shout out MATT DAMON! That's a ripper.

He admits to choosing to stay on the ground which was just dumb and absolutely the medical staff should have carried him off and taken him straight to hospital given the nature of the injury and especially how much pain he was in trying to hobble off, the club not being in contact? Didn't the hospital continue to block them away with only immediate family visits only, at that time?

They're just a mess of a club atm and the rest of us are enjoying our popcorn, really can't see him staying, both club and player really are damaged goods, would i want him at the Dogs, hell yeah!!! Awesome player and as he's damaged his own "brand" he just sounds like a decent enough bloke who needs good people and strong leaders around him.

[comrade]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

The Brand Petracca stuff is purely cover for the shit show that must be going on within the 4 walls of?wherever they?re based?

He had no problems with crowd numbers or exposure 3 years ago when he signed a mega deal.

If he really wants out, he should drop the hammer and reveal how bad it really is within the club. Give us the tea on Clarry and Hunter, tell us about Goody?s betting habits, regale us with tales of Gawn?s dickheadedness. Then they?ll let him go.

[Rocket Science]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

This Dees implosion is so tasty I'm willingly subjecting myself to SEN just to savour them wringing every miserable drop out of it.

[SquirrelGrip]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

One excuse because Alex Neal-Bullen wants back to SA, really? all clubs lose players at certain stages for various reasons, what the!

Trac is on a newly released Howie Games podcast with Cody and Izak Rankine, in the lead up to Cody's art show and focusing on life outside football.

Mark Howard asked each player who they admired as a team mate and Trac said Alex Neal-Bullen for his work ethic. It was genuine admiration and they clearly have a close connection. Based on that, ANB leaving the Dees would definitely impact Trac.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Trac is on a newly released Howie Games podcast with Cody and Izak Rankine, in the lead up to Cody's art show and focusing on life outside football.

Mark Howard asked each player who they admired as a team mate and Trac said Alex Neal-Bullen for his work ethic. It was genuine admiration and they clearly have a close connection. Based on that, ANB leaving the Dees would definitely impact Trac.

That article in the age mentioned ANB leaving was a key point in Trac wanting to leave. The same article that mentioned he wants a big club to help build his brand.

[G-Mo77]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Tin foil hat time but I reckon this ?brand Petracca? stuff is being planted by Melbourne to try and win the public opinion battle, and being given oxygen by journos because Petracca won?t talk to them.

I think he?s just super pissed about, you know, nearly dying.

I think it's the other way personally. The whole brand thing is new but not uncommon, lots said the same thing about Dunkley while he was here and one of the reasons he left. I believe this whole brand nonsense is true. Nearly died? Did he really? I mean he was very badly hurt sure but wanted to go out on the ground himself. Mad at the club but wants to leave? Ok sure. The Doctors should have got this right and said no, you're not going back out there so be mad at the club and try to leave but choose "big clubs" only?

Like most things the truth will probably be somewhere in the middle but it's glorious seeing this club implode! I used to have a soft spot for them but after 2021 and the venom these arseholes aimed at our players for just turning up alone was very poor. Karma is a bitch and they have got one Covid Cup to show for it.

[Axe Man]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Mark Robinson: Weirdness surrounds Christian Petracca’s future, but will he actually move?

The rustic Marion Wine Bar in Gertrude St, Fitzroy, was the scene for a peculiar little gathering of Melbourne players on Tuesday night.

Clearly, the players didn’t seem to care – or they thought they couldn’t be heard – by the table of serious football fans sitting at the next table.

The pleasant surprise seeing AFL players on a windy Tuesday night was one thing, their astonishment at what the players – clearly frustrated – were saying about Christian Petracca was another.

So much so, notes were taken.

Words such as “weird” were heard, and how Petracca’s “weirdness” was accepted at Melbourne, but would not be accepted at another club.

And that it was hoped that “Lamby” – presumably list boss Tim Lamb – didn’t muck up the trade deal, either for Petracca or “Nibbler”, which is the nickname for Alex Neal-Bullen, who has requested a trade to Adelaide.

The players, it was noted, also expressed hope the club would come out of this period OK.

This citizen journalism is the latest layer of discontent surrounding Petracca.

The whole situation is weird.

It’s weird for those who have not suffered serious trauma to comprehend Petracca’s emotional state.

It’s also weird that he hasn’t spoken publicly.

It’s weird the “Petracca Brand” is being offered as a reason he wants to play for a bigger club.

It’s weird that nobody at Melbourne can properly explain what is happening, and exactly why the Demons’ Norm Smith medallist wants to break a seven-year contract.

It’s weird trying to determine if Petracca is being selfish and whether his trade request is ripping the club apart or the club has ripped him apart.

The bombshell breakdown between the club and the player not only perplexes the football world, it also paints the football club as a basket case.

It’s bad headline after bad headline.

First, Petracca wants out, then Neal-Bullen wants out, and Kysaiah Pickett tells the club he is homesick, which suggests he’d also be open to a trade.

That’s not the sound of alarm bells ringing at Melbourne, it’s a tornado warning.

Finally, club president Kate Roffey broke her silence, interviewed on SEN on Thursday.

She defended her lack of public utterances, and stressed she had been talking to coterie groups, the leadership group, the coaches, and to parents.

But not to Petracca’s parents more recently, nor to Petracca.

To be fair, it’s believed she had reached out but not gotten a response.

Which made her next comment – “we don’t think it’s a stand-off” Roffey said – plainly ridiculous because while there has been some positive vibes this week, Petracca is yet to tell the club he wants to be there in 2024.

Unbelievably, Roffey said she wasn’t aware of Petracca’s grievances and even alluded to a belief that it was all media-driven. Now that was drivel.

The interview was evasive and lacked authority, and probably did more harm than good at a time when Melbourne supporters were looking for reassuring leadership.

Certainly, the club is buoyed by the fact Petracca joined his teammates for end-of-season drinks at the Terminus Hotel on Wednesday.

The club believes Petracca is warming to addressing the issues he has with the club, because if he didn’t want to and wanted a trade, he wouldn’t have joined his teammates at such a team-bonding environment like the post-season sip.

It shows the connection between the players is not broken.

More cuddles are required, however, because Petracca is still frustrated – and the players, while more understanding of Petracca’s emotional state, are frustrated with him.

To be honest, everyone at Melbourne is frustrated.

In her interview, Roffey denied the club was in crisis, a comment that beggars belief.

For two years Melbourne has been neck-deep in controversy. There was the punch-up between Steven May and Jake Melksham. There was Glen Bartlett and his legal stoush, Joel Smith and his cocaine, Clayton Oliver with all his issues and throughout, coach Simon Goodwin has swatted away rumours about himself.

The Petracca bomb topped them all.

Either Melbourne has been terribly unlucky and is being over scrutinised, or something is not right at the footy club. We suspect it’s the latter, although the Demons have made it known there’s been no other issues in-season other than the Petracca situation.

The Demons maintain they won’t trade their prized No. 5, but they also know that total reconciliation can’t occur unless Petracca comes to the table. Not necessary with a peace offering but with a mind to shed the past and forge into the future.

Work needs to be done, and it won’t be easy, and despite all the weirdness, the odds of Petracca playing at Melbourne next year are better than what they were a week ago.

[Happy Days]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

I broke my phone after reading the first two lines what does the rest of it say

[comrade]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

I broke my phone after reading the first two lines what does the rest of it say

Yes, this meeting was definitely not leaked by anyone and was somehow overheard by a table of serious football fans. Very serious.

[ledge]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

I heard it all when we played Casey at whitten oval and Tomlinsons old man was Ropable with Melbourne and how they treated his son and a few of the players in the VFL.
The Petracca injury just blew it all out in the open.
It was simmering all year.

[jeemak]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Yes, this meeting was definitely not leaked by anyone and was somehow overheard by a table of serious football fans. Very serious.

It's just all a big coincidence and definitely they spent so much time all talking as a group about how weird their team mate is and definitely about how no other club would be able to handle his weirdness.

Not leaked at all.

[jeemak]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Yep. They also had elite talent, traded perfectly for specific needs and were easily the best team in 2021 - talent can hide a lot of sins.

Irrespective of their talent, we had them on toast with 37 minutes to go in that GF and the rest is history. It shits me more now than it did at the time (the reverse GG). I'm not comforted by the fact that it was a Covid premiership and "didn't count" - it did.

I get that had they lost in 2021 they might well have saluted in 2022/23 (their talent was obvious and they would have been even more focused/determined to atone) - we still fumbled a gilt-edged chance at a flag, and we all know those chances haven't come around often in our history.

We were cooked mate. Had nothing left in the tank.

The last fifteen minutes of the third was an unforgiveable shit show but they'd have gotten us in the last anyway.

They can have it. If we won it's a win for the ages, them winning after their preferable treatment is just an asterisk on the competition's history.

[Axe Man]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Michael Warner: Kate Roffey?s trainwreck interview shows fans where Dees? problems truly lie

Amid a backdrop of crisis and backstabbing in April 2021, Kate Roffey took over the Demons. But Thursday?s trainwreck display showed how inept the club?s leadership is, writes Michael Warner.

Kate Roffey?s presidency of Melbourne has always been tainted and now the moment of reckoning has arrived.

Amid a backdrop of crisis and backstabbing in April 2021, it was Roffey who was installed suddenly as Glen Bartlett?s replacement by a group of plotters (inside and outside the club) determined to cover-up fears over a festering off-field culture.

Bartlett and at least one other Melbourne director had sounded the alarm in a secret meeting with AFL chairman Richard Goyder and then league boss Gillon McLachlan just weeks before the Roffey coup was hatched.

It?s ironic that a premiership so desperately sought by the Demons faithful would follow just a few months later, allowing club powerbrokers to portray Bartlett as nothing but a man of sour grapes.

But the truth in football always comes out eventually.

The current crisis enveloping Melbourne goes directly to those responsible for the Bartlett assassination and the failure to address the cultural issues later exposed by former club doctor-turned whistleblower Zeeshan Arain and others in a Sports Integrity Australia investigation.

Roffey?s trainwreck interview on SEN radio on Thursday morning might finally be the moment Melbourne fans wake up to the true cause of the endless headlines and scandals that have plagued the club over the past three years: inept leadership.

Only chief executive Gary Pert?s now infamous SEN interview last October in which he declared the Melbourne culture to be ?the best I?ve seen in 40 years? could top Roffey?s performance of denial, bordering on delusion.

According to the president, calls for an independent review at Melbourne are unfounded.

There?s nothing to see here other than the issues that affect all football clubs, she said.

It?s all media rhetoric. I?m at the club and I talk to the parents of our players and they all love us. (Does that include Joel Smith?s parents or Christian Petracca?s mum and dad?)

?Trac? is a contracted player, she said. I haven?t spoken to him yet but we?re going to get there with a resolution. Kosi?s just homesick ? it?s not a trade thing. (But isn?t Alex Neal-Bullen also homesick and aren?t they going to trade him?)

And regarding the long-running legal dispute with Bartlett ? ?we just have to deal with that? and ?defend ourselves from those accusations?, she said.

But Bartlett has stared them down and refused to go away and the tide has turned in a boardroom war that has cost the Demons far more than just mounting legal costs.

That glorious premiership of 2021 will always be special to Melbourne supporters, but how many more flags could a generational list have bagged if the club had faced up to the cultural issues that have since derailed the careers of Clayton Oliver, Smith and now Petracca?

Club chiefs who remain unconvinced about Petracca?s desire to leave would be wise to start work on a deal with a rival club instead of risking the airing of further dirty laundry at a hearing before the AFL grievance tribunal.

The club?s separate and unnecessary court fight with board challenger Peter Lawrence has also exposed the club?s constant state of denial.

Eleven years ago, the AFL intervened at Melbourne in the wake of the tanking fiasco, cleaning out the board and putting veteran administrator Peter Jackson in as CEO and Bartlett in charge as president.

One wonders how long it will be until Andrew Dillon and the AFL Commission lose patience with the club again.

[ReLoad]

Re: It's all falling apart for the Dees

Why do i get the feeling this is much worse than our crisis from years ago. Coach and captain going was gnarly, but this is really deep in the club type stuff.